Mark’s account of the demon possessed man in region of the Gadarenes (Gerasenes) is always intriguing.  This man certainly comes closest to the idea of “demon possession” of any person in scripture.  Demonization is usually the more accurate term when a person is afflicted by a spirit from time to time, but not controlled 24/7.  This man seems to be possessed because he was tormented day and night.  

Mark writes, “They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones” (MK.5:1-5).

The story of Jesus setting this man free by allowing multiple (Legion) demons to enter into a herd of swine which then rushed down a hill and drowned themselves in the sea is dramatic and memorable.  But the part I want to focus on in this blog is the man’s response after he had been set free.

We don’t know how long this man had been in this ultra-tormented state, but it seems like it had been more than a few weeks. These tombs in which he lived were along the shore of the Sea of Galilee.  On still nights he shrieking as he cut himself could be heard for miles across the water. It is likely that even Jesus had heard him from time to time.  If any consciousness of “self” remained in this man, he was truly a tormented soul feeling helpless to control his body.  

One question I have always asked is how did this man become susceptible to this many demons?  Perhaps, he had become involved in the occult and had lost himself to witchcraft through which he invited “spirits” into himself.  Modern day witches invite demons to take up residence within them because they draw power from the demons.  As we draw power from the Holy Spirit, witches and Satanists draw power from unholy spirits.  Perhaps, this man did as well and it simply got out of hand. We often see spirits of witchcraft afflicting the children of parents or grandparents who were involved in the occult, so perhaps he was the victim of generational curses. 

Whatever the source, this man was in overwhelming torment and without hope…until Jesus.  After Jesus commanded the demons to leave, we are told that he was dressed and in his right mind.  The locals who had witnessed the miracle and the destruction of the swine, begged Jesus to leave.  As he was getting into a boat, this formerly possessed man begged to go with him.  I certainly would have done the same.  I would have expected to be rejected by most people as a man who used to run naked among the tombs screaming at night.  More than that, I would been terrified that those spirits whom Jesus had cast out would return without his presence and protection.  I would have been terrified that I would have found myself in the same torment as before.

I would have expected Jesus to understand all that and take me with him, if I had been that man.  Afterall, Jesus had some other formerly demonized folks who travelled with him…Mary Magdalene for one.  But Jesus did not let him get in the boat. Instead, he told the man to, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you” (MK.5:19).  

This command of Jesus to a man who had been tormented and humiliated by the devil, is the heart of evangelism.  So often we feel unequipped to share the gospel with others.  We think we need more knowledge, more answers to possible objections to what we are declaring. What most of us need is not more Bible before we share the gospel, but a testimony of what Jesus has done for each of us.  People may try to argue against our understanding of scripture, but it is hard to argue against our experience with Jesus.  Remember the Samaritan woman at the well.  She did not go back to her village trying to convince them that Jesus might fit the profile of Isaiah’s prophecies about the Messiah.  She simply said that she had just met a man who told her everything she had ever done. That testimony drew people out of the village and when they themselves had heard Jesus speak, they believed.

Perhaps, like the Gadarene, we should spend more time thinking about what Jesus has done for us and more time sharing those experiences rather than continuing to think we need more Bible knowledge before we can share our faith.  More Bible is always good but Jesus did not command him to go to Torah school and become a Rabbi.  He told him to go and tell those he knew what Jesus had done for him.  By the way, when Jesus returned to that area, crowds were waiting to hear him.

But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you. “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up the spoils. Luke 11:20-22.

Jesus spoke the words above in one of many confrontations with the Pharisees. Seeing Jesus cast out demons, the religious leaders declared that he was casting them out by the power of Satan rather than the power of God. Religious people have always had a problem with those who operate in the power of God. They have the problem, because they don’t operate in the same power. God does not work miracles through those who trust in rules and rituals for their salvation, but through those who trust in Him. Though healing and deliverance, Jesus demonstrated that the power of the kingdom of God is much greater than the kingdom of darkness. That same demonstration needs take place today.

Religion, in the sense of being a system of rules and rituals through which one tries to find favor with God, can be a hindrance to actually discovering God himself. The rules can become the thing rather than the relationship. it is interesting to note that many of the men through whom God did his greatest miracles, such as Elijah and Elisha, did not spend much time at the temple in Jerusalem, but spent much of their time in the wilderness pursuing a relationship with God. Jesus did spend time at the Temple but did so trying to redeem those at the Temple from religion rather than participating in all the temple rituals himself. It is those who have a relationship with God that God will entrust with his power.

This is not an invitation to spurn churches and go to the lake every weekend. We are commanded to meet with fellow believers, but the emphasis is love God and love one another. The Old Testament was full of detailed rituals regarding sacrifices, temple worship, being clean or unclean, etc. But the New Testament has very little instruction on what we do when we come together or how we do it. It is relational. Our commands are to love God with all of our heart , soul, mind and strength and to love one another, encourage one another, serve one another, pray for one another, and so forth. It is in that environment that God will impart his power to be used to build up the body of Christ and to bless each other.

There are still many voices today who accuse those who prophesy, speak in tongues, heal, and cast out demons of being false prophets and pawns of the devil. Even though Paul was clear that the church must not despise prophecies nor forbid tongues, many church leaders still do so. I’m not saying that “prophetic words” or tongues or even healings are always from the Lord. There were plenty who abused spiritual gifts in the days of the apostles and some tried to lead the young churches in the first century away from the truth. Most of those were in it for personal gain or were in it to lead these new believers back to religion and away from relationship. It is important to note that in the face of these abuses, Paul didn’t forbid the exercise of these gifts, but simply instructed the church in their proper use.

