Never in history has there been such awareness of injustice and the abuse of power in our world. Perhaps we could even say that never in history has the earth been more "corrupt in God's sight and filled with violence" (Gen 6.11).

There is hardly a place on earth where people do not know about warfare, human suffering, and the enormous gap between the North and South. If there is one thing that the media has achieved, it is that no one can say "I did not know". We know of the drought in Africa, the bloody conflict in the Middle East, the strangling debt of the south towards the north, and other similar devastations. There is no lack of information, and few of us can digest it all.

Many people turn off the news and say: "We know all about it; it's always the same misery". Others, who are the victims, often react in the same way: "We just happen to be on the wrong side. What can we do?"

Is it true that the real game is in the hands of a few people, the politicians and generals, or behind them the big businessmen, the money-makers? Indeed, do these decide about indebtedness, the purchase of armaments, the exact number of refugees to admit, nuclear research and the pollution rate? If a small number of wicked men and women were eliminated, would we have a better world?

We might wish it could be that simple. Is it perhaps power itself that corrupts people, and that each step one takes on "the power ladder" means a step closer to corruption? We know that this is often the case.

It is strange that when you ask people about these things, there is nobody who really wants war, or votes for injustice, or wishes suffering on others. And it is not just the woman and the man in the street who responds that way. Put the same questions to leaders of nations and you will receive the same answers: "We do not want war. We do not want the arms race...". Where others see injustice and war policies, the persons in charge seem blind. So, for example, Mr Botha in a recent letter to the South African Council of Churches said: "I strive to conduct my personal life and my service as state president according to the principles of the Christian faith."

The fact that nearly everyone in power is convinced of the correctness of his opinions and actions suggests that there is much more going on below the surface in our world. That appears very clearly in the language that is used to give a rationale for "unpopular" measures. Then it is said that "the economic situation" demands..., or "our national security" forces us to..., or "the increase of traffic" requires...

It seems there are "authorities" present behind the visible scene in a vague, hidden, but powerful and self-evident way. And here we find ourselves close to the language of the bible that speaks of "principalities and powers", of "elemental spirits", and "rulers of this age".

Biblical language

It has taken a long time for us to rediscover this "power" behind the power. Biblical scholarship in the western world seemed incapable of giving expression to phenomena that were not rationally intelligible. Thus, the church stumbled over the world view of the bible with its frequent allusions to "angels", "principalities and powers", and so on, that, according to Paul in Romans 8.38, put themselves between Christ and his followers.

It may be that this very well-known text itself has played a role in this misunderstanding by putting together "angels" and "powers". In this way these powers became part of "angel studies", relating them to classes of angels as they are found in the Jewish apocalyptic literature, especially in the book of Enoch.

Fortunately, Reformed scholars have brought us back to earth by arguing that these powers are not confined to the ancient world view but are part of "our natural human condition". For example, Hendrikus Berkhof's book, Christ and the powers, blazed a new trail for us. In the same way, Karl Barth in his Christian Life, a posthumously published document on ethics, offers a whole chapter on what he calls "the masterless powers". In his introduction to the subject he suggests that cultures "that live with a magic world view" may have a clearer and better understanding of reality than those who live with a rational scientific world view. The authors of the New Testament scriptures were not hindered from facing the reality and action of these "masterless powers".

There are frequent references to "the powers" in Paul's letters to the young churches. They are called by various other names: "principalities", "virtues", "dominions", "thrones", princes or rulers of this world", "lords", "gods", "angels", "devils", wicked spirits", and others. These names are to a large extent interchangeable. In these various terms, Paul points to the many ways the powers manifest themselves. And although the powers do not exist by themselves, and are finally dependent on God as part of creation (1 Corinthians 1.16), their very existence is in opposition to God.

Paul's vision of the powers is not a "neutral" one. He does not deal with the issue of power as such, nor with the question of whether there are also good and helpful structures in this world. His vision is much more dynamic. Indeed, Paul sees the "authorities", the "thrones", the "principalities", as created by God (Col 1.16). This means that all their might is "borrowed". God originally intended the powers to be instruments of the divine in the service of the people.

