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SignUp Now!That's all right Sue...I didn't think you would agree. I will ask you though...If God tells you to resist, to fight against the enemy, you don't think God is giving US the authority to do so? And truly...He helps people with great success...How many people have you helped get free of demons this week?I just Google'd his name -- he has quite a biography -- really delves into the dark stuff in an effort to understand it more and help those away from it.
I don't happen to agree with his approach.
It's God's authority --not ours.
Satan will try to mess with us. We can resist Him through God.
I've heard that before from Churchianity preachers...That's not true but it makes a good excuse for Christians to sit on their hands and do nothing. Resist the devil is directly messing with dark spirits. Jesus showed us how to do it. And too, when He rose from the dead he gave us power over a fallen foe. Again Sue..Churchianity junk teaching.Bendito -- God's Word tells us to NOT mess around with evil spirits. It's God we go to 1st and then we resist the devil andTH he will flee from us.
There Are missionaries who are called to various countries where there Is demonic activity. But they are there under God's power, Not their own. And it's dangerous business.
And we are NOT to keep company with those who Do.
Sue, what I see here is a woman with a tender heart, a heart not willing to see people get hurt. I see a certain amount of wisdom from this woman, from some preachers and some missionaries.....Still....What does the Word say?Bendito -- in the New Testament Jesus Christ is casting demons Out of people. We are Not to go to 'fortune tellers' to attempt to see into our future. The boy possessed by demons -- those evil spirits in him were tearing apart his body - casting him into fire. People sell their souls to the devil. Do you Really think it's Good thing to mess around with such forces of evil in our lives.
Maybe you should LISTEN to those preachers who are teaching Christianity. We have a Risen Savior.
There Are belief systems that worship satan and have witch doctors -- satanic -- don't mess with it -- it's Dangerous.
There are Plenty of areas in life that we can be used by God -- like sharing the Gospel unto Salvation. Visiting people in the hospital. Helping at a food pantry. Homeless shelter.
Satan wants people to think that they can mess around with the world of evil spirits and not be negatively affected by it.
The devil Is out to destroy lives -- he is the one who makes evil look kind of Nice. There Is a continual tug of war between 'good and evil' and we Can resist it on a personal level. We Individually go to God for that inner strength.
There Was that period of time when Jesus Christ was on this earth and giving his disciples power to do that. It Was part of their being set aside and using His power. But not All believers were doing that.
So to suggest that if a person isn't presently casting demons out of people then 'we' aren't being affective Christians is -- well..............
Having a Risen Savior Does give us the opportunity to have a way to be in heaven for eternity instead of Having to spend eternity in hell. Because that's where we'd all be without Him.
I asked my sister once -- they were on the mission field in Brazil for 40 yrs. -- How a person would caste out a demon -- she said that Any person needs to realize their personal need for the Savior -- you lead that person to Christ as Savior and the Holy Spirit comes to indwell and there is No Room for any other 'spirit'.
How sad! You misunderstand me again. Sue, I am in no way anti-church...I most definitely am anti unscriptural teaching in church though. I strongly believe that ninety nine percent of Christians NEED to go to church, and they should go to church...The problem comes in when Christians go to church, listen to the pastor's teaching and seldom go to the Word to see for themselves what the Word says. Then the poor pastor makes a mistake in his teaching, nobody catches it, and that mistake soon becomes doctrine..Wrong doctrine.You find a couple of Scriptures and base Lots on them.
You're so anti-church and 'churchianity' that I 'don't feel led' to do so.
I'm not sure why you're asking, my friend, but what I'm saying is simple...We as disciples of Jesus have authority over all the enemy and have a responsibility to stand against him...God gave us armor to wear. Only warriors wear armor...Not people hiding from the enemy. And armor is not worn to sit in the stands as spectators....Also, we will notice that the armor we are given protects us from the front...In the back, there is no protection...So if we run away from the enemy we are completely vulnerable to his attack....Now warriors attack...They resist the enemy...that's an action word...Interesting discussion. So @Sue D. and @Bendito let me ask you both a question.
