Quick Facts
Biography
Charles Peter Wagner (August 15, 1930 – October 21, 2016) was an theologian, missiologist, missionary, writer, teacher, and church growth specialist best known for his controversial writings on spiritual warfare.
Wagner served as a missionary in Bolivia under the South American Mission and Andes Evangelical Mission (now SIM International) from 1956 to 1971. He then served for 30 years (1971 to 2001) as Professor of Church Growth at the Fuller Theological Seminary's School of World Missions until his retirement in 2001. He is the author of more than 70 books. He was the president of Global Harvest Ministries from 1993 to 2011 and served as the chancellor emeritus of Wagner Leadership Institute, which trains leaders to join in a movement known as the New Apostolic Reformation, an organization Wagner also helped found. He was also the vice president of Global Spheres, Inc.
Spiritual warfare
Wagner wrote about spiritual warfare, in books including Confronting the Powers: How the New Testament Church Experienced the Power of Strategic-Level Spiritual Warfare and Engaging the Enemy. In Confronting the Powers, Wagner breaks down spiritual warfare as having three levels: "Ground Level: Person-to-person, praying for each other's personal needs. Occult Level: deals with demonic forces released through activities related to Satanism, witchcraft, astrology and many other forms of structured occultism. Strategic-Level or Cosmic-Level: To bind and bring down spiritual principalities and powers that rule over governments." "Strategic-level intercession" uses "spiritual mapping" and "tearing down strongholds" to engage in spiritual warfare against "territorial spirits".
According to Wagner, these methods "were virtually unknown to the majority of Christians before the 1990s”. The premise of Engaging the Enemy is that Satan and his demons are literally in the world, that Satan's territorial spirit-demons may be identified by name, and that Christians are to engage in spiritual warfare with them.
In Hard-Core Idolatry: Facing the Facts, Wagner asserts that idolizing Catholic saints brings honor to the spirits of darkness, and promotes the burning of their statues in Argentina. Wagner asserts that the Holy Spirit came to his associate, Cindy Jacobs (a prophet in Wagner’s Apostolic Council of Prophetic Elders) and "told her that in [the Argentinian city of] Resistencia they need to burn the idols, like the magicians did in Ephesus in Acts of the Apostles".
Founder of New Apostolic Reformation
Wagner has been credited with founding the New Apostolic Reformation, a movement associated with Texas Governor Rick Perry's New Response, an evangelical Christian prayer vigil in Houston's Reliant Stadium on August 6, 2011.
Selected works
- Latin American Theology. Radical or Evangelical, Eerdmans, 1970.
- Your Spiritual Gifts Can Help Your Church Grow, Regal Books, 1979, 1994, 2005. ISBN 0-8307-3697-2
- Strategies for Church Growth, Regal Books, 1987. ISBN 0-8307-1170-8
- How to Have a Healing Ministry, Regal Books, 1988. ISBN 0-8307-1297-6
- The New Apostolic Churches, Regal Books 1998 ISBN 0-8307-2137-1
- Churchquake!, Regal Books, 1999. ISBN 0-8307-1918-0
- Changing Church, Regal Books, 2004. ISBN 0-8307-3278-0
- Breaking Strongholds in Your City ISBN 0-8307-1638-6
- Freedom from the Religious Spirit, Regal Books, 2005. ISBN 0-8307-3670-0
- Engaging the Enemy, Regal Books, 1991.
- Prayer Warrior Series, Regal Books, 1992-1997.
- Warfare Prayer: How to Seek God's Power and Protection in the Battle to Build His Kingdom ISBN 0-8307-1534-7
- Prayer shield: How to intercede for pastors, Christian leaders, and others on the spiritual frontlines ISBN 0-8307-1573-8
- Confronting the Powers: How the New Testament Church Experienced the Power of Strategic-Level Spiritual Warfare ISBN 0-8307-1819-2
- Praying With Power : How to Pray Effectively and Hear Clearly from God ISBN 0-8307-1919-9
- Dominion:How Kingdom Action Can Change the World, Chosen Books, 2008. ISBN 978-0-8007-9435-4
- The Book Of Acts: A Commentary, Regal Books, 2008. ISBN 978-0-8307-4595-1