Sunday, December 10, 2006
Thursday, November 30, 2006
From Lepers to Helpers
GLOBAL DELIVERANCE TEAM (GLODET) P.O.BOX 1215, OYO TOWN NIGERIA. TEL: 2348038565127 OR 2348059426557.
E-Mail – kolade2002@yahoo.com
Website – http://www.delekolade.blogspot.com/
http://www.glodetmission.blogspot.com/
FROM LEPERS TO HELPERS
(Written by Rev Dele Kolade)
How can a horrible terrible negative situation be turned around to become positive and admirable one? What are some of the divine principles to turn our negative situation around for the best? We shall textually explore 11Kgs 6 and 7 to identify the timeless radical revolutionary ideas that will help us unlock the hidden virtues and potential in us which can accelerate our breakthrough, and catapult us to the level God wants us to attain. We shall take a retrospective excursion to (Samaria) the capital of Israel in the days of Elisha the prophet and see how the power of God can turn negative situation to positive one. Come along –
The Shakings are for your Makings – One of the problems we have is getting the right definition of our situation, understanding what we are passing through. Sometimes we wrongly conclude that every negative situation we go through are meant for our destruction, but the truth of the matter is that some shakings are for our makings. Jesus’ comment on the man who was born blind, that his situation was meant to glorify God was not only a misnomer but also a big challenge to the popular worldview of his day. Jesus is by this comment is bringing a new perspective to the way we see situations and interpret events. Some seemingly negative situations are meant to accelerate our progress. Some of the challenges you are going through rather position you well to receive the supernatural touch of God. Your current problem makes you the right specimen for miracle. Lets get down to Samaria to x-ray the situation and the intervention.
Besieged but not Deceased – Samaria was besieged by the Syrian army, the resources from the outside seized, and the movement of the people curtailed. The intention of the enemy was not only to limit the people but to also psychologically suffocate them and reduce them to less than nothing. The Samaritans were surrounded but they never surrendered. One good thing about problem is that it help bring out all that is in you. Sometimes when you are confined you are better defined and refined. You can not know all you are capable of doing until you are squeezed beyond your limit. Hunger and sufferings in Samaria revealed the cannibalism in some people, some mothers, in other to survive went as far as eating their own babies. It is problem that can separate disciples from the multitude. Values and morals are better revealed in problem situations.
Why this and why me? – In the midst of problems, actions are taken and questions are asked. The questions of why? become very prominent as people try to understand what is going on with them. One important thing about the Samaria situation is the fact that the problem was not linked to any particular sin of Israel. It was not that they sinned against the Lord that they were besieged. The question of sin is out. There are things you go through that are not as a result of some sins committed. It is good that we ask questions in our problem situation but it is better we wait for divine answers to those questions also.
Intervention by Information – If there will be a release there must first be a decree. Right information is a prelude to transformation. The first verse of the chapter seven introduces a radical transition by an authoritative declaration of the prophet. “Thus says the Lord” is the key to unlocking the transition and the transformation. It doesn’t matter what others says, including your reasoning, what matters most is what the Lord says. What you are saying, what friends are sayings, what doctors and scientists are saying are only hypothesis, its only God who have the final say. What God says will surely stand, and no one can decrease what God decrees. We shall believe the report of the Lord and not the comments of men, for God watches over His words to fulfill them even to the punctuations. Divine submissions may sometimes not fit well into your human “logarithm” of doing things, it can simply blow up your mind. The unnamed senior minister of Samaria who disbelieved was cut off the provision of God because he ignorantly underestimated the divine ability. You can not figure out what God can do or limit Him based on your human understanding. He works beyond the locus of human reason.
Tomorrow by this Time – No matter the situation, if you are by God’s side, there will surely be a dawn of a new era, a new beginning and a turn of the tide. There will be a sanction from heaven, that your sorrow must end with an immediate effect. God gave a 24hour ultimatum to the Samaria’s sorrow, and that settled it. Be rest assured, no matter how humanly absurd it may sound, God will not start a thing He has not finished. What is written in His word is settled and finished already, it is only left for you to proclaim and claim the provisions in His word. God is not limited by time or by space, but because we live in time and space, He has married His purpose with His time. To experience God, you must know Him, know His purpose, and understand His timing. You need to wait for Him for he will not tarry. Hasting brings wasting, but those who know their God will patiently wait on Him for He makes everything beautiful in His time.
Lepers by the Gate – One of the things we do when we encounter difficulties is to compare and complain. We are tempted to think that we are going through the most difficult situation in the world, but the truth of the matter is that we are not alone, there are people with bigger trouble than we have. We have a lot to discover and learn from the situation and action of these 4 lepers by the gate of Samaria. There are some key things we must discover from the lepers before we can recover the divine supplies for us. Lets examine them succinctly –
Ø Their Situation – We must first note that the lepers seem to be the most disadvantaged. They couldn’t stay in the city because they are socially unfit to even stay inside the besieged city. Their problem seem to appear in the capital letters. They are outcast, voiceless, and in human terms most hopeless.
Ø Their Location – The issue of location is of a great importance when it comes to receiving your divine allocation. Transition, and transformation are relevantly related to locations. In human terms, the lepers were in a more dangerous location, giving the fact that they were not within the security of the wall of the city. In reality, although they stand the danger of many things, they were closer to the blessings than those within the walled city. Strangely enough, the first hard lesson we have to learn here is that most of the things that keep us from God’s touch are things that we rather think secure us from danger. We are not yet ready for the divine move until we are ready to let go our “self”, “shell” and “wall”. The confines must be removed to enjoy the divine. There is nothing more limiting than the self made wall we have constructed around our own selves. The threat of the enemies without is not as powerful as the wall we build around ourselves. Deliverance from self is more challenging than deliverance from demons. What you seriously need to urgently discover as an individual is the self made wall you have made around yourself. It may be an ideology or an habit that God will first want you released from.
Ø Their question – The lepers engaged themselves in self interrogative conversation. They questioned themselves, their actions and values. The popular saying that an unevaluated life is not worth living is a strong assertion. You need to ask yourself questions about your values, position and actions. Sameness is a cancer that must be eradicated for progress to commence. Some of the problems we have are problems of the mind and perception. Some of us need a complete overhauling of our worldview, mindset and perception. Why do we do what we do? Why are my not getting results? Instead of asking ourselves questions we are comfortable with shifting blame of our failure on others. Any time there is a problem we tend to immediately look without instead of first looking within. The lepers did well in that they were frank to challenge themselves instead of blaming others for their woes. Their question was not about the city that is closed against them, or the army ahead of them but rather about their own action and position. You are your own biggest enemy, and not until you conquer yourself, you will not be able to move forward.
Ø Their Options – Every day we make choices, and it is these choices we daily make that determines the direction and situation of our lives. The fact still remain that you choose what you become. Even when the beginning is rough, you can maintain the roughness or change the tide with your choices. You can choose to be a looser or choose to be a champion. The lepers had three options, to go back and force their way into the city and die of famine, to sit still and still die or to move on and either be killed by the Syrian army or be spared by them. Usually, in most situations, we are faced with similar options, to move on, go back or do nothing. It will interest you that indecision is also a decision, it means you have chosen to sit still. When you withdraw into yourself the meaning is that you have gone back into the city where you stand the danger of being killed by famine. Some people, when the fall, they make their falling ground to become their burial ground, they throw up their hands and easily give up any attempt to get up and get going. Life is about challenges, options and choices and it is your decision that determines your direction and condition in life.
Ø Their action – We sometimes fail not because of lack of dream or vision but because of lack of action. It is not enough to wish or dream, it is necessary we take action when required. Large number of people are still where they are because they are living in the dream land and busy planning to be and to do without actually reaching out to work out their dreams. Procrastination is a liability that disguises as an asset. It has been described as a thief of time but it is also a destroyer of vision and aspiration. It is a waster that must be fought with all whim. The lepers were not just day dreaming, but in a twilight, they really got up and practically went forward. There is an action the Lord want you to take now and you must discover it NOW!
Ø Their assumption was an Illusion – Do you know that most of what we are afraid of, in reality don’t even exist. What are you afraid of? Are you afraid of being afraid or trying out a new thing? Do you know that those who are afraid of death are not qualified to live? What is stopping you from reaching forth is not in existence, it is a fiction and figment of mere imagination. The reason why you don’t know it does not exist is simply because you have not yet taken a step forward. Your fear will fizzle out as you reach out of your cocoon. Hear this, “And when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria , behold there was no man there”. What a great discovery to the lepers! Your fear do not exist, that is the reality, but it will take a walk of faith forward to discover this. You can not know until you move.
Ø The ally’s Intervention – It is most soothing to know at the time you feel most lonely that afterwards you are not alone. Before you set off the Lord has set in already. In this journey of life, you must know that you are not alone. There is a power beyond you that is around you to both protect and fulfill you. The Lepers were not alone, for the Lord had already fixed the problem before they reached the camp. What was the arrangement here? God made the Syrian go round, gather a lot of resources from nations around, and dump them at Israel’s door. When God sets into a negative situation, He turns it around for our positive promotion.
Ø The Lepers’ Propagation – It is not enough to be blessed by God, the blessing must make you go beyond yourself. Life is what you can give and not just what you can grasp. You must be able to impact others with what you are given by the Lord. Have you ever thought of what you can also share that you are not sharing? You must proclaim what you have discovered, recovered and acquired for the benefit of the whole humanity. Not until you begin to proclaim and impact others you have not yet attained.
STRATEGIC DISCOVERY PRAYERS
Based on what you have learnt so far from the passage, navigate in prayers to appropriate divine touch and blessings in the following prayer points –
ü Lord help me understand who I am and what I am going through currently.
ü Help me see the positives in my negatives
ü Speak into my situation oh Lord!
ü Bring an end to my pain and sorrow.
ü Help me oh Lord to make right decision that will accelerate my breakthrough.
ü Let all set backs of my life become setup for my greater breakthrough.
ü Take me beyond myself and make me positively relevant to others.
E-Mail – kolade2002@yahoo.com
Website – http://www.delekolade.blogspot.com/
http://www.glodetmission.blogspot.com/
FROM LEPERS TO HELPERS
(Written by Rev Dele Kolade)
How can a horrible terrible negative situation be turned around to become positive and admirable one? What are some of the divine principles to turn our negative situation around for the best? We shall textually explore 11Kgs 6 and 7 to identify the timeless radical revolutionary ideas that will help us unlock the hidden virtues and potential in us which can accelerate our breakthrough, and catapult us to the level God wants us to attain. We shall take a retrospective excursion to (Samaria) the capital of Israel in the days of Elisha the prophet and see how the power of God can turn negative situation to positive one. Come along –
The Shakings are for your Makings – One of the problems we have is getting the right definition of our situation, understanding what we are passing through. Sometimes we wrongly conclude that every negative situation we go through are meant for our destruction, but the truth of the matter is that some shakings are for our makings. Jesus’ comment on the man who was born blind, that his situation was meant to glorify God was not only a misnomer but also a big challenge to the popular worldview of his day. Jesus is by this comment is bringing a new perspective to the way we see situations and interpret events. Some seemingly negative situations are meant to accelerate our progress. Some of the challenges you are going through rather position you well to receive the supernatural touch of God. Your current problem makes you the right specimen for miracle. Lets get down to Samaria to x-ray the situation and the intervention.
Besieged but not Deceased – Samaria was besieged by the Syrian army, the resources from the outside seized, and the movement of the people curtailed. The intention of the enemy was not only to limit the people but to also psychologically suffocate them and reduce them to less than nothing. The Samaritans were surrounded but they never surrendered. One good thing about problem is that it help bring out all that is in you. Sometimes when you are confined you are better defined and refined. You can not know all you are capable of doing until you are squeezed beyond your limit. Hunger and sufferings in Samaria revealed the cannibalism in some people, some mothers, in other to survive went as far as eating their own babies. It is problem that can separate disciples from the multitude. Values and morals are better revealed in problem situations.
Why this and why me? – In the midst of problems, actions are taken and questions are asked. The questions of why? become very prominent as people try to understand what is going on with them. One important thing about the Samaria situation is the fact that the problem was not linked to any particular sin of Israel. It was not that they sinned against the Lord that they were besieged. The question of sin is out. There are things you go through that are not as a result of some sins committed. It is good that we ask questions in our problem situation but it is better we wait for divine answers to those questions also.
Intervention by Information – If there will be a release there must first be a decree. Right information is a prelude to transformation. The first verse of the chapter seven introduces a radical transition by an authoritative declaration of the prophet. “Thus says the Lord” is the key to unlocking the transition and the transformation. It doesn’t matter what others says, including your reasoning, what matters most is what the Lord says. What you are saying, what friends are sayings, what doctors and scientists are saying are only hypothesis, its only God who have the final say. What God says will surely stand, and no one can decrease what God decrees. We shall believe the report of the Lord and not the comments of men, for God watches over His words to fulfill them even to the punctuations. Divine submissions may sometimes not fit well into your human “logarithm” of doing things, it can simply blow up your mind. The unnamed senior minister of Samaria who disbelieved was cut off the provision of God because he ignorantly underestimated the divine ability. You can not figure out what God can do or limit Him based on your human understanding. He works beyond the locus of human reason.
Tomorrow by this Time – No matter the situation, if you are by God’s side, there will surely be a dawn of a new era, a new beginning and a turn of the tide. There will be a sanction from heaven, that your sorrow must end with an immediate effect. God gave a 24hour ultimatum to the Samaria’s sorrow, and that settled it. Be rest assured, no matter how humanly absurd it may sound, God will not start a thing He has not finished. What is written in His word is settled and finished already, it is only left for you to proclaim and claim the provisions in His word. God is not limited by time or by space, but because we live in time and space, He has married His purpose with His time. To experience God, you must know Him, know His purpose, and understand His timing. You need to wait for Him for he will not tarry. Hasting brings wasting, but those who know their God will patiently wait on Him for He makes everything beautiful in His time.
Lepers by the Gate – One of the things we do when we encounter difficulties is to compare and complain. We are tempted to think that we are going through the most difficult situation in the world, but the truth of the matter is that we are not alone, there are people with bigger trouble than we have. We have a lot to discover and learn from the situation and action of these 4 lepers by the gate of Samaria. There are some key things we must discover from the lepers before we can recover the divine supplies for us. Lets examine them succinctly –
Ø Their Situation – We must first note that the lepers seem to be the most disadvantaged. They couldn’t stay in the city because they are socially unfit to even stay inside the besieged city. Their problem seem to appear in the capital letters. They are outcast, voiceless, and in human terms most hopeless.
Ø Their Location – The issue of location is of a great importance when it comes to receiving your divine allocation. Transition, and transformation are relevantly related to locations. In human terms, the lepers were in a more dangerous location, giving the fact that they were not within the security of the wall of the city. In reality, although they stand the danger of many things, they were closer to the blessings than those within the walled city. Strangely enough, the first hard lesson we have to learn here is that most of the things that keep us from God’s touch are things that we rather think secure us from danger. We are not yet ready for the divine move until we are ready to let go our “self”, “shell” and “wall”. The confines must be removed to enjoy the divine. There is nothing more limiting than the self made wall we have constructed around our own selves. The threat of the enemies without is not as powerful as the wall we build around ourselves. Deliverance from self is more challenging than deliverance from demons. What you seriously need to urgently discover as an individual is the self made wall you have made around yourself. It may be an ideology or an habit that God will first want you released from.
Ø Their question – The lepers engaged themselves in self interrogative conversation. They questioned themselves, their actions and values. The popular saying that an unevaluated life is not worth living is a strong assertion. You need to ask yourself questions about your values, position and actions. Sameness is a cancer that must be eradicated for progress to commence. Some of the problems we have are problems of the mind and perception. Some of us need a complete overhauling of our worldview, mindset and perception. Why do we do what we do? Why are my not getting results? Instead of asking ourselves questions we are comfortable with shifting blame of our failure on others. Any time there is a problem we tend to immediately look without instead of first looking within. The lepers did well in that they were frank to challenge themselves instead of blaming others for their woes. Their question was not about the city that is closed against them, or the army ahead of them but rather about their own action and position. You are your own biggest enemy, and not until you conquer yourself, you will not be able to move forward.
Ø Their Options – Every day we make choices, and it is these choices we daily make that determines the direction and situation of our lives. The fact still remain that you choose what you become. Even when the beginning is rough, you can maintain the roughness or change the tide with your choices. You can choose to be a looser or choose to be a champion. The lepers had three options, to go back and force their way into the city and die of famine, to sit still and still die or to move on and either be killed by the Syrian army or be spared by them. Usually, in most situations, we are faced with similar options, to move on, go back or do nothing. It will interest you that indecision is also a decision, it means you have chosen to sit still. When you withdraw into yourself the meaning is that you have gone back into the city where you stand the danger of being killed by famine. Some people, when the fall, they make their falling ground to become their burial ground, they throw up their hands and easily give up any attempt to get up and get going. Life is about challenges, options and choices and it is your decision that determines your direction and condition in life.
Ø Their action – We sometimes fail not because of lack of dream or vision but because of lack of action. It is not enough to wish or dream, it is necessary we take action when required. Large number of people are still where they are because they are living in the dream land and busy planning to be and to do without actually reaching out to work out their dreams. Procrastination is a liability that disguises as an asset. It has been described as a thief of time but it is also a destroyer of vision and aspiration. It is a waster that must be fought with all whim. The lepers were not just day dreaming, but in a twilight, they really got up and practically went forward. There is an action the Lord want you to take now and you must discover it NOW!
Ø Their assumption was an Illusion – Do you know that most of what we are afraid of, in reality don’t even exist. What are you afraid of? Are you afraid of being afraid or trying out a new thing? Do you know that those who are afraid of death are not qualified to live? What is stopping you from reaching forth is not in existence, it is a fiction and figment of mere imagination. The reason why you don’t know it does not exist is simply because you have not yet taken a step forward. Your fear will fizzle out as you reach out of your cocoon. Hear this, “And when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria , behold there was no man there”. What a great discovery to the lepers! Your fear do not exist, that is the reality, but it will take a walk of faith forward to discover this. You can not know until you move.
Ø The ally’s Intervention – It is most soothing to know at the time you feel most lonely that afterwards you are not alone. Before you set off the Lord has set in already. In this journey of life, you must know that you are not alone. There is a power beyond you that is around you to both protect and fulfill you. The Lepers were not alone, for the Lord had already fixed the problem before they reached the camp. What was the arrangement here? God made the Syrian go round, gather a lot of resources from nations around, and dump them at Israel’s door. When God sets into a negative situation, He turns it around for our positive promotion.
Ø The Lepers’ Propagation – It is not enough to be blessed by God, the blessing must make you go beyond yourself. Life is what you can give and not just what you can grasp. You must be able to impact others with what you are given by the Lord. Have you ever thought of what you can also share that you are not sharing? You must proclaim what you have discovered, recovered and acquired for the benefit of the whole humanity. Not until you begin to proclaim and impact others you have not yet attained.
STRATEGIC DISCOVERY PRAYERS
Based on what you have learnt so far from the passage, navigate in prayers to appropriate divine touch and blessings in the following prayer points –
ü Lord help me understand who I am and what I am going through currently.
ü Help me see the positives in my negatives
ü Speak into my situation oh Lord!
ü Bring an end to my pain and sorrow.
ü Help me oh Lord to make right decision that will accelerate my breakthrough.
ü Let all set backs of my life become setup for my greater breakthrough.
ü Take me beyond myself and make me positively relevant to others.
Monday, November 20, 2006
Rev Dele in a Preaching Scene at Akosombo Ghana. Nov 2006
Rev Dele at Akosombo First Baptist Ghana preaching with passion and power. The Interpreter is Mr Darko of Volta River Authority. Rev Dele is Known for his articulate, and inspiring elucidating 
teaching and prophetic preachings.
teaching and prophetic preachings.
Baptism of New Converts at Ghana
This is a Baptismal service by Rev Dele on the 19th Nov 2006. This was on Volta Lake close to Akuse Ghana. About 22 new converts were baptised.
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Rev Dele's Twin Girls
These are my Twin Girls born on 9Th June 2006. They are named Favor and Mercy. They are children of destiny, ordained and commissioned by God to bring liberation to a lot of people in this generation. Join me in thanking God for blessing me with Favor and Mercy.
Friday, October 27, 2006
An Intercessory Session in Picture(Ghana)
Rev Dele Leading a Group of People on Intercession (Ghana)Oct 25th 2006
Friday, September 29, 2006
PRAYER CAMPAIGN FOR DIVINE CONNECTION
GLOBAL DELIVERANCE TEAM (GLODET)
CENTER FOR SPIRITUAL WARFARE AND MISSIONS
P.O.BOX 1215, OYO TOWN NIGERIA
TEL 2348038565127/2348059426557
E-mail kolade2002@yahoo.com
Website – http://www.delekolade.blogspot.com/
PRAYER CAMPAIGN FOR DIVINE CONNECTION
INTRODUCTION
The aim of this campaign is to reach into the heaven, identify and appropriate divine blessings ordained for saints through study and prayer. Certain passages of the Bible are identified for close study. The attempt is to bring illumination into the revelation of those passages, and using these as the foundation of our prayer. The campaign is a synergic prayer campaign, aimed at employing the combine power of agreement. We shall use corporate anointing, and in agreement pray divine blessing down into our individual life. Strategic, practical principles of enjoying divine blessings shall be unearth and followed.
The prayers in this campaign are basically built on the revelations from the passages of the Bible in view. The power of the word will propel us into prayer actions and this will consequently bring intended divine allocation into our lives.
DAY ONE
FOCUS – Turning Pillows to Pillars (Gen 28)
Knowledge is power, understanding is strength, wisdom is knowledge and understanding well applied. You must know that the way you are formed largely is determined by the way you are informed. The situation you find yourself depend on the instruction you follow. Knowledge, and for that matter Divine instruction and direction give they key to unlocking you destiny and actualizing your full potential. If God will bring a radical positive change your life He will first impregnate you with a radical vision and direction. The direction you follow will determine the destination you arrive at. The difference between Jacob and Esau was more of direction and instruction and not genetic or age. Lets take a tour of Genesis chapter 28 and see what we can prayerfully make out of Jacob’s adventure.
A Charge to Discharge – Jacob was blessed and given a charged ( Vs 1). Blessings go with charges and commands. You can not have one without the other. The problem with many today is the desire for blessings but refusal of accompanying charges. Sometimes it is not because you are under a demonic attack that you suffer, but you suffer because you are disobeying some divine commands. You must come to term with divine decrees and you will begin to experience significant increase. God want you to be in charge, but you must first learn to obey His charges.
Standing by Understanding – There is no standing without understanding. It is not only necessary to be charged, but it is also important to understand clearly the term of your charges. The problem with many is not so much with accepting the charges but rather the understanding of the charges. In verse 1 and 2 the instructions were clearly stated. Divine charges are clear for all to understand. The shall not of God must be obeyed to the letter for the blessings of God to be accessed. The instruction to Jacob was “what to take” and “what not to take”. You also must know what to take, when to take what to take, and what not to take. Whatever God will give is in a particular place for a particular person. Every divine allocation is in a particular location. You must locate your place of blessing, and discover your divine placement in life. You need to come to term with the fact that you must be at the center of God’s will.
The Blessings – The verse 2 and 3 clearly spell out the blessing Jacob is entering into. I must say that the blessing is uncommon one. I am trying to understand the dimensions of the blessings of Jacob, but I must be frank with you that it is beyond what the litmus of human mind can capture. Listen to the pronouncement “And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people; and give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee, and that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham”.
The blessing of Jacob is a divine blessing and not just a human favor that may fade away at any time. If you are hooked to the divine source, then you can be sure of unfailing supports. Have you ever thought about the elements in this pronouncement? It is a graduating, panoramic description of overwhelming, contagious blessing. Some of the elements include :
Ø Fruitfulness - The power of relevance, continuity, prolificacy, and fecundity was spoken into the life of Jacob. The anointing to be productive is in the divine blessing you are about to be launched into.
