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Taking Our Cities For God - Rev: How to break spiritual strongholds

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While curiosity about the occult and the supernatural pervades our society, the devil's best defense has been the successful delusion of mankind into thinking that the kingdom of darkness does not really exist. Consequently, there is a widespread ignorance about the evil power, even among Christians. Many churches that preach the existence of Satan and demons do not acknowledge that people need help and deliverance. John Dawson's experience and the word of God lead to another conclusion. John Dawson presents a spiritual and systematic way of understanding and dealing with the kingdom of darkness that tend to block the progress of the Kingdom of God in an urban area. He states these problems and offers a strategy for faith and intercessory prayer. In the fourth section, Mr. Dawson deals with the subject of crossing the Jordan to take the land. Christians were born to fight the spiritual warfare. Mr. Dawson challenges us to catch the demonic arsonist and bind the demon with God's power. He provides us with a theology of the unseen realm such as the Angels, the evil spirits and the territorial control. With Scripture and fascinating personal testimonies, he shows us the reality of territorial control and spiritual strongholds. Mr. Dawson gives us a five-step strategy for faith and intercessory prayer. This includes worship, waiting upon the Lord, confession, overcoming evil with good and travailing in prayer. This topic challenges our so-called "enlightened" western minds. It is not a scientific book but it is a biblically based theological reflection on the question of spiritual territorial control. Demonic influences affect many in varying degrees and the cities need the Gospel of Christ. John Dawson explains that Christians can take authority over the demonic realm and bring freedom to those that need it so desperately. Mr. Dawson speaks very effectively to a much-neglected aspect of the Gospel in the church today.

I highly recommend this book! It is not only an inspiration to pray more, but there is tremendous insight into why prayer works, how to pray, spiritual warfare, and God's perspective on your town. Especially enlightening was the section that teaches you how to examine the past to discover the strengths and weaknesses of your city.

This is easy reading and well worth the time it takes to read it.

This book is very encouraging and written very well. It tells how we can make a difference in our country with prayer!

I've read the Kindle version of this book so I'll use the section numbers for reference, but that may not help anyone with a paper version of the book. The Kindle verson has 2018 locations, so you may be able to use that to help find roughly where the part referenced is located.

In this book, Dawson writes so many things that simply left me asking "Where is that in the Bible?"

For example, in locations 105-106, Dawson claims, concerning the account in Joshua of Israel marching around Jericho, that "Marching in silence around a wall for days on end made no sense militarily, but the people were gaining spiritual authority by the exercise of faith, obedience and self-control"; however, nothing is said about such a thing in the biblical account itself. So, "Where is that in the Bible?"

In locations 224-226, Dawson claims that cities have what he calls "a redemptive gift". He gives no Scripture in support of this statement. So, "Where is that in the Bible?"

In locations 235-237, Dawson says that he believes that God has stationed high-ranking angels over each city. He tries to use a part of Daniel 12:1 which talks about Michael, the angel who seems to watch over Israel, but that passage doesn't mention angels being assigned to cities, not even for that matter the city of Jerusalem, but only Michael having some of kind protective role over the nation of Israel. So "Where is that in the Bible?"

In location 346, Dawson claims that "In the place of prayer we will receive from God a specific strategy of spiritual warfare and a specific strategy of evangelism." I can't think of anyplace in the Bible where such a thing is said, and there is no scriptural support given to this statement. So, "Where is that in the Bible?"

In location 471-474, Dawson claims that "Unless you understand biblical warfare, you will be frustrated, angry, confused and ineffective in your ministry to the city...We need to bind the strongman and gain a place of authority over Satan before we will see the full fruit of our labors." There is one passage where Jesus talked about "binding the strongman", Matthew 12:29, but Dawson seems to be using it in a different way. Neither the Gospels nor the epistles tell the disciples or Apostles or the churches to practice "binding the strongman", that it is something they need to do. Nor does Scripture tell us to "gain a place of authority over Satan". So, "Where is that in the Bible".

In location 698, Dawson claims that "In every city there is a hidden eldership." I know of no biblical passage that says anything about a "hidden eldership". So, "Where is that in the Bible?"

In location 924, Dawson claims that "When we have a working knowledge of the city, we are able to receive revelation from God about a specific strategy for ongoing evangelism and discipleship." I'm not sure where that is taught anywhere in the Bible. So, "Where is that in the Bible?"

In location 1004, Dawson claims that "We need to overcome the enemy before we employ other methods of ministry among people." In the New Testament, I don't see Jesus doing such a thing at the places He travelled to--He did cast demons out of people, yes, but there is no hint that He first tried to "ovecome the enemy" in those places. Nor is it something any epistle tells the churches to do. So, "Where is that in the Bible?"

