Tim Temple's  critique of 
Needless Casualties of War
by John Paul Jackson

I have had a number of people quote John Paul Jackson's book to me when I explained my ministry. I recently bought the book & read it, to critique it and learn from it.  I found a lot of good points in it; I also found a  fundamental flaw and a lot of resulting conclusions in it.

In the preface he wrote, "It is my belief that unless you understand the parameters of our delegated authority and some practical guidelines on how to properly engage in spiritual warfare, there's a strong possibility that you could become an unfortunate victim of war." I agree completely with the second point, but I think he made up the first point out of whole cloth. Also, anyone who wishes to live a righteous life in Christ Jesus could become an unfortunate victim of war. Most of the Christians I have had to clean up from attacks were not intercessors or spiritual mappers.

The main problem I have with his book is that God supposedly delegates authority and position to demons in a second heaven. John writes about this on page 33.  

John refers to the Jewish supplementary books (called the "Talmud" and the "Kabbalah")  on page 140 as his first justification.  They go into depth about seven heavens with God in the seventh.  They both state that the second heaven is occupied by Zachariel and Raphael, not Satan as John Paul states.  That means John Paul is wrong at best.  See this link. 

His point seems to be contradicted by Revelations 12:9 where Satan is cast down below the first heaven to Earth. What the "second heaven" is all about we don't know; the Bible says nothing about it.

This assumption is foundational to his book. One conclusion from his assumption is that God established these demons higher than us, so they are greater than us. Another conclusion is that God ordained the demons to this second heaven, so opposing them would be opposing God.  A conclusion from this is that intercessors only get attacked because they overstep God's protection from demons and spiritual mappers only get attacked because they get proud from their knowledge. Since the foundation is wrong, the conclusions are also wrong.

To defend this chain of logic, John Paul uses a lot of scripture. As I went through the book, I found each part of his scriptural defense didn't hold up.

This theology causes the intercessors to pull their punches or get out of this ministry.  It causes spiritual mappers to hesitate or get out of the field altogether for fear of getting proud by engaging in too much research.  It also causes intercessors to not defend themselves, assuming they are protected by not attacking the command & control demons -- and getting blasted because that's not so.

The revival in Colombia started when they bound the demonic powers and principalities in the region.  God blessed them.  God did not curse them for attacking what He had established.  This is the second witness that he is wrong.

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Back to the preface. John wrote about "practical guidelines on how to properly engage in spiritual warfare." A lot of what he wrote is good, but there was nothing original.

I have found the more strategic "command & control" demons have more sophisticated defenses, but they can still be blown away. They use retaliatory spirits, lost souls, charms, seals, group curses, etc.  We need to learn to defend ourselves, hide and take the battle to our human & demonic opponents. We need divine guidance to know what tactics to use. We need to cover each other's backs.

Revival takes lots of prayer and fasting -- and protection for those involved in it. Those who are dedicated against revival are susceptible to salvation prayer & deliverance. The territorial spirits need to be cleaned up. All of this must be done with the Lord's permission.