The reason he did not forbid the exercise of these gifts was they were one way in which the reality of the kingdom of heaven and the Kingship of Jesus was demonstrated. Again, Jesus said, “But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you.” The pattern of gospel preaching in the New Testament was always with power. Preach it, then demonstrate it. A gospel without a demonstration of power is a different gospel from the one the apostles preached. In Acts 17, Paul made his way to Athens where philosophers and pagan priests stood on every corner. Paul was invited to speak at the Areopagus, a public forum where philosophers and religionists gathered to share their ideas. There Paul stood and expounded the gospel with great elocution and with his most persuasive words. At the end of the day, only a few believed.

His next stop was Corinth. There he declared to the church, “When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power” (1 Cor. 2:1-5). He had different results in Corinth. After Athens, he determkned that a simple gospel with a demonstation of God’s power, was much more effective that eloqurnce and education.

It appears that we are on the brink of a great move of God in the world once more and in our nation. Churches are beginning to fill again. Revivals are breaking out on college campuses. God is bringing in a great harvest around the world. Where true revival breaks out, there have always been manifestations of the power of the Spirit. That was true on the Day of Pentecost, during the Great Awakening, during the Restoration Movement of the 1800’s, and even during the Jesus Revolution of the 70’s. Those who embrace the power of the Spirit along with faithful preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ will be those who God uses to bring in the Lion’s share of the harvest. If you are not in a church that embraces a gospel of power, I hope you will pray for that chuch to open up to the Spirit of God. If you sense they will not open up, I encourage you to find a healthy, holy church that points you to Jesus and to his Holy Spirit.

Worship without the Spirit becomes entertainment. Eloquent preaching without the Spirit draws men to the preacher rather than to Jesus. Prayers without the Spirit, are bereft of power. Without power we are left to turn to men for the best man can do rather than turning to God who can do all things.

In my last two blogs, I discussed the benefits and necessity of removing legal ground from the enemy before ministering deliverance. If a person is demonized, it is nearly always because something has given the enemy a legal right to do so. Unrepented sin, word curses , generational curses. soul ties, and trauma can give the enemy access to an individual. These are typically handled by renouncing the sin in the name of Jesus, repenting of the sin on your behalf or on behalf of your bloodline, and then applying the blood of Christ to sever soul ties and nullify curses. Then the unclean spirit can be commanded to come out with much less drama and trauma than doing so without taking away the legal right of the spirit to be there.

There are a few special circumstances where more may be needed to release the individual from the legal claims of Satan. These circumstances involve situations in which a person has entered in to a covenant or agreement with Satan or when someone has been dedicated to Satan or a demon by another person…usually a family member. This is not as unusual as you may think.

Where witchcraft has been practiced in family lines, it is not unusual for the descendants of the one practicing witchcraft to be dedicated to a spirit or to Satan. In some cases, where individuals practice “white magic,” they may believe that they are consorting with “good spirits” and think dedicating children, grandchildren, etc. will be a blessing…as if the spirit they are working with will protect them. These dedications give Satan access until they are renounced. Of course, there are times when a descendant won’t know if a dedication took place. If witchcraft was practiced either as white magic, psychic readings, horoscopes, satanism, wicca, etc., it is best to assume some dedication took place and simply go through the renunciation. I believe it is always best to “cover the base.” If nothing is there, then nothing will happen. If something stirs, then the individual can be set free.

There are also those who enter into agreements or covenants with Satan on their on. Some are members of witches covens and satanic groups. Others may be active members of groups like Freemasonry who are taking oaths and entering into covenants with the lodge, not knowing that the lodge has occult ties that are not revealed until men get to high positions in the lodges. There are also strong historical ties between Freemasonry and the Mormon church so Mormons may also have open doors to the enemy. I will say where there are organizations with secrets to be maintained and penalties for disclosing the secrets, Satan is usually active there. Freemasons and Mormons, of course, may also dedicate their children to the organizations and in doing so, to the spirits that rule over the organization.

Freemasons, especially, make vows and call down curses on themselves if they reveal secrets of the lodge or fail to serve the lodge. When their children or grandchildren, whom they dedicated, are not serving the lodge, demonic spirits have a right to enforce the curses invoked by their father, grandfather, great grandfather, etc. who participated in the lodge. The curses often manifest as unusual health issues or emotional struggles such as anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts and so forth.

You will also find a number of adults who made promises to Satan in moments of despair as children or teens. “Satan…if you do this for me then I will serve you.” They have no idea what they are setting themselves up for and some barely remember the moment. However, Satan remembers the moment and uses it as legal ground to afflict the individual.

In order to take away the legal right of the enemy, these covenants, contracts, dedications, and agreements must be renounced. If these covenants or dedications came though an organization, those organizations must be renounced as well. In addition, soul ties with the organization or influential people in the organization must be repented of, renounced. and severed by the sword of the Spirit.

If the individual personally made a commitment to Satan or has been practicing witchcraft, he or she should…

• Declare their faith in and allegiance to Jesus.
• Renounce Satan and all of his works.
• Renounce the evil powers of this world.
• Break and renounce the contract, covenant, agreement or any allegiance to Satan.  ‘In the name of Jesus, I break and renounce my contract, my dedication, and my former allegiance to Satan.” 
• Sever themselves from the contract by the sword of the Holy Spirit.

