To be honest I seldom watch religious TV. Too boring. Too predictable. Too digestible. But Sunday I was working out in a hotel fitness room on a stationary bike. I was reading the news on my iPad while the TV screen attached to the bike was still on. A television preacher came on the screen, one I’d never seen before. The screen had been tuned to subtitle mode so I could see what he was saying without hearing him. Reading his body language he seemed like a nice enough guy. He actually had his shirt tucked in and was wearing a suit, an oddity in today’s supercool style of evangelical communication. His message was about the Holy Spirit. He had Calvinist theology, but he did push the theological envelope.
His message built to the punch line: “The Holy Spirit still prophesies, still gives words of knowledge, still does miracles, still heals, still . . .”
I waited. Would he go on to say the “D” word? No. What he couldn’t bring himself to say were these six words: THE HOLY SPIRIT STILL CASTS OUT DEMONS. This good man of God and excellent preacher, whom I’m sure is dedicated to his calling, either couldn’t or wouldn’t say it. Was it off his spiritual radar? Outside his theological purview? Too uncomfortable for his affluent congregation? Too unsettling to his constituency to mention what Christ commanded His followers to do?
That same workout I read the review of a new book by another major Christian TV preacher whose name you’d know. The book’s theme is prophecy and the End Times. The reviewer touted it as the “Number one book in America about spiritual warfare.” I’m sure it’s a great book, but has evangelical political correctness really gone so far as to create new definitions so that a book about the rapture (though much-needed) is in the same category as dealing with demons? Is the church today just confused or willingly ignorant of Satan and what he does? Is eschatology really spiritual warfare?
Wake up Christians! Demonic possession is an epidemic. It’s not spiritual Ebola we can quarantine with an exegetical hazmat suit. We can’t verbalized it away. These ARE the End Times and demons aren’t benign (Revelation 12:12). Spiritual warfare is REAL and real demons must be confronted by the Holy Spirit, not leap-frogged over by artful avoidance. Every person reading this blog has a close friend or family member who is demonized. What will you do about it? I suggest that you immediately enroll in our International School of Exorcism. Or, you can arrange for them to have a personal encounter session with me. You can also support our efforts to declare boldly that deliverance is available here and now. Encourage your pastor/priest to speak out on the wave of witchcraft and the occult that overwhelms our culture. Putting one’s spiritual head in the sand isn’t artful avoidance — its spiritual suffocation.
An encouraging word: GOD’S PURE WORDS
Those who follow our ministry know that we place strong emphasis on renouncing the evil that has been passed from generation to generation. But just as curses have perpetuity until they are broken, the blessings of God’s Word continue forever. Psalms 12:6-7 reminds us that, “The words of the Lord are pure words . . . you shall preserve them from this generation forever.” When you choose to believe and hide God’s Word in your heart, the promise is that your children and their children shall always have that blessing of God’s pure Word. Begin today by putting your full faith in Christ and passing on the heritage of belief to all who shall come after you.
Bob Larson has trained healing and deliverance teams all over the world to set the captives free and Do What Jesus Did (Luke 4:18). You can partner with Bob and support this vision to demonstrate God’s power in action by calling 303-980-1511 or clicking here to donate online.
