Satan

WRESTLING WITH THE DEVIL

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Be-Strong-in-the-Lord“So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God.” (1 John 3:10). 

Sometimes we need to be reminded that we are engaged in spiritual war until the day we die. When I was a young convert I had a dream that has stayed with me to this day. I was wrestling with the devil himself. He was mean, ugly and strong. I wanted to beat him, badly.

I felt pure hatred for this destroyer of souls.

The dream was detailed and in slow motion.

We both ending up choking each other at once. I could feel my arms straining to subdue him and he was not able to choke me. While engaged in this battle I looked up and I saw the handle of a sword in a low cloud cover. It was a pearl handle covered with precious jewels and gold.

I yelled, “I need that.”

At that moment I had to strength to push my enemy a few feet back. I looked up and to my surprise the sword was within my grasp. The devil rushed me and I took the sword and I split him down the middle head to toe. The dream was over and I woke up worshiping the Lord! A short time later I read the passage of scripture that said, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Heb 4:12). God had introduced me to the most powerful weapon in our arsenal -the spoken Word of God.

There is no doubt in my mind we are engaged in a fierce, bloody warfare.  War is fraught with danger. It is no joke. It is no game. It is not a movie or a book. It is real. People live or die in battles. There will be near escapes and exciting adventures. There will be incredible victories and terrible defeats. Some will escape death by the skin of their teeth and others will be casualties.

Spiritual war does not stop because you are a child or senior citizen. It does not stop if you get sick or if you are healthy.  There is no cease fire whether you are rich or poor. He does not care if you are free or you are in prison. It does not matter whether you sit in the pew or stand in the pulpit. It does not matter whether you have served the Lord a few days or many years. It does not care about the color of the skin.  It does not matter whether you are married or single.

In this battle there will be people who are heroes and people who are villains. There will be loyal friends and there will be traitors. There will be honor and there will be disgrace.  There will be medals and there will be courtmartials. There will promotions and there will be executions.

When you became a Christian you changed sides. You find this the day you get saved. There is a grim truth many preachers won’t tell you today, you used to serve the devil (John 8:44). Now your Father is God (Gal. 3:26). With all the flowery, sugary preaching today you would think once you become a Christian everything will be a paradise. It will not. You will be on hell’s hit list. Satan has assigned assassins to sabotage your Christian life. He wants to steal from you, kill you and destroy you.

When you decide you are going to get more serious about God, it is not just consecration but a declaration of war.  As Christ was Satan’s enemy, now YOU are Satan’s enemy. He is determined to discourage and deceive you. That is what Satan does (Rev 12:9).

One thing must be clear: you cannot win this in your own strength. “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” (Eph. 6:10-11NIV). All you are: your intelligence, verbal skills, physical strength, knowledge and influence are absolutely impotent and useless in spiritual warfare.  God has secured his strength, might and power for us who are his children.

©2015 Rev. Stephen S. Gibney give credit where credit is due

TRAPPED BY THE DEVIL

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download (8)“And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.” (2 Tim. 2:26). 

I am reluctant to share some of these following experiences before I was drawn to Christ because they are alarming and controversial. All I can tell you that they were real. The reason my wife and I felt I should share these things is because there are so many people being seduced by Satan these days and we fear for them.

I began to see things no child should see, evil things-demonic things. Once again, let me state I am not laying the fault of this at anyone’s doorstep. Yet I have to say, that despite the fact that I still went to church and I was a confirmed Roman Catholic and an altar boy, I was still a slave to my sins. I needed the freedom only the Lord Jesus Christ could give. I needed a Savior!

My family was involved for a couple of generations in the occult, “card reading parties” astrology, face reading, palm reading, tarot cards, natal/star charts-dangerous stuff that allowed a satanic foothold in our lives! People paid good money to have their fortunes read at their homes not knowing that demonic powers were exploiting their ignorance. 

I did not know. My family did not know. We had no gospel witness. 

But what really alerted me to what was happening was when a couple of my family members went to a seance to supposedly to contact the dead. But you and I know that they were not talking to the dead but unclean, evil spirits.