You may need to have that person declare each of those things three times.

In addition:  

If occult spirits are involved, have the individual commit to get rid of any occult objects in their house when they return home.Sometimes, if a person has been involved in Satanism or was a satanic ritual abuse survivor, Satanic seals have been placed over spirits of witchcraft to protect the demons. These seals need to also be removed by the blood and the name of Jesus before deliverance begins. “In the name of Jesus and by his blood, I remove and destroy any satanic seals that have been assigned to this person.”

If there is influence from Free Masonry (Masonic lodge, Eastern Star, Shriners, etc.) you may need to call out those spirits as Masonic spirits rather than just a spirt of witchcraft.   Be especially clear about Masonic tokens…jewelry, books, aprons, etc. being removed from the home.  When things are removed, burning is a very good way to deal with the spiritually infected items, if possible. Recently we have discovered from multiple sources that the ruling spirit over Freemasonry is Jahbulon. We have also found it helpful to renounce Jahbulon and any agreements made with him before deliverance begins.

This may sound complicated, but it really isn’t. We simply need to spend time helping the person to whom we are ministering do a reasonably thorough inventory of the things in their life that may have given the enemy access. Doing so will facilitate deliverance and help them maintain the freedom they receive when spirits are driven out. Take your time. Don’t always rush to the battle but discover where the enemy strongholds are that you will need to take down in order to win the war. Blessings.

This blog is a bit long, but if you minister deliverance or need deliverance, please read it all. In my last blog, I discussed the need to spend adequate time discovering what has given a demonic spirit access to a person before ministering deliverance. Many people who minister deliverance just cut to the chase and begin immediately to drive out a spirit without discovering where the “open door” is that allowed the spirit to take up residence in the first place. Many spirits are hard to dislodge because they still have a legal right to afflict the person. Until that legal right is resolved, the spirit may stay or, if driven out, will simply return at a later date because the door is still open. Deliverance is about authority. If you do not remove the enemy’s authority to afflict a person, deliverance becomes a power struggle and that is when things can get weird.

There are five typical categories of things that give demonic spirits a right to afflict or oppress a believer. You need to consider each of these before ministering deliverance. Before exploring each of these categories, I want to affirm that the demonization of a believer is not a salvation issue. If a believer has a demon, he still belongs to Jesus. He or she is still saved unless they are driven to unbelief and rejection of Jesus by demonic influence. Demonization is typically a sanctification issue of continuing to grow and uproot the sin in our lives. Demonization simply means that the enemy is trespassing on property that belongs to Jesus and it is our responsibility to clear the property.

The first category is sustained and unrepented sin in the life of a believer. These sins can range from sexual sin (pornography, adultery, fornication, sexual fantasies, cohabitation, etc.) to drunkenness, gossip, theft, pride, anger, unforgiveness, judgments, anti-semitism, occult involvement, unbelief, and so forth. Sometimes the individual is aware of the sin but finds pleasure in it so they don’t truly want to give it up. These are often “secret sins.” Sometimes, the individual doesn’t recognize that what they are doing is sin or he/she rationalizes and excuses the sin so that repentance never comes. Anything in our lives that is out of alignment and remains out of alignment with the Father’s will can give the enemy a legal right to afflict the individual. It is crucial that we take an inventory of these kinds of behaviors and attitudes because if they continue without confession and repentance, deliverance will have little effect for the individual or, at least, the effect will be short lived. The danger here is that the demon will return and bring others with him.

Secondly, generational sins can come down through bloodlines in the form of a curse that demons may have a continuing g right to enforce. Remember the sins of the fathers are passed down to the children to the third and fourth generation (Ex.20). The unconfessed and unrepented sins of our ancestors gave Satan a legal right to enforce a curse against them but that curse can be an unfortunate inheritance unless dealt with by the blood of Christ as we renounce the sins of our fathers and repent on their behalf. Spending time exploring patterns of sin, dysfunction, and calamities in family lines can give real clues to generational sins that need to be dealt with before deliverance.

Even cultural history may need to be explored if ancestors were involved in false religion, idolatry, human sacrifice, genocide, or hatred of the Jews. [God declared, “Those who bless Abraham I will bless and those who curse Abraham, I will curse” (Gen. 12:3).] We have also discovered that massive amounts of demonization occurs in blood lines where ancestors were involved in Freemasonry and even Mormonism. Some cultures have a great deal of witchcraft woven into the very fabric of society so that may need to be renounced as well. Where there has been witchcraft or Satanism, family lines were often dedicated to Satan and that dedication must also be broken to set people free.

A third area has been mentioned but is prevalent enough that I want to highlight it. Unforgiveness and judging others are wide-open doors for the enemy. In several texts, Jesus was clear that if we do not forgive those who sin against us, our Heavenly Father will not forgive our sins against him. Many believers have been wounded by others, and have not forgiven them. Sometimes they are operating under the assumption that the offending party must ask for forgiveness before we have to extend it or that somehow, the offending party must have acted in some way so that they now “deserve” to be forgiven. That misconception needs to be clarified and biblical forgiveness needs to be extended or the enemy has total; access because our other sins stand unforgiven.

A close cousin to unforgiveness is judgments. Jesus said “judge not or you will be judged and with what judgment we judge, we shall be judged.” This judgment its not pointing out another’s sin out of concern for their soul, but is a judgment of moral superiority on our part and a judgment of their hearts so that we always see that person in negative ways. We always see them as less than ourselves because we have judged them. Those two areas need to be explored in length to see if they are open doors inviting the enemy in.