Can you both summary your position in one sentence to present a nugget of your position. For example
@Sue might say something like, "I do not believe that Christians should seek out evil spirits to battle them because..."
and @Bendito may say, "I d believe that Christians, should use the power of the Holy Spirit to challenge darkness when possible because...".
Just an example, not saying that is your position. So in the idea, can you both for me understanding just state in one sentence what your
position is on this whole issue. It can be a complex sentence.
Love and God Bless to you both.
I have never wanted to minister in that area at all. I feel dirty afterward like I've been shoveling soupy cow stuff. But if you have it to do, you do it.Thanks for answering @Bendito , sorry for the confusion on why I asked but I'm glad you answered. Not a question of contention brother, just allowing you to simply state your point
so that others who may not understand can hear your perspective simply.
I listened to the full video. These are my thoughts. I find that when dealing with spiritual issues many people find it very difficult to believe or accept things which they have not first-hand experienced.
With that said, I agree with the video overall. I personally have found myself casting out evil spirits (at least I think I did). It wasn't like dramatic like you see in movies but it was an effort, a prayer; followed
by results.
With that said, I know many will find it very difficult to accept this because if they have never experienced such situations first-hand it is just very difficult for them to accept it.
For example, I work in mental health, and I've found myself on several occasions having to speak to in the authority of Jesus to cast out what I believe was the the presence of an
evil spirit. In one situation I responded to a classroom (where I worked) because a student I work with for therapy was in so much of a rage that the rest of the class had to evacuate the classroom.
When I entered the classroom, it was just me and this little 2nd grade girl. I said a quiet prayer, not sure if she heard me, but I spoke commanding the evil spirits to leave. She started
to cough as it she was choking after my prayer and shortly after a transformation came over her and she returned to her senses, back to a peaceful state.
I think of another situation with an 18 year old adult who I could tell was in a fit of rage in my office and seem not in her right mind. I began to pray for her in my heart quietly in the office
as she spoke in anger. And shortly after I prayed in the name of "Jesus", she asked to go to the bathroom. After returning from the bathroom she was much better and apologized and told her she kept hearing voices
in her mind asking her to tell me to shut up, that was when I was saying the name of Jesus in my heart (not audible, so she couldn't hear me) (but I assume the demons could hear, and
she shared they were telling her to tell me to shutup, she didn't describe them as demons of course, she just said voices).
I have other examples, but I will say that I agree from my experience that we have power available to us.
For me personally, I first noticed the spiritual influence and started praying to God for the power to cast out evil spirits and I also worked on
not walking in any sin. But many believers don't believe that they too can do the same, so they don't ask for it and they don't try. So this wasn't something
I just started doing, I prayed for the power and noticed a need and realized that the Holy Spirit was the source, not me.
We should remember that we are the body of Christ. We are here to do the work that he did. When Jesus was here walking the earth, he healed,
he preached, he fed the sick, and he cast out demons. Now that He is in Heaven , He has left us His Holy Spirit for us to do the same, and He said greater things
than these we would do. I also agree with the point of the video about many things we can do can open doors. I've never dabble in any dark things
like witchcraft, etc, but I've noticed many times when I've allowed myself to be exposed to certain things how I am opened up to spiritual attacks.
Which is why I'm very discriminating in the media I watch. I no longer watch regular Hollywood movies that promote all types of sexual norms
counter to God's word. I don't do the Harry Potter movies, or any such movies with sorcery. I even don't play video games with overly sexual
images as all of that I've found (my personal first hand experience) can subtly open the doors to many spiritual attacks. I later found a strong
correlation with closing those doors and the leaving of those thoughts or spiritual attacks.
We should ask ourselves why is the church growing the fastest in Africa and Asia? I think it is because in the West (America) and more technologically developed places, we
tend to rely more on our human wisdom, knowledge, and science and it kills faith for many. With our knowledge we are more likely to write someone's anger off
by saying they are just dealing with a chemical imbalance and they are bi-polar and discredit the spiritual forces at work. We should be mindful that those diagnosis
though not necessarily wrong, are only looking at the body and part of the soul(mind), but they are not speaking to the spirit. And many places in the Bible we see that spiritual
things can show up in the flesh. I think those in Africa and Asia who may not have all of the saturation of tech as other places have are more able to believe with childlike faith
what the Bible says, whereas we often filter the Bible first through the science and wisdom of man.
