Thomas, Steven - 206880
EVAN 670-001
The Adversary
Summary
Spiritual warfare is a topic within the Western Christian World that is not usually
spoken about very often, nor is it actually dealt with much either. Mark I. Bubeck
understands this fact and because of this, he decided to write a book entitled The
Adversary. The book was written for the purpose of helping to open up the eyes of
Christians especially in the Western World about the very real world of spiritual warfare.
Throughout the book, Bubeck gives countless examples of how the devil and the demons
love to attack Christians and make them seriously injured in the realm of a war that they
more often than not do not acknowledge as being a real war. The book gives a Biblical
perspective of how the war in the spiritual realm should be fought, it gives examples of
how the author has engaged in spiritual warfare and won through the power of Christ, as
well as it gives recommendations of how to fight different spiritual battles as well.
Bubeck starts off his book with the Biblical basis for spiritual warfare. He makes
certain that the reader understands that spiritual warfare must be grounded in solid
Biblical doctrine, not emotions. Bubeck states, “The believer’s emphasis in spiritual
warfare must be upon a Biblical, doctrinal approach to the subject. Subjective feelings,
emotional desires, and fervent sincerity are not sufficient ground against Satan. He yields
no ground to emotion or sincerity.”1 This is pretty self-explanatory due to the fact that
Satan has been doing the whole spiritual warfare thing for quite some time. It is
important for Christians to remember that their power lies in the fact that they are washed
in the blood of the Lamb, not in anything else. Bubeck emphasizes that in order to
effectively fight the devil, Christians must cling to the Word of God as their source for
defeating the enemy that they face. The ability that a Christian has rests solely in this.
1 Mark I. Bubeck. The Adversary: The Christian Versus Demon Activity. Chicago: Moody Press,
1975, 21.
Bubeck recognizes the fact that Christians have to fight against more than just
Satan. There are three main things that Christians have to fight against during their
respective life-times. These three things are as follows: the world, the flesh, and the
devil. Bubeck states: “Each of these enemies has a unique and particular role to play in
the warfare against believers. It is vital to our victory in the Lord Jesus Christ that we
know how each of these enemies seek to turn us aside from our purchased possession and
position of victory.”2 It is very important for those who have a relationship with Jesus
Christ to cling to His saving grace and to not allow anything to hinder their relationship
with Him. When this happens, especially for new Christians, it becomes much easier to
allow the devil to get a foothold in one’s life. Bubeck shares many stories about
Christians in both states, whether new Christians or older ones who have faltered in their
relationship with Christ, only to get sucked down into a worldly mind-set, that is coupled
with sometimes getting attacked by demons or sometimes demonized. This ends up
greatly hindering their walk with Christ. Bubeck goes on from this foundation in order
to explain the importance of fighting the spiritual battle on a consistent basis.
Bubeck first addresses the importance of the Christians battle against the flesh.
He makes reference to the most well-known passage about the Christians struggle with
the flesh, which is found in Romans 7:15-25. The passage is a very accurate passage
about the way that most people view their walk with Christ and how the struggle to avoid
sinning happens. Bubeck tells a story about the intimacy of this Scripture; he says that a
small group from his church was meeting and the man that was reading the passage in
The Living Bible translation and the passage felt so personal that he called out the leader
2 Mark I. Bubeck. The Adversary: The Christian Versus Demon Activity. Chicago: Moody Press,
1975, 22.
for having him read it.3 Ironically enough, his wife also had the same feelings about the
passage for him and thanked the leader for having him read it. The battle with the flesh is
one that is extremely tough and wars on more and more as our life goes on. It is never
quite done.
Bubeck goes on to describe the fact that we as Christians are also involved with
war against the world system that is currently in place. The system that is set up in the
world is one that was set up by sin in the Garden of Eden and essentially governed by
Satan. Everyday, Christians are bombarded with advertisements and news stories of
horrible things going on in the world. Believers cannot escape from this system, but
must be willing to fight the desire to be sucked into a life that is ungodly! This is
something that can be extremely difficult, especially if the individual has a hard history
before becoming saved. It must be fought continually.