Ø Multiplicity – It is good to be productive, but at what degree? The Abrahamic anointing, that is being transferred to Jacob is not in arithmetic progression but in supra – geometric progression. When you are praying, be careful not to ask for okrika, or home used blessing. You are uniquely special, and you must be blessed in CAPITAL letters. God’s intention is to make you a multitude of people. The Hebrew word “qahal” translated multitude in verse 3 is one of the most important terms in the Old Testament. In this passage, it is used as assembly of nations.
Ø Continuity – It is not only that there will be multiplication, but also there will be systematic continuity. The blessing you will receive from God will surely affect the generation yet unborn. “And to thy seed” in verse 4 is a strong expression of overtaking blessings. The Hebrew ‘Zera” translated seed here means progeny, posterity or race. I decree that the Divine anointing on you affect your generation and race.
.
A Mentor to Follow – “And Jacob obeyed his father and mother, and was gone to Padan-aram.” (Verse 7). One of the ills of our time is the large number of people who are mentor less but yet are authorities in their own way. It is dangerous to be an authority but not under any authority. Jacob’s mentors are the parents. Ask yourself, who is my mentor? I am not talking of “godfathers”, but successful Christians who are more experienced and who can give you godly counsels and guidance. Experience , some people say, it’s the best teacher. Some experiences are however better to be learnt from other people’s situation instead of going through those situations yourself. If you will have to personally experience everything you have learnt today, then you are a dead man. A wise person will learn from the wisdom of others. Jacob obeyed the parent. “shama”, the Hebrew word translated obeyed in this verse, means to give undivided listening attention, to understand spiritually, or to obey or give heed. Do you have anyone you listen to or you think you are the wisest or the most spiritual?
Vision and Motion – There are “mere visionaries” and there are “envisioned missionaries” there are a lot of motionless visions today. It should not be only what you dream about, but also what you do with what you dream. It is one thing to plan you work but another thing to work your plans. Do not leave your vision only in your diary, but translate it into action. Jacob went out from Beersheba after receiving the instruction. There are things God want you to get out from and there are things God want you to get into. You need to tap locomotive anointing. You have being sitting down idle for too long, it is high time you set into action. I was asked one day by someone to comment on what I’ve learnt from Peter walking on the sea, I told the person that the greatest thing in the episode was Peter getting out of the boat. The greatest move was the first step out of the boat. Your problem is not so much with the walking on the sea but rather with stepping out from the boat. You must wake up, get up, get out and get going. It is a decree coming to you NOW!
Vision and Direction – “---and went towards Haran” (Vs 10). Do you know and can you tell where you are walking towards? There are people who are just going but don’t know where to. Look, it is not just about going, but about knowing where you are really going. You must stop scavenging and start navigating. You must have the end in view, and walk towards your God ordained destination.
Lighted and Tarried – In every vision there must be room for revision and evaluation. There must be a strategic time set apart for you to alight and tarry on the Lord. One great menace of our generation is little time for reflection and a rush windy living. If you are always in haste you are automatically in waste. If you rush then you rust. Alone with God, that is the secret of great people of God in the Bible. Even in our relationships we need to take time and tarry. You have lived with your spouse for year without retreating, relaxing and evaluating your relationship. Great things, unusual things happen when we tarry, retreat and relax in God’s presence.
A Set Up – A ladder was set up for Jacob in His dream. There is a divine set up for you that you must discover. Life is all about connection. Before you were born there was a connection between your mother and father. In your mother’s womb, you survived because there was a connection between you and your mother. You were born into the world of connection. Someone said that even going to heaven is by connection because if you don’t know Jesus, you cant get there. There is a connection you need right now, and that is what you are getting in this prayer campaign. There was a set up for Jacob that took him beyond himself, and there is one the heaven is setting for you that will take you beyond the limit of yourself. Get the message here, a ladder was set up on the earth, and the top of it reaching heaven. If you are connected with the heaven, you will get supply that will last for eternity.
Divine Company – The Lord’s presence is the most important, and His backing the most reliable. “---for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of” (Vs 15). Do you know that you are a child of destiny and that God is interested in blessing you? This is a powerful statement from the Lord, that you are incurably and inescapably blessed by God. In this kind of situation, it is too late to decide not to be blessed. The word of God contains things spoken concerning you and the presence and the zeal of God is set to bring them to pass. The vision of Jacob is an assurance of divine connection intended to fully launch him into his destiny. The focus of this campaign is therefore to launch you into your destiny and get you connected to the heaven’s grid.
Pillows to Pillars – In the discovery of the divine set up, Jacob respond by making a responsorial set up, turning of his stone pillows to pillars. This represents the result of encounter with God. Every pillow in your life will turn pillar. Pillow represent weakness and pillar represent strength. Your human weaknesses disappear at the face of divine power and help.
The revelation from this passage should form the platform upon which our connection prayer is built. Let the prayer point below be your guide in praying through :
1) I confess all areas of my life where I have not being obedient to your commands. (Identify specific areas, and humbly repent and confess)
2) Lord, I want to recover, help me discover your will for my life. (spread this prayer across all significant area of your life)
3) Receive the anointing to be contagiously fruitful, and to multiply in supra-geometric progression.
4) Decree and prophecy the continuity of divine grace and connection on your progeny and family.
5) Lord, launch into my life people that will help me fulfill my dream, and remove from all my relationships agents of darkness detailed by hell to derail my journey to fulfill my destiny.
6) I receive the anointing for motion and acceleration. I rebuke every stagnating and redundancy spirit. I overcome every evil environmental influence, the spirit of despondency and the failure from frustration.
7) In every affair of my life I receive clear divine direction. Lord, envision me and keep me at the center of your will. Lord , set me up and get me eternally connection to the heaven’s grip.
The concluding part of this prayer campaign shall be posted later. This first phase is for a day campaign. This is written by Rev Dele Kolade
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PRAYER CAMPAIGN FOR DIVINE CONNECTION
INTRODUCTION
The aim of this campaign is to reach into the heaven, identify and appropriate divine blessings ordained for saints through study and prayer. Certain passages of the Bible are identified for close study. The attempt is to bring illumination into the revelation of those passages, and using these as the foundation of our prayer. The campaign is a synergic prayer campaign, aimed at employing the combine power of agreement. We shall use corporate anointing, and in agreement pray divine blessing down into our individual life. Strategic, practical principles of enjoying divine blessings shall be unearth and followed.
The prayers in this campaign are basically built on the revelations from the passages of the Bible in view. The power of the word will propel us into prayer actions and this will consequently bring intended divine allocation into our lives.
DAY ONE
FOCUS – Turning Pillows to Pillars (Gen 28)
Knowledge is power, understanding is strength, wisdom is knowledge and understanding well applied. You must know that the way you are formed largely is determined by the way you are informed. The situation you find yourself depend on the instruction you follow. Knowledge, and for that matter Divine instruction and direction give they key to unlocking you destiny and actualizing your full potential. If God will bring a radical positive change your life He will first impregnate you with a radical vision and direction. The direction you follow will determine the destination you arrive at. The difference between Jacob and Esau was more of direction and instruction and not genetic or age. Lets take a tour of Genesis chapter 28 and see what we can prayerfully make out of Jacob’s adventure.
A Charge to Discharge – Jacob was blessed and given a charged ( Vs 1). Blessings go with charges and commands. You can not have one without the other. The problem with many today is the desire for blessings but refusal of accompanying charges. Sometimes it is not because you are under a demonic attack that you suffer, but you suffer because you are disobeying some divine commands. You must come to term with divine decrees and you will begin to experience significant increase. God want you to be in charge, but you must first learn to obey His charges.
Standing by Understanding – There is no standing without understanding. It is not only necessary to be charged, but it is also important to understand clearly the term of your charges. The problem with many is not so much with accepting the charges but rather the understanding of the charges. In verse 1 and 2 the instructions were clearly stated. Divine charges are clear for all to understand. The shall not of God must be obeyed to the letter for the blessings of God to be accessed. The instruction to Jacob was “what to take” and “what not to take”. You also must know what to take, when to take what to take, and what not to take. Whatever God will give is in a particular place for a particular person. Every divine allocation is in a particular location. You must locate your place of blessing, and discover your divine placement in life. You need to come to term with the fact that you must be at the center of God’s will.
The Blessings – The verse 2 and 3 clearly spell out the blessing Jacob is entering into. I must say that the blessing is uncommon one. I am trying to understand the dimensions of the blessings of Jacob, but I must be frank with you that it is beyond what the litmus of human mind can capture. Listen to the pronouncement “And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people; and give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee, and that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham”.
The blessing of Jacob is a divine blessing and not just a human favor that may fade away at any time. If you are hooked to the divine source, then you can be sure of unfailing supports. Have you ever thought about the elements in this pronouncement? It is a graduating, panoramic description of overwhelming, contagious blessing. Some of the elements include :
Ø Fruitfulness - The power of relevance, continuity, prolificacy, and fecundity was spoken into the life of Jacob. The anointing to be productive is in the divine blessing you are about to be launched into.
Ø Multiplicity – It is good to be productive, but at what degree? The Abrahamic anointing, that is being transferred to Jacob is not in arithmetic progression but in supra – geometric progression. When you are praying, be careful not to ask for okrika, or home used blessing. You are uniquely special, and you must be blessed in CAPITAL letters. God’s intention is to make you a multitude of people. The Hebrew word “qahal” translated multitude in verse 3 is one of the most important terms in the Old Testament. In this passage, it is used as assembly of nations.
Ø Continuity – It is not only that there will be multiplication, but also there will be systematic continuity. The blessing you will receive from God will surely affect the generation yet unborn. “And to thy seed” in verse 4 is a strong expression of overtaking blessings. The Hebrew ‘Zera” translated seed here means progeny, posterity or race. I decree that the Divine anointing on you affect your generation and race.
.
A Mentor to Follow – “And Jacob obeyed his father and mother, and was gone to Padan-aram.” (Verse 7). One of the ills of our time is the large number of people who are mentor less but yet are authorities in their own way. It is dangerous to be an authority but not under any authority. Jacob’s mentors are the parents. Ask yourself, who is my mentor? I am not talking of “godfathers”, but successful Christians who are more experienced and who can give you godly counsels and guidance. Experience , some people say, it’s the best teacher. Some experiences are however better to be learnt from other people’s situation instead of going through those situations yourself. If you will have to personally experience everything you have learnt today, then you are a dead man. A wise person will learn from the wisdom of others. Jacob obeyed the parent. “shama”, the Hebrew word translated obeyed in this verse, means to give undivided listening attention, to understand spiritually, or to obey or give heed. Do you have anyone you listen to or you think you are the wisest or the most spiritual?
Vision and Motion – There are “mere visionaries” and there are “envisioned missionaries” there are a lot of motionless visions today. It should not be only what you dream about, but also what you do with what you dream. It is one thing to plan you work but another thing to work your plans. Do not leave your vision only in your diary, but translate it into action. Jacob went out from Beersheba after receiving the instruction. There are things God want you to get out from and there are things God want you to get into. You need to tap locomotive anointing. You have being sitting down idle for too long, it is high time you set into action. I was asked one day by someone to comment on what I’ve learnt from Peter walking on the sea, I told the person that the greatest thing in the episode was Peter getting out of the boat. The greatest move was the first step out of the boat. Your problem is not so much with the walking on the sea but rather with stepping out from the boat. You must wake up, get up, get out and get going. It is a decree coming to you NOW!
Vision and Direction – “---and went towards Haran” (Vs 10). Do you know and can you tell where you are walking towards? There are people who are just going but don’t know where to. Look, it is not just about going, but about knowing where you are really going. You must stop scavenging and start navigating. You must have the end in view, and walk towards your God ordained destination.
Lighted and Tarried – In every vision there must be room for revision and evaluation. There must be a strategic time set apart for you to alight and tarry on the Lord. One great menace of our generation is little time for reflection and a rush windy living. If you are always in haste you are automatically in waste. If you rush then you rust. Alone with God, that is the secret of great people of God in the Bible. Even in our relationships we need to take time and tarry. You have lived with your spouse for year without retreating, relaxing and evaluating your relationship. Great things, unusual things happen when we tarry, retreat and relax in God’s presence.
A Set Up – A ladder was set up for Jacob in His dream. There is a divine set up for you that you must discover. Life is all about connection. Before you were born there was a connection between your mother and father. In your mother’s womb, you survived because there was a connection between you and your mother. You were born into the world of connection. Someone said that even going to heaven is by connection because if you don’t know Jesus, you cant get there. There is a connection you need right now, and that is what you are getting in this prayer campaign. There was a set up for Jacob that took him beyond himself, and there is one the heaven is setting for you that will take you beyond the limit of yourself. Get the message here, a ladder was set up on the earth, and the top of it reaching heaven. If you are connected with the heaven, you will get supply that will last for eternity.
Divine Company – The Lord’s presence is the most important, and His backing the most reliable. “---for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of” (Vs 15). Do you know that you are a child of destiny and that God is interested in blessing you? This is a powerful statement from the Lord, that you are incurably and inescapably blessed by God. In this kind of situation, it is too late to decide not to be blessed. The word of God contains things spoken concerning you and the presence and the zeal of God is set to bring them to pass. The vision of Jacob is an assurance of divine connection intended to fully launch him into his destiny. The focus of this campaign is therefore to launch you into your destiny and get you connected to the heaven’s grid.
Pillows to Pillars – In the discovery of the divine set up, Jacob respond by making a responsorial set up, turning of his stone pillows to pillars. This represents the result of encounter with God. Every pillow in your life will turn pillar. Pillow represent weakness and pillar represent strength. Your human weaknesses disappear at the face of divine power and help.
The revelation from this passage should form the platform upon which our connection prayer is built. Let the prayer point below be your guide in praying through :
1) I confess all areas of my life where I have not being obedient to your commands. (Identify specific areas, and humbly repent and confess)
2) Lord, I want to recover, help me discover your will for my life. (spread this prayer across all significant area of your life)
3) Receive the anointing to be contagiously fruitful, and to multiply in supra-geometric progression.
4) Decree and prophecy the continuity of divine grace and connection on your progeny and family.
5) Lord, launch into my life people that will help me fulfill my dream, and remove from all my relationships agents of darkness detailed by hell to derail my journey to fulfill my destiny.
6) I receive the anointing for motion and acceleration. I rebuke every stagnating and redundancy spirit. I overcome every evil environmental influence, the spirit of despondency and the failure from frustration.
7) In every affair of my life I receive clear divine direction. Lord, envision me and keep me at the center of your will. Lord , set me up and get me eternally connection to the heaven’s grip.
The concluding part of this prayer campaign shall be posted later. This first phase is for a day campaign. This is written by Rev Dele Kolade
Transformational Teaching Approach
TRANSFORMATIONAL TEACHING; THE RIGHT APPROACH TO TEACHING AND LEARNING
(Written by Rev Dele Kolade)
INTRODUCTION
In this paper, a conscious and critical attempt will be made to explore the nitty gritty of teaching and learning with the sole aim of evolving a transformational approach into the enterprise of teaching and learning for today.
Alternative dynamics will be sought as a replacement or complimentary effort to revamping the lost grip of our educational system and it’s repositioning to ensure for its ability to bring about dramatic transformational changes not only to the learner but to the teacher as well.
Basically speaking, the whole concept of transformational teaching and learning seeks to bring about a careful integration of acquisition of transformational data, understanding meaning, emancipatory knowing [through critical self reflection], which makes teaching learning open-ended and venturing beyond the culturally-shaped expectations.
SCRIPTURAL PRECEDENCE
Legions of teaching-learning scenario and encounters in the scripture clearly depict transformational approach and result. The teaching situation in the bible majorly present undisputable attention at allowing God reframe our perspectives and coming to embrace His will as good, pleasing and wise and consequently experiencing transformation.
One lucid example of a transformational teaching-learning experience in the Bible is Luke 24; the Emmaus pair. In this scenario, these disciples mere challenged to reexamine factual data as it relate to Christ and construct new assumptions about suffering, death and the Messiah. Christ helped them connect truth to form new insight. Their way of seeing, interpreting and value setting was altered, there was complete overhauling of their being, a dramatic change of their perspective. As a result of that teaching-learning encounter, their relationship with truth, with each other and with the other believers is reconstructed—all is transformed. Within their limited reality, there is clear evidence that they encountered the living Christ, faced with counter facts to everything they previously knew, experienced, believed, hope and were. They believed! A new “reality” was birthed.
The great error of our teaching and learning process today is the wrong attitude of trying to get people to do without necessarily changing what they really believe. Much of our activities today are geared toward collecting and conveying information without actually effecting transformation.
In 2 Corinthians 1, Paul presents what can be called emancipatory learning which should result in some active response that expresses the re-orientation or integration that has taken place as a result of learning which is beyond objective informational data.
Jesus expectation or evaluation of those who have learnt is the display of transformational actions Jesus confronts Martha’s resistance to rolling away the stone by asking: “Did I not tell you that if you believed (an issue they had already worked through) you would see the glory of God?” (Jn.11:40) Jesus was expecting a transformational response or action as an authentication of Martha’s belief, the result that was lacking in Martha’s attitude to the situation.
In Mark 6:52, as Jesus encountered the terror struck disciples on the lake, he expressed amazement that they had learnt nothing from the previous magnificence of the feeding of the 5,000. He attributed this to “harden hearts”. Jesus’ approach to teaching and learning was both emancipatory and transformational. His words and miracles were to cause people to question their values, assumptions and lifestyles. Transformation is most possible when we are experiencing disequilibrating situations of crisis, questioning, facing situations that is out of our control or in our “aha” moments of insight into self, the nature of reality and the wisdom of living out the truth.
THE NEW PARADIGM SHIFT
Transformational teaching and learning is principally built on the readiness to objectively examine our assumptions and the paradigms that will challenge our comfort, control and concepts- the evidence is the transformed actions emanating from the emancipatory experience of learning. The goal of transformational teaching and learning is to recognize and live in the reality of truth. We therefore teach to enable people to come to the transformational knowledge of truth. This therefore has definite implication for how we teach, what we teach and the purpose of our teaching. The clear invitation of this approach is into a relationship with the truth leading into a transformation of our whole person where it is impossible to separate perspective, insight, feeling, action, etc. The great paradigm shift therefore concerns with the challenge of creating an environment in which truth can be known as “personal” and this is integral to transformation. As long as truth remains an “impersonal”, conceptual, theoretical, objectified reality apart from me, I will find it difficult to be transformed by it. For this to be possible, it is therefore necessary for the teaching-learning situation to be packaged in a way by which experiences can be provided or presented in both formal and inner logic. Learning must be seen as both rational and intuitive. The transformational teacher therefore bridges two realms- the scientifically provable world of reasoning, and the transcendental world of the spiritually mystical. The traditional approach of categorization and dichotomization will not enhance holistic transformation because learning presented by such approach is easily distorted.
Teaching for transformation can therefore be said to help make one far more aware of the necessity of God. It involves an interactive listening, response, residing before God in openness and not just the preparation of content for delivery. It is the readiness of the human to back out of the limelight and allows God take front and center. The focus is neither on the messenger nor the message but on the source and creator. Mulholland Robert captured this more clearly in his book “Shape by the Word”, by questioning our traditional one way approach to teaching and learning: “We have a deeply ingrained way of reading in which we are masters of the material we read… our general mode of reading is perceive the text as an object “out there” over which we have control. We control our approach to the text; we control our interaction with the text upon our lives. This mode of reading is detrimental to the role of scripture in spiritual formation… there is an imbalance in the role of rational, cognitive dynamics in our lives. The problem with such an imbalance is that it enables us to stand back from whatever we encounter, to stand independent of it, to evaluate it in the light of our own best judgment, and then make some kind of decision on how we are going to deal with it”. 1. (Mulholland 1985, 21-23)
What Mulholland posits is not only true with our approach to reading scripture alone but also generally of our attitude toward the whole enterprise of teaching and learning. Transformational teaching is not only seeking to expose learner to the truth but help learner respond to it and acknowledge in interactive relationship the source of true knowledge. An encounter with truth will make learner not to remain aloof and untouched but respond actively in affirmation of it.We should see how best we can imbibe the transformational teaching approach and strategies to our teaching, especially in the church setting.
Written by
Rev Dele Kolade
GLODET PRESIDENT
(Written by Rev Dele Kolade)
INTRODUCTION
In this paper, a conscious and critical attempt will be made to explore the nitty gritty of teaching and learning with the sole aim of evolving a transformational approach into the enterprise of teaching and learning for today.
Alternative dynamics will be sought as a replacement or complimentary effort to revamping the lost grip of our educational system and it’s repositioning to ensure for its ability to bring about dramatic transformational changes not only to the learner but to the teacher as well.
Basically speaking, the whole concept of transformational teaching and learning seeks to bring about a careful integration of acquisition of transformational data, understanding meaning, emancipatory knowing [through critical self reflection], which makes teaching learning open-ended and venturing beyond the culturally-shaped expectations.
SCRIPTURAL PRECEDENCE
Legions of teaching-learning scenario and encounters in the scripture clearly depict transformational approach and result. The teaching situation in the bible majorly present undisputable attention at allowing God reframe our perspectives and coming to embrace His will as good, pleasing and wise and consequently experiencing transformation.
One lucid example of a transformational teaching-learning experience in the Bible is Luke 24; the Emmaus pair. In this scenario, these disciples mere challenged to reexamine factual data as it relate to Christ and construct new assumptions about suffering, death and the Messiah. Christ helped them connect truth to form new insight. Their way of seeing, interpreting and value setting was altered, there was complete overhauling of their being, a dramatic change of their perspective. As a result of that teaching-learning encounter, their relationship with truth, with each other and with the other believers is reconstructed—all is transformed. Within their limited reality, there is clear evidence that they encountered the living Christ, faced with counter facts to everything they previously knew, experienced, believed, hope and were. They believed! A new “reality” was birthed.
The great error of our teaching and learning process today is the wrong attitude of trying to get people to do without necessarily changing what they really believe. Much of our activities today are geared toward collecting and conveying information without actually effecting transformation.
In 2 Corinthians 1, Paul presents what can be called emancipatory learning which should result in some active response that expresses the re-orientation or integration that has taken place as a result of learning which is beyond objective informational data.
Jesus expectation or evaluation of those who have learnt is the display of transformational actions Jesus confronts Martha’s resistance to rolling away the stone by asking: “Did I not tell you that if you believed (an issue they had already worked through) you would see the glory of God?” (Jn.11:40) Jesus was expecting a transformational response or action as an authentication of Martha’s belief, the result that was lacking in Martha’s attitude to the situation.
In Mark 6:52, as Jesus encountered the terror struck disciples on the lake, he expressed amazement that they had learnt nothing from the previous magnificence of the feeding of the 5,000. He attributed this to “harden hearts”. Jesus’ approach to teaching and learning was both emancipatory and transformational. His words and miracles were to cause people to question their values, assumptions and lifestyles. Transformation is most possible when we are experiencing disequilibrating situations of crisis, questioning, facing situations that is out of our control or in our “aha” moments of insight into self, the nature of reality and the wisdom of living out the truth.
THE NEW PARADIGM SHIFT
Transformational teaching and learning is principally built on the readiness to objectively examine our assumptions and the paradigms that will challenge our comfort, control and concepts- the evidence is the transformed actions emanating from the emancipatory experience of learning. The goal of transformational teaching and learning is to recognize and live in the reality of truth. We therefore teach to enable people to come to the transformational knowledge of truth. This therefore has definite implication for how we teach, what we teach and the purpose of our teaching. The clear invitation of this approach is into a relationship with the truth leading into a transformation of our whole person where it is impossible to separate perspective, insight, feeling, action, etc. The great paradigm shift therefore concerns with the challenge of creating an environment in which truth can be known as “personal” and this is integral to transformation. As long as truth remains an “impersonal”, conceptual, theoretical, objectified reality apart from me, I will find it difficult to be transformed by it. For this to be possible, it is therefore necessary for the teaching-learning situation to be packaged in a way by which experiences can be provided or presented in both formal and inner logic. Learning must be seen as both rational and intuitive. The transformational teacher therefore bridges two realms- the scientifically provable world of reasoning, and the transcendental world of the spiritually mystical. The traditional approach of categorization and dichotomization will not enhance holistic transformation because learning presented by such approach is easily distorted.
