Wrong Side

The most dangerous place in the world is being caught in no-man’s land between two opposing armies and not know which side you are on. That is the situation of most people in New Zealand.

We live in a multi-dimensional universe in which the spiritual dimensions exist in parallel to our three-dimensional physical world. The spiritual realms operate in continuity with the physical/natural world that we observe. Most humans cannot see into the spiritual dimensions, so we can only observe the physical side of existence. However, events in our physical world are shaped by activities in the spiritual realm. When we look at the physical world in isolation, we miss much of what is happening in the universe (Kingdom Authority p.28).

A war is going on in the spiritual realms that most people in New Zealand are not even aware of, and many do not even know which side they are on. Much of what happens here on earth is the consequence of events in the spiritual realms, and what happens here, has a significant effect on the relative strength of the two sides in the spiritual struggle.

God has not always been honoured, but for most of history, the God who revealed himself through Jesus, had a place in New Zealand, and enough influence with the people with authority to be able to release some of his blessings.

Over the last few decades, the people have squeezed God out of New Zealand, because they thought that we did not need him, and they did not want him messing with our lives, but without realising it, they have given his place to the spiritual powers of evil. These forces are full of hatred, anger and violence. They love to kill, destroy and steal. By shutting out the God who was restraining them, we have strengthened their position here on earth. They held back for a while to give us a false sense of security, but now they are flexing their muscles and having a go to see what they can do with their power.

Many people believe that life in New Zealand is not as good as it once was. The reason is not that we have elected the wrong party to government. Rather we have chosen the wrong side in a serious spiritual battle, and the good side is losing, while the bad side is winning. Therefore, we should not be surprised that anxiety, distress and are becoming more common.

The reason that both personal pain and economic troubles are getting worse is that we have unwittingly placed ourselves under the authority of the spiritual powers of evil. Not surprisingly, they are doing what they always do when they get an opportunity. Until they are put back in the box, we can expect that they will continue to surprise us with more and more of their evil tricks.

The good news is that Jesus defeated the spiritual powers of evil on the cross.

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Col 1:13-14).

Having disarmed principalities and powers, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in the cross (Col 2:15).

God raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church (Eph 1:20-22).

The good thing about the spiritual struggle we are engaged in is that we do not have to hide in no-man’s land wondering which side will win the war, and trying to pick that side to align with. Jesus has already defeated the spiritual powers of evil on the cross. The role of his people is to establish that victory on earth by allowing the Holy Spirit to work in their lives and push the spiritual powers of evil out of the territory that they hold.

So, by giving the spiritual powers of evil a free hand in our nation, we have backed the losing side in the ultimate battle, and because they know they cannot win, they are just trying to do as much damage here as they can before they are finally defeated.

Joining the losing side in a battle is a serious mistake. The time has come when the people of New Zealand need to wake up and shift allegiance to the winning side. Jesus will overlook our previous mistakes and welcome us back his side at any time. All we have to do is to tell him that we regret our blunder onto the wrong side, and offer our allegiance to him. He will then release the Holy Spirit in our lives to restore blessing in our lives, and if enough people get on board, establish his government in our nation.

Spiritual Warfare

When praying against the spiritual powers that control a nation, God’s people should be careful.

• Followers of Jesus should make sure that they are led by the Holy Spirit. Human efforts will fail. We need discernment to understand what we are dealing with, and wisdom to understand how to deal with it.

• Authority is really important. I explain why in Kingdom Authority. Christians should be careful about taking on governing spirits that they do not have authority over. If a spiritual power has been given authority in a town, city or nation by its political leaders, ordinary citizens will not be able to push them out. Many Christians have been beaten up when they took on spirits that they did not have authority to deal with.

• Prophesying God’s word into a situation is a good way to deal with political spirits and government spirits. Prophecy releases the angels and helps them know what to do. It also wears down government spirits.

Concentration of Spiritual Power

Urbanisation has led to a concentration of the spiritual forces of evil in the cities of the world. The principalities and powers tend to form a structure that matches the political authority structures in the city or nation. If political authority is concentrated in the hands of a few people who have forgotten God, the spiritual principalities and powers will have a great deal of spiritual authority.

Concentration of political power increases the authority spiritual principalities and powers. In New Zealand, a super city has just been established in Auckland, the largest city. The number of local authorities has been reduced from ten to a single large one. This concentrates political power in the hands of the few people. If they are not careful, they could give a great deal of authority to the powers of darkness. The new mayor is a Christian. I hope that he understands the spiritual influence that he has.

Democracy is dangerous. If the rulers of a city have seized power by force, many people in the city will oppose their authority, even if they have to acquiesce to his commands. This limits his authority, so the spiritual forces the ruler brought in will have limited authority too. Under democracy, most people acknowledge the authority of the people elected to power, even if they did not vote for them. This gives the elected leader enormous authority. If they forget God, they can give the forces of evil serious authority in their city.

The greatest concentration of political power takes place in nation state. The rulers of nations have great authority, especially if the nation is large. This allows even greater concentration of the spiritual forces of evil. If the elected leader of a large nation ignores God, the principalities and powers at work in the nation gain immense authority to work their dastardly plans.

Confederations of nations are even more dangerous, because they result in huge concentrations of political authority. When hundreds of millions of people all submit to a single leader, that leader has enormous authority. If the leader rejects God, they can release terrible spiritual harm in their nation. This is why a united nation like the United States has potential to do great evil.