The fourth category is soul ties or covenants made with others (individuals or organizations) in the context of sin that can also be open doors. Paul warns us in 2 Corinthians 6 not to be yoked together with unbelievers who, by nature, belong to Satan. Those sinful relationships need be explored, renounced and severed before deliverance. Somehow, those covenants, spoken or implied, give demons continued access to believers.

The fifth category is word curses spoken over us…especially by those who have authority over us. That could be a parent, a spiritual leader, a spouse, or ourselves. When others or ourselves speak negative things over us, those words can function as curses which the enemy can use against us. There can also be curses assigned to us through witchcraft which seems to be increasing exponentially in our culture. Most of us are familiar with the scripture that says, “Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest” (Prov. 26:2). In other words, if there is no cause there is no curse. However, Satan is diligent in finding a cause in our lives when witchcraft is directed at us. Curses also need to be nullified and dealt with through the blood of Christ before deliverance is ministered.

As you can see, there is a lot to explore in order to close doors that have allowed the enemy to come in and to take away a demon’s legal right to remain or return. What I have mentioned is not everything but it suggests that sin has to be dealt with by the blood of Christ through confession, renunciation and repentance. in order to close spiritual doors. Trauma is another door through which the enemy can enter, and that also should be considered. I would suggest that if you don’t know how to deal with these issues in a person’s life, you may not be ready to m minister deliverance. Find some training. We and others can provide that.

When we take the time to deal with these sin issues and curses, deliverance is much more effective, much less dramatic. and actually leaves the individual not only free but cleansed. Revelation 12:10 describes Satan as the “accuser of the brethren who accuses them day and night before our God.” This and other scriptures affirm that Satan is always appearing before the Father accusing believers so that he might gain a legal right to afflict them. Because God is just, if a cause exists, he must grant Satan the legal right he is asking for. But by his grace and the blood of Jesus, those issue can be submitted to the cross and dealt with so that Satan no longer has claim to the individual.

We should also remember that demons, like some troublesome renters, will not leave just because his right to stay in the house has been nullified. Even after removing his legal right to be there, some rebellious renters will still have to be forcibly evicted. But he can be evicted because he no longer has any right to stay. That is where deliverance comes in. Do the legal work first, and the eviction will be much smoother. It will also prevent the “troublesome renter” from returning. Take your time. Maybe even spend a whole session exploring these issues before scheduling another session for deliverance.

In my next blog, I will address some special circumstances that need a specific approach to nullify the claims of the enemy on an individual.

This past Sunday, I met with a small group of Christian writers at our church. We meet from time to time to encourage one another and share resources, new things we have learned about writing and publishing, and so forth. One of our group members, who is also a leader in our Freedom Ministry, was recounting a recent experience at a summer camp where there was a surprising amount of spiritual warfare…even among teens.

She said two things. First of all, she mourned the fact that very few Christians take spiritual warfare seriously and, secondly, if they do, they typically aren’t well equipped for the battle. I agree with her. I have been involved in spiritual warfare, deliverance, house cleansings, etc. for about 25 years. I have written on the subject, done seminars on the subject, and have helped other churches establish healthy, thriving freedom ministries. And yet, the number of churches actually ministering in this arena and training their members to do so remains a tiny fraction. This is true in spite of Paul’s famous affirmation that our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual principalities and powers, and in spite of the gospel records that a great deal of the ministry of Jesus was given to demolishing demonic strongholds and setting people free.

We should pay attention to the emphasis. We are told that Mary Magdalene was delivered from seven demons. The Gadarene had enough demons that they identified themselves as Legion. We are told that Satan actually entered into Judas. Paul drove out a spirit of divination in Ephesus. Dozens of people were healed of physical maladies through deliverance…including years of crippling back pain, blindness, deafness, muteness, seizures, and a host of other conditions. This emphasis is not accidental.

So…do most Christians read those accounts as fiction or novel stories to entertain us or as accounts that actually happened then but mysteriously happen no more? In fact, we are told that all scripture has been written for our learning and application. Whatever we see in the written word, has application for our lives today. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17). Numerous examples and teachings regarding demons is found in scripture, yet simply disregarded by most believers…at least in America. We gladly believe in the ministry of angels but seem to steer quickly away from the topic of demonization.

I do believer balance is needful in the world of spiritual warfare. Not every flat tire, every achy joint, every physical ailment, or every fight with our spouse is demonic. Jesus healed many physical ailments that simply came from living in a fallen world. However, whenever healing numerous people is mentioned, deliverance was usually part of the evening. We are also commanded in many contexts to crucify the flesh. Not all anger, selfishness, manipulation or lust is demonic. We have to resist our fallen nature. We must be careful not give the devil too much credit. However, we must also be careful not to assume that demonic involvement is rare or occurs only in third world countries because to do so disarms us. The church should take spiritual warfare much more seriously than it does, because we are leaving too many of the people God has entrusted to us in bondage and torment with spiritual conditions that drug therapy and conventional counseling can’t touch. When demons are involved, more is needed.

Secondly, our churches need to know how to do spiritual warfare in effective ways that aren’t always highly sensational or dramatic. To be sure, there can be drama, but not nearly as much as some believe. Deliverance does not require screaming and shouting or power confrontations that go on for hours. Deliverance is about authority and authority can be established quietly. When an FBI agent appears at your door, he simply announces himself and shows you his credentials. He doesn’t have to shout and scream and get in your face and there doesn’t have to be a dozen others agents doing the same. Authority can be established and deliverance done in “a decent and orderly manner,” just as Paul instructed the church in the exercise of prophecy and tongues (I Cor. 14:40).

