40 Bible Verses about Spiritual Warfare, Causes Of

Remember, God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them down to Tartarus, and committed them to caverns of darkness, to be kept under guard for judgment.

The Presiding-Officer should not be a recent convert, that he may not be blinded by pride and fall under the same condemnation as the Devil.

For ours is no struggle against enemies of flesh and blood, but against all the various Powers of Evil that hold sway in the Darkness around us, against the Spirits of Wickedness on high.

For God has rescued us from the tyranny of Darkness, and has removed us into the Kingdom of his Son, who is the embodiment of his love,

He rid himself of all the Powers of Evil, and held them up to open contempt, when he celebrated his triumph over them on the cross!

Then a battle took place in the heavens. Michael and his angels fought with the Dragon. But though the Dragon, with his angels, fought, he did not prevail; and there was no place left for them any longer in the heavens. Then the great Dragon, the primeval Serpent, known as the 'Devil' and 'Satan,' who deceives all the world, was hurled down to the earth, and his angels were hurled down with him.

No man who has got into a strong man's house can carry off his goods, without first securing him; and not till then will he plunder his house.

How, again, can any one get into a strong man's house and carry off his goods, without first securing him? And not till then will he plunder his house.

And Jesus replied: "I have had visions of Satan, fallen, like lightning from the heavens.

Now this world is on its trial. Now the Spirit that is ruling this world shall be driven out;

Therefore, since human nature is the common heritage of 'the Children,' Jesus also shared it, in order that by death he might render powerless him whose power lies in death--that is, the Devil--

He who lives sinfully belongs to the Devil, for the Devil has sinned from the first. It was for this that the Son of God appeared, that he might undo the Devil's work.

when the Dragon saw that he was hurled down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.

Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. The Devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tempted, and may undergo persecution for ten days. Be faithful even to death, and I will give you the Crown of Life.

It had been permitted to fight with Christ's People and to conquer them, and it had received power over men of every tribe, and people, and language, and nation.

Men whose minds have been blinded by the God of this Age, unbelievers as they are, so that the light from the Good News of the glory of the Christ, who is the very incarnation of God, should not shine for them.

When any one hears the Message of the Kingdom without understanding it, the Evil One comes and snatches away what has been sown in his mind. This is the man meant by the seed which was sown along the path.

The People meant by the seed that falls along the path are these--where the Message is sown, but, as soon as they have heard it, Satan immediately comes and carries away the Message that has been sown in them.

By the seed which fell along the path are meant those who hear the Message; but then comes the Devil and carries away the Message from their minds, to prevent their believing it and being saved.

The field is the world. By the good seed is meant the People of the Kingdom. The tares are the wicked, And the enemy who sowed them is the Devil. The harvest-time is the close of the age, and the reapers are angels.

For, although we had experienced suffering and ill-treatment, as you know, at Philippi, we had the courage, by the help of our God, to tell you God's Good News in spite of great opposition.

Meanwhile Stephen, divinely helped and strengthened, was showing great wonders and signs among the people. But some members of the Synagogue known as that of Libertines, Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and Visitors from Cilicia and Roman Asia, were roused to action and began disputing with Stephen; Yet they were quite unable to withstand the wisdom and the inspiration with which he spoke.read more.
Then they induced some men to assert that they had heard Stephen saying blasphemous things against Moses, and against God; And they stirred up the people, as well as the Councillors and the Teachers of the Law, and set upon Stephen, and arrested him, and brought him before the High Council. There they produced witnesses who gave false evidence. "This man," they said, "is incessantly saying things against this Holy Place and the Law; Indeed, we have heard him declare that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this Place, and change the customs handed down to us by Moses."

As they listened to this, the Council grew frantic with rage, and gnashed their teeth at Stephen. He, filled as he was with the Holy Spirit, fixed his eyes intently on the heavens, and saw the Glory of God and Jesus standing at God's right hand. "Look," he exclaimed, "I see Heaven open and the Son of Man standing at God's right hand!"read more.
At this, with a loud shout, they stopped their ears and all rushed upon him, forced him outside the city, And began to stone him, the witnesses laying their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.

Saul approved of his being put to death. On that very day a great persecution broke out against the Church which was in Jerusalem; and its members, with the exception of the Apostles, were all scattered over the districts of Judea and Samaria. Some religious men buried Stephen, with loud lamentations for him. But Saul began to devastate the Church; he entered house after house, dragged out men and women alike, and threw them into prison.

After passing through the whole island, they reached Paphos, where they found an astrologer who pretended to be a Prophet--a Jew by birth, whose name was Barjoshua. He was at the court of the Governor, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who sent for Barnabas and Saul and asked to be told God's Message. But Elymas, the astrologer (for that is the meaning of the word), opposed them, eager to divert the Governor's attention from the Faith.read more.
However, Saul (who is the same as Paul), full of the Holy Spirit, fixed his eyes on him and said: "You incarnation of deceit and all fraud! You son of the Devil! You opponent of all that is good! Will you never cease to divert 'the straight paths of the Lord'? Listen! The hand of the Lord is upon you even now, and you will be blind for a time and unable to see the sun." Immediately a mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went feeling about for some one to guide him. When the Governor saw what had happened, he became a believer in Christ, being greatly impressed by the teaching about the Lord.