The gospels' claim is that Christ "disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public example of them, triumphing over them, on the cross" (Col 2.15). With his own life Jesus defeated the powers. Even death, the last power, could not hold him (Acts 2.24). And now God has set him "far above all rule and authority, power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come" (Eph 1.20-21).

There has often been a tendency to interpret this victory language in an eschatological way as if the power of the principalities had been broken only provisionally by Jesus Christ, and that his victory will become reality only at the end of time.

Paul speaks in this passage of the immeasurable greatness of his power in us who believe (Eph 1.19). This means that at each place in our world where Jesus Christ is present, the powers have no might. This is especially so in the church, the body of Christ, "...and God has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body" (Eph 1.23).

It is striking that Paul's language is not at all political in the usual sense, and yet his total affirmation of "Jesus as Lord" had very direct political consequences. This might even be an indication that deep religious language is stronger than political language. In the Roman Empire, the political-religious loyalty required towards Caesar and the Roman gods played an omnipresent role. Paul himself and many of the first Christians had to hide because of their faith in Christ as Lord.

The place of the church

The church of Jesus Christ is the special place for confrontation with "the world ruler of this present darkness", with the "spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Eph 6.12), and with all that is "in the air" as self-evident power systems. It is in the community of Christ that the struggle takes place. More than any other community it discovers in the experience of Christ's victory the slavery of all other spirits and ideologies that must be resisted (Eph 6.11).

It is important to underscore the fact that Paul states very clearly that " we are not contending against flesh and blood" (Eph 6.12). Here it is clearly said that the community of Christ does not fight against people, nor against other living creatures. With that, all armaments that are meant to fight people are put aside as inappropriate for a Christian community. The church of Jesus Christ is not in the business of fighting people. Rather, on behalf of suffering people everywhere, the church fights another battle: "not against flesh and blood", but against those forces behind the scene, those principalities that corrupt, direct and enslave people.

These powers always seem to have their place somewhere between heaven and earth, "going to and from on the earth" (Job. 1.7 and 2.2). The "enlightened" Christian West has thought it necessary to go beyond this mythological way of thinking, concerning itself only with the visible, and rejoicing in the "autonomy of the human spirit": "You will be like God" (Gen 3.5).

Perhaps that is also the reason that few were able to see the most disastrous demon of our history, namely, the "spirit" of Nazism. That evil power succeeded in infecting the majority of people with a vision in which Jews and those at the fringe of society were deemed inferior, and thus "worthy" to be destroyed.

Discerning the powers

It is, however, easier to judge the past than to discern and "test the spirits" of the present. Yet it is this that is now required from the Christian community (1 John 4.1).

We are, of course, aware of the well-known evil spirits defined by the present "isms" in our world: "sexism", "racism", "nationalism", "militarism". But there is more behind this and it is obvious that Paul also struggles with words in order to identify their place and activities. They are manifold. We know of other authorities of our time with new names: "super-powers", "multinational corporations", "world economic systems" and so on. By their very structures these seem doomed to promote a network of injustice. In an attempt to identify them, Walter Wink in his book Naming the Powers, speaks of the "inner spiritual essence of an institution or a system or a state" that leads to oppressive behaviour.

There is no reason for fatalism. These powers are not set above us. Although they act independently, the authority they exercise derives only from the devotion of human beings. Therefore they can be resisted.

The churches, however, have often had the tendency to think in a rather "neutral" way of all power-manifestations in this world, and in this way have thought it wise to keep themselves out of the battlefield. But Paul insists that just within the community of Christ the real struggle has to be fought: it is there, in the community itself, that the powers of this world meet and confront the power of Christ.

This is not an invitation for a "church-centred" style of ministry. We rejoice in what God's Spirit is doing outside the visible church, in the "surprises of history", in people's movements, in the endurance of many in the struggle for liberation.

Our concern is with the churches that we represent, that they should not contradict the gospel but boldly give witness to the liberating power of Jesus Christ against the destructive forces in our world.

