The Word of Truth Ministries

DECEIVED DUE TO IGNORANCE

2011-06-18T20:14:00.001+05:30

DECEIVED DUE TO IGNORANCE

In the Christian Church, countless "thoughts" and "beliefs," which are opposed to the truth of God, are injected into the minds of Christians by teaching spirits, rendering them ineffective in the warfare with sin and Satan, and subject them to the power of evil spirits, although they are saved for eternity through their faith in Christ, and accept the authority of the Scriptures, and know the power of the Cross. All "thoughts" and "beliefs" should therefore be tested by the truth of God revealed in the Scripture, not merely by "texts" or portions of the Word, but by the principles of truth revealed in the Word. Since Satan will endorse his teachings by "signs and wonders" (Matt. 24: 24; 2 Thess. 2: 9; Rev. 13: 13), "fire from heaven", "power" and "signs," are no proof of "teaching" being of God; nor is a "beautiful life" to be the infallible test, for Satan's "ministers" can be "ministers of righteousness" (2 Cor. 11: 13- 15).

The culmination of the flood tide of these deceiving spirits sweeping upon the Church, is described by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians, where he speaks of the manifestation of one, who will, eventually, have so deceived Christendom as to have gained an entrance into the very sanctuary of God; so that "he sitteth in the sanctuary of God, setting himself forth as God…" (2 Th. 2:4). The "presence" of this one being a "Presence" like God, and yet "according to the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and wonders, of falsehood, and with all deceit..." (2 Th. 2: 9, 10).

Confirmation of the Lord's words recorded by Matthew (24:24) and Mark (13:22), is found in the revelation given by Him to John, at Patmos, that at the close of the age, the main weapon used by the deceiver for obtaining power over the people of the earth, will be supernatural signs from heaven, when a counterfeit "lamb" will do "great signs," and even "make fire come down out of heaven" to deceive the dwellers on the earth, and thereby exercise such control over the whole world, that "no man shall be able to buy or sell, save he that hath the mark of the beast" (Rev. 13:11-17).

Through this supernatural deception, the full purpose of the deceiving hierarchy of Satan, thus reaches its consummation, in the foretold world-wide authority. Deception of the world with deepening darkness; deception of the Church through "teachings," and "manifestations," will reach the highest flood-tide climax at the close of the age.

WARNING TO THE CHURCH:

It is striking to note that the Apostle who was chosen to transmit the Apocalypse to the Church, in preparation for the last days of the Church militant, should be the one to write to the Christians of his day: "Believe not every spirit" (1 John 4: 1-6), and earnestly warn his "children" that the "spirit of anti-Christ," and the "spirit of error" (deception) was already actively at work among them. Their attitude was to be "believe not"--i.e., to doubt every supernatural "teaching" and "teacher," until proved to be of God. They were to prove the "teachings," lest they came from a "spirit of error," and be part of the deceiver's campaign as "anti- Christ," i.e., against Christ.

If this attitude of neutrality and doubt toward supernatural teachings was needed in the days of the Apostle John--some fifty-seven years after Pentecost-- how much more is it needed in the "later times" foretold by the Lord, and by the apostle Paul. Times which were to be characterised by a clamour of voices of "prophets," that is--in the language of the twentieth century--"speakers" and "teachers" using the sacred Name of the Lord; and when "teachings" received supernaturally from the spiritual realm, would abound. "Teachings" accompanied with such wonderful proofs of their "divine" origin, as to perplex even the most faithful of the Lord's people, and even, for a time, to deceive some of them.

CRITERION FOR JUDGMENT:

The enemy is a deceiver, and as a deceiver he will work and prevail in the later times. "Success" or "defeat" is no criterion of a work being of God or Satan. Calvary stands for ever as the revelation of God's way in working out His redemption purposes. Satan works for time, for he knows his time is short, but God works for eternity. Through death to life, through defeat to triumph, through suffering to joy, is God's way.

Knowledge of truth is the primary safeguard against deception. The "elect" must know, and they must learn to "prove" the "spirits" until they do know what is of God, and what is of Satan. The words of the Master, "Take heed, I have told you, " plainly implies that personal knowledge of danger is part of the Lord's way of guarding His own, and believers who blindly rely upon "the keeping power of God," without seeking to understand how to escape deception, when forewarned to "take heed" by the Lord, will surely find themselves entrapped by the subtle foe.

GOD LEGISLATING FOR DANGERS FROM EVIL SPIRITS:

A perspective view of the ages covered by the history in Bible records, shows that the rise and fall in spiritual power of the people of God, was marked by the recognition of the existence of the demoniacal hosts of evil. When the Church of God in the old and new dispensations was at the highest point of spiritual power, the leaders recognized, and drastically dealt with, the invisible forces of Satan; and when at the lowest they were ignored, or allowed to have free course among the people.

The reality of the existence of wicked spirits by whom Satan, their prince, carried out his work in the fallen world of men, cannot be more strongly proved, than by the fact that the statutes given by Jehovah to Moses in the fiery mount, embodied stringent measures for dealing with the attempts of evil spirit beings to find entry to the people of God. Moses was instructed by Jehovah to keep the camp of Israel free from their inroads, by the drastic penalty of death for all who had dealings with them.

The very fact of Jehovah thus giving statutes in connection with such a subject, and the extreme penalty enforced for disobedience to His law, shows in itself (1) the existence of evil spirits, (2) their wickedness, (3) their ability to communicate with, and influence human beings, and (4) the necessity for uncompromising hostility to them, and their works. God would not legislate for dangers which had no real existence, nor would He command the extreme penalty of death, if the contact of the people with evil spirit beings of the unseen world, did not necessitate such drastic dealing.

The severity of the penalty obviously implies, also, that the leaders of Israel must have been given acute "discerning of spirits," so sure and so clear, that they could have no doubt in deciding cases brought before them.

Whilst Moses and Joshua lived, and enforced the strong measures decreed by God to keep His people free from the inroads of Satanic power, Israel remained in allegiance to God, at the highest point of its history; but when these leaders died, the nation sank into darkness, brought about by evil spirit powers, drawing the people into idolatry and sin; the condition of the nation in after years, rising and falling (Judges 2: 19, 1 Kings 14: 22-24; 2 Chron. 33: 2-5, 34: 2-7) into (1) allegiance to God, or (2) idolatrous worship of idols, and all the sins resulting from the substitution of the worship of Satan--which idolatry really meant--in the place of Jehovah.

When the new dispensation opens with the advent of Christ, we find Him--the God-Man--recognizing the existence of the Satanic powers of evil, and manifesting uncompromising hostility toward them, and their works--Moses in the Old Testament, Christ in the New. Moses, the man who knew God face to face. Christ, the Only Begotten Son of the Father, sent from God to the world of men. Each recognizing the existence of Satan and the evil spirit beings; each drastically dealing with them as entering and possessing men, and each waging war against them, as actively opposed to God.

THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES:

Taking a perspective view, from the time of Christ on throughout the early history of the Church, up to the giving of the Apocalypse, and the death of the Apostle John, the manifested power of God wrought (in varying degrees) among His people, and the leaders recognized and dealt with the spirits of evil--a period corresponding to the Mosaic period in the old dispensation.

Then the forces of darkness gained, and, with intermittent intervals and exceptions, the Church of Christ sank down under their power, until, in the darkest hour, which we call the Middle Ages, all the sins having their rise through the deceptive workings of the evil spirits of Satan, were as rife as in the time of Moses, when he wrote by the command of God, "There shall not be found with thee . . one that useth divination, or that practiseth augury, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or a consulter with a familiar spirit, or a wizard, or a necromancer" (Deut. 18: 10-11).

Now, at the close of the dispensation, and on the eve of the millennial age, the true Church of Christ will again arise, and reach God's purposed power, only when the bleivers recognize, as Moses did in the Old Testament Church, and Christ and His apostles did in the New, the existence of evil spirit powers of darkness, and take towards them and their works, the same uncompromising attitude of hostility, and aggressive warfare.

BELIEVERS EQUIPMENT TO DEAL WITH SATANIC POWERS:

Why the Church in the twentieth century has not recognized the existence, and workings, of evil supernatural forces, can only be attributed to its low condition of spiritual life and power. The Church is blinded by the prince of the power of the air to the revelation given in the Scriptures, concerning the Satanic powers.

If Christians recognized the existence of evil spirits, and that the darkness in heathen lands was caused by the prince of the power of the air (Eph. 2: 2; 4: 18 ; 1 John 5: 19; 2 Cor. 4: 4), and proclaimed to the heathen the message of deliverance from the evil hosts, they know so well to be real, and malignant, foes; as well as remission of sin, and victory over sin through the atoning sacrifice of Calvary; a vast change would come over the mission field in a few brief years.

The Holy Spirit is already at work, opening the eyes of the people of God, and many of them are beginning to recognize the real existence of Satanic powers, and are seeking to know how to discern their workings, and how to deal with them in the power of God.

The hour of need always brings the corresponding measure of power from God to meet that need. The Christians during the time of Apostles (1) recognized the existence of evil spirits, (2) that they influenced, deceived and possessed men, and (3) that Christ gave His followers authority over them through His Name and it is available for the servants of God at the close of the age as well.

God gives an object lesson, through the Scripture records, showing that the highest points of God's manifested power among men, is invariably the occasion for concurrent manifestations of the working of Satan. It was so when the Son of God came forth from the wilderness conflict with the prince of darkness, and found the hidden demons in many lives aroused to malignant activity, so that from all parts of Palestine crowds of victims came to the Man, before whom the possessing spirits trembled in impotent rage.

In order to understand the working of the deceiver-prince of this power of the air, and become acute to discern his tactics, and his methods of deceiving men, believers should search the Scriptures thoroughly, to obtain knowledge of his character, and how spirits of evil are able to possess, and use the bodies of men.

THE WORKING OF SATAN AND EVIL SPIRITS:

The workings of Satan as prince of demons, and his evil spirits, should specially be noted, so as to understand their methods at the present day; for to many the adversary is merely a tempter, whilst they little dream of his power as a deceiver (Rev. 12: 9), hinderer (1 Thess. 2: 18), murderer (John 8: 44), liar (John 8: 44), accuser (Rev. 12: 10), and a false angel of light; and still less of the hosts of spirits under his command, constantly besetting their path, bent upon deceiving, hindering, and prompting to sin. A vast host wholly given up to wickedness (Matt. 12: 43-45), delighting to do evil, to slay (Mark 5: 2-5), to deceive, to destroy (Mark 9: 20); and having access to men of every grade, prompting them to all kinds of wickedness, and satisfied only when success accompanies their wicked plans to ruin the children of men (Matt. 27: 3-5).

We read of the Lord describing him as the "prince of the world" (John 14: 30); recognizing him as ruling over a kingdom (Matt. 12: 26); using imperative language to him as a person, saying; "Get thee hence"; while to the Jews He describes his character as "sinning from the beginning," and being a "murderer," and a "liar," the "father of lies," who "abode not in the truth" (John 8: 44) which once he held as a great archangel of God. He is called, also, "that wicked one" (1 John 3: 12, A.V.), the "Adversary," and that "old serpent" (Rev. 12: 9).

In respect of his method of working, the Lord speaks of him as sowing "tares," which are "sons of the evil one," among the wheat--the "sons" of God (Matt. 13: 38, 39); thus revealing the Adversary as possessing the skill of a master mind, directing, with executive ability, his work as "prince of the world," in the whole inhabited earth, and with power to place the men, who are called his "sons," wherever he wills.

We read also, of Satan watching to snatch away the seed of the Word of God from all who hear it, this again indicating his executive power in the world- wide direction of his agents, whom the Lord describes as "fowls of the air"; in His own interpretation of the parable (Matt. 13: 3, 4, 13, 19; Mark 4: 3, 4, 14, 15; Luke 8: 5, 11, 12); plainly saying that He meant by these "fowls" the "evil one" (Matt. 13: 19); "Satan" (Mark 4: 15); or "Devil" (Luke 8: 12); whom we know, from the general teaching of other parts of the Scriptures, does his work through the wicked spirits he has at his command; Satan himself not being omnipresent, although able to transpose himself with lightning velocity to any part of his world-wide dominions.

RECOGNITION OF SATAN AT WORK:

The Lord was always ready to meet the antagonist whom He had foiled in the wilderness, but who had only left Him "for a season" (Luke 4: 13). In Peter He quickly discerned Satan at work, and exposed him by one swift sentence, mentioning his name (Matt. 16: 23). In the Jews He stripped aside the mask of the hidden foe, and said, "Ye are of your father, the devil" (John 8: 44), and with keen-edged words spoke of him as the "murderer" and the "liar," prompting them to kill Him, and lying to them about Himself and His Father in heaven (John 8: 40-41).

On the lake in a storm, fast asleep, and awakened suddenly, He is alert to meet the foe, and stands with calm majesty to "rebuke" the storm, which the prince of the power of the air had roused against Him (Mark 4: 38, 39).

In brief, we find the Lord, right on from the wilderness victory, unveiling the powers of darkness, as He went forward in steady aggressive mastery over them. Behind what appeared "natural," He sometimes discerned a supernatural power which demands His rebuke. He "rebuked" the fever in Peter's wife's mother (Luke 4: 39), just as He "rebuked" the evil spirits in other, and more manifest forms, whilst in other instances He simply healed the sufferer by a word.

The difference between Satan's attitude to the Lord, and that of the spirits of evil, should also be noted. Satan, the prince, tempts Him, seeks to hinder Him, prompts the Pharisees to oppose Him, hides behind a disciple to divert Him, and finally takes hold of a disciple to betray Him, and then sways the multitude to put Him to death; but the spirits of evil bowed down before Him, beseeching Him to "let them alone," and not to command them to go into the abyss (Luke 8: 31).

The realm of this deceiver-prince is specifically mentioned by the Apostle Paul in his description of him as "prince of the power of the air" (Ephes. 2: 2), the aerial, or "heavenly places," being the special sphere of the activity of Satan, and his hierarchy of powers. The name Beelzebub, the prince of the demons, meaning the "god of flies," suggestively speaks of the aerial character of the powers of the air, as well as the word "darkness," describing their character, and their doings. The Lord's description of Satan's working through "fowls of the air" strikingly corresponds to these other statements, together with John's language about the "whole world lying in the evil one" (1 John 5: 19); the "air" being the place of the workings of these aerial spirits, the very atmosphere in which the whole human race moves, said to be "in the evil one."

EVIL SPIRITS IN THE GOSPEL RECORDS:

The gospel record shows that wherever the Lord moved, the emissaries of Satan sprang into active manifestation in the bodies, and minds, of those they indwelt; and that the ministry of Christ and His apostles was directed actively against them, so that again and again the record reads, "He went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out demons" (Mark 1: 39); He "cast out many demons, and He suffered not the demons to speak, because they knew Him" (Mark 1: 34); "Unclean spirits, whensoever they beheld Him, fell down before Him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God" (Mark 3: 11). Then came the sending out of the twelve chosen disciples, when the spirits of evil again are taken into account, for "He gave them authority over unclean spirits" (Mark 6: 7). Later He appointed seventy other messengers, and as they went forward in their work, they, too, found the demons subject to them through His Name (Luke 10: 17).

Were Jerusalem, Capernaum, Galilee, and all Syria, then filled with people who were "insane" and "epileptic"? Or was the truth of evil spirit possession of people a common fact? In any case it is evident from the gospel records, that the Son of God dealt with the powers of darkness as the active, primary cause of the sin, and suffering of this world, and that the aggressive part of His, and His disciples' ministry, was directed persistently against them.

We find, too, that the Lord clearly recognized the devil behind the opposition of the Pharisees (John 8: 44), and the "hour and power of darkness" (Luke 22: 53) behind His persecutors at Calvary. He said that His mission was to "proclaim liberty to the captives" (Luke 4: 18), and who the captor was He revealed on the eve of Calvary, when He said, "Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the prince of this world be cast out" (John 12: 31); and later on that this "prince" would once more come to Him, but would find nothing in Him as ground for his power (John 14: 30).

CHRIST ALWAYS DEALING WITH THE INVISIBLE ENEMIES:

It is striking to find that the Lord did not attempt to convince the Pharisees of His claims as the Messiah, nor take the opportunity of winning the Jews, by yielding to their desires for an earthly king. His one work in this world was manifestly to conquer the Satanic prince of the world by the death of the Cross (Heb. 2: 14); to deliver his captives from his control, and to deal with the invisible hosts of the prince of darkness working at the back of mankind (See 1 John 3: 8).

On the one hand Jesus Christ dealt with the deceiver of the world, and bound the "strong man," whilst on the other He taught the truth about God to the people, to destroy the lies which the prince of darkness had placed in their minds (2 Cor. 4: 4) about His Father and Himself.

The commission He gave to the twelve, and to the seventy, was exactly in line with His own. He sent them forth, and "gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to preach the gospel" (Matt. 10: 1); to "first bind the strong man" (Mark 3: 27), and then to take his goods; to deal with the invisible hosts of Satan first, and then "preach the gospel."

They know that things were done to them by spirit beings, and that those things were evil; therefore they recognize that there are spirit beings who do evil, and know that the symptoms, effects and manifestations of demoniacal possession have active, personal agencies behind them. From experience they know that they are hindered by spirit beings, and therefore know that these things are done by evil spirits who are hinderers. Therefore, reasoning from experimental facts, as well as the testimony of Scripture, they know that these evil spirits are murderers, tempters, liars, accusers, counterfeiters, enemies, haters, and wicked beyond all the power of man to know.

The names of these evil spirits describe their characters, for they are called "foul," "lying," "unclean," "evil," and "deceiving" spirits, as they are wholly given up to every manner of wickedness, and deception, and lying works.

CHARACTESTICS OF EVIL SPIRITS:

What the characteristics of these wicked spirits are, and how they are able to dwell in the bodies and minds of human beings, will be seen by a careful examination of the specific cases mentioned in the Gospels; as well as their power to interfere with, mislead, and deceive, even servants of God, from references to them in other portions of the Word of God.

Evil spirits are generally looked upon as "influences," and not as intelligent beings, but their personality and entity, and difference in character as distinct intelligences, will be seen in the Lord's direct commands to them (Mark 1: 25; 5: 8; 3: 11, 12; 9: 25); their power of speech (Mark 3: 11); their replies to Him, couched in intelligent language (Matt. 8: 29); their sensibilities of fear (Luke 8: 31); their definite expression of desire (Matt. 8: 31); their need of a dwelling place of rest (Matt. 12: 43); their intelligent power of decision (Matt. 12: 44); their power of agreement with other spirits; their degrees of wickedness (Matt. 12: 45); their power of rage (Matt. 8: 28); their strength (Mark 5: 4); their ability to possess a human being, either as one (Mark 1: 26) or in a thousand (Mark 5: 9); their use of a human being as their medium for "divining," or foretelling the future (Acts 16: 16); or as a great miracle worker by their power (Acts 8: 11).

THE RAGE AND WICKEDNESS OF EVIL SPIRITS:

When evil spirits act in a rage, they act as a combination of the maddest and most wicked persons in existence, but all their evil is done with fullest intelligence, and purpose. They know what they do, they know it is evil, terribly evil, and they will to do it. They do it with rage, and with the full swing of malice, enmity and hatred. They act with fury and bestiality, like an enraged bull, as if they had no intelligence, and yet with fun intelligence they carry on their work, showing the wickedness of their wickedness. They act from an absolutely depraved nature, with diabolical fury, and with an undeviating perseverance. They act with determination, persistency, and with skilful methods, forcing themselves upon mankind, upon the Church, and still more upon the spiritual man.

MANIFESTATION OF EVIL SPIRITS THROUGH PERSONS:

Their manifestations through the persons in whom they obtain footing, are varied in character, according to the degree and kind of ground they secure for possession. In one Biblical case the only manifestation of the evil spirit's presence was dumbness (Matt. 9: 32); the spirit possibly locating in the vocal organs; in another, the person held by the spirit was "deaf and dumb" (Mark 9: 25), and the symptoms included foaming at the mouth, grinding the teeth--all connected with the head--but the hold of the spirit was of such long standing (v. 21) that he could throw his victim down, and convulse the whole body (Mark 9: 20-22).

In other cases we find merely an "unclean spirit" in a man in a "synagogue," probably so hidden that none would know the man was thus possessed, until the spirit cried out with fear when he saw Christ, saying, "Art Thou come to destroy us?" (Mark 1: 24); or a "spirit of infirmity" (Luke 13: 11) in a woman of whom it might be said that she simply required "healing" of some disease, or that she was always tired, and only needed "rest," as some would say in the language of the twentieth century.

Again, we find a very advanced case in the man with the "legion," showing that the evil spirits' possession reached such a climax, as to make the person appear insane; for his own personality was so mastered by the malignant spirits in possession, as to cause him to lose all sense of decency, and self-control in the presence of others (Luke 8: 27). The unity of purpose in the spirits of evil to carry out the will of their prince is especially shown in this case, as with one accord they besought to be allowed to enter the swine, and with one accord they rushed the whole herd into the sea.

DIFFERENT KINDS OF EVIL SPIRITS:

From all this we learn that there is one Satan, one devil, one prince of the demons, directing all the opposition to Christ and His people; but myriads of wicked spirits called "demons," lying spirits, deceiving spirits, foul spirits, unclean spirits, subjectively at work in men. Spiritists, to-day, are deceived, in so far as they really believe they are communicating with the spirits of the dead; for it is easy for spirits of evil to impersonate any of the dead, even the most devoted and saintly Christians. They have watched them (Acts 19: 15) all their lives, and can easily counterfeit their voices, or say anything about them, and their actions when on earth.

A "spirit of divination," deceiving spirits can use "palmists," and "fortune tellers," to deceive; for in their work of watching human beings, they inspire the mediums to foretell, not what they know about the future--for God alone has this knowledge--but things which they themselves intend to do; and if they can get the person, to whom these things are told, to co-operate with them, by accepting, or believing, their "fore-telling," they try eventually to bring them about; e.g., the medium says such and such a thing will happen, the person believes it, and by believing, opens himself, or herself, to the evil spirit, to bring that thing to pass; or else admits the spirit, or gives free opportunity to one already in possession, to bring about the thing foretold. They cannot always succeed, and this is the reason why there is so much uncertainty about the response through mediums, because many things may hinder the workings of the evil spirit beings, particularly the prayers of friends, or intercessors in the Christian Church.

