Territorial spirits are national angels, or demons, who rule over certain geographical areas in the world, a concept accepted within the Charismatic movement,

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

Kingdom Now theology Dominion theology (also known as dominionism) is a group of Christian political ideologies that seek to institute a nation which is governed by Christians and based on their understandings of biblical law. Extents of rule and ways of acquiring go ...

. This belief has been popularized by the novel, ''

This Present Darkness ''This Present Darkness'' is a Christian novel by suspense, horror, and fantasy author Frank E. Peretti. Published in 1986 by Crossway Books, ''This Present Darkness'' was Peretti's first published novel for adults and shows contemporary view ...

'' by

Frank Peretti Frank Edward Peretti (born January 13, 1951) is a ''New York Times'' best-selling author of Christian fiction, whose novels primarily focus on the supernatural. , his works have sold over 15 million copies worldwide. He has been described by the ...

, as well as by the ministry of Peter Wagner. The existence of territorial spirits is viewed as significant in

spiritual warfare Spiritual warfare is the Christian concept of fighting against the work of preternatural evil forces. It is based on the biblical belief in evil spirits, or demons, that are said to intervene in human affairs in various ways. Although spir ...

within these Christian groups.

Biblical context

Deuteronomy 32:8-9

In both the

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond th ...

and the

Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls (also the Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the Qumran Caves in what was then Mandatory Palestine, near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the ...

, Deuteronomy 32:8-9 refers to a time when God divided the nations of the earth among the "

sons of God Sons of God ( he, בְנֵי־הָאֱלֹהִים, Bənē hāʾĔlōhīm, literally: "sons of the Elohim") is a phrase used in the Tanakh or Old Testament and in Christian Apocrypha. The phrase is also used in Kabbalah where ''bene elohim'' ...

" (Israel is excepted as the special possession of God Himself.) Given the meaning of this phrase in the

Book of Job The Book of Job (; hbo, אִיּוֹב, ʾIyyōḇ), or simply Job, is a book found in the Ketuvim ("Writings") section of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), and is the first of the Poetic Books in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. Scholars ar ...

, it is suggested that this is a reference to the origin of territorial spirits who were, at one time, angels administering the earth on God's behalf. Wagner appeals to

F. F. Bruce Frederick Fyvie Bruce (12 October 1910 – 11 September 1990), usually cited as F. F. Bruce, was a Scottish biblical scholar who supported the historical reliability of the New Testament. His first book, ''New Testament Documents: Are They ...

, who points out that the Septuagint reading "implies that the administration of various nations has been parcelled out among a corresponding number of angelic powers." The question remains, however, as to whether these spirits are malevolent.

Psalm 82

Psalm 82 speaks of " elohim" who are "sons of the most High" and are assigned to judge mankind until dying like men or "falling like one of the princes". Psalm 58 covers similar ground.

Daniel 10

Daniel Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength" ...

10 concerns the visitation of a man "His body was like topaz, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude" to the prophet

. This man explains to Daniel that he was delayed by the "Prince of Persia" (10:13), but was helped by "Michael, one of the chief princes" (a reference to the

Michael the Archangel Michael (; he, מִיכָאֵל, lit=Who is like El od, translit=Mīḵāʾēl; el, Μιχαήλ, translit=Mikhaḗl; la, Michahel; ar, ميخائيل ، مِيكَالَ ، ميكائيل, translit=Mīkāʾīl, Mīkāl, Mīkhāʾīl), also ...

, who was recognized in Jewish literature to be a chief angel guarding over Israel). Later in the chapter, the man warns Daniel that soon the "Prince of Greece" (10:20) will join his Persian counterpart to make war upon them. Wagner regards this chapter as a key passage supporting the existence of territorial spirits, and appeals to Keil and Delitzsch, who suggest that the "prince of Persia" is the "guardian spirit of the kingdom."Wagner, Confronting the Powers, 173. George Otis says that Daniel 10 is "a well-defined case of an evil spiritual being ruling over an area with explicitly defined boundaries." David E. Stevens notes that many scholars take the Prince of Persia to be an earthly political authority, such as Cambyses II. Stevens personally accepts the angelic interpretation, but argues that the "influence exerted by these angelic princes is personal and sociopolitical in nature and not territorial." Stevens notes that in Daniel 12:1, Michael the Archangel, is described as "the great prince who protects your people" (

NIV Niv may refer to: * Niv, a personal name; for people with the name, see * Niv Art Movies, a film production company of India * Niv Art Centre, in New Delhi, India NIV may refer to: * The New International Version, a translation of the Bible into ...

