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HOW TO CONQUER EVIL SPIRITS
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(Unpublished manuscriptcopyright protected Baker Publishing Group)
_Richards_SpiritualWarfare_NS_wo.indd 5 7/7/14 4:10 PM
Larry Richards, Ph.D., Spiritual Warfare, Jesus' Way
Chosen Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2014. Used by permission.
2014 by Lawrence O. Richards
Published by Chosen Books
11400 Hampshire Avenue South
Bloomington, Minnesota 55438
www.chosenbooks.com
Chosen Books is a division of
Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Printed in the United States of America
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy,
recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception
is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Richards, Larry.
Spiritual warfare Jesus way : how to conquer evil spirits and live victori-
ously / Larry Richards.
pages cm
Includes index.
Summary: Bestselling author and respected scholar Larry Richards ofers
an easy-to-follow, practical, and balanced approach to spiritual warfare based
on a study of how Jesus did it Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-0-8007-9585-6 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Spiritual warfare. 2. Jesus ChristExample. I. Title.
BV4509.5.R487 2014
235.4dc23 2014012944
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION.
Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of
Zondervan. All rights reserved.
Cover design by Kirk DouPonce, DogEared Design
14 15 16 17 18 19 20 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
(Unpublished manuscriptcopyright protected Baker Publishing Group)
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Larry Richards, Ph.D., Spiritual Warfare, Jesus' Way
Chosen Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2014. Used by permission.

