“From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been suffering violence, and the violent have been seizing it by force.” Matthew 11:12 (HCSB)
How can a Bible believing, Jesus loving Christian say that demons aren’t active today or that they can’t influence Christians? Just read your Bible. There is a spiritual realm that has much greater influence upon the physical realm than most people could imagine!
Jesus said that when the kingdom of God is present demons will be cast out (Matthew 12:28)! Demons are real, and they are very active, AND they need to be cast out! As we prepare for revival, we need to prepare for manifestations of demons in our services. When Jesus showed up, demons were exposed (Matthew 8:31-32, Mark 1:34). We are about to see a flood of deliverance in the church! And not everyone will be comfortable with the messy it brings. Jesus talked about the violent clash between the kingdoms (Matthew 11:12), so why should be expect a nice, tidy battle?
Demons have a right to influence Christians through our sin. Pastors, holiness matters, whether it’s your personal holiness or that of your congregation! Compromise is an open door. And you can’t lead your congregation where you aren’t at. Secret sin and hidden things are going to be revealed. Repentance of sin and renouncing occultic access points are keys to deliverance. What we watch impacts us, from innocent feeling movies like Harry Potter, and Bewitched, to the myriad of blatantly demonic flicks, are ALL open doors. When we watch movies about demons, horror and darkness, we open a door to demons. Btw, any form of magic (including what is called white magic) is an abomination to God, and if you have dabbled with it, you have opened yourself up to the demonic.
For those of you who struggle with the idea that a Christian can be influenced by demons (that is, being demonized) let me simply ask, can you sin, can you make vows and oaths that are out of God’s will, can you quench or grieve the Holy Spirit, can you rebel, then you can open yourself up to demons. The Holy Spirit fills where we are submitted and surrendered to Jesus. But where there is sin and wounds, demons find a place to enter and influence.
Understand this, deliverance may be messy, but it is all about setting people free, and you might be one of them. And know this, once churches are allowing deliverance, people will come flooding in to be set free because they know they are in bondage. So get ready!
Ask God to show you any and every point of access that you may have given the enemy through movies, music, magic, sin, rebellion, oaths, vows, trauma, etc., and repent immediately, renouncing these legal holdings in your life. Pray for your church to become an open place for deliverance. Pray for your pastor to be completely set free and to lead the way to freedom. Cry out for God to prepare your church to be an oasis for freedom, no matter how messy it gets. Ask God for Athens to be flooded with freedom!
