Some churches are quite comfortable never engaging in spiritual warfare.  They assign the supernatural works of God to no later than the first century and assign demonic activity to the same century.  For these churches, salvation is the forgiveness of sins and the development of good character.  Throw in reasonably good church attendance and occasional tithing and you have the Christian life.  For emotional and physical healing you go to doctors and therapists trained by the world and if you are really spiritual, you go to Christian doctors and therapists who were also trained by the world.  Jesus came to heal the brokenhearted and set captives free.  We send them to clinics.

In many cases, the whole idea of discipleship is simply leading someone to pray the sinner’s prayer and then get him or her to the baptistery.  When that has been accomplished, the work of discipleship is done.  In churches I attended in the past, the sentiment was to shake your hand as you rose from the waters of baptism and then simply  wish you good luck.  Other than serving in the children’s department on Sunday mornings or greeting folks at the door there wasn’t much else.  How exciting.   If you were white, middle class, perhaps, that was sufficient.  When illness or the death of a family member jarred a family’s  world, there was a plethora of casseroles and caring people who took care of the grieving.

But what about the rest of the world?  Who reached out to those molested time and again as children or those defiled in human trafficking rings.  What about those who were abandoned and fell into drugs and heavy sexual addictions to medicate their pain?  What about those who tried to make sense of their pain and find some form of control in their lives and so fell into satanic cults and witches covens looking for power?  Some looked for it the church first but found none,  so they decided to play for the other team. What about those who were seduced by the homosexual culture and fell into lifestyles filled with shame and secrets?

The churches I attended didn’t have many of those folks in the pews because we didn’t know what to do with them and had no power to pull them out of the pain and bondage they were in.  If they came looking, it didn’t take long to know that we might care but we couldn’t help except to encourage them to try the things they had already tried with no lasting success.  Perhaps, we deceived ourselves into believing that those kinds of people were such a small percentage of the population that it didn’t really matter that much and, hopefully, they would find some street ministry run by former gang members or former addicts who could help.

When churches won’t face the reality of Satan still being very active in this world and the reality of demonic oppression and intense spiritual warfare, it does matter. First of all, many of the people already sitting in their pews are racked by demonic oppression and affliction. It is called depression, suicidal tendencies, and anxiety.  Hopefully the drugs will help. The Bible calls these things a spirit of heaviness, a spirit of death, a spirit of fear,and a spirit of bondage. If a spirit is involved, only spiritual warfare will provide a lasting solution.

Francis MacNutt  tells a story of one of those people that Jesus died for who desperately needed help to gain freedom.  She had been involved in a witch’s coven and wanted out. The coven had been desecrating churches and offering blood sacrifices in their rites.  She had approached some church leaders asking for help.  They were not sure if they could even believe her and they offered no help to escape the devil or the coven.  In her anger, she had retaliated against that church.

An interview with the woman went something like the following:

Q:  You told me earlier that one of the reasons you were engaged in the incident was because you were angry with the Church.

A:  Any church.

Q: Where did this anger originate?

A: From their not believing it was real.

Q: And your anger was first directed against (the name of a church)?

A:  Yes.

Q: And the prayer group there?

A:  I wanted to split them up and cause division.

Q: That was three years ago?

A: Yes, and I did.

Q: How did you cause division?

A:  Put thoughts in people’s minds…like, “This stuff isn’t for real.  What’s in it for me? Gossip about each other…not being secretive about each other when they should have been….I directed my anger at church leaders….(she talked bout splitting the leaders and causing one to believe he was homosexual, etc.)

Q: What would you say if someone said you were crazy?

A: I would say, Maybe so, but I know what I’m talking about. If they say I’m crazy, they had better back off, because they are in the line of fire. I know what is real and what isn’t. I know what I’ve been into and they don’t know what they are talking about. If they had seen and felt the power that I have, they wouldn’t be saying that.

Q:  What power do you have?

A: I’d rather not have it.

Q: What power is it?

A: The power of destruction and the power to help.

Q:  The power to help?

A:  The power to help is white magic, the power to destroy is black magic….

A:  So now you want the church to get involved?

Q: I don’t care how they work it out. I want help.  I can’t do it by myself.

(Deliverance from Evil Spirits by Francis MacNutt, p. 64-66)

This woman was in bondage to Satan and she new that the church should be able to help. When they would not or could not, she felt betrayed.  I wonder how many others sitting on our pews or passing through our doors feel betrayed?  If Jesus set people free, shouldn’t his church set people free as well?  If Satanists know that,  why doesn’t his church?  .

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.  2 Corinthians 10:3-6

This is a very well known passage from the writings of Paul, but I’m not sure how many Christians actually know how to use divine weapons or even know what they are.  The Greek word translated as stronghold is an ancient  military term that means a fortified place.  A fortified place implies that someone has intentionally built up defenses to protect something. Strongholds, as Paul uses the term, are well established belief systems deep within us that are opposed to God’s truth.  In the context of Paul’s writing, these strongholds or belief systems actively argue against God’s truth.

The word translated as pretensionmeans anything that arrogantly sets itself up above the word of God.  Anything that wants to exalt itself above God or his word is demonic.  Isaiah, speaking of Satan said, “How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit” (Isa. 14:12-15). The word translated as demolishcan also mean “to dethrone.”  These strongholds are built and reinforced by Satan and contain thoughts that always want to argue against and exalt themselves above God’s truth.

