Spirit Wars: Winning the Invisible Battle Against Sin and the Enemy

This is the best book I have read on the subject of spiritual warfare. I read it in two days, and immediately began the book again! It is excellent. I highly recommend this book!

First I will list examples from the book that show how unbelievable his personal stories are. Then, although much could be written about his bad theology (false teachings), I will give you only two examples. If these two examples don't make you want to run the other way, I doubt more examples will.

Unbelievable personal stories:
1- Pages 21-23 Vallotin describes how "I was having a panic attack, not a heart attack. Little did I know that this was the beginning of a three-and-a-half-year journey through hell." He then goes on to describe how debilitating this was: "It took all the strength I could muster just to get out of bed each morning."
Now here comes the unbelievable part: Vallotin goes on to recount how during this time, and in his condition, he is able to not only move his entire family from Sunnyvale, CA, up to the Trinity Alps town of Lewiston, CA, but he also starts up a business: "We opened a small automotive repair shop in Weaverville, CA.

You tell me: how can a man having panic attacks so severe he can hardly climb out of bed in the morning manage to relocate his family to another town a couple hundred miles away, AND start up a business? UNBELIEVABLE!

2- Pages 48-49 "At the conferences I spoke at around the world, I posed this simple question: `How many of you have been driving down the road, minding your own business, when out of the blue you have the thought that you should crash your car into something and kill yourself, followed by an unction so intense that you feel as though you have to hold onto the steering wheel with both hands just so you don't do something stupid? Please raise your hands if this has happened to you.' The results stunned me. I probably surveyed more than ten thousand people this past year, and two-thirds of them acknowledged having this exact experience."
Yeah, I'm stunned too, to think that anyone would believe this "survey". OK, all you Pastors out there, how about doing a survey with your congregation? Then you'll know how UNBELIEVABLE this story is.

3- "This story reminds me of a situation we faced with our youngest son, Jason. When he was fifteen, he found himself in a terrible battle with pornography. A couple of months into his struggle, he told Kathy and me about his bondage and his unsuccessful fight to free himself." OK, I admit that I think there is a slight chance that a fifteen year old might confide in his father that he's addicted to porn, but to also believe he confided to a member of the opposite sex, his mother? I find it highly unlikely and UNBELIEVABLE.

4- Page 108. "I experienced this first hand in 2004 when I had a serious colon problem. After more than a year of bleeding quite severely, I decided to see a doctor." After more than a year of severe bleeding he decided to go see a doctor? It's a wonder he was still alive. UNBELIEVABLE!

5- Page 139. I don't know how anyone that is being choked to death, such that they are gasping for breath once the death grip is released, is still able to yell at the attacker at the top of their voice, but Kris Vallotin can! UNBELIEVABLE! "We stepped into the tiny storage room the size of the small walk-in closet. Henry bowed his head, and I put my hand on his chest and began to pray. Before I could get to "in Jesus' name," Henry grabbed me by the throat and started choking me, screaming in a strange voice, "I've come to kill you...I've come to destroy you!" I shouted back, "I rebuke you in the name of Jesus! I plead the blood of Jesus over you! In Jesus' name, you murdering spirit, be gone!" Nothing seemed to work. If anything, Henry got more violent. He was shaking, choking, biting and scratching me. At one point, he grabbed my new uniform shirt and ripped it almost entirely off my body. Gasping for air, I decided to change my strategy by choking him back!"

BAD THEOLOGY
1- Kris Vallotin teaches that once we become believers, we no longer have a sin nature.
Pages 41-45 "Perhaps you are asking yourself, If we really are new creations and no longer battle with the flesh, then how is it that believers still sin? Doesn't this mean we still have a sin nature?" "But the goal of John's letter is that we would not sin, which is only possible if the cleansing we receive from Christ removed our old proneness to sin."
"What I am saying is that we no longer have a sin nature that is married to the Law." "....a deceptive theology keeps circulating through the Church - a doctrine that basically says it is still our nature to sin after we have been born again. I am convinced this is a doctrine of demons." "You have to make an effort to sin because it is no longer your nature."