We have seen deliverance done in ways that were more traumatizing than the demon. Perhaps, that is why many churches steer away from deliverance. Our experience is that demons that won’t come out in a few minutes, usually remain because something is giving them a legal right to stay. That right may be secret sin, a generational curse that needs to be submitted to the blood of Jesus, a half-hearted desire to get rid of the demon, witchcraft, soul ties that need to be broken, unforgiveness, etc. We find it is more fruitful to give more time to prayer and to interviewing the person we are ministering to than in shouting at demons. Once the legal right is taken away, the demon will usually exit in a reasonable amount of time and in a reasonably orderly way.

That is not to say that, on occasion, we don’t have drama but it is only about 10% of the time and usually because we have not discovered what is giving Satan legal access to that person. Training in spiritual warfare and deliverance should be done on a wide basis with balance, discernment, and a healthy and orderly approach to setting people free. It doesn’t have to be weird or crazy…although some seem to prefer it that way.

The first step in deliverance is removing legal ground from the enemy and more time should be given to that than to the actual deliverance. In order to help those who are new or lack training in this area, I will spend the next blog or two talking about removing this legal ground so when a spirit is cast out, it cannot return. Hopefully, this will be practical and helpful.

Blessings in Him.

We have just finished a string of funerals and are looking ahead to others soon unless the Father intervenes supernaturally. One was a freak automobile accident in which a woman was killed right in front of our church. One was a baby who lived only a few days after birth. Another died from cancer which had already reached stage four when diagnosed. Another was a very loved man in our church who had been dealing with health issues, who simply laid down for a nap and never woke up. These were all within two weeks of each other. We also have another dear friend who has just been diagnosed with stage four cancer and doctors are giving her about a year to live. This is life in a fallen world.

I have had my own share of pain in this life just as you have. We pray for protection. We pray for healing. Some are protected and others are not. Some are healed and others are not. We could go into a whole theological treatise on the subject of why some are and some aren’t, but that is never fully satisfying. I think the real question for us is how do we deal with pain and loss and even our disappointment with God when we are impacted by tragedy…including child abuse, birth defects, rape, divorce, and injustice.

Most of us, myself included, want to live in a bubble of protection as children of God in which we never lose, we never grieve, we never hurt. But Jesus said to those who follow him, “In this world you will have trouble.” Even on the pages of the New Testament, people were persecuted, arrested, martyred, beaten, shipwrecked, hungry and so forth. Jesus, the very Son of God, found himself as a political refugee in Egypt as a child and as an adult often found himself hiding from Jewish authorities who were trying to kill him. We are certainly promised peace and protection in scripture but it usually doesn’t look like we want it to. We want the absence of struggle and conflict. But most promises are fulfilled in the midst of struggle and conflict.

Think of David. He was anointed to be king of Israel years before he took the throne. In the meantime, he was falsely accused, hunted, betrayed, embattled, hungry at times, and always at risk of being discovered by King Saul. It was in the midst of these trials David declared the faithfulness of God, and in the midst of these trials when the Father prepared a table before him in the midst of his enemies (Ps. 23).. The promise is that God will see us through the trouble rather than preventing all trouble…though I am sure he does much of that as well for all of us. We will all have to navigate troubles in this life. I think there are three things we must do to navigate them well.

(1) Determine that God is good. Confirm that no matter what I experience, he loves me. Jesus died for me. He has given me his Spirit and written my name in heaven. He has been merciful to me and blessed me in so more ways than I can number. I need to settle that in my heart so that when tragedy comes, I do not accuse God of abandoning me. This is always the enemy’s ploy. He always accuses God of being uncaring, unreliable, and even cruel. He wants us to come into agreement with him. We cannot. We stand on the goodness of God.

(2) When loss or tragedy come, we may feel that we prayed God’s will with faith, but our prayer still wasn’t answered. We may be confused as our experience seems to contradict some biblical promises we have stood on. We may face a set of circumstances and outcomes we simply don’t understand. Our response will have to be a willingness to live with some level of mystery while we stand on our belief that no matter what, God is good and his purposes are perfect. There are things in the spiritual realm that we may be totally unaware of that Give Satan access to us and our family. There may be purposes of God that we cannot grasp that will be accomplished through hardships. We must believe that all things work together for good….even the hard things.

(3) We must use our own pain to bless others. Paul wrote, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows” (2 Cor. 1:3-5). Simply put, you will find God in the midst of troubles and if you hold onto him, he will bring you out and set you on your feet. You will learn invaluable truths in that process and will gain empathy for those coming along behind you. As Christ’s pain worked to bring good about in our lives, our pain will help others survive what we have survived.

Suffering can be endured if is has meaning. Meaningless suffering can destroy us. When we have faith that God will use our pain to minister to others, it gives our suffering meaning and redeems our pain and our loss. After forty years in ministry, I have learned the truth that our healing is only completed when we have used our tragedy, our loss, or our failure, to minister to others. When we have done that, our pain then counts for something, We may still not understand why it happened, but in our willingness to share God’s comfort with others, Satan is defeated. As they old idiom goes, we have snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. When we use what Satan meant for harm to do good, God completes our healing.

