{"version":"1.0","provider_name":"Church Answers","provider_url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com","title":"Why I Started Studying Spiritual Warfare, and How My Story Might Help You as a Church Leader | Church Answers","type":"rich","width":600,"height":338,"html":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"WKFn8mVIEN\"><a href=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/why-i-started-studying-spiritual-warfare-and-how-my-story-might-help-you-as-a-church-leader\/\">Why I Started Studying Spiritual Warfare, and How My Story Might Help You as a Church Leader<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/why-i-started-studying-spiritual-warfare-and-how-my-story-might-help-you-as-a-church-leader\/embed\/#?secret=WKFn8mVIEN\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" title=\"&#8220;Why I Started Studying Spiritual Warfare, and How My Story Might Help You as a Church Leader&#8221; &#8212; Church Answers\" data-secret=\"WKFn8mVIEN\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n\/* <![CDATA[ *\/\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+=\"#?secret=\"+t,e.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:t},\"*\")},!1)))}(window,document);\n\/\/# sourceURL=https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-includes\/js\/wp-embed.min.js\n\/* ]]> *\/\n<\/script>\n","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Suit-of-armor-of-Roman-gladiator.png","thumbnail_width":1200,"thumbnail_height":628,"description":"I\u2019ve studied and written about spiritual warfare for more than thirty years now. In fact, you can study the topic with me through the Church Answers \u201cChurch Equip\u201d course, \u201cEngaging in Spiritual Warfare.\u201d In some ways, that short course reflects the core of what I\u2019ve taught over the years. What I don\u2019t always talk about when I\u2019m teaching this topic, however, is why I started studying warfare in the first place. My father drank when I was quite young, and he had a violent, explosive temper for many years. My first memory is a time when my dad was angry at my mom for being at the store too long, and he destroyed the bottom floor of our home. Now more than sixty years later, I can still walk you through that house and show you the upheaval as if it happened yesterday. Every detail remains etched in my mind. Even my Christian conversion at age 13 did not erase that memory\u2014or many others, for that matter. Indeed, more than once I stood between my mom and dad\u2014both of them towering over me when I was younger\u2014hoping to shield my mom as she shook and cried in fear under the barrage of my dad\u2019s verbal assaults. I was equally afraid, but I felt a compulsion to somehow guard my mom. In fact, I lived in dreaded fear of my dad until I was big enough to stand up to him (or more likely, just avoid him)\u2014but the fears of my young years then turned to hatred in my teen years. Again, though, my conversion at age 13 didn\u2019t free me immediately from those feelings; it just left me confused under what I would later learn was Holy Spirit conviction. It would be more than 15 years later before I found victory over that anguish. That\u2019s where the topic of spiritual warfare entered my story."}