Don't I wish! With all respect Mr. Vallotin, I think that your teachings are a doctrine of demons, as is anything that contradicts God's Word.

2- Page 130. Kris Vallotin would have you believe that once we receive Christ our heart is no longer wicked. This contradicts what God has to say in Jeremiah.
Kris says: "Our heart is the seat of our soul and the footstool of our spirit. When we received Christ, we underwent heart transplant surgery. Jesus Christ was the willing donor. We do not produce righteousness; we protect it. Righteousness is a part of our new nature that we received as a gift (see Romans 5:17). The enemy would love to convince us that our heart is wicked and our ways are evil, but the devil is a lying accuser."

God says in Jer 17:9 - The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?
This also is but one of many instances of how Kris Vallotin misinterprets Scripture. He references Romans 5:17 in support of his teaching.
Romans 5:17 says:
(ESV) For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

This Scripture tells us that that we receive an abundance of grace, and the free gift of righteousness through Jesus. It's Jesus' righteousness, and His grace that is given to us. That is not the same as saying Jesus gave us a new righteous heart. Our hearts are still deceitful, and desperately wicked.

So there you have it. This book, of all the books I have read in my life, is one of only about two or three that I just could not bring myself to finish reading. I couldn't continue past page 137 out of 203 pages. I believe Kris Vallotin's teachings to be false teachings containing many errors, and I would advise anyone seeking God's truth to steer clear of his teachings. You would be much better off studying God's Word along with reading a commentary like Matthew Henrys'. May God bless you in your search for the truth.

I could not give it even one star because I believe the book is dangerous. Ruling out the flesh as our enemy, goes against Scripture, which outlines the world, the flesh, and the devil as our enemies. I think this is done purposely by the author so that fleshly sins can be treated as demons and he can pretend to "cast" them out. That's why he can name demons lust, greed, suicide, depression, etc. He sees what Christ and the Apostles did as normative for believers rather than see their calling and authority as far more powerful than anything we could possess. He constantly attributes verses meant for Christ (e.g. putting Satan under His foot) to believers. His claim to have remained sinless for several weeks reveals a low view of Christ's sacrifice, a complete misunderstanding of the fallenness of man and malignity of sin, and an exalted view of self. While he correctly advises not talking to demons without Christ present, he still has examples of talking to demons rather than letting Christ do it all. Christ has the only power to rebuke or cast out demons. Man has no such power. He completely missed the message Nehemiah gave when he said "should a man like me take refuge in the temple?" Rather than point out his value, it stressed that he was nothing in God's eyes. Claiming that we are children of the King and have His authority may make us feel powerful but until Christ sets up His Kingdom, we have no power. He ends the book with a foolish account of his atheist grandfather's spoiling him with no consequences for clearly wrong and dangerous behavior and said it was the best example of love he could think of. Obviously Christ's sacrifice and love were insufficient. A horrible book that teaches nothing about true spiritual warfare, which is fully accomplished by the Gospel.

Spirit Wars is an interesting book to say the least. I was definitely intrigued by Kris Vallotton's personal testimony and experience with spiritual warfare. I have read many books on this topic and I have to say that this was a very different and unique book on the subject.

Kris Vallotton writes with honesty as he conveys his personal and spiritual experiences. The first chapter deals with the premise by which he wrote this book. His goal is for people to be set free from demonic strongholds. I also found it to be somewhat of a self help book. He discusses ways in which people can fall prey to depression and the importance of taking care of oneself. I found his views to be sound as he wasn't propagating that people should not take medicine if they suffer from depression.

Spirit Wars offered good advice in some regards. However, the following are concepts I had trouble with.