We will all suffer pain and loss in this world. God has not lied. The word of God tells us this is true but also that Jesus has overcome the world and we will as well, if we hold onto God in spite of our confusion and the mysteries we face. When we stand on the truths we do know, rather than being side-tracked by experiences we don’t understand and when we use our pain to bless others, healing comes and victory is ours. Ultimately, every promise we long for will be fulfilled when we stand beside Jesus in heaven. In the meantime, hold on to him when the storms come and you will see his goodness once again.

In his book, And David Perceived That He was King, Dale Mast makes a case I have long agreed with. Identity is the key to fulfilling our destiny. He states, “Whenever God visited a man in the scriptures, it was the end of one season and at the beginning of another one. Identity shifts are required for each new season.” The challenge is the time it takes to form a new or modified identity once it has been revealed.

Mast uses the example of David who was anointed king over Israel years before he became king. David had faith to face Goliath and to lead Israel into many battles, but we are told in 2 Samuel 5:12 that finally “David perceived that the Lord had established him king over Israel, and had exalted his kingdom for his people Israel’s sake.” The moment David actually comprehended he had been established as king was years after he was anointed to be king. Faith may have accepted the statement but it was years before David saw himself as God saw him. It was only then that David took on the identity of a king and felt secure in being God’s leader.

Each of us have a destiny that God is trying to reveal to us, but until we take on our identity in that role, we will never have confidence that God is going to do something extraordinary through us. If we harbor doubts about who God has made us, we will shrink back and not “risk” the new things or we will cover up our insecurities and manipulate situations to maintain our position.

If you study the life of King Saul, David’s predecessor, you will see that he never felt secure as king. He never believed that God had firmly established him in that role so he felt threatened at all times…even to the point of trying to murder those he thought wanted his throne. . He pushed ahead instead of waiting on the Lord when he thought his position or his success was in jeopardy. He fought battles for his own glory, built monuments to himself, and ended up a colossal failure.

When David perceived he was king, he comprehended that God had established him as king and no one could remove him until God made the decision to do so. With that heart knowledge, he was able to live out his destiny with confidence.

The question is how do we develop our identity. As children, we are born into the world with little idea of who we are. We develop a self-image based on what we are told about ourselves, how others react to us, and how we perform in given situations. If we are consistently told we are loved, capable, valuable, etc. and the actions of those closest to us agree with those words, we develop an identity of being a person who matters, who can accomplish great things, who anticipates that others will value us, etc. and will perform at higher levels because we believe we can.

If, on the other hand, we are told we don’t matter, that we are worthless and stupid and that no one will ever ove us, we develop a self-image or identity that anticipates failure and rejection and that lives up to those expectations. This dynamic is what sociologist have called the “looking glass self.” In other words, we look to others to find evidence of who we are and usually believe what we see about us in their reactions to us. It takes time for our initial identity to form and even more time to change our self-image if it needs reconstruction. But, the change is essential.

God changed Abram’s name to Abraham as he begin to build an identity in Abraham as a father of God’s chosen nation. That was difficult because for decades he and Sara could have no children. But God kept speaking and Abram kept listening and, finally, he saw who he was through God’s eyes. God had become his “looking glass”or his mirror.

We must take the same journey as God shifts our identity so we can fulfill our destiny. We must learn to hear God and allow him to be the mirror through which we perceive ourselves. We need to say what he says about us. We need to dream what he dreams about us. We need to see ourselves as sons and daughters in the house, greatly loved and valued by the Father. Our identity must come from Him and what he says about us rather than our performance. Peter did not initially live up to the name (Rocky) or identity Jesus gave him. If he had let his performance define him on the night Jesus was arrested, Peter would never had shown up to preach the first gospel sermon on Pentecost. If our identity depends on what we have been doing, we can never move beyond that. We must allow God to speak to our hearts and tell us who we are in his eyes and claim that by faith so that we can step into the next chapter of whatever God has for us.

I like what Mast says in regard to this. He writes, “Faith can peak in a moment, but identity requires a sustained vision. Identity must be held in place by thoughts we receive from Father God. Faith is more fruitful when it operates from our true identity.” I think we should all take moments to assess our identity and the source of that identity. Knowing and believing who we are in Christ is essential to growth, fruitfulness, security, and peace. It is essential to accepting our next assignment from the Father. Who or what is the mirror by which we see ourselves? We should know and make adjustments when needed.

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 1 John 2:15

In this text, John is not speaking of the people in the world for “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,” but the systems of the world that are controlled by Satan. These are the systems of philosophy, power, politics, media, etc. that war against the kingdom of God and draw men away from the Father.

The nature of the Kingdom of God is countercultural to the world. Paul draws the line when he says, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people. Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord” (2 Cor. 6:14-17). Paul asserts that there are ultimately only two kingdoms and only two people groups. You are either in the kingdom of God or the kingdom of darkness. The presence of the Holy Spirit within a person or the absence of the Spirit defines who you belong to. There is no middle ground.

On several occasions, Jesus himself observed that the world hated him and the same world would hate those who follow him. Now, more clearly than ever, lines are being drawn between the systems of the world and the Kingdom of God. People are choosing sides…many without even knowing it and the sides are at war. What people fail to realize is that spiritual forces are at work behind everything we see and hear in the natural realm and whoever you align with places you in their camp. Paul said the dividing line is Jesus.

The opposing values of each camp are becoming increasingly clear. What God calls good, the world calls evil. What the world parades as good, God clearly identifies as evil. This is not a new conflict. Isaiah warned, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter” (Isa.5:20).