The supposed woman leading the seance in the hotel meeting room called herself a Reverend but was a necromancer, a spiritualist, a medium, a psychic who allowed demonic entities that masqueraded as dead loved ones to speak through her! She was demon possessed. I will never forget the night of the seance, I woke up and even though all the lights were on in the house it was dark everywhere. There was a dark shroud on the walls. Something evil was in my house communicating with that demon possessed woman telling her everything they saw about us. I was almost 12 years old by now and I did not know what it was.  But I knew it was no dream. I did not know that my family and I were trapped by Satan.

There were other demonic manifestations, evils powers that I experienced, but you get the picture-the devil is real.

I am begging you to stop watching the vampirism, animism (e.g. werewolves), zombies, mediums and witchcraft the media is pimping these days. It brings strife, confusion, immorality and death with it. It is evil and Satan wants to enslave you by deception and get you to accept these things that are forbidden and cursed by God into your homes. 

Satan did not care if I was a child.  He did not care if I got hurt. He did not care how this could destroy my family. He is the most malevolent and dangerous being of all and what was worse we had no strength or power to escape.

But soon, the Lord God would come and save us from this pit of hell. This is the third part of my testimony.

©2015 Rev. Stephen S. Gibney, give credit where credit is due.

THE GOSPEL CAN BREAK THE SATANIC BLOCKADE

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gospel_unleashed“Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us.” (1 Thess 2:18).

In this verse you see the apostle Paul himself was hindered from being able to minister to the the saints for a period of time. He literally says that Satan cut in front of him impeding the ministry of the gospel. Satan will stop at nothing when it comes to hindering the message of the gospel. Satan blinds the minds of unbelievers (2 Cor. 4:3-4) and he takes them captive at his will (2 Tim. 2:26).  Only the gospel of Jesus Christ can break open the prison cells of those captive to sin and remove the darkness of their hearts by its all-powerful light. The gospel has power in and of itself; Paul calls it, “the power of God unto salvation.” (Romans 1: 16).

Satan is an enemy of Jesus Christ and anyone who serves him and many Christians today are being hindered by the devil especially those in ministry. The obstacles for unbelievers is one thing but hindrance of believers in Jesus is a much longer list. Today, divisions in churches, distractions of this world and depression of the emotions block the furtherance of the gospel. I also believe the gospel is being hindered because people are getting “spiritual” feeding from false ministers who have distorted the gospel rather than the personal study of the Bible under the illumination of the Holy Spirit (Gal 1). The gospel is an awesome power against the forces of darkness. Many people look at the armor of God in Ephesians 6:10-18 as something for personal protection but they forget that the armor has shoes that are called “the gospel of peace.” (Eph. 6:15). So what we stand upon; what we move in, what we walk in, what we run in-is the gospel.  This understanding gives great clarity to our mission. Everything we live for is Christ and his gospel. As I’ve said before to others it’s time for us to use the weaponized version of the Bible (Heb. 4:12). This means to unleash the gospel in all its force and full strength by speaking clearly and forcefully the truths of the gospel and letting the Holy Spirit have his way.

I believe that The Lord whispered in my heart a few weeks back something to the effect that if we are going to stop the tide of evil that is sweeping across this land we are going to have to have the attitude “All for the gospel. All for Christ.” Only those that have surrendered to the gospel can call for the surrender of others to the gospel. And no doubt the gospel is an unconditional surrender of the sinner to the demands of the gospel.

Our strength, our fortunes, our very lives must be offered as a sweet smelling savor in sacrifice in order for the gospel to take its full affect. There is no other way. You don’t have to read the Bible for long to see that the men and women of the first century church were deeply and radically committed to Christ. The apostle Paul had a motto, “to live is Christ and to die is gain.”  (Phil 1:21).  And I say, it is impossible for the gospel to be spread without a complete and total willingness to give everything for the gospel by every individual who calls himself a Christian.

The gospel is not just an idea but it is the idea of God. It is the genius of God that seems like foolishness to the world (1 Cor.  1:18, 25). There is nothing that can be compared to the gospel. The reason for the rise of Islam in the world today is because of the reasons that I’ve stated above. If the plain gospel is not preached it is giving Satan liberty and license by both spiritual and natural enemies to terrorize the world.  Satan is a master at religion.

