Did you know that the world is positively teeming with demons? They’re all over the place, rebelling against God, performing evil acts and ‘possessing’ human beings - even some Christians. Many, perhaps most, fundamentalists and Pentecostals believe that this is true and a lot of them are doing something about it. The ’something’ is called ’spiritual warfare’.

As Spirithome.com explains:

‘Spiritual warfare’ is the struggle to have life in this material world reflect as much as possible God’s loving governance. God is in charge, but there is an enemy that is in full-scale revolt … As with the unseen God, the forces behind the revolt are unseen, non-physical and supernatural. They lust after power in the world of visible, material beings.

And these diabolical little rascals are all over the place: ‘in every nook and cranny of our earthly existence’. And the way to get rid of them, or at least to ‘bind’ them so they can’t do any more harm, is to pray a lot, actively struggle against sources of evil in your community, and of course make regular, generous donations to your church, televangelist or other servant of the Lord. This last condition seems to be very important.

But before you can don the full armour of God and go out and smite these cloven-hooved pests you have to be able to find them, and this is where ’spiritual mapping’ comes in. The Australian Prayer Network defines spiritual mapping as ‘an attempt to see our region as it really is and not as it appears to be’. Our old friend Cindy Jacobs - see previous blog - adds that such mapping can ‘discern any inroads Satan has made which prevent the spread of the gospel and [a city's] evangelisation for Christ’. As you’ll recall, Cindy has been known to pronounce death sentences in God’s name, so we’d better pay careful attention to what she says.

Anyway, let’s get right down to it, drawing on the advice of Miami’s Diane Buker, leader of a spiritual mapping group called the ‘Battle Axe Brigade’ - www.ausprayernet.org.au/sm_articles1_5.php:

The Lord instructed me to get a map [of her region or city]. On this map we placed coloured pins with each colour representing certain categories of unrighteous works.

Coloured pins corresponded to coloured files. For example, a red pin related to the red ‘Cult and Occult Churches’ file, covering Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, Christian Scientists etc. Apparently, these Satanic ’strongholds’ entrap men’s hearts and minds in deception and are all chock-full of indescribably horrible demons. Sort of strange that Religious Right political organisations accept the assistance (and money) of Mormons, Moonies and other cults whenever it suits them to do so, but who can fathom the workings of providence?

Now, your blue pin and file denote ‘Cult and Occult Establishments’, such as businesses promoting astrology, metaphysical healings and the like. This is pretty tricky as you also have to list places that don’t seem obvious, like comic book and trading card shops as ‘many of them sell magic cards’. Even large chain toy-stores in malls sell ‘all sorts of spiritual garbage’. Diane notes that ‘[t]his list seems endless’, and I couldn’t agree with her more.

Green pins mean pornography, not just adult book-stores but also the ’small food-shop store that sells pornographic magazines’. Large chain bookstores also ‘carry a lot of pornography, as do airports’. I think we can assume that Diane defines the term ‘pornography’ rather broadly, so you can see that you’re going to have to recruit quite a few friends for your spiritual mapping exercise, let alone the subsequent spiritual warfare.

Abortion clinics rate a purple pin, homosexual establishments a yellow one, and the white pin, a little unexpectedly, signifies prostitution. An orange pin denotes Blue Lodge Freemasonry, an absolute magnet for hordes of unspeakable, slavering demons.

According to Diane, ‘[t]he only way to verify the less-than-obvious is to visit or call’ the target premises, and this is how she does it:

[For suspected abortion clinics] … [Y]ou must … be wise. Two of us would go in and I would go up to the receptionist’s window, maybe lower my voice or wring my hands as if I were nervous or embarrassed. I would ask the receptionist if they terminate pregnancies. If she says yes, it’s usually quickly followed with ‘would you like to come in?’ I would ask if I could bring my friend. They’ve always said ‘yes’, understanding that a woman of my obvious age must be very distressed. I’ve never said I was pregnant. Here again most people are quick to make assumptions.

Identifying ‘fronts’ for prostitution sometimes presents similar problems. Prompted by the Holy Spirit, Diane advocates this approach:

… [I]n my most seductive voice, I called [an escort service] and said I saw their ad … The young woman on the other end of the line … told me that they were unique in that they specialise[d] in ’slapping’, ‘bondage’ and ‘domination’. She wanted to know if I had any experience in these areas …

The Holy Spirit quickly explained to me what she meant … In that split second of time He gave me a response - a truthful response. I said to her that although I had never had any experience with slapping, I had, however, in the past had plenty of experience with bondage and domination. She took that one way. The truth is, prior to Christ in me, I was in bondage and under domination [i.e. of Satan]. She mailed me an application …

The final result was that I had the return address. The white pin went in place on the map, and one more part of the picture of the structure and strength of that ‘camp’ was done.

Elsewhere, Diane assures her readers that:

We never lie, NEVER!

This is the kind of reasoning I employed with my parents and teachers when I was about eight years old. It never seemed to work, but then I didn’t have the Holy Spirit sitting at my shoulder and feeding me lines.

Filed in: Fundamentalism, Pentecostalism