American pop culture now celebrates abortion and condemns those who stand for life. Homosexuality has now hijacked the rainbow and is granted an entire month to parade and celebrate its perversions. Those who speak out against it are branded as haters and bigots. The world promotes premarital sex and cohabitation and views those who value virginity and sexual purity as strange and even deranged. The world tolerates religion as long as it is inclusive and compromising, To declare that Jesus is the only source of salvation is treated as offensive and ignorant. Accomplished scientists who would declare creationism to be true or, at least, a valid alternative to a godless universe are marginalized in their profession. University professors who would profess to be Christian will also be marginalized and discriminated against in most “leading universities” for their narrow-mindedness and bigotry.

The challenge for believers is to not be moved in their commitment to biblical truth and standards. When we hear the constant drum beat of tolerance for every lifestyle and are surrounded by so much sin that we are no longer shocked by it, incremental compromise is a very real temptation. However, To compromise on these and other important biblical truths and values out of a desire to fit in or be accepted by our culture is a form of denying Jesus. Just as Peter denied knowing Christ out of fear, we too can deny him out of our own fear of man, our own fear of rejection, or our desire to advance in the systems of the world. We may claim Jesus as Lord, but if we abandon his standards of righteousness and adopt out culture’s standards, then he is not truly our Lord.

We have quickly come to a time in which we must accept the fact that if we follow Jesus we will be rejected and even cursed by those who hate Jesus. I think we must decide ahead of time who we stand with without exception. We must accept that following Jesus may come with increasing costs.Some level of persecution is inevitable as our culture continues to reject Jesus and those who follow him. But Jesus said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Mt. 5:10-13). 

We must decide now that if we stand for Jesus and the word of God, we may well lose promotions, jobs, friends, positions, opportunities, and perhaps, even our freedom. We must count them as lost ahead of time but know that blessing will come to us as a promise of God. We may lose our reputation on earth, but our reputation in heaven is all that counts. We must be clear about where Jesus stands on the issues of the day and stand with him. By definition, the kingdom of God will always be countercultural until the Lord returns. Stand firm then and be blessed in these days of trouble.

One of the supernatural gifts of the Spirit is discernment. It is translated as “distinguishing between spirits” in the NIV. “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues” (1 Cor. 12:7-10).

The word means to distinguish, test, judge, or discern. The gift allows a person to sense whether a spirit is from the Lord or from the enemy. It allows a person to sense whether something is good or evil or even if some evil is operating in a predominately good person. It allows us to determine whether a word of knowledge, a prophecy, or a teaching is from the Holy Spirit, an unclean spirit, or the human spirit. Although some have a highly developed spiritual gift of discernment, we are all called to be discerning and to test things from the spiritual realm.

Paul wrote, “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil” (I Thess.5:19-22). In this context, he was instructing the church not to consider all prophecies as false but neither to consider them all from the Lord. Any time we feel as though we have heard from the Lord or had an experience from the Lord, we need to test what we have heard or experienced to discern whether it was, in fact, from God, the enemy, or our own well of thoughts and desires.

We are not to become cynical or jaded and suspect every word of knowledge, every interpretation of tongues, every prophecy, or every spiritual experience, as being from the enemy or from the imagination of man. However, we are to be wise and “test the spirits” as John instructs us, “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” (I Jn. 4:1). Wherever there is a genuine experience from God, the enemy will try to counterfeit that experience in some way that actually leads us away from God.

As we are certainly in the end times (how far in I don’t know), we are experiencing heightened spiritual activity on both sides of the conflict. Certainly, the church is moving in the gifts of the Spirit, perhaps, in the greatest numbers ever known. Prophetic words are abundant. Thousands of teachings about the Word and all kinds of spiritual matters are on the internet. Paranormal experiences are becoming mainstream, instead of fringe, in our culture. Demonic affliction and demonic presence in households seems to be growing. Numerous “freedom ministries” are being birthed around the world to teach the church how to engage in spiritual warfare. Within all of this, some is from God, some from the enemy, and some from our own imagination or desires.

Because of the time we are in, It is imperative that we pray for and practice discernment. Jesus told us that the Spirit would lead us into all truth. Discernment is simply truth about a spirit or experience. Before we chase a new teaching or a new approach to spiritual matters, we should pray for discernment. If something doesn’t feel right, we should pay attention to that feeling because it may be a prompting from the Spirit.

Paul told Timothy, “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron” (1 Tim.4:1-2). Some deception will come through the church from men and women who are being influenced by demons. These individuals will be compelling, eloquent, and mostly biblical. Satan usually leads men astray by only introducing small amounts of error at a time that eventually take us far away from the truth. Speaking of such men, Paul warned, “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness” (2 Cor. 11:13-15).

I’m not trying to make us paranoid about every spiritual leader. The great majority will be sincere men and women serving God. But I am saying that we need to wait before allowing ourselves to embrace a new teaching, a new pastor, a new prophet that many are raving about. Jesus told us that we would have to judge men and prophets by their fruit. It takes time for fruit to appear and for that fruit to be examined. We will have to pray, see some long-term effects of a teaching or movement, compare their teachings to the Word, see if the teaching or movement is pointing us primarily to Jesus or to a man and new experiences.