These are some of the "deep things of Satan" (Rev. 2: 24) mentioned by the Lord in His message to Thyatira, manifestly referring to far more subtle workings among the Christians of that time, than all that the Apostles had seen in the cases recorded in the gospels. "The mystery of lawlessness doth already work," wrote the Apostle Paul (2 Thess. 2: 7), showing that the deep laid schemes of deception through "doctrines" (1 Tim. 4: 1), foretold as reaching their full culmination in the last days, were already at work in the Church of God. Evil spirits are at work to-day, inside as well as outside the Church, and "spiritualism," in its meaning of dealing with evil spirits, may be found inside the Church, and among the most spiritual believers, apart from its true name. Christian men think they are free from spiritism because they have never been to a seance, not knowing that evil spirits attack, and deceive every human being, and they do not confine their working to the Church, or the world, but wherever they can find conditions fulfilled to enable them to manifest their power.

THE POWER OF EVIL SPIRITS OVER HUMAN BODIES:

The control of the spirits over the bodies of those they possess is seen in the gospel cases. The man with the legion was not master over his own body or mind. The spirits would "seize him," "drive him" (Luke 8: 29), compel him to cut himself with stones (Mark 5: 5), strengthen him to burst every fetter and chain (v. 4), "cry out" aloud (v. 5), and fiercely attack others (Matt. 8: 28). The boy with the dumb spirit would be dashed to the ground (Luke 9: 42), and convulsed; the spirit forced him to cry out, and tore him, so that the body became bruised and sore (v. 39). Teeth, tongue, vocal organs, ears, eyes, nerves, muscles and breath, are seen to be affected and interfered with, by evil spirits in possession. Weakness and strength are both produced by their working, and men (Mark 1: 23), women (Luke 8: 2), boys (Mark 9: 17), and girls (Mark 7: 25), are equally open to their power.

THE EXORCISM OF EVIL SPIRITS CONTRASTED WITH CHRIST'S POWER OF WORD:

How striking to contrast all this with the calm authority of Christ, who needed no adjuration, or methods of exorcism, and no prolonged preparation of Himself prior to dealing with a spirit-possessed man. "He cast out the spirits by a word," "With authority and power He commandeth, and they obey Him," was the wondering testimony of the awe-struck people; and the testimony, too, of the seventy sent forth by Him to use the authority of His Name, as they found the spirits subject to them, even as they were to their Lord (Luke 10: 17-20).

"'They' obey Him," said the people. "They"--the evil spirits whom the people knew to be real identities governed by Beelzebub, their prince (Matt. 12: 24- 27). The complete mastery of the Lord over the demons, compelled the leaders to find some way of explaining His authority over them, and so by that subtle influence of Satan--with which all who have had insight into his devices are familiar--they suddenly charge the Lord with having Satanic power Himself, by saying "He casteth out demons through Beelzebub, the prince of the demons," suggesting that Christ's authority over evil spirits was derived from their chief and prince.

The reference to the kingdom of Satan, and his kingship was left uncontradicted by the Lord, who simply declared the truth in the face of Satan's lie, that He cast out demons "by the finger of God," and that Satan's kingdom would soon fall were he to act against himself, and dislodge his emissaries from their place of retreat in human bodies, where alone they can achieve their greatest power, and do the greatest harm among men. That Satan does apparently fight against himself is true, but when he does so, it is with the purpose of covering some scheme for greater advantage to his kingdom.

THE AUTHORITY OVER EVIL SPIRITS BY THE APOSTLES AFTER PENTECOST:

That the Apostles after Pentecost recognized and dealt with the denizens of the invisible world, is evident from the records of the Acts of the Apostles, and other references in the Epistles. The disciples were prepared for Pentecost, and the opening of the supernatural world through the coming of the Holy Spirit, by their three years' training by the Lord. They had watched Him deal with the wicked spirits of Satan, and had themselves learned to deal with them, too, so that the power of the Holy Spirit could safely be given at Pentecost to men who already knew the workings of the foe. We see how quickly Peter recognized Satan's work in Ananias (Acts 5: 3), and how "unclean spirits" came out at his presence, as they did with his Lord (Acts 5: 16). Philip, too, found the evil hosts subservient (Acts 8: 7) to the word of his testimony, as he proclaimed Christ to the people, and Paul knew, also, the power of the Name of the Risen Lord (Acts 19: 11) in dealing with the powers of evil.

It is therefore clear in Bible history that the manifestation of the power of God invariably meant aggressive dealing with the Satanic hosts; that the manifestation of the power of God at Pentecost, and through the Apostles, meant again an aggressive attitude to the powers of darkness; and, therefore, that the growth and maturity of the Church of Christ at the end of the dispensation, will mean the same recognition, and the same attitude toward the Satanic hosts of the prince of the power of the air; with the same co-witness of the Holy Spirit to the authority of the Name of Jesus, as in the early Church. In brief, that the Church of Christ will reach its high water mark, when it is able to recognize and deal with demon-possession; when it knows how to "bind the strong man" by prayer; "command" the spirits of evil in the Name of Christ, and deliver men and women from their power.

BELIEVERS MUST RECOGNIZE THE POWERS OF DARKNESS:

For this the Christian Church must recognize that the existence of deceiving, lying spirits, is as real in the twentieth century as in the time of Christ, and their attitude to the human race unchanged. That their only ceaseless aim is to deceive every human being. That they are given up to wickedness all day long, and night long, and that they are ceaselessly, and actively pouring a stream of wickedness into the world, and are satisfied only when they succeed in their wicked plans to deceive, and ruin men.

Yet the servants of God have been concerned only to destroy their works; and to deal with sin; not recognizing the need of using the power given by Christ, to resist by faith and prayer, and prayer and faith, this ever- flowing flood of Satanic power pouring in among men; so that men and women, young and old, and even Christian and non-Christian, become deceived and possessed through their guile, and because of ignorance about them, and their wiles.

These supernatural forces of Satan are the true hindrance to revival. The power of God which breaks out in different occasions, with all the marks of the days of Pentecost, are checked and hindered from going on to its fullest purpose, by the same influx of evil spirits as met the Lord Christ on earth, and the Apostles of the early Church; with the difference that the inroad of the powers of darkness found the Christians of the twentieth century, with few exceptions, unable to recognize, and deal with them. Evil spirit possession has followed, and checked every single revival throughout the centuries since Pentecost, and these things must now be understood, and dealt with, if the Church is to advance to maturity. Understood, not only in the degree of possession recorded in the gospels, but in the special forms of manifestations suited to the close of the dispensation, under the guise of the Holy Spirit, yet having some of the very characteristic marks in bodily symptoms, seen in the gospel records, when all who saw the manifestation knew that it was the work of the spirits of Satan.

DECEPTION BY EVIL SPIRITS IN MODERN TIMES:

In the special onslaught of the deceiver, which will come upon the whole of the true Church of Christ at the close of the age, through the army of deceiving spirits, there are some more than others who are specially attacked by the powers of darkness, who need light upon his deceptive workings, so that they may pass through the trial of the Last Hour, and be counted worthy to escape that hour of greater trial, which is coming upon the earth (Luke 21: 34-36; Rev. 3: 10).

For among those who are members of the Body of Christ, there are degrees of growth, and therefore degrees of testing, permitted by God, Who provides a way of escape for him who knows his need, and, by watching unto prayer, takes heed lest he fall (1 Cor. 10: 12, 13). He is the Sovereign Lord of the Universe and has set a limit for Satan with every redeemed believer (see Job 1: 12; 2: 6; Luke 22: 31). Some of the members of Christ are yet in the stage of babyhood, and others do not even know the initial reception of the Holy Spirit. To such this article has not much to say, as they are among the weaker ones who need the "milk of the Word."

But there are others, who may be described as the advance guard of the Church of Christ, who have been baptized with the Holy Ghost, or who are seeking that Baptism; honest and earnest believers, who sigh and cry over the powerlessness of the true Church of Christ, and who grieve that her witness is so ineffective; that Spiritism, Christian Science and New Age, and other "isms," are sweeping thousands into their deceptive errors, little thinking, that, as they themselves go forward into the spiritual realm, the deceiver, who has misled others, has special wiles prepared for them, so that he might render ineffective their aggressive power against him. These are the ones who are in danger of the special deception of the counterfeit "Christs," and false prophets, and the dazzling lure of "signs and wonders," and "fire out of heaven," planned to meet their longing for the mighty interposition of God in the darkness settling upon the earth, but who do not recognize that such workings of the spirits of evil are possible, and so are unprepared to meet them.

These are the ones, also, who are recklessly ready to follow the Lord at any cost, and yet do not realize their unpreparedness for contest with the spiritual powers of the unseen world, as they press on into fuller spiritual things. Believers who are full of mental conceptions wrought into them in earlier years, which hinder the Spirit of God from preparing them for all they will meet as they press on to their coveted goal; conceptions which also hinder others from giving them, out of the Scriptures, much that they need to know of the spiritual world into which they are so blindly advancing. Conceptions which lull them into a false security, and give ground for, and even bring about, that very deception which enables the deceiver to find them an easy prey.

CAN "HONEST SOULS" BE DECEIVED?

One prevailing idea, which such believers have deeply embedded in their minds, is that "honest seekers after God" will not be allowed to be deceived. That this is one of Satan's lies, to lure such seekers into a false position of safety, is proved by the history of the Church during the past two thousand years, for every "wile of error" which has borne sad fruit throughout this period, first laid hold of devoted believers who were "honest souls." The errors among groups of such believers, some well known to the present generation, all began among "honest" children of God, baptized with the Holy Ghost; and all so sure that, knowing the side-tracking of others before them, they would never be caught by the wiles of Satan. Yet they, too, have been deceived by lying spirits, counterfeiting the workings of God in the higher ranges of the spiritual life.

Among such devoted believers, lying spirits have worked on their determination literally to obey the Scriptures, and by misuse of the letter of the written Word, have pushed them into phases of unbalanced truth, with resulting erroneous practices. Many who have suffered for their adherence to these "Biblical commands," firmly believe that they are martyrs suffering for Christ. The world calls these devoted ones "cranks," and "fanatics," yet they give evidence of highest devotion and love to the Person of the Lord, and could be delivered, if they but understood why the powers of darkness deceived them, and the way of freedom from their power.

The aftermath of many Revivals, which was a true work of God, revealed numbers of "honest souls" swept off their feet by evil supernatural powers, which they were not able to discern from the true working of God. And there have been other "movements," with large numbers of earnest servants of God swept into deception, through the wiles of deceiving spirits counterfeiting the workings of God; all "honest souls," deceived by the subtle foe, and certain to be led on into still deeper deception, notwithstanding their honesty and earnestness, if they are not awakened to "return to soberness" and recovery out of the snare of the devil into which they have fallen (2 Tim. 2: 26).

FAITHFULNESS TO LIGHT NOT SUFFICIENT SAFEGUARD AGAINST DECEPTION:

The children of God need to know that to be true in motive, and faithful up to light, is not sufficient safeguard against deception; and that it is not safe for them to rely upon their "honesty of purpose" as guaranteeing protection from the enemy's wiles, instead of taking heed to the warnings of God's Word, and watching unto prayer. If not they can be deceived by Satan, and his deceiving spirits, for the following reasons:--

(a) When a man becomes a child of God, by the regenerating power of the Spirit, giving him new life as he trusts in the atoning work of Christ, he does not at the same time receive fullness of knowledge, either of God, himself, or the devil.

(b) The mind which by nature is darkened (Eph. 4: 18), and under a veil created by Satan (2 Cor. 4: 4) is only renewed, and the veil destroyed, up to the extent that the light of truth penetrates it, and according to the measure in which the man is able to apprehend it.

(c) "Deception" has to do with the mind, and it means a wrong thought admitted to the mind, under the deception that it is truth. Since "deception" is based on ignorance, and not on the moral character; a Christian who is "true" and "faithful" up to the knowledge he has, must be open to deception in the sphere where he is ignorant of the "devices" of the devil (2 Cor. 2: 11), and what he is able to do. A "true" and "faithful" Christian is liable to be "deceived" by the devil because of his ignorance.

(d) The thought that God will protect a believer from being deceived if he is true and faithful, is in itself a "deception," because it throws a man off guard, and ignores the fact that there are conditions on the part of the believer which have to be fulfilled for God's working. God does not do anything instead of a man, but by the man's co-operation with Him; neither does He undertake to make up for a man's ignorance, when He has provided knowledge for him which will prevent him being deceived.

(e) Christ would not have warned His disciples "Take heed… be not deceived" if there had been no danger of deception, or if God had undertaken to keep them from deception apart from their "taking heed," and their knowledge of such danger.

The knowledge that it is possible to be deceived, keeps the mind open to truth, and light from God; and is one of the primary conditions for the keeping power of God; whereas a closed mind to light and truth, is a certain guarantee of deception by Satan at his earliest opportunity.

MISTAKEN CONCEPTIONS CONCERNING "WAITING FOR THE SPIRIT":

The Scriptural truth concerning waiting for the Spirit" may be summed up as follows: The disciples waited ten days, in simple prayer, and supplication, until the fullness of time had come for the fulfillment of the promise of the Father. The command to wait, given by the Lord (Acts 1: 4) was not carried forward into the Christian dispensation after the Holy Ghost had come, for in no single instance, either in the Acts or in the Epistles, do the Apostles bid the disciples "tarry" for the gift of the Holy Spirit, but they use the word "receive" in every instance (Acts 19: 2).

But we find expressions and theories misleading, and opening the door to Satanic deceptions. "If we want a Pentecostal manifestation of the Spirit, we must 'tarry' as did the disciples before Pentecost" (Luke 24: 49, and Acts 1: 4). We have had to search the Scriptures once more, to discover that the Old Testament word of "wait on the Lord" so often used in the Psalms, has been strained beyond the New Testament proportion of truth, and exaggerated into a "waiting on God" for the outpouring of the Spirit, which has even gone beyond the "ten days" which preceded Pentecost, into four months, and even four years, and which, has ended in an influx of deceiving spirits which has rudely awakened some of the waiting souls.

The Risen Lord poured forth the Spirit again and again after the day of Pentecost, but in each instance it was without "tarrying" as the disciples did at the first (Acts. 4: 31). The Holy Spirit, Who proceeds from the Father through the Son to His people, is now among them, waiting to give Himself unceasingly to all who will appropriate, and receive Him (John 15: 26 ; Acts 2: 33, 38, 39). So "waiting for the Spirit" therefore is not in accord with the general tenor of the truth given in the Acts and the Epistles, which show rather the imperative call to the believer to put in his claim, not only to his identification with the Lord Jesus in His death, and union in life with Him in His resurrection, but also to the enduement for witnessing, which came to the disciples on the Day of Pentecost.

WHY WAITING MEETINGS ARE PROFITABLE TO EVIL SPIRITS:

Why "waiting meetings"--that is, "waiting for the Spirit" until He descends in some manifested way--have been so profitable to deceiving spirits, is because they are not in accord with the written Word, where it is set forth that (1) The Holy Spirit is not to be prayed to, or asked to come, as He is the Gift of Another (Luke 11: 13; John 14: 16). (2) The Holy Spirit is not to be "waited for", but to be taken, or received from the hand of the Risen Lord (John 20: 22; Eph. 5: 18); of whom it is written, "He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire" (Matt. 3: 11). Hence waiting meetings are out of line with the truth of the Scriptures, therefore prayer to the Spirit, "trust in the Spirit," "obeying the Spirit," "expecting the Spirit" to descend, may all become prayer, trust, and obedience to evil spirits, as they counterfeit the working of God.

THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST:

As we glance back over the history of the Church, and watch the rise of various "heresies" or delusions, we can trace the period of deception as beginning with some great spiritual crisis, such as that which, in later years, we have termed "the Baptism of the Holy Ghost"; a crisis in which the man is brought to give himself up, in full abandonment to the Holy Spirit, and in so doing thus opens himself to the supernatural powers of the invisible world.

The reason for the peril of this crisis, is, that up to this time, the believer used his reasoning faculties in judging right and wrong, and obeyed, what he believed to be the will of God from principle; but now, in his abandonment to the Holy Spirit, he begins to obey an unseen Person, and to submit his faculties, and his reasoning powers in blind obedience to that which he believes is of God. It is a crisis in the life of a Christian, which none but those who have gone through it in experience can fully under stand. It means that the Spirit of God becomes so real to the man, that his supreme object in life is henceforth implicit "obedience to the Holy Ghost."

The will is surrendered to carry out the Will of God at all costs, and the whole being is made subject to the powers of the unseen world; the believer, of course, purposing that it shall only be to the power of God, not taking into account that there are other powers in the spiritual realm, and that all that is "supernatural" is not all of God; and not realizing that this absolute surrender of the whole being to invisible forces, without knowing how to discern between the contrary powers of God and Satan, must be of the gravest risk to the believer.

The Baptism of the Spirit, however, so brings the Holy Spirit as a Person into the range of the believer's consciousness, that for the time being, the other Persons of the Trinity, in heaven, may be eclipsed. The Holy Spirit becomes the centre and object of thought and worship, and is given a place which He Himself does not desire, and which it is not the purpose of the Father in heaven, that He should have, or occupy.

The question whether this surrender to "obey the Spirit, " is one that is in accord with Scripture, should be examined in view of the way in which so many wholehearted believers have been misled, for it is strange that an attitude which is Scriptural should be so grievously the cause of danger, and often complete wreckage, to many devoted children of God.

IS THE PHRASE OBEYING "THE SPIRIT" SCRIPTURAL?

"The Holy Ghost, Whom God hath given to them that obey Him," is the principal phrase giving rise to the expression, "obey the Spirit." It was used by Peter before the Council at Jerusalem, but nowhere else in the Scriptures is the same thought given. The whole passage needs reading carefully to reach a clear conclusion. "We must obey God" (Acts 5: 29), Peter said to the Sanhedrin, for "we are witnesses… and so is the Holy Ghost Whom God hath given to them that obey Him" (v. 32). Does the Apostle mean "obey the Spirit," or "obey God," according to the first words of the passage?

The distinction is important, and the setting of the words can only be rightly understood by the teaching of other parts of Scripture, that the Triune God in Heaven is to be obeyed, through the power of the indwelling Spirit of God. For to place the Holy Ghost as the object of obedience, rather than God the Father, through the Son, by the Holy Spirit, creates the danger of leading the believer to rely upon, or obey, a "Spirit" in, or around him, rather than God on the throne in heaven, Who is to be obeyed by the child of God united to His Son; the Holy Spirit being the media, or means, through Whom God is worshipped, and obeyed.

THE TRUE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE BELIEVER:

"He shall not speak from Himself” (John 16: 13), said the Lord before Calvary, as He told of His coming at Pentecost. He should act as Teacher (John 14: 26), but teaching the words of Another, not His own; He should bear witness to Another, not to Himself (John 15: 26); He should glorify Another, not Himself (John 16: 14); He should only speak what was given Him to speak by Another (John 16: 13); in brief, His entire work would be to lead souls into union with the Son, and knowledge of the Father in heaven whilst He Himself directed, and worked in the background.

But the opening of the spiritual world, which takes place through the filling of the Spirit; and the work of the Spirit, which now occupies the attention of the believer, is just the opportunity for the arch-deceiver to commence his wiles under a new form. If the man is untaught in the Scriptural statements of the work of the Triune God, to "obey the Spirit" is now his supreme purpose; and to counterfeit the guidance of the Spirit, and the Spirit Himself, is now the deceiver's scheme; for he must somehow regain power over this servant of God, so as to render him useless for aggressive warfare against the forces of darkness, drive him back into the world, or in some way side-track him from active service for God.

THE PERIL OF THE TIME OF THE BAPTISM OF THE SPIRIT:

It is just here that the ignorance of the believer about (1) the spiritual world now opened to him, (2) the workings of evil powers in that realm, and (3) the conditions upon which God works in and through him, gives the enemy his opportunity. It is the time of greatest peril for every believer, unless he is instructed and prepared, as the disciples were for three whole years by the Lord. The danger lies along the line of supernatural "guidance," through not knowing the condition of co-operation with the Holy Spirit, and how to discern the will of God; and counterfeit manifestations, through not knowing the "discerning of spirits" necessary to detect the workings of the false angel of light, who is able to bring about counterfeit gifts of prophesy, tongues, healings, and other spiritual experiences, connected with the work of the Holy Ghost.

Those who have their eyes opened to the opposing forces of the spiritual realm, understand that very few believers can guarantee that they are obeying God, and God only, in direct supernatural guidance, because there are so many factors liable to intervene, such as the believer's own mind, own spirit, own will, and the deceptive intrusion of the powers of darkness.

Since evil spirits can counterfeit God as Father, Son, or Holy Spirit, the believer needs also to know very clearly the principles upon which God works, so as to detect between the Divine and the Satanic workings. There is a "discernment" which is a spiritual gift, enabling the believer to discern "spirits," but this also requires knowledge of "doctrine" (1 John 4: 1), so as to discern between doctrine which is of God, and doctrines, or teachings, of teaching spirits.

There is a detecting, by the gift of discerning of spirits, which spirit is at work; and a test of spirits, which is doctrinal. In the former a believer can tell by a spirit of discernment, that the lying spirits are at work in a meeting, or in a person, but he may not have the understanding needed for testing the "doctrines" set forth by a teacher. He needs knowledge in both cases; knowledge to read his spirit with assurance in the face of all contrary appearances, that the supernatural workings are "of God"; and knowledge to detect the subtlety of "teachings" bearing certain infallible indications that they emanate from the pit, while appearing to be from God.

In personal obedience to God, the believer can detect whether he is obeying God in some "command," by judging its fruits, and by knowledge of the character of God, such as the truth that (1) God has always a purpose in His commands, and (2) He will give no command out of harmony with His character and Word.

THE SPIRITUAL BELIEVER EXHORTED TO "JUDGE ALL THINGS":

The duty of this examination of spiritual things is strongly urged by the Apostle Paul, again and again. "He that is spiritual judgeth (examineth, or, as in the Greek, investigates and decides), all things" (1 Cor. 2: 15). The "spiritual" believer is to use his "judgment," which is a renewed faculty if he is a "spiritual man," and this spiritual examination, or judging, is mentioned as operative in connection with "things of the Spirit of God" (1 Cor. 2: 14), showing how God Himself honours the intelligent personality of the man He re-creates in Christ, by inviting the "judging" and "examining" of His own workings by His Spirit; so that even "the things of the Spirit" are not to be received as of Him, without being examined, and "spiritually discerned" as of God. When, therefore, it is said in connection with the supernatural, and abnormal manifestations of the present time, that it is not necessary, nor even according to the will of God, for believers to understand, or explain all the workings of God, it is out of accord with the Apostle's statement that, "he that is spiritual, judgeth all things," and consequently should reject all things which his spiritual judgment is unable to accept, until such a time as he is able to discern with clearness what are the things of God.

And not only is the believer to discern, or judge the things of the spirit--i.e., all things in the spiritual realm--but he is also to judge himself. For "if we discriminated ourselves"--the Greek word means a thorough investigation --we should not need the dealing of the Lord, to bring to light the things in ourselves which we have failed to discern by discrimination (1 Cor. 11: 31).

