Fighting the Good Fight

It was late one midweek night when I got a call from a local Baptist church for help. This church, by the way, had opposed my message on the “spirit world” until this evening.

Over so many years, I have come to adopt the position: “You don’t need me until you need me.”

It seems that a group of ladies were out soul-winning earlier that night and the enemy showed up. To make a long story short, a gal in an apartment, after conversing for a while with this witnessing team, said they better leave right away because “they are coming.”

The demons arrived about 8 o’clock. I guess it did not take very long for the ladies to heed that advice and get out of there.

I am not sure how this started or how it ended. The pastor wanted me to know they had some demon trouble in their small town.

I wanted to share several personal stories to show you that they are very real.

When my wife, Sharon, and I were helping a lady a few hundred miles away via the phone, an evil spirit took control of this woman and said he was coming for me.

“Really?” I asked. “How soon?” Big mistake. In a vile, strong voice, it said, “How about I send Moloch to you?”

We didn’t even have time to get scared. I was still a novice at all this, trying to navigate a war zone I didn’t know existed.

It was not long before our farmhouse shook like an earthquake hit. This was our country home in Churubusco for a decade. At one point, it was like a giant fist smashed into the east wall.

I remember my wife screaming, “What is happening?” Enter the fear factor, perhaps Satan’s major tool in the Invisible War today.

So let me ask you: “Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?”

I did the baby step. I knew this much: Pray and command this to stop in the name and through the blood of Jesus. It did!

The help I want to offer in this book is quite simple to articulate, but often tough to carry out. I want to help people who are being assaulted or captured in many ways by the enemy of God—sins of omission and commission, ancestral ties to childhood and adult abuse. The list can be endless.

Captured by whose will?

I think it is very important to note right up front that it is easy for Satan to capture you. Satan, according to the Bible, can take you captive at his will.

Here is the goal right out of the Bible:

In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will (2 Timothy 2:25-26).

“Taken captive by him at his will.” What? I learned a similar lesson as a youngster with my sister Jean. I used to chase my older sisters around the house and yard with garter snakes. They would run and scream. This was a big power move for this little kid.

Then one day, sis got mad. I think she said something like, “So ya wanna play, huh?” Oops! I remember she grabbed me by my arm and wrist. I was tough and made fists to fight her. She twisted my hand around and started hitting me in the face–more correctly I started hitting myself in the face with my own fist. Had I not been so focused on getting her, I could have at least released that fist that was hurting me. There’s a lesson about opposing yourself at a young age.

I have since discovered Christians do that all the time and the enemy captures them.

I want to instruct you how not to oppose yourself in your walk with God. I wish only the best for you in this Invisible War and, above all else, that you emerge the victor!

By the way, how does he take you captive at his will? I am saved. I’m safe, right? Satan and his demons take you when you surrender your position in Christ through sin and disobedience. This, my friend, is a daily struggle.

 A Special Warning

In his book, The Screwtape Letters, the well-known author C.S. Lewis writes: “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall when talking about the Devils (demons). One is to disbelieve their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.”

First, we must proclaim that we have victory in Jesus, and it was won over the powers of darkness on the cross and through the resurrection of Jesus. People are demonized, oppressed, influenced, controlled, possessed or whatever terminology you select, by the demonic world.

Beware of DEDs

I want you to know that you can find true deliverance, and, in most cases, it won’t be through psychiatry, psychology or even medicine. Victory is found in Jesus Christ, and I believe it is our responsibility in the teaching of the whole counsel of God to give others a hand up by showing men and women of all ages the way to deliverance.

Perhaps most importantly, people must be warned of the dangers of the demonic world, spiritism, the occult, and all those sins (DEDs) that lie in wait. Since this is a book about warring with Satan, I have chosen the acronym DED, which will stand for Devil or Demonic Explosive Device (sins and all things related to it).

By now you are familiar with IEDs–Improvised Explosive Devices–which have been the bane of recent wars. Hiding in the ground, these IEDs have maimed and killed thousands. Out of nowhere, they explode and wreak havoc and destruction.

We are in a very real war with Satan, and he has thousands of DEDs at his disposal, and uses them daily. You are now entering the Invisible War zone.

There are terrible consequences if we enter the various areas where he has them hidden. The Word repeatedly warns that God has forbidden us to enter many sinful and devilish war zones.

Good Versus Evil

Let us cut to the chase, as they say… As you read, you will realize the Bible is divided up into basically two categories. The whole Bible is about good and evil.