Sometimes, we question a teaching, but then decide that the pastor or prophet must know much more Bible than we do so we credit what they are saying as being biblical and accept it. I often did that as a new believer only to discover later that what I had been taught did not really line up with the word of God. Paul called the Bereans noble because they searched the scriptures every day to test the teaching of the apostle. To preach an inaccuracy does not make a person a false teacher because we all continue to learn and receive understanding from the Spirit. If I teach the same things today that I did 30 years ago about every scripture or topic, then I have not been growing in the Lord.

However, when men begin to question essentials – the inspiration of scripture, the divinity or humanity of Christ, the reality of his resurrection, the power of the Holy Spirit, salvation by grace alone, and the clear moral teachings of scripture…I need to pay very close attention. God is unchanging and his standards of righteousness are unchanging, The gospel that the apostles preached is also unchanging, Culture does not get a vote.

We live in a day when discernment and the testing of spirits is more needful than ever. Please pray for the gift of distinguishing between spirits and equip yourself with biblical truth and understanding, Wisely test what you hear and the spiritual experiences people are pursuing. Some experiences take us right to God, while others take us in a different direction. May the Spirit lead us all into all truth and may we always ask for his leading on new and exciting things we encounter. Blessing IN Him.

Note: My website is now www.tomvermillion.org rather than tomvermillion.com.

Freemasonry has been around for centuries. Nearly every town in North America of any size has a Masonic Lodge.The same is true of Europe, Australia and New Zealand. To most people, the Masonic Lodge is a group of men who meet, perform crazy rituals for fun, and serve their communities. It’s like a post-college fraternity. It is amazing how many people who attend Free Indeed have fathers, grandfathers, great grandfathers, along with uncles, etc. who have been Masons and whose women have been part of Eastern Star…the female counterpart of Freemasonry.

Some were just initiates who never went far in Freemasonry or “the lodge,” while others were 32nd or 33rd degree Masons, the highest ranks in the organization. There are, of course, all kinds of conspiracy theories related to secret societies headed by Masons that are dominating the world. Most people give little credence to those stories. However, by design the Freemasons are a fraternity hidden in secrecy. If you ask a mason, he will probably tell you that the lodge is a Christian organization formed to serve people in need and to do good works. He may even believe that.

In the past few decades, some serious research has been done that exposes the secrets of Freemasonry. Many have been revealed by those who left the lodge after climbing to its highest ranks. If you are considering joining the Freemasons or have had relatives who were involved, you may want to pay attention to some of the following concerns that are well documented in many places.

First of all, Freemasonry is a secret society. Those who join, swear allegiance to the lodge and take blood oaths to never divulge its secrets. Jesus warned us about taking oaths and those who operated in the dark… in secrecy. Satan works in the dark. In the end, Jesus promised that those things that were hidden in darkness will be brought into the light. When accused by the Pharisees, Jesus declared that he had taught openly in the temple and the synagogues. He did not operate in secret.

Secondly, true secrets and “meanings” of the lodge are only revealed as men climb higher in rank and earn the right to this secret knowledge. In many cases, Christian language is used and scripture is quoted, but the meaning of those terms is different from the biblical meanings and that understanding is not released until you have climbed higher in the organization and taken more oaths. Those who initially join and swear allegiance to the organization are not aware of all the things they are agreeing to. It is like signing a contract when you have only been allowed to read the first page of thirty.

In addition, though the lodge declares that is it Christian, it gives equal standing to all religions and declare that we all worship the same God. Their God as revealed in the writings of the lodge is not the God of the Bible and Jesus is not recognized as the only way to salvation. In some masonic writings, the lodge itself is offered as a source of salvation.

As members rise higher in the ranks, they must take additional oaths and swear allegiance to spirits that are not the Holy Spirit. They are required to swear allegiance to a spirit that is demonic and dedicate themselves and their descendants to serve this “god” in perpetuity. Of even greater concern is they take oaths that invoke curse on themselves and their descendants if they ever divulge the secrets of the lodge or fail to serve it. In many cases, membership is motivated by a desire for power and wealth. Freemasons are well connected and put members of the lodge ahead of serving or helping anyone else. A desire for power and wealth is not what Jesus called us to.

They take an oath that if they ever divulge the secrets or fail to serve the lodge, their throat should be slit, their tongue should be torn out and their body should be buried in the rough sands of the sea until the tide engulfs them. The allegiance they give to the lodge establishes a covenant of dedication between them and the spirits behind the lodge. The curses they invoked are passed down to their descendants because by their oath, they have given Satan a legal right to fulfill thew curses.If their descendants are not serving the lodge, the curses can be activated.

In many cases, the descendants of freemasons experience these curses as poor health, premature death, emotional distress, business failure, and so forth. These conditions are not usually remedied by medicine or psychology because they are initiated and maintained by demons. There is much more, but these things should be enough to sound the alarm.

For those under a curse because of having been dedicated to the Freemasons and, thus, to these spirits, these curses must be repented of and renounced on behalf of a person’s bloodline in the name of Jesus. They must renounce all dedications, covenants and agreements with the spirits of Freemasonry, and the curses must be nullified by the blood of Jesus. Then the demons enforcing these curse must be commanded to leave.

These are serious matters in the spiritual realm and there is more to be said, but I wanted to alert anyone connected to Freemasonry of the spiritual dangers that they face. If you have that history and have seen patterns of illness and death, mental illness and failure, you may want to seek help in breaking the curses that may have come down to you. We can help and other Christian ministries can as well. Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth, and by his name you can be set free from the bondage that can occur through Freemasonry. If you need help you can contact us at Mid-Cities Community Church in Midland, Texas.

Blessings in Him!