Teaching for transformation can therefore be said to help make one far more aware of the necessity of God. It involves an interactive listening, response, residing before God in openness and not just the preparation of content for delivery. It is the readiness of the human to back out of the limelight and allows God take front and center. The focus is neither on the messenger nor the message but on the source and creator. Mulholland Robert captured this more clearly in his book “Shape by the Word”, by questioning our traditional one way approach to teaching and learning: “We have a deeply ingrained way of reading in which we are masters of the material we read… our general mode of reading is perceive the text as an object “out there” over which we have control. We control our approach to the text; we control our interaction with the text upon our lives. This mode of reading is detrimental to the role of scripture in spiritual formation… there is an imbalance in the role of rational, cognitive dynamics in our lives. The problem with such an imbalance is that it enables us to stand back from whatever we encounter, to stand independent of it, to evaluate it in the light of our own best judgment, and then make some kind of decision on how we are going to deal with it”. 1. (Mulholland 1985, 21-23)
What Mulholland posits is not only true with our approach to reading scripture alone but also generally of our attitude toward the whole enterprise of teaching and learning. Transformational teaching is not only seeking to expose learner to the truth but help learner respond to it and acknowledge in interactive relationship the source of true knowledge. An encounter with truth will make learner not to remain aloof and untouched but respond actively in affirmation of it.We should see how best we can imbibe the transformational teaching approach and strategies to our teaching, especially in the church setting.
Written by
Rev Dele Kolade
GLODET PRESIDENT
OPERATION PHILIP, EXEGESIS OF ACTS 8:9-25
CONTEXTUAL EXEGESIS OF ACTS 8:9-25 (OPERATION PHILIP)FROM THE GREEK TEXT OF THE BIBLE
(A RESEARCH PAPER SUBMITTED BY REV OLADELE KOLADE AS PART REQUIREMENT FOR ADMISSION INTO THE MPHIL PROGRAM OF THE CLIFFCOLLEGE OF UK)
INTRODUCTION
This exegetical paper is written against the background that Luke is the author of Acts. My observation of the style of the writing of Acts is that of conscious selectivity of work around important persons and significant places. The interspersing of happenings which is seen throughout Acts is also evident in this passage my work is focusing on. In more concise words, I will say that the Luke’s presentation of theology and history in Acts is around certain geography (Jerusalem, Samaria, Antioch, Rome etc) and biographies (Paul, Philip, Peter). Luke sets his Acts’ presentation in a number of cultural contexts among which is this Samaria setting This passage is a narration of the beginning of the church’s mission beyond the borders of Jerusalem, and the story of Philip, a charismatic leader who zoom into the mission’s hall of fame after the demise of Stephen. The textual descriptions argues that this is (Hellenist )deacon Philip, and not Apostle Philip especially judging from the fact that verse one clearly states that the Apostles remain in Jerusalem. There is no other suggestion from the rest of the book of Acts to support the idea that it was Apostle Philip. Again is the fact that from the record of Luke, the initiators of cross cultural missions were mainly Hellenists and not the Hebrew. The sending down of the Apostles from Jerusalem to Samaria would have also been unnecessary if it were to be Apostle Philip who was at Samaria.
This missionlogical development is the beginning of the fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy of Acts 1:8 which set out the panoramic move of the gospel, taking over the entire global geography, and putting Jerusalem as the starting point. As observed from the narrations of Luke, it took persecution and aggression for the church to step out of Jerusalem to the other territories. It must be humbly recognized that those at the center stage of this cross cultural mission in the early part of the church’s missions were mainly Hellenist brethren.
Both the location and the characters of this particular story are of very great significance. Samaria at this time was a sub province of Judea and was under Roman’s rule. Unlike Judea, Samaria was inhabited by a mixed population segregated both socially and religiously from the Jews since the days of Nehemiah, and Ezra. (1). The Judean Jews considered the Samaritans as racially impure, religiously heterodox and politically treacherous. This Philip mission to Samaria however shows how the gospel is indeed a barrier breaker, and also the beginning of the unfolding of the Church’s mission participation in God’s global redemptive plan. Samaria, which can be considered the middle wall between the Jews and the Gentiles, gives way as the evangelist Philip triumphantly enters the land with the good news. What follows is the unfolding drama of power shift as the gospel penetrates Samaria.
EXEGETICAL ANALYSIS OF THE PASSAGE
(I must first define certain confines of this work. This work was personally typed on my pc. I could not get a Greek font with accent mark on my pc; nevertheless, the interpretation of the text was done using accented Greek New Testament. Again is the problem of getting the other form of sigma on the computer. The bold Zetas were used to represent bigger sigma. I hope you will bear with me).
Anhr de tiz onomati Simwn prouphrcen en th polei
mageuwn kai existanvn to eqnoz thz Samareiaz, legwn einai tina eauton megan w proseicon pantez apo mikrou ewz megalou legontez Outoz estin h dunamiz tou qeou h kaloumenh Megalh. proseicon de autw dia to ikanw cronw taiz mageiaiz exestakenai autouz. ( Acts 8:9-11).
We must give a particular attention first to the Luke’s use of the catchphrase, “now those”, (hoi men oun) in Vs 4 as an indication that there is a deliberate turning to a new direction. There is a deliberate attempt by Luke in interspersing his narratives in a way to give panoramic historical developments weaved around certain people and places. Luke in a stylish way introduces a doublet after the catchphrase to give a summary of the Samaria mission. Philip is seen entering Samaria, breaking the new ground with power evangelism. The dramatic shaking of Samaria’s spiritual foundation is seen in people turning to Philip’s message, and the apostolic confirmation of the new church movement in Samaria is to give the new mission move the apostolic blessing. Verse 5 bears testimony to the fact that this missionary Philip is the same Philip mentioned in Acts 6:5, and Acts 21:8, as a part of the scattered group. The content and the consequences of Philip’s power evangelism are what Luke captures in verses 6 to 8.
Verse 9 gives the picture of what used to be in Samaria before the advent of Philip. The former power broker is identified here as one Simon, a magician (magos). The effect of Simon’s magic was the bewitchment of the entire community. taiz mageiaiz is used here as an instrumental dative, “with his magic”, showing by what means Simon was bewitching the people. The Greek word “existamai” translated as amazed in NIV and bewitched in KJV literarily means “to remove out of its place” and this was used in the New Testament to the mind. It can therefore be said that as a result of Simon’s magic the people were “out of their minds”. Luke further describes how powerful and influential Simon was by the use of the word “ethnos” in Vs. 9 to indicate that the whole city was under the influence of this magician. The phrase “both high and low” in Vs.10 shows his influence cutting across various age, economic, and social background, and this was so for a long time as Luke intimates in Vs.11. Simon had a great resume which captured the whole land in amazement.
The characteristic boastful disposition of Simon can be likened to that of Theudas in Acts 5:36. He was popularly called “dynamis tou theou” (power of God). tina eauton megan used in verse 9 means “a very great man” in his own estimation. Luke by this expression presents Simon as someone of conscious self glorification and who was boastfully aware of his achievements.
ote de episteusan tw Filippw euaggelizomenv peri thz basileiaz tou qeou kai tou onomatoz Ihsou Cristou ebaptizonto andrez te kai gunaikez. o de Simvn kai autoz episteusen kai baptisqeiz hn proskartervntv Filippv, qevrvn te shmeia kai dunameiz megalaz ginomenaz existato.(Acts 8:12-13)
Verse 12 is a strategic continuation of the story of Philip’s exploit after a brief interlude with a flash back to what used to be in Samaria. This intentional break presents an occasion for a better juxtaposition. Luke’s introduction of the adversative de is intended to draw attention to the big contrast between Simon and Philip. The duo can be contrasted based on their source of power, motive of operation and the attendant results of their activities.
The source of Philip’s power, preaching and practices is the Holy Spirit and the motive of his mission is purely liberating and redemptive. Simon’s practice of magic however is linked with demoniac and his motive was purely political and not redemptive or liberating. The attitudes of the two to their success are also not the same. Unlike Simon’s boastful disposition, Philip was drawing attention not to himself but Christ the Savior (Vs 5 and 12)
The phrase “believed Philip”(episteusan tv filippv) does not imply that Philip was the object of the converts’ trust as this will not be in tandem with Luke’s report of other conversions(9:42, 11:17, 16:31-34). This expression “believed Philip is similar to the phrase in Acts 2:41 where converts “accepted Peter’s message and were baptized”. The implication of the phrase is that the people accepted what Philip represents and proclaims: the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. The Samaritans’ submission for baptism is a strong attestation to their conviction and commitment to their new found faith in Christ. That Simon, the previous power broker also believed shows the great impact the ministry of Simon had on Samaria and unveils the great power shift from magic to the miracle of redemption and liberation. Now, this same Simon that all Samaritans followed everywhere now followed Philip everywhere. There is no clear indication from the text to authenticate the assertion that Simon’s conversion was faked. The verb in the expression “and Simon also himself believed” only describes him with reference to his supposed state, but not really his actual position. He may not have been wholly sincere. Nevertheless, that he was following Philip everywhere may not necessarily be for further instructions but rather for the spectaculars. Simon’s amazement is typical of the unbeliever’s reaction to their encounter with God’s mighty move and this typically comes prior to repentance. In Simon’s case this was reversed: his amazement at the Spirit’s move comes after his conversion and not as a precondition of it. This singular attitudinal error signals Simon’s spiritual malformation. He was interested in the “spectaculars” and not necessarily the “spiritual”. The attention of Simon was basically on the signs and wonders he saw in Philip’s operations. Instead for Simon to be following Christ he was following signs.
Akousantez de oi en Ierosolumoiz apostoloi oti dedektai h Samareia ton logon tou qeou apesteilan proz autouz Petron kai Ivannhn. oitinez katabantez proshuxanto peri autvn opvz labvsin pneuma agion oudepv gar hn ep oudeni autvn epipeptvkoz monon de bebaptismenoi uphrcon eiz to onoma tou kuriou Ihsou. tote epetiqesan taz ceiraz ep autoiz kai elambanon pneuma agion.(Acts 8:14-17)
The Jerusalem church receives the news of the move of God in Samaria with all gladness. Peter and John apostolic visit to Samaria is in solidarity with Philip work there and not to overthrow his leadership. The text indicates clearly that although the believers in Samaria had believed and were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ but they were yet to receive the Holy Spirit. Luke is silent on the delay between the two baptisms. This notwithstanding, the Samaritans qualification for the gift of the Holy Spirit is in line with Peter’s prophetic declaration in Acts 2:39 “For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to Him”. The coming of the Holy Spirit is also necessary for the Samaritan congregation to be able to fully participate in the messianic mission work. It can be inferred from Jesus’ promise of the Spirit’s baptism that without this the believer is unable to fully participate in the missionary vacation. The Apostle distributes the Spirit blessing by prayer and laying of their hands on the new believers. This laying of hands practice is similar to what the Apostles did in Acts 6:6 when they commissioned the seven deacons to help heal the rift between Hellenist and Hebrew believers. Paul’s laying of his hands on the certain disciples at Ephesus (Acts 19:6) is another of such examples. The church of the New Testament was united in the Spirit and this is a cardinal reason why the y were able to do a lot of exploit for the Lord.
idvn de o Simvn oti dia thz epiqesevz tvn ceirvntvn apostolvn didotai to pneuma, proshnegken autoiz crhmata legvn, Lote kamoi thn exousian tauthn ina v ean epiqv taz ceiraz lambanh pneuma agion.(Acts 8:18-19)
In a very stylish way and an organized interjectory manner, the spotlight of the narration returns to Simon. This new shift is calculated at exposing Simon’s theological miscalculation and an x-ray of his insatiable lust for power. The dia in Vs 18 with genitive has the sense of by means of, indicating that the Spirit’s coming is by the laying on of hands by the Apostle, this at least as Simon concluded. This does not however imply that the Holy Spirit is given by the Apostles as in there teachings the Spirit coming is attributed to the Grace of God. There were other instances in the New Testament where people received the Spirit without the Apostles’ laying on of hands. The encounter in Cornelius house is a good example. The gift of the Spirit coming on the Samaritan is in line with the Spirit authenticating gentile churches at Caesarea (Acts 10:47, 11:17, 15:8), and Galatia (Acts 15:12). There is a strong indication from Simon’s offer of money for the ability to give out the Spirit, that he was exploiting the community financially by his practice of magic. Simon may not see anything wrong in paying for spiritual power. It may also be suggested that Simon may be thinking of power continuity given the fact that the Apostles and Simon may not continue to stay at Samaria. Simon’s request may therefore be a calculated plot to assume the leadership role of the new church.
Petroz de eipen proz auton, To argurion sou sunsoi eih eiz apvleian oti thn dvrean tou qeou enomisaz dia crhmatvn ktasqai ouk estin soi meriz oude klhroz en tv logv toutv h gar kardia sou ouk estin euqeia enanti tou qeou. metanohson oun apo thz kakiaz sou tauthz kai dehqhti tou kuriou ei ara afeqhsetai soi h epinoia thz kardiaz sou, eiz gar colhn pikriaz kai sundesmon adikiaz orv se onta.(Acts 8:20-23)
Luke captures the rebuke of Simon by Peter in a manner that shows how serious the apostle sees the attempt to want to commercialize God’s grace is. Verse 20 gives one of the two instances of the use of optative in the New Testament as imprecation. (Mk 11:14). Luke uses the word “kardia” in verse 21 as a metonym for the mind and this can be understood as intention, desire, or affection. Peter calls Simon to immediate repentance. The word “metanoeo” means to repent with regret accompanied by a true change of heart towards God, or regret for the course pursued resulting in the wiser view of the past and future. Peter’s use of the word “ara” indicates Peter’s uncertainty of Simon’s readiness for genuine repentance and not about God forgiving him. In verse 23, Peter is seen using the Old Testament intertext of “gall of bitterness “(Deut. 29:18), and “chains of wickedness” (Isa. 58:6). In the New Testament time, the gall of noxious reptiles was considered as the source of their venom-so gall in this passage is used as an expressive metaphor to denote malice or moral corruption of the wicked. (2). This metaphoric representation of Simon shows how corrupt Peter sees the man, an indication that he is seen as a potential threat to the faith development of this new faith community. Peter in this expression does not only see the wickedness of the heart of Simon but a possibility that he may be a very bad influence on the rest of the community. Simon’s apocryphal profile attributes all manners of heresies and subversive activities to him.
apokriqeiz de o Simvn eipen, Lehqhte umeiz uper emou proz ton kurion opvz mhden epelqh ep eme vn eiphkate. Oi mev ouv diamarturamenoi kai lalhsantez tov logon tou kuriou upestrefon eiz Ierosoluma, pollaz te kvmaz tvn Samaritvn euhggelizonto.(Acts 8:24-25)·
Simon’s request for intercession shows how fearful he is now. This plea is also an indication in his believe in the apostolic power to help him appeal to God. This does not however show true sign of remorse for what he actually deed but a sign that he does not want any evil to befall him. This suggests strongly that Simon must be a very self centered individual.
The introduction of “men oun” in verse 25 is strictly used as resumptive or transitional, “and so”, “now”. There is no suggestion for its being used to intend a contrast between Philip’s preaching and that of the apostles (3). It is clearly stated by Luke that the Apostles also continue to preach the same message even as they return to their base at Jerusalem. Luke draws curtain on the apostolic visit to Samaria in a strategic manner to show continuity of mission.
PERSONAL EVALUTION AND SUBMISSIONS
I see this passage bringing to the fore a timely need for a reevaluation of the contemporary church’s mission enterprise and a call for a complete overhauling of our strategies for doing mission. From this narrative, I can deduce a strong need for a paradigm shift that will capture the universal elements in the Philip’s Samaria mission campaign based on the context of the above exegized text. In view of this I want to make the following submissions:
PERSECUTION, A CATALYST FOR PROCLAMATION – Mission should not be viewed as a project of a church that sits in a comfort zone. The idea of serving God or preaching “in season and out of season” should be practically understood by the contemporary church. We must be challenged by the attitude of the early church towards persecution. It is well presented in this particular passage that persecution could not stop their proclamation. That we face much opposition is a testimony that we have a strong position as people of God. We have a divine mandate to carry out a mission to the dieing world no matter the kind of opposition we face.
THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN SCATTERED – The disciple at Jerusalem were scattered but not shattered. There is a powerful testimony in this passage showing how well discipled the early believers were. The sharing of the gospel was a responsibility of everyone and not just for a selected few “super star” individuals. The concept of “every man a beam”, need to be reechoed today. Every Christian must be a witness. It was not only the twelve apostles that were equipped to share the gospel, everyone was brought on board. The question we need to ask ourselves today is how many of our parishioners who are even in their comfort zones can meaningfully share their faith with their unbelieving communities?
A CITY UNDER SPELL – Another dimension to missions should be the reality of direct spiritual encounter with satanic forces. The Samaria’s case is an example of a community under the influence of evil forces. In our mission campaign, we must realize that their may be issue like this, and if the church is not holistically equipped to offer spiritual helps relevant to the needs of the people our ministry will seem incomplete. As a cross cultural missionary for more than a decade working in Nigeria and Ghana, I have encountered situations of direct confrontations with power of darkness. There were times when we had to exorcise demons out of people. The gospel we preach is powerful to tear down evil strongholds in people and land we enter. The contemporary church is not fully appropriating the spiritual resources at her disposal. We tend to shy away from or deny certain realities beyond our comprehension. The challenge today is retracing our steps back to the apostolic foundations. We evangelicals have done so well in many areas of the church mission campaign but we have not made a very strong mark in areas where direct demonic practices are prevalent. In some of this areas where we have our presence, most of the convert still combine their faith with some element of their past traditional spiritual experience.
THE CONTENT OF OUR MESSAGE – It is not enough that we are preaching but we must evaluate the content of our message. Luke captures the content of Philip’s message in verse 12 as “the good news of the kingdom of God” and “name of Jesus Christ”. Looking at the church in Africa for example, one could see a lot of ‘men empires’ in the name of God’s Kingdom. People are preaching themselves and building their own empire. In Acts, all I see in all of the recorded preaching is Christ. Sometimes in our mission campaign, we tend to put our denominational creed ahead of Christ decrees, we focus too much on human personalities and the expense of the one who sets out the rule of His mission. What are people preaching today, and how are they in tandem with the content of the apostolic preaching? Simon never went to Samaria for self promotion, and the apostles who came to compliment his work were not their to show they are superior to Simon, all came to fulfill their parts in the messianic mission and Christ remain the center of their ministry.
IN TOUCH – Verse 14 records the response of the Jerusalem church to the new mission development in Samaria. The apostolic mission was not fragmented project, but rather interconnected. In our contemporary mission there is a lot of fragmentation, unsupervised and unevaluated missions scattered here and there. There is an urgent need for greater mission networking today like the days of the apostle. I have met a lot of independent missionaries who are not affiliated with any Christian body, but are just doing their own things. The brethren were scattered from Jerusalem but were still in touch with Jerusalem. Every mission must be in touch with a body that can critical evaluate its vision and offer necessary assistance.
FAITH OR FRAUD? – The unfortunate development in verse 18 with Simon offering money for the apostolic gift is a picture of a serious thing happening in the church today. With the coming of the “prosperity” preachers especially in the African context, a lot of strange commercial strategies are brought into mission. Sometimes people are asked to pay some amount for the “prophet” to pray for them. Another popular practice is that in which members are asked to make certain donations in exchange for “divine prosperity”. Such prosperity only comes on those who make heavy donations. Some of these preachers claim they are being sent by God specifically to make people rich, but ironically they will never go to deprived communities, but rather they target those who are already financially sound. Simony is strongly back to the church especially because of the high level of societal gullibility.
APOSTOLIC REBUKE – Luke’s quotation of Peter’s full rebuke of Simon is intended to show the way the early church frowned at sin in the church. It is however unfortunate that in the contemporary church we seem to polish sin and shy away from openly rebuking it partly due to the fear of loosing member. Sin is a cancer that the church will have to fight against today in order to make her mission to the world more relevant. In rebuking sin, we must call the erring believer to repentance. Discipline should be corrective and not destructive.
If there is anything at all to learn from this passage, it is the timeless challenge of making our mission break barriers. There are still evidently present in our contemporary time, multifaceted barriers – social, racial, ethnic, spiritual, economical, cultural, educational, linguistic, and geographical barrier. The big challenge to Christian missiology is in evolving a global mission conversation and strategies that can help prepare the church well in making her mission break these barriers.
END NOTE
1) William Hull, The Broadman Commentary. Nashville: Broadman Press,1970
2) Alvah Hovey (ed), An American Commentary on the New Testament. Washington: Judson Press, 1982
3) Robert Hanna, A Grammatical Aid to the Greek New Testament. Grand Rapids: Bakers, 1983
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bruce, Metzger. A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, Stuttgart: U.B.S, 1971.
Douglas, J.D (Ed). The New Greek Interlinear New Testament, Wheaton: Tyndale, 1990
Hanna, Robert. A Grammatical Aid to the Greek New Testament, Grand Rapids: Baker, 1983
Hovey, Alvah (Ed). An American Commentary on the New Testament, Washington: Judson Press, 1982.
Hull, Williams. The Broadman Commentary. Nashville: Broadman Press, 1970
John, Fraser and McDonald, W.G. Calvin’s Commentaries, the Acts of the Apostles. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965
Lampe, Longman. The Seal of the Spirit. Green & Co, 1951.
Neil. The Acts of the Apostles. New Century Bible.
Timothy, Johnson. The Writings of the New Testament; an Interpretation. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1986
Unnik, Van. Luke-Acts, a Storm Center in Contemporary Scholarship. Nashville: Abingdon, 1996
(A RESEARCH PAPER SUBMITTED BY REV OLADELE KOLADE AS PART REQUIREMENT FOR ADMISSION INTO THE MPHIL PROGRAM OF THE CLIFFCOLLEGE OF UK)
INTRODUCTION
This exegetical paper is written against the background that Luke is the author of Acts. My observation of the style of the writing of Acts is that of conscious selectivity of work around important persons and significant places. The interspersing of happenings which is seen throughout Acts is also evident in this passage my work is focusing on. In more concise words, I will say that the Luke’s presentation of theology and history in Acts is around certain geography (Jerusalem, Samaria, Antioch, Rome etc) and biographies (Paul, Philip, Peter). Luke sets his Acts’ presentation in a number of cultural contexts among which is this Samaria setting This passage is a narration of the beginning of the church’s mission beyond the borders of Jerusalem, and the story of Philip, a charismatic leader who zoom into the mission’s hall of fame after the demise of Stephen. The textual descriptions argues that this is (Hellenist )deacon Philip, and not Apostle Philip especially judging from the fact that verse one clearly states that the Apostles remain in Jerusalem. There is no other suggestion from the rest of the book of Acts to support the idea that it was Apostle Philip. Again is the fact that from the record of Luke, the initiators of cross cultural missions were mainly Hellenists and not the Hebrew. The sending down of the Apostles from Jerusalem to Samaria would have also been unnecessary if it were to be Apostle Philip who was at Samaria.
This missionlogical development is the beginning of the fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy of Acts 1:8 which set out the panoramic move of the gospel, taking over the entire global geography, and putting Jerusalem as the starting point. As observed from the narrations of Luke, it took persecution and aggression for the church to step out of Jerusalem to the other territories. It must be humbly recognized that those at the center stage of this cross cultural mission in the early part of the church’s missions were mainly Hellenist brethren.