Undoubtedly, each of us has to contend with some measure of strongholds in our life.  We are constantly bombarded by the belief systems of the world from childhood as we listen to television, read books, attend secular schools, pick up the strongholds of our parents, etc.  On top of that, we have experiences that establish beliefs about ourselves, God, and life in general and act as filters for every subsequent experience we have. For instance, an abused child will walk away from that abuse believing that something is so defective in him or her that they cannot be loved. Why else would a parent treat them that way? An abandoned child may grow up believing that, sooner or later, everyone they love will leave them.  Others will grow up in homes where whatever they did was “never good enough” and so will always struggle with feelings of incompetence and fears of failing.  Others will experience some disappointment and walk away believing that God doesn’t hear their prayers. These strongholds begin as some childhood conclusion we draw from a hurtful experience but then Satan reinforces those beliefs that oppose God’s truth.

Each of those strongholds will limit a person in life and in relationships. Each of those strongholds produces beliefs contrary to the word of God when it comes to those who are born again and have a destiny in Christ. God says he will never leave us or forsake us.  He tells us that we are more than conquerors in Jesus Christ and that nothing can separate us from his love.  He tells us that he has made us competent and that we can do all things through Jesus.  He tells us that whatever we ask for in the name of Jesus that is aligned with his word will get his full hearing. As long as we have persistent thoughts that are not aligned with God’s truth, strongholds exist that war against and argue against our faith and our obedience.

When believers hear these scriptures enough, they come to believe them on an intellectual level but may not believe them in their hearts.  They tend to believe them for others but not themselves or always have a “Yes, but…” response when called on to believe a promise enough to act on it.

Those belief systems that are buried deep within us are reinforced by the demonic realm at every opportunity.  In the parable of the sower, Satan comes to steal the seed which represents the word of God before it can put down roots and bear fruit. When strongholds exist, the enemy will provide any number of reasons not to believe God’s truth when it is offered. Because these strongholds are places fortified by the lies of the enemy as he operates in the spiritual realm, it takes divine weapons to dismiss the demons that keep rebuilding the walls of those lies and divine weapons to destroy the stronghold.

Counseling and therapies that do not engage the enemy on a spiritual playing field will not be able to truly demolish these spiritual fortifications.  We may learn to manage our issues to some degree or learn coping skills, but that is far from freedom and victory over the issue.  Most churches still send their members out to counselors who do not believe in or have skills in spiritual warfare, although Paul clearly says our struggles are not against flesh and blood but spiritual powers. Even churches that have counselors on staff, typically have counselors who were trained in secular approaches to counseling.  They may pray and offer a scripture but do not know how to confront the enemy and exercise authority to break these strongholds. Because of that, only a small percentage of Christ’s body actually walks in the full freedom that Jesus has purchased for them.

Divine weapons include Spirit-led counseling, the spiritual gifts of discernment, healings, wisdom, revelation, deliverance, prayer, hearing God, and so forth. If you think about it, most strongholds are established as a result of some intense experience or trauma.  Most life-altering transformations also occur as a result of an experience with God –  Moses at the burning bush, Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, the apostles seeing the resurrected Christ and experiencing the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, Gideon watching an angel ascend in flames, the servant of Elisha seeing chariots of fire all around him, Jewish neighbors seeing Lazarus emerge from his tomb and so forth.  Divine weapons allow us to experience the presence and power of God so that strongholds are discredited, demolished, and them replaced by the truth that comes through encounters with God. It often takes an experience with God to overwrite what we have believed because of an experience with Satan.

In addition, a huge part of destroying strongholds is offering obedience in every part of our life.  Many believers don’t experience freedom because they withhold slices of their lives from God and do not willingly submit to him in the areas of relationships, giving, entertainment, forgiveness, addictions, and so forth.  Each area that remains “unsubmitted” to Jesus is an open door for the enemy to come in and rebuild the very fortifications they are trying to tear down. Paul says, “we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete” (2 Cor. 10:5).  In other words, when we have submitted all of our life to Jesus, then those who oppose us in the spiritual realm and the natural realm will be punished or caused to suffer by God. When we are obedient, demons can be driven out and the strongholds they have defended can be torn down.

I would venture to say that nearly every believer has some stronghold that remains within him or her – myself included. So many strongholds have been with us for so long that we don’t even recognize them.  They seem like a natural part of who we are and the enemy has provided numerous justifications for our beliefs that don’t line up with the Word.

Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal any strongholds that exist so that divine weapons can be applied and the stronghold torn down. In its own way, every stronghold is a form of bondage though we may not recognize it is that.  A stronghold is simply a slice of our thought life that has been taken captive by Satan.  Our goal should to surrender every thought to Jesus because surrendering to Jesus truly brings freedom.  An essential part of deliverance is discovering these strongholds and pulling them down. Giving some serious thought to our personal strongholds on a regular basis is also essential to becoming all that he wants us to be.

One of Satan’s primary tools against believers and unbelievers as well, is a spirit of offence against God. That spirit prompts us to view God as the source of our pain or loss and paints some episode in which we have been wounded as a betrayal by God. The offence often begins in the form of a question such as “Why did God do this to me?” or “Why did God allow this to happen?” Satan follows up with accusing thoughts suggesting that God doesn’t love us or that he broke his promise to us and therefore cannot be trusted.

This strategy shouldn’t surprise us because it was the first strategy of the devil recorded in scripture. It began with the question from the serpent to Adam and Eve. “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the Garden’” (Gen.3:1). I’m sure he was pointing out an abundance of trees filled with fruits and nuts as he said that. His tone of voice undoubtedly suggested that God was the sort of God who always withheld the best things from his people. When Eve replied that there was only one tree in the garden from which they could not eat and eating from it would produce death, Satan simply replied that they would not die which implied that God was a liar and could not be trusted. Once Adam and Eve accepted the premise, it was downhill from there.