So yea, in my personal experience, I agree with standing up against the enemy. We are the body of Christ. I don't see it as inviting spirits or speaking to them, but
simply our duties as soldiers of Christ to help those that God sends to us (if we have the faith to do so) battling demons. If one's faith is not there yet, then let them refer
the person to a pastor, or elder in the church. Jesus said I will build my church and the gates of Hell will not prevail. Gates guard and protect. The gates of hell are trying
to hold back the church, we are the ones suppose to be on the attack. We are the ones who are suppose to bust down the gates of hell through love, not sit back
playing defense. We should be on the offense, I agree.
And we are NOT to keep company with those who Do.
So are you saying, Sue, that demonic activity is less now than in the days of the early church? What part of our armor covers our back? You are not oblieged to believe that we are to actively go against the enemy...Its only that the Word tells us to just that...But you have a choice.First -- I'm going to state my views Again. The Big picture is that there's a transitional period of time in the Gospels. John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus Christ. John the Baptist baptized with water for cleansing. After That was baptism by immersion in the name of the Father and Son and Holy Spirit to demonstrate publically the decision that a person had already made in their heart to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. And we have the initial coming of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. There's a description of that. It didn't happen to every single believer at the same time. Some believers had even heard Of the Holy Spirit -- Paul laid his hands on them and they Then received the Holy Spirit and were enabled to speak in tongues. That Also does Not happen that way now. At least not in any of the many Baptist churches I've ever been in.
And in This country -- we Are much more modern that the Asian and African countries. A thought about that. America was founded on Biblical values. 'One Nation Under God'. When people are in God's Word there is less likely to Be demon possession / oppression / evil spirits to be dealing with.
Back in Biblical times -- what countries were being lived in? But we Do know that there was demonic activity Big time. There was Need for that at that time and place. And the ability to Do those things was given by Jesus To those disciples. It was showing people that They were set apart With those God-given abilities.
@Jesus is Lord -- your sharing is very interesting. The field you work in. Mental health. There Is dispute between / can be a fine-line / between psychiatric conditions / mental illness And demon possession. Some conditions Do present themselves with people hearing voices. Sometimes medication Can take care of it and sometimes Not. It's wonderful that you Do pray for those acute situations. The human mind Is complex. The soul Can be influenced by the demonic powers -- that is obvious, too. God knows exactly what the situations were that you encountered. And you prayed -in Jesus name -- which is the Only name to pray in. And you Did see a difference in the people - up close and personal. No one can dispute that. And you are Very wise to Not let programs, games, etc. with that content enter your mind. We Are to guard our hearts and minds.
@ Bendito -- you brought up the armor of God. All the armor protects the entire person. Yes. For that which comes up against us. But I really Don't believe that 'we' are to actively GO up Against those Forces. And, in our daily lives -- if / when we Would encounter those forces -- we Do have protection from / in God's Word.
But to accuse church people of being 'lazy' people for Not 'going After' evil -- well -- obviously I don't agree with that.
We Are -- every born-again believer --Is given at least one Spiritual Gift at the moment of their salvation. Those are talked about in 1 Corinthians 12 -14. Basically that the church has many members and works as a body. Each person has a particular 'job' to help it run smoothly. Each job is of equal value / importance. Each person is to be satisfied with what God has decided to give them. Ephesians 4 :11 lists others. "It was He who gave some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists , pastors and teachers , etc.
Each believer is part of the universal body of Christ and there is Also the Local church -- people Need to meet together as stated in Hebrews 10:25 "Let us Not give up meeting together , as some are in the habit of doing , but let us encourage one another -- and all the more as you see the Day approaching."
The Gospel unto salvation -- I believe -- is the Most important message to be sharing with whom ever will Willingly listen. The forces of evil Are all around us. We counter act That with the Gospel unto a person's salvation.