But, when the Jews of Thessalonica found out that God's Message had been delivered by Paul at Beroea, they came there too, exciting and disturbing the minds of the people.

However, as they set themselves against him and became abusive, Paul shook his clothes in protest and said to them: "Your blood be on your own heads. My conscience is clear. From this time forward I shall go to the Gentiles."

After some time the Jews laid a plot to kill Saul,

And, when there was an attempt on the part of both Gentiles and Jews, with their leading men, to resort to violence and to stone them,

One day, as we were on our way to the Place of Prayer, we were met by a girl possessed by a divining spirit, who made large profits for her masters by fortune-telling. This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, calling: "These men are servants of the most high God, and they are bringing you news of a way to Salvation." She had been doing this for several days, when Paul, much vexed, turned and said to the spirit within her: "In the Name of Jesus Christ I command you to leave her." That very moment the spirit left her.read more.
When her masters saw that there was no hope of further profit from her, they seized Paul and Silas, dragged them into the public square to the authorities, And took them before the Magistrates. "These men are causing a great disturbance in our town," they complained; "They are Jews, and they are teaching customs which it is not right for us, as Romans, to sanction or adopt." On this the mob rose as one man against them, and the Magistrates stripped them of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods. After beating them severely, the Magistrates put them in prison, with orders to the Governor of the Jail to keep them in safe custody. On receiving so strict an order, the Governor put them into the inner cell, and secured their feet in the stocks.

But the Jews, becoming jealous, engaged some worthless fellows from the streets, and, getting a mob together, kept the city in an uproar. They attacked Jason's house, with the intention of bringing Paul and Silas before the Popular Assembly; And, not finding them there, they proceeded to drag Jason and some of the Brethren before the City Magistrates, shouting out: "These men, who have turned the world upside down, have now come here,

Just about that time a great disturbance arose about the Cause. A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver models of the shrine of Artemis, and so gave a great deal of work to the artisans, Got these men together, as well as the workmen engaged in similar occupations, and said: "Men, you know that our prosperity depends upon this work,read more.
And you see and hear that not only at Ephesus, but in almost the whole of Roman Asia, this Paul has convinced and won over great numbers of people, by his assertion that those Gods which are made by hands are not Gods at all. So that not only is this business of ours likely to fall into discredit, but there is the further danger that the Temple of the great Goddess Artemis will be thought nothing of, and that she herself will be deprived of her splendor--though all Roman Asia and the whole world worship her." When they heard this, the men were greatly enraged, and began shouting--"Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" The commotion spread through the whole city, and the people rushed together into the amphitheater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, two Macedonians who were Paul's traveling companions.

He was about to sail to Syria, when he learned that a plot had been laid against him by the Jews; so he decided to return by way of Macedonia.

But, just as the seven days were drawing to a close, the Jews from Roman Asia caught sight of Paul in the Temple, and caused great excitement among all the people present, by seizing Paul and shouting: "Men of Israel! help! This is the man who teaches every one everywhere against our People, our Law, and this Place; and, what is more, he has actually brought Greeks into the Temple and defiled this sacred place." (For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in Paul's company in the city, and were under the belief that Paul had taken him into the Temple.)read more.
The whole city was stirred, and the people quickly collected, seized Paul, and dragged him out of the Temple, when the doors were immediately shut. They were bent upon killing him, when it was reported to the Officer commanding the garrison, that all Jerusalem was in commotion. He instantly got together some officers and men, and charged down upon the crowd, who, when they saw the Commanding Officer and his men, stopped beating Paul. Then he went up to Paul, arrested him, ordered him to be doubly chained, and proceeded to inquire who he was, and what he had been doing. Some of the crowd said one thing, and some another; and, as he could get no definite reply on account of the uproar, he ordered Paul to be taken into the barracks. When Paul reached the steps, he was actually being carried by the soldiers, owing to the violence of the mob; For the people were following in a mass, shouting out: "Kill him!"

In the morning the Jews combined together, and took an oath that they would not eat or drink till they had killed Paul. There were more than forty in the plot; And they went to the Chief Priests and the Councillors, and said: "We have taken a solemn oath not to touch food till we have killed Paul.read more.
So we want you now, with the consent of the Council, to suggest to the Commanding Officer that he should bring Paul down before you, as though you intended to go more fully into his case; but, before he comes here, we will be ready to make away with him."

And asked a favor of him, to Paul's injury--to have Paul brought to Jerusalem. All the while they were plotting to make away with him on the road.

The Dragon was enraged at the woman, and went to fight with the rest of her offspring-- those who lay to heart the commands of God and bear their testimony to Jesus; and he took his stand on the sea-shore.

Simon! Simon! listen. Satan demanded leave to sift you all like wheat, But I prayed for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. And you, when you have returned to me, are to strengthen your Brothers."

Yes, and all who aim at living a religious life in union with Christ Jesus will have to suffer persecution;

Exercise self-control, be watchful. Your adversary, the Devil, like a roaring lion, is prowling about, eager to devour you.