One of the great lies that Satan promotes in the American church is that God has promised that if you serve him faithfully, your life will be trouble free or, at least, the troubles will be light and momentary. With that expectation, anytime loss or serious crisis arises, the believer must either believe that they are so defective that God can’t love them or that God has broken his promise to them. Either one of those conclusions moves us away from God.

The truth is that Christians will most likely face loss, woundedness, disease, and betrayal from other humans in this life. Jesus warns believers that in this world we will face trouble (Jn.16:33). The idea that God is supposed to totally protect us from all hurts while we live in enemy territory in a fallen world is an unbiblical expectation. Look at the “roll call of faith” in Hebrews 11. Some of God’s best people were delivered from trouble after a season of serious suffering while many others were ridiculed, rejected, tortured, flogged, chained, put in prison, stoned, sawed in two, put to death by the sword, and so forth. Jesus was rejected, beaten and crucified. Eleven of the apostles were martyred and the other was exiled to a lonely island. Hundreds or thousands of Christians today in the Middle East and China have been imprisoned, tortured, and killed for their faith.

As believers, we are often shaken with a diagnosis of cancer, a spouse leaving us for another, the unexpected or even tragic death of a loved one, the loss of a job, the failure of a business, a child born with a birth defect, a miscarriage, or the inability to have children altogether. At moments like these, we want everything to make sense as if that somehow would comfort us. I’m sure it makes sense from heaven, but not from this side of the veil. At times like that, we have to hold tightly to the things we do know to keep from being shaken by the things we don’t know. Paul said that we only know in part (1 Cor.13:9). We will have to be content to live with some mystery and some unanswered questions. If we had an answer for everything we would not need faith.

What we do know is that God is good. He is faithful. He cares and his grace will be sufficient if we allow it. We have to know that we are all subject to loss, pain, and betrayal in this world and for it to come is neither a sign of God’s disapproval or any broken promises. The promise is not for a pain free life but that he will walk us through the pain to some good that waits on the other side.

In Psalm 23, David did not say that God would take us around the valley of death but that he would give us hope and courage as we walk through the valley. Paul tells us that God is the God of all comfort who comforts us in our troubles (2 Cor. 1:3). It is in the midst of trouble that we experience his comfort. It’s not that God does not keep us from harm or from the evil one. He protects us more that we will ever know.

There are certainly promises of protection in scripture. But those are balanced with the realities of living in a fallen world in which God chose at the outset to honor the free will of men. That free will can have devastating consequences. By man’s decisions people are betrayed, drunk drivers kill the innocent, spouses enter into adulteress relationships, war’s take the lives of millions, and drug overdoses take the lives if the young. But it is also the very thing that produces real love, sacrifice, compassion, heroism, and faith. The church’s mission is to bring enough people under the saving grace of Jesus Christ that man’s free will becomes a blessing rather than a curse.

They key is to know these realities before trouble comes. If we are living with the paradigm that God only loves us if no pain comes our way, the devil will have no trouble getting us to be offended at God. The key is to know that we all live with the possibility that in this world we will have trouble. Some trouble will be short-lived. Some we will overcome in this life. Some we will gain victory over only in heaven.

Remember that Paul promised that “in all things we are more than conquerors” (Rom.8:17). However, we are conquerors because we can never being separated from the love of God no matter what. Whether in life or death, we will eventually win because our standard for winning is living eternally with Christ. That is where true victory lies regardless of the outcome of our battles in this world. I believe God wants us to live as overcomers in this world, pray for supernatural healing, raise the dead, and believe God for victories here and now. But those victories will usually come after some initial pain, sorrow, and battles. Some victories, however, will simply show up as victory over the grave and victory over the enemy as we refuse to fall to his strategy of alienating us from the God who has prepared a place for us and has promised us eternal life in a place without pain, hate, loss, and betrayal.

Life without pain will eventually be the full expression of God’s love for us, but only when we finally arrive home. Until then, the question is not whether trouble will come but only whether our faith stands when it does arrive. Jesus told us that we will have trouble, so we would not be surprised when it comes. When it comes, we should only hold God tighter and know that he is not absent nor uncaring but has already prepared what we will need to walk through the moment if we will walk with him.

If you believe in the gifts of the Spirit and the full ministry of the Holy Spirit, then you must believe in our capacity as Christians to hear the voice or receive the leading of God. For you that leading may come primarily from the Father, from Jesus, or from the Spirit. It doesn’t matter because each one is God and will give you the same direction and reveal the same heart.

When we start to hear God, we are also responsible for testing the spirits to see if what we are hearing or seeing is from God or another source. John is very clear about our responsibility when he says, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God” (1 John 4:1-3). To our and detriment and their’s, most believers don’t practice testing enough. Too often we hear a voice or sense a leading and because it feels good we take off on it without questioning its authenticity.

Brad Jersak tells a story in his book ( Canyouhereme?) that is instructive. “On another occasion, a young man came to me voluntarily to test whether he was hearing God accurately. He felt that the Lord was telling him to sleep with his girlfriend. The voice had even used scriptures to justify this direction. He asked me how he could know whether or not this was the voice of God. I felt like arguing with him, but I have learned the hard way how ineffective this is. So, I suggested we test the source directly.

I spoke out, ‘We take up God’s invitation and our authority in Christ to directly test the source of this revelation. If it is the Holy Spirit, we welcome you. If it is another spirit, we summon you to present yourself before the Lord Jesus for testing.’ The young man answered, ‘I see a large dark cloud with lightening crackling around it, and the voice is coming from there.’ In my mind, I thought it might represent the power and the glory of God (/Ezekiel 1) or else the darkness might be our hint. But before I could ask another question, this fellow jumped in his seat. ‘I just heard a voice from behind me say, ‘Nice try,’ and then Jesus stepped up and blew the cloud away, There’s just a little gremlin-looking thing where the cloud was … ‘and who are you?’ we asked. It shrugged in defeat, ‘The spirit of the world.’ This was the messenger who had tried to masquerade as the Lord.”