There are countries where Christian communities, often as minorities, live out this prophetic witness against brutal systems of oppression. There are also churches that are so linked up with the power structures of their countries, that each "prophetic message" to the authorities cannot but "return empty". Such churches must begin to take up the painful struggle against the powers in their very midst.

The church is not a safe place: its members are equally tempted by all the spirits of the time. The structure of the Christian community itself can become oppressive. In order to confront the "wicked spirits", it has at its disposal a most effective armament. It consists of truth, a breastplate of justice, shoes of the gospel of peace, a shield of faith, a helmet of salvation and a sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Eph 6.14-17). Obviously it is a defensive, not an aggressive armour. It is meant to withstand and not to go with the wind, not to give in to the omnipresent powers that oppose God and humanity.

Say no

Very often it means to have the courage to say "no". In the early Christian church those who were to be baptized used to cry out the victory of Christ with the words: "I renounce thee Satan, and all thy service and all thy works!" In many of our churches we seem to have lost the significance of what is called "the renunciation of evil". But recently at an ecumenical conference of young pastors held in the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, Switzerland, a new version of a baptismal liturgy was proposed, giving words to the awareness of this struggle:

We say no - to the evil that tries to hinder the coming of God's reign.
We say no - to all prejudices and ideology that make human life inhuman.
We say no - to all the power of Satan in our own heart that would destroy us.

The pre-assembly women's meeting of the World Council of Churches, Vancouver, 1983, expressed in poem-form another example of resistance against the rulers of the age:

For many Christians
saying "no" to the powers
that deny life
is the way to follow Christ
who asks us to love radically.

You scientist doing research
if they ask you tomorrow
to develop weapons for outer space
instead of food for people
to prepare chemical warfare
instead of vaccinations for children
there is only one choice. say: no!

You women and girls in your homes -
if they tell you today to be nice
and pretty, to spend your time with
shopping, TV and beauty parlours,
and to forget about the justice
in the world and the danger of war
there is only one choice, say: no!

You politician in your parliament
if your party tells you to support their
defence budget for more modern weapons
and cut development, school programmes
and hospitals
there is only one choice, say: no!

You pastor in your pulpit
if they ask you tomorrow
not to take sides in political debates
and to remain neutral
to be concerned about people's souls only
but not about their bodies
there is only once choice, say: no!

The community of Jesus Christ has to appropriate the power of the gospel in new ways for the urgent battles of our age. The church is part of society. If it really wants to live with Christ in its midst it will have to learn how to say "no", and to reflect every enslaving relationships, both in the world and among themselves. That is the way to withstand, to live out and demonstrate its liberation from the "princes of this age"; to live in the power of the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The churches

There are many new and renewed communities and congregations in the world that have really found their place in the midst of their society. They are open to all, and at the same time strongly centred in Jesus Christ as Lord. It is from Jesus that they learn how to name the destructive powers, to discern, to resist, and how to pray. When once the disciples did not succeed in their attempt to cast out the devil, Jesus said to them: "This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer" (Mark 9.29). Everywhere in the gospel where demons are mentioned it is prayer, the intimate trust in the God of Gods that empowers the struggle and even ensures the victory.

We speak of the "churches and the powers" in order to take seriously our different situations. We represent local churches from all over the globe, bound together in a World Alliance, assembling for a general council. We have already expressed our desire to go further in our commitment towards each other. We want to enter into a common struggle against the idols and for justice, peace and the integrity of creation. We call it a covenant. It will be a test case. It will become clear whether we are able to covenant: a church of Christ within capitalism with a church of Christ within socialism; a church in a wealthy environment with a church in a poor country. Two or three together in his name as a new global community, learning from each other to discern the spirits, to get to know their interconnections and to cast them out among themselves, for the sake of the people, for the sake of our countries, for the sake of God's world.

If we enter this covenant in Christ's name, the struggle will become very hard, because the powers that confront us are enormous. But it is only then that the church of Jesus Christ on earth will have found its mission for today.

It is at the same time a hard and hopeful struggle. Christ is risen and is Lord over the powers. Finally they will have to surrender and they will kneel down before the righteous one. His kingdom will reign over the earth. A kingdom that consists of righteousness and peace and joy! (Rom 14.17).