Your part in this story of life is this: You are either a victim or victor. If you have been a victim so far, then understand that information and Godly instruction has arrived.

I want to help you understand how the lies Satan spreads have and will affect your life, your family, and the church. More importantly, I hope you will come to realize how biblical thinking and having the mind of Christ will bring you victory in this Invisible War. You need not be the victim.

So Many in Torment

So many Christians are tormented. They do not know what to do, or do not want to admit they are demonically oppressed. They look good on the outside, but in reality, they have no peace in their life whatsoever, and because of wrong teaching about the enemy, they certainly don’t have any victory.

They need to hear that they are the victors in Jesus and not the victim of the devil’s devices.

Do these dear folks need to know what to do if they come under attack? Most folks do not know their problem. If they suspect it’s demonic, they are told that demonic oppression is virtually impossible for Christians anyway.

I’m convinced now more than ever that the lack of teaching on the spirit world, neglecting the whole counsel of God, in the church today has allowed demonic spirits to run wild and win battle after battle. They are doing their work unscathed.

It’s time that we turn things around. It’s time that we teach our people how to have victory in Jesus.

What are You Thinking?

What do you think, and what have you believed? The truth or a lie? Do you have the mind of Christ? Proverbs 23:7, which I believe is without a doubt one of the most important verses in Scripture, says this: For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he…

Are you thinking on these things all day long? Now this is hard to comprehend. Experts believe you have 25,000-100,000 thoughts a day.

2 Corinthians 10:5 says:

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

Do you hear the battlefield wording? Take every thought “captive” and “make it obedient to Christ.” Here is a picture of the war. You are the soldiers and thoughts are one of our main enemies. Our marching orders are to protect the mind and refuse to let garbage march into our minds.

Fail to Plan and Plan to Fail

So, in the future in your Christian walk, what is the plan?

I trust you are in Christ but here is a warning: Once you have given ground or gone AWOL from the Lord’s army, then the devil takes you captive.

To avoid those pitfalls, first, we must proclaim that we have victory in Jesus–through the cross and resurrection–and it has prevailed over the powers of darkness.

So many Christians are finally coming to the point where they understand there is a sinister army out there. These are enemy soldiers with supernatural intelligence, great power, and a masterful, brilliant leader with thousands of years of battle experience.

The plan being formulated against you is confusion in and destruction of your life. It is designed to hurt and deceive people. The plan is total rebellion against Almighty God and his children.

The Invisible War is a supernatural war. Therefore, it stands to reason that we need supernatural solutions to all of this. It starts, of course, with the new birth, as in John 3:16.

After that, we need to go through a cleansing of our sins in our lives, followed by searching out those places that you’ve given ground to the enemy, as Ephesians 4:27 instructs.

Make sure you consider new areas that the enemy is trying to secure in your life. This is not a one-time act. It is a lifetime struggle.

In the name and by the authority of Jesus Christ, you will rebuke and reject those things and be filled with the Holy Spirit of God. We are commanded to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God.

A common question is: “What happens if you’re not?” Satan has gained so much valuable ground in the average believer’s life today and he has done so in ways you may not even realize.

If pastors and churches would sound the battle cry, study on how to gain back lost ground and attack rather than retreat, I believe with all my heart that we could see major revivals in the United States. I know there would be Revival fire in the local assembly. It could happen in your state, in your neighborhood, in your family and in your life.

A Simple Secret

The Bible says we are “more than conquerors.” It also says, “Greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world.”

Most Christians in the ministry know the “hows and whys” of the Christian life. I want you to see what you have missed about the Invisible War. We are surrounded everywhere, and most believers are clueless about the enemy. That’s the general testimony of nearly every Christian I have ever talked to about this war. “Oh, how I wish there had been a handbook like this when I first came under fire.”

You’ll see how everything fits into our trek through the war zone called life.

It is not really a secret. It is, however, all about knowing the Word of God and using the tools that He gives you to drive out fear, doubt, and anxiety.

These emotions come to all of us, yet once the worry has been removed from our lives, and we have that unshakable sense of assurance that we know what we’re doing, victory is ours.

This blessed assurance will enable you to get through the storms of life because you know you have a firm foundation, Jesus Christ in you and He cannot and will not be shaken.

You can claim that victory today!

Join us for DEFYING THE DEMONIC – a one-day intensive conference that will help participants prepare for battle, training them in practical ways to help others find victory over the enemy and overcome demonic bondage by becoming well-armed spiritual warriors.