If Brad had not pursued this testing, the young man could have assumed that the voice was from God. After all, he quoted scripture and appeared as an Old Testament image of God. I’m confident that the young man had invited this spirit by nurturing his fleshly desire to sleep with his girlfriend, otherwise he would have dismissed the voice immediately because it was clearly contrary to God’s word. Even when listening for God’s voice, we must be careful not to simply hear what we want to hear and disregard the rest. When I was involved in campus ministry years ago, it was remarkable how many young men in our college group had received a “word from the Lord” that they were to marry the same girl in our college group – perhaps, because she was the prettiest.

In testing the spirits, we should not be paranoid but should be careful or at least give due diligence in confirming that something is from God. Paul warned the church at Corinth. “And no wonder! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is not strange if his ministers also disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness” (2 Cor. 11:14-15). These “disguised ministers of righteousness” can work through flesh and blood as they speak through misguided teachers, counselors, divisive church members, false prophets, or mistaken prophets. They can also masquerade as the voice of God as we hear them in our thoughts or see them in our imaginations.

There are several guidelines for testing spirits. Does the spirit or voice reflect the character of Christ and the fruit of the Spirit (Gal.5)? Is it consistent with the Word of God – the whole counsel of God and not just a proof text here or there? Does it draw us to Jesus and point is to holiness and integrity? Does it display love and build us up rather than tearing us down? Does it create peace in our hearts?

One of the best tests is to simply and directly ask Jesus if the word we heard was from him or a source other than God, just as Brad did. We can ask the Spirit to judge the voice by giving us peace in our hearts or by troubling us about it. It is also a great idea to ask a mature believer, who has heard from God for years, if it sounds like God to them. If we are concerned that God might be offended if we question “the voice” or the “prophecy,” remember that he is the one who told us to do so. When we ask, we’re not doubting him or his character, we are simply being careful with our own discernment. It’s a good practice to develop and a good practice to teach young believers.

After making a case in my last blog for God’s healing today and a case that it is always God’s heart to heal, the question has to be addressed, “Then, why isn’t everyone healed in response to our prayers?”

Let’s begin by saying that because of our free will, God’s will is not always done on earth. If God’s will were always done, there would be no need to pray, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” For instance, we are told in Paul’s first letter to Timothy that, “God desires that all men should be saved” (1 Tim.2:4), but we know that all men will not be saved. Even though the heart of the Father is salvation for all, he allows us to choose whether we will meet the condition of that salvation – faith in Jesus Christ. Some will choose not to believe and will not be saved. Some will not meet God’s conditions for healing and will not be healed although that is his desire for them.

Secondly, healing is not experienced when a person does not want to be healed. God honors our desires. Our first impulse is to believe that anyone who could be healed would want to be healed. However, that is not always the case. John tells us about a lame man who was brought to the pool of Bethesda each day. “When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” (Jn.5:6). There are many whose identity is so tied up in their condition or their illness that to be healed or set free is frightening. Who would they be without the illness, the condition, or the brokenness that has defined their life for years? The care and sympathy they have received from others because of their condition has become their source of comfort and affirmation and their condition gives them a pass on being responsible, productive, or mature. Not every sick person wants to be healed.

A third possible reason for a person not being healed is that he or she has no faith for it when by reason of time and opportunity, he or she should have sufficient faith to be healed. Many believers declare that they believe God heals, but the truth is that those believers simply believe that he can heal…not that he will. A mental conviction that God could heal if he chose to is not at all the same as a firm expectation in a person’s heart that God will heal. It is true that Jesus healed some who had no faith. He healed them on the basis of his faith because they had not had the opportunity to develop their own faith. To others he said, “May it be done to you according to your faith” and in Nazareth Jesus was able to heal only a few because of their unbelief. There comes a time when we should have sufficient faith for healing – not perfect faith, just sufficient faith. If we have no faith, then healing may not come our way.

Fourthly, all the way through scripture, sin is presented as a gateway for illness. A great number of illnesses, physical conditions, and emotional conditions are caused by spirits of infirmity. In the gospels we see demonic spirits as the cause of blindness, deafness, muteness, back trouble, seizures, depression, etc. Unless the demon was cast out, the symptoms remained. If we pray for healing for a person whose illness is caused by a spirit of infirmity, but do not cast out the demon, the symptoms will remain and no healing will occur. The majority of churches who pray for healing for their members every Sunday have no concept of demonic oppression and little expectation for supernatural healing. In that environment, only a few will be healed.

In addition, even if a person is aware of the possibility of a demon as the root cause of an illness and is commanding a spirit to leave, that spirit will not leave if he has a legal right to afflict the person because of unrepented sin or a curse operating in the life of that individual. Before ministering healing to a sick or disabled person, it is best to spend some time in conversation, diagnosing any unrepented sin, including unforgiveness, or a family history suggesting generational curses before praying. If there are any curses to be broken or sins to be repented of, that must happen before he demon is cast our and much healing will occur.

Another possible reason for a person not being healed is that he or she has slipped back under the bondage of law believing that he or she must earn God’s approval in order to be healed rather than totally trusting in his love and grace. When we are depending on ourselves, our efforts, our goodness, or our “meritorious works,” we will not receive healing because we are saved and healed by grace, not by works. If we find ourselves trying to convince God of our worthiness for healing because we have done so much or given so much, then we are trusting in ourselves and not in him. We are also maintaining a view that God is not willing to heal but must be convinced. That mindset will certainly hinder healing.