Both the location and the characters of this particular story are of very great significance. Samaria at this time was a sub province of Judea and was under Roman’s rule. Unlike Judea, Samaria was inhabited by a mixed population segregated both socially and religiously from the Jews since the days of Nehemiah, and Ezra. (1). The Judean Jews considered the Samaritans as racially impure, religiously heterodox and politically treacherous. This Philip mission to Samaria however shows how the gospel is indeed a barrier breaker, and also the beginning of the unfolding of the Church’s mission participation in God’s global redemptive plan. Samaria, which can be considered the middle wall between the Jews and the Gentiles, gives way as the evangelist Philip triumphantly enters the land with the good news. What follows is the unfolding drama of power shift as the gospel penetrates Samaria.
EXEGETICAL ANALYSIS OF THE PASSAGE
(I must first define certain confines of this work. This work was personally typed on my pc. I could not get a Greek font with accent mark on my pc; nevertheless, the interpretation of the text was done using accented Greek New Testament. Again is the problem of getting the other form of sigma on the computer. The bold Zetas were used to represent bigger sigma. I hope you will bear with me).
Anhr de tiz onomati Simwn prouphrcen en th polei
mageuwn kai existanvn to eqnoz thz Samareiaz, legwn einai tina eauton megan w proseicon pantez apo mikrou ewz megalou legontez Outoz estin h dunamiz tou qeou h kaloumenh Megalh. proseicon de autw dia to ikanw cronw taiz mageiaiz exestakenai autouz. ( Acts 8:9-11).
We must give a particular attention first to the Luke’s use of the catchphrase, “now those”, (hoi men oun) in Vs 4 as an indication that there is a deliberate turning to a new direction. There is a deliberate attempt by Luke in interspersing his narratives in a way to give panoramic historical developments weaved around certain people and places. Luke in a stylish way introduces a doublet after the catchphrase to give a summary of the Samaria mission. Philip is seen entering Samaria, breaking the new ground with power evangelism. The dramatic shaking of Samaria’s spiritual foundation is seen in people turning to Philip’s message, and the apostolic confirmation of the new church movement in Samaria is to give the new mission move the apostolic blessing. Verse 5 bears testimony to the fact that this missionary Philip is the same Philip mentioned in Acts 6:5, and Acts 21:8, as a part of the scattered group. The content and the consequences of Philip’s power evangelism are what Luke captures in verses 6 to 8.
Verse 9 gives the picture of what used to be in Samaria before the advent of Philip. The former power broker is identified here as one Simon, a magician (magos). The effect of Simon’s magic was the bewitchment of the entire community. taiz mageiaiz is used here as an instrumental dative, “with his magic”, showing by what means Simon was bewitching the people. The Greek word “existamai” translated as amazed in NIV and bewitched in KJV literarily means “to remove out of its place” and this was used in the New Testament to the mind. It can therefore be said that as a result of Simon’s magic the people were “out of their minds”. Luke further describes how powerful and influential Simon was by the use of the word “ethnos” in Vs. 9 to indicate that the whole city was under the influence of this magician. The phrase “both high and low” in Vs.10 shows his influence cutting across various age, economic, and social background, and this was so for a long time as Luke intimates in Vs.11. Simon had a great resume which captured the whole land in amazement.
The characteristic boastful disposition of Simon can be likened to that of Theudas in Acts 5:36. He was popularly called “dynamis tou theou” (power of God). tina eauton megan used in verse 9 means “a very great man” in his own estimation. Luke by this expression presents Simon as someone of conscious self glorification and who was boastfully aware of his achievements.
ote de episteusan tw Filippw euaggelizomenv peri thz basileiaz tou qeou kai tou onomatoz Ihsou Cristou ebaptizonto andrez te kai gunaikez. o de Simvn kai autoz episteusen kai baptisqeiz hn proskartervntv Filippv, qevrvn te shmeia kai dunameiz megalaz ginomenaz existato.(Acts 8:12-13)
Verse 12 is a strategic continuation of the story of Philip’s exploit after a brief interlude with a flash back to what used to be in Samaria. This intentional break presents an occasion for a better juxtaposition. Luke’s introduction of the adversative de is intended to draw attention to the big contrast between Simon and Philip. The duo can be contrasted based on their source of power, motive of operation and the attendant results of their activities.
The source of Philip’s power, preaching and practices is the Holy Spirit and the motive of his mission is purely liberating and redemptive. Simon’s practice of magic however is linked with demoniac and his motive was purely political and not redemptive or liberating. The attitudes of the two to their success are also not the same. Unlike Simon’s boastful disposition, Philip was drawing attention not to himself but Christ the Savior (Vs 5 and 12)
The phrase “believed Philip”(episteusan tv filippv) does not imply that Philip was the object of the converts’ trust as this will not be in tandem with Luke’s report of other conversions(9:42, 11:17, 16:31-34). This expression “believed Philip is similar to the phrase in Acts 2:41 where converts “accepted Peter’s message and were baptized”. The implication of the phrase is that the people accepted what Philip represents and proclaims: the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. The Samaritans’ submission for baptism is a strong attestation to their conviction and commitment to their new found faith in Christ. That Simon, the previous power broker also believed shows the great impact the ministry of Simon had on Samaria and unveils the great power shift from magic to the miracle of redemption and liberation. Now, this same Simon that all Samaritans followed everywhere now followed Philip everywhere. There is no clear indication from the text to authenticate the assertion that Simon’s conversion was faked. The verb in the expression “and Simon also himself believed” only describes him with reference to his supposed state, but not really his actual position. He may not have been wholly sincere. Nevertheless, that he was following Philip everywhere may not necessarily be for further instructions but rather for the spectaculars. Simon’s amazement is typical of the unbeliever’s reaction to their encounter with God’s mighty move and this typically comes prior to repentance. In Simon’s case this was reversed: his amazement at the Spirit’s move comes after his conversion and not as a precondition of it. This singular attitudinal error signals Simon’s spiritual malformation. He was interested in the “spectaculars” and not necessarily the “spiritual”. The attention of Simon was basically on the signs and wonders he saw in Philip’s operations. Instead for Simon to be following Christ he was following signs.
Akousantez de oi en Ierosolumoiz apostoloi oti dedektai h Samareia ton logon tou qeou apesteilan proz autouz Petron kai Ivannhn. oitinez katabantez proshuxanto peri autvn opvz labvsin pneuma agion oudepv gar hn ep oudeni autvn epipeptvkoz monon de bebaptismenoi uphrcon eiz to onoma tou kuriou Ihsou. tote epetiqesan taz ceiraz ep autoiz kai elambanon pneuma agion.(Acts 8:14-17)
The Jerusalem church receives the news of the move of God in Samaria with all gladness. Peter and John apostolic visit to Samaria is in solidarity with Philip work there and not to overthrow his leadership. The text indicates clearly that although the believers in Samaria had believed and were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ but they were yet to receive the Holy Spirit. Luke is silent on the delay between the two baptisms. This notwithstanding, the Samaritans qualification for the gift of the Holy Spirit is in line with Peter’s prophetic declaration in Acts 2:39 “For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to Him”. The coming of the Holy Spirit is also necessary for the Samaritan congregation to be able to fully participate in the messianic mission work. It can be inferred from Jesus’ promise of the Spirit’s baptism that without this the believer is unable to fully participate in the missionary vacation. The Apostle distributes the Spirit blessing by prayer and laying of their hands on the new believers. This laying of hands practice is similar to what the Apostles did in Acts 6:6 when they commissioned the seven deacons to help heal the rift between Hellenist and Hebrew believers. Paul’s laying of his hands on the certain disciples at Ephesus (Acts 19:6) is another of such examples. The church of the New Testament was united in the Spirit and this is a cardinal reason why the y were able to do a lot of exploit for the Lord.
idvn de o Simvn oti dia thz epiqesevz tvn ceirvntvn apostolvn didotai to pneuma, proshnegken autoiz crhmata legvn, Lote kamoi thn exousian tauthn ina v ean epiqv taz ceiraz lambanh pneuma agion.(Acts 8:18-19)
In a very stylish way and an organized interjectory manner, the spotlight of the narration returns to Simon. This new shift is calculated at exposing Simon’s theological miscalculation and an x-ray of his insatiable lust for power. The dia in Vs 18 with genitive has the sense of by means of, indicating that the Spirit’s coming is by the laying on of hands by the Apostle, this at least as Simon concluded. This does not however imply that the Holy Spirit is given by the Apostles as in there teachings the Spirit coming is attributed to the Grace of God. There were other instances in the New Testament where people received the Spirit without the Apostles’ laying on of hands. The encounter in Cornelius house is a good example. The gift of the Spirit coming on the Samaritan is in line with the Spirit authenticating gentile churches at Caesarea (Acts 10:47, 11:17, 15:8), and Galatia (Acts 15:12). There is a strong indication from Simon’s offer of money for the ability to give out the Spirit, that he was exploiting the community financially by his practice of magic. Simon may not see anything wrong in paying for spiritual power. It may also be suggested that Simon may be thinking of power continuity given the fact that the Apostles and Simon may not continue to stay at Samaria. Simon’s request may therefore be a calculated plot to assume the leadership role of the new church.
Petroz de eipen proz auton, To argurion sou sunsoi eih eiz apvleian oti thn dvrean tou qeou enomisaz dia crhmatvn ktasqai ouk estin soi meriz oude klhroz en tv logv toutv h gar kardia sou ouk estin euqeia enanti tou qeou. metanohson oun apo thz kakiaz sou tauthz kai dehqhti tou kuriou ei ara afeqhsetai soi h epinoia thz kardiaz sou, eiz gar colhn pikriaz kai sundesmon adikiaz orv se onta.(Acts 8:20-23)
Luke captures the rebuke of Simon by Peter in a manner that shows how serious the apostle sees the attempt to want to commercialize God’s grace is. Verse 20 gives one of the two instances of the use of optative in the New Testament as imprecation. (Mk 11:14). Luke uses the word “kardia” in verse 21 as a metonym for the mind and this can be understood as intention, desire, or affection. Peter calls Simon to immediate repentance. The word “metanoeo” means to repent with regret accompanied by a true change of heart towards God, or regret for the course pursued resulting in the wiser view of the past and future. Peter’s use of the word “ara” indicates Peter’s uncertainty of Simon’s readiness for genuine repentance and not about God forgiving him. In verse 23, Peter is seen using the Old Testament intertext of “gall of bitterness “(Deut. 29:18), and “chains of wickedness” (Isa. 58:6). In the New Testament time, the gall of noxious reptiles was considered as the source of their venom-so gall in this passage is used as an expressive metaphor to denote malice or moral corruption of the wicked. (2). This metaphoric representation of Simon shows how corrupt Peter sees the man, an indication that he is seen as a potential threat to the faith development of this new faith community. Peter in this expression does not only see the wickedness of the heart of Simon but a possibility that he may be a very bad influence on the rest of the community. Simon’s apocryphal profile attributes all manners of heresies and subversive activities to him.
apokriqeiz de o Simvn eipen, Lehqhte umeiz uper emou proz ton kurion opvz mhden epelqh ep eme vn eiphkate. Oi mev ouv diamarturamenoi kai lalhsantez tov logon tou kuriou upestrefon eiz Ierosoluma, pollaz te kvmaz tvn Samaritvn euhggelizonto.(Acts 8:24-25)·
Simon’s request for intercession shows how fearful he is now. This plea is also an indication in his believe in the apostolic power to help him appeal to God. This does not however show true sign of remorse for what he actually deed but a sign that he does not want any evil to befall him. This suggests strongly that Simon must be a very self centered individual.
The introduction of “men oun” in verse 25 is strictly used as resumptive or transitional, “and so”, “now”. There is no suggestion for its being used to intend a contrast between Philip’s preaching and that of the apostles (3). It is clearly stated by Luke that the Apostles also continue to preach the same message even as they return to their base at Jerusalem. Luke draws curtain on the apostolic visit to Samaria in a strategic manner to show continuity of mission.
PERSONAL EVALUTION AND SUBMISSIONS
I see this passage bringing to the fore a timely need for a reevaluation of the contemporary church’s mission enterprise and a call for a complete overhauling of our strategies for doing mission. From this narrative, I can deduce a strong need for a paradigm shift that will capture the universal elements in the Philip’s Samaria mission campaign based on the context of the above exegized text. In view of this I want to make the following submissions:
PERSECUTION, A CATALYST FOR PROCLAMATION – Mission should not be viewed as a project of a church that sits in a comfort zone. The idea of serving God or preaching “in season and out of season” should be practically understood by the contemporary church. We must be challenged by the attitude of the early church towards persecution. It is well presented in this particular passage that persecution could not stop their proclamation. That we face much opposition is a testimony that we have a strong position as people of God. We have a divine mandate to carry out a mission to the dieing world no matter the kind of opposition we face.
THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN SCATTERED – The disciple at Jerusalem were scattered but not shattered. There is a powerful testimony in this passage showing how well discipled the early believers were. The sharing of the gospel was a responsibility of everyone and not just for a selected few “super star” individuals. The concept of “every man a beam”, need to be reechoed today. Every Christian must be a witness. It was not only the twelve apostles that were equipped to share the gospel, everyone was brought on board. The question we need to ask ourselves today is how many of our parishioners who are even in their comfort zones can meaningfully share their faith with their unbelieving communities?
A CITY UNDER SPELL – Another dimension to missions should be the reality of direct spiritual encounter with satanic forces. The Samaria’s case is an example of a community under the influence of evil forces. In our mission campaign, we must realize that their may be issue like this, and if the church is not holistically equipped to offer spiritual helps relevant to the needs of the people our ministry will seem incomplete. As a cross cultural missionary for more than a decade working in Nigeria and Ghana, I have encountered situations of direct confrontations with power of darkness. There were times when we had to exorcise demons out of people. The gospel we preach is powerful to tear down evil strongholds in people and land we enter. The contemporary church is not fully appropriating the spiritual resources at her disposal. We tend to shy away from or deny certain realities beyond our comprehension. The challenge today is retracing our steps back to the apostolic foundations. We evangelicals have done so well in many areas of the church mission campaign but we have not made a very strong mark in areas where direct demonic practices are prevalent. In some of this areas where we have our presence, most of the convert still combine their faith with some element of their past traditional spiritual experience.
THE CONTENT OF OUR MESSAGE – It is not enough that we are preaching but we must evaluate the content of our message. Luke captures the content of Philip’s message in verse 12 as “the good news of the kingdom of God” and “name of Jesus Christ”. Looking at the church in Africa for example, one could see a lot of ‘men empires’ in the name of God’s Kingdom. People are preaching themselves and building their own empire. In Acts, all I see in all of the recorded preaching is Christ. Sometimes in our mission campaign, we tend to put our denominational creed ahead of Christ decrees, we focus too much on human personalities and the expense of the one who sets out the rule of His mission. What are people preaching today, and how are they in tandem with the content of the apostolic preaching? Simon never went to Samaria for self promotion, and the apostles who came to compliment his work were not their to show they are superior to Simon, all came to fulfill their parts in the messianic mission and Christ remain the center of their ministry.
IN TOUCH – Verse 14 records the response of the Jerusalem church to the new mission development in Samaria. The apostolic mission was not fragmented project, but rather interconnected. In our contemporary mission there is a lot of fragmentation, unsupervised and unevaluated missions scattered here and there. There is an urgent need for greater mission networking today like the days of the apostle. I have met a lot of independent missionaries who are not affiliated with any Christian body, but are just doing their own things. The brethren were scattered from Jerusalem but were still in touch with Jerusalem. Every mission must be in touch with a body that can critical evaluate its vision and offer necessary assistance.
FAITH OR FRAUD? – The unfortunate development in verse 18 with Simon offering money for the apostolic gift is a picture of a serious thing happening in the church today. With the coming of the “prosperity” preachers especially in the African context, a lot of strange commercial strategies are brought into mission. Sometimes people are asked to pay some amount for the “prophet” to pray for them. Another popular practice is that in which members are asked to make certain donations in exchange for “divine prosperity”. Such prosperity only comes on those who make heavy donations. Some of these preachers claim they are being sent by God specifically to make people rich, but ironically they will never go to deprived communities, but rather they target those who are already financially sound. Simony is strongly back to the church especially because of the high level of societal gullibility.
APOSTOLIC REBUKE – Luke’s quotation of Peter’s full rebuke of Simon is intended to show the way the early church frowned at sin in the church. It is however unfortunate that in the contemporary church we seem to polish sin and shy away from openly rebuking it partly due to the fear of loosing member. Sin is a cancer that the church will have to fight against today in order to make her mission to the world more relevant. In rebuking sin, we must call the erring believer to repentance. Discipline should be corrective and not destructive.
If there is anything at all to learn from this passage, it is the timeless challenge of making our mission break barriers. There are still evidently present in our contemporary time, multifaceted barriers – social, racial, ethnic, spiritual, economical, cultural, educational, linguistic, and geographical barrier. The big challenge to Christian missiology is in evolving a global mission conversation and strategies that can help prepare the church well in making her mission break these barriers.
END NOTE
1) William Hull, The Broadman Commentary. Nashville: Broadman Press,1970
2) Alvah Hovey (ed), An American Commentary on the New Testament. Washington: Judson Press, 1982
3) Robert Hanna, A Grammatical Aid to the Greek New Testament. Grand Rapids: Bakers, 1983
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bruce, Metzger. A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, Stuttgart: U.B.S, 1971.
Douglas, J.D (Ed). The New Greek Interlinear New Testament, Wheaton: Tyndale, 1990
Hanna, Robert. A Grammatical Aid to the Greek New Testament, Grand Rapids: Baker, 1983
Hovey, Alvah (Ed). An American Commentary on the New Testament, Washington: Judson Press, 1982.
Hull, Williams. The Broadman Commentary. Nashville: Broadman Press, 1970
John, Fraser and McDonald, W.G. Calvin’s Commentaries, the Acts of the Apostles. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965
Lampe, Longman. The Seal of the Spirit. Green & Co, 1951.
Neil. The Acts of the Apostles. New Century Bible.
Timothy, Johnson. The Writings of the New Testament; an Interpretation. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1986
Unnik, Van. Luke-Acts, a Storm Center in Contemporary Scholarship. Nashville: Abingdon, 1996
GLODET'S PROGRAMS AND STRATEGIES
GLOBAL DELIVERANCE TEAM (GLODET)
CENTER FOR MISSION AND SPIRITUAL WARFARE
P.O.BOX 319, OYO TOWN NIGERIA
TEL – 2348059426557/ 2348038565127
E-MAIL – kolade2002@yahoo.com
WEBSITE – http://www.delekolade.blogspot.com/
PROGRAM OF ACTIVITIES
The ministry is generally committed to issues relating to spiritual warfare and mission. Our aim is to equip the people of God for spiritual warfare and also to sensitize, mobilize, and motivate the body of Christ towards holistic mission. To fulfill these, we shall launch strategic programs which will target all of our ministry areas. Below are those program elucidated –
DELIVERANCE CENTER – This will serve as a resource, training and deliverance base. The plan for the center is to build it up to serve the following purposes –
Ø Training center for all our courses on mission, and spiritual warfare. Our aim is to help churches raise trained deliverance team, and to also train individual believer who want to major on mission and spiritual warfare. The idea is to compliment what the mainstream seminaries and Bible schools are doing, by contributing our own quota in the area we know best.
Ø Resource and research base networked with other Christian ministries across the globe that is into missions and spiritual warfare. We shall develop a strong library that will be stocked with relevant book on mission, spiritual warfare and theology. Our website shall be our basic IT base to disseminate information about our missions and activities. We shall have a computer data base section where materials like strategic spiritual mappings can be preserved. A publication section shall also be established to articulate the vision of the ministry.
Ø Deliverance and Counseling Clinic where people can be practically helped especially on individual basis. Seasoned, gifted and trained personnel shall be available always at the center to give spiritual direction and help to those in need of deliverance and counseling. The aim is to make it a strong power base where people can be holistically helped.
PROPHETIC PROGRAMS – The ministry is indeed a prophetic voice to the body of Christ. Programs will be organized to enable people locate themselves and fulfill their destinies in Christ. All our PROPHETIC GATHERINGS shall be great times where God’s presence can be access and enjoyed, and prophetic words released.
Ø Prophetic Meeting shall be a weekly time of fellowship where people can be drawn into the presence of God cross denominationally. It shall be a time of great exposition of the Word (revelation teaching), and strategic time for effective prevailing prayers. This will be uniformly observed everywhere GLODET Mission is.
Ø Prophetic Night shall be a monthly encounter night where people can really encounter the power of God to overcome challenges and be strengthened to fulfill their destinies in life. This will be fixed on the Friday of the ministry’s monthly retreat time. The members shall be around a full weekend each month to seek the face of God for personal spiritual growth and to prepare themselves for greater ministry.
Ø Prophetic Summit shall be an annual major event of the ministry. It shall be a time for iron to sharpen iron as men and women of God from across denominations and nations shall be brought to bless the body of Christ on strategic yearly themes.
OPERATION PHILIP MISSION PROJECT – This will be our major platform for our direct involvement in mission. Mission is God’s heartbeat and the church‘s primary assignment is to be a tool in this world of sin to reach the unreached and be the voice relaying and echoing the heartbeat of God. If we fail in this we fail in all. GLODET ministry is therefore developing a mission strategy and campaign employing and applying the mission principles from Philip’s mission adventure of Acts chapter 8. A comprehensive material will be prepared to train Christians on these identified Philip’s principles. Seminars and workshops shall also be organized to this effect. The mission campaign of Philip in Acts of the Apostles stands out as a master piece for the global mission today and it was also a pacesetter for the other mission exploits in the apostolic era. The three key area of importance of this campaign is the emphasis on POWER evangelism, BREAKING BARRIERS in mission and the SPIRIT DIMENSION in doing mission. Our campaign document on this project will give more elaborate information about this Philip’s approach. The ministry will welcome invitation from churches and Christian organization for revival, crusade, seminar/workshop and special training.
MEMBERSHIP – We shall have general membership which shall be opened to all who are interested. For our more strategic ministry operations, only those that are certified shall be engaged. We shall primarily rely on volunteered lay people who are convinced to be part of this vision. Some selected individual who show clear sign of calling shall be given more in-depth training and shall be commissioned by the ministry to some of our ministry areas to function. We shall affiliate and partner with other Christian agencies of like vision. Due to our IT networking, we may accept distant partners who can also be useful in some of our global operations. We are strongly posed to bring a new dimension to the way of doing mission and also to contribute our quota to the issue of spiritual warfare in the body of Christ. More importantly, this vision is anchored on continuous intercessions of our faithful members and partners.
Rev Dele Kolade
Global President
CENTER FOR MISSION AND SPIRITUAL WARFARE
P.O.BOX 319, OYO TOWN NIGERIA
TEL – 2348059426557/ 2348038565127
E-MAIL – kolade2002@yahoo.com
WEBSITE – http://www.delekolade.blogspot.com/
PROGRAM OF ACTIVITIES
The ministry is generally committed to issues relating to spiritual warfare and mission. Our aim is to equip the people of God for spiritual warfare and also to sensitize, mobilize, and motivate the body of Christ towards holistic mission. To fulfill these, we shall launch strategic programs which will target all of our ministry areas. Below are those program elucidated –
DELIVERANCE CENTER – This will serve as a resource, training and deliverance base. The plan for the center is to build it up to serve the following purposes –
Ø Training center for all our courses on mission, and spiritual warfare. Our aim is to help churches raise trained deliverance team, and to also train individual believer who want to major on mission and spiritual warfare. The idea is to compliment what the mainstream seminaries and Bible schools are doing, by contributing our own quota in the area we know best.
Ø Resource and research base networked with other Christian ministries across the globe that is into missions and spiritual warfare. We shall develop a strong library that will be stocked with relevant book on mission, spiritual warfare and theology. Our website shall be our basic IT base to disseminate information about our missions and activities. We shall have a computer data base section where materials like strategic spiritual mappings can be preserved. A publication section shall also be established to articulate the vision of the ministry.
Ø Deliverance and Counseling Clinic where people can be practically helped especially on individual basis. Seasoned, gifted and trained personnel shall be available always at the center to give spiritual direction and help to those in need of deliverance and counseling. The aim is to make it a strong power base where people can be holistically helped.