In locations 1014-1015, Dawson claims concerning the resurrected Christ that "Jesus walked through walls in His resurrection body, because He was the solid object, and the walls were misty and ethereal (Luke 24:36-37)." But those verses say nothing about Jesus finding walls "misty and ethereal; in fact, they don't even say that at all that Jesus walked through walls. So, "Where is that in the Bible?"

In location 1022, Dawson claims that "The prayer of a human being can alter history by releasing legions of angels into the earth." He gives no verses to support this claim, and I can't think of anyplace in the Bible that says such a thing. So, "Where is that in the Bible?"

In locations 1200-1201, Dawson claims that "Everything born of God goes through a very natural process: worship, conception, gestation, travail and birth." He gives no verses to support this claim, and I can't think of anyplace in the Bible that says such a thing. So, "Where is that in the Bible?"

In location 1234, Dawson claims that "If you are negative and downcast, you will never minister to this generation." I can't think of a place in the Bible which says that only postive and upbeat people can minister to any generation. Prophets like Ezekial and Jeremiah didn't seem to have been overly positive people, and the Bible describes Christ as "a man of sorrow, and acquainted with grief". So, "Where is that in the Bible?"

In location 1307, Dawson claims that "The best place to become familiar with God's voice is in the place of prayer for others." He gives no verses to support this claim, and I can't think of anyplace in the Bible that says such a thing. So, "Where is that in the Bible?"

In locations 1558-1559, Dawson claims that "The level of a spiritual victory for your city is directly affected by two spiritual conditions: the intensity of your desire and the size of your faith." He gives no verses to support this claim, and I can't think of anyplace in the Bible that says such a thing. Indeed, if one took those statements of Dawson's seriously, one would have to conclude that Jesus did not have sufficient intensity of desrie and size of faith for a level of spiritual victory for Jerusalem, so that the people there would accept Him as the Messiah instead of reject Him and have Him crucified. So, "Where is that in the Bible?"

My conclusion: If the Bereans mentioned in Acts, who searched the Scriptures to confirm that the things they were being taught were really true, are an example we should follow, then Dawson's book is simply found wanting. Between statement made with little or no biblical support, and verses or verse fragments taken out of context, this book is very suspect biblically, and I cannot recommend it at all.

I picked up Taking Our Cities For God when I was much younger in my Christian faith and a part of a group that held the charismatic theology espoused in this book. Thankfully God moved me out of these groups and into more mature fellowships--though I have still ventured into charismatic settings from time to time out of a desire to understand their perspective on God. The book sat unread on my shelf for many years but recently I picked it up and began reading. My motivation to read this book now that I have had some distance from the so-called "Charismatic renewal movement" was to gain more insight into charismatic theology and see if I could glean anything from the content. After reading it I certainly respect Dawson's devotion and commitment to living what he feels is a Christian lifestyle--like I do many charismatics--however, I found myself disagreeing with about 80% of what he wrote.

From start to finish, Taking Our Cities For God reads more like an extended journal entry than a coherent discussion about cities as it pertains to Christianity. It primarily consists of anecdotes, one-liners, and disconnected thoughts. The chapters are somewhat thematic but, truthfully, the breaks are quite arbitrary because all the themes constantly overlap and are revisited over and over throughout the book. You could, quite literally, flip randomly to any page in the book, start reading, and understand the gist of his entire book. I found Chapter 17 by the far the most helpful, with Dawson making many good points about needing to love the city you are in. I also appreciated some of his points about evangelism in the last chapter (Chapter 21). But, as I mentioned, these points were not consistent with the themes of the chapters they were found in; they were only mentioned as passing thoughts.

Theologically, Taking Our Cities For God, suffers from the same faults as the charismatic groups I have been involved with and the others I have read about. Ultimately, Dawson's experiences, feelings, and senses inform his theology not the Bible or historical traditions of the Church. While scripture is a prominent part of the book, the vast majority is ambiguous Old Testament prophecy and context-specific instructions given to either the Israelites or the disciples. Typical of charismatic theology, this book relies on highly subjective interpretations of biblical texts and clings to a belief that every single word of the Old Testament is actually primarily intended for individual Christians today--completely disregarding the O.T. as a historical account of God interacting with ancient peoples according to his Old Covenant. Prominence is also given to obtaining secret, hidden knowledge from God (referred to as "revelation") and Dawson even goes so far as to call it a sin of "presumption"(pg. 135) to try to do something for God without first 'receiving' it. This is truly a form of modern Gnosticism for without the secret knowledge--available not from the Bible, but from personal revelation to you from God--then not only are we unable to accomplish anything but we are actually sinning against God! Never does this book exhort us to discern the spirits (1 John 4:1-6) or carefully weigh what we think we hear or feel against the words of scripture. Sadly, this is the basis of the entire book.