I also have to remind myself, at times, that healing is not always instantaneous. It often is a process that takes hours, days, or even weeks. Instantaneous healing really falls under the category of miracles, so if we do not see healing immediately it does not mean that God is not healing a person or ourselves in response to our prayers or declarations.

Having said all these things, it may seem that there are so many conditions for healing that no one can be healed. But actually, the conditions for healing are basic and the same as those for salvation – believe, repent, trust in the grace of God that comes to us through Jesus, and ask. When a demon is involved, send him packing. If healing has not come, ask the Father to show you what is in the way of that healing and then deal with it through Jesus – always remembering that it is the heart of God to heal. May you be richly blessed in Jesus today.

Last night, in a study I was leading about demonic spirits and deliverance, a standard question came up. I think it’s a good question and one that comes up frequently. I didn’t have time last night to answer it adequately, so I thought I would try to do a better job in a this and one more blog. The question was, “Why do most churches avoid teaching about demons and deliverance today when demons and deliverance are so prevalent in the pages of the New Testament?”

The answer to this question goes beyond discussions of demons and deliverance to the very heart of any supernatural or miraculous events in the Bible…including the resurrection. The 18^th century ushered in what has been labeled, The Age of Reason. Much had happened in previous decades to upset the established order of Western Europe. Abuses in the Catholic Church had prompted Martin Luther to protest and the ensuing Protestant Reformation undermined the dogma and political hold of the Catholic Church. As the Catholic Church came under fire, so did the biblical theology on which Rome stood. What was dangerous to question before, was suddenly fair game for European intellectuals. Not only was the Catholic interpretation of scripture challenged, but scripture itself became a target.

At the same time, science and medicine were making great strides.
Reason and logical deduction became the new bywords of “modern society.” In the cultural atmosphere of Western Europe and the United States, science and reason became the new gods. In the context of “the Age of Reason,” science and medicine became the proclaimed hope of mankind.

This 18^th century perspective invaded universities and the schools of theology within those universities. Suddenly, the scientific method was deemed the only valid way to discover truth. Reality only consisted of those things that could be observed, measured, and reproduced in a laboratory. Undoubtedly, there had been some dark days of superstition and inquisition in the centuries before the Age of Reason, but, instead of the pendulum swinging to a balanced middle position, it swung to the far side and a movement began to deny not only Biblical revelation as a source of truth, but also to deny the existence of God altogether.

The big fizz about Darwin’s theory of evolution was that if offered a natural mechanism that seemed to make God unnecessary.  Of course, the fossil record and numerous other scientific discoveries have left the theory untenable, but even the brightest minds of today doggedly hold on to it as a way to deny God and any personal accountability to a God. The intellectuals of the 18^th century, including theologians in major universities, began to “reason away” the supernatural aspects of our faith as events recorded through the lens of superstitious and backward people. Many began a movement to “demythologize” the scriptures and give naturalistic explanations to the miracles recorded in God’s word. Miracles simply weren’t scientific.

That thinking affected even Bible believing Christians and preachers who were not willing to throw out the miracles of the Bible but found an intellectually respectable middle ground. Their position was that the miraculous accounts of scripture were indeed true, but were limited to “Bible times.” Their view was that although God intervened in the lives of his people in miraculous ways throughout the Bible, he curtailed those supernatural activities somewhere around the end of the first century and has not been in the miracle business since. In today’s world, God still acts on behalf of his people, but only through natural means. This position is called cessationism and is the most prevalent view in American churches today.

This view is based on the assumption that the only reason Jesus and the apostles performed miracles was to validate who they were: Jesus as the Son of God and the apostles as his inspired representatives. Once the New Testament church was established and the Bible was completed and confirmed through first-century miracles, there was no longer any need for such supernatural events and, therefore, God has only worked through natural means for the past 2000 years. Any claim to the contrary, they say, is misguided at best and heretical or deceptive in worst cases.

As a result, when churches pray for the sick today, they rarely pray for supernatural healing but rather for God to guide the doctor’s hands. When a person is tormented by mental or emotional anguish, the church does not consider demonic affliction but simply turns God’s people over to the medical community (many of whom are unbelievers) and over to medications. When cancer is diagnosed, our first call will likely be to M.D. Anderson rather than to the elders of the church to come and pray for healing (see James 5:14-16). You can see that in the American church, we trust God to forgive our sins but we trust science, medicine, and government for the rest.

More on this in my next blog.  

We are told that by Jesus, that Satan is a thief who comes to kill, steal, and destroy (Jn.10:10). With that in mind, there seems to be historic periods when Satan is more active or, at least, more successful in his trade than at other times. If Adam handed the keys over to Satan through his sin, then it follows that an increase in sin increases the authority of the enemy to be about his business. I believe that is because the hand of God typically restrains the enemy but people and nations often force God to remove his hand of protection.

The Book of Job gives us some insight into that principle. In the beginning of Job, Satan comes before the Lord and the Lord points out his servant Job as a model of righteousness in the earth. Satan replied, ““Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face” (Job 1:10-11). Satan’s complaint was that God had placed a protective barrier around Job, his family, and his possessions. Why did he need a protective hedge? He needed the hedge because Satan is always poised to kill, steal and destroy – especially anything that is good or godly. Satan’s accusation was essentially that God only received praise from his people because they were always blessed. Take away the blessing, he argued, and your “servants” will not find you so worthy of praise. God needed a champion and Job was selected. God then set limits on what Satan could touch. The implication is that Satan would have gladly visited Job with total disaster long before this moment if God had not restrained him.