PROPHETIC PROGRAMS – The ministry is indeed a prophetic voice to the body of Christ. Programs will be organized to enable people locate themselves and fulfill their destinies in Christ. All our PROPHETIC GATHERINGS shall be great times where God’s presence can be access and enjoyed, and prophetic words released.
Ø Prophetic Meeting shall be a weekly time of fellowship where people can be drawn into the presence of God cross denominationally. It shall be a time of great exposition of the Word (revelation teaching), and strategic time for effective prevailing prayers. This will be uniformly observed everywhere GLODET Mission is.
Ø Prophetic Night shall be a monthly encounter night where people can really encounter the power of God to overcome challenges and be strengthened to fulfill their destinies in life. This will be fixed on the Friday of the ministry’s monthly retreat time. The members shall be around a full weekend each month to seek the face of God for personal spiritual growth and to prepare themselves for greater ministry.
Ø Prophetic Summit shall be an annual major event of the ministry. It shall be a time for iron to sharpen iron as men and women of God from across denominations and nations shall be brought to bless the body of Christ on strategic yearly themes.
OPERATION PHILIP MISSION PROJECT – This will be our major platform for our direct involvement in mission. Mission is God’s heartbeat and the church‘s primary assignment is to be a tool in this world of sin to reach the unreached and be the voice relaying and echoing the heartbeat of God. If we fail in this we fail in all. GLODET ministry is therefore developing a mission strategy and campaign employing and applying the mission principles from Philip’s mission adventure of Acts chapter 8. A comprehensive material will be prepared to train Christians on these identified Philip’s principles. Seminars and workshops shall also be organized to this effect. The mission campaign of Philip in Acts of the Apostles stands out as a master piece for the global mission today and it was also a pacesetter for the other mission exploits in the apostolic era. The three key area of importance of this campaign is the emphasis on POWER evangelism, BREAKING BARRIERS in mission and the SPIRIT DIMENSION in doing mission. Our campaign document on this project will give more elaborate information about this Philip’s approach. The ministry will welcome invitation from churches and Christian organization for revival, crusade, seminar/workshop and special training.
MEMBERSHIP – We shall have general membership which shall be opened to all who are interested. For our more strategic ministry operations, only those that are certified shall be engaged. We shall primarily rely on volunteered lay people who are convinced to be part of this vision. Some selected individual who show clear sign of calling shall be given more in-depth training and shall be commissioned by the ministry to some of our ministry areas to function. We shall affiliate and partner with other Christian agencies of like vision. Due to our IT networking, we may accept distant partners who can also be useful in some of our global operations. We are strongly posed to bring a new dimension to the way of doing mission and also to contribute our quota to the issue of spiritual warfare in the body of Christ. More importantly, this vision is anchored on continuous intercessions of our faithful members and partners.
Rev Dele Kolade
Global President
Monday, August 14, 2006
Introduction to Spiritual Warfare
INTRODUCTION TO SPIRITUAL WARFARE
[GLODET TRAINING MANUAL]
PREPARED BY
REV. DELE KOLADE
Copyright © 2006 by:
Rev. Dele Kolade
Published in Nigeria by
GLODET PUBLISHERS
P. O. BOX 1215
OYO TOWN NIGERIA
TEL 234-38241496/234-8038565127
E-MAIL – kolade2002@yahoo.com
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electrically or mechanically including photocopying, recording or any information storage without the prior written permission of the publisher.
All quotations from the Bible are from the King James Version.
GLODET MISSION CO-ORDINATOR
P. O. BOX 1215
OYO TOWN NIGERIA
TEL 234-38241496/234-8038565127
OR
P. O. BOX 319
AKOSOMBO GHANA
TEL 233-208127154
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 INTRODUCTION/PREVIEW
2 THE NATURE OF SPIRITUAL WARFARE
3 THE BIBLICAL & THEOLOGICAL BASIS FOR SPIRITUAL WARFARE
4 THE KINGDOM OF DARKNESS X-RAYED
5 DEMONIC ENTITIES (INCLUDING NATURE OF DEMON)
6 DIMENSIONS OF DEMONIC AFFLICTION
7 DEMONIC OCCUPATION
8 DEMONIC BASE & STRONGHOLDS
9 THE CONCEPT OF CURSES AND COVENANTS IN SPIRITUAL WARFARE
10 PREPARATIONS FOR SPIRITUAL WARFARE
11 PRACTICAL DELIVERANCE
12 HIGH LEVEL SPIRITUAL WARFARE
13 APPENDIX
INTRODUCTION
There are metaphysical realities that are epistemologically provable because they form part of our existential experience even though many may be beyond the grip of the locus of reason or mental investigations.
The idea of spiritual world and transcendental happenings bring to the fore the complex dynamics of human existence, that we are not caged into the garage of senses, as some “half informed” scholars will want us to believe. The Western categorization of the truth into bits and pieces that never seem to weave a single cloth is not holistically helpful. Apart from the fact that simple, unsuppressed common sense admits metaphysical realities, Christian faith explores extensively the many faces of the transcendental realties human is engaged in. Even in the scholastic parlance the limitation of human sense or reason is recognized. The human reason is a measuring measure [mensura mensurans] only insofar as it is first a measured measure [mensura mensurata]. Once the human reason is measured, it can not be an absolute measure of all things. Human reason can therefore not capture all forms of knowledge especially metaphysical issues.
This work is an attempt, from the scriptural point of view, to explore divine testimony regarding the cosmic and metaphysical (spiritual) warfare the believer is engaged in. A systematic, panoramic approach will be taken in delving strategically into the nitty- gritty of the whole concept of spiritual warfare as the Bible teaches with embellishment with several experiential testimonies as affirmation of the scriptural truth.
The principal actors in the warfare will be identified with the believer singled out for special attention. The archenemy (Satan), his cohort and kingdom, strategies and devices will be succinctly exposed and his knitted operational web investigated. The believer’s position vis-à-vis God’s decree will be clearly presented and various divine dynamics for spiritual warfare will be elucidated.
Certain issues of importance relating to administering deliverance, high level spiritual warfare, spiritual mapping, dealing with demonic strongholds, breaking curses and covenants etc will all be explored. Questions of importance will be addressed and various weapons available for the believer will be identified including how they can be practically put to use.
This book is an attempt to balance theology with experience and proof the truth that good theology explains human experiences. Theology becomes relevant when it addresses practical issues of life even as it point to the greater reality of God’s existence and workings. Any theologies that deny and refuse to address practical issues seize to represent the truth of the Bible. Any theology that denies the truth of spiritual warfare must be a theology of Satan and must be categorized as part of devil’s evil arsenals that must be fought against by every true meaning Christian.
I must here admit that this book is not exhaustive but only seeks to introduce you the essentials of spiritual warfare. This is a summary of more than 15 years research, involvement and experience in spiritual warfare, as a trainer (teacher) and a warrior across states of Nigeria and many regions in Ghana. I am therefore writing as a theologian not just sitting at the library but right there at the battle front, not engaged in abstract and imaginary theological arguments but dealing with relevant issues, bulk of which I have personally experienced and have also helped others deal with. This is also an advanced treatment of this subject especially when compared to my first publication “Manual on Spiritual Warfare”. It is my prayer that this piece will be of great help to you, not only as you read but as you also put the truth in it to practice
Your co-warrior
Rev. Dele Kolade
CHAPTER ONE
THE NATURE OF SPIRITUAL WARFARE
It is not an easy thing to describe anything at all. Whatsoever thing one want to describe must first be reduced into imageries and symbols. Anything explained in words and symbols can therefore not be fully presented in its original form.
The limitation of human description must be humbly admitted even of physical and familiar realities of life. To describe a spiritual matter is indeed a (more) greater task because familiar words and symbols will have to be used in explaining the unfamiliar.
It is therefore unfortunate when hypocrites bluntly deny certain truths because they are coded in familiar words and symbols to explain the unfamiliar ideas of spiritual warfare but interestingly the same people result to the same usage of imagery and symbol in putting forth their argument against the exponents of the concepts of spiritual warfare. We must all agree that symbols and imageries must be employed in exploring spiritual realities although they may not necessarily exhaustively explain what is being passed across. From the known however, the unknown can be better attempted or viewed.
Spiritual warfare will be explained using what we are familiar with even as Jesus explained the truth about the kingdom of heaven using earthly imageries. We must be careful, however of reducing everything into the test tube of reason just as those asking Jesus about the nature of marriage and remarrying in heaven ( ).
Another dynamics that will help us in understanding the presentations of this book also is the complexity inherent in human personality. The tripartite nature of the human and interconnectivity of his body, soul and spirit even as he relates with the physical, mental and spiritual is a key to our understanding spiritual issues interplaying with our existential life (living). The inter connectivity seen in the web of life will not allow setting any sharp dichotomy between the seen and the unseen, the physical and the spiritual. Life must be seen and treated in wholeness for it to make meaning and for its meaning to be enjoyed.
The designation, “Spiritual”, explains the nature of the warfare and differentiate it from that of the physical battle just as the Apostle Paul declares that it is not the matter of fighting flesh and blood.
The spiritual is partly inherent in the human and partly beyond and outside of the human. Spiritual warfare is therefore “within” and “without” the human personality. This dual nature or dimensions of spiritual manifestation are sometimes “visibly” demonstrated or at least its influence physically felt. The things that are seen (physical) explain things not seen (spiritual) just as God who cannot be seen can be understood primarily through things seen. The spiritual aspect of the human personality makes sense of the spiritual realities within and around him.
It is true that in as much as the spiritual warfare transcends the physical, some of its influences and effects can be physically felt. The truth is that the spiritual is distinct from the physical and at the same time we cannot neatly separate the two from one another. The tension of distinction and connection must be held together if our understanding of the dynamics of spiritual warfare will be coherent and balanced. To assume that the “Spiritual world” is neatly separated from the physical will result in truncated theology and to deny the distinction of the two will also produce a “lumped theology with many ambiguities. If our theology of spiritual warfare starts from the recognition of the fact that the physical has direct association with the spiritual and that there are essential distinctions of the two, then the believer’s position and operation will rest on a solid platform.
The truth that human, because of the impartation (breadth) of the divine, is made living, enables him to relate with the spiritual world. Human, by virtue of his make-up and the presence of the breath of life in him, can relate with the spiritual world. There is the spiritual dimension in the human personality; therefore humanity is not an alien to spiritual issues because of his humanness. The fall of man in the Garden of Eden further widen the gap between human personality and the spiritual realities within and outside him.
The first discovery regarding the nature of spiritual warfare and for that matter the most important discovery is that the warfare is nearer than most people could imagine. Majority of the so called “deliverance minister” today think of the warfare as something out there, in the space, transcendental realm or the antediluvian world. If you don’t win the one within you cannot conquer those without and around you. Even when it seems those around you are being conquered, you still remain a looser because the focus of the war is more of the “within” and not the without. The battle without is targeting the seat within. (Romans 7: 23).
The human anatomy explains better the reason why the soul of human being is the battleground and also the focus of the warfare
“And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Thess. 5: 23)
Human being is described in the Bible as the “Pneuma psychosomatic” being. The body is the housing and for that matter gives human access to interact with the physical realm of matter. The soul is the real man; soul gives man his personality and real identity. The struggle therefore is for the human soul. It is the soul of the human that Christ died for and it is the soul of man that must be won for Christ. The eternal destiny of the soul is determined by what human do with God’s redemption offer in Christ. The soul therefore becomes the central part of human personality, sandwiched by the body and the spirit. The soul is the link between the body and the spirit. The human spirit is that which is direct from God and which makes human a living soul. The spirit is the breadth from God. The spirit gives human the consciousness of the divine and at death returns back to the giver (God) [Eccl. 12: 7]
B
O
D
Y
SOUL
Y
S
P
I
R
I
T
SOUL
REASON
AFFECTION
VOLITION
SPIRIT
CONSCIENCE
COMMUNION
INTUITION
CHAPTER TWO
BIBLICAL & THEOLOGICAL BASIS FOR SPIRITUAL WARFARE
Seeking for Biblical and theological basis for engaging in spiritual warfare is essentially important because there is a need for both forensic support and scriptural guidance. Spiritual warfare is an aspect of Christian ministry that demands a divine mandate and backing. What then can the believer lay hold on as foundation or anchor on which his operation can be held firmly together and a perfect insurance to resort to for trusted security?
The messianic manifesto forms the principal forensic stand for the believer to hock to for engaging in spiritual warfare. This is what Jesus declared during one of the Temple worship service at his hometown; Nazareth’
“The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are brushed, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord” (Lk 4: 18 – 19).
“…For this purpose the son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil” (I Jn 3: 8b).
The overarching authority and basis for the believer’s involvement in spiritual warfare is the fact that it is principally the messianic ministry’s focus. The messianic ministry is basically “undoing” devil’s work, liberating souls from the slave market of sins translating sinners from devils kingdom to God’s kingdom of light and life. If Jesus’ ministry was spiritual warfare focused, then the church and the believer for that matter have nothing to do but continue in the steps of the master. The messianic spiritual warfare is all encompassing and holistic. The church has got to do likewise; breaking into the territories of the devil and liberating souls from the grip of hell and the shackles of the evil ones.
The second basis is the apostolic mandate, which can be described as an outgrowth of the messianic mission. Jesus himself spelt out categorically what the disciples were called into. Let us explore the scriptures together to establish the focus of the apostolic mandate as given by the master himself.
“And he went up on the hillside, and called to Him (for himself those) whom He wanted and chose, and they came to Him. And he appointed twelve to continue to be with Him and that He might send them out to preach (as apostles). And to have authority and power to heal the sick and to drive out demons” (Mk 3: 12 – 15)
The calling and ordination of the twelve into the ministry gives an overall description of what the apostolic mandate and ministry is all about. The concept of the divine election is very evident in the Markan record. The primary reason for the disciples calling is identified as RELATIONSHIP; that they continue to be with the master. Christian life and for that matter our basic understanding of spiritual warfare must begin from this recognition. We are not called first to do but to be. Our “doing” must therefore be an outward expression and a result of our “being”. This is what is badly missing in our contemporary time especially with many Christians in the power ministry. The attention is now on “what we do” and not on our “being”, our continual being with the master.
The disciples, in this passage were not called just to go and preach, heal or cast out demons but first to be with the master. How very unfortunate today that the majority of Christians have misplaced priority because they are majoring on the minor, seeking to do many things at the expense of their “being” and personal relationship with the master.
After establishing what should be the principal focus of the apostolic calling, we must in no way loose sight of the truth that spiritual warfare was part of what they were called into. The mandate was that they should go and preach, heal the sick and cast out demons. The instruction has not changed today; the true believer must know that he/she is called to do battle in preaching, healing and casting out of demons. No new theological definitions that we may attempt coming out with can underscore or change the master’s plain and unambiguous instruction of preaching, healing and casting out of demons.
The disciples did exactly what the master told them: -
“And they went out, and preached that men should repent. And they cast out many devils and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them” (Mk 6: 12 – 13)
The instructions (mandate) were further extended to everyone that will come to faith. This corrects the erroneous impression and conclusion by some that this was necessary at the beginning of the early Church to confirm God’s sanction and lunch the Church. Unfortunately, the proponents of this fake theology denial the continuous activities of the devil in our days and the many woes of humanity even in our contemporary time. The apostolic mandate by virtue of its “open-ended” nature and the strong proof that the opposing situation the early church faced is still evident in our time-re-authenticate the validity of the Church active involvement in spiritual warfare today. This is the timeless mandate Jesus extended to all his followers: -
“And these attesting signs will accompany those who believe; in My name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new languages; they will pick up serpent and (even) if they drink anything deadly, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will get well” (Mk 16: 17 – 18 AMP)
Luke further attests to the master instruction to his disciples
“Then he called the twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick” (Lk 9: 1 – 2)
Down the history lane the church has continued in this mandate and in active involvement in spiritual warfare. Even at the time of moral and spiritual decadence, the ministry of the remnant continued to uphold the master’s instruction. The re-awakening of the Church in this our contemporary time on the issues of spiritual warfare is therefore not a new thing but a retracing of the Church’s steps back to the apostolic foundation and landmark.
Another classical scriptural imagery useful in understanding the right focus and basis for the believer’s engagement in the spiritual warfare is the “EPHESIANS STANDING ORDER” as taught by Apostle Paul.
“Put on the whole Armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil …………wherefore take unto you the whole Armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand, in the evil day and having done all, to stand” (Eph. 6: 11 –14, emphasis is mine)
This passage is one of the most informative passages of the Bible on the concept of spiritual warfare and it is therefore not surprising that it appears at the very end of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians Church. The three standing orders described in this passage by Paul capture the right focus of the believer’s involvement in spiritual warfare. If this information is put in its right perspective, our activities, operations and approaches to spiritual warfare will be right placed and we shall become more effective in our spiritual exploit for the Lord.
The three identified standing orders in this passage can be logically described as follow: -
STANDING AGAINST ABILITY OFFENSIVE
WITHSTANDING AGILITY DEFENSIVE
TO STAND STABILITY POSSESSIVE
The goal of Spiritual warfare should not just be fighting and only fighting but wining, possessing, occupying. The believer’s concentration should not only be on the offensive issues but also on the defensive and spiritual warfare must culminate in the believer’s better relationship with God and stability of his faith and spiritual standing. The success of spiritual warfare should therefore not be measured only in the casting out of demons or “falling under the anointing” but also in the agility of the believer to withstand in the evil and trying time and the consistency of faith displayed by the believer over time. Our inability to withstand and the inconsistency of our Christian lives are all signs of failure in spiritual warfare. If demons are cast out but the believer continue to live in secret sin and manifest inconsistency in his Christian life, he will still be scored negative as far as the scriptural demand and expectation is concerned. Holistic spiritual warfare as presented in the Bible must result in changed live, matured faith and consistent Christian living. [I Peter 5: 8 – 9, Prov. 24: 10]
CHAPTER THREE
THE KINGDOM OF DARKNESS X-RAYED
“Have respect unto the covenant: For the dark place of the earth are full of the habitation of cruelty” (Ps. 74: 20)
“Who hath delivered us from the power of the darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear son” (Col 1: 13)
In a very simple term a kingdom can be described as “a king and his domain”. “Darkness” as used in the Bible to describe the domain of Satan rulership is not a literal darkness but a symbol depicting the negativity as the trademark of this kingdom. The kingdom of darkness therefore is a well-organized, highly systematized empire of evil, elaborately set up to oppose God’s purpose.
The domain of darkness should not be misconstrued to mean geographic territories but rather a spiritual domain not limited by human understanding of time and space. This kingdom extends to the soul of human being and everywhere and everything the devil can get access into.
A clear understanding of the set up of the kingdom of darkness is very necessary because we must not be ignorant of the devices of the devil including the set up of his kingdom. This knowledge will better inform our warfare prayer, our research network, spiritual mapping and the way we do spiritual battle.
If I am asked to describe the kingdom of darkness using familiar things I will use the imagery of the “Spider web”. Satan’s kingdom is a standard network of evil, complexly weaved together to achieve certain diabolic goals. The web set up aids in the following:
(a) Linking up
(b) Monitoring
(c) Channeling
(d) Perpetual imprisonment of victim
(e) Reinforcement for the demonic entities and emissaries
The kingdom of darkness is essentially made up of fallen angles that alongside with the devil rebelled against God’s rulership (Rev. 12: 4). About 1/3 of the angelic population became victims of this rebellion (Rev. 12: 4, 9) and together with Satan were deported from Heaven (presence of God). This evil kingdom now includes the human who also rebelled against God by forsaking His way and counsel. Anyone not redeemed by the blood of Jesus automatically belong to the domain of darkness.
A more elaborate description of the kingdom of darkness is given in the scripture to help us understand how knitted and complex evil world is like. There is a territorial description and also personality description or categorization. In other words, demonic entities can either be described or categorized based on where they are or came from (base) or based on their personality or function.
“That in (at) the name of Jesus every knee should (must) bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth” (Phil. 2: 10 AMP)
Based on Philippians description of various realms of existence, demonic entities can be categorized as follow:
OLYMPIAN/ASTRAL
HEAVENLY
(ATMOSPHERIC AND STELLAR HEAVENS)
TERRESTRIAL DEMONS
(LAND, MARINE, MOUNTAIN HUMAN ETC.)
UNDERWORLD
SHEOL
This described only the territorial bases of the evil spirits but does not necessarily mean they are operationally limited to those bases.
Another description is given in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians
“For we wrestle…against
…………Principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of darkness of this world
and spiritual wickedness in high place” [Eph 6: 12]
This description can be pictured as follows: -
SATAN
PRINCIPALITIES
POWERS
RULERS OF DARKNESS
SPIRITUAL WICKEDNESS
A
B
C
D
E
ASATAN - He is the Supreme and final authority of the demonic world. He is a spiritual dictator. He is a created being (Col. 1: 16) and originally called Lucifer or the morning star. Once an arch angel of God but fell from grace and became degenerated. He is now called Satan; meaning persistent hinderer of purpose or Devil meaning “Slanderer” [Read more about Satan: Ezek. 28: 12 – 19, Isa 14: 12 – 14, Zech 3: 1, I Peter 5: 8, Rev 12: 9]
PRINCIPALITIES
B - They are arch demons. They take direct order from Satan and are directly responsible to him. They are heads of each arms of the Kingdom of darkness - They draw strategies for demonic operations. They are usually behind the scene organizing, co-coordinating and reinforcing. They form the “Alpha and Omega” council of satanic realm. They don’t posses human beings except in serious cases of occasional demonization. Examples of principalities include Appolyon/Abaddon (Rev. 9) who is the principal guiding spirit of the Sheol. I came across a skeletal demon from Sheol in 1995 while ministering to a young man (a student of SACOED). Another example is Beelzebub, a principal spirit in charge of Paganism, occultism, witchcraft and all forms of divination unto the astral realm.
CPOWERS - Functionally, they are next in rank to the principalities. They are spiritual controllers of specific aspect of demonic operations and are directly responsible to the principalities. Example of powers includes: -
Gog and Magog: - This spirit controls war, strife, anger, and violence. He is commonly called “War Lord”. In Yoruba religious setting is called “Ogun”, the god of iron. Ezek 38: 1 – 19, Rev 20: 8
Asteroth (Astarte) - Popularly called the “queen of heaven”. She is the same as “Iya” of Ogboni fraternity, Cybele of Rome and possible Madonna of Catholicism Jud 2: 13, 10: 6, I Sam 7: 3, 31: 10, 2 Kg 23: 13
Baal {the demon of spiritism and paganism} - He is called Jupiter in Rome and “Orisa nla” or “Obatala” by the Yoruba of Nigeria. [Num 22: 41, Jud 2: 11, I Kg 16: 32, 19: 18]
Other examples include Jezebel’s spirit, Asmodee (spirit husband and wife), Orion, Chemosh, Molech etc (Jer 48: 7), and Jug 11: 24, Jer 18: 21, Jer 32: 35, Amos 5: 26)
DSPIRITUAL RULERS OF DARKNESS
These are very significant demonic entities because they are mostly directly encountered in deliverance situation and most of the time behind the scene as territorial forces. They are forces of darkness directly assigned to control Physical territories from the spiritual. The set up of the spiritual rulers is also in knitted hierarchy, over compounds districts, towns/cities, states and nations. We engage them in spiritual battle directly when we go into high-level spiritual warfare or global prayer network. Example of spirit ruler is the prince of Persia encountered by Daniel during his intercessory warfare prayers for his people. [Dan. Chapter 9-10].
More will be explored in later chapter, which will directly deal with dynamics of high-level spiritual warfare.
ESPIRITUAL WICKEDNESS
This category is recognized by many to be lower ranking forces of darkness in operation possibly through human agents who occupy significant political or religious position in the society. It can also mean demons directly worshipped by people, represented by idol objects placed at vantage places or points.