"Brethren, be not children in mind, howbeit in malice be ye babes, but in MIND BE MEN" (full, or mature age, 1 Cor. 14: 20), wrote the Apostle again to the Corinthians, as he explained to them the way of the working of the Spirit among them. The believer is in "mind" to be of "full age"; that is, able to examine, "bring to the proof" (to prove, demonstrate, examine, 2 Tim. 4: 2, R.V. m.), and "prove all things" (1 Thess. 5: 21). He is to abound in knowledge, and "all discernment," so as to "prove the things that differ," that he may be "sincere and void of offence" until the day of Christ (Phil. 1: 10).

EXPRESSIONS, "VIEWS," DOCTRINES, NEED TO BE EXAMINED:

In accordance with these directions of the Word of God, and in view of the critical time through which the Church of Christ is passing, every expression, "view," or theory, which we hold concerning things, should now be examined carefully, and brought to the proof, with open and honest desire to know the pure truth of God, as well as every statement that comes to our knowledge of the experience of others, which may throw light upon our own pathway. Every criticism--just or unjust--should be humbly received, and examined to discover its ground, apparent or real; and facts concerning spiritual verities from every section of the Church of God, should be analysed, independent of their pleasure, or pain, to us personally, either for our own enlightenment, or for our equipment in the service of God. For the knowledge of truth is the first essential for warfare with the lying spirits of Satan, and truth must be eagerly sought for, and faced with earnest and sincere desire to know it, and obey it in the light of God; truth concerning ourselves, discerned by unbiased discrimination; truth from the Scriptures, uncoloured, unstrained, unmutilated, undiluted; truth in facing facts of experience in all members of the Body of Christ, and not one section alone.

THE PLACE OF TRUTH IN DELIVERANCE:

There is a fundamental principle involved in the freeing power of truth from the deceptions of the devil. Deliverance from believing lies must be by believing truth. Nothing can remove a lie but truth. "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8: 32), is applicable to every aspect of truth, as well as the special truth referred to by the Lord when He spoke the pregnant words.

In the very first stage of the Christian life the sinner must know the truth of the gospel, if he is to be saved. Christ is the Saviour, but He saves through, and not apart from instruments or means. If the believer needs freedom, he must ask the Son of God for it. How does the Son set free? By the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit does it by the instrumentality of truth; or we may say, in brief, freedom is the gift of the Son, by the Holy Spirit working through truth.

DEMONIC INFLUENCES

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DEMONIC INFLUENCES

The first goal of demons is to prevent us from receiving salvation. If that fails, they work at preventing Christian maturity. They try to shut us down and make us ineffective. Their chief strategy is to try to get people to turn away from God. They do this through many forms of temptation, harassment, and also from challenging God and His Word. Demons lie to us and work hard to have us lie to ourselves.

Another form of harassment is accusation and criticism. Demons will interject condemning thoughts into the minds of believers. They particularly like to stir up the past with thoughts of, “You really should have...” or “If only you had done...differently”. Demons are on a “seek and destroy” mission. They work together and strategize. They take advantage of our weaknesses and they love times when people are either physically and/or emotionally weak or vulnerable. They attempt to affect all areas of a person’s body, soul, and spirit. They don’t play fair.

There are several ways by which demons oppresses people. Afflict: To inflict something hard to endure. Harass: To annoy or disturb persistently, to wear out by frequent attacks. Influence: To exercise indirect power over in order to sway or affect. Oppress: To lower in spirit or mood. Torment: To cause severe suffering of body or mind. Torture: To punish or coerce by inflicting excruciating pain. Worry: To disturb one or destroy one’s peace of mind by repeated or persistent torment. Wrong: To inflict injury on another without justification.

We know that we are made up of body, soul and spirit. Again the soul in itself is made up of mind, will and emotions. Becoming a believer means we must have surrendered our will to the Lordship of Jesus Christ our savior. But the mind and emotions, we might not have fully surrendered to our Lord. In these circumstances either knowingly or unknowingly we are allowing the devil to have a legal hold on our mind or emotions. Psychic Power, Psychic Prayer, Mind Control, Mind Control Occult, Witchcraft and Soul Ties are some of them.

WITCHCRAFT:

I Samuel 15:23. "For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the Word of the Lord, He hath also rejected thee from being king." When we turn away from God we are in witchcraft or in devil's territory. This is a most general statement in that we have given place to the devil and will live by the devil's rules and we have to understand the devil's mode of operation which is best described as witchcraft. That means we have surrendered our body, soul and spirit to the control, influence, or manipulation of the unseen forces of evil spirits.

The operation of the devil is only through the manipulation of evil spirits. If Satan wants one of his people in a higher position in a company, then he has to have an evil spirit in a person of authority to advance the preferred one. If the devil wants to bring a preacher down he might use an evil spirit of lust in a gorgeous young well perfumed sweet thing to bring about a fall. This operation doesn't just have to be in a preacher because it works in all groups.

Witchcraft is the most effective weapon in the devil's arsenal to destroy and or prevent any human being coming into the full power of God. Occult means unseen. Witchcraft and Occult go hand in hand. All these practices are hidden snares to involve humans in the devil's world and to make them think that they have it all. Here is a partial list of snares the devil uses.

OCCULT PRACTICES: Fortune Telling, Ouija Board, Cards, Good Luck Charms, Seances, Edgar Cayce, Jeanne Dixon, Mind Control, Witchcraft, Four-leaf Clover, Rabbit Foot, Wishbone, ESP, Transcendental Meditation, Yoga, Hypnosis, Drugs - Tranquilizers and Pain Relievers, Incense, Dungeons and Dragons, Pendulum, Palm Reading, Automatic Handwriting, Pierced Ears, Horoscopes, Signs of the Zodiac, Voodoo, Magic, Levitation, Water witching, Tea Leaf Reading, Secret Organizations and Lodges, Eight Ball, Smoking, Chewing Tobacco, Dipping Snuff, Drinking Alcoholic Beverages, Kabala, Handwriting Analysis, Strychnine, Arsenic, Spirits of Gene and Chromosome Damage, Crystal Ball, Tarot Cards, Psychic Readings, Spiritualism, Sorcery - Drugs - Pharmakia, LSD, Rubik's Cube, Clairvoyance, Telepathy, Para-psychology, Enchantments, Potions, Ankh, Peace Sign, Star of David and Five Pointed Stars, Artifacts, Tattoos, Owls and Frogs, Snakes Self Realization, Deja-vu, Martial Arts, Buddism-zen, Hinduism, Taoism, Yin and Yang, Confucianism, Acupuncture, Hare Krishna, Bingo Gambling and Playing Cards Gambling, Astral Projection, Eckankar, Reincarnation, Arthur Ford, Ruth Montgomery, Divining for Metal or Minerals or Anything Else, Psychosybernetics, Mind over Matter, Pyramid Power, UFO, Trances, Dolls (Originated in Voodoo), Psychometry, Psychic Predictions, Clairaudience, Second Sight, Auras, Metaphysics, Mental Science, Vision, Superstition, Fetishes, Runes, Amulets, Talismans, Satanism, Indian Witchcraft, Sun or Moon Worship, Spiritual Healing, Italian Horn, Indian Religions, Warpaint, Maize Fertility, Christian Science Healing, Omens, Karma, Rock and Roll, Mediums, Hex Signs, "Jesus" Rock and Roll, Itial, Irish, Gypsy, German, Etc., - Witchcraft, Rappings, Poltergeists, Haunted Houses, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Tolkien, Conjuration, Incantation, Idolatry, TV Shows like "Merlin", Walt Disney, Rose Mary's Baby, Reading Hari, Biofeedback.

CULTS: Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Science, Rosicrucians, Theosophy, Unity, Mormonism, Unitarians, Bahai, Spiritualism, Scientology, Swedenborganism, Christodelphiamism, Inner Peace Movement, Spiritualism, Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship, Association for Research and Development, Religious Research Foundations of America, Eckankar, Urantia, Moonies, Subud, Latihan, Islam, The Way, and other religions using the Bible but denying or omitting the Divinity of Christ, and/or the Atonement of His precious Blood, any group denying existence of heaven or hell, Catholic Church.

The practice of witchcraft in the Catholic Church is in all their ceremonies. The mind is purchased or we might say controlled by the water baptism being poured across the forehead. A Catholic helps curse himself or herself every time he or she makes an upside down cross in crossing himself. Catholics participate in a lie in transubstantiation in communion (Cannibalism). Cursing of themselves occurs through the "sick call sets", consisting of a crucifix, two candles, and holy water. Worshipping saints (praying to the dead) is scripturally forbidden (Deuteronomy 18:11). Calling a man Father (Master) is also forbidden in Matthew 23:9. The Catholic Church is really an endless string of damnable practices all done in the name of Jesus Christ. (II Corinthians 11:13-15).

Cub scouts, scouting organizations, demolays and Masonic organization's ritualism and symbolism all go back to Nimrod. It all leads to the satanic: It is a well known fact that many teachers are practicing witches. One boy from a southern state (he was a high school English teacher) said the head of the teacher training program in that state was the head witch in that state.

Teachers, who are witches, usually go for training to learn how to interweave witchcraft into the teaching program without being suspected by the community. Witchcraft is taught in school by the promotion of folklore, study of demons and demonology. The students are always told that witchcraft, the way he's using it, or she's using it is for good. This is a lie of Satan because all witchcraft, black magic, white magic, or white or black witchcraft is all bad.

In one school the teacher had put a curse on his pupils of "death and hell". Another example is that of a student that put spells and love potions on a girl to make her desire him sexually. Don’t be under the impression that it won't work. This all has become a commonplace in schools where witchcraft is practiced. Where Dungeons and Dragons are played it isn't unusual for students to put spells on other students for a power move or vengeance and sometimes for the fun of it. They get a kick out of trying their new power.

It is all very real, and it results in an evil spirit being put into the participants by the curse, hex, or charm, and the student’s mentality and entire attitude usually becomes erratic and unpredictable. In schools where karate or judo is taught this causes further demon possession. In gym classes, YMCA and YWCA, people are often taught to sit in the Lotus position. This also opens them to demons.

The great conspiracy of Satan to control our mind reaches into the entertainment field through television and movies. Most of the actors and actresses on television today are either practicing witches or mixed up in witchcraft or seeking witchcraft or seeking the power of witchcraft. Most are in some way implicated in it.

SOAP OPERAS: Soap operas have a powerful grip on the mind. Mind control, soul removal and entrance of evil spirits all occur in the person watching them. Emotionalism, violence, passion, anger, lust, free love, hate, you name it, the opportunity for many to enter the person is there. For example, Dallas brings about spirits that would seek to corrupt every form of business and home life.

The authors, writers and script writers are absolutely polluted with it. As a result they produced Star Wars, Jaws, Empire Strikes Back and many more. Many movies are the most horrible, grotesque, powerful, satanic, indescribable, treacherous, revolting, productions. Words cannot describe the effects that witchcraft has had in our entertainment field. Filling the observer with fear and opening him up for demons to enter is the goal of each horror movie.

There is hardly a page of movie ads that are fit to read. We can remember that witchcraft includes the use of sex. The people who are delving and dealing in witchcraft have no ability to develop any love such as the Scripture defined love. The only love they have is the sexual activity. To them that is love. Sexual activities and stimulation is not only used as a subverting factor, but as a counterfeit of true love and the sending forth of more powerful curses.

In witchcraft books they suggest that we go out in public with no clothes on except a raincoat and then take the coat off in an elevator to build up their energy or power. The braless and bikini looks have their roots in witchcraft. A look at a nude or indecently exposed body or pornographic material can be just as potent as the taking of a drug, in admitting or activating an evil spirit.

A believer must be aware that from every aspect of his life and activity, he is threatened constantly with the prospect of witchcraft being beamed at him by the enemy. These attacks come from unknown or unsuspecting sources. The snares of Satan are cleverly laid to trap the believer into a situation where Satan can have more control over his or her mind.

SATAN IS AFTER THE CONTROL OF OUR MIND:

Mind control is the chief weapon of Satan to snare the believer. The Scriptures admonish us to "bring every thought into captivity", II Corinthians 10:5. The Scriptures say that the spirit of a sound mind means a disciplined mind. It is absolutely essential for a person to keep a sound mind or a disciplined mind, to become aware of the thoughts that are coming from the devil and the thoughts that are coming from the Lord. Many times a person will enter a world of fantasy and imagination, lusting after something, or covetousness, or of something they consider normal. Many times they will dwell on what to do in case of an accident. This is a great counterfeit when the devil will have you go over and over what to do in case of an accident. By accepting this and hearing this in our mind we are giving place to the devil for it to happen.

This is a counterfeit for what we are supposed to do when these thoughts enter our minds. We should reject them and reassure ourselves that it cannot happen to us because the protection is available that the Lord has promised in His scriptures. Psalm 91 and other great scriptures should enter our mind and we should control the thoughts and possess total victory over those situations. We should dispose or cast out these thoughts of the devil and not entertain them.

It's important to "capture our thoughts". By apprehending our thoughts, understanding our thoughts, and being able to look upon our own thoughts, we can bring every thought into captivity. Many times a split personality could stop the personality from changing by simply taking charge of his own thoughts. It is important to realize that things like Dungeons and Dragons, and other games of witchcraft, put the mind in gear for Satan. Then witchcraft activity becomes common place. The casting of spells, the inducing of charms, and the practicing of witchcraft takes over the entire mind and thus gives way to the mind control spirit whereby the mind can be controlled by the devil himself. This is also the reason for the psychedelic colors in the Rubik's cube, and the mind boggling disco lights and the lights that are sold as rhythm, colors. All these colors affect the mentality and aid in the taking over and controlling of the mind.

Mind Control is the prime root cause for failure to use the spiritual gifts for God's Glory. Beelzebub interferes with the correct operation of the gifts. We should ask the Lord to loose spirits of Joshua and Caleb and to help us to take full control, power and authority over Mind Control. Mind Occult will provide a powerful pulling force to readmit a demon who was cast out. Seal off this power with the Blood of Jesus.

THERAPEUTIC: The word medicine is used twice in the Old Testament (Prov. 17:22; Jer. 30:13). Medicine also occurs two other times (Ezk. 47:12; Jer. 46:11). The root words are Gehah (a cure); Gahah (to remove or heal); Teruwthah (a remedy) and Rephuah (heal). In each case the words mean to effect a complete cure or restoration to the one treated - to heal or restore completely.

The word physician is used five times in the Bible. In the Old Testament the Hebrew root word is Rapha or Raphan meaning to stitch, restore, make whole and heal thoroughly. The Greek root word in the New Testament means to cure or make whole.

Satan, as the god of this world, has introduced into the realm of medicine a group of chemicals and drugs spelled relief, relievers, tranquilizers, uppers, downers, etc. These are both prescribed and are on the shelf with the assumption they are safe to use or they would not be available. Such drugs and chemicals in the Bible are associated with sorcery (Greek: Pharmakia) - medication: Pharmacy: means magic, witchcraft, a drug, spell-giving potion, a druggist, pharmacist, magician, sorcerer, poisoner. In other words, the use of chemicals by sorcerers in the Bible was to make it easy for the user to be invaded by evil spirits. Scriptures on sorcery: Acts 8:9; Rev. 9:21; 18:23; 21:8; 22:15.

In the light of these facts the question arises, what chemicals or drugs can a Christian take without affecting his spiritual sensitivity and desire to serve the Lord? Scripture declares that real medicines heal or cure. Our problem arose when Satan caused worldly scientists, researchers and the medical profession to endorse reliever drugs which have no curative value but only serve to deepen the plight of the victim. So often a righteous believer may condemn alcohol as a reliever yet in her purse she carries Valium or Librium as a reliever for herself.

Behind the scenes Satan's agents manipulate and interfere to bring about aches, pains, agony, diseases, etc. which afflict the minds, wills and emotions of their victims. Reliever drugs only mask the symptoms but do not cure them. Many of the modern pain relievers are so powerful they are capable of veiling the mind or setting up barriers between the Holy Spirit and the person's will or desire to seek the Father. This produces tension, worry and anxiety, necessitating an even stronger mind separator, i.e., tranquilizers. These can separate a person's mind from reality and (when prescribed by a reputable doctor, psychologist, or specialist) can further alienate the uninformed believer from God (Isaiah 5:13-14).

Viewed this way, many strong pain killers, tranquilizers and mind altering drugs constitute instant witchcraft, regardless of who prescribes or advises taking them. In a sense a believer taking some of these drugs while crying out to God for healing would be like a man begging the fireman to extinguish a fire while he continues to pour gasoline on it!

A mind-boggling drug produces two complications for a believer. First it may well constitute sorcery or witchcraft - seeking help from man, the flesh and the demonic. In that instance he would come under a curse from God because of involvement with the occult. It could also paralyze built-in defenses against the demonic, opening the way for entrance of evil spirits just as in hypnosis, transcendental meditation and yoga.

All medicine are not bad, curative and healing arts which do not alter the mind or attitude toward God are what the Scripture calls medicine. But mind altering drugs are definitely in the caution area for believers. Believers have an obligation to ask their physician or other knowledgeable person just what the function and action is for any so-called medication which is prescribed. They then have a choice and can pray to determine whether or not they should use any substance. The Bible definition of physician is one who restores or makes whole.

Many alternative practices are heavily steeped in false spirituality, Eastern mysticism and New Age thought. From acupuncture and aromatherapy to shamanism, yoga and Zen macrobiotics, alternative medical practices span the alphabet. They run the gamut from clever blending of fact and fancy to complete foolishness. Failure to diagnose and treat, physical threats, toxic effects, emotional harm, wasted money, diverted resources and loss of reality can hurt or kill due to mystical interpretation of reality and pursuit of occult practices.

The fact that doctors are combining occultic spiritual practices with modern healing produces medical quackery and false spirituality. Just because something works doesn't make it right for anybody.

(Natural Therapies - Ayurveda, Colonics, Herbalism, Naturopathy, Macrobiotics and Osteopathy. Manual Therapies - Massage, Rolfing, Trager Work and Chiropractic. Mind Therapies - Hypnosis, Biofeedback, Christian Science, Dreamwork, Transcendental Meditation and Yoga (power of mind over sickness, pseudo-sceientific, dynamic relaxation, altered consciousness, guided imagery, visualization, shamanic trance, New Age religions, Science of Mind religions, body/mind integration techniques.

Energy Manipulating Therapies - Acupuncture, Applied Kinesiology (muscle testing), Crystals, Flower Remedies, Iridology (iris of eye), Reflexology, Reiki, Therapeutic Touch and Universal Energy (New Age, self-transformation, metaphysical, electromagnetic, polarity, quasi-religious, oriental wisdom, cosmic radiant energy, chakras, ancient sacred knowledge, Eastern mysticism and religious concepts, Chinese and Indian philosophy, Buddhist spiritual principles, Taoism, Confucianism, Monism, Legalism, esoteric occultism, prana, face reading, hydrotherapy, manipulative, bio-force, chi, jin shin do, physiotherapy, prophetic healing, trigger point therapy, sorcery, white magic, wizardry, Acupressure.

Supernatural Therapies - Channeling, Psychic Surgery, Shamanism, Spirit Guide and Visualization (occult, spiritual and faith healing, spiritual awareness, demonic influence, clairvoyance, psychokinesis, crystal ball, fortune telling, witchcraft, tarot cards, phrenology, worship of nature, spiritual attunements, yin and yang, astro-projection, alchemy, out-of-body experience, communication with dead, spiritists, spirit guide, seance, create own reality, magical healing, seeking forbidden knowledge, psychoanalysis, hypnotherapy, rituals, somatic therapy, magic, metaphysical, past life incarnation / regression, UFO contact, sacred science, palm reading, aura, pendulum, witch doctor, medicine man, past-life regression).

We have to stay away from Acupuncture, Acupressure, Spiritualism and Christian Science for healing. According to recent medical reports, it has been found that treatment by acupuncture brought relief to only one-third of the people who have used this procedure to cure chronic pain.

Acupuncture comes from two Latin words acus meaning needle and pungere to prick. Five thousand years ago, the Chinese used this method to relieve pain. It is the Yin/Yang theory and many investigators attribute its effects to hypnosis. This information alone should warn a Christian not to allow these methods to be used on them. The ancient Chinese were expert in the use of Acupuncture and Acupressure. Acupressure which uses pressure points and massage instead of needles is still based on the occult. Also the oldest recorded medical information comes from the occult priests in the Hindu religion practicing these methods.

Often when a person receives a healing through some occult practice, they will soon find themselves with a greater illness. Someone used an occult practice of tying knots in a string and burying it in the drip of the house to cure warts. Later he had spinal meningitis which almost killed him. This could have been the swap of demon of warts for demon of spinal meningitis. We swap a lesser demon for a greater demon.

One out of eight people probably have some degree of Schizophrenia. Since Schizophrenia starts with the families of Rejection then Bitterness and then Rebellion, probably everybody has some degree of Schizophrenia. This personality problem begins when a person withdraws from friends, has morbid introspections, reduced initiative, strange behavior, delusions, hallucinations, and thought disturbances. In this group, Catatonic will have one or more of the following problems; catatonic stupor, mutism, negativism, rigidity, excitement, and violence. Paranoid will have delusions of grandeur, persecution, jealousy, or hallucination of these. Undifferentiated will have delusions, incoherence, and grossly disorganized behavior. We have seen all these types of schizophrenics freed by the casting out of demons. Most of the time the thoughts these people have, are the thoughts of demons and are always meant to incapacitate the individual. In James 1:8, the Bible calls this double mindedness.

COPROLALIA: This disease has the compulsion to scream obscenities. The afflicted person may have a lack of muscle coordination, involuntary purposeless movements, facial and muscle ticks, incoherent grunts and barks may accompany the obscenities. They may appear to be very vulgar, drunk or psychotic. There is little or no help in medicine. This ailment usually begins in childhood with uncontrollable twitching, especially of the facial muscles. This is usually helped by repentance and deliverance from spirits of swearing, hate, obscenities, etc.

MUTILATION: It is strange that some people seem to be needing operations on a fairly routine basis. There have been a number of times we have found Mutilation to be the ruler. He often has a partner named Accident Prone; they seem to work together to bring a person accidents and operations.

Traumatic Shock opens the way for many demons to enter. Some of the natural ones are Paranoid Fear, Depression, Despair, Discouragement, Suicide, Paralysis, Affliction, Death, Fear of Death, etc.

It is not strange that in the realm of healings there are relatively few among the paraplegics and quadriplegics? Although demons do not know everything about the future, they certainly know a great deal more than we do. Spirits called Accident and Accident Prone work with others named Bone Breaker and Back Breaker to open the way for a character called Traumatic Shock.