"We are no longer sinners. But we do have a devious, evil enemy who is a sinner." (Page 43)

"What I am saying is that we do not naturally sin because we no longer have a sin nature that is married to the Law." (Page 43)

"A deceptive theology keeps circulating through the Church--a doctrine that basically says it is still our nature to sin after we have been born again. I am convinced this is a doctrine of demons." (Page 44)

"In fact, I have gone several weeks in a row without sinning." (Page 45)

I am sure there are some who agree with Kris Vallotton's position, however, I'm not one of them. Truthfully, I had a lot of trouble with the above and also that he calls himself as a prophet. He may very well be, as I am no one to judge. However, I personally don't subscribe to titles or positions in the Church.

Overall, I thought Spirit Wars was an interesting and somewhat informative book. However, I would have personally liked to have seen more scriptural references pertaining to his experiences. I'm wary of ingesting information of this nature at hearsay. I believe one has to discern truth from falsehood by the Word of God which alleviates confusion and deception.

In conclusion, I would like to thank Mr. Hart of Baker Publishing Group for sending me a complimentary copy of this book to review.

Awesome awesome book!!! Kris is the real deal....his geniune heart comes out in this book as he gives a real approach to the spirit world and how to position yourself in it. Pages upon pages of firsthand knowlege....this book is priceless!

I Got this book Thursday Evening and finished it Friday Evening. It is not cumbersome, but very plain and easy to understand. Kris has a way of explaining the supernatural struggle we are surrounded by and engaged with in a manner that is easy to grasp. His own personal testimony and story of his own struggles and victories make the message easy to relate to.

I am so grateful that this book was written, and I am going to start reading through it again. It has been instrumental in helping me to understand God's grace and the Holy Spirit's empowering for living in victory. If you have struggled gaining victory over sin, or your "own" thoughts and emotions, this is an important book for you to read.

I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Thanks Kris ... I have been waiting for this book to come out since you spoke in one of your messages this past year about the process of coming back to it and getting it done. Pre-ordered it as soon as I knew I could ... November 18th. HaHa!
It arrived December 22 and I finished it up before I fell asleep last night. I so appreciate the in depth discussion of your second round with a nervous breakdown ... you describe burnout so precisely with your experience ... AND you addressed the multi-dimensional nature of it ... how to steward deliverance... healing ... FREEDOM!!! I've been walking this out over the past year and a half: my body said you will not push me any more ... with Jesus just over a year ... HaHa !!! You have an uncanny way of helping me hear and read scripture in a bran new fresh way that so opens my eyes ... an answer from God to a plea I made last December ... no surprise to me that my copy is already marked up with whatever color highlighter was near ... pink ... green, red pen ... even notes in the margin ... Awesome book! Thank you for the hell you went through to get this Freedom Message out! Blessings, Kris!

As its title suggests, Kris Vallotton's "Spirit Wars" is about warfare in the spiritual realm. Yet, as the author indicates (p. 179), the scope of this book primarily involves the personal level. More precisely, it focuses strictly on those facets of personal spiritual warfare that see its manifestations in demonic bondage and control.

Take it as a whole it is difficult to pinpoint the genre of this book. It is part autobiographic or personal testimony, part analytic in terms of how the warfare is fought. Oftentimes it carries a whiff of that of self-help literature; or maybe it is more correctly to be regarded as a teaching manual, to be used in the author's associated Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry.

The book is a straight-forward read although one must endure the copious clichés such as "The world is looking for something worth dying for so that they have something really worth living for" (p. 203). Sometimes, Vallotton's writing style can lapse to a point where his main argument is obscured (see paragraph titled "The Child Is a Warrior", p. 164-165).

The purpose of this review predominantly focuses on critiquing "Spirit Wars" as a book. There is no intention to evaluate the claims of its subject matter or the methods proposed in waging spiritual warfare due to limitation of space. It is also because, as the author asserts, what is written "has come out of his own personal experience" (p. 179) and to a large extent subjective. In the book, Vallotton make references to quite a few Bible passages such as those in Nehemiah and Joshua to support his thesis. He attempts to draw lessons from these Biblical characters in exposing the evil schemes of the devil and how believers can overcome by imitating the tactics of these characters. Some of Vallotton's exegesis, however, is faulty at best. Any serious student of Pauline theology would not equate Paul's loaded term "flesh" with man's physical body. (p. 40). In another instance, Vallotton's way in elaborating the term "metron" in 2 Cor. 10:13 to suggest a physical sphere surrounding a person is decidedly mushy (p. 173).