Also central to Taking Our Cities For God, and common to charismatic theology, is his anti-Gospel belief that we are responsible for the sins of non-Christians and that it's only by repenting FOR OTHER PEOPLE that God will transform our cities (or just about anything we want). This is anti-Gospel because our cities are not in theocratic union with God like the Israelites were. Christians don't share corporate sin with unbelievers, and neither did the Israelites repent for the sins of the nations around them. The Israelites as individuals and as a nation were God's people, now Christians are. Non-Christians are not God's people so not only are we not to repent for their sins but it is unbiblical to suggest that we are to repent for ANYBODY'S sins other than our own. This is crucial charismatic theology and it creates people who are constantly riddled with guilt and carrying burdens that are not their own. We are not to take upon the sins of others, that is Jesus' job. Thank God for that.

There are many other unbiblical ideas advocated by Dawson which are also typical of charismatic legalism that could be critiqued here--the magic incantation theology of being able to command things to happen with the right words (page 158), the belief that every Christian can and should exercise every spiritual gift but it's up to us to "stir it up" within us (page 9), the need to stay ahead of the curve of God by knowing exactly what He is going to do next (chapter 11), and a theology about angels and demons based mainly on felt experience. However one of the more revealing aspects about Dawson's theology is that at many points he praises the diversity of churches and ministries in the Kingdom, yet is relentless in unapologetically pushing doctrines and theology as absolute truth that only those in charismatic circles subscribe to. This is either arrogant and misleading at worst, or simply ignorant to what those other churches and ministries actually believe because we're not all charismatic like he is. His perspective is also quite clearly illustrated by the fact that the vast majority of his personal stories and modern historical references deal with charismatic people and events. From reading his book one would assume he is only familiar with charismatic theology or that he is aware of traditional, orthodox Christianity and doesn't buy it but feels the need to pay lip service to theological unity in the Church. The writing is very odd and confusing in this regard.

Because of Dawson's extremely narrow theological focus and bias I would recommend this book to anyone wanting (or needing) to understand modern charismatic theology. It is a great and thorough overview of what this movement believes and therefore it personally benefited me in my desire to further discern and sort out the experiences I have had with charismatic groups. It was not a very good discussion about cities or prayer or anything like that for me, but it is a good and accurate view into the lifestyle of those who hold these beliefs. Truthfully, it is sad to me because it is a lifestyle consisting of extreme highs and lows. In many ways I would draw an analogy to drug addiction with its powerful, blissful fixes (revelation, visions, revivals, etc.) and its painful withdrawals (failure to live up to your "promise"/"destiny", not keeping up with God's movement, not hearing from God, etc.). It is like being spiritually bi-polar and it is unhealthy for your heart. God's unconditional love and grace, the simple truths of scripture, and avoidance of extremes (Ecclesiastes 7:18) are what I have seen to be lacking both in this book and in the charismatic movement.

John has given us a biblical and practical textbook on spiritual warfare. Every church as well as every neighborhood prayer group would benefit from this.

I happened to live in Los Angeles right after the time it was supposedly "taken over for God." By November of the year I lived there (1990), the L.A. Times reported that 800 people had been murdered in L.A. County. If that is an area that has been taken over for God, we are in big trouble. How do we distinguish God from satan if this is what cities look like after Dawson and disciples took them over for God? In the 'hood (South Central), I heard gun shots and hysterical screams several nights a week. I know that people died in some of those incidents. I would often look in the papers the next day and find that nothing was reported.

The core of Dawson is his subjectivism (his senses tell him where the demons are and what their names are) and Moral Government Theology. He is in the same boat as George Otis Jr who answered the question, "Why does spiritual wickedness linger where it does?" not by pointing to a sinful human nature, which, incidentally, he does not believe exists, but by looking to nameable territorial demonic spirits which the Christians are supposed to search out and bind.

A friend of mind who adopted this theology, to his own shame, answered my question, "Why are the demons still tearing up the place if they have been bound?" by saying, "Maybe they don't stay bound!"

People who adopt this theology cannot be reasoned with, even with good biblical reasoning. Ezekiel 28:2 says, "Son of man, say to the ruler of Tyre, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: "'In the pride of your heart you say, "I am a god; I sit on the throne of a god in the heart of the seas." But you are a man and not a god, though you think you are as wise as a god." According to Dawson, the "ruler of Tyre" is a demonic spirit. The Scriptures are clear. The ruler of Tyre is a man!