Once the base is established and the headquarters in the nervous system is secured, Paralysis calls in spirits of Crippling, Deformity, Atrophy, Depression, Discouragement, Hopelessness, Despair, Suicide, Death and many others, and begins the systematic destruction of the victim.

SOUL TIES: Soul tie is formed when we give importance or get attached to, or adore anything or any person more than God. This opens up a legal ground for the devil to enter in and starts controlling and manipulating that person. When a person adores or worships an image made out of stone, wood, metal, he also develops a soul tie with that idol.

Deu 5:8-9, Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. Deu 27:15, Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place.

When an Idol is made and erected in any place the first thing they do is the ceremony called pranapratishta along with some incantations for the purpose for the purpose inviting that spirit to occupy that idol. From then on the idol becomes the residence of the spirit to which the invitation was made. When a person in rebellion to God’s Word adores and worships this image, they end up forming an evil soul tie with the evil spirit.

Rom 1:21-25, Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

Rom 1:26-32 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. When they go on worshipping the image, they take on the characteristics of the image itself because of the evil soul tie and the rebellion against the Lord.

OPEN DOORS: Demons sometimes target people for special attacks; where there has been occult involvement and/or dedications in the past generations, or where the person himself has been involved in occult. There are some very specific “open doors” by which demons frequently gain entrance into a person’s life. Common open doors include, Inherited Curses, Sins of the Flesh, Illness, Emotional Trauma, Passive/Trance State of Mind, Occult Involvement, The sins of the flesh are the door that we most frequently open. This is particularly true if the sin is repeated and becomes a pattern or lifestyle of indulging the flesh.

GENERATIONAL SINS AND CURSES: Many times other people bring curses into our lives. Generational sin is an example of how others can bring curses into our lives. We open our lives up to curses by giving place to them through our own sin, choices, and beliefs. Word curses are also a way that others can affect us. Examples of word curses are statements such as, “You’ll never amount to anything”, and “You are a failure.” The Bible tells us that there is the power of life and death in our tongue and our words. If a person receives these word curses as truth, then the curses become real in his life.

Generational sins, curses and patterns are attitudes, actions, beliefs, behaviors, and/or habits that we have inherited from our family or relatives. We then “enter into” the same sin pattern and make it our own. It is usually repeated throughout our life as well as by individuals in successive generations. Deu 5:9b-10 states, “I do not leave unpunished the sins of those who hate me, but I punish the children for the sins of their parents to the third and fourth generations. But I lavish love on those who love me and obey my commands, even for a thousand generations”. Even sadder than having our parents or others curse us is cursing ourselves through our own words.

God isn’t out to “get us” or to curse us. Those are not His plans for us. However, God gave each one of us free will and He plainly gives us the choice to receiving blessings or curses. Curses are a natural consequence from breaking God’s laws. Judgment is brought forth as His laws are broken or violated. Here is a list of Generational Sins, Curses and Patterns with which many people struggle.

Abandonment; Abuse: emotional, physical, mental, sexual; Addictions Anger, rage, violence; Control, possessiveness, manipulation; Emotional dependency Fears (all kinds); Idolatry; Money extremes (greed, lack); Not caring for children Parents and children exchange roles; Physical infirmities; Pride, Rebellion, Rejection, Insecurity, Religious bondage, Cults Sexual sin and perversion; Unbelief Unworthiness, Low self-esteem, Inferiority Satanism, Witchcraft, Occult etc.

Generational curses do not make us sin, but they can cause us to be drawn to particular types of sins. The enemy seems to know our weaknesses and those areas where we have not yet received God’s healing and freedom in our lives. He also knows when we sin. Satan willingly takes advantages of any openings we give him to come against us.

“I confess the sin of my ancestors, my parents, and my own sins. I choose to forgive and release them; for the sin of idolatry, the curses and the consequences in my life. I ask you to forgive me, Lord, for this sin; for yielding to it, and to the resulting curses. I receive your forgiveness. I renounce the sin and curses of fornication. I break this power from my life, and from the lives of my descendants, through the redemptive work of Christ on the Cross. I receive God’s freedom from this sin and from the resulting curses”.

GENERATIONAL WITCHCRAFT: When past family members have been involved in the occult, that is a very serious matter for the members still living. They may be fighting demonic affliction even if they are saved; if they are not saved, they may be possessed. If Born Again, we must specifically renounce the individual in our family past who was participating in the occult, specifically asking the Holy Spirit to cut those Generational ties.

CHILD ABUSE: This horrible practice of abusing children is not only driven by the demonic host, but the permission for demons causing this disaster within families is actually passed from generation to generation. This spiritual fact is the reason psychiatrists have noted that most abused children become abusers themselves when they grow up!

Satanists routinely abuse their children with hideous rituals and tortures so as to divide their minds into Multiple Personalities, so we should not be surprised to see ever-increasing levels of child abuse in a society sliding deeper and deeper into satanic values and attitudes.

PIERCING BODY PARTS AND TATTOOING: Former Satanists have stated that one of the major societal signs of a society slipping into Satanism is a surge in the number of body piercings and tattoos. God forbade tattooing of the body in Deu 14:1 and Lev 19:28 because it went hand in hand with the Satan worship among the foreign populations of the people living in Israel at the time. God forbade body piercing in Leviticus 21:5, also because it was part of the satanic practice of that time, and God wanted Israel to have nothing to do with either the practice or the outward physical manifestations of it.

Many of the people who pierce the body are practicing Satanists, and will take a month's supply of body piercing jewelry to their monthly coven meeting to be cursed. Specific curses will be placed upon each piece of body piercing jewelry so that a person having their body pierced will automatically invite demons into their body. Many of the people performing tattoos will likewise have their work cursed.

OBSESSION WITH PORNOGRAPHY: God's prohibition against illicit sex also extends to voyeurism inherent in pornography. Jesus made it quite clear that the sin of adultery extends to the mind. Matt 5:28, whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. The very fact that pornography has extended so deep and high and wide within this society and is being promoted on every type of mass media is further proof we have slipped into a satanic society. Bacchus [addiction] and Larz [sex] are clearly ruling the lives of many people in our society today.

OBSESSION WITH CANNIBALISM: During several types of satanic rituals, where a human sacrifice is offered, the members of the coven will eat the cooked flesh of the victim. They believe this act will impart to them the strengths of the victim. Thus, cannibalism is a major part of Satanism. The very fact that novels based upon cannibalism are so popular, and movies with cannibalism are the absolute rage today is further proof America is slipping down that slippery slope of Satanism.

NEW AGE RELIGION: Whenever a person is taught to go into occult meditation, and to deliberately clear their mind, they have opened a very large spiritual doorway into which any manner of demons can enter. Most people will meet demons masquerading as other people, including Jesus Christ. Most people will go a long time before they even encounter a guiding spirit or spirit guide that is offensive to them, or that scares them. Satan and his demons can masquerade as "angels of light" in order to deceive [2 Corinthians 11:14], and they have spiritually deceived tens of millions of Americans and other Westerners.

When Antichrist arises, the Bible states that entire populations will run after him in amazement and worship. It is no wonder that the entire populations could be deceived. Demonic possession of hundreds of millions of people is occurring today, and perhaps the demon in many people will never make himself known until Antichrist is on the scene. At that moment, the demon in these people will suddenly begin influencing the thinking of these human hosts, making them love Antichrist and want to follow him wherever he may lead. This danger is very, very real and very dangerous.

STRONGHOLDS:

A stronghold is anything we hold onto that ends up holding us. Strongholds are toxic thoughts that can have an adverse affect on our thinking process. Strongholds of fear, worry, bitterness, anger, shame, control, etc. need to be replaced by Christ’s thoughts. Ungodly beliefs are open doors, inviting Satan to come into our minds. If we don’t reject Satan’s lies, then we accept them as truth which is amounting to believing and trusting what Satan says about us more than what God says about us?

Ungodly beliefs are trying to put themselves above God. So those thoughts are not God’s thoughts. Thoughts come from three sources: Ourselves, Satan or the demonic realm and God through the Holy Spirit. If we ever had an intrusive thought and we knew it was not ours and had a vain imagination attached to it, then it is from the devil. Usually it is the opposite of God's Word. They are spontaneous which are Negative and Destructive (i.e. line up with the names of Satan: Accuser, Father of Lies, Thief and Adversary).

God’s thoughts are also spontaneous which are Positive and Up building (i.e. line up with the names of the Holy Spirit: Comforter, Counselor, the Spirit of Truth, the Convincer and the Exhorter/Teacher). On the other hand our thoughts are Analytical (i.e. connected, we construct them ourselves; they are not spontaneous).God and His thoughts only, are to be exalted in our life, not ungodly beliefs. The battleground is in the mind. We need to apply God’s weapons against everything that would try to keep our thought patterns and habits in the old way.

Also when we were lost, we were under enemy control; our lives were subject to strongholds. These strongholds were constructed, for a purpose. They were designed to keep us lost; Satan in his war is in the business of constructing strongholds, which feed our fallen nature. His desire is to keep us blind from the Gospel of Christ, so we perish in a lost condition.

But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them 2nd Corinthians 4:3-4.

When we come to Christ, the army of the Lord invades our life; the battle for territory has begun. Satan is not willing to give ground to his enemy, the Lord of Hosts; he does not want us to live a successful spiritual life. Therefore, his goal is to keep as many strongholds standing in our life as he can, allowing him to wage war on our souls. Remember, Satan’s goal is to prevent the power of God, from being established in the believer’s life. He does this through strongholds, if Satan can establish areas of operation in our life; he then will have the ability to attack at will. He can then keep us from being on the offensive, against his kingdom.

For this reason, it’s imperative for us to have these satanic strongholds pulled down. If we don’t remove strongholds, we invite failure and defeat in our spiritual walk. Because we are giving Satan a base from which to wage war.

We live in the physical word, in the world of flesh and blood is where we see the work of the spiritual realms played out. We cannot divorce ourselves from the flesh, but this is not where our battle takes place. The evil we see in this world, is the result of this spiritual war.

We have individual strongholds such as alcoholism, racism, and pride that we face on a personal level. There are also worldwide strongholds, exerting power over large groups of people such as Islam, atheism, materialism and pornography.

The term stronghold means an area where an entrenched power exerts control over an individual, group, generation, territory in opposition to the knowledge of God. We, the army of the Lord on earth, use our weapons, to pull down or destroy these strongholds. The Greek word for stronghold means a castle, stronghold, fortress, fastness. We are to destroy these structures using our spiritual weapons.

The powers of strongholds are not just on a personal scale, they also affect generations, and large segments of populations. For example Alcoholism, the addiction to Alcohol, can have a stronghold on entire generations of families. Religions are also strongholds, which claim billions of souls, entrapped in deceit.

Strongholds are defined as arguments and high things, which are placed above the knowledge of God. By comparing the knowledge of God to our actions and thoughts, we can expose not only our strongholds, but the strongholds of those around us. For example, someone might know pornography is wrong and against God’s word, they watch anyway despite the knowledge of sin. Why, because the power of the stronghold has overcome the person’s inner objections, where does this control come from?

Many of our “isms” are essentially spiritual strongholds of false reasoning. Take your pick, Communism, Hinduism, Alcoholism, Atheism, Racism and more are all forms of logic, which make sense to the people entrapped.

In ancient Israel, one of the besetting sins of the people was their setting up of images on hilltops and in groves. The pagans of Canaan (Palestine) were removed from the land for their sins; the people of Israel were to be a holy and upright people. They were to be different than the people of the land before their occupation. However, Israel soon began to adopt the customs of the people around.

They disobeyed God, by setting up competing places of worship. They set up idols and images in high-places, in defiance of God. Also the children of Israel secretly did against the Lord their God things that were not right, and they built for themselves high places in all their cities, from watchtower to fortified city. They set up for themselves sacred pillars and wooden images on every high hill and under every green tree. There they burned incense on all the high places, like the nations whom the Lord had carried away before them; and they did wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger, for they served idols, of which the Lord had said to them, "You shall not do this thing (2Kings 17:9-12).

Paul uses this imagery to illustrate the picture of a stronghold, a stronghold does not only have to be a way of thinking, it can be an idol, set up to worship. For example, our business, clothes, cars and homes can become a high-thing. Because, we choose to exalt the material thing above the knowledge of God.

KNOWLEDGE OF DELIVERANCE

2010-10-27T16:38:00.003+05:30

KNOWLEDGE OF DELIVERANCE

Knowledge is the key to our deliverance. Ignorance is deadly and what we don’t know can hinder us and stop us from being what we should be. One of the devil’s strength is his ability to keep people in ignorance. The devil knows that if we discover what is wrong with us his power over our life will be broken so he fights vehemently hard to keep us in ignorance. The bible says thus, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me; seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children” (Hosea 4:6).

It is high time that we become aware of the tricks and devices of the devil and be free from his strongholds. It is important to have knowledge of where our problems stems from which is our family background then we can make our way to deliverance and breakthroughs. Many today are going through life ignorant of where their troubles are coming from and so they don’t know how to be free from their family demonic spirits. Many families today are being controlled by family witchcraft spirits and these spirits are there to hinder members of the family with all kinds of problems imaginable.

1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” Every Christian has an enemy. Although unseen by the natural eye, this adversary is not imaginary nor a mythological character. Satan, the Devil, is a real person... a spirit being, with intelligence, tangible characteristics, and whose incessant goal and ambition is to “steal, kill, and destroy” (John 10:10).

Around the clock the enemy is on the prowl, seeking to cause mayhem and destruction to all believers and the work of Jesus Christ throughout the world. With military-like strategy and ruthless hostility, the devil aggressively searches for weakness in our faith and spiritual life, hoping to devour us with deception, temptation, or oppression. He is the personification of all that is evil and is the author of every despicable work.

Regardless of whether we realize it, Satan has targeted us as victims. He knows our name and address, our strengths and weaknesses. Somewhere in the shadows, he and his forces lurk, waiting, planning for the moment they will strike when we’re caught off-guard. He desperately hopes that we will, as many Christians, remain ignorant of his reality so that we’ll blame his assaults on somebody or something else.

His method of operation is almost always “undercover”. Subtly, he manipulates hindering circumstances and inspires evil thoughts or temptations, disguising his activities behind the shroud of people or things. He will always seek to divert attention and blame for his actions upon others. But make no mistake; he is the real enemy, not our husband, wife, employer, government or Christian brethren! “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).

SATAN HAS NO RIGHTFUL AUTHORITY OVER BELIEVERS:

The good news is that, although the Devil is described “like” a “roaring lion,” in reality he has no actual authority over believers. He is not really a lion, but roars “like” a lion would to bluff his victims into fear and intimidation. Satan is a liar and deceiver and uses deception as his weapon to gain advantage over those who are ignorant of the limitations of his power.

When Jesus gave his life on the cross as the sacrifice for the sins of the world, He also redeemed us from Satan’s power and dominion over us. “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it” (Col. 2:15). “...For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). Praise God! Satan is already a defeated enemy! His legal authority was neutralized by the finished work of Christ on the cross.

EVERY BELIEVER HAS AUTHORITY OVER SATAN:

So if Satan is already defeated, why then is he still able to cause trouble? Because, even though Christ broke Satan’s legal power, the Lord has left it up to us to “enforce” the Devil’s defeated condition. It's our responsibility to use the authority that Christ has given us to put Satan in his place.

As a believer, we need not fear Satan, but realize and exercise the authority which God has given us over the Devil. Every person whose name has been recorded in the “Lamb’s Book of Life” (all those who are saved) have been given authority over the power of the Devil. “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you” (Luke 10:19).

We have the right to use the authority of the name of Jesus to repel and drive Satan out of our territory and to break his grip over spiritual strongholds (2 Cor. 10:4). When we recognize Satan’s activity and covert operations, we have to take authority over him in the name of Jesus! Just as Jesus and the early apostles did, commanding Satan to leave (Mark 16:17).

The Devil hates the name of Jesus and detests an atmosphere of praise and worship which exalts the name of Jesus. Christ said, “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matt. 18:20). Be assured, the presence of Christ will expel the presence of Satan. Lifting up Jesus in praise will send the Devil running!

Furthermore all of us may be wondering why demonic religions have sacrifices, chanting, dedications, worship, etc. Actually this is a way that humans can be used to empower these demons to resist other humans from driving them off. We Christians can chase the demons with ease, if they were just sent against someone without permission or empowerment. But if the demon has been given fasting prayers to stay in place, nothing short of fasting prayers will drive it out. Fasting is a form of sacrifice.

However, if we exercise our Christian authority to bind & loose to break the (human power given by) sacrifices, chanting, dedications and worship to the demons, they are left standing there without any cover. Now it becomes easy to drive them off.

If the demons have been given permission to stay by the infested person, though, they may go away, but they will be back any time they want. Repentance and renunciation are still required to keep them away permanently. If the person refuses, we need to pray for the person to have a change of heart. Even if we chase all the demons on someone who is influenced by occult and there is no motivation to repent & renounce. It would be temporary, anyway. If we don't, the demons may be keeping them from hearing the gospel message of salvation & freedom. Thus deliverance should be done as part of ministering salvation.

BREAKING INCANTATIONS:

A typical case of breaking the empowerment given demons was helping a Christian, who was a runaway Santeria slave. For weeks of struggle couldn't deliver him. On the other hand the deliverance ministers were coming under attack. When it was revealed by the Lord Jesus to break the incantations, it was immediately okay. This was the key to cleaning up the affected person. He was asked to renounce a dozen of the major Santeria demon gods, after breaking each of their empowerment and commanding them to go. He was free when he got done.

BREAKING "SEALS" THAT HINDER DELIVERANCE:

A man with an aluminum crutches had very painful knees. This pain persisted for twenty years ever since he had a motorcycle accident. They were so painful that he had been to a doctor to see about having his legs cut off above his knees to stop the pain. No help there! He had been to numerous Christian ministries for prayer with no relief.

When Jesus was asked to teach how to pray for him, He told that it was because of curses placed on him with 'seals' used to cover the curses. There were three layers of "seals", each of which had to be broken. A witch had done it to him after the motorcycle accident. So the first thing was to break the 'seals' and then the curses were broken. Immediately he could feel the knee joints being re-set and the pain was gone. He stood up and walked, carrying his crutches.

THE PRESENCE OF CHARMED OBJECTS CAN BLOCK DELIVERANCE:

One young, Christian woman wanted prayer because she felt dreadful. As soon as she was prayed for, she made very loud high-pitched scream. After an hour of attempted deliverance without any success we inquired about the cause of her affliction from the Lord. He told us to look at her rings. She was wearing three little spoon rings on her left fingers. After binding any unclean spirit on each ring, the scream suddenly stopped, she came to and started gently crying. This is because the jewelry parts are being recycled for centuries; who knows who has had it in the past?

Another Christian bought a magnetic bracelet for her arthritis in her wrist. It appeared to have had some effect, but soon faded enough that she bought another one. The arthritis gradually returned, but she still wore those bracelets. She now had other medical problems.

To pray for her arthritis she was asked to remove the bracelet and she was prayed for her arthritis while telling evil "influences" to leave from her. The arthritis was permanently healed. The medical problems left. But while praying for her bracelets it was revealed that the manufacturer had put charm on them.

There is a pastor who went to the hospital to get hip replacement surgery. After the surgery, his health didn't improve as they expected; it declined! He was having trouble with his lungs and heart as well. His charismatic church prayed for him and tried deliverance, to no avail.

On inquiry from the Lord Jesus to teach us how to pray for him He told us there was a witch on a staff that was using charmed medical instruments and supplies on him, to kill him. All the demons on the employees and equipments and supplies in the room, as well as in the equipment and supplies in the whole hospital were bound and driven out. He immediately started to improve.

DEMONIC POWERS CAN OBSTRUCT DELIVERANCE THROUGH SOUL TIE:

“I love my sister. But she is a Rei-Ki master (Japanese Buddhist shamanism). She uses demonic powers. When she tries to bless me with her powers, I know it and have to clean those demons she sent off me. When I pray divine blessings for her, it really jams up her ability to practice Rei-Ki. It could harm her health, too, since she won't give it up.” The only difference between angels and demons is their political affiliation, but that makes all the difference in the world (and beyond).

A woman came in with her husband. She was a fully committed Christian, but her husband still dealt with some of the New Age practices they had come out of. She had nightmares nightly. She had an amazing number of medical problems with all systems starting to break down.

When we prayed for her nothing seemed to be helping. But when we asked the Lord, He said the husband was using demonic powers on her. He loved her and wanted her well, but he didn't understand the profound difference between the divine and the demonic. When he was prayed for his deliverance and his property she received great relief from that time.

RETALIATORY SPIRITS AS AN OBSTACLE:

Powers and Principalities have more sophisticated defenses than the normal demons. If we chase any of these ones suddenly we can see a swarm of spiritual hornets coming after us.

When a woman wanted us to pray for salvation for her sister who worked for a law firm, we started praying for her, but there was a stronghold over the law firm. We started binding demons on them, but there was a stronghold over that part of the city. We started binding demons on them, and when we were in the middle of it, we had to pray for our own protection. Then we could chase those retaliatory spirits after disabling those Powers and Principalities. Then we went down the next level and disabled it. Then we bound any spirits of blindness, deafness, confusion and scrambling over the sister and prayed for God to speak truth to her. Mission accomplished.

When the occultists attack a Christian, they will often use first their lower hierarchy to do it. When the lower hierarchy is disabled, the next hierarchy will immediately jump into the fray, so it may look like the deliverance didn't work. There needs to be a more extensive deliverance to shut them down.

If the occultists can't keep us down with a heavy curse, hex or spell, the next tactic they will try is a bunch of low level attacks. This may even cause us feel depressed one morning, our phone stopped working, our kids were crabby, our computer 'packs up', traffic on the road started doing dangerous things toward us, our back started aching, etc.?

CURSES:

A prayer minister who was feeling oppressed, had done deliverance, but wasn't getting relief. We prayed for her, asking Jesus to teach us what to pray. Jesus told us it was on her family, not her individually. We bound those demons off her family and she was immediately free. The next week, she came back that her daughter had angered a witch in high school. She had felt oppression and cleaned herself up, but hadn't cleaned up the curse on the family!

Sometimes we can end up under attack on a group level, which needs to be broken as a group. If we don't know what group is under attack, just pray deliverance for "myself and all groups that I am part of." Then we can pray deliverance for "those working or conspiring against us."

REPEATED ATTACKS:

We prayed for a person for his problem, followed by deliverance since prayer wasn't having effect. The deliverance gave him healing. The next week, he was back with the same complaint. We asked him what was wrong and he said, "It didn't work!" He said that he felt great after seeing us, but late that night "it all came back." We asked the Lord what was going on. He told us an occultist was knocking him back down. From then on, whenever we delivered someone, we delivered anyone who worked or conspired against them and prayed for their salvation as well.