If Vallotton set out to write this book as a personal testimony, he rounds it off well with the last chapter in an endearing story about the author himself and his grandfather. As a training manual, however, one can hardly see how much better equipped the reader is to win the spirit wars after reading these pages. On the other hand, one must be cautious not to miss the spiritual forest for the trees when attempts like "Spirit Wars" concentrate on certain aspects that are easily formed into caricature.

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The reviewer received this book under LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program. This review was written under no coercion or benefit whatsoever.

Several years ago, when I was in a difficult place, I heard Kris Vallotton say, "It's not you. It's them, and we're winning!" It really helped me, so I was excited to hear he had a new book out on winning spiritual warfare, "Spirit Wars."

I did not actually pick up the book to read it until I hit another bump in the road that made me desperate to understand what was happening in the unseen realm. So I started reading feeling anxious and condemned. It didn't take long for Kris to put my heart at ease as I saw with startling clarity the attack against me and a simple way to navigate through it. I went from feeling as lonely as if I were hurting through space all by myself on a dry rock of a planet, to being surrounded by the extravagant vibrancy and color of life with God!

Here are a few key quotes that impacted me:
"When we refuse to be impressed, alarmed or concerned by these thoughts, it is a sign of destruction for our opponents and of victory for us."
"When the evil spirit lost the ability scare me, it no longer had power over me."
"We probably did nothing wrong to cause the battles. As a matter of fact, we are usually in a battle because we are doing something right."
"The goal of all enemy assaults is to scare us out of our divine destiny."

Kris explores in depth many of the reasons, physical, mental, emotional and spiritual, that may expose us to enemy activity, along with possible courses of action. I was amused by his many stories of wild displays of demonic intimidation that were simply overcome by the goodness of God.

Thanks, Kris. Your book encouraged and guided me at a time when I really needed it!

If nothing else, "Spirit Wars" by Kris Vallotton will get you thinking, praying, and examining your perceptions about sin, the spiritual world, and spiritual warfare. I enjoy reading books that challenge me to really consider what I believe- and I'll say that much for "Spirit Wars" - it created a lot of points of deep, engaging discussion for my husband and I. Depending on your theological standing you may find yourself adamantly agreeing with much of what Vallotton claims - or vehemently at odds. Issues such as Valotton's claim that Christians no longer have a sin nature (43), that principalities that rule over places are based in people (182), or his assertion that Christians who have been diagnosed with bi-polar disorder may actually just be incredibly discerning of the spiritual world (175) might get a hearty amen out of you...or they may cause some gnashing of the teeth - hard to say. But claims like these will get you thinking- guaranteed- and hopefully searching the Bible, talking with others, and really examining what you believe about how much the spiritual world influences you and how much you should be influencing it. A considerable portion of this book deals with the author's personal experience of depression and anxiety and how he relates these to the spiritual realm. Those who share that struggle (or live with someone who does) may find a lot of encouragement in these pages...alternatively, they might find themselves more anxious and confused - particularly if they don't take to well to the idea that Christians can be "demonized" or oppressed by evil spirits.
While I found myself raising my eyebrows every now and then, I'll still concede that overall, I gained a lot from this book. Vallotton made same excellent points about the tactics of the enemy, the difference between "captives" and "prisoners" when it comes to spiritual oppression, about unforgiveness being a root cause of much oppression in people's lives, as well as the importance of truly knowing and experiencing God's love. I would recommend this book to mature Christians who want to be challenged in their understanding of spiritual warfare, and who are comfortable with re-examining whatever doctrinal presumptions they hold to.
I received a complimentary copy of this book for review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255.