We see another version of this principle in Ezekiel. “I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none. So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign Lord” (Ezek.22:30-31). This is a moment when the rebellion of Israel had brought God to the brink of judgment on the nation. His love looked for some way to avoid judgment while his righteousness demanded it. He said that he had looked for someone who would stand between him and Israel like Moses did in the wilderness as he aked for mercy for a rebellious nation. The plea would have been enough to at least justify putting off the judgment since “mercy triumphs over judgment.” Mournfully, God said that he could find no one who would truly intercede for the nation so judgment would have to come.

My belief is that Satan is always at the door, desiring to unleash suffering and destruction and is limited only by God’s edicts restraining him. When people or nations demand judgment by their own persistent godlessness and rebellion in the face of God’s pleas for them to return to him, God eventually can find no just cause for mercy. He then simply lifts his hand of restraint and Satan has his way.

As a person, family, or nation persists and increases in sin, I believe God has to honor our choices and so he begins to lift the restraint like slowly opening a floodgate and letting more and more water through until the gate is fully open and massive destruction occurs downstream. In this case, the floodgate lets in more and more demonic powers and we see more and more evidence of evil, destruction, natural disasters, violence, and tragedy. Even God’s people are caught up in the flood of increasing judgment. We see that principle in the book of Daniel when he and his three righteous friends are deported to Babylon along with many other Jews. They also lost their homes and their families and had to endure the forced march to a foreign nation. There they continued to be under attack by Satan who subjected them to persecution for their faith. Though God sustained them, they still experienced suffering because of the sins of their nation and their leaders.

As our nation and leaders continue to call evil things good and good things evil; as they continue to forbid the presence of God in our schools and government buildings: and as they persecute followers of Christ while deferring to Islam and the homosexual agenda, the flood gates of judgment will continue to open more and more. The demonic will be given greater presence and their presence will be manifested in greater spikes of tragedy, violence, illness, floods, storms, attacks, and perversity in the nation. The question then becomes, is there anything believers can do about it?

There are several things we can do. First of all, stand in the gap and pray for your family, community, church, and nation. Pray for God’s mercy and forgiveness for the nation and for his Spirit to work righteousness in this country or in the life of an individual for whom you are praying.

When its time to vote, vote for the candidate who will most likely steer the country toward biblical values or who will less likely steer us away from biblical values. The choice may not be clear and there may not be a faithful believer in the mix, but even a nominal believer or a non-believer who is not hostile toward the gospel is a better choice than those who clearly and aggressively support ungodly values. Many Christians may refuse to vote for anyone who is not a sincere Christian but that plays into the hands of the devil. Sometimes, our vote does not usher in righteous leadership but less evil leadership. That is still a better choice that handing the nation or a community over to those who actively war against the gospel.

Secondly, do your part to increase righteousness in the land and push back against the devil. Begin with increasing righteousness in your own life. Living in an ungodly culture dulls our senses to the sin and lethargy in our own lives. Measure your life by biblical standards rather than cultural standards and make adjustments where needed. Actively pray for the church and against the devil. Pray for God to pour out his Spirit on the church in America for a move of unprecedented power, love, evangelism, and a boldness to once again be the conscience of the nation.

Learn how to engage in spiritual warfare. The real battle for an individual, a family, or a nation will be won or lost in the spiritual realm. Aggressive prayers and declarations of God’s truth and promises push back the enemy and liberate hearts and souls. Share your faith with others. That is also spiritual warfare. The most powerful way to defeat the enemy is to take away his soldiers – not by killing them but by making them soldiers of the Cross.

America is experiencing more and more turmoil, economic chaos, and decline because the church stopped evangelizing those around us and because the church withdrew from the realm of secular leadership. We turned leadership over to unbelievers and we are paying the price. All of that can be reversed if the church will exercise her authority over the devil and if believers will step up and lead again beginning with city councils, school boards, state governments and so forth. It may seem overwhelming but nothing is impossible with God. God gave believers stewardship of this nation founded on biblical truths and principles and through the years we turned it over to those who do not fear or regard God.

Israel often did the same thing but there were generations who once again responded to God and God once again blessed the nation with peace and prosperity. I am certain the prayers of a few sparked those revivals of faith and we can do the same. Jesus declared that the gates of hell would not prevail against his church but that promise pictures an aggressive church pushing Satan and his servants back into the hole from which they came. It’s time to do just that. Our children’s future depends on our prayers and actions today. Be blessed in Him.

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

(2 Cor.10:4-5)

This is a key passage for those who engage in spiritual warfare and whether we know it or not, we are all engaged in battles with the spiritual realm. Paul’s declaration to the church at Corinth reveals that the primary battle fought against the enemy is waged first in the arena of our thought life. The battle is waged against thoughts and beliefs that are contrary to God’s truth. The fact that these thoughts are not just the rumblings of our own intellect or imaginations is suggested by the need for divine weapons to take them captive. A key thought is that these lies and misbeliefs can exist as strongholds.

Strongholds are fortifications in which the enemy hides and finds sanctuary. In this context, the implication is that the enemy (demonic forces) hides and finds sanctuary in our thought life when our thoughts are not aligned with God. There is a principle that we empower whatever we agree with. When we agree with the enemy in our thoughts and perspectives we give him a place in our lives and empower him. Our misaligned thoughts invite the enemy and once he has found a place with us, he works to reinforce the lies we already believe. Those lies become strongholds that eventually enslave us.

Mental strongholds or systems of false beliefs function in two ways. First of all, Satan labors to destroy our identity. His goal is to convince us that we are defective, insignificant, and unlovable. He fills us with insecurity and fear and convinces us that even God can’t love us. Without a sense of God’s love we feel orphaned and on our own. Our sense of defectiveness and insignificance drives us to medicate our fears and emptiness with whatever the world offers. Our drugs-of-choice (alcohol, sedatives, gambling, porn, food, recreation, etc.) become perpetual God-substitutes in our life.