The Bible says he has his own ministers he even has his own churches. They appear to be Christian but they are not (2 Cor. 11:13-14). One man said years ago the one thing that’s worse than a world without the knowledge of God is a world with a perverted knowledge of God. We cannot defeat the foes of the gospel through the methodologies of man. It is ridiculous at best and satanic at worst! When Peter thought like men think he was called Satan (Mt 16:23). Jesus would say no less of those who garble and mangle the preaching of scripture and the gospel. This world system dominated by sin and Satan are much too powerful and only the Son of God could defeat them when he died on the cross and rose from the grave.  We cannot lay claim to his promise, “I have overcome the world.” if we do not preach the gospel (John 16:33).  We will be hindered and miserably defeated. May God help us today.

THE HEDGE OF PROTECTION

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s-ANCIENT-WALL-large“Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.” (Job 1:10).

Christians believe in praying for and having a hedge or wall of protection from the attacks of Satan and his minions, sickness and physical harm. In Bible days, hedges were elaborate, dense thorn barriers that provided protection from animals or intruders that could destroy a vineyard or crops.  God’s people are compared to a vineyard (Isa. 5:5; Mk. 12:1) and the removing of the hedge (Ps. 80:12) would leave them vulnerable to attack. The scripture teaches, “For I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her.” (Zech 2:5). Notice what Zachariah says, the fire of God’s power is the the exterior, and the glory of his presence is the interior! Now that is his will for the church and the Christian.

Job was completely unaware of the elaborate divine security set around him against Satan’s hateful attacks. God shielded Job and his family and property from demonic intruders with this invisible hedge. That invincible wall was so strong against demonic attack that Satan hated that wall. He would walk around that wall and seethe with anger. He wanted that wall down. He believed that Job served God because of that wall. Once that wall was down Satan unleashed his venomous attacks against him. Thank God for his protection for his children.

It cannot be ignored that we have a “better covenant established upon better promises” than that of our Old Testament counterpart Job (Heb. 8:6). Some are confused by Job’s experience and seem to be unable to learn anything about the sovereignty of God as taught by his experience. God built the wall without Job’s request and he tore it down without Job’s permission. BUT this was in fact the ONLY TIME that we see God bringing down the wall-with no definitive explanation except that God had some sort of wager with the devil over one of his servants reputations (Job 1:8).  The only other reason for Job’s experience it that it is called his captivity or calamity (Job 42:10). It is unwarranted  to fear this wall of  protection coming down for any old reason,  because, “we are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Pet. 1:5). There is no need to be anxious for the child of God is under God’s protection and we are right to point out that, “the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.” (Job 42:10b) and no doubt that wall went up again and never came down!

This is a wall that God builds up in his sovereignty and grace, “call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise.” (Isa. 60:18). There is no doubt that Lord protects his people with an impenetrable hedge. He loves his people and protects them. It is not we that build it, but he builds it and it is perfect security (Ps. 127:1). In and of ourselves we are no match for the invading attacks of the world, guerrilla warfare of the sinful nature and terrorist attacks of the Devil. So God has made a wall about us and that wall is Christ (Col 3:3) and he is a perfect gap filler and intercessor (Heb. 7:25).

At the same time, it would seem that this is a wall that must be maintained and guarded by righteous living and prayer (Ezek 13:5).  We edify ourselves by praying in the spirit and prophesying God’s word to others (1 Cor.14). The wall does not topple is not because of inconsistencies and our daily sins or flaws that we bring to God in humility and confess to him (1 John 1:9).  The wall only comes down because of continuing in unconfessed and a prolonged neglect of God. We are to be sober and vigilant (1 Pet 5:8).  We cannot be lazy or indolent! There is no guarantee of protection outside of God’s will (Ps. 91:1-3). God is gracious but he is no one’s fool-you harvest what you plant (Gal 6:6-8).  Jude says, “Keep yourselves in the love of God.” (Jude 21).