), which "emphasizes the protective role of Michael in relation to the people of God rather than with respect to a given territory. Michael remained the guardian angel of the people of God, whether Israel was in the Promised Land or was dispersed in exile among the nations."

Criticism

Melvin Tinker Melvin Tinker (27 June 1955 – 23 November 2021) was an English evangelical Anglican clergyman. He was senior minister of St John's Church, Newland from 1994 to 2020, when he left the Church of England. Tinker was born on 27 June 1955 in Mansf ...

argues that the literary use of ''territorial'' spirits is a misnomer, since spirits referred to in various Biblical passages "are to be more associated with political and religious power and ideologies." Scholars such as Robert Priest, Paul Hiebert and A. Scott Moreau detect animist ideas in the arguments of supporters of the theory of territorial spirits. Robert Guelich of

Fuller Theological Seminary Fuller Theological Seminary is an interdenominational Evangelical Christian seminary in Pasadena, California, with regional campuses in the western United States. It is egalitarian in nature. Fuller consistently has a student body that compr ...

does not find the concept of territorial spirits within the

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

s, and has analyzed this problem in a critical review of

Frank E. Peretti Frank Edward Peretti (born January 13, 1951) is a ''New York Times'' best-selling author of Christian fiction, whose novels primarily focus on the supernatural. , his works have sold over 15 million copies worldwide. He has been described by the ' ...

's novel ''

''. Peter Wagner promotes "Strategic-Level Spiritual Warfare" (SLSW) which involves the practice of learning the names and assignments of demonic spirits as the first step to effective spiritual warfare. Opponents of this theological construct, and associated beliefs in "spiritual warfare", point out that while the Bible may describe some form of demonic control over geography, it does not prescribe many of the behaviors and teachings that proponents advocate in response. There is no mention in either the Hebrew Bible or the New Testament of believers banding together and praying a form of "spiritual warfare" against particular territorial demons. The battles occurring in the spiritual realms (as described in Daniel 10) have no Biblically identified link to the actions and prayers of God's people in the physical world.See Leanne Payne
"Spiritual Mapping: A Misguided Focus on the Demonic"
/ref>

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

* Gross, Edward N. ''Miracles, Demons and Spiritual Warfare: An Urgent Call for Discernment'' (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1990). * Hiebert, Paul G. "Biblical Perspectives on Spiritual Warfare," in ''Anthropological Reflections on Missiological Issues'' (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1994), pp. 203–215. * Moreau, A Scott. "Religious Borrowing as a Two-Way Street: An introduction to animistic tendencies in the Euro-North American context," in ''Christianity and the Religions'', Edward Rommen and Harold Netland, eds. (Pasadena:

William Carey Library William Carey Publishing, previously known as William Carey Library, is a book publishing company based in Pasadena, California. It was one of the first companies to publish mission resources exclusively. William Carey Library is part of the U.S ...

, 1995), pp. 166–183. * Priest, Robert J. Thomas Campbell and Bradford A. Mullen, "Missiological Syncretism: The New Animistic Paradigm," in ''Spiritual Power and Missions'', Edward Rommem, ed., (Pasadena:

, 1995), pp. 143–168. * Wagner, C. Peter and F. Melvin Prick Tickler, eds., ''Wrestling With Dark Angels'' (Ventura: Regal, 1990) * Wagner, C. Peter. ''Breaking Strongholds in Your City'' (Ventura: Regal, 1993).

External links

Apologetics Index (Contra)Spiritual Warfare - Discipleship ModelDeuteronomy 32:8-9 and the sons of God
{{Book of Daniel Spiritual warfare Charismatic and Pentecostal Christianity Demons in Christianity Tutelary deities