Bubeck also goes into depth in explaining the importance of being wary about the
devil getting a foothold over one’s life, even as a believer. He tells a story about his
daughter who had an extremely hard time sleeping and had very odd symptoms with that.
It eventually turned into such a large problem that the Bubeck’s took their daughter to the
doctor to see if he could figure out what the problem was. The doctor did a thorough
examination and came to the conclusion that he could find nothing wrong with her.
Bubeck then realized that it was spiritual warfare at a high level. So, when the time was
right, both he and his daughter went to war against the enemy and found that she had
some demons that were antagonizing her that had names that were similar to the
symptoms she was experiencing.4 He said that this was a huge breakthrough in
3 Mark I. Bubeck. The Adversary: The Christian Versus Demon Activity. Chicago: Moody Press,
1975, 26.
4
Mark I. Bubeck. The Adversary: The Christian Versus Demon Activity. Chicago: Moody Press,
1975, 119.
understanding the importance of the warfare in the spiritual realm. The book does a solid
job of explaining the elements of spiritual warfare. Bubeck outlined the Biblical concept
of spiritual warfare throughout the book.
Critique and Evaluation
Mark Bubeck does an excellent job of outlining the importance of being aware of
spiritual warfare. He goes through the importance of having a Biblical perspective about
the realm of spiritual warfare. The book clearly separates three different types of
struggles that Christians will have. The struggles that every Christian faces involve a
struggle with their flesh, a struggle with the worldly life and a struggle with the actual
spiritual realm of demons. The assessment that Bubeck makes in this is one that is very
accurate Biblically. 1 John 2 mentions some of these aspects of spiritual warfare as well
as 1 Peter 5 also mentions the war Christians have with the Devil and his demons. The
fact that Bubeck starts the book with explaining that we have to deal with all three of
these things in the realm of spiritual warfare shows that he is committed to Biblically
attacking this aspect of a believers life. This is an extremely important aspect of writing
any book that is about a topic as intense as this one.
Bubeck does an excellent job of making this book practical for the everyday
Christian. He makes it clear that he believes that the American Christians do not believe
that there is much spiritual warfare that goes on within the United States. Bubeck makes
a case that they are wrong and that Satan has deceived them into believing this way.5
Bubeck explains the realm of Satan as the Bible describes it and it becomes clear that
Satan is using this mentality as a lie to deceive the Christians in America.
5
Ibid, 17.
Bubeck spends some time within the book writing about the importance of having
solid prayers that are geared towards spiritual warfare. The importance of the aspect of
prayer is heavily emphasized in this book. This is something that Bubeck does well in
the book. He gives many examples of the way that the different aspects of the spiritual
life in warfare can be addressed in strong prayers. Prayer is an important aspect of this
area of a Christian’s life due to the fact that the power of Christ is the only way that one
can overcome an attack by a demon. Mark 9:18-30 is a story that is about the disciples
trying to drive out a demon and they could not. Jesus ends up doing it and he tells them
that the reason that they could not drive it out was because it was one that had to be
driven out with much prayer. Bubeck’s emphasis on prayer in regards to spiritual
warfare is backed up with much Scripture and is Biblically accurate.
While this aspect of the book is ultimately a good thing, there is one part of it that
could be an area of concern. Bubeck has many prayers written out that he suggests that
readers use in their own personal lives when getting prepared for the day or for spiritual
warfare or for many different aspects of life. While it is definitely a good idea to give a
guide for others to use in their prayer lives, it is important for people to know that their
own prayer life should not be dictated by someone else’s. Bubeck does not put enough
emphasis on the fact that one’s own personal prayer life needs to be their own, not
anyone else’s. The reader of this book needs to make sure that he/she understands that
these prayers are not necessarily meant to be followed exactly word for word, but should
be used as more of a guide. It could become easy for someone to think that the prayers
are necessary to say word for word and use that as a religious guise that would end up
discouraging them when they realized they were not working and missed the power
behind them.