When “the hedge” was removed, except in the case of Job, it was a sign of God’s justice against Israel’s unrepentant sin (Ps. 89:40). That is why we repent and ask God to build walls around us (Ps. 51:18) so we will not form sinful habits again. I see whole seminars teaching on the book of Nehemiah on how to rebuild the walls and it would seem that it’s by some program or activity or agenda . That is not how they are rebuilt. They are rebuilt by genuine repentance and sincere prayer. Once rebuilt they must be guarded and we should not leave gaps. That serpent Satan looks to bite us if we break down that wall because of unconfessed sin (Eccl 10:8). We cannot be half-hearted as we put on the whole armor of God (Eph. 6:10-18) in order to experience the level of protection as promised in the Scripture. We should not build some flimsy wall and whitewash it. It will not stand the smallest enemy attack or storm! (Ezek. 13:8-16).  We should build on the foundation of Christ and his Word for he is our great Defender and Protector.

© 2014 Soul Health Care Ministries. We wrote this, give the God the glory and us the credit. 

Afraid of the World?

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ss-090427-swine-mw06_ss_fullRecent comments from our Vice President about the swine flu or A1-N1 caught my attention as I am sure it did yours.  The Whitehouse had to rephrase his comments (of which I am sure they will do again)  about avoiding subways planes, or any close areas and head for an open field and calm the fears of people when it came to this flu which has hit the world in  pandemic proportions. Now it seems that the swine flu is old news and we hardly hear about it.  But I saw the analogy in many Christians relationship with the world, meaning the people of this world.

You always have to be careful to the way you define the world. The world can be the actual planet on which we live which the Bible teaches belongs to the Lord (Ps. 24:1; Isaiah 66:1-2).  The word “world” also can be translated age or a time period. The  Bible calls this present evil age  in which the the small “g” god of this age Satan, rules over the minds of unbelievers  (Gal 1:4; 2 Cor 4:4).  In fact, the world can also refer to the order and arrangement of the system of evil or the “age of this world” that seeks to seduce people away from God and attempt to hinder the cause of Christ (Eph 2:2-3).

It is obvious that it is the world system that is controlled by Satan and his lies that with which we should be concerned. Although, people who do not know Christ as Lord and Savior are living lives controlled by sin, we are to love them and lead them to the Savior, not to be afraid of them or catching something from them.

Because such were some of you… 

In these areas I see people who say they are Christians going to several extremes.  Either they feel they can have one foot in the world and one foot in the church, meaning that they want to be able to say they are Christians and believe at least some of the tenet’s of the Christian faith. But they have made a grave error which is submitting to the “world system” that is controlled by Satan and his lies (Eph 2:2-3).  You cannot ally yourself with this world system or you end up being an enemy of God (James 4:4). But the Bible makes it clear that we need to stop acting like people who do not know Jesus Christ as their Savior (Jer 10:2; 1 John 2:14-16).

Then there are those who act so afraid of the world  they seem monastic and pietistic in their approach to it.  They even develop an attitude which says, “I am holier than you” (Isa. 65:5). I think at times we treat unconverted people  as though they were going to infect us with a virus of  sin.   This kind of Christianity is anemic and weak and they need to reexamine their lives in light of scripture.  We forget that we are still tainted with sin ourselves and were it not for Christ we would be in slavery to its power.

Jesus said that he overcame the world. “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33).  He did not say that we would be free from trouble and suffering. Bright sunshine and hard rain still falls on the righteous and the unrighteous. The scripture insists and that we must go through “much tribulation” before we reach our heavenly home (Acts 14:22).

It is only “in Christ” and in his his words that we can have peace. There is a rest that comes to us knowing that the welfare of our souls are in the hands of the one who said,  “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” (John 10:28-29). 

This phrase “in me” is a loaded phrase. We are “in Christ”  the last Adam, the new life we have because of him as opposed to “in Adam” or the old man, the previous way of the sinful life.  The word “in” means a location or position. We are in Christ spiritually. What could this mean? We are positionally in Christ, God has saved us in Christ before the world began. That means that we were in him, together in him, joined to him before the very foundation of the world. That gives me peace in the midst of the storm.  What seems bad or what seems good to us does not matter when we know God in his sovereignty and providence is causing all things to work together for good (Romans 8:28).

What does the Lord require? Faith and trust in him. “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:4-5). Through the eyes of faith we see Christ as Victor seated at God right hand far above everything in this age and the age to come! We are in the victors seat with him and we do not have to be afraid of the world.