The second function of strongholds for the enemy is to draw us out and away from the will of God. Scripture declares that God is our strength and our shield. He is our strong tower. But if we wander out of his will and stay there, we become vulnerable to the enemy. We become vulnerable in our thinking. Satan first draws us away from the person of God through our misbelief that he can’t or won’t love us and care for us. Then he draws us away from his will. Once we are living outside of God’s will, in part or in whole, the destructive consequences of our actions also begin to take their toll. Paul warned us that if we sow to the flesh we reap destruction (Gal.6:8). We also continue to empower the enemy as we agree with him. That is how people, including Christians, become demonized. The demonic establishes a hiding place in our thought life and in our imaginations that begins to take control of part of our thought life. That part begins to influence all of our emotions and decision-making. Over time, he will gradually take more control over our thoughts until he controls great sections of our lives.

We cannot afford to think or speak in ways that are misaligned with the Father. His word, his perspectives, and his promises are truth. Jesus said that you will know the truth and truth will set you free. It will also keep you from being enslaved in the first place. Most Christians pay attention to their behaviors but not to their thought life. And yet, Paul instructs us to take every thought captive to Jesus. Whenever you assert God’s truth and continually find something within you pushing back strongly against that truth while giving you fifty reasons why it isn’t true for you, a stronghold is indicated. The truth of God along with the divine weapons of prayer, authority, and deliverance are in order. When you have broken that stronghold, then keep every thought aligned with the Father’s by making quick course corrections as you find yourself wandering from his truth. Paul tells us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom.12:2). A renewed mind is one that is fully aligned with God’s truth.

As our mind comes into alignment with the Spirit of God who longs to lead us into all truth, we are transformed. When we are transformed, the enemy can find no place in us. Watch your thoughts today and be blessed in Him.

This will be the last blog on demons for a while. Many Christians have received no teaching on the demonic at all or, perhaps, have received inaccurate information so I feel the need to do some teaching on the subject from time to time. The danger is always putting too much emphasis on the enemy or giving him too much credit rather than focusing on the all encompassing power of our Lord.

But, long after the cross, Satan is still referred to as having power on the earth. John says, “We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one” (1 Jhn.5:19).      Paul also speaks of Satan’s continuing power. “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves” (Col.1:13). Most of the world is still under the authority of Satan, the dominion of darkness, because most have not been rescued and brought into the kingdom of Christ. The victory that Christ won over Satan is a victory for those of us in Christ and a potential victory for those still in the hands of Satan. The key for believers is to maintain the victory we have while extending that victory to others.

If we are in Christ and the victory is ours, then how does Satan access believers in order to torment or oppress them? Few of us have trouble believing that we are tempted by Satan every day. The New Testament tells us to put on the armor of God, to be aware of Satan’s schemes against us, to watch out for Satan who prowls around like a lion waiting to devour those who come within his reach, etc. Although we are citizens of heaven and walk in victory, we will still encounter the enemy. As we occupy territory and continue to push back on darkness, the enemy will still resist and still try to take out believers. Think about the Middle East. Even when we were occupying Iraq, enemy snipers still shot at our soldiers and car bombs directed by the enemy still created tragedy. Even though Saddam Hussein was toppled and the victory was ours, we still had to maintain defenses and guard ourselves against attacks of the enemy who were still determined to take back what they had lost.

In the spiritual realm, demons still snipe at believers and try to draw them out of heavenly defenses. The primary way of attacking believers is to draw them into some agreement with Satan in some part of their lives. That’s what Satan did in the Garden with Eve and then with Adam. His lies brought them into agreement with him about the character of God and that agreement cost them (and us) their unique place with the Lord. The prophet Amos said, “How can two walk together unless they are agreed?” The corollary is that when we agree, we are walking together. A kind of unity is established by agreement and, if nothing else, a welcome mat is placed outside our door.

Unbelief, unrepented sin, unforgiveness, dabbling with the things of Satan, buying into his lies, etc. are all forms of “coming into agreement” with the enemy. Believers are not immune. Paul often tells believers to put away those things that open the door for the enemy. He says, “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.         Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold” (Eph.4:22-27). Paul is essentially telling believers not to revert to their old ways of thinking and doing or they will eventually give the enemy a foothold – a place in their life. If you invite someone to your home often enough, they may just move in with you. When that happens, a believer can be demonized.

The good news is that Jesus is more powerful than any demon and much more powerful than even Satan himself. Jesus demonstrated that time and again as he cast our demons and so did his followers. For believers, the first step back to freedom is always re-establishing alignment or agreement with the Father. That comes in the form of confession, repentance, a renewal of faith and a heart of obedience, and often a verbal renouncement of sin. Our agreement, even as believers, has given Satan authority to establish a place in our lives. Confession and genuine repentance revokes that authority and then demons can be commanded to leave in the name of Jesus. That is really the deliverance process. The key is true repentance and realignment with the Father. Half-hearted repentance will not get you freedom. Having regained his or her freedom, the believer must then maintain his or her defenses and walk faithfully with the Lord.

I really can’t count how many demons we have driven out of believers. Some come out quickly. Others take a wile depending on their rank and how long they have been attached to that individual or even a family line. The greatest factor, however, is how much that believer wants freedom and how much he or she is willing to trust and surrender every part of their life to Jesus, withholding nothing. James tells us to resist the devil and he will flee. “Resist” is not a word that means a casual dislike or opposition but a great opposition based on a hatred for the things of Satan. When we get there, we will be in a very good place.