DEMONIZED DIRT:

The Buddhists, Hindus, New Agers, shamans and witches all "bless" "mother earth". In Christian terminology, they are polluting the ground with all kinds of demons. This accumulation of demons influence people on the surface. They adversely affect Christians, of course. Deliverance for the Christians and their properties doesn't stop the adverse effect. For unbelievers, it makes them resistant to the gospel.

"We have not because we ask not" with regard to deliverances as well as prayers. "In the name of Jesus Christ, by the power of His cross and blood, we bind the spirits, powers and forces of the earth, the underground, the air, the water, the fire, the netherworld and the satanic forces of nature." Covers a lot of things we don't normally pray for.

MORE CASES OF DELIVERANCE:

In a surgeon, originally from Cameroon, West Africa a number of African witchcraft demons manifested and numerous demonic entities including some human interjects that sought to hinder her deliverance from the devil were driven out in Jesus name. This dear saint also experienced a most powerful miraculous healing. For a long time this dear lady had been experiencing sharp throbbing pain in her side and extreme itching around her neck. These demonic afflictions were told to leave in Jesus name!

Towards the beginning of the exorcism a number of Rosicrucian demons surfaced. With her eyes rolling back of her head and the whites of her eyes just glaring at the minister with pure hatred, but were confronted in the power of the Holy Spirit! One of them was holding on to a precious dissociative part, who was only but 5 years of age. This broken part of her heart had been tortured by these evil spirits. When called forth, the holy angels arrived and minister to her. Great healing took place and this part was touched by the love of Jesus!

Then a very well known Californian Eastern Mystical Cult guru surfaced within her. He was awakened by some of the demons who were getting him to respond to assist them in hindering her freedom. He was indeed awakened and astral traveled to this place. He spoke boastfully, at first, through her. When he was told that he was subject to the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and then commanded to leave in the power and authority Jesus Christ. Towards the end of the encounter, he was begging to stop torturing him and his spirits with the power of the fire of the Holy Spirit. Soul ties, human interjects, curses, spells, spiritual cursed objects, cult programming, various kinds of afflictions, numerous demons were all destroyed and demolished by the power of the blood of Jesus!

Another lady had been spiritually terrorized for years as a result of her family’s involvement in witchcraft. Her mother forced her to witness various kinds of rituals and ceremonies. For years she had been battling these occult spirits. This dear single mother of 7 boys was desperate for deliverance. As soon as a blanket was consecrated unto the Lord, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, she stood up holding her midsection and began to vomit as she could feel the demons departing her. Just the mere presence of the holy blanket which was representing the blood stained robe of righteousness of the Lord Jesus was causing the demons to respond in a dramatic manner. They had nowhere to hide! As she renounced the generational curses of witchcraft these vile spirits were driven out! This dear lady was so relieved to be finally free from witchcraft!

A 50 year old lady had been essentially bedridden for a while and on oxygen. Within minutes of entering her bedroom demons of death manifested and attempted to choke her with her oxygen tubes that dangled from her head. These death spirits spoke swaying, “we are making her sick, we are keeping her in pain, and we are keeping her crippled.” As they surfaced within this woman these filthy spirits began to contort her legs and arms. They were also pretty aggressive as they did not want anybody praying for this sick lady! But the power of God was too much for them.

“We are in the thousands; we are in her causing great pain.” When rebuked and commanded to leave in Jesus name, they resisted for a few minutes and tried to contort her body violently but they were driven out and told to go to the pit. When they left the lady was raised from her sick bed and she was no longer crippled. She got up and walked to her kitchen area by the power of God. She literally looked 25 years younger as she did! She testified of not feeling any pain.

After the session with a time of reflection on the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus Christ and participated in Holy Communion with a family of four the evil spirits manifested within all the four members of the family to varying degrees. The first demonic entity to surface was a spirit who was named Amethyst. He surfaced from within the 19 year old daughter. He was quite violent in that he was contorting this young lady in some truly bizarre ways. With her two feet set on the floor, her entire back was being gruesomely bent backwards. With demonic fury the demons began spitting and desired to leap from the sofa to physically harm the minister. With the help of the holy angels she was restrained. In violence of speech they declared, “I hate Jesus! I’m not leaving her. She’s mine. We are too many! We are holding on to her birthrights”.

Amethyst is the birthstone for the month of February. Many contribute special psychic powers to these birthstones. The grandmother, who was heavily involved in witchcraft, had given an Amethyst stone to the family upon her grand daughter’s birth thereby allowing the demons access to the bloodline. This spirit was determined to stay. This specific demonic entity revealed there were a host of curses, spells, and rituals that were directed to this precious family with the hope of destroying them financially, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. The family confirmed that this was the case as they knew of family members who were involved in the occult that had aggressively attacking them with witchcraft spells.

The demon also revealed that a Scorpion spirit was lying upon the base of the skull of the father which caused him to have constant migraines. The husband confirmed this was the case as he often wondered why the many migraines. It was confronted and driven out in Jesus name. These spirits also revealed that they had been working on the younger sister who was only in the 8th grade, with the hopes of perverting her. They boasted how they had been causing her to lie to her parents and thereby allowing a lying spirit to enter her as well. These evil spirits were confronted after she repented of her sins and they were cast out in Jesus name. She could feel them leave her body!

After a struggle with Amethyst he too was driven out in Jesus name with the aid of the father who utilized his spiritual authority over the demons! Another spirit surfaced within the 19 year old named Aquarius. He too was aggressive and claimed the spiritual rights of idolatry, because this dear young lady, who was a pre-med student at a noted university, had recently offered “candy,” on two different occasions, to some fairies (who are in reality demons) that had been appearing to her to befriend her. With the hopes of pleasing these fairies she offered some sacrifices to them which they gladly received (for they knew that through these sacrificial offerings they would be able to enter her body). The sin of idolatry opened a door to demons. The demon named Aquarius entered her as a result. Our holy God is a jealous God and He does not desire for us to worship, to offer sacrifices, to appease demons. This is a most grave sin.

Moreover, Aquarius was holding unto a number of dissociative identities of this precious lady. He was forced to release them and these precious parts, in the healing power of Jesus. Five holy angels also appeared to these precious parts and ministered to them the love of Jesus. They glowed under the presence of God! They had never surfaced before as they were being held by these horrible monsters.

Aquarius was enraged as he was being destroyed by the power of the Holy Spirit. He was losing her! “She was mine! I wanted to use her in the Age of Aquarius to recruit others for my purposes.” This particular demon wanted to use her to lead other young people into idolatry. With loud cries that were reminiscent of the loud cries in Acts 8 when the evangelist ministered deliverance to the masses, Aquarius too, was driven out in Jesus name!

A young African woman with her two children had been afflicted with voodoo spells, curses, and spirits for years. Even the precious children were being spiritually terrorized by the voodoo demonic beings. The boy described his head as feeling like spaghetti. The girl was also attacked physically. The mother was the target of numerous voodoo spells and as a result suffered horribly. She was being raped at night by voodoo spirits, afflicting her with various pains and maladies. Many of the spirits were of a generational nature. This dear lady had legions of demons. They were all driven out in Jesus name and then she danced unto the Lord as she felt so much better as she was experiencing freedom for the very first time, in a very long time! Her son who had been a target of numerous satanic assaults causing his head to feel like “spaghetti” was in dire need of relief. When commanded his head to no longer feel like spaghetti. God answered. The young boy reported that the feel was gone.

A woman had a spirit of subjection to a warlock. She denied that she had such a connection. But the minister saw a snake around her finger. The lady had three rings on that finger. The middle ring was stuck into her flesh and would not come off. The minister cut it off. She broke forth with much manifestations and then she could be healed from her AIDs. When we examined the ring, it had a tiny black stone about 1/2 caret and on each side of the stone were two tiny goats’ heads. We could hardly see them with the naked eye.

Then a flood of memories came and she remembered that her first boy friend, who was a biker, gave it to her. She was instantly delivered. Many pieces of jewelry have demons attached to them. There is ungodly supernatural power in most of this jewelry. Because each piece of the jewelry is cast and offered to the devil before they are displayed for sale so as to make it attractive for the prospective buyers. Every wonder why so many non-Christians wear crosses? Crystal jewelry is a new age thing.

A young lady who was in need of liberation from the demon which was binding her, was confronted by the power of Jesus after partaking of the Holy Communion. They threatened to kill the minister even though, they were weakened by her consumption of the body and blood of Jesus. The minister reminded the demons that nobody was going to be killed. “My name is Devin,” the demon speaking out of her mouth informed. “Do you have any rights to her?” The generational curse of her ancestors who participated in various sexual sins which they did not repent of,” the demons replied.

When she was led in a prayer of renunciation the spirit spewed out more hatred for the precious holy Savior. He blasphemed, cursed, and continued his murderous threats. Another more powerful spirit surfaced and pushed the young woman from the sofa, she was sitting on next to her mother. Within seconds the holy angels of God who are ministering spirits arrived when they were called forth and they assisted in picking her up from the floor and placing her back and ensured her arms were restrained to keep the demons from using her to harm someone in the room. Then she was made to drink some water to weaken the power of the demons. They hated with a passion the blessed water. It weakened them considerably. After some battles with these spirits they were driven out in Jesus name!

In November, 2001, a woman received Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and Savior. A few months later, She was water baptized, received the so called “baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues”. She had made up her mind to serve God with her whole heart and gave her life to His service. God began to increase her discernment of the presence of the evil within that time period.

She found many demonic manifestations that she had never experienced before. She was being, tormented, stalked, harassed, physically harmed, and intimidated by evil forces. She would sense their presence. It was so evil, that it would make the hairs on her arm stand up (It was such an eerie feeling). She was often held down (almost as if she was paralyzed), she could not move or speak, and something of pure evil tried to suck the breath out of her. The only thing she could do was pray (inwardly) for Jesus to save her, and He did, every time.

She was punched in the face by an invisible, evil force. She would see beasts that appeared to look like something between a rat and a monkey with wings. She had horrible nightmares of fighting demons. She would see dark figures, walking across the room, light switches flipping on and off, and the volume on the radio turning to full blast. Satan himself appeared to her, and he also sent his demons disguised in human form, to shake her hand. This is only a clue of the type of things that she was experiencing at that time. Much more happened.

It was obvious that she had a battle on her hand. And there was no way that she could battle these demons in her own strength and by natural means. She realized that she was in a spiritual battle. However, she was not strong enough to do it alone. She needed the help of the Holy Spirit. God led her to buy books on prayer and spiritual warfare. Her spiritual eyes were opened, and she learned to use the spiritual armor that is available to every believer.

One day, while praying for her Husband, he began to growl at her. Her Husband is a born-again believer, but she was taught that a Christian could not have a demon. She did not know anything about casting demons out of people. She immediately stopped praying, because whatever She was saying was obviously agitating him. She asked her Husband if he was okay, and he told her that something inside of him wanted to hurt her really bad. The demon was not cast out, and there was no one who could relate to their situation or the things they were experiencing. No one believed them.

In 2004, God revealed to them about their desperate need for deliverance from evil spirits. She went through a few sessions of personal deliverance counseling, however, her deliverance remained incomplete. Although she was a born-again Christian, she was having serious struggles mentally, emotionally, sexually, and in her marriage. It was a struggle for her to make any type of progress in her Christian life. It was very frustrating for her. She began to struggle with her severe depression. She felt hopeless, like there was nothing even God could do for her. She felt like, if this is what she has to go through in life, she just didn’t want to live. She thought to herself, where is the abundant life that God has promised her? She received no help or relief, her faith was weakened, and she heard a voice telling her to just kill herself.

She was deceived into thinking that God had failed her, and so she rebelled against God. The devil convinced her somehow that Jesus was not real, and that everything she had experienced was all a lie, so she went back to her old lifestyle before she got saved, and she ended up worse than she ever was before. She had opened herself up to serious deception. She was delusional. She got involved in the occult and witchcraft. She began to believe in false gods. She became a witch, and communicated with a “spirit-guide”. Her marriage was on the verge of a divorce. She was addicted to drugs, alcohol, pornography, cigarettes, etc. as a way to escape her problems. For her, it was too painful to be sober. As long as she was high or drunk, she didn’t have to face the reality of her struggles. Her life was completely dysfunctional.

At that time God gave them an opportunity to attend a School of Deliverance, which had many courses, such as “Breaking Generational Curses”, “Demons and Deliverance”, “Deliverance from Strongholds”, “Inner Healing”, “Ungodly Relationship Bondages”(demonic soul-ties), “Deliverance from the Occult/ Witchcraft”, etc.

Her Husband and she surrendered to the process of deliverance. She had come face to face with the reality that deliverance was not a quick solution to give her relief from her struggles, which was the reason why her deliverance was not maintained in the beginning, but it was the fight for her life! She got serious with God, and she got serious about her freedom in Christ. God gave her the courage to let go of the crutches that she was so dependent upon, in order to face her issues head on, dealing with each and every single one.

She made a decision to separate herself from every unhealthy relationship, and from everyone in her inner circle who were negative and unsupportive. She surrounded herself around people who were supportive, and who also wanted to be healed and delivered. She humbled herself before God, and she asked Him to show her where she gave the devil a foothold in her life. And where she lacked discernment, the Deliverance Ministers had the knowledge, wisdom, understanding, discernment, and the insight to see what she could not see.

The hardest part of the deliverance process for her, was coming out of deception, rebellion, and pride (because of her experience in speaking tongues). She didn’t want to believe that she had so many issues. She was in serious denial, she was in ignorance, and blinded by religion. She knew she had a few issues, but refused to believe she had as many as her counselors said she had. It was very painful to come into the truth and reality of her spiritual condition. She didn’t know who she was. What She believed was “just her personality” turned out not to be “her” at all. The real “her” that God had created was beneath layers and layers of issues. And she felt lost.

She had been deceived by false teachers. She believed that she had a true relationship with God, and that she had so much spiritual knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. She believed she was so spiritually mature…yet, she did not bear fruit….It was all lies, and She was blinded by a religious spirit. She had to be willing to surrender it all to Jesus, and forget all that she thought she knew. She had to become as a child, and go to God in child-like faith, and be willing to start all over again. She had to start her Christian walk all over, from the beginning, and become truly, born again. She had to be willing to become a baby Christian, and forget everything, and just sit at the feet of Jesus to truly learn of Him.

She repented for every single sin that she could ever remember committing against God. She confessed every single one of her sins to the Deliverance Ministers that God had placed in her life for her to submit under. She desired to bring all darkness into the light, no matter how shameful, or uncomfortable it was for her. She refused to hide it. She stopped justifying her sinful behavior, she accepted responsibility for the consequences of her actions, and she truly surrendered to Jesus. She accepted that things would get harder before it got easier. But she decided to trust and believe that God would get her through it.

She studied who she was in Christ in order to determine her true identity from the demons who were invading her personality. She identified the evil spirits and the generational curses according to the type of sin that she saw in her ancestral background and by the sins that she had committed before. She also identified the evil spirits by recognizing habitual, repetitive, and compulsive behaviors in her life. She learned that if she didn’t know the truth of who she was in Christ, the demons would have legal ground to stay because they hide behind lies. She also learned that she had to get desperate for change, in order for change to occur.

She learned to aggressively take her stand, and take her life back through spiritual warfare. She spent quality time with God, crying out to Him in desperation for deliverance on a daily basis. She spent time renewing her mind with the word on a regular basis, concerning each issue. She declared affirmations, and she addressed each demon aloud, and in an authoritative voice. She declared to those demons, that Jesus has given her power over them! She would remind those demons of who she was in Christ, that she had the victory and that they were no longer welcome in her body. She told them that it was no longer “their house”, and that she was giving them their eviction notice to vacate! She also reminded them of the cross, and how Jesus shed His blood for her. This stirred them up, and tormented them to the point where it was so uncomfortable for them; they had no choice but to leave her.

In her deliverance counseling sessions, they were ready to go. They would leave immediately with a single command, through violent coughing, crying, screaming, drooling, spitting, growling, belching, vomiting, etc. She often found small amounts of blood in the drool, from the demons ripping and tearing. They would afflict her with pain in her body, torturing her as her payment for breaking covenant with Satan. And many of the manifestations were extremely violent.

Some major strongholds took longer for her to get delivered from. She learned that the longer she has had the habit or wrong mindset, the stronger the hold. She also learnt that some strongholds might take years to break. Fasting was very beneficial for her during her process of deliverance. God really gave her the grace to get to the source of her problems by detecting the entry points in which the demons gained entrance into her. She stripped them of their legal rights, She dealt with traumatic experiences, irrational fears, and unresolved hurts that traced back to her mother’s womb….as an infant….throughout her childhood….through her adolescence…and as an adult. She had gotten in touch with emotions that she was at one time completely “numb” to. She stayed focused on getting healed, leaving the past behind her, and pressing forward.

She spent time learning to maintain a life of discipline and structure. With the help of the Holy Spirit, she was able to crucify her flesh. As she got delivered of rebellion, it became easier for her to surrender to God, and walk according to the Spirit. She learned that if she did not discipline herself to break bad habits, the demons would have legal ground to remain. Instead, she developed righteous habits that would eventually benefit her in the future. She learned that God’s commands were not a bunch of rules, but they were boundaries for her own protection. That is how much God loves His children.

Some may think that it doesn’t take all of that to be free. But this is the price that she had to pay for freedom. Now, she sees tremendous results in her life. She feels lighter, freer, and more at peace than she had ever felt before. Her emotions have stabilized, her thoughts have clarity (no more confusion), She feels clean and pure (no more guilt or shame), she is free to obey God, and live in righteousness and holiness without an evil influence controlling her, forcing her to sin against God. She can hear god speaking to her so much clearer now. Her family is in order, (no more dysfunction), and God has blessed her marriage. She knows who she is in Christ. God has given her purpose and vision. She is a warrior and a soldier in God’s army!

She blesses the Lord, and she gives Him all the glory for this testimony. God has truly shown His glory in her life. And she appreciates Him so much more now than she ever has. She knows the God she serves. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is her Deliverer, her Healer, her King, her Counselor, her Comforter, her Refuge, her Shield, and her Shepherd, and so much more! He has truly proven Himself to her in so many ways.

And she just wants to say, “thank you Jesus for setting me free, thank you for snatching me out of darkness and bringing me into your marvelous light. Thank you for never giving up on me when others turned their backs on me, and even when I gave up on myself. You saw my potential for greatness…and I thank you! Father, you have been my teacher through it all. And I pray that you would deliver and set free many people as they read my testimony. Teach them to fight, Dear Lord, as you have taught me. That they may walk in victory, overcoming every obstacle and every struggle. In the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.”

DELIVERANCE PRAYERS

2010-10-04T16:44:00.006+05:30

DELIVERANCE PRAYERS

God made the Heavens and the Earth through His word alone! The Lord works according to His word, which created the universe. Because of Christ’s work on the cross, we now have access to God’s throne in Heaven. By understanding and applying God’s word, we have access to the same power.

For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Heb 4:15-16).

The power of the prayer as a weapon has no limits. Daniel was praying about his people, who were captives in the Babylonian and then Persian kingdoms. The prince of Persia was moved out of the way, because of Daniel’s prayer.

Jesus said in Luke 13:32, ...I drive out demons and perform healings today and tomorrow... Matt 10:8, Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons: freely ye have received, freely give... Mark 16:17, These signs shall follow them that believe; in my name shall they cast out demons...

If we have been praying for the same old problem time and time again to no avail, for fear, alcohol, depression etc. then, we need deliverance (casting out demons). The captives are set free with deliverance! Deliverance can help any problem or habit.

PRAYER FOR SALVATION:

According to Romans 10:9, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

“Dear Heavenly Father, I come to you in the name of Jesus Christ. I thank you Lord for your love for me. I confess that Jesus Christ is my Lord and my Saviour and that He died and rose again from the dead. I believe that through the blood of Jesus Christ I have been redeemed from the hand of the devil. I believe that through the blood of Jesus Christ all my sins have been washed away and forgiven. I believe that through the blood of Jesus Christ I have been justified just as if I had never sinned.

I now confess all my sins. I confess that in my own strength I have been unable to defeat the attacks of the enemy. I confess I have been wrong. I now turn from my sins. I ask You, Father, to forgive me all that is past and give me discernment when the temptation arises and the strength to resist it. I ask you to heal my memories and to heal the hurts and forgive me in Jesus name.

I also specifically renounce any other sins such as rejection, unforgiveness. I renounce my own sins and the sins of my ancestors in the name of Jesus Christ. I especially renounce all idolatry, witchcraft and everything of the occult and all the hidden things of darkness. Lord I now renounce Satan and all his works. I hate his demons. I count them my enemies in the name of Jesus. I loose myself from every dark spirit, from every evil influence, from every satanic bondage, from any spirit in me that is not the Spirit of God. I command every demonic power that has lived within me or oppressed me to leave me now in the name of Jesus. I call upon you, Lord Jesus, to set me free from every demonic power that has affected me. In the name of Jesus Christ, Risen Savior, I declare that I am a child of the Living God and that Satan has no right to inhabit any part of me or to oppress me.

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, by the power of his cross, his blood and his resurrection, I bind you Satan, the spirits, powers and forces of darkness. I take authority over all curses, hexes, demonic activity, and spells directed against me, my relationships, ministry, air space, finances, and the work of my hands; and I break them by the power and authority of the risen Lord Jesus Christ. I bind all demonic interaction, interplay, and communications between spirits sent against me, and send them directly to Jesus Christ for him to deal with as he wills.

I ask forgiveness for, and denounce all negative inner vows that I have made with the enemy, and ask that Jesus Christ release me from these vows and from any bondage they may have held in me. I claim the shed blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, over every aspect of my life for my protection. I pray all these things in the precious name of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I thank You Lord Jesus and I give you the glory. Amen.”

INIQUITIES:

Leviticus 26:40-42, but if they confess their own and their fathers' iniquity in their treachery which they committed against me - and also that because they walked contrary to me. I also walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies - if then their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they then accept the punishment for their iniquity, then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, my covenant with Isaac, and my covenant with Abraham, and remember the land.

“I confess, repent and ask for forgiveness of sins and iniquities. Upon the authority of Jesus Christ, which I have as a believer, and in the name of Jesus and by the power of his blood I break the power of every curse due to sins and iniquities of drunkenness, adultery, godlessness, faithlessness, idolatry, etc. committed by me, my mother and father my aunts, uncles and all ancestors going back through the generations to Adam and eve.

