All our religious warfare is against spiritual forces, for even when we are hindered and opposed by our fellow-creatures, the antagonism is in their spirits, and not in their bodies, and in many cases the spirits of our fellow-men that we wrestle against are influenced and controlled more or less by Satan or some demon. Of course I refer to that warfare which especially pertains to our spiritual life, and the pursuit of holiness. There are countless conflicts between human beings where selfish interests are in conflict, which do not come under the subject now in hand.

From the teachings of Scripture, and the lessons we learn in the Christ-life, it is evident that nearly all of the mental and spiritual conflicts we have in the service of God are against spiritual beings, the countless demons that belong to the kingdom of Satan, and are acting under his instigation, to discourage, oppress, perplex and harass the souls that are truly given up to Christ, and especially those who endeavor to be perfect with the Lord their God. The Scriptures reveal that we are surrounded by a kingdom of darkness, and that there are various ranks of evil spirits who are working with Satan to antagonize the Lord Jesus at every point, and as they cannot reach Christ at the right hand of God, they attack the servants of Christ, who are His representatives in this world. The Apostle Paul says, "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness (or wicked spirits) in high (or heavenly) places."� (Eph. 6:12.) Notice the various ranks of these evil spirits.

1. The Principalities. The expression indicates that there are princes in Satan's kingdom, that have provinces under them. Especially does this word refer to politics, to evil spirits whose special work is to influence earthly rulers, kings, presidents, parliaments, legislatures, judges, civil officers, elections, votes, party politics, office holders, office seekers and the entire range of men and things connected with all earthly governments and politics, from the greatest down to the least. When the angel went to Daniel, he said he had been hindered three weeks because of the conflict he had with the prince of Persia, that is, with the evil spirit at the head of the Persian Empire. Every government on earth, from an empire down to a police court, has an evil spirit to manipulate and influence the men that are acting for the government. Of course God overrules all things, both Satanic and human, but there are ten times more evil spirits in congress than there are members of that body, and they influence men far more than the actors dream of. That is not all. All partisan politics is managed by evil spirits, and it is impossible for God to save a politician, that is, a man devoted to politics, and perhaps not one in ten thousand ever does get saved. Government is ordained of God. Occasionally a true Christian is providentially put into office, but a real politician is always influenced by one of these principalities that Paul mentions. Hence nothing on earth will so thoroughly destroy true religion as the principle of politics. Here is where multitudes of Christians have fallen from grace, duped and misled by this class of demons, never suspecting that they were acting out the very suggestions of some fallen angel.

2. Against Powers. This class of demons is different from principalities. They are evil spirits of energy and force, that attack the feelings, the imagination, and stir people up in an excited way to commit terrible sins, to hate, or kill, or rob, or burn, or betray, or quarrel, to have law-suits, divorces, separations, family quarrels, church quarrels, and to all conduct that is rash, or harsh, or severe, or fraudulent, or dishonest, or slanderous' These demons conceal themselves and incite people to act under the guise of self-interest, self-rights, self-vindication, self-revenge, self-gratification, and when people are acting under their inspiration and doing the lowest and meanest and most cruel things, they never suspect that behind the screen there is one of these demons urging them on, inspiring them with bad suggestions, and plots, and ways of committing sin.

These demons of power attack Christians under various plausible guises, and put thoughts in the mind and excitements in the feelings, and thousands of Christians are yielding to temptation, speaking words and thinking thoughts that are ruinous to their peace, without ever dreaming that they are playing into the hands of some evil spirit. It requires the most perfect humility and calmness and deliberation to discern the approaches of these powerful demons. An old talebearer, that creeps from house to house tattling about the neighbors, and instigating bad feelings between husbands and wives, between brothers and sisters, between pastor and people, is the very embodiment of these low, slimy serpents that act with tireless energy to destroy the peace and lives of God's creatures. These demons of power begin to work on human souls in a small way, but if the soul follows their suggestions they soon turn on the steam to a high pressure, and push the poor victim to commit some sin or some rash act which he never dreamed of committing.

3. The Rulers of the Darkness of This Age. The word "world"� in our version should be "age,"� for the darkness is to pass away at the second coming of Jesus, when Satan and all demons will be chained in the abyss, and hence it should be rendered, "the darkness of this age.'' Where it is said that Satan is the "god of this world,"� it should be translated the "god of this age,"� because his power will be removed from the earth when he is bound in the pit.

These demons that have the rulership in darkness are distinct from the principalities and the powers. These are the demons that manage superstition, witchcraft, fortune-telling, heresy, ignorance, and all sorts of stupidity, self-conceit, and spiritual blindness. What countless millions of our fellow-creatures are under the power of these demons of darkness! The world is full of superstition, even among professing Christians, and vast multitudes have a weakness for depending on signs, foolish dreams, fortune-telling, whimsical impressions, on horse-shoe good luck — on almost anything except the pure Word of God, and a pure faith in the living Christ. These demons of darkness attack all Christians, and there are times when the holiest souls are greatly perplexed and depressed by their power. They will sometimes spread, as it were, their black wings over the mind, and shut out the bright light of God's truth and make things look gloomy and upside down and wrong end foremost. These demons at times will make it seem as if God has forsaken you, as if all friends had deserted you, as if truth was false and error was truth. Job went through this experience, and thousands of others have, and it is only by patient endurance that the soul conquers, and presently the darkness breaks and the sweet light of heavenly day comes back to the mind.

4. The Wicked Spirits in Heavenly Places. The word "high places"� should be "heavenly places,"� and the words "spiritual wickedness"� should be "wicked spirits,"� for it is evident that spiritual wickedness has no personality, but these wicked spirits are personalities that can act on other persons. These are the most dangerous of all demons, because they are religious demons, and their special work is up in the heavenly places. They intrude into all the highest religious experiences, and deal entirely with deep spiritual truth, seeking to pervert such truth into error. These are the demons that turn themselves into angels of light, and claim to be the Holy Ghost, and get people to follow their suggestions under the impression that they are following the Holy Ghost. They are demons who have joined the church, been baptized, profess religion, even profess holiness, and claim to have marvelous visions, dreams, ecstacies, prophecies, great gifts, wonderful demonstrations, and their whole aim is to attack the most religious people, and get them off into heresy, to following impressions, to be puffed up with self-conceit and self-righteousness, to fancy that they are above other saints, that they are beyond the need of instruction, that they are inspired prophets, that they have discovered some new religion, that they are God's special pets, that they have a commission to correct and rebuke everybody else, that they are glorified, never going to die, or some form of error which will wreck their true Christian character and life work. All the forms of modern heresy and wild delusions, such as Spiritualism, Christian Science, Sanfordism, Dowieism, Millennial Dawnism, Soul Sleeping, and every other form of abominable self-conceit, are the result of these wicked spirits in the heavenly places deceiving poor souls that were not rooted in the pure Gospel faith. These are the various ranks of evil spirits that are abroad in the world, and they are adapted to attack every class of mankind, from the most devoted followers of Jesus to kings and parliaments.

We shall see in another chapter the special armor that we need to perfectly resist all these forms of evil spirits.