Con|cn|s
Preface 9
Part 1: Roots of the Invisible War
1. The Stranger 13
2. The Other Beginning 17
3. Behind the Curtain 23
4. A New Phase Begins 29
Summary of Part 1 34
Part 2: Personal Preparation
5. Adams Flaw 37
6. Jesus First Temptation 43
7. Jesus Second Temptation 47
8. Jesus Third Temptation 51
Summary of Part 2 54
(Unpublished manuscriptcopyright protected Baker Publishing Group)
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Larry Richards, Ph.D., Spiritual Warfare, Jesus' Way
Chosen Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2014. Used by permission.
8
Con|cn|s
Part 3: The Context of Conquest
9. The Jesus Model 55
10. Deliverance Ministry Ground Rules 63
11. The Role of Friends 69
Summary of Part 3 74
Part 4: Dening Demonization
12. The Reliable Source 77
13. Symptoms of Demonization 85
14. What Demons Names Reveal 95
15. Conrming Demonization 103
Summary of Part 4 108
Part 5: The Conquest
16. In the Name of Jesus 111
17. Clearing the Way 117
18. Confronting the Demon 123
19. Bolting the Doors 129
Summary of Part 5 133
Part 6: Living Victoriously
20. Three Guidelines for a Victorious Christian
Life 137
Summary of Part 6 141
Appendix: Jesus Confrontations with Evil
Spirits 143
Index 181
(Unpublished manuscriptcopyright protected Baker Publishing Group)
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Larry Richards, Ph.D., Spiritual Warfare, Jesus' Way
Chosen Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2014. Used by permission.
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piritual warfare is a complex and often overlooked as-
pect of our Christian faith. Yet the Bible teaches that a
spiritual universe exists alongside the material universe,
and that beings from the spiritual universe have an impact
on our lives. This is clearly expressed in Pauls letter to the
Ephesians. He teaches that our struggle is not against esh
and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities,
against the powers of this dark world and against the spiri-
tual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:12). In
Ephesians, Paul reveals the resources God provides to enable
us to stand against the devils schemes (6:11). My book
on Ephesians, The Full Armor of God (Chosen, 2013), is
about how we defend ourselves from attacks mounted by
Satan and his demons.
In this book we look at Jesus confrontations with Satan
and evil spirits, and nd principles that can guide us whenever
we are called upon to aid a person sufering from demoniza-
tion. We will also learn about general combat for the day-
to-day warfare with demons that every believer faces. In the
(Unpublished manuscriptcopyright protected Baker Publishing Group)
_Richards_SpiritualWarfare_NS_wo.indd 9 7/7/14 4:10 PM
Larry Richards, Ph.D., Spiritual Warfare, Jesus' Way
Chosen Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2014. Used by permission.
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appendix we look at, and comment on, every reference in the
gospels to Christs conict with evil spirits. In the process
we will learn how we can be instruments of Gods redemp-
tive grace, and continue Christs ministry of setting Satans
captivesourselves includedfree.
Raleigh, North Carolina
October 2013
(Unpublished manuscriptcopyright protected Baker Publishing Group)
_Richards_SpiritualWarfare_NS_wo.indd 10 7/7/14 4:10 PM
Larry Richards, Ph.D., Spiritual Warfare, Jesus' Way
Chosen Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2014. Used by permission.
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(Unpublished manuscriptcopyright protected Baker Publishing Group)
(Unpublished manuscriptcopyright protected Baker Publishing Group)
_Richards_SpiritualWarfare_NS_wo.indd 11 7/7/14 4:10 PM
Larry Richards, Ph.D., Spiritual Warfare, Jesus' Way
Chosen Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2014. Used by permission.
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s the rst book of the Bible opens, God shapes a
world as a home for humankind. He lls this world
with beauty and with living creatures, which He calls
good. He regulates the course of the stars in the heavens.
He patterns day and night, with season following season, to
provide the world with stability and security. And then God
creates human beings in His own image and likeness
(Genesis 1:26).
It is clear in the Genesis account that God created us in His
image so that He might love us and that we might return His
love. Animal life is good, but after creating humans God
pronounced His handiwork very good. And God sought
out the rst humans in a Garden He designed for their delight,
to walk and talk with them.
The picture drawn in Genesis 1 and 2 is one of God and
humans sharing an essential likeness, taking delight in each
other. This picture reminds us that the Bible basically tells
(Unpublished manuscriptcopyright protected Baker Publishing Group)
_Richards_SpiritualWarfare_NS_wo.indd 13 7/7/14 4:10 PM
Larry Richards, Ph.D., Spiritual Warfare, Jesus' Way
Chosen Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2014. Used by permission.
kTS THL V S LLL VAk
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a love story. Scripture is about the relationship between the
Creator and unique creatures He fashioned with the capacity
to know and to love Him, even as He knows and loves us.
But the idyllic vision of early Genesis is soon shattered.
A stranger appears, hosted in the body of a serpent, whose
intent is to drive a wedge between God and human; to distort
and destroy the love relationship that existed at the beginning.
We all know who the enemy is from our Sunday school
days. Even children understand that the serpent represents
Gods enemy, Satan. Even children understand that Satan
succeeded in alienating human beings from the Creator. As
an early American primer for schoolchildren rhymed, In
Adams fall/we sinned all.
The problem with the Sunday school approach, however, is
that the treatment of the storywhile factually accurateis
supercial. There are signicant issues raised in early Genesis
that we tend to ignore.
Genesis 1, for instance, usually is taken as a description
of the original creation of the universe. The account of each
days work describes what God did to fashion the heavenly
bodies and the planet that is our home. But there is no men-
tion of the strangers creation in a single one of the seven days.
So where did Satan come from? And when did Satan come?
Answers to these questions provide important insights into
the nature of an invisible war that is still being waged in a
dimension that is largely hidden from our view. Yet one thing
is clear from the Genesis account: Wherever Satan came from
and whenever he came, this being has an impact on our world.
Later in the Genesis story, Adam and Eve are driven from
the Garden that God fashioned for them. At that time God
places something called cherubim on the east side of the
Garden to guard the way to the tree of life (Genesis 3:24).
Commentators difer on the mission of the cherubim. Were
(Unpublished manuscriptcopyright protected Baker Publishing Group)
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Larry Richards, Ph.D., Spiritual Warfare, Jesus' Way
Chosen Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2014. Used by permission.
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they placed there to keep Adam and Eve from returning to the
Garden? Or were they placed there to keep Satan from closing
of forever the possibility of endless life for human beings?
Whatever the reason, early Genesis speaks of a stranger
who succeeds in alienating Adam and Eve from the Creator.
Early Genesis also identies another kind of being, cherubim,
armed with a aming sword and charged with guarding the
way to the Tree of Life.
Again, any Sunday school student can identify both the
stranger and the cherubim. Ask a child, and she will tell you
that the rst is a bad angel and the second is a good angel.
But even her teacher is unlikely to notice that neither of these
beings is mentioned in the Creation account. Even the teacher
is unlikely to see the signicance of their appearance here,
in the opening chapters of the book of Genesis. Yet their ap-
pearance here truly is signicant. The appearance of Satan
and the cherubim tells us that there is a dimension beyond
our own, and that beings from this dimension can enter our
world. And it tells us that these beings can impact you and
me in what we too often think of as the real world.
What is more, early Genesis tells us much about the stranger
and about what is happening in this other dimension, a dimen-
sion we often call the spiritual world, but which the apostle
Paul calls the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:12). What does
Genesis tell us? First, that there is at least one being in the
spiritual world who is the enemy of the Creator. He is lled
with animosity for the Creator and is determined to do every-
thing he can to disrupt Gods plan for human beings. This
enemy is intent on turning these creatures God loves against
Him, and on twisting their love for Him into fear.
Second, the aming sword held by the cherubim tells us
that God has His supporters in the spiritual realm. It also
indicates that there is active warfare going on there between
(Unpublished manuscriptcopyright protected Baker Publishing Group)
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Larry Richards, Ph.D., Spiritual Warfare, Jesus' Way
Chosen Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2014. Used by permission.
kTS THL V S LLL VAk
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Satan, with any forces he might have, and the Creator, with
the angels who are committed to His cause.
And once again, we are shown that this war between God
and Satan, although conducted in a spiritual realm to which
we have no access, can and does have an impact on us in our
world.

In a moment we will look more closely at the stranger,

Satan, to discover his origin and motives. And we will look
more closely at his followers, for Satan does have followers.
But for now it is enough to recognize that a spiritual world,
populated by beings who are at war with each other, is re-
vealed in the earliest chapters of the Word of God. And it
is enough to see in these early chapters of Genesis that the
war is not fought in the heavenlies alone. Earth, too, is a
battleeld. Even as the forces of evil corrupted Adam and
Eve, so Satans forces seek to corrupt human beings today.
What is so exciting to me in writing this book is the real-
ization that you and I are not simply spectators (or victims)
of this invisible war. God has called and equipped us to be
warriors. And as spiritual warriors we can conquer evil spirits
when they attack us and our fellow human beings.
As we read deeper into this book we will learn how to
conduct spiritual warfare Jesus way, to set others, and our-
selves, free.
(Unpublished manuscriptcopyright protected Baker Publishing Group)
_Richards_SpiritualWarfare_NS_wo.indd 16 7/7/14 4:10 PM
Larry Richards, Ph.D., Spiritual Warfare, Jesus' Way
Chosen Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2014. Used by permission.