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the power of the word, and the shed blood of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, I bind the evil spirits of pride, ignorance, unforgiveness, gossip, envy, competitiveness, criticism, impatience, resentment, haughtiness, rebellion, stubbornness, deceitfulness, defiance, disobedience, strife, violence, divorce, laziness, accusation, confusion, procrastination, self-hatred, suicide, shame, depression, oppression, rejection, poor self image, anger, schizophrenia, manipulation, anxiety, timidity, jealously, greed, revenge, covetousness, fear, possessiveness, control, division, retaliation, distrust, selfishness, loneliness, isolation, ostracism, lack, paranoia, nervousness, passivity, indecision, doubt, deception, dishonesty, unbelief, withdrawal, betrayal, escape, infirmity, nerve disorder, lung disorder, brain disorder or dysfunction, AIDS, cancer, hypochondria, fatigue, anorexia, bulimia, addictions, gluttony, perfectionism, alcoholism, workaholism, nicotine, self-abuse, sexual addictions, sexual impurities and sexual perversion, seduction, lust, incest, pedophilia, lesbianism, homosexuality, pornography, adultery, masturbation, homophobia, frigidity, impotency, immorality, witchcraft, enticing spirits, deaf, dumb, blind, mute and sleeping spirits, hyperactivity, new-age spirits, occult spirits, religious spirits, anti-Christ spirits, and any other spirits of death and darkness all in the name of the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

In the name of Jesus Christ, I call forth and ask the Holy Spirit to fill me with the gifts of peace, patience, love, joy, charity, humility, forgiveness, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, goodness, discipline, relinquishment, freedom from shame, good self image, prosperity, obedience, a sound mind, order, fulfillment in Christ, truth, acceptance of self, acceptance of others, trust, self control, freedom from addictions, freedom of having-to-control, wholeness, wellness, health, and the light and life of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.”

BREAKING GENERATIONAL CURSES:

“In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the power of his Word, I take the sword of the Spirit and cut myself free from all generational inherited sins, weaknesses, character defects, personality traits, cellular disorders, and genetic disorders. I sever all unhealthy soul-ties and forms of enmeshment and cut all bonds that are not of the Lord. I put his cross between myself, my parents, my grandparents, my siblings, my offspring, my mates, and any unhealthy relationships that my mates have had with others in the past. I cut all bonds of these relationships that are not of the Lord back to the beginning of time, and by the sword of the Spirit, and in the name of Jesus Christ, I say that I am now free, free to be the child of God the Lord intended me to be.”

HEALING THE FAMILY TREE:

“Heavenly Father, I come before you as your child, in great need of your help; I have physical health needs, emotional needs, spiritual needs, and interpersonal needs. Many of my problems have been caused by my own failures, neglect, and sinfulness, for which I humbly beg your forgiveness, Lord. But I also ask you to forgive the sins of my ancestors whose failures have left their effects on me in the form of unwanted tendencies, behavior patterns, and defects in body, mind, and spirit. Heal me, Lord, of all these disorders.

With your help I sincerely forgive everyone, living or dead members of my family tree, who have directly offended me or my loved ones in any way, or those whose sins have resulted in our present sufferings and disorders. In the name of your divine Son Jesus, and in the power of his Holy Spirit, I ask you Father, to deliver me and my entire family tree from the influence of the evil one. Free all living and dead members of my family tree, including those in adoptive relationships, and those in extended family relationships, from every contaminating form of bondage. By your loving concern for us, heavenly Father, and by the shed blood of your precious Son Jesus, I beg you to extend your blessing to me and all my living and deceased relatives. Heal every negative effect transmitted through all past generations, and prevent such negative effects in future generations of my family tree.

I symbolically place the cross of Jesus over the head of each person in my family tree, and between each generation; I ask you to let the cleansing blood of Jesus purify the blood lines in my family lineage. Set protective angels to encamp around us. I beg you to administer your divine healing power to all of us, even in areas of genetic disability. Give special power to our family members’ guardian angels to heal, protect, guide, and encourage each of us in all our needs. Let your healing power be released at this very moment, and let it continue as long as your sovereignty permits.

In our family tree, Lord, replace all bondage with a holy bonding in family love. And let there be an ever deeper bonding with you, Lord, by the Holy Spirit, to your Son Jesus. Let the family of the Holy Trinity pervade our family with its tender, warm, loving presence, so that our family may recognize and manifest that love in all our relationships. All of our unknown needs we include with this petition that we pray in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.”

PRAYER AGAINST EVERY EVIL:

“Spirit of our God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Most Holy Trinity, descend upon me. Please purify me, mold me, fill me with yourself, and use me. Banish all the forces of evil from me, destroy them, vanquish them so that I can be healthy and do good deeds. Banish from me all spells, witchcraft, black magic, malefice, ties, maledictions, and the evil eye; diabolic infestations, oppressions, possessions; all that is evil and sinful; jealousy, perfidy, envy; and physical, psychological, moral, spiritual, and diabolical ailments. I command and bid all the powers who molest me — by the power of God Almighty, in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior —to leave me forever, and to be consigned into the everlasting lake of fire, that they may never again touch me or any other creature in the entire world.

Please purify me, Lord, mold me, fill me with yourself and use me. Banish all the forces of evil from me, destroy them, vanquish them, so that I can be healthy and do good deeds. Banish from me all spells, witchcraft, black magic, malefice, ties, maledictions, and the evil eye; diabolic infestations, oppressions, possessions; all that is evil and sinful, jealousy, perfidy, envy; physical, psychological, moral, spiritual, diabolical ailments. Burn all these evils in hell, that they may never again touch me or any other creature in the entire world. I command and bid all the powers that molest me -- by the power of God all powerful, in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior, to leave me forever, and to be consigned into the everlasting hell.”

PRAYER AGAINST MALEFICE:

“God, our Lord, King of ages, All-powerful and Almighty, you who made everything and who transform everything simply by your will; you who changed into dew the flames of the seven-times hotter furnace and protected and saved your three holy children: You are the doctor and physician of our soul. You are the salvation of those who turn to you. I beseech you to make powerless, banish, and drive out every diabolic power, presence, and machination; every evil influence, malefice, or evil eye and all evil actions aimed against me.

Where there is envy and malice, give me an abundance of goodness, endurance, victory, and charity. O Lord, you who love man, I beg you to reach out your powerful hands and your most high and mighty arms and come to my aid. Send your angel of peace over me, to protect me body and soul. May he keep at bay and vanquish every evil power, every poison or malice invoked against me by corrupt and envious people.

Then under the protection of your authority may I sing with gratitude, The Lord is my salvation; whom should I fear? I will not fear evil because you are with me, my God, my strength, my powerful Lord, Lord of peace, Father of all ages.”

PRAYER FOR A SPIRITUAL HEDGE:

“Dear Lord Jesus, please forgive me for all the times I have not submitted to you. Forgive me for all sinfulness and for agreeing with the enemy and his lies. I now submit to you as my Lord, dear Jesus. Now I break every agreement that I have made with the enemy. Lord Jesus, please have your warring angels remove and bind to the abyss all demons and their devices that had access to me because I believed their lies. I now ask you to establish a hedge of protection around me, over me, and under me, and seal it with your blood, Lord Jesus Christ.

I now choose to put on the full armor of God and ask that you cleanse me and seal me, body, mind, soul and spirit, with your blood, Lord Jesus Christ. Please have your warring angels bind up and remove all demons, their devices, and all their power from within this protective hedge and have them sent to the abyss.

Please have your warriors destroy all demonic, occult, or witchcraft assignments directed against me including all backups and replacements. Please have your warriors remove all trafficking people and send them back to their own bodies and seal them there with your blood, Lord Jesus Christ. Please have your angels stand guard over me and protect me from all the attacks of the enemy.”

PRAYER FOR INNER HEALING:

“Lord Jesus, please come and heal my wounded and troubled heart. I beg you to heal the torments that cause anxiety in my heart; I beg you, in a particular way, to heal all who are the causes of my sinfulness. I beg you to come into my life and heal me of the psychological harms that struck me in my childhood and from the injuries that they caused throughout my life.

Lord Jesus, you know my burdens. I lay them all on your Good Shepherd’s Heart. I beseech you —by the merits of the great open wound in your heart —to heal the small wounds that are in mine. Heal the pain of my memories, so that nothing that has happened to me will cause me to remain in pain and anguish, filled with anxiety.

Heal, O Lord, all those wounds that have been the cause of all the evil that is rooted in my life. I want to forgive all those who have offended me. Look to those inner sores that make me unable to forgive. You who came to forgive the afflicted of heart, please, heal my heart. Heal, my Lord Jesus, those intimate wounds that cause me physical illness. I offer you my heart. Accept it, Lord, purify it and give me the sentiments of your Divine Heart. Help me to be meek and humble.

Heal me, O Lord, from the pain caused by the death of my loved ones, which is oppressing me. Grant me to regain peace and joy in the knowledge that you are the Resurrection and the Life. Make me an authentic witness to your Resurrection, your victory over sin and death, your living presence among all men.

Lord Jesus, You came to heal our wounded and troubled hearts. I beg you to heal the torments that cause anxiety in my heart; I beg you, in a particular way, to heal all who are the cause of sin. I beg you to come into my life and heal me of the psychological harms that struck me in my early years and form the injuries that they caused throughout my life. Lord Jesus, You know my burdens. I lay them all on Your Good Shepherd's Heart. I beseech you -- by the merits of the great, open wound in your heart -- to heal the small wounds that are in mine. Heal the pain of my memories, so that nothing that has happened to me will cause me to remain in pain and anguish, filled with anxiety.”

PRAYER FOR RELEASE FROM FREEMASONRY:

"Father God, creator of heaven and earth, I come to you in the name of Jesus Christ Your Son. I come as a sinner seeking forgiveness and cleansing from all sins committed against you, and others made in your image. I honour my earthly father and mother and all of my ancestors, but I utterly turn away from and renounce all their sins. I forgive all my ancestors for the effects of their sins on me and my children.

I renounce all my sins which have masonry at their root. I renounce and rebuke Satan and all his works, and every spiritual power or force of his affecting me or my family. I renounce all involvement in Freemasonry or any other lodge or craft by my ancestors. I renounce witchcraft, the principal spirit behind Freemasonry, and I renounce Baphomet, the Spirit of Antichrist and the curse of the Luciferian doctrine. I renounce the idolatry, blasphemy, secrecy and deception of Masonry at every level. I specifically renounce the insecurity, the love of position and power, the love of money, avarice or greed, and the pride which would have led my ancestors into Masonry. I renounce all the fears of death, fears of men, and fears of trusting, in Jesus' Name.

I renounce every position held in the lodge by any of my ancestors, including "Tyler", "Master", "Worshipful Master" or any other. I renounce the calling of any man "Master", for Jesus Christ is my only master and Lord, and He forbids anyone else having that title. I renounce the entrapping of others into Masonry, and observing the helplessness of others during the rituals. I renounce the denial of Jesus Christ and His redeeming work accomplished on the Cross of Calvary.”

1st Degree: "I renounce the oaths taken and the curses involved in the First or Entered Apprentice degree, especially their effects on the throat and tongue. I renounce the hoodwink, the blindfold, and its effects on emotions and eyes, including all confusion, fear of the dark, fear of the light, and fear of sudden noises. I renounce the secret word BOAZ and all it means. I renounce the mixing and mingling of truth and error, and the blasphemy of this degree of Masonry. I renounce the noose around the neck, the fear of choking and also every spirit causing asthma, hay fever, emphysema or any other breathing difficulty. I renounce the compass point against the breast, the fear of death by stabbing pain, and the fear of heart attack from this degree. In Jesus' name I now pray for healing of throat, vocal cords, nasal passages, sinus, bronchial tubes etc,, for healing of the speech area, and the release of the Word of God to me and through me and my family."

2nd Degree: "I renounce the oaths taken and the curses involved in the second or Fellow Craft degree of Masonry, especially the curses on the heart and chest. I renounce the secret words JACHIN and SHIBBOLETH and all that these mean. I cut off emotional hardness, apathy, indifference, unbelief, and deep anger from me and my family. In Jesus' name I pray for the healing of the chest/lung area and also for the healing of my emotions, and ask to be made sensitive to the Holy Spirit of God."

3rd Degree: "I renounce the oaths taken and the curses involved in the third or Master Mason degree, especially the curses on the stomach and womb area. I renounce the secret words MAHA BONE, MACHABINNA and TUBAL CAIN, and all that they mean. I renounce the spirit of death from the blows to the head enacted as ritual murder, the fear of death, false martyrdom, fear of violent gang attack, assault, or rape, and the helplessness of this degree. I renounce the falling into the coffin or stretcher involved in the ritual of murder. I renounce the false resurrection of this degree, because only Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life! I also renounce the blasphemous kissing of the Bible on a witchcraft oath. I cut off all spirits of death, witchcraft and deception. In Jesus' name I pray for the healing of the stomach, gall bladder, womb, liver and any other organs of my body affected by masonry and I ask for a release of compassion and understanding."

Holy Royal Arch Degree: "I renounce the oaths taken and the curses involved in the Holy Royal Arch Degree of Masonry, especially the oath regarding the removal of the head from the body and the exposing of the brains to the hot sun. I renounce the MARK LODGE and the mark in the form of squares and angles which marks a person for life. I also reject the jewel or talisman which may have been made from this mark sign and worn at lodge meetings. I renounce the false secret name of God, JAHBULON, and the password, AMMI RUHAMAH and all they mean. I renounce the false communion or Eucharist taken in this degree, and all the mockery, skepticism and unbelief about the redemptive work of Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary. I cut off all these curses and their effects on me and my family in the name of Jesus Christ, and I pray for healing of the brain, the mind etc."

All Other Degrees: "I renounce all the other oaths taken, the rituals of every other degree and the curses involved. I renounce all other lodges and secret societies such as Odd Fellows, Buffalos, Druids and their effects on me and my family. I renounce all false communions taken, all mockery of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary, all unbelief, confusion and depression, and all worship of Lucifer as God. I renounce all fear of insanity, anguish, death wishes, suicide and death in Jesus' name. Jesus Christ conquered death, and alone holds the keys of death and hell, and I rejoice that He holds my life in His hands now. He came to give me life abundantly and eternally. And I believe His promises.

I renounce all anger, hatred, murderous thoughts, revenge, retaliation, all unbelief, especially unbelief in the Holy Bible as God's Word, and the compromise of God's Word. I renounce all spiritual searching into false religions, and all striving to please God. I rest in the knowledge that I have found my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and that He has found me. I will burn all objects in my possession which connect me with all lodges and occultic organizations, including Masonry and Witchcraft, and all regalia, aprons, books of rituals, rings and other jewellery. I renounce the effects that any of these or other objects of Masonry, such as the compass, the square, the noose or the blindfold, have had on me or my family, in Jesus' Name.

I renounce the effects of Masonry passed on to me through any female ancestor who felt distrusted by her husband and rejected as he entered and attended any lodge and refused to tell her of his secret activities. Holy Spirit, I ask that you show me anything else which I need to do or to pray so that I and my family may be totally free from the consequences of the sins of Masonry and witchcraft."

"Now, dear Father God, I ask humbly for the blood of Jesus Christ, Your Son, to cleanse me from all these sins I have confessed and renounced, to cleanse my spirit, my soul, my mind, my emotions and any part of my body which has been affected by these sins, in Jesus' name! I renounce every evil spirit associated with Masonry and witchcraft and all other sins, and I command in the name of Jesus Christ for Satan and every evil spirit to be loosed and to leave now, touching or harming no-one, and go to the place appointed for you by Jesus, never to return to me or my family. I call on the name of the Lord Jesus to be delivered of these spirits, in accordance with the many promises of the Bible. I ask to be delivered of every spirit of sickness, infirmity, curse, affliction, addiction, disease or allergy associated with these sins I have confessed and renounced.

I surrender to God's Holy Spirit and to no other spirit all the places in my life where these sins have been. I take to myself the whole armour of God in accordance with Ephesians chapter six, and rejoice in its protection as Jesus surrounds me and fills me with His Holy Spirit. I enthrone you, Lord Jesus, in my heart, for you are my Lord and my Saviour, the source of eternal life. Thank you, Father God, for your mercy, your forgiveness and your love, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.”

TERRITORIAL SPIRITS:

We wrestle against spiritual forces not against flesh and blood. This is an organized kingdom with delegated authorities, world rulers and wicked spirits. We must sound the trumpet, clothe ourselves for battle, take up our spiritual weapons, know our enemy, and attack. Satan has limitations, methods of attack, and schemes. He tempts us, accuses us, and deceives us. Methods for disarming the strong man include researching the past, repenting of all sins, forgiving all others, recognizing God's purpose, ministering with compassion, praying with all prayer, and speaking to the mountain. The ground level spiritual warfare is in our local churches, working with the sheep, and ministering deliverance to them one by one.

Ground level warfare is casting demons out of people. Strategic level warfare is coming against territorial spirits. God sets the battle plan. We have the authority to pull down strongholds. It was given to the twelve, the seventy, and to the church. The warfare should be led by those who have spiritual jurisdiction over their territory. We should pull down strongholds. We should bind and loose. Christ's church, through the exercise of her authority, can change the course of history. We should continue in spiritual warfare until victory comes, being prepared to wrestle with the enemy, by keeping our faith and remaining steadfast in prayer and spiritual warfare. Our strength in the Lord is derived through spiritual exercises: daily prayer and bible study, fasting, fellowship with other believers, praise, worship, our testimony, and walking in holiness.

We are dealing with principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this age, and spiritual host of wickedness in the heavenlies. Wickedness includes perverseness, greed, witchcraft, occult, cults, false religions, new age religion, etc. We must forgive everyone no Matter what they did to us. We must sanctify ourselves as individuals, and cleanse the church corporately. After we have cleansed ourselves, we simply speak to the principalities and powers in the authority of Jesus' name, putting aside jealousy, doctrinal questions, and other factors that separate Christians and churches from each other. Pulling down ignorance, fear, and prejudice and helping those who are bound by blindness, disease, poverty, and fear in the mental, physical, spiritual, and material areas.

IN THE HEAVENLIES:

Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come (Eph. 1:21). And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:6). For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Eph. 6:12). Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you (Luke 10:19).

Seated in heavenly places, far above evil, having power over the enemy, we bind and cast down the demonic chain of command: might, thrones, nobles, kings and princes over kingdoms, principalities, dominions and powers, generals, rulers, captains, centurions and strongmen, rulers of darkness of this world and spiritual wickedness in high places.

We send legions of warring angels to attack. We lose the powers of God to do a mighty battle. We bind every force of evil and loose every force of good that we have the power and authority to do so. We break curses, vexes, hexes, spells and demonic ties.

We use every verse in the holy bible that wars against the demonic forces. We bind and loose spirits. We command civil war in Satan's kingdom. We loose the love of God, price that Jesus paid, Holy Spirit, word of God, blood of Jesus and cross of Jesus against the forces of evil. All these things we do in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, master and savior, and for the holy trinity.

Ye that love the Lord, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked (Ps. 97:10). Through thy precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way (Ps. 119:104). Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph (Amos 5:15). We hate everything that God hates. We hate sin and iniquity. We hate Satan, demons and evil forces.

STRATEGIC PRAYERS:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my father (John 14:12).

Forgive us for failure to align ourselves perfectly with God's will, known sin and rebellion, emotional stress and trauma, submissions to an ungodly cover, inherited curses, worldly art and music, ownership of unclean objects, failure to cleanse property and places; unforgiveness, idolatry or a lack of separation from the things of the world. We ask for forgiveness, confess contact with the occult, close doors to Satan, break curses, renounce psychic bondage, cut evil soul ties, loose the mind, restore the fragmented soul, confess sins of the fathers, surrender to Jesus, and renounce all evil.

We return curses and demons back to the senders. We use our weapons against the kingdom of darkness. Satan we are closing every door that you may have opened in us from evil contacts. Jesus Christ became a curse on the cross for us and blotted out the handwriting of ordinances against us. We break the curses back to Adam and eve, and destroy legal holds and grounds that the demons have to work in our lives.

We bind the spirits power and loose ourselves from their holds. We break demonic soul ties. We ask for the necessary spiritual gifts and especially the gift of discernment to minister to the people. We ask for the anointing of the Holy Spirit and the authority of Jesus Christ. We have been given power and authority over Satan and his army.

We adopt each other as spiritual sons and daughters, and cover them with the compassion and love of God. We use love as a weapon. We bind powers over our area, break assignments from powers in the heavenlies to demons in the people, and ask for legions of covering angels for protection. We bind the strong man and his spirits in everyone.

The Lord Jesus rebukes you. We ask for the leadership of the Holy Spirit. We intercede for our loved ones. We command the ruling spirits to be cast out of their subjects. We command the angels to assist in the work of deliverance as directed by God.

We break evil curses, vexes, hexes, jinxes, psychic powers, bewitchments, potions, charms, incantations, spells, witchcraft and sorcery. We break all cords, snares, controls and bondages. We ask that the power of God be manifested. We command the demons to go to Tartarus with the fallen angels, or wherever Jesus sends them.

We use the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and cover us with the blood of the lamb. We agree with the covenant of the blood. We use the psalms as imprecations and pronouncements against the enemies of God, and call down the wrath of God upon spiritual foes. We will sing songs about the blood of Jesus. We command that every knee to bow and tongue to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

We come against unholy spirits, fallen angels, demons, devils, empire of evil, and the entire kingdom of Satan in humans and animals. We come against councils, principalities, powers, world rulers, and wicked spirits in heavenly places. We come against chiefs and kings, princes, kingdoms, dominions, generals, rulers, captains, centurions, strongmen, and imps.

We pray for healing from the works of the demons. We bind all remaining demons until they can be cast out or leave of their own accord. We ask angels to be stationed on our properties to guard us. We loose godly spirits from the Lord to operate in our lives. We agree to cleanse our beings, possessions and homes of unclean objects.

To remove any ungodly thoughts, or thoughts which we don't want, we should pray this immediately. “In Jesus name, I circumcise these thoughts”. We may have to pray this several times before the bad thoughts leave. When entering our office, grocery store, anyone else's home, etc., we will have to pray this before entering. “In Jesus name, I cover myself and this place with the blood of Jesus. I bind up every demon in here, and I ask for warrior angels to protect me”.

Before or after getting into any vehicle, we can pray this: “In Jesus name, I cover myself in the blood of Jesus. I cover this vehicle and the road I travel in the blood of Jesus. I take authority and dominion over all animals and demons of the road so they do not cross my path. I dispatch angels ahead of me to protect me”.

Before going to sleep, we should pray this: “In Jesus name, I cover myself and all my property with the blood of Jesus. I take authority over all demons of the night, bad dreams, nightmares, and sex dreams, and anyone or anything trying to get into my dreams, and I command them to stay away. I ask for giant warrior angels to protect me and my property as I sleep, through the night and the day. I ask for a fiery wall of protection around me”.

PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING:

“Thank you, Lord Jesus, for awakening my sleeping spirit and bringing me into your light. Thank you, Lord, for transforming me by the renewing of my mind. Thank you, Lord, for pouring out your Spirit on me, and revealing your Word to me. Thank you, Lord, for giving your angels charge over me in all my ways. Thank you for my faith in you and that from my innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. Thank you for directing my mind and heart into the love of the Father and the steadfastness of all your ways. Fill me to overflowing with your life and love, my Lord and King, Jesus Christ.

Lord Jesus, thank you for sharing with me your wonderful ministry of healing and deliverance. Thank you for the healing I have experienced today. I realize that the sickness of evil is more than my humanity can bear, so I ask that you please cleanse me of any sadness and negative thinking or despair that I may have picked up during my intercession for others.

If anything has tempted me to anger, impatience or lust, cleanse me of those temptations, and replace them with love, joy, and peace. If any evil spirits have attached themselves to me or oppressed me in any way, I command you, spirits of earth, fire, water, the netherworld, or of nature to depart now and go straight to Jesus Christ, for him to deal with you as he wills.

Come Holy Spirit, renew me, fill me anew with your power, your life and your joy. Strengthen me where I feel weak and clothe me with your light. Fill me with your life. Lord Jesus, please send your holy angels to minister to me and protect me from all forms of sickness, harm, and accidents. I thank you and praise you my Lord, God and King. Amen.”

Our dear heavenly and gracious father, thank you for divine health: mental, physical, spiritual and material for us. Thank you for all blessings known and unknown, and for showering down blessings on us so great that we can not receive them. Thank you for the complete restoration of our bodies. For its in Jesus name we pray.

Our dear heavenly and gracious father, thank you Lord for a good day, for protecting us against powers, principalities, evil forces in this world and spiritual wickedness in high places. Now Lord, we apply the blood over and bind Satan away from us, our possessions and everything that we have any part in. Lord send your angels to minister unto us, build a ring of Holy Ghost fire around us and cover us with your blood. We pray for the Christians and the Jews, the churches that worship Jesus in spirit and truth.

We ask for courage, understanding, wisdom and strength. We pray especially for the leaders. We ask divine favor with you in accordance with the holy word of God, with each other and those we come into contact with today. We confess that this is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it for God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind. He that is in us is greater than he that is in the world.

If God be for us, who can be against us? You have given us power over all the power of the enemy and we intend to exercise it by the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Now Lord, we ask that you lead, guide, direct and protect us. Let us walk in your perfect will; we yield ourselves to you today. We thank you for our food, clothing and shelter, for everything that you have done for us known and unknown. We ask you to bless this food to our bodies, purify and cleanse it so that our temples will be fit for the Holy Spirit to reside in. All these things we ask in the blessed name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, Master and Savior. Amen.

Dear Lord, we ask you to forgive us of our sins, teach us and show us so that we will be pleasing in your sight. We pray for ourselves this day and the leadership of the Holy Spirit. We thank you for each other, this day and most of all for you. We pray for our relatives and friends, our Christian brothers and sisters.

We pray for the army of the Lord that it would grow strong and mighty and be valiant and do exploits in the name of Jesus Christ. We pray that deliverance would come to the forefront of Christianity. We pray for those that we have ministered to, for their families, churches and ministries that they would go on with the Lord. We pray for all men everywhere that they would come into the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. We bind up all powers, principalities, evil forces in this world and spiritual wickedness in high places.

We thank you Lord that you are a God of healing, provision, and restoration. You are my healer. It is the will of God for me to be healed. You took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses. You said you heal all thy diseases. You are my provider. Those who seek you will not lack any good thing. You will prosper us as our soul prospers. As we seek you first, you will add all things to us. All our needs are met in Jesus. You are the God of restoration. As we plead with you and walk pure and upright, you will rouse yourself on our behalf and restore us to our rightful place. You will restore what the cankerworm has eaten up. You restore our soul.

We thank you Lord that we walk in the fruit of your spirit. It is not by might, not by power, but by your spirit says the Lord. We have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. This is our personality in you. We ask you for the gifts of the spirit. Your word says to seek the gifts. We want to edify others through these gifts. We ask you for the message of wisdom, the message of knowledge, the gift of faith, the gift of healing, miraculous powers, the gift of prophecy, discerning of spirits and the interpretation of tongues. Help us to encourage someone today through the power of your Holy Spirit. We pray all these in Jesus holy name. Your name is above every name. All things are placed under your foot. All authority has been given unto you in heaven and in earth. In him we live, in him we move and in him we have our being. You are Lord. Amen.

SPIRITUAL BATTLE

2010-09-15T22:23:00.003+05:30

SPIRITUAL BATTLE

There is a great war being waged in the world today. It is not a conflict between nations, tribes, or government leaders. It is not a rebellion or coup. It is an important invisible battle taking place in the spirit world. Military terminology is used throughout the New Testament. The early Church knew they were engaged in an intense spiritual struggle. Protection was seen in the armor of God. The Word of God was compared to a sword. Satan's attacks were called fiery darts. Faith was the "good fight" and believers were told to "war a good warfare".

The same spiritual battle continues even today, but instead of fighting the enemy the present day believers are often building great church buildings, producing musical dramas, holding fellowship meetings, and fighting one another while this great spiritual battle wages around them. Satan has even intensified his attacks against a church that has withdrawn from the front lines of battle. The Bible states that God's people are destroyed because of lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6). One of the main areas in which believers are being defeated is due to lack of knowledge about the spiritual battle and in spiritual warfare.

As the end of time approaches it is even more important for believers to understand spiritual warfare than in the early days of church history. The Apostle Paul warned, …this know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come (II Tim 3:1). In order to be properly prepared for these perilous times, renewed emphasis must be placed on the strategies of spiritual warfare. The Christian life is war. The sooner we recognize and prepare for it, the sooner we will experience victory.

When a nation declares war, they often issue "Articles of War”. This document explains why they are at war, identifies the enemy, and declares the objectives of the war. The Bible is the written Word of the one true God, the Commander of our spiritual army. The Bible contains our "Articles of War" for spiritual combat. The exposing of the enemy and his strategies is one of the greatest revelations of God's Word. Even greater is the revelation that as believers we have power over all the powers of the enemy. As in natural warfare, skill in spiritual warfare is progressive as we enter the combat zone and begin to fight.

THE INVISIBLE WAR:

The invisible spiritual war is a battle which involves all men and women. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Eph 6:12). It is not a visible war is because spirits are involved and we learn in Luke 24:39, that a spirit does not have flesh and bones.

Every person alive is engaged in this battle, whether he realizes it or not. There is no neutral ground. Unbelievers are in bondage to evil and have been taken captive by enemy forces. Though believers have been freed from the enemy through Jesus Christ, they are still engaged in the war for two reasons. All believers wrestle against evil spiritual forces because of his relentless counterattacks as well as to free others from the bondage. "Wrestling" involves close personal contact. No one is exempt from this battle. No one can view it from a distance. The Christian warfare never ceases.

Spiritual warfare is "multidimensional,” which means it is fought in different dimensions. It is a social battle between the believer and the world (John 15:18-27). A personal battle between the flesh and the spirit (Gal 5:16-26). A supernatural battle between believers and evil spiritual powers (Eph 6:10-27). This invisible war is being waged on earth. Satan fights to maintain control of the kingdoms of the world. He does not want them to come under God's authority. Satan blinds the spiritual eyes of the unbelievers and attacks believers in the areas of worship, the Word, their daily walk, and their work for God.

THE NATURAL AND SPIRITUAL REALMS:

To understand this invisible war, we must first understand the natural and spiritual worlds. Man exists in two worlds, the natural world and the spiritual world. The natural world is that which can be seen, felt, touched, heard or tasted. It is tangible and visible. The country, nation, city, or village in which we live is part of the natural world. We are a resident in a natural kingdom located on one of the visible continents of the world. We can see the people who are part of our environment. We can communicate with them. We can experience the sights, sounds, and smells around us. But there is another world in which we live. That world is a spiritual world. We cannot see it with our physical eyes, but it is just as real as the natural world in which we live.

Paul speaks of this division of natural and spiritual world. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body (I Cor 15:40). All men have a natural body which lives in the natural world, but man is also a spiritual being with an eternal soul and spirit. Man is body, soul, and spirit. Our spiritual being (soul and spirit) is part of a spiritual world just as our natural body is part of the natural world. The thief (Satan) cometh not but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy (this spiritual body); I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly (John 10:10), both in this world as well as in Heaven.

SPIRITUAL DISCERNMENT

In our natural, sinful state, we can not understand spiritual things. I Cor 2:14, But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. It is necessary to use "spiritual discernment" to understand spiritual things. Perhaps one of the best examples of natural and spiritual discernment is recorded in II Kings chapter 6. It records the story of a natural battle in which troops of the enemy nation of Syria had surrounded a small town called Dothan where the prophet Elisha was staying. When Elisha’s servant, Gehazi, saw the great host of the enemy he became fearful. Elisha prayed that God would open Gehazi's spiritual eyes so he could see the angelic hosts surrounding and protecting them. God opened the spiritual eyes of Gehazi and allowed him to see the superior forces of God aligned for battle.

The story of this battle at Dothan is similar to present spiritual conditions in the Church. There are some, like Elisha, who see clearly into the realm of the spirit. They know there is a conflict occurring, have identified the enemy, and recognize the greater forces of God that assure victory. There are others like Gehazi, who with a little encouragement, will be able to open their spiritual eyes and no longer be fearful of and defeated by the enemy. But sadly, there are many people who, like those in the city of Dothan, are spiritually sleeping. They do not even know that the enemy has surrounded them and is poised for attack.

NATURAL KINGDOMS:

Within the natural and spiritual realms of which we are speaking there exists separate kingdoms which are ruled by natural and spiritual leaders. All men live in a natural kingdom of this world. They live in a city or a village which is part of a nation. That nation is a kingdom of the world. A natural kingdom is a territory or people over which an actual king or political leader is the sovereign ruler. The Bible speaks of these natural kingdoms as "kingdoms of the world”. The kingdoms of the world have come under the power and influence of Satan. In Matt 4:8-9, the Devil taketh Jesus up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto Him, All these things will I give thee, if you wilt fall down and worship me. 1 John 5:19 also reminds us that "the whole world is under the control of the evil one.”

TWO SPIRITUAL KINGDOMS:

In addition to the natural kingdoms of this world there are two spiritual kingdoms. The Kingdom of Satan and the Kingdom of God. Every person alive is a resident of one of these two kingdoms. The Kingdom of Satan consists of Satan, spiritual beings called demons, and all men who live in sin and rebellion to God's Word. These, plus the world and the flesh, are the spiritual forces of evil at work in the world today. The Kingdom of God consists of God the Father, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, spiritual beings called angels, and all men who live in righteous obedience to God's Word. These are the spiritual forces of good.

The Kingdom of God is not a denominational church. Denominations are man-made organizations of groups of churches. Denominations are major church organizations like Baptist, Assembly of God, Methodist, Lutheran, etc. The Bible speaks of the true Church which is not a denomination or religious organization. The true Church is composed of all those who have become residents of the Kingdom of God.

At the present time in the natural world, the Kingdom of God exists individually within every man, woman, boy or girl who has made Jesus King of their lives. It exists communally in the true church and wherever people make this world the kind of world God wants it to be. In the future, there will be an actual visible manifestation of God's Kingdom.

HOW THE BATTLE STARTED:

The invisible war started in Heaven with an angel named Lucifer who was originally a beautiful angel created by God and was part of the Kingdom of God wanted to take over God's Kingdom. We can read about his rebellion in Isaiah 14:12-17 and Ezekiel 28:12-19. A group of angels joined Lucifer (now called Satan) in this rebellion. And there was war in Heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon (Satan); and the dragon fought and his angels (Rev 12:7). And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world. He was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him (Rev 12:9). Lucifer became known as Satan and the angels who followed him in rebellion as demons. They formed their own kingdom on earth.

Man was originally created in the image of God and for the glory of God (Genesis chapter 2). When they were originally created by God, they were given dominion over the earth. This meant they had control over the earth, to guide its systems and inhabitants according to the plan of God.

The invisible war against man started with the first temptation in the Garden of Eden (Genesis chapter 3). Satan caused Adam and Eve to sin. When they sinned against God, they lost that dominion (Gen l-3). This also resulted in all men inheriting the basic sin nature and committing individual acts of sin due to this nature. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned (Rom 5:12).

Gen 3:15, And I will put enmity between thee (Satan) and the woman (mankind), and between thy seed (the forces of evil) and her seed (the forces of good represented by the Lord Jesus Christ). It resulted in the invisible war between man and the forces of evil. Demon spirits can enter, torment, control, and use the people as his agents who do not obey God’s Word. They motivate evil acts which are done by men and women. Satan directs his demons in their evil activities. He combines these powerful forces with the world and the flesh to rule over all mankind.

SPIRITUAL DEATH AND REDEMPTION:

Because of sin, man was separated from God and condemned to spiritual death. But God loved man so much and to fulfill His promise made in Gen 3:15, He made a special plan to save mankind from destruction because of sin. John 3:16-17, For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil (I John 3:8).

Jesus Christ came in the flesh suffered, died and rose again for the very purpose of establishing His own spiritual Kingdom (John 18:36). Satan’s plans of wickedness, and all his dominion and power, and particularly his power over spiritual death; and especially the inability of men to overcome the sinful nature i.e. the bondage to sin, which are the works of the devil, which he puts them upon, influences them to do, and takes delight in; are destroyed by Christ, by his sacrifice and death, being taken, carried, removed away, finished, and made an end of by him.

Though Jesus Christ defeated Satan in the spiritual realm, we are still living in this literal world which is still occupied and controlled by Satan and his forces. Satan is trying to keep all men and women captive in sin through deceptive methods. He is enticing men and women through the temporary pleasures of this world. He wants the possession and control of all the souls at all cost. Satan still wants to be the supreme ruler over all the people both spiritually and literally. For this purpose he is waging an intense battle. His strategies are directed at God, His plan, and His people. This battle will continue until the great final conflict which is the battle of Armageddon. Understanding spiritual warfare strategies gives us the ability to deal with these evil powers and his control over the souls of people and the devil himself.

UNDERSTANDING SPIRITUAL WARFARE:

Spiritual warfare is the analysis of and active participation in the invisible spiritual war. It includes study of the opposing forces of good and evil, the strategies of Satan, and spiritual strategies for overcoming the enemy. Spiritual warfare is more than a mere analysis of spiritual principles. It includes active participation in warfare by application of these strategies in life and ministry.

One of the most effective strategies of Satan is to keep believers ignorant of his devices. Paul said it is important to know Satan's strategies. Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices (II Cor 2:11). We should learn all we can about Satan's strategies of attack. We must also understand the Scriptural basis of victory over Satan and the forces of evil. We are called to intelligent combat. Basic to the understanding of spiritual warfare is to recognize that all battles of life, whether physical, spiritual or with human personalities are only outward manifestations of a spiritual cause.

Although in the natural world problems may seem to occur through the circumstances of life, the basis of these natural battles is in the spirit world. The story of Job (Job chapters’ l-2) confirms this principle. We have tried to correct the evils of this world through education, legislation, and improved environment. It has not worked because the visible evils of the world are the results of an underlying spiritual cause. They cannot be corrected by natural means.

THE ENEMY:

In warfare in the natural world, a soldier must first identify the enemy before entering the battlefield. He must study all available information on the enemy, his nature, and strategies. This is why military forces spend much time gathering intelligence information on the enemy. The same is true in the spirit world. We can only war effectively if we identify our enemy, understand his nature, and recognizing his strategies. The evil forces we face are not clothed in flesh. They are spiritual hosts of wickedness. I Peter 5:8, Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. His words serve as a further introduction to his strategies (Gen 3:1,4,5; Job 1:7-12; Job 2:1-6; Matt 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13. 2). Satan is an exact opposite of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was sent by God to draw men to Himself. Satan is committed to draw men away from God.

Satan not only opposes God and His nature, but he also opposes God's program. He denies the existence of God (Psalms 14:1-3), promotes lies (Eph 2:2; II Thess 2:8-ll); and is behind false religions, the occult, and cults with their false doctrines and practices. Satan's religious system results in false teachers, prophets, and "christs”. Despite these evil strategies, Satan and his hosts of demonic powers are no threat to our Almighty God.

THE ATTRIBUTES OF SATAN:

As we have seen, Satan is a spirit, but he also has attributes of a real personality. The Bible teaches that he is Intelligent and subtle. II Cor 11:3, But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtility, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. Emotional: And the dragon was wroth with the woman... (Rev 12:17). Self-willed: And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will (II Tim 2:26). Powerful: ...Prince of the power of the air... (Eph 2:2). Deceitful: Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil (Eph 6:11). Fierce and cruel: Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour (I Peter 5:8). Deceptive: And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light (II Cor 11:14).

SATAN IS NOT...

Unlike God, Satan is not omniscient (knowing all things). If Satan could foresee the future he never would have allowed Jesus to die on the cross. He would have known that the death of Jesus would overthrow his power and provide a way of escape from the bondage of sin for all mankind. Satan is not omnipotent (all powerful). Jesus said the power of God within you is greater than the power of Satan. For those who believe in Jesus, Satan is already a defeated foe (John 12:31). He is strong only to those who yield to him. His power is limited by the power of God (Job 1:10-12) and he is only able to overcome a believer as they yield control to him. Because Satan is not omnipresent (present everywhere) he dispatches a host of demons throughout the earth to do his will and accomplish his purposes.

VENOMOUS SERPENT:

Satan is compared to a serpent in the natural world. The venom of poisonous snakes falls into three categories. Neurotorins: Which affect the nerves. Cardiotorins: Which affect the heart. Hemotorins: Which affect the blood. Spiritually Satan also affects our nerve (spiritual courage), our heart (to attack our worship and service of God), and tries to prevent the work of the blood of Jesus (salvation, healing, deliverance) in our life.

Snakes protect themselves by disguise. Some snakes are very hard to see because they are camouflaged blend into the surrounding so well. Some snakes protect themselves by imitation. One example is the African tree viper which "freezes" itself and sticks its neck out like a twig on a tree. The puff adder protects itself by blowing itself up as big as possible. Some snakes hiss or rattle, making frightening sounds to scare us away. Our spiritual enemy comes disguised as an "angel of light" and imitates the things of God. He also tries to frighten us by appearing large and threatening.

Snakes capture their prey in four different ways. Strike: A swift attack. Constriction: Where the snake wraps itself around the target and slowly squeezes out its life. Throwing weight around over the prey to overcome it. Biting and holding the target in its fangs while slow poison paralyzes the target. Sometimes the snake's teeth are broken off in the struggle, but snakes are constantly developing new teeth. Similarly the Devil either strikes or constricts our spiritual life with the cares of the world and sinful weights and entanglements. He is always trying to terrorize us, and he loves to hold us in bondage while paralyzing us with his deadly venom.

Here are some ways to avoid snake bite in the natural world. They are also applicable in the spiritual realm. Recognizing poisonous snakes (knowing our enemy). Wearing protective clothing (our spiritual armor). Avoiding known snake territory (areas of known temptation or satanic activity). Avoid walking after dark or in darkened areas (snakes avoid direct sunlight) as believers, we no longer walk as children of the dark but as children of light.

Snakes locate their prey by picking up the scent from the dust thrown up on their tongue which relays information to their brain. If we stand still, a snake cannot locate us. Satan spots us best when the dust is stirred up and we are running in confusion and fear. When the dust is settled and we stand against him fearlessly, he cannot strike us. This is why the Bible says "stand still.”...and "keep on standing." In a panic situation, a snake will shoot all of its venom at once and is then rendered defenseless for awhile until it can produce more venom. It is possible that this is what occurred in the wilderness temptation when Jesus used the Word of God against Satan's attacks and caused Satan to "depart from him for a season."

THE SPIRITUAL FORCES OF EVIL:

It is also essential to know about the "troops,” known as demons, which are under Satan's command. Some people ignore the subject of demons completely. Others have a compulsive interest in them. We should not minimize the power of demon spirits in the world today. When Jesus confronted two men possessed by demons, their response was, what have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? Art thou come hither to torment us before the time? (Matt 8:29). The demons in the possessed men knew their final destiny was a place of eternal torment. Since Hell is a place of torment and was prepared for Satan and his angels, then demons must be the fallen angels.

Throughout the Bible, demons are shown as active on earth. Since Satan is not omnipresent, he uses demons to do his will and accomplish his purposes throughout the world. They constitute the "powers of the air" (Eph 2:2) and the "powers of darkness" (Col 1:13) and are all under the control of Satan.

THE ATTRIBUTES OF DEMONS:

In their original sinless condition, demons had the same attributes as the good angels. In their present evil state these demons are spirits (Matt 8:16; Luke 10:17, 20). Can appear visibly (Gen 3:1; Zech 3:1; Matt 4:9-10). Can speak (Mark 5:9, 12; Luke 8:28; Matt 8:31). Believe that there is one God (James 2:19). Exercise their wills (Luke 11:24; 8:32). Demonstrate intelligence (Mark 1:24). Have emotions (Luke 8:28; James 2:19). Have recognition (Acts 19:15). Have supernatural strength (Acts 19:16; Mark 5:3). Have supernatural presence (Daniel 9:21-23). Are eternal (Matt 25:41). Have their own doctrine (I Tim 4:1-3). Are evil (Matt 10:1; Mark 1:27; 3:11). Demons are called evil spirits six times and unclean spirits 23 times in the New Testament. They are also called devils (Mark 1:32) and the devil's angels (Matt 25:41).

THE ORGANIZATION OF DEMON FORCES:

Satan is an imitator, not an originator. He has organized his demons in a structure similar to that of God's forces. Satan has apparently divided the world into principalities. A principality is the territory or jurisdiction of a prince. Satan has placed a prince over each principality. The prince of the power of Persia is mentioned in Daniel 10. This is how Satan works on a national level influencing governments and nations. These demons are at work in the social, political, and cultural systems of the world.

Satan is the author of spiritual wickedness in high places. High places in the Old Testament were where worship was carried on. This is how Satan works in the religious structures of the world. These organized groups vary in size. For example, Mary Magdalene had seven demons in her prior to her deliverance. Luke 8:30 mentions a "legion" of demons. A legion in the Roman army which ruled at the time of Jesus referred to 6,100 foot soldiers and 726 horsemen! These organized forces of demons were united in their purpose, which in this example was possession of the man and woman.

Have Different Degrees Of Wickedness. This is illustrated by the demon who said he would return with other evil spirits. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself and they enter in and dwell there: And the last state of that man is worse than the first... (Matt 12:43-45).