The key for believers is to keep the doors and windows of our souls closed to the enemy. Dabbling in bitterness, unforgiveness, pornography, horoscopes, etc. and compromise with the culture are open doors that may eventually give the devil a foothold which can become a stronghold. When that happens, Jesus still has the remedy but it is much better not to go there period. Be blessed and know who you are in Christ today… and don’t forget to put on the armor (Eph.6:11-18)!

There are a number of liberal “biblical scholars” who do not believe in the actual existence and activity of demons. They believe that Jesus simply ministered and spoke in the context of cultural superstitions and ignorance. The “casting out” of a demon, in their view, was simply the psychosomatic response of a person who believed something had happened to deliver him or her from their suffering in the same way that a sick individual might feel better after taking a placebo medication. In the view of liberal scholars, science and learning has debunked the myths of scripture so that the idea of demonic activity is only for the superstitious and ignorant.

Others believe that although demonic activity was a reality in the days of Jesus, the cross disarmed Satan and demonic activity faded away along with miracles and the supernatural gifts of the Spirit somewhere around the end of the first century (Cessationism). The idea seems to be that God allowed the activity of demons in the days of Jesus to demonstrate his power over the enemy in the same way that God allowed healing miracles to demonstrate that Jesus was, indeed, the Son of God.

Some of these theologians might concede some possibility that demons are active in cultures where voodoo and other dark religions are practiced but they would maintain that Christians are immune to their attacks and certainly immune to any demonic spirit that would want to take up residence in a believer where the Holy Spirit dwells. Therefore, the topic as a current reality is typically ignored by most Protestant or Evangelical churches in America.

However, these same individuals would not want to deny the existence and activity of angels watching over us or working to bring about answers to our prayers. To acknowledge angels acknowledges a spiritual realm in which unseen forces exert power. Not only that, but scripture speaks of demons operating in Old Testament times hundreds of years before their “showdown with Christ” and we are warned constantly throughout the New Testament to arm ourselves against the attack of the enemy.

To discard the idea of demonic activity would nullify a great number of passages in the New Testament for any present application: the armor of God (Eph.6); divine weapons (2 Cor. 10); demonic doctrines in latter times (1Tim.4), Satan as a roaring lion (I Peter 5); Satan, still at work as the prince of the power of the air (Eph.2); and so forth. When we appeal to the cross and the defeat of Satan as the rationale for the disappearance of demons, we must remember that the letters of Paul and the other apostles who spoke about the continuing power of the enemy were written 20-30 years after the cross.

There is no doubt that Satan was defeated and judged by the cross. There is no doubt that Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth, that he has a name that is above every name and that he that is in us is greater than he that is in the world. His defeat was the action in which his rightful authority to rule the earth was taken away. God will not take away what rightfully belongs to someone. The blood of Christ paid the ransom price for man and the resurrection demonstrated that the authority of Satan had been taken away. As a result, the church has the authority to put our foot on the neck of the enemy in every circumstance.

We are not trying to achieve the victory, rather we enforce the victory that has already been won. We are not fighting for victory; we are fighting from victory. Satan still has a measure of power but no blanket authority over men. He has only the authority now that men give him through their choices. Those who align themselves with the Lord can resist the devil and he will flee.

So then, how do individuals become susceptible to demonization? That is a better biblical term than possession. Possession is rare and does not happen to believers. Possession implies ownership and typically manifests as an individual who has lost all control of his or her life to the influence of demonic spirits.

Demonization implies oppression or affliction by a spirit or spirits but typically the individual will function normally in most areas of his or her life. Believers will work, care for their families, attend church, pray and even read their Bibles but one part of their lives will be out of control and at times will dominate them. This spiritual oppression or affliction may show up as depression, fear, addictions, anger, constant feelings of unworthiness, bitterness, etc. Each of those expressions has its origins in wounds from the past. Demonic spirits magnify the pain of those wounds and keep them from healing. These spirits may also manifest as physical or psychological illnesses. Remember the woman who was bent over for eighteen years until Jesus cast out a demon (Lk.13).

Some believe that since the Holy Spirit dwells in a believer, demons could not share that same space. But the Holy Spirit shares space with all kinds of sin in the hearts and minds of believers without departing: adultery, pornography, unforgiveness, rage, alcoholism, drug addictions, etc. We never assert that believers caught in these traps are unsaved or that the Holy Spirit has abandoned them or claim that he keeps those things out of a believer’s life because of His holiness.

In Ephesians 4, Paul warns believers not to let the sun go down on their anger or to give the devil a foothold. Unresolved anger opens the door for the enemy even in the lives of believers. In 2 Corinthians 10, Paul declares that believers need to employ divine weapons to destroy strongholds within the believer’s mind. The real battle against demonic spirits takes place in the mind where lies and temptations are launched. Strongholds suggest a continuing presence of demonic influence in the life of a believer.

It is true that we don’t see absolute examples of deliverance for believers in church services in the New Testament. However, there are numerous warnings about Satan and his schemes, the need for spiritual alertness, and the need for armor. For the most part, we don’t see examples of deliverance for New Testament Christians because the church practiced deliverance when people first came to faith. We can safely assume that many of those who found freedom from the demonic at the commands of Christ became faithful followers. The miracles performed by the apostles and other church leaders such as Philip when planting churches must have included deliverance since the pattern set by Jesus was to preach, heal, and deliver.

On the other hand, the American church, by and large, has offered no deliverance for decades so that many believers are demonized without knowing it and without help and, as a result, make little progress in their Christian life. In my next blog I will briefly talk about how believers come to be demonized and how Jesus sets captives free.