Bubeck also does a solid job of explaining the importance of Christians putting on
the full armor of God within their own Christian lives. The emphasis on this is very
evident and Bubeck makes a point to show that an important aspect of fighting against
the enemy is putting on the full armor of God. Bubeck says, “Paul tells us in Ephesians
6:10 that we must put on the whole armor of God that we might stand against the wiles of
the Devil. That word wiles conveys the picture of a cunning, crafty, sneaky enemy. He
is extremely subtle and clever about the way he works against us.”6 Bubeck is very
accurate in his assessment that in order to adequately fight the devil, we must be willing
to put on the full armor of God as outlined in Ephesians, as well as be willing to allow the
Holy Spirit to work through ones life in the battle. It is necessary to use each and every
piece of armor that we have been equipped with in order to adequately fight the enemy.
The Bible makes this crystal clear. Bubeck does a solid job of explaining the importance
of following up with putting on the armor on a daily basis.
As a whole, Bubeck does a wonderful job explaining the importance of being
aware of spiritual warfare as a Christian. The essence of following Him in everything we
do is clearly stated and is summed up well in the book. Bubeck goes over the three main
areas of struggle for any Christian, and explains how it is possible to defeat these areas of
life through Scripture and through taking hold of what Christ has done on the cross for all
Christians. It is imperative that Christians take hold of the power they have in Christ in
order to adequately fight the Devil and his demons.
Personal Application
This book is a book that really challenged me to think about some different
things. The element of spiritual warfare is something that most Christians do not give
6 Mark I. Bubeck. The Adversary: The Christian Versus Demon Activity. Chicago: Moody Press,
1975, 70.
much thought to, other than for thinking that there may be some puny little demons out
there and that there may be some small baby-like angels as well and that they do not need
to worry about it. While this is not the view that I had on the element of spiritual
warfare, I sure needed a reality check as to how prevalent the war in the spiritual realm is.
The war within the spiritual realm is one that is constantly going on. The passage in
Daniel that talks about how Gabriel tried for three weeks to get to Daniel to give him a
message, but that a demon had resisted him. During that time, Daniel had been fasting
and praying due to the fact that there was a vision that had been seen by the king that he
had to give the interpretation for. The fact that it took Gabriel that long to get to Daniel,
plus the fact that Michael the archangel had to come to help him shows me that the
spiritual realm is constantly at war. The story inspires me to spend more time in personal
prayer as well.
Due to the fact that I currently have a pretty consistent devotional time already, I
decided that the best idea in order to spend more time in prayer about the specific area of
spiritual warfare, I should designate a specific time during the day to do just that. Due to
the nature of my life as an RA, the best time to do this would be right after I finish curfew
checks. I plan on going into one of the empty rooms on the hall and spending at least
fifteen minutes per night praying for the hall and the university in the area of spiritual
warfare. I expect this time to be a beneficial time for me as well as for the people that I
end up praying for. The fact that I will be committed to doing this will lead me on a path
of being able to further my own relationship with Christ and in this, probably help me in
the aspect of spiritual warfare. The focus put on this area of the spiritual life will enable
me to be more sensitive to spiritual things.
Bubeck’s book only encourages me to continue strong in my faith. His
commitment to being solid in his doctrine is an example that many more Christians
nowadays can and should follow. Due to the fact that he spends so much time explaining
the fact that correct doctrine is the main way to have success in spiritual warfare, he
encourages the reader to make sure that they are checking the doctrine that he puts forth
with the Bible. This is an encouragement in the regards that the ideas and thoughts that I
put down must also be accurate Biblically. Due to this encouragement, I will personally
spend more time cross-referencing and investigating the meaning of certain Scriptures
and ideas before actually implementing them into anything that I teach now or down the
road. This is another goal that I will have in regards to reading this book.
Overall, Bubeck does an excellent job of writing this book and encouraging
believers to spend more time in thinking and engaging in spiritual warfare. The Biblical
backing and basis that he uses is excellent in explaining his point. The stories that he
uses to engage his readers in understanding the weight of spiritual warfare are very heavy
and emphasize the reality of a spiritual realm that is frequently at battle all around us,
usually unbeknownst to us as Christians. This book has been an encouragement to me in
explaining the importance of the aspect of spiritual warfare in a Christian’s life and how
vital it is to our Christian walk.
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