THE ACTIVITIES OF DEMONS:

Demons follow orders given by their prince. We can summarize the activities of demons by noting that they are always directed against God, His plan, and His people. Demons are used by Satan to attack the Word of God, our worship of God, our walk with God, and our work for God. Satan uses his demons to accomplish this strategy throughout the world. Demons extend Satan's power by promoting deception and wickedness. They affect individuals, governments, nations, and the world system. They promote rebellion and slander against both God and men. They promote idolatry, false doctrines, and blind men and women to the truth of the Gospel.

Demons can Change Their Functions. The demon in I Kings 22:21-23 declared he would be a lying spirit. This indicates he was not one previously for he said "I will be...”. There are different kinds of demons that attack the body and soul of man. They are responsible for immoral acts, unclean thoughts, oppression, possession and depression (Matt 10:1; 12:43; Mark 1:23-26). Spirits of infirmity afflict the physical body (Luke 13:11). Seducing spirits influences a person to believe false doctrines as indicated in I Timothy 4:1. They are spirits of cults, false Christ, and false teachers.

These demons instigates unbelievers driving them to commit terrible acts of evil, to murder, injure, commit suicide, speak lies etc. They affect the soul with emotional problems and the body with physical infirmities. Demons attack believers by temptation, deception, depression, and oppression. They try to keep us in bondage to habits and fear. They accuse and slander us and create division among the people of God.

SPIRITUAL WARFARE:

Since spiritual warfare has many dimensions, we must war personally against sin, socially against evil in the world, and supernaturally through the deliverance ministry. Bible is a spiritual warfare manual. It is the historical record of spiritual warfare, revealing the victories and defeats of past battles. It is prophetical, showing the course of our warfare until the time of the final conflict. In the natural world, when a soldier joins an army, he must deny any previous allegiance he has had to another army or country. When we join the army of God, we must repent of our allegiance to sin and the kingdom of Satan.

Spiritual warfare in the context of God's total purpose for the redemption of sinful mankind is like the parables of the sower and the tares among wheat in Matthew 13. Both parables concern the growth of the Kingdom of God which occurs through the planting of God's Word. Both parables picture the warfare between the two kingdoms with the battle centering on the redemptive purposes of God.

The simple definition of war in the natural world is "an act of force intended to compel our opponent to fulfill our will". This definition is applicable also in the spiritual world. Learning spiritual warfare prepares us to enter the arena of this world and fight for the souls of men and women, boys and girls. This is why authority over Satan was given to the disciples before they were sent out to share the Gospel (Matt 28:18-20). Satan and his hosts of demons will war against us as we seek to win men to Christ and bring them under the rule of God. Employing Scriptural strategies of spiritual warfare helps us to challenge the principalities and powers who rule over individual human lives, societies, and areas of the world.

UNDERSTANDING OUR MISSION IN THE WORLD:

We are not to be affected by the world, but we are to affect the world. The believer should be a light in a world of darkness, reflecting the glory of God and sharing the good news of the Gospel: Ye are the light of the world... (Matt 5:14). The impact of the early believers on the world was so great that it was said of them that they "turned the world upside down" (Acts 17:6). As soldiers in an army sent on a mission in a foreign nation, believers are on a special mission of God in the world. They have been instructed: ...Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15).

Satan is called the "god of this world" which includes men who are not believers and demonic angels (II Cor 4:4). He offered the nations to Jesus during the temptation of Christ, and our Lord did not dispute the legitimacy of the offer. He simply refused to rebel against God in submitting to Satan's way of obtaining the rule (Matt 4:8-10). Satan uses his demons to influence and deceive the nations, leading the leaders and people astray from God. This is why there are cruel dictators and ungodly corrupt political systems in many nations. It also accounts for the wars and divisions between the nations. Satan especially influences leaders to hinder the spread of the Gospel.

ENEMY TERRITORY:

THE WORLD: The word "world" has different meanings in Scripture. It can mean the earth or universe in its physical order. It is used to refer to Gentiles which are all nations other than the Jewish nation. But the word "world" also is used to refer to the present condition of human affairs in opposition to God. It is the system that runs the inhabited earth, a system that is opposed to God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The "world" is the corporate group of flesh-centered individuals who make up the human race. Flesh, in this context, is not referring to the actual flesh of our body. It is a term which describes the basic evil human nature of man which is in willful rebellion against God. As our enemy, the world is the whole organized system of social, economic, materialistic, and religious philosophies which have their expression through organizations, personalities, and governments. It is not a specific government, organization, or person, but the worldly system upon which these are based. It provides an atmosphere, environment, and system which promotes fleshly sins. It surrounds man with that which appeals to his fleshly desires.

Satan is the "prince" or ruler of the world system (John 12:31; 14:30). Satan is also called the god of this world. In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believed not... (II Cor 4:4). The kingdoms of the world are presently influenced by Satan. They are guided by Satanic philosophy and principles. They are flesh-centered and flesh-governed.

THE STRUCTURE OF THE WORLD: The world structure is in direct opposition to God, His plan, purposes, and people: Who gave Himself for our sins that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father (Gal 1:4). The world system is without God: ...having no hope, and without God in the world (Eph 2:12). There is much deception in the world to ensnare believers to become part of the world system. For many deceivers are entered into the world (II John 7).

THE ELEMENTS OF THE WORLD: The "elements of the world" refer to the elementary principles that govern the world. They lead to spiritual bondage: Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world (Gal 4:3). The Rudiments of The World are the regulations on which the world structure rests. They are different from the principles upon which God structures His Kingdom. Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances (Col 2:8,20).

The Philosophies of the World are principles of knowledge. Worldly philosophies are not based on Christ. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ (Col 2:8). Worldly wisdom is not God's wisdom. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God (I Cor 3:19). The Course of The World is the way in which it operates. Wherefore in times past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience (Eph 2:2).

The many "voices" in the world are contrary to the voice of God: There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification (I Cor 14:10). The peace of the world is temporary, fragile, and sometimes deceptive: Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid (John 14:27). Godly sorrow differs from that of the world. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death (II Cor 7:10).

The world hates God. ...Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God (James 4:4). The world hates believers. If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you (John 15:18-19).

OVERCOMING THE WORLD:

Recognizing that we are not of the world: John 17:14-16, I have given them thy word, and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world (John 16:33).

Realizing that gaining the world is not worth losing our soul: For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul (Mark 8:36). For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? (Luke 9:25).

Realizing that if we love the world, we are an enemy of God: Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world (I John 2:15-16). Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God (James 4:4).

Recognizing the temporal nature of the world: And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof. But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever (I John 2:17). For the fashion of this world passeth away (I Cor 7:31). Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness (II Peter 3:11).

We can overcome the world because Jesus dwells within us: Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you, than He that is in the world (I John 4:4). Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust (II Peter 1:4). For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith (I John 5:4). And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony... (Rev 12:11).

WE ARE NOT IN BONDAGE TO THE WORLD:

As a believer, we do not have to be in bondage to the world system. Wherein in times past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also you had your conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind: and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God (Eph 2:2-3,13,19).

Romans 12:1-3 teaches that we no longer need be conformed to the world. We can be transformed (changed). We are part of a new kingdom now. We are the residents of the Kingdom of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God (I Cor 2:12). We learn more about our liberty in Galatians 4:1-7. We are not to be overcome by the world. Do not let the cares of the world destroy the work of the Word in your life (Matt 13:22; Mark 4:19).

THE ENEMY AND UNBELIEVERS:

The enemy has a very powerful strategy operating against unbelievers. He blinds their minds to the Gospel (II Cor 4:3-4) and snatches away the truth of the Gospel when they do hear it so that no response will occur (Luke 8:12). As a result, the Gospel sounds foolish and irrelevant to those who are lost in sin (I Cor 1:18). Satan also snares many unbelievers in false religions (I Tim 4:1-3) and leads them to walk according to the "course of the world" which is the philosophy of the age. That philosophy may vary from generation to generation and culture to culture, but it is always creature-centered and creature-promoting rather than God-centered. Satan is constantly sowing the seeds of rebellion (sin) in the minds of unbelievers by which he is able to keep them bound in his spiritual kingdom.

THE PURPOSE OF GOD:

It is God's purpose that... ...in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in Heaven, and which are on earth... (Ephesians 1:10). From the beginning of time, Satan has battled against the fulfillment of this purpose. Our own warfare in the spirit world is related to this purpose of God. Satan battles to bring our soul into allegiance to him instead of the Lord Jesus Christ.

God works in us to accomplish His purpose. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do His good pleasure (Phil 2:13). God also works through our life to accomplish His purposes. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God (Romans 6:13). When we yield ourselves to become "an instrument of righteousness unto God," it means we bring our life and ministry in harmony with His purpose and plans. By doing this, we become a target for God's enemy, Satan.

TYPES OF WARFARE:

There are two types of warfare in the natural world: Offensive and defensive. The Bible also teaches both defensive and offensive spiritual strategies. The only other option is desertion, which is unacceptable. There is one thing in common about offensive and defensive warfare. Both involve personal action by the believer. In natural warfare, unused weapons do not inflict causalities on the enemy nor win wars. The same is true in the spirit world. Our spiritual weapons are affected by our will to use them. It is true that God empowers for battle, but we have a personal responsibility in both defensive and offensive spiritual strategies. In Old Testament battles, the Lord fought for and with His people, Israel. But first, they had to position themselves on the battlefield. When God sees a spiritual weapon being used in His name and a man or woman on the battlefield daring to attempt the impossible, the Lord of Hosts is moved to action.

DEFENSIVE WARFARE:

Defensive warfare is battle waged to defend territory. It is a warfare that waits for the enemy to strike, then pulls its forces together in defensive response. The defender must respond to his opponent and his decisions are forced on him by the attacker. This type of warfare does not advance into enemy territory. It defends territory already claimed. It is important, however, because the spiritual forces of evil are constantly attacking us as a believer. If we do not know how to defend ourselves, we will become a victim of these attacks.

OFFENSIVE WARFARE:

Offensive warfare is aggressive warfare. It is not warfare of waiting and responding in defense. It is warfare which takes the initiative of attack. The enemy is identified, his strategies recognized, and offensive advances against him are made in the spirit world. In offensive warfare the attacker has the advantage of making decisions first. Offensive warfare gains territory rather than defends it. Offensive advances are the only type of spiritual warfare which will reach the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We cannot remain in our comfortable homes and churches and practice defensive strategies only. The army of God must advance into enemy territory. It must go to the strongholds of Satan with the power of the Gospel message. We must wage aggressive offensive spiritual battle.

WEAPONS OF WARFARE:

Spiritual battles must be fought with spiritual weapons. Paul describes the armor to be used in spiritual warfare. Wherefore take unto you the whole Armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God (Eph 6:13-17).

The purpose of the armor is to be able to stand against the wiles (deceit, cunning, craftiness) of the enemy, Satan. It is our responsibility to put on the armor. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof (Romans 13:14). The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the Armor of light (Romans 13:12). Our spiritual armor is not like an athletic uniform we put on at game time. We put on the armor once and for all and leave it on the rest of our life. Just as a soldier on the battlefield does not take his armor off and on, we will not lay down our armor until we go to be with the Lord. If we do not have our armor on at all times, we are vulnerable to the enemy. It is wise to check often that each piece of our spiritual armor is still in place.

"Having put" indicates something we have already done if we are a believer. Having our loins girt about with truth, having on the breastplate of righteousness (verse 14) and having our feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace (verse 15). The second division includes things which are to be put on in the present. Taking the shield of faith (verse 16), taking the helmet of salvation and taking the sword of the Spirit (verse 17). In Ephesians 6:11 Paul emphasizes putting on the whole armor of God. Some of us are preoccupied with but one piece of God's armor to the extent that others are neglected. We must have on the whole armor or we may find ourselves being an expert in the use of the "sword of the Spirit" and still defeated because we have forgotten the shield of faith.

DEFENSIVE WEAPONS:

The Belt: The first piece of armor to be buckled on is the girdle or belt of truth. In the natural world, a suit of armor was attached to the belt which held the other pieces of armor in place. The truth of God's Word is the spiritual belt to which all other pieces of armor are attached. Satan's first attack on man was on truth. And the woman said unto the serpent...God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die. (Genesis 3:2-4).

The truth will protect us from lies and doctrinal errors of the enemy. Truth is the undergirding of our spiritual armor. We are to have our loins (our spiritual vital organs) girt (covered) with truth: Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth... (Eph 6:14). What is the truth? Jesus said, "I am the truth" (John 14:6). The Holy Spirit is the "Spirit of truth" (John 14:17). God is truth (Rom 3:4). God's Word is truth (Psalms 119:151). The Gospel is truth (Col 1:5).

The Breastplate: In the natural world, the breastplate covered the upper body of the warrior to protect vital organs such as his heart, lungs, etc. The spiritual breastplate of righteousness does not refer to our righteousness, but to the covering of the righteousness of Christ. And be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith (Phil 3:9). We are not to stand on our own merits. We stand in Christ.

We can not face the enemy without the protection of the righteousness of Christ. By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the Armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left. (II Cor 6:7). The righteousness of Christ protects our spiritual "vital organs" from attacks of Satan and from unrighteousness. The breastplate of righteousness must be buckled on to the belt of truth. Putting on the breastplate of faith and love (I Thess 5:8). He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust: His truth shall be thy shield and buckler (Psalms 91:4).

The Shoes: There are many types of shoes for different purposes. Some are for walking, others for specific sports activities. A soldier's shoes are another kind. They are shoes designed for warfare. A soldier who cannot advance on the battlefield is disabled in warfare. "Feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace" indicate a readiness to advance in the spiritual realm. These spiritual shoes protect our will from the temptation of the enemy who would lead us in wrong paths. They indicate our willingness to do every good work and to spread the Gospel to all nations. These spiritual shoes will also enable us to stand against the enemy as Paul encourages us to do (Eph 6:15).

The Shield: In the natural world, the shield was used to provide protection to the warrior's entire body. Our spiritual shield is called the "shield of faith". There are several types of faith mentioned in the Bible. There is saving faith, the gift of faith, and the spiritual fruit of faith. But the word "faith" when used in relation to the "shield of faith" speaks of defensive faith. This faith is a firm trust and confidence in God which protects our whole being. It protects us from flaming missiles of doubt and unbelief sent by the enemy. This shield of faith is a calm and confident trust in God which deflects all the fiery arrows of the enemy from their target.

The shield of faith is the constant application of God's Word to the issues of life which will enables us to overcome the evil forces of the world. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world; and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith (I John 5:4). Combined with love of God, faith is most effective: It is faith based on salvation. Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great (Psalms 18:35). Without faith, we have no grasp of truth. Without faith we cannot receive salvation. Without faith we cannot go forth with the Gospel of peace. Without faith we cannot claim the righteousness of Christ and effectively use the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. Faith is not an assumption or presumption. It is a fact based upon God's Word. We can increase our faith by hearing God's Word (Romans 10:17), acting upon our present faith (Romans 1:17), and seeking God (Hebrews 12:2).

The Helmet: The helmet of salvation is not something we put on when we get saved. We are dealing with spiritual armor here, and it is assumed that we are a believer and a member of God's army before we start putting on the armor. The helmet of salvation represents a regenerated soul. It represents a transformed and renewed spiritual life. An undisciplined Christian warrior is an easy prey to the deceptions of the enemy. Paul speaks of the helmet as the "hope of salvation" in I Thessalonians 5:8. Salvation embraces the past, present, and future. We have been saved from the guilt and penalty of past sin. We are being saved from the power of sin in the present. The "hope of salvation" refers to salvation in the future tense. We have a confident hope in the future because God is working out His purpose, according to His good pleasure, which He hath purposed in Himself; That in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in Heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him. (Eph 1:9-10).

OFFENSIVE WEAPONS:

THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT: The "sword of the Spirit," which is the Word of God, is a weapon that can be used both defensively and offensively. The Word is a defensive weapon when we use it to defend against the attacks of Satan. Jesus used the Word in defense against the attacks of Satan. It is offensive when we use it to claim territory for the Lord by sharing the Gospel message and deliverance with others.

There are two different words used in Scripture for the "Word of God". One word is "logos" which refers to the complete revelation of what God has said. The second word, "rhema," refers to a specific saying of God that has special application to a specific situation. Jesus used specific ("rhema") sayings of God, applicable to the immediate temptation. To be able to do this implies familiarity with the total Word of God. If we are to use specific Scriptures applicable to immediate battles, we must have knowledge of God's total revelation.

In order to use the Word of God effectively in spiritual warfare, we must study, meditate upon, get the revelation from God and even memorize it. Many defeats in life come because we do not know God's Word. Matt 22:29, Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.

GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: The gifts of the Holy Spirit are valuable weapons of offensive and defensive battle. The gifts of the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom provide supernatural revelation for spiritual warfare. The gift of discerning of spirits reveals the deception of the enemy.

DELEGATED POWER AND AUTHORITY: Authority and power are two different things. If we consider the example of a policeman, he has a badge and a uniform which are symbols of his authority. His authority comes because of the position he holds with the government. But because all people do not respect that authority, the policeman also carries a weapon. The weapon is his power. Our authority over the enemy comes through Jesus Christ and our position in Him as believers. Our power over the enemy comes through the Sword of the Holy Spirit which is the Word of God.

The power Jesus gave is directed power for specific purposes. These include power over the enemy: Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases (Luke 9:1). Power over sin: And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained (John 20:22-23). Power to extend the gospel: But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth (Acts 1:8).

PRAYER: It is part of "Gods Battle Plan,” that prayer and its associated practice of fasting are also powerful spiritual weapons. These two weapons can be used both offensively and defensively.

BINDING AND LOOSING: We have the power to bind the forces of evil and loose the souls from the enemy. And I will give unto thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven (Matt 16:19). This weapon works together: It is binding and loosing. Whenever we bind something, we also loose something.

THE BLOOD OF JESUS: When Jesus died on the cross of Calvary, He loosed us from the dominion of sin and the power of the enemy. His blood secures our access to God and releases from the bondage of Satan. The Word of God indicates that "they (believers) overcame him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb (Jesus Christ) (Rev 12:11)”. Salvation, healing, and deliverance are all available because of the blood of Jesus. His blood enables us to wage offensive warfare for the souls of men and women and bring deliverance and healing in the name of Jesus. Our power to "overcome" the enemy is because of the "blood of the lamb."

OUR TESTIMONY: Revelation 12:11 indicates the enemy is defeated by the "word of our testimony". The word "testimony" means "evidence or record" like that used in a legal case in a court of law. As we "testify" or give evidence to the power of God in our life, we wage offensive spiritual warfare. To be effective, our testimony must be based upon the testimony of the Word of God, just as a lawyer in a court bases his arguments on the law of the land. Our own spiritual life also is a living testimony.

THE NAME OF JESUS: The name of Jesus is also a powerful offensive weapon. Jesus said that "in My name" you will cast out demons, heal the sick, and overcome all the power of the enemy (Mark 16:17). In the book of Acts we will note all the miracles done "in His name”. The name of Jesus is not some magical phrase with which we conclude our prayers. It is a symbol of the authority and power He has given us.

FACE THE ENEMY:

When we are equipped with all these weapons we can’t sit back and relax or take refuge under the cover of someone else. When Nehemiah was offered refuge from the enemy, he refused. He said, "Should such a man as I flee? (Neh 6:11)”. Nehemiah faced the enemy in God's power. When the enemy threatens us, we should not flee or take the easy way out. When internal dissension and discouragement arose and the enemy worked through weak believers, Nehemiah did not ignore the attacks. He confronted and conquered them. The greatest attack of the enemy came when the wall was half finished. When we start building in the spirit world, when we enter the arena of effective spiritual warfare, we will be the target for attacks of Satan.

Nehemiah's response to direct criticism, mocking, scorn, false accusations, threats, and fear, was simply to continue building the wall. So we labored in the work: and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared (Neh 4:21). Nehemiah stayed with the task. He did not stop building: So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month of Elul, in fifty and two days (Neh 6:15). Nehemiah did in a short time what the enemy said could not be done. While we are building the walls of His Temple, the enemy may tell us the task is hopeless. But, with God's help, we can rebuild His Kingdom. With His strength we do not have to take a long time to do so. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me (Phil 4:13).

ATTACK AND COUNTERATTACK:

This spiritual warfare is like wrestling in the natural world. In natural wrestling, every move we make sets us up for a response from the opponent. The same is true in the spirit world. When we make a move for God, Satan will always counterattack with a move of his own.

In wrestling, a mobile opponent is considered dangerous. This is why we want to pin our opponent down. In the spiritual world, Satan is a mobile opponent. He goes "to and fro" as a lion seeking to devour. We must be on guard for his constant mobility. Satan also recognizes the effectiveness of our mobility. He wants to prevent us from being on the move for God. This is why he strives to throw us and pin us down spiritually.

Any error made in wrestling results in an action that can be taken advantage of by the opponent. How true spiritually! Any error we make in spiritual wrestling is quickly taken advantage of by the enemy. It is important in wrestling to learn how to recover from a fall. It is necessary to be able to convert the bottom position into an advantage. There are moves of escape and reversal which will enable this. In spiritual wrestling we may at times experience a fall and be temporarily pinned by the enemy. But we do not have to remain in this position. God has given strategies in His Word which, if followed, will convert our disadvantage into an advantage.

He has provided strategies for escape and reversal spiritually just as are used in natural wrestling. The life of Joseph is an excellent example of this. He had the disadvantages of being sold into slavery and put in prison. But he converted disadvantages to advantages. In the end, he triumphed over the enemy. There are other moves in wrestling which result in taking an opponent down from behind, dragging, pinning, throwing, and pulling him. The objective of wrestling in the natural world is to defeat the opponent by causing him to fall or pinning him to the ground. This results from a series of strategic moves and/or by wearing the opponent down.

Our attitude is very important in wrestling. In a study on the subject, the following attitudes were said to be necessary for championship wrestling in the natural world. These attitudes also are true in the spiritual realm: Desire: To wish and want to win is not enough. The champion wrestler must have a will to win. Desire is an emotion which transcends all else in life. Persistence: Sustained effort is required for championship wrestling. A champion wrestler will not accept defeat. Purpose: Winning is the goal and purpose of wrestling. To achieve this goal he must not only know he is master of the situation, but he must also let his opponent know about it.

The goal of offensive warfare is to pull and cast down the strongholds of the enemy: For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God, to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ (II Cor 10:4-5). To "pull down" means to take down by effort or force. To "cast" means to throw or hurl. We are told to cast off the works of darkness (Romans 13:12) and cast out demon powers (Matthew 10:8). When we pull and cast down strongholds of Satan we are waging offensive warfare. We are not waiting to defend against an attack of Satan but we are attacking strongholds of the enemy's power.