Spiritual Warfare for the Care of Souls, by Harold Ristau. Bellingham, WA: Lexham, 2022, xxi + 246 pages, $19.99.

As Christians all of us would believe in the spiritual world, or as some have called it “the unseen realm.” We are not naturalists after all. However, once we have affirmed this we are left with many questions. For instance, how much do we affirm the involvement of that realm in our day to day lives and ministries? Speaking especially to the ordained ministry, what does spiritual warfare look like as we seek to care for the flock of God? Almost every group of Christians has a specific answer to this, and not everyone in our own circles would agree as to what that looks like.

Spiritual Warfare is part of the Lexham Ministry Guides series. Some of the other titles in the series include Stewardship, Pastoral Visitation, and Funerals. Lexham Press is a Lutheran Publishing House, undoubtedly one we are familiar with as the publisher of Geerhardus Vos’s Reformed Dogmatics.[1] Their ministry Guide series does look at things from a clearly Lutheran perspective. The author of this little book, Harold Ristau, is a theology professor at Concordia Theological Seminary. The series is edited by Harold Senkbeil who wrote the first volume, The Care of Souls.[2]

In this book Ristau attempts to show the spiritual warfare aspect of pastoral ministry. This is a difficult and ambitious topic and seems destined to end up pleasing no one. Part of the difficulty Ristau faces is that, though we affirm the spiritual world, it remains largely hidden from us. There are two extremes to be avoided here: that of ignoring the spiritual world completely and that of ascribing everything to it and deemphasizing the physical world. On the one hand, Ristau seems to make more of the overlap with the spiritual world than Scripture does, but at the same time he is to be commended for showing restraint. For instance, he seems to go beyond Scripture in his angelology and much of his system is dependent on this. Now angelology is a notoriously unclear discipline and one in which it is easy to fill in the blanks with our human imagination. I think Ristau falls into this trap, taking as given some things that are extremely debatable scripturally (such as the idea of guardian angles for individuals). However, with all that being said, he stops short of the extremes and abuses that angelology is prey to in much of popular evangelicalism. Ristau does take Scripture very seriously and it prevents him from going too far.

This being a practical book for pastors, Ristau has much to say about the overlap between our ministry and that of angels. This leads him into occasional discussions of means which have no scriptural support. Some of what he says reflects his Lutheran background. He discusses things like using the sign of the cross, vestments, and the use of images in worship as helpful tools in spiritual warfare. Other things he says seem more indebted to the charismatic movement such as the proper disposal of demonic objects and the use of house blessings to exorcise demons from a home. Suffice it to say there is much that a Reformed believer would not find convincing. Most troubling was his frequent discussion of exorcisms. Ristau simply assumes that ministers will be engaged in this sort of work in normal ministry without even interacting with other ideas of demon possession. He never even mentions the belief that a Spirit-filled believer cannot be demon possessed.

Thankfully, extra biblical means are not the only ones he discusses. As expected, he does speak about prayer a good deal. This is one of the better aspects of the book. Another of the book’s strengths is his discussion of the spiritual aspects of the service of worship and offers good advice to ministers for encouraging wayward members to attend worship. These nuggets of pastoral wisdom are scattered throughout the book.

Reading this book, I found myself one moment nodding my head in full assent and the next, amazed at how speculative it all was. For OPC officers interested in the subject I believe we can do much better. I recommend giving this one a pass.

Endnotes

[1] Geerhardus Vos, Reformed Dogmatics, Bellingham, WA: Lexham, 2012–2014.

[2] Harold Senkbeil, The Care of Souls, Cultivating a Pastor’s Heart, Bellingham, WA: Lexham, 2019.

David J. Koenig is a minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and serves as pastor of Pilgrim Presbyterian Church, Dover, New Hampshire. Ordained Servant Online, May, 2024.