The knowledge of the Strata of the Kingdom of darkness is a necessary concomitant to the understanding of how the spiritual warfare should be addressed or approached by believer. The knowledge about the enemy is necessary in every battle especially for strategic planning. The knitted and “web like” representation of the evil kingdom should help the believer not to handle any spiritual case as isolated case. Every demonic problem or spiritual challenge should be treated as part of a larger elaborate network of evil workings.
The spiritual inter connectivity evident in the Satan’s kingdom should help the believer in prayerful dealing and breaking the evil networking even when handling a “minor spiritual case”. Our warfare prayer must focus on:-
1. Stopping every external demonic reinforcement
2. Every organized demonic communication
3. Breaking every demonic contact and monitoring
4. Weaken and destroy the territorial persons and strongholds
CHAPTER FOUR
DEMONIC ENTITIES
It is necessary to explore further into the detail of the spiritual emissaries that make up the evil kingdom of darkness. This will be needful because the believer encounters these forces daily and he also engages them in spiritual close contact combat every time. A caution must however be sounded right here that much attention should not be given to details about demons at the expense of the real warfare. Some people have gone to the others extreme by trying to name every demon and attributing every unusual happening to some demons. I must state here that when demons are truly exposed they become weakened or overpowered but when also given undue recognition they will manipulate you.
I have personally encountered several demons these past 15 years in deliverance ministry, details of which I cannot even remember. It is uncalled for; for a matured Christian to be asking demon for his name and detail about his operation as guide to how deliverance will be handled. Do not forget that one of the trademarks of the devil is lie and when given slightest opportunity will surely lie. The discernment of the spirit should be our principal guide and not information given by demons. It is only the spiritual imbeciles who still receive direction during deliverances season from demons under torment
Nevertheless, we learn a great deal of lesson from practical experiences acquired over years. When demonic spirit is manifesting I can easily decode many things about his personalities and his base. This is however not very simple to objectively teach someone because manifestation comes with various complex variations which only the discernment of the spirit can sort out.
Demon can be designated by their own names, which can also differ from place to place, or by their function or habit. Some demon names are given in the Bible some other factual names exist which is not directly mentioned in the Bible, several other evil spirits are designated by their function. Demons can also be categorized based on their general work or demonic base they come from.
I must first identify some general categories of evil forces very common in our everyday spiritual warfare encounters. These have become distinguished arsenals of evil operations in our days:
1. Elemental Spirits: - They are “on – the ground” spiritual personalities and responsible for most direct spiritual attacks. They are referred to as harbinger of evil powers. They are largely terrestrial based.
2. Informant Surveillance or Diplomatic Demons: - They mostly don’t engage in direct assault but rather serve as media between demons world and human world. They ensure effective monitoring and channeling networking of the demonic world.
3. Regimental Demons: - They are demons of rank or sometime called the “strongman” or captain spirit. They occupy the major demon base and are sometime designated “throne”. They normally have a number of lower demons at their command (Mt 12: 29)
4. Familiar Spirits: - They are basically ancestral demons or family demons. These spirits can mimic or give accurate information about their victim. They do manifest also through necromancy. Even when the victim is dead, the familiar spirit can appear, talk like the deceased or display the deceased attributes. They are noted for their long-standing close association with their victim or family. Familiar spirits operate on a strong covenant base and consequently “legitimized” their stay and are difficult to unseat. Acts 16: 16, Deut 18: 10
5. Marine Spirits: - They are numerous around coastal and riverine areas. They have become influential due to their diplomatic approach in their evil operation. They are more interested in social life of their victim e.g. marital life. They are responsible for several other mishaps like barrenness, broken home, strange disease etc. They operate sometimes in connection with the witchcraft spirit. They are diplomatic in the sense that they sometimes “help” their worshippers but in exchange for something more vital, their soul destiny.
6. Witchcraft Spirit: - This has become one of the most ancient elemental forces operating cross continentally. Witchcraft is basically on “soul trading”. At times it can be used to “help” in some ways but also consequently in an exchange for human soul. Ezek 13: 18 – 23, Nah 3: 4
7. Lying spirits (rumor): - The work of the lying spirit is basically deception and delusive lobbying of human mind and soul.
“The coming (of the lawless one, the Antichrist) is through the activity and working of Satan, and will be attended by great power and with all sorts of (Pretended) miracles and signs and delusive marvel – (all of them) lying wonders – And by unlimited seduction of evil and with all wicked deception for those who are (going to perdition) perishing because they did not welcome the truth but refused to love it that they might be saved” [(II Thes 2: 9 – 10) Jun 8: 44, II Tim 4: 41, Acts 28: 26, Zech 7 : 11]
8. Spirits of Infirmities: - They directly afflict their victim with diseases. Work in connection with the witchcraft world.
“And there was a woman there who for eighteen years had had, an infirmity caused by a spirit (a demon of sickness) she was bent completely forward and utterly unable to straighten herself or look upward” (Lk 13: 11 AMP) Jn 5: 5
9. Demonic Suckers: - They primarily seek to remove good things from people. It may be either spiritual or material elements. They can cause financial failure or disappearance of material things under very strange circumstances – Mt 13; 19.
Demon names and categories can in no way be exhausted. Several other demons are named after their respective functions.
DEMONS’ NATURE & ATTRIBUTES
It must be understood that demons are not impersonal forces but rather celestial being with personal attributes. Some of their attributes are below enumerated: -
1. They always oppose God’s works and purpose. This is the principal reason why they are referred to as “contrary spirit” (Rev. 12: 13)
2. They posses and enslave God’s creature. Demons are “celestial beings” that are not created to inhabit this terrestrial realm. For them to actively function however, they need a material being to live in and operate through, hence they result to possessing human and other terrestrial object (Luke 22: 3)
3. They cause affliction of varying degrees. Apart from the fact that they inhabit parasitically the terrestrial beings, they also inflict severe afflictions on their host or victim. These various afflictions will be carefully looked at in separate chapter (Job 1: 12).
4. They tempt God’s people. One of the ambassadorial tasks of demons is to lure God’s people away from the light into their region of death and darkness. A lot of deceptive and seductive dynamics are put in place to achieve this. The believer must therefore be careful not to slip into the temptation of the forces of darkness. We are not immune from temptation but rather empowered to withstand it (Mt 4: 1)
5. Demons are destructive and malignant. They are characterized by wickedness, hate and destructiveness. The main aim of every demon operation is to steal, kill and destroy (I Peter 5: 8, Jn 10: 10)
6. They are knowledgeable. At times some Christians do underestimate demon’s ability. The Bible gives a clear and balance information about them and their capabilities so that the believer can be on guard against their wiles and manipulations. They have knowledge about their personalities, about God’s power to the extent that they even tremble. They know a lot about the scripture, although they normally draw out wrong interpretations. Religious demons like augury can quote Bible prophesy and speak in tongues of demons. Uninformed Christians can easily be deceived by some of their religious activities (Mt 1: 24, 5: 9)
7. Demons can be very boastful and vocal. Some demons do use the vocal system of their victim to communicate (Mk 1: 24). During deliverance ministration however, this must be discouraged particularly in the public settings because the demon can make “good” use of such opportunities to confuse people, instill fear or disseminate coined lies.
CHAPTER FIVE
DIMENSIONS OF DEMONIC AFFLICTIONS
The wickedness of demonic entities and elemental forces are made manifest in the various afflictions they inflict on their hosts and victim. One of the main aims of Christian spiritual warfare is to stop these afflictions wherever they are found. It must also be understood that some of these afflictions are found in some believers’ life due to certain spiritual principles broken, or ignorance of their position in Christ or Spiritual broken hedges or lope holes in their lives. It must however be rightly stated that the believer is strongly immune from any kind of afflictions that is connected to the devil having “legal right of ownership” over his body-soul realm.
The spiritual “legal right of ownership” can in no way be shared between Christ and Satan; therefore, the believer’s soul cannot be spiritually traded by the demon.
“Many are the afflictions of the righteous; but the Lord delivereth him out of them all” (Ps 34: 19)
For this reason, I strongly believe a child of God can in no way be possessed by the evil spirit (s) because this requires “legal right of ownership”. Believer can go through several other forms of affliction, which are sometimes wrongly concluded to be demonic possession by some ministers or deliverance workers. Not every manifestation is direct indication of demonic possession or even demonic presence. At times even when God is at work some conclude it is a demon and when demons are manifesting they mistake that for the Holy Ghost’s working. As a result of this ignorance several people have been subjected to unnecessary ridicule and even some lives wrecked. I must admit also that there are a lot of strange complications during deliverance session, which are sometimes difficult to decode or interpret. Drawing uninformed conclusions and assumptions out of them can be very dangerous. Man of God must be very circumspect in his utterances and must avoid exaggerated pronouncement not founded on any truthful and factual foundation.
My practical involvement in spiritual warfare for years, and my many research into deliverance, has helped me identify certain categories of demonic afflictions evil forces of darkness inflict upon both people and things. These afflictions are panoramically briefly identified below:
1. DEMONIC REGRESSION: - Believers and unbelievers can experience this. It can take toll on spirituality of the victim (If a believer) and also on the physical or material life of the victim (believer or unbeliever alike). Things will begin to take a backward drift in the victim’s life e.g. work, finance, social standing etc. It must also be noted that not every regression in life is traceable to demon activities; some regressions may have environmental factors necessitating them. Demonic regression will come with spiritual signals and will defy every natural attempt to salvage it.
2. DEMONIC REPRESSION: - This can simply be described as a situation in which a feeling or a desire of which in the conscious mind one is ashamed of is “force” on one “unconsciously”. A victim of demonic repression can do unnatural things, logically unexpected of him to do. A millionaire can steal a pen worth one dollar from supermarket. This normally results in the “sin of commission”. Some Christians can sometimes fall victim of demonic repression.
3. DEMONIC SUPPRESSION: - This is similar but somehow opposite to repression. This result in “Sin or omission”. In this case you are unable to do the right thing you wish to do. This was the case with Peter, James and John at the garden of Gethsemane.
4. DEMONIC DEPRESSION: - This usually manifest in the victim being controlled continuously by unusual feeling of sadness and rejection. There are a lot of people suffering from depression today, not only because of demonic involvement but also because of the many challenges they can not cope with. As psychological attention can be of help to these set of people, demonic depression however defies any form of psycho-therapy. The understanding I am trying to establish is the fact that there can be a psychopathological explanation to some kind of depression and some are completely demonic or spiritual in nature. General signs of depression include: sadness, apathy, inertia, insomnia, hopelessness, fear, and guilt, shame, lost of interest in work and or sex, loss of concentration, and loss of appetite. Depression in the category of psychology can be reactive, endogenous, psychotic, neurotic or chronic. Ps. 42, 43, 69, 88, and 102 contain great information about the nature of someone depressed.
5. DEMONIC OBSESSION: - This is more complex than demonic depression, in that it does not stop at unwanted feelings but sometimes result in unwanted serious actions. Some extreme unchecked obsession can result in murder or even sometimes suicide. Some bizarre stories of adults raping kids can be traceable to demonic obsession.
6. DEMONIC OPPRESSION: - This is a broad spiritual attack, which does not only affect animate but also inanimate terrestrial objects. It can manifest in several forms and can bring disorder to the body-soul functioning of the victim. It can sometime manifest in sickness or infirmities. Believer can experience some form of demonic oppression.
7. DEMONIC POSSESSION: - This is a higher form of spiritual affliction requiring securing “legal right of ownership” over the soul of the victim. When this happen the invading demon (s) gains control over the victim’s personhood. The more complicated afflictions, which cannot be elaborated on in this book, are demonizatoin and dehumanization.
CHAPTER SIX
DEMONIC OCCUPATION, BASE & STRONGHOLDS
A careful investigation will be undertaken to expose and explore the various dynamics involved in strategies of demon securing entrances into their victims. This will be necessary to ensure for prevention of further attacks and afflictions after deliverance session.
It has earlier been explained that the general initial in-road of demonic entities into the terrestrial realm was after the abortive coup de al organized by Lucifer against God’s heavenly government. It must be noted that the normal route/path to the world (i.e. through a woman’s womb) was not taken by the demonic entities hence they are referred to as strangers and thieves.
In expressing themselves however, demons prefer possessing human beings through which demonic expressions can be displayed. Certain reasons are responsible for the ability of demons to successfully make in-roads into human life (Eph 4: 27). These can be described as specific routes through which demons can enter into an individual. Some of these routes are below identified: -
1. THE GATE OF SIN: - Whosever sin, the Bible declares, is of the devil. This legally indicates/implies the extension of Satan’s authority and Power over such an individual. Most demonic afflictions are related to sins of the victims (although this may not be said of every spiritual or demonic problem).
“Afterward, Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee”: (Jn 5: 14).
Deliverance clients must be made to know the truth of the required commitment to holy living without which there cannot be any permanent deliverance. Sin is of the devil and wherever if is found demons activities are equally found there.
2. GATE OF THOUGHT: - Most people fall victim of demonic problems after opening up their minds to demonic desires, feelings and thought. The human mind is one of the most powerful powerhouses that must be constantly guided.
Right from the Eden’s episode of the human fall, devil has continued to play on human mind, luring it to the pit of hell and dungeon of affliction. Countless myriad of victims of demonic affliction abound in the scripture who confessed to the fact that they lost the battle right from their minds (Jos 7: 1, Gen 3: 6, 2 Cor 4: 4)
There is a pneuma-therapeutical solution of the problem of demonic captivity of human mind elaborately expounded in the scripture:
“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusted in thee” (Isa 26: 3)
“With my soul have I desired thee in the night, yea with my spirit within me will I seek thee early…” (Isa 26; 9)
“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; 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” (II Cor. 10: 4 – 5)
“And the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things” (Phil 4: 7 – 8)
3. VISUAL GATE: - Information is channeled into the human mind through the physical senses. Our Pneuma-Psychological formation largely depends on the kind of information we allow inside us. The most active sense in this regard is our visual organ. The kind of things we watch can greatly influence our spiritual formation either positively or negatively. It was when the first woman “saw” the forbidden fruit that she started negatively thinking about it. It was when Achan saw the beautiful Babylonian garment that he thought of hiding it for himself. Human visual organ is a very strong information receptor. We must therefore be watchful of what we give our visual attention to (Gen 3; 6). Some people have gotten into spiritual bondages as a result of pornographic pictures they are watching or the horror and the immoral blue films. Unless such bad habits are discontinued, deliverance can never be thorough and sustained. This evil channel must be blocked first before any help given can truly work.
4. BAD FASHION & MUSIC: - Modesty, decorum and dressing etiquette is gradually being eroded in our society today. Several fashion and styles of demons are replacing decent and godly dressing. Some of these evil fashions are not without their spiritual implications and influences on people. Some of these designs that leave sensitive part of the body exposed are engineered by demons to wreck the societal moral life. Believers and for that matter whosoever want to be victorious in life must desist from designs that expose the sensitive part of their bodies and those with inscriptions that does not give any glory or credit to God. Those who market their bodies through what they wear are definitely agents of darkness and you must beware of them. They are more dangerous than HIV/AIDS! They are mobile monuments of Satan, part of what devil is using in his destructive roaming around for more prey. Don’t fall prey to them for they will drag you into spiritual bondage and hell!
5. DEMONIC CONTACTS: - There are a lot of demonic mechanizations strategically designed as spiritual traps to the unsuspecting people who are spiritually blind or who are careless or desperately seeking for help. Casual or conscious contact with demonic objects (e.g. Shrine, demonic book, charm. Sacrifice, medium ornaments, food trap, demonic harp etc) can land someone in spiritual prison.
Some have become initiated into occultism after eating from their agent friends or relative. Some have landed themselves in big time problem after consulting fetish priest or diviner, demonic prophet (ess) or after reading occult book. Some others enter spiritual bondage after visiting strange “Churches”, shrine, funeral of a possessed or occult person. You must learn to avoid such mentioned contacts or in an unavoidable situation secure your protection by actively appropriating your spiritual protective weapons in Christ Jesus.
6. SEXUAL GATE: - The scripture sets a very serious and cautious tone in its treatment of sexual sin to warn people of its spiritual danger and implications. Many demonic cases and spiritual problems become entrenched as a result of past sexual sins and involvement.
“Do you not see and know that your bodies are members (bodily parts) of Christ, the Messiah? Am I therefore to take the parts of a prostitute? Never! Never! Or do you not know and realize that when a man joins himself to a prostitute he becomes one body with her? The two, it is written, shall become one flesh…shun immorality and all sexual looseness – flee from impurity (I thought, word or deed). Any other sin which a man commits is one outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body” [I Cor 6: 15 – 18 AMP]
7. COVENANT & CURSES: - Several covenants exist and curses that were cast on people continue to serve as “Spiritual navels” through which spiritual assaults are landed against people. This is a major area of importance in spiritual warfare that must be understood clearly. A separate chapter is dedicated to the treatment of this crucial subject.
8. THE GATE OF DREAM: - Dream can be a channel of blessing or curse. God can use dream to release divine blessing into the believer’s life and also Satan can use this channel to sow evil seeds. Dream can be deliberate (natural), divine, (blessed) or demonic. In the witchcraft world, through esoteric manipulations, objects, sickness etc can be spiritually projected into a victim’s body during dream and it will have attendant effect in the physical when the person wakes up. Those who can also not be gotten in the physical can equally be initiated into secret societies in their dream.
“Another parable He set forth before them, saying, the kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while he was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed also darnel (black, wild wheat) among the wheat, and went his way. So when the plants sprouted and formed grain, the darnel (weed resembling wheat) appeared also” [Mt 13: 24 – 26 AMP]
CHAPTER SEVEN
DEMONIC BASE & STRONGHOLDS
Demon base and strongholds are spiritual fortresses of evil spirits where their tentacles are firmly established and their power booster located. Depending on the level of demonic operation, base and strongholds can be in an individual or at a specific strategic location (river, forest, mountains, and objects e.t.c).
To discover the enemy base is therefore a strategic warfare task that will eventually result in a more effective use of spiritual ammunition geared towards more effective warfare campaign. Demon base are usually fortified territory of the dark world intended to perpetuate satanic hold on the victim or the place of the evil operation.
Our spiritual artillery weapon in Christ must be directed towards the identified demon base or stronghold (II Cor 10: 4). When the stronghold is demolished the satanic influence is equally quenched. When the base of the demon is not recognized the deliverance will become unnecessarily elongated or the evil forces can easily re-organize after the deliverance session.
The principle of satanic stronghold is built on the warfare strategy employed in the physical warfare. The strongman stays at the stronghold and builds around him fighting and operational forces. The idea is to give protection to the strongman, so that in severe battle, he will be the last force to fall and penetrating to the stronghold made very difficult. David fort idea was built around the same warfare strategy.
“So David dwelt in the fort, and called it the city of David. And David built round about from Millo and inward. And David went on and grew great.” (II Sam 5: 9 – 10)
We have a prophetic mandate to demolish every fort and strongholds of the enemy, which are set up against the divine counsel.
“And the fortress of the high of thy walls shall he bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust”. (Isa 25; 12)
For practical purpose, the believer engaged in spiritual warfare must understand that spiritual beachheads are established to enforce satanic holds and legitimize the demonic stay. The spiritual beachheads must be identified, prayerfully destroyed and activities attached to it discontinued. Satan, in his spiritual diplomacy has put in place strategic activities to renew evil treatise necessary for re-fortifying his holds in people and places. Some customary rites, religious festivals and rituals which are seasonally observed are intended to re-fortify Satan’s stronghold. Some ceremonial initiations, taboo, religious observances are strategically put in place to ensure for revitalization of demonic activities from generation to generation. These are part of power and operational booster for the Satan’s strongholds in persons and places.
Identifiable demon strongholds may include ancestral hold (family god (ess), symbol, name etc), potential “demonic depot” (e.g. cemetery, forest, mountain, spiritually activated road junctions, abortion clinics, cinema houses, drinking spots ghettoes etc), secret sins, certain evil habits, unforgiving spirit, fear and evil imagination, high places and demonic objects, artifacts and “demonic holds” like pets and agent house helps. The list of possible strongholds is indeed opened-ended.
In the African setting, demons have entrenched themselves in homes and town through these established shrines and places of Satan’s worship. Again are the many seasonal festivals that are demonic in nature. This does not mean that everything about African culture is demonic; an extreme position some people have taken, but we must recognize that many so call cultural practices are demon worship in disguise. We have a lot of educating cultural practices that tell of who we are and some that tell of our moral and social values. In as much as we seek to promote the good cultural practices and values, we must equally be bold not only to condemn the demonic aspect but also to discard them completely. Festivals and cultural ceremonies that go with rituals and rites dedicated to some deity and ancestors must be done away with. Some of these ceremonies are strategically put in place by Satan to perpetuate his stay and lure many more into bondage.
Satan is so cunning that he has put in place certain demonic programs for virtually every rite of passage in some community. What suppose to be a social rite has turned to be masked demonic bondage. Ask yourself questions about some of what you culturally do during naming ceremony and why you do them, and you will be amazed at your own findings. The same thing with rites performed to usher young ones into adulthood and even when funeral is locally performed, most often something will have to be done that no one is able to fully and clearly explain why or the rational behind the practice. I think it is high time the church come out with theologically sound alternative liturgies for these rites so as to now do them in Christian way and at the same time fulfilling the social cultural imports of the traditional ones.
CHAPTER EIGHT
COVENANT CURSES AND CURE
If there is any spiritual element struggled with mostly in spiritual warfare then it must be the spiritual legal issues of covenants and curses. Through the provisions of covenants demons do legitimize their stay in people and places making it sometimes difficult to drive them out of their holds. A balance understanding of dynamics involved in covenant enact ion is necessary for victory in spiritual warfare.
Generally speaking, covenant is built on mutual agreement between two parties and it is usually two-sided; blessing and curse sides. When all provision of the covenant is met then the blessing encoded in the covenant treatise is bound to manifest but if otherwise the negative manifestation of curses. Curse is a spiritual contagious spell, which brings evil upon whosoever it is unleashed.
“The leprosy of Naaman shall cleave unto thee and unto thy seed forever. And he went out of from his presence a leper as white as snow” (II Kg 5: 26 – 27)
Curse is contagious (unlike spell) because its effect is felt from generation to generation. Its effects can be limitless if the spiritual beachhead is constantly renewed. Curse is strong because it operates from a spiritual legal foundation. Curse is not time and space bound because it can move from place to place.
“As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the Curse causeless shall not come” (Prov. 26: 2)
“Then I turned and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying scroll. And he said unto me, what seast thou? And I answered, I see a flying scroll; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits. Then said He unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth: for everyone that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and everyone that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it. I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts and it shall enter into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name; and it shall remain in the midst of his house and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stone there of” (Zech 5: 1 – 4)
Fundamentally, curses and covenant are spiritually handled together. The believer’s prayer missile must target the basic elements upon which and through which curse and covenant are built and operate. When prayer is offered to break the force of curse and covenant, these foundational elements must be addressed.
Spiritual bond, which serves as the legal contact between the oppressed and the oppressor
Spiritual base, which is the regimental fortress of the strongman of the covenant and the curse
Identification Symbols which are used to mark victim and recognize them – it may be charm, amulet, shrine, monument, name, incision etc
Monitoring or guiding spirit, which normally moves to effect the provisions of the covenant and curse?
There are a number of types of covenant of significance in believers’ spiritual warfare encounter. Other types of covenant may exist but we follow the same principle in breaking their power and holds on their victim. The common types include the following: -
1. BLOOD COVENANT: - This can be the most dangerous covenant that can be contracted and also very difficult one to break. Blood is used as bond and seal of this covenant of life exchange or bound. It may be by incision or exchange of blood. Once blood involved the person’s total life is brought on evil line for all manner of demonic manipulation.
2. SEXUAL COVENANT (I Cor 6: 15 – 20): - The dynamics involve in this is already mentioned in the previous chapter. Anyone you have sex with you become one with. There is therefore a spiritual opening into your life from his/her life meaning that you share every spiritual thing (problem, curse etc) together
3. ANCESTRAL COVENANT: - This is a covenant contracted by the forefathers and bounding on everyone on the lineage of the family whosoever shares in the family blood bond. This is one of the hidden sources of people’s spiritual problem. Investigation must be conducted into the family past and warfare prayer lunched to destroy every evil covenant contracted in the past.
4. REPRESENTATIONAL COVENANT: - This kind of covenant is built on the principle of pneuma-social interconnectivity or relationship. There are certain kinds of representation what can legalize and authorize someone entering into covenant on behalf of another. Ancestral covenant is built on the same principle. By the virtue of marriage covenant either of the spouses can enter into covenant on behalf of the other partner and the covenant will forensically hold. The father can contract covenant on behalf of his children or family because of his spiritual authority over the family. The king of a land can enter into covenant on behalf of the entire people under his domain because of the spiritual recognition of his political authority over the land. The company director on behalf of the company workforce can contract covenant that can hold on everyone in the company. In situation like this, the antidote is appealing to greater authority to prevent or destroy such influence.
5. OCCULT COVENANT: - This covenant bounds together the occult members and prevents them from breaking out of the society. Most occult group engages in blood covenant to seal their souls to the society.
6. PHILIA COVENANT: - Some people are in spiritual bondage today as a result of covenant they entered into with their friend. There is a spiritually recognized cord of friendship that activates whatsoever covenant friends contract. Be careful of what you enter into with your friends because they can have their toll on your life in the future (I Sam 20: 16 – 17; 18: 1 – 4). Some interesting records in the Bible showing the power and result of curse include the following: -
a“And Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, cursed be the man before the lord, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho; he shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it” (Jos 6: 26)
One stubborn man later decided to build Jericho, but not without paying the heavy price.
“In his days did Hiel the bethelite build Jericho: he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Segub according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Joshua he son of Nun” (I Kg 16: 34)
Imagine through wisdom, if this man had no child and decided to build Jericho or if all his children were ladies? In foolishness he defied the spiritual order but paid dearly for his action.
bThe innocent pronouncement of Jacob when challenged by his father-in-law for stealing his gods, to me was the reason for the untimely death of Rachael. For those who can discern and read between the lines will see the spiritual connection between Jacob’s words and Rachael’s death.
“With whosoever thou findest thy god, let him not live; before our brethren discern thou what is thine with me, and take it to thee. For Jacob knew not that Rachael had stolen them”. (Gen 31: 32)
Rachel eventually died in transit, unable to enter the “promised land”, strongly possibly because of the curse. (Gen 35: 16 – 20)
cThe full analysis of Gideon’s problem can only be unraveled from the Genesis account of Chapter 48.
“And he said unto him, oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house”. (Jud 6: 15)
If you compare this passage with the whole of Gen 48, then you will understand why in Israel’s history Manasseh was not a significant tribe (spiritual and politically). This will also help you to understand why Gideon was asked to start his ministry and warfare campaign from his own father’s shrine.
d The resultant effect of David’s prophetic declaration against mount Gilboa after the death of Saul is still there till today for all to see.
“Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain, upon you, nor fields of offerings: for there shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, as though he had not been anointed with oil” (II Sam 1: 21)
On mount Gilboa today, there is no green grass: This may not be unconnected to the words of David.
It is necessary for us to understand the interconnectivities between covenant, curse, and spell. They are basically related but technically different in manifestation and complexity. As covenant is built on mutual agreement and two sided, so there must be a reason also for a curse to be established. Both covenant and curse can be contagious but spell is specifically directed toward a particular person or thing.
It must also be understood that curse and covenant operate on some basic principles. The concept of order of authority and power of relationship are two important dynamics upon which the two operate. In curing curses however, appeal is technically made to the higher authority. The highest available authority is Divine authority in Christ. As believers we must therefore recognize the power of authority and be sensitive to the spiritual implications of our actions and relationships. A good example of a demonstration of clear understanding of authority is the action of the Centurion in Lk 7:6-10
CHAPTER NINE
PREPARATIONS FOR SPIRITUAL WARFARE
If the whole of Christian living is regarded in some way as spiritual warfare, then the issues raised in this chapter are issues of Christian life’s principle and not just things to observe when going into certain warfare situation. To me, I see these principles as fully embodied in the believer’s quest for growth or maturation. The principle of continuity is enshrined in the believer daily victorious living. Preparation for spiritual warfare is therefore a daily exercise, a nonstop discipline that every believer must engage in.
Effective and consistent personal spiritual check-up must be regularly observed by anyone who wants to be victorious in spiritual warfare. Like the scripture says that we must pray without season, indicating that we must always pray so the believer must be prepared always. Daily spiritual check up involves spending quality time with God in conversational prayers, meditative study of the scripture, quality worship and lively sessions of praise. During this period, personal examination through heart searching and inner x-raying should be done. It is an objective strategic way of “taking heed” less one fall. An unevaluated life is a devaluating life. A vision without a revision will only lead to confusion. Christian life must therefore be daily evaluated.
Apart from daily personal examination, there must also be a daily spiritual saturation. Let your head lack no anointing. On daily basis there must be a progressive and significant amount of growth experienced. You must consistently pray to –
Ø Off load yourself from every demonic deposit and load
Ø Free yourself from all self and demonic limitations.
Ø Pull down every demonic fortification and stronghold around you.
Ø Free yourself from all demonic ties, navels and evil connections.
Ø Block all spiritual leakages of doubt and fear.
Ø Destroy every spiritual networking and spiritual remote control.
Ø Pull down all strange altars and thrones.
Ø Receive divine strength, and enablement.
Apart from the daily spiritual exercises, other things must be known and observed. Among them are the under mentioned issues –
Ø Right standing is the first thing you must ensure. The strength of a soldier is first in his standing. You must be sure you are in a right relationship with God. If you don’t have a standing with God you can’t successfully engage in warfare against the devil.
Ø You must also count the cost. Spiritual warfare is not for undisciplined people. Certain commitment is required, sacrifices will be required from your part because you will sometimes have to let go certain things you so much cherish. It may some times require for going your regular sleep and leisure. If you cannot let go then you can not let God.
Ø Firmness and boldness is also a require attribute for someone engaged in spiritual warfare. There are situations that will separate boys from men, sisters in the church from mothers in Israel. Your boldness and firmness is needed at the battle ground. Sometimes in deliverance situation, you are faced with frightening scenes that may cause you to want to jump out of yourself. Cowards can not be effective in deliverance and exorcism. Instability is a cancer, and an unstable person can not receive anything from God.
Ø Understanding for your standing. Spiritual warfare is the warfare of the word. You must therefore be enlightened and be well informed. You need knowledge and understanding to survive in this battle ground. Knowledge is power, understanding is strength, and wisdom is knowledge and understanding well applied. In all your getting get knowledge and understanding. You need to keep upgrading yourself, learn from others who are gone ahead of you. In as much as you are not taking everything raw, you still need to learn like the Berean brethren.
Ø Holy living is the first requirement. There is nothing you can do or achieve for God that can be a substitute for that requirement to be holy as your heavenly father is. This is one major missing link between the apostolic days and our contemporary time. There is no two ways about this; the command is that we must be holy even as our heavenly father is. The issue of holy living is not popular today because everybody want to do what he or she likes and at the same time expects the flow of the power of God to continue. As the command applies to the one doing deliverance, it does apply also to the person receiving deliverance. If we are not prepared to live holy life, then we are not prepared to experience the great move of God.
CHAPTER TEN
PRACTICAL DELIVERANCE
This chapter may be the most sensitive of all. Care must therefore be taken to understand the concept being presented within the context in which the presentation is made. There are certain universal principles that the book seeks to posit, and a scripturally tested paradigm of doing deliverance. I must also state, from the onset, that we have to define certain confines and admit once again that the subject of exorcism is a wide subject area and also complex practice. There is no “ABC” rule anywhere like logarithm table for doing deliverance, that not withstanding; certain guides in the scripture, are identified as fundamental plumb line that all practices must conform to. I have led a lot of very dangerous and complex deliverance situations after which I was approached by some to give the formula I used. I must here state that there is no “almighty, step by step formula” for conducting deliverance. We only follow scriptural guides and specific instruction from God for each warfare situation. Some have come out with step by step formula, but this I must confess is not only impracticable but misleading. In as much as basic principles of exorcism must be understood, approach sometimes differs from situation to situation as the Lord may direct.
Let us go together to the Synagogue and analyze a particular deliverance scene.
“And in the Synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice, saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him, saying hold thy peace and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not. And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, what aword is this! For with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits and they come out.” Lk 4:33-36
This is an interesting scenario in which Jesus himself was seen doing exorcism. From the above narrative, it is suggested that the original recipient/audience are already aware and familiar with the concept of demonic activities in human life. Let’s x-rayed the passage –
In the Synagogue - It is of interest to me that the demoniac in this passage was not at the cemetery but rather the synagogue. What an unusual location for a demoniac to be! We must understand that those in need of deliverance are all over the place, even right there in our parishes. I have led several campaigns to dislodge ancient demons from shrines and evil forests but I must also say that many of the very dangerous demons I have encountered these past 15 years of doing spiritual warfare were met right inside the church. There seem to be a shift in the direction of demon operation today. In my own observation, demons are decamping from the traditional locations they are known to love to reside. Less people go to shrine today. It seem everybody want to go to church. The world has become so churchy that demonic world also seems to be consumer conscious. More demonic activities are taking place right inside “church” than even at the shrine today. Many strange churches are springing up along side with the true one and devil is really getting more people in the fake churches than he is getting through shrine. There are a lot of agents of darkness starting churches today and many so called men of God practicing witch crafting and priest crafting.
A man with a spirit of an unclean devil – This statement reveals a very important thing in deliverance ministry. We need to recognize the facts presented in this narrative as they affect our operation in deliverance today. There is a clean and clear cut differentiation in the personality of the possessed man and the possessor (demon).This is very important information we must understand. In casting out demon, we must know that the possessed man must be differently handled from the demon that possessed him. Many people are found of making this unfortunate mistake of not separating the two personalities. Sometimes people under demonic afflictions are rough handled during deliverance session because the handler does not understand the dynamics of the double personalities during deliverance ministration. Another interesting thing in this passage is the description of the demon as a spirit of unclean devil. The question that will readily come to mind is that are there demons that are clean? I must say here that no demon is clean, however, in this passage the description may have being used because of the particular manifestation of this spirit entity in the life of the person. There is high probability that the presence of this demon was making him engage in obscene and lewd actions. The Greek adjective akathartou used to describe the demon can also mean ceremoniously or morally unclean or foul. It can be rendered foul demon.
The crying out – It must be understood here that when demons encounter God’s power, they react in bizarre way. The reactions of demons when they encountered God’s power during deliverance are generally termed manifestations. It must also be said that not all these strange reaction do mean demon presence. Some times the human personalities can also respond to God’s power similarly. Discernment of the spirit will help differentiate the various manifestations. The manifestation in itself however is not an indication of deliverance. Demon do manifest in differs ways, sometimes depending on the kind of demon at work. The demons of lust normally display sex motions, stretched fingers and nerves, swaying and gyrating of waist and hip. Serpentine spirits do twist the body of the victim like snake, pulling of the tongue in and out speedily and blowing out of air forcefully from all the body openings. The spirit of gog and magog (fighting spirit) manifest by kicking hands and legs, violent movement of the body and literal attempt to fight the handler. Death spirit manifests through numb limbs, stillness and stiffness of the body, rolling inside of the eye ball. The presence of the witchcraft spirit may be identified by clinging of the hands like that of the cat, screaming and distorted face. Augury spirit displays by tongue speaking and even sometimes prophecy. Marine demon can twist the body of the victim like fish, spitting and desperate request for water to drink. These manifestations should not be conclusive way of discerning the presence of demon, further spirit investigation will be needed to ascertain the actual demon in operation.
Let us alone - Sometimes in deliverance situation one can encounter vocal demon. Demon can yell out, plead for help, make verbal outburst and insist of not leaving. Also, we should know from this particular statement that there is a clear indication that the demons are more than one. Have you come to destroy us? This statement is a clear sign that the demons are many. Most of the time in deliverance situation, it is the strongman or the principal demon that usually speak, and the last to leave. If the strongman is cast out the lesser ones automatically leave. It is also possible that some lesser demons can go and the principal demon remains. In this situation, the deliverance will not be considered complete. You must be careful not to be engaged in unnecessary conversation with demons. Immaturity and lack of knowledge are two major factors which make people develop interest in conversing with demons. There is no spirituality in dialoguing with devil.
Jesus rebuked him – Jesus was not interested in ego boosting, and unnecessary business with the demon, he rebuked him. You must note here that the rebuke was directed at the demon manifesting and not the human victim. The rebuke Jesus gave was an affirmative, declarative, authoritative order for the demon to leave the victim. In deliverance we do not do devotional prayers but we give authoritative order in Christ’s name. We say to the mountain to move and not pray to the mountain to go. There is a difference between praying and saying and also speaking and seeking. This must be understood by anyone doing deliverance. There is power of attorney given to you by Christ to put the devil where he belongs. Exorcism is one of the various ways of exercising the power we have in Christ. Be silent was Jesus’ order. Today a lot of people doing deliverance are rather interested in conversing with the devil. No where in the Bible is this encouraged. I was at a deliverance center where a manifesting person was given the microphone to talk with the congregation for more than 30 minutes. In this case the demon really took over the pulpit in the name of demonic confession. What the church failed to realize was that the devil is a liar and when given any chance, will by all means use it to his advantage . Jn. 8:44
Hurt Him not – Despite the fact that the demon threw the man down, he was not hurt. I must say that different demon manifest differently (Lk.9:42, Mk 1:26). Some demons can be very dangerous and destructive. Care must be taken in deliverance situation to ensure that people are not unnecessarily hurt in the name of manifestation. The deliverance environment must be free of harmful materials, well enclosed to prevent the person being prayed for from running across the street or hurting him or herself with harmful objects. Deliverance ministers must see themselves as care givers. All the time we must consciously separate the person from the demon we are casting out.
There is another interesting deliverance scenario that will bring us into a new dimension of exorcism. Let’s get down with the master to the borders of Tyre and Sidon and observe the interesting scene together –
Mk. 7:24-30 “And from thence he arose and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into a house, and would have no man know it, but he could not be hid. For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him, and came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. But Jesus said unto her, let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and cast it unto the dogs. And she answered and said unto him, yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs. And he said unto her, for this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter. And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed”.
Whose young daughter – This is another dimension to how deliverance is done. There is what we call representational deliverance. This is a situation in which the actual person in need of deliverance is being represented by another person based on the principle of association. In this particular case the daughter is being represented by the mother. The power of God is not limited by time or space. The deliverance, according to the passage was effective although the victim was distant away from where the deliverance was being conducted. I have experienced similar situation whereby the person in need of deliverance can not be reached but a relative standing as a point of contact. The fundamental principle upon which this kind of deliverance is built is the idea of association. The person bringing the case of another person should be related in some way. It may be blood relation or friend or someone you have some kind of authority over. From this scriptural passage and my own experience these past years, I can boldly say that representational deliverance is an effective method of doing deliverance.
What new paradigm did Peter brought to the practice of divine healing and exorcism at the Solomon’s porch and Paul while at Ephesus?
Acts 5:12-16 “ And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch…Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing might overshadow some of them. And there came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits, and they were healed every one.”
Acts 19:11-12 “And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or apron, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.”
This is the idea of transfer of anointing. It is in itself not a completely new idea. The idea is seen in the ministry of some of the Old Testament prophets like Elijah and Elisha (2Kg.4:29). It was also practiced in some way by Christ himself. That anointing can be transferred from one medium to another only further establish the fact that God’s power defies any form of limitation. The shadow of Peter became a medium of manifestation of God’s power; likewise Apron from Paul healed the sick and the demoniac. The only caution in this is that some can easily abuse it and equate the media with the Holy Spirit. I have read a popular book by one faith preacher that the anointing oil is the Holy Spirit mysteriously bottled. This is nothing but a blaspheming. There is no doubt that points of contact can be used but must be used rightly. It must not become a regular practice without which people develop the concept that God can not work. All portions of the Bible where the use of points of contact were used, it never became a standard way of healing all the time. To develop an almighty formula for using it all the time will not be consistent with the Scripture. I do use points of contact as led by the Holy Spirit but not all the time like a formula for getting things done. If so, Jesus would have gone ahead opening all blind eyes by spitting on the clay. You remember that that usage was only once. When some of these wonderful provisions are misused people get confused and don’t see anything good at all in them. In any thing we do, we should make sure they are consistent with the practice and the teaching of the Bible.
There is another wonderful practical lesson we can learn from a scenario in the book of the Acts of the Apostles. Let’s get down to Philippi with Paul and Silas.
Acts 16:16-18 “And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying: The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, these men are the servants of the most high God, which shew us the way of salvation. And this did she many days, but Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.”
This is an interesting passage to learn from. The basic lesson from the passage is the fact that we need divine direction for discernment. The common concept of the devil we have is that of a ugly, negative, visible evil but in deliverance situation at times the devil do appear like an angel of light. The idea of a kingdom divided against itself only complicate matter especially when devil is seen doing some seemingly “good” things. Is it that his kingdom in that regard is divided against itself? It is not everyone that call Christ’s name that is truly following him.
We went to Pray – This is a clear picture and description of people who can do valiantly in spiritual warfare. The eagerness of the Paul- Silas team to find a place to pray reveals one of the basic requirements of a spiritual person who can effectively do spiritual warfare. Spiritual saturation and empowerment can only be gotten in the chamber of prayer and a man of God must daily spend quality time doing that daily. I believe the many successes of Paul in his mission campaign and spiritual warfare is traceable to this singular exercise.
The description of the possessed girl is another thing of interest to me. I guess the girl may be a teenager, owned by some people who are indicatively not the parents. The Greek word used to describe her; paidiske, means bondmaid. It has an undertone meaning of someone ‘covenantedly’ bonded She was simply under some spiritual remote control and was been used for business. The western mind may find this very absurd, but the truth of the matter is still the fact that metaphysically, someone can be spiritually controlled through means far beyond the reach of natural science. Some of the happenings in deliverance are sometimes very difficult to explain to people, simply because most of them defy any mental analysis. She is described here in the passage as a soothsayer (manteuomai). The manteis were possessed of a mantic fury which displayed itself by the eyes rolling, mouth foaming, hair flying and so forth. In this state of ecstasy, all senses of reason is suspended. During deliverance ministration for someone with this demon, some of these manifestations may be noticed.
The most interesting thing in this passage is the theological accuracy of what the possessed was saying. I do not think anyone can fault the girl on the basis of what she was saying. Her message is perfectly correct. This sometimes presents a big problem to young Christians whose only way of discerning is the sweet things the preacher is saying. In discernment, the message is as important as the messenger. It is not only the message or the action that matters but also the source of the message and the action. Imagine Jesus saying that many will say in the last day that they performed miracles, healing and even raising of the dead in his name but still he will tell them he do not know them. This is simply complex for some to comprehend. A lot of people are being deceived today by signs and wonders because they can not see through the eyes of the spirit to see the power behind the scene. Once there is miracle, healing and performance and the person is holding Bible then he is from God. May the Lord open your eyes to see beyond your nostril!
One may ask for the reasons why the girl was saying what she was saying. To me, apart from the fact that she was a nuisance to Paul and his team and that she was really physically disturbing them she was doing far more harm. Imagine the possessed girl, already known in the community, now endorsing the ministry of Paul, how will people see Paul? Won’t this bring a great confusion in the mind of people as to the relationship between what Paul is doing and saying and the already known activities of the Girl? The devil does not only work for the present but also with the future in view. This to me is worse than she being just a nuisance. A demon one time was shouting “I have left her!” The question to ask then is if truly the demon is gone how possible then that he is still using the vocal cord of the person to announce this?
OTHER PRACTICAL HINTS
The foundational information needed for effective operation in the spiritual warfare campaign is clearly presented in the passages examined above. I must say that any other hints expounded are one way or the other related to the above submissions. Again is the fact that we must understand the dynamics and challenges of the time in which we live. To be relevant to our time we have to employ tactics appropriate to deal with today’s situation without necessarily disrupting the flow of foundational instruction of the Bible. New action taken today to deal with current issue may not necessarily be in the Bible but must not in any way be contradictory to the principle of the Scripture. Today, we use amplifier, film etc but in the Bible we cant find their usage. The world of the Bible time had no complex technology of such but since we have this today it can be used to our advantage and the advancement of the Gospel without necessarily being at variance with any doctrinal foundation of the word of God. In the same view the below mentioned hints are there to help our operation in deliverance ministry today, to be better organized and effective in the face of the many current challenges we are facing. The hints are outcome of my more than 15 years practical involvement in exorcism.
1) Pre deliverance preparation - It is logically unwise to go to a strong man’s house to spoil him without preparing one self. Before any major spiritual warfare campaign is launched, you must be well prepared for it. You need spiritual examination, fortification, and saturation. If it is a corporate deliverance the entire team must prepare together and be one. There must be a sense of direction and proper co ordination. In mass deliverance situation all involved must work together and all activities must be convergent. The ushers and the counselor must be trained ahead of time on what they are expected to do and how they are expected to do them.
2) Pro active strategies – Apart from the fact that we help cast out demons, and enforce deliverance of those in bondage, our approach must also ensure for future monitoring and further possible contacts. Deliverance must not end at casting out of demons but people must be helped to maintain their deliverance. This is where we see the broken link and this is one reason why we keep delivering the same set of people over and over again. Do not make yourself become a small god to those you are trying to help. They should be helped not to see you as their savior but to see Christ the deliverer. This can only be done if they are helped to stand on their own instead of building their faith around you. Some deliverance ministers don’t want people to know what they know because they want them to always come to them. If you have this mentality as a deliverance minister, then you also need serious deliverance.
3) Place of Spirit’s gifts – Since this is spiritual warfare, we must recognize our total dependence on the Holy Spirit, His enablement, and the outworking of His grace. Care must however be taken when in corporate warfare setting to make sure gifts usage is well coordinated. Generally, power and revelation are most essential in deliverance situation.
4) Place of deliverance – Sometimes we down play the importance of ensuring for appropriate environment for deliverance. I think where regular deliverance is taking place must be a right place to avoid unnecessary problem. It is not advisable to be using your residential home for regular deliverance. If it is one to one deliverance situation, especially if it is also for an opposite sex, an enclosed, private room is dangerous. Deliverance is better at a place that is opened, and where prayer is always offered. Dangerous materials like knife, cutlass etc is to be kept away from deliverance environment. It is also not the best to be conducting regular deliverance in a storey building.
5) People undergoing deliverance – The way we treat and handle people manifesting during deliverance prayer must also be taken note of. It is spiritual warfare and we must recognize that fact when we are handling people. People should be helped not to get hurt or humiliated or disgraced in any way. We are care givers and we must show concern and give out our best in handling our clients.
6) Procedure – Like I earlier posited that there is no fast rule as to how deliverance can be conducted. Never memorize any ABC steps to doing deliverance. This notwithstanding, you must recognize all the basic principle relating to deliverance in the Bible. . Never memorize any ABC steps to doing deliverance. This notwithstanding, you must recognize all the basic principle relating to deliverance in the Bible. You must be guided by the Holy Spirit and the divine directions received must be in tandem with the teachings of the Bible. Like the caution I gave regarding the use of the point of contact, point of contact is not an almighty formula in deliverance situation. Care must be taken in the use of laying on of hand. In as much as it is biblical to lay hand, it is not a compulsory formula all the time you want to do deliverance. Of a special example is the serpentine spirit which can sometime require avoidance of laying on of hands, most especially if the handler is a young believer. Sensitive parts of an opposite sex should also not be a target of hand laying. I don’t see any reason for laying hand on a woman’s breast in order to cast out a demon. Some people also get mechanical when doing deliverance. You do not need to help the Holy Spirit by pushing people in the name of doing deliverance. There is also the cyclical style, where the head of the person being prayed for is turned round and round until the person falls down. Some of these practices are becoming popular because people thinks it is only when you fall down that you are delivered. These are all carnal procedures that must be avoided by all informed deliverance workers. Falling down has nothing to do with a demon leaving. If you have this kind of mentality, then you can easily be deceived by demons. I can not imagine why a true minister of the gospel will want to be pushing people down in the name of doing deliverance. Pushing, turning people round etc are simple mechanical exercise or better called, priest crafting. Another thing to note as earlier identified is the fact that we need not be chatting with demons. We do not need the information from demon to guide our approach to deliverance. It’s simply immaturity that normally makes people to be conversing with the devil. You must also note that it is not your screaming that will scare the devil out but rather the anointing. You do not need to loose your voice in order to get a demon out or to shout and excrete to effect deliverance; it’s the anointing that will make the difference. It is funny sometimes that one can not make out the difference between the person manifesting and the person doing the deliverance because they are both shouting and demonstrating at the same time.
