It never ceases to amaze me how blind we are in the western world to spiritual forces. On a daily basis, we are arrayed against sin, the flesh and the devil in this multidimensional war. Believers are predisposed to attack, but attack from whom? The devil is the prime culprit, yet he’s only a fallen cherub, neither omnipotent, nor omniscient and certainly not co-equal with God.
In order to carry out his pernicious ways, he retains the illusion of widespread ruler-ship by utilizing demonic forces at his disposal, in a systematic authority structure. These nefarious forces are at work in the earth on a continual basis and believers must not be ignorant of these spiritual entities (2 Cor 2:11). In addition, our flesh with its ungodly desires needs to be crucified on a daily basis.
We cannot ‘cast out’ that which needs to be crucified.
It’s important we know the difference.
Satan has an army of dark forces at his disposal
As an army functions with various rankings of authority, so too do the principalities, powers, rulers of darkness and spiritually wicked in high places (Eph 6:12). These entities proliferate every sphere of life whilst remaining blind to the naked eye. In the Eastern culture, people don’t quibble at the mention of ‘demons’ or ‘spirits’ as their presence is more prevalent in those regions. We however in the ‘enlightened west,’ often remain blind to the spirit world which holds great sway over man’s everyday affairs.
The medical community has by and large overlooked the spirit realm and sadly, in ‘the West’ we’ve medicated patients who often require deliverance instead. I contend that many victims in mental institutions can only be ‘cured,’ by Christ’s blood and the deliverance it offers.
Never underestimate the power of deliverance
Clearly, not every malady is caused by demons, but Jesus performed deliverance on many occasions in His ministry. In some instances, immediate healing often occurred following deliverance of the recipient (Mat 8:16).
We must never underestimate the power of deliverance and the instantaneous healing it may bring.
In western culture, we’ve educated our souls at the expense of our spirits. Many of us lack spiritual discernment within Christendom. Our inability to discern between good and evil is tantamount to our spiritual blindness. But it doesn’t have to stay that way. We should ask the Lord for discernment and exercise our spiritual senses to discern between good and evil (Heb 5:14).
We must expose the works of darkness
In today’s society, some call ‘evil’, good and vice versa (Isa 5:20-21). This is abominable in God’s sight. Scripture tells us not to participate in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead, expose them (Eph 5:11). We need the Lord’s help to identify these abominable libertines within the realms of media, politics, entertainment and business.
Those who willingly practice the ‘dark arts’ are playing with fire and will eventually end up burning themselves because they have no authority over the evil spirits they commune with.
Believers do have spiritual authority over dark entities, and we need to enforce it should the occasion arise. Jesus never went looking for demons, but He never backed down from a confrontation either. We need to have the same mindset, ready for confrontation if and when the need arises.
We need to open the eyes of our understanding
We need to anoint our spiritual eyes with ‘salve’ (Rev 3:18), discern the workings of evil spirits, and enforce our authority in Christ,especially when we pray for the sick. We live in a supernatural world undoubtedly, yet intellectuals have reduced the supernatural to mere superstition.
The supernatural realm cannot and must not be ignored. It’s more real than the physical realm. What begins in the spirit realm, spills over into the natural realm.
Many persecutions or trials we encounter have their inception in the spiritual realm. We must be rooted and grounded in truth, cognizant of the stark reality of an invisible realm which impacts the world around us. Not everything can be measured in a laboratory.
Can a Naturalist be a Christian?
There are several worldviews which seek to marginalize God’s people in this post-modern society. Naturalists deny any form of the supernatural. They deem consciousness as merely a phenomenon of the brain and deny the afterlife.
An offshoot of naturalism is ‘materialism’, where everything exists in the physical realm only. In order for it’s existence to be proven, it must be measurable within a laboratory, i.e., it must be seen, touched, tasted or smelled. Science itself is rooted in materialism and very few scientist’s posses a Christian worldview, which is receptive to the metaphysical. This is in actuality, the correct worldview.
One cannot be a Christian and a naturalist at the same time. The Bible is saturated with supernatural manifestations. Statistics show however, that only nine percent of Americans have a biblical worldview. Many others have reverted to an “I’m spiritual but not religious” stance. This viewpoint neither requires a lifestyle change, nor accountability to God.
Modern Science ignores the supernatural
Modern science ignores the supernatural realm and its unexplainable phenomena. Many scientists in these last days are having to widen the spectrum of their worldview which needs to account for so much ‘unexplained phenomena’ from UFOs’ to demonic manifestations’ to orbs and so forth. Believers should know the majority of this phenomena is evil in origin and seeks to deceive mankind.
As we approach Christ’s Second Coming, the scientific model simply won’t hold up, because supernatural phenomena in all its forms is on the increase. The History Channel serves a weekly cornucopia of spiritual deception as it continues to preach the false dogma of Panspermia. This false notion that aliens seeded life on earth, will serve as the grand delusion, spoken of in the Book of Thessalonians. Only God’s Word provides the answer to life’s mysteries. Unfortunately, during the past two centuries, the western church has cowardly shied away from acknowledging the metaphysical and from this vacuum evolutionary science was spawned.
Science has reduced the supernatural to mysticism
Science has thrown the proverbial baby out with the bathwater. It often reduces the supernatural sphere to mere mysticism or ‘old wives’ tales’. That includes God’s charismatic outpourings upon every generation that seek Him. Even church goers scarcely dip their toes in the supernatural realm anymore, leaving the supernaturally thirsty to pursue the dark arts, in a quest to get answers, as they know the spiritual realm is real. You often hear things like, ‘besides all this casting out of demons, spiritual gifts and supernatural healing stuff, passed away with the last Apostle.’…This is a lie!
The only thing which passed away was the faith required to operate in the supernatural, in the first place. That is up to man, not God.
Instead of acknowledging there have been mistakes by both the church leadership and laity in demonstrating the gifts of the Holy Spirit down the years, some have used this as an excuse to ridicule those who have the tenacity to operate in them today. Believing that God has ceased working in powerful ways is a stronghold of unbelief. We are admonished to cast down these strongholds.
God’s power has not gone away
The power of God still manifests in the earth today. Apostles and Prophets still operate within this dispensation of Grace much to the disdain of some (Eph 4:11). They are ministerial offices granted to us for the edification of the Church Body. Stewards of Holy Spirit outpouring have been scorned, with some labeling their operation; ‘of the devil’. It’s the same accusation Christ encountered from the religious crowd of His day (Mat 12:24).
Please know that any authentic demonstration of God’s power will be vehemently opposed by the demonic realm, religious crowd or secularists.
Objections typically come from religious men who desire to remain in darkness and refuse to come to the light. Demonic spirits love religious people, and find a home in them. Why such resistance from religious people to the casting out of spirits? Could it be the spirits themselves are causing the resistance, knowing their departure to the Abyss is imminent (Luk 8:31)?
Cessationism is on the rise
In fact, the ridicule of Pentecostals and Charismatics is on the rise in tandem with particularly venomous criticism from ‘cessationists.’ These naysayers claim that all the miraculous Gifts of the Holy Spirit have ceased and likely passed away with the last Apostle. Not only is Satan directly opposed to these power demonstrations, but he manipulates Christian brothers to jump on the bandwagon of attack. Sadly, without realizing it, they too have become tools of the enemy.
Jean Sabelius famously quipped, “No-one has ever built a statue to a critic.” Indeed, it’s by the man or woman in the arena the spoils of victory are won.
Let us not shrink back in unbelief, nor let anyone forbid speaking in tongues. These imposed restrictions are often justifications of unbelief, using accounts of spiritual maltreatment as an excuse for apathy.
God’s spiritual manifestations are vital to the advancement of His kingdom. It was the case in Jesus’s day and will continue until Christ’s return. We let God’s word and the prophets be the judge of any manifestations to the contrary (1 Cor 14:29). Consider this scripture regarding the manifestation of God’s power in these last days:
“But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these."
2 Timothy 3:1-5
Avoid who?
Herein lies a major concern. There are those in Christian circles today who have a form of godliness but deny the power of God. The bible says, we should ‘avoid such men.’ Yet we know the majority of Christians within the two hundred or so main denominations refuse to acknowledge the ‘charismata outpouring’ today. In fact, some even deny the existence of the supernatural realm altogether, which is at enmity with scripture.
It just goes to show how far some believers are from God’s standard for ministry. God commends us to move in the Gifts of the Holy Spirit with signs following the word preached, according to the measure of our faith. We should still operate in the gift of prophecy today, in doing so we exhort, edify and comfort the Body of Christ (1 Cor 14:3).
Using fear as an excuse to abstain from the operation of any spiritual gifts opposes the New Testament writings. The book of Acts is still being written by the church today. We press on courageously, demonstrating Holy Ghost power to evangelize as God directs us. This is not a time to shrink back. I encourage you to ask the Lord for boldness to accomplish His will, with signs following (Mk 16:17-18).
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Author – Carl G.M. Joseph
Bibliography:
“The Supernatural Worldview” – Cris Putnam (Defender Publishing – Crane, Missouri, 2014).
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