Breaking Spiritual Strongholds in You City. By Peter Wagner
Five years, or even two years from this writing we will certainly know more about spiritual mapping than we do today. Nevertheless, in the providence of God.
He has been raising up a fairly small group of people from many parts of the world who have actually been doing spiritual mapping for up to 20 years and have accumulated considerable experience.
I believe that more than any other book I have written, this one emerged from the immediate leading of God. I had planned on doing a series of three books on prayer beginning with Warfare Prayer and Prayer Shield, both of which Regal Books has now published.
The third was to be a book on prayer relating to the local church. All three are for the purpose of seeing strategic, targeted prayer contribute toward the acceleration of world evangelization.
But God interrupted me and I strongly sensed that I was to do this book on spiritual mapping next because God wanted church leaders to have a practical guidebook for implementing what the Spirit is saying to the churches about spiritual mapping now.
When I began to raise the objection that I did not know enough about spiritual mapping to do a whole book, God seemed to become more specific.
I clearly recall in my prayer time in a motel in Portland, Oregon, I sensed an anointing from the Lord and in less than 45 minutes I had written out on my yellow pad the basic outline of the book.
Undoubtedly other Christian leaders in the world could match the insights and wisdom of these authors, but I doubt if many would surpass them.
Those who contributed to this book are from the United States, Sweden, Guatemala, and Argentina. Each one of them began spiritual mapping without training or contacts with others who were doing it.
Now they are communicating with each other through the Spiritual Warfare Network, and they are both amazed and gratified that for years they had each been receiving similar instructions from the Lord.
MEET THE CONTRIBUTORS
What is spiritual mapping? Several of our experts have given their definitions, all of which reinforce and complement the others. The nontechnical condensed definition is: An attempt to see our (fill in the region to be mapped) as it really is, not as it appears to be.
This comes from George Otis, Jr., who, through his works such as The Last of the Giants (Chosen Books) and his worldwide ministry with The Sentinel Group and the A.D. 2000 United Prayer Track, is regarded by many including myself as the top leader of the field.
I was delighted when George agreed to contribute the first chapter and provide an overview of the philosophy of spiritual mapping in general.
As the founder and president of Generals of Intercession, Cindy Jacobs excels both in the teaching of strategic-level spiritual warfare and in leading pastors and intercessors to actually practice it out in the field.
Her chapter on strongholds will clarify many questions that are frequently raised. Cindy’s book, Possessing the Gates of the Enemy (Chosen Books), is an enlightening training manual for militant intercession and has been highly acclaimed.
Kjell Sjöberg has been known for his ministry of strategic-level spiritual intercession, prophetic prayer actions, and spiritual mapping longer than any of the other authors.
His book, Winning the Prayer War (Sovereign World), breaks new ground for us in this field. No one else I know could relate spiritual mapping to prophetic prayer actions with the insight and field experience that Kjell brings to his chapter.
Along with my chapter on “The Visible and the Invisible,” which I consider one of the most important essays I have written in recent years, this group provides the “Principles” section of this book.
For the “Practice” section I have chosen three practitioners from three different nations, each of whom is deeply engaged in spiritual mapping and each of whom began with virtually no help, instruction, or models from others.
The Practice Section
Harold Caballeros, the pastor of El Shaddai Church in Guatemala, which currently counts the president of Guatemala and his family among their active membership, is the first pastor in whose personal study I found more textbooks on archaeology than commentaries on Romans.
Not that Harold neglects informed biblical exposition in his pastoral ministry, but he takes very seriously the need for understanding the spiritual forces that have shaped his community since the time of the Mayan empire.
His chapter will take you right to the heart of the issue.
Bob Beckett has perhaps been able to monitor more closely than any of the others the actual results of spiritual mapping and strategic-level spiritual warfare in his local church, The Dwelling Place Family Church, and in his community of Hemet, California.
When I teach my course on this subject at Fuller, I ask Bob to do the lecture on spiritual mapping, then I take the entire class out to Hemet for a spiritual mapping field trip, which Bob leads. When you read his chapter, you will get a glimpse of what our Fuller students are learning through him.
I mention Victor Lorenzo frequently in my book Warfare Prayer (Regal Books), because Argentina has emerged as our chief field laboratory for testing strategic-level spiritual warfare, and Victor has been a key participant in the process.
As he explains, he has worked together a great deal with Cindy Jacobs. Of all our authors, Victor has uncovered more specific information on the enemy’s forces in a given city, including discovering the proper names of some of the territorial spirits. The evangelistic outcome has been gratifying.
