Involved as we are in spiritual warfare, we must recognize also that our struggles not just against personal evil (Eph.6:2) but also against key ideas and paradigms that have held us captive to being a less than fruitful expression of the Kingdom. Paul calls these the “principalities and powers” and “elemental principles” and they include an attachment to ritualistic religion, gnosticism, overpowering structure, as well as to unproductive concepts of the church (Gal.4:3, 8-11, Col.2:8, 13-23). Some paradigms can so dominate our thinking as to become powerful prisons for our minds and our imaginations. We need to be humble enough to let go of obsolete ideas and allow a renewed paradigm of the church to emerge. We need to dream again in Jesus about what the church really is and what it must become.
Repenting of obsolete religion