7) Post Deliverance Actions – It is very unfortunate that most of the time we have no post deliverance program for those doing the deliverance and those delivered. This kind of approach is like an evangelist making converts instead of making disciples. Those engaged in deliverance should see sense in refortifying themselves by continuous effective spiritual exercises. We must also plan to help those we pray for to stand on their own and mature spiritually. What we do after the deliverance can have a great deal of effect on the whole exercise. After every major campaign, vengeance demons will always want to attack you, so you must always be on guard. Somehow there is that human tendency to want to relax after every major success. In spiritual warfare, we keep keeping on until we are finally called home.
The above insightful hints, I believe will go a long way in helping you operate in Spiritual warfare as a better minister. These seven issues are very strategic, and they should form the key foundation upon which a new sound paradigm for doing Spiritual warfare can be built. I must say also that to be effective in whatsoever you are doing, you must always engage yourself in meaningful dialogue with people who can help you grow and know better. You need to constantly upgrade yourself and keep abreast with what is going on in your field. Like I established the fact at the beginning of this discussion that what we know is far less than what we do not know, we must therefore be humble enough to learn from others.
In an organized deliverance center where record is kept for monitoring purposes, certain information and paper works are kept to facilitate better understanding of each deliverance case. Such information is very useful for future usage especially in a case where the person who handled the case first is not available. Those who work on the coalition of the information must be matured Christians, who can discern and are trained on the basic skills of counseling and pastoral care giving. They may not necessarily be the same people who will conduct the actual deliverance. The case report prepared by these people becomes the primary working tool and guide for those at the deliverance section to use. Below is an example or model case report form that can be used during counseling session with the client –
GLOBAL DELIVERANCE TEAM (GLODET)
(Center for Spiritual Warfare & Missions)
P.O.BOX 1215, OYO TOWN NIGERIA
TEL 2348038565127/23438241496
E-Mail – kolade2002@yahoo.com
DELIVERANCE CASE REPORT FORM
PATIENT’S NAME ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AGE ----------------- SEX -------------------- MARITAL STATUS------------------------------
PATIENT’S ADDRESS -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEXT OF KIN ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PROBLEM SUMMARY ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FAMILY ‘TREE’ EVALUATION -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SPIRITUAL X-RAY OF THE PATIENT’S LIFE -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PSYCHOLOGICAL EVALUATION --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
Patient’s Signature Next of Kin’s Signature
OFFICIAL COMMENT -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------
Counselor’s Signature & Date
Most of the items on this form require some technical expertise from the part of the counselor who is doing the counseling. Like I earlier said, it is important that the person have knowledge of the basic counseling skills. We can not discuss at length about the necessary counseling skill needed in this chapter because this is not the main focus of the book. I must however say that the counselor must engage the client in a friendly dialogue that will make the client develop confidence in him. Certain useful information will never be divulged unless the client sees the counselor as someone he can trust. You must also help the client to develop hope and have confidence in him/herself. Allow the client to talk and avoid unnecessary interruption when the client is making emotional confession. Let the client see you as human and not a super person. Your testimonies can help build hope in your client and help him /her see hope for his/her case. Do not judge your client for wrong doing and do not condemn him/her to hell. Empathize with him/her but never get carried away when your client get too emotional. As you help your client build hope, never allow him/her see you as the savior but Christ.
Looking at the form itself, certain items on it require in-depth understanding of counseling dynamics. Below are some hints to help you know how to take down the required data –
Next of Kin – It is necessary that a close person accompany the client who may have certain information possibly not even known to the client. The form is not only an official document for the deliverance center but also a legal document, hence the presence of the next of kin is important and a witness to all procedure. During counseling session, if the client wants the next of kin to be eschewed for the purpose of privacy, you can allow that.
Problem Summary – This is the initial narration of the problem as given by the client or the next of kin. The simple history of the case is then taken down as the Problem Summary. It is not necessary to have all the details recorded, but only the important issue.
Family Tree – This is a more technical spiritual evaluation. It is necessary to recognize that many spiritual problem people face today are traceable to their family. The two parents’ side must be checked for possible involvement in occultism, ancestral covenants, contacts with any demonic spot, shrine etc. The significance of the family name and the family past must be identified. Name serves as entry point for demon. The religious and social background of the family may be useful in shedding light to the problem the client is facing. Sometimes, divorce or polygamy can have negative spiritual influence on the next generation.
Spiritual X-ray of the Patient – The client’s personal spiritual situation is of a great significance in deliverance. You have to know if the client is born again. You also need to know his/her past involvement in spiritual things. How fervent is he/her in the Lord now? Has he/her made covenant in the past or consult oracle or an occult person? Have he/her offered sacrifice to some god or deity or made incisions on his/her body? Has he/her made ritualistic circumcision to launch him/her into adulthood? You need to also help your client evaluate his/her dreams. Regarding dream, we must be careful not to over spiritualize every dream. Dream can be divine, deliberate, or demonic. It is our responsibility to make sure that we are able to identify what force is at work in each dream narrated. Some of the possible significant dreams include –
Ø Discovering yourself in your old school like you are still back there even after many years of graduation may be a retrogressing power of witchcraft at work.
Ø Seeing someone taking your blood in the dream or making incision on you may be a prelude to occult initiation.
Ø Swimming or crossing river in the dream may suggest presence or influence of marine demon.
Ø Seeing yourself in meeting in strange places and among strange people may be an indication of advance initiation.
Ø Picking fruits and or snail in a thick forest or in a refuse ground or ants attacking you may suggest problem of financial failure or attack on you finance.
Ø Having sex in the dream, or breastfeeding a baby may be a signal of asmodee spirit or spiritual marriage.
Ø Being pressed down in the dream or when you are half awake and you could not shout or move your body for some time may indicate that you are under witchcraft attacks. It may also sometimes manifest in you being pursued by dangerous animals or masquerades.
Ø By eating food in the dream someone may be initiated or a demonic deposit spiritually projected into his/her system.
Apart from strange occurrences in the dream, sometimes people do experience strange things even physically – like strange disappearance of personal effects, crossing of cobweb at strange places where web normally should not be etc Some of these happenings may shed light on the problem of your client. I must however caution that discernment is needed before drawing conclusion on any narration.
Psychological Evaluation – Our evaluation of things must be holistic and we must not force to give spiritual meaning to everything narrated to us. Some of the problems of our client may be psychological in nature. Some people are simply suffering from the psychological abuse of the past or certain environmental factors. Some of the psyche problems that may require technical or professional attention include- affective underdevelopment, identity crisis, non achievement of psychic intimacy, dysfunctional family system etc. Our ability to sort out things and put them at there appropriate places will help us give a more holistic help to our clients. Imagine a woman who does not know how to cook well or how to take good care of the house, now having problem with the husband, to me the problem is more of the physical than the spiritual. She will better be helped if she can go and learn how to cook well instead of spending all her time praying and fasting. We must also admit the fact that we may need a referrer help sometimes when we are confronted with professionally technical cases. We also need to have a wide range of knowledge that can make us relevant to many situations.
In the deliverance setting, the patient is given hope of divine intervention. In raising people’s hope we must however be careful not to play God. In all situations we need to seek divine counsel to know what to do and how to do it. You should never think that God will use you to heal every sick person that comes to you. God has the last say in all situations. As a result of the above truth, it becomes necessary for the deliverance minister to be equipped with psychological understanding of coping mechanism. People with strange problems and sicknesses, from the time they become aware of the problem, through the various stages of its development will be going through fluctuating emotional challenges that goes with certain coping mechanism. Apart from the spiritual helps they are offered at the deliverance center, they equally need psychological help to be able to handle their emotion well.
Upon the first awareness of the problem, the first psychological experience will be that of Shock. Shock is normally accompanied by two coping mechanisms namely denial and panic. Denial is a psychic anaesthetic to an unbearable reality. Denial helps the victim not to hear what he/she can not emotionally accept. This initial response may be somehow healthy in that it helps the victim muster inner forces to cope with situation capable of overwhelming him/her. When denial however becomes pronounced and prolonged, then it becomes dangerous. In the Christian setting however, some people mistake denial for faith. In this case faith rather becomes misinterpreted to mean fraud. Let the weak say I am strong and the poor say I am rich. Do not forget that the advice is to the weak and the poor. In the first place, for this provision to be appropriated there must first be that initial recognition of ones weakness and poverty, if not there is no need at all of confessing the riches and the strength. We need to understand the full dynamics of faith operation before coming out with statements in the name of exercising faith. Faith is not a denial of rational or scientific reality but rather the ability to see beyond it. Many people who exercise faith today are only exercising denial and not faith. You must know where you are and where your client stands. Panic on the other hand is the alternative response to shock. When this is expressed, all structure and reality checks become lost, and the victim will resort to impulsive, uncontrolled and unrealistic behavior. The situation, if not checked may become fluid and this may invariably lead to self destruction or psychosis. We must be careful of how we reveal certain realities to our client. You must not make the mistake of talking to your client about his/her problem like you are at the same level of faith. Information must be packaged in a manner that it will not make the hearer to panic. Some deliverance ministers are fond of making people panic just for the sake of making people see how powerful and spiritual they are. A true pastoral care giver will not be interested in making people panic but rather building hope in them.
Catharsis is another emotional expression which normally surfaces immediately reality begins to be established. Catharsis is an outward manifestation of one’s feeling of anger. The anger may be directed towards oneself, a loved one, the caregiver or even sometimes God. If this feeling is not expressed, it may be turned inward and may assume neurotic proportion capable of resulting in depression. You need not appear invincible or ‘too spiritual’ in handling someone suffering from catharsis. You may be tempted to judge or condemn the person or become annoyed at the person especially if the anger is directed at you or God. You need to understand what the person is going through and adequately help him/her come out of the state of catharsis.
Drama of Cognition sets in immediately the victim becomes cognizant of his/her condition and faced with either realistic hope or despair. The client will have to be helped to personally experience realistic hope in God instead of the choice of despair manifesting in stoic bitterness and hopelessness. Our focus in deliverance ministry should be to help people become spiritually rich and emotionally sound and balanced.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
HIGH LEVEL SPIRITUAL WARFARE
(DEALING WITH TERRITORIAL POWERS)
This is not an exhaustive treatment of High Level Spiritual Warfare, but an attempt to introduce you to the basic rudiments of what it entails to deal with the territorial powers. This aspect of spiritual warfare, I must confess is not all that popular, but of recent, Christians are being educated to launch into it.
High level warfare is a “close quarter combat” with the elemental and territorial spiritual powers on high places. This is more complex than what we encounter when we are doing regular exorcism for people. We are directly invading the seat of high ranking evil personalities who are spiritually given the oversight of designated territories by Satan.
We need to first understand that there are a lot of people who are very skeptical about anything spiritual. Such people are influenced by the western system of epistemology, which strongly downplay on spiritual entities and realities. They are doing theology by looking at universal structure of reality by employing only the Greek algorithmic logic. They see the devil as a system of evil and not a definite personal reality that truly exist as a real entity. This same idea influence the way they view the concept of territorial power. A theology that is constructed using this tool can not really, practically apply the divine revelation appropriately to human context but rather resort to using vague argument to explain away human realities that seem not in agreement with algorithmic logic. The result is a theology that is not comprehensive and which fails to capture all realms of reality. Portions of the Bible that are clearly indicating metaphysical reality of the spiritual are given unwholesome interpretations.
It is true that we don’t see these evil emissaries face to face, but in spiritual warfare we wrestle against them as Paul posits in Ephesians’ epistle. When Paul was talking about principalities and power and spiritual wickedness in high places, it will be exegetically fraudulent to reduce these entities mentioned to just mere impersonal forces or systems. Paul was talking about Spiritual realities, and distinctive entities of evil personalities. The truth is that there are rulers of darkness of this world that are really holding people and nations back from the knowledge of God. They are the spirits of disobedience working in the life of those in the slave market of sin.
Daniel’s encounter in chapter 10 of his book and the consequent explanation of the situation of what was going on in the spirit realm during the period of Daniel’s prayer and fasting can not be wished away as some physical drama. Daniel 10:13 says “But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.” There are no ambiguities in understanding that the Prince of Persia here is not the physical human prince but a spiritual entity having influence over the kingdom, Persia.
I see no good reason why the church should be divided on the issue of strategic warfare to the extent that some theologians even brand those doing it as occultist. In as much as there can be excesses in the way people sometimes handle spiritual matter, it will be another excess to totally condemn strategic warfare. The problem we have is that for a long time our mission strategies has being the human, flesh and blood approach, taking little cognizance of the spiritual dimension. Some blindly argue that there is no example of strategic warfare in the Bible and no clear statement that designated demons were ruling geographical locations. The church of the Acts of the Apostle were not doing mission the way we are doing it now. We are using marketing strategies, but they were being moved and directed by the Holy Spirit. Their method was simply power evangelism. Power evangelism has embedded in it strategic warfare principle, binding the strong man to take his spoil. We have a lot of methods today that does not need the help of the Spirit, the result is new converts that are reached mentally but not transformed spiritually. Their old master is still in charge, so we spend all energy in trying to make them conform to the church creed but they are truly not transformed from within.
Read over and over again the first mandate given to the first disciples, Mk. 3:14-15, “And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach and to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils.” What is missing in our mission is the power aspect and that is why anything in the line of power seem strange to a lot of us. Jesus in his days was carrying out exorcism with the power of God but the ‘theologian’ of his days accused him of using Beelzebub’s power because there were magicians in Jesus’ time using other means to try to cast out devils. Today, history is repeated, many are saying strategic warfare is built on the concept borrowed from tribal and eastern religion. It is not everything you don’t understand that should be automatically branded demonic, if care is not taken you will be wrongfully accusing the genuine move of God. Instead of asking for the power of God for our mission we are always thinking of human methods that can suit our carnal context. This is not an attempt to out rightly condemn all methods, but a strong caution that methods can never take the place of the Spirit. In all things that we do we do methodically, the argument is that even our methods must be informed by the Holy Spirit.
Jesus mission was power mission because in every city he went, he did not only preach the message of repentance, he also cast out demons and healed the sick. When the twelve and the seventy went into every city they did the same. What this means is that in every city they went to, they confronted forces of darkness as they were doing their evangelism. Throughout the Acts of the Apostle, the kind of evangelism seen is power evangelism. The problem now is that the church does not want to wait for the endowment of the power from on high again but instead want to go out harmed with methods and gadgets. Philip the evangelist went down to Samaria in Acts chapter eight and launched power mission that pulled down the demonic stronghold in Samaria. (Chap. 8:5-12). What about Paul at Ephesus and Athens? The church of the Acts of the Apostles encountered directly ruling power of darkness every city they entered, and their evangelism method was spiritual warfare.
The idea of phenomenological approach to doing theology today is of more help. Both principles in systematic theology and biblical theology are comprehensively captured in missionlogical approach. Missionlogical theology seeks to employ phenomenology and ontology to exegete both the scripture and ministry setting and consequently contextualizing the gospel. Divine revelation must be rightly applied to human context. The idea of territorial power is seen from the Old Testament through the New Testament. Israel’s encounter at Egypt is a clear example or territorial power. In that act of deliverance and the coming of the ten plagues, the 10 ruling spiritual forces of Egypt were dealt with. Israel’s occupation of Canaan was not just a physical take over of the land but God intended it to be a complete overthrow of evil forces of the land. Indeed when Israel got to Canaan they met the people worshipping the territorial spirits. To say that the idea of territorial spirit is not in the Old Testament is really theologically fraudulent.
What then are the challenges to doing High Level Warfare today?
Ø Ensuring for strong and effective defensive warfare strategies.
Ø Building “spiritual” covering for the team.
Ø Full use of our weapon of warfare in Christ.
Ø High sensitivity to the direction of the Holy Spirit (Discernment).
Ø Effective networking and unity among the team.
Ø Discovery of the “strongman” and the territorial personality.
Ø Strategic mapping.
Of interest here also is the argument that we are not asked to use the weapon of our warfare at the devil directly but rather for our personal spiritual growth. We must recognize that in the Ephesians’ catalogue of the weapon, we have the defensive and the offensive ammunition. Eph. 6:17-18 says “--- and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit ----“Warfare prayer is part of the “all manners of prayer”. It is an example of Jesus’ teaching on warfare prayer that we should say to this mountain. Binding the devil in prayer is in agreement with binding the strongman before taking his spoil. The strongman can be bind through prayers.
I want to suggest a model approach especially to doing the deliverance of the land and for engaging in prayer walk. Since this is a major warfare, we need to count the cost before embarking on it. I have personally led several deliverance of the land, and I can tell you that it call for seriousness and sensitivity. Our ability to take the land for the Lord is given to us from God and does not depend on our own strength (Num. 13:30). I am dividing the processes of the deliverance of the land to stages to aid understanding and to make it orderly. The stages mentioned are not almighty formula that must always be followed to letter, but they are guides to ensuring for an orderly and strategic campaign.
INCEPTION STAGE
Deliverance of the land is a vision that must be conceived and given birth to. It should not be something to rush to out of mere curiosity or just for experimentation or out of emotionalism. You must receive a specific mandate and Rhema from God before going ahead. All high level warfare and deliverance in the scripture began with people of God with specific mandate from heaven. When the burden is received, then there will be the need to communicate it to people of like passion, bearing in mind to obey the law of association.
INTERCESSORY STAGE
Intercessory stage is a strategic stage, because that is where the burden and the vision are incubated. Burden for deliverance of the land must be born and nurtured in the chamber of prayer (Neh.1:4). Do not just start any warfare campaign until you have spent quality time with God in the chamber of prayer. From the onset till even after the main deliverance, intercession must continue to go on. Intercessory time will help your team receive open heaven for the warfare.
SELECTION STAGE
Deliverance of the land requires collaboration among believers. This is one area of ministry where churches in a particular location can work together and overcome the limitations of denominationalism. This campaign normally will have a lot of people on board exhibiting different gifts and ministry abilities. Everyone that will be involved in the warfare must be carefully chosen based on their ministry and gift ability. People like “Achan” must not be among the team. The team should comprise of researchers, intercessors, evaluators, group leaders, and the overall co coordinator.
RESEARCH/DATABASE COLLECTION STAGE
At this stage, useful information is gathered through the help of the researchers and the strategic surveyors. This stage is very crucial to the success of the warfare, since the result of the investigation and the research will be the bedrock on which the battle strategy will be built. In all these we must recognize the Spirit direction and help, because with the arm of flesh we can do but nothing. The researchers must be skilled, gifted and must be able to interact well with all categories of people.
Certain means and methods can be used in gathering useful information about the land you want to deliver. The methods include: Questionnaire, investigation into important places like museum, libraries, boundaries, markets, shrines, palace, and interview with important people like chiefs, old people, market women, non-indigenes domicile in the land and the resident pastors. In using any of these three tools, you must take note of the following to guide you in what are needed to be focused on –
Ø Historical Analysis – Investigate into the history of the place. We need to consult the history of the land to be able to discover a lot of useful information that will be useful for our warfare campaign. You need to know when and how the place was founded, the founding father(s); their ideologies, religion and manners of life.
Ø Religious Analysis – What religion is prevalent at the place? Are their shrines and occult groups? You will also need to study the trend of the church growth and deduce possible causes.
Ø Identification Analysis – Certain symbols and representational signs of the people can tell you a lot of things about the people. Spend time to understand and interpret the meaning of the name given to the land, the logo, motto, and the slogan of the people.
Ø Social – Cultural Analysis – The way of life of the people should be studied and understood. Observe the moral and the marital lifestyle, the way the people interact with other culture and people, the strangers, poor, handicaps, widow, orphans and the marginalized in the society. All these social issues can have great spiritual implications.
Ø Observe and identify sites of riot, accidents, immoral acts, cemeteries, important plaza, monuments, sin centers like abortion clinics, prostitution and exploitation spots, important road junctions, strategic hills and mountains, palace and occult strongholds.
COLLATION/EVALUTION/INTERPRETATION STAGE
All information received must be reduced to simpler form and must be rightly interpreted. Care must be taken to avoid computation error. All materials must be checked and cross checked before being used as further indicators. Interpretation of the information can be plotted into graph, pie chart, bar chart or spiritual mapping. This requires maturity and certain skills.
COMMUNICATION STAGE
A vision well articulated and communicated will be well participated. All information and research outcome must be communicated to everyone involved in the campaign. No one should go into the warfare without adequate information and clear understanding of what will be the nature of the warfare. Lectures and mobilization seminars should be organize to adequately educate the team members and the concerned members of the community. Other believers in the land should also be carried along particularly for general intercessions (Judges 7-8).
WARFARE STAGE
The warfare stage comes at the end of the campaign, and this is described as the close quarter combat. The spiritual mapping made is now practically put into use as it guides the team to identify the strategic locations needed to touch during the prayer walk. You will need to bring to bare the fundamental principles you have learnt so far as deliverance prayer is offered at strategic places identified on the spiritual mapping. There will be the need to be very sensitive to the specific leadings of God at this time. Most of the time, prayer walk is the strategic tool employed. Examine the strategic prayer of Elisha for Jericho in 11Kg.2:19-22, “And the men of the city said to Elisha, behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth: but the water is naught, and the ground barren. And he said bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein, and they brought it to him. And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and said, thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land. So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake.” This is an example of deliverance of the land. This does not however mean that the details of what Elisha did should be repeated, because each warfare campaign follows specific strategy as the Lord will direct. What Elisha did, I believe, must be based on specific leadings of God. He was not just doing drama, but was following divine direction. A new cruse and salt are symbolically significant. The prayer he prayed is also an example of the kind of prayer prayed during warfare time. Elisha’s prayer falls within the type of prayer called strategic prophetic prayers. In breaking of the territorial covenants and curses, the natives should be used. It is usually more effective using people who are directly, spiritually connected to a particular ancestral or territorial curse or covenant when such covenant or curse is being broken. If you are not specifically led to pull down any shrine you should not (Judges 16:25).Most times after the prayer walk, demonic trees will wither and fall, evil brooks will dry and in the process, some demonic people may go with it. The general attendant results of such campaign include physical and spiritual progress, peace in the community, and salvation of lost souls and revival of slumbering believers. I can personally tell of great results and effects of High Level Warfare in places that we have been to launch such campaign. I must also say that there are no strict ABC rules and you are not even limited by the spiritual mapping you are using. So many things will be discovered and learnt on the spot when the warfare is going on.
Ø
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[GLODET TRAINING MANUAL]
PREPARED BY
REV. DELE KOLADE
Copyright © 2006 by:
Rev. Dele Kolade
Published in Nigeria by
GLODET PUBLISHERS
P. O. BOX 1215
OYO TOWN NIGERIA
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electrically or mechanically including photocopying, recording or any information storage without the prior written permission of the publisher.
All quotations from the Bible are from the King James Version.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 INTRODUCTION/PREVIEW
2 THE NATURE OF SPIRITUAL WARFARE
3 THE BIBLICAL & THEOLOGICAL BASIS FOR SPIRITUAL WARFARE
4 THE KINGDOM OF DARKNESS X-RAYED
5 DEMONIC ENTITIES (INCLUDING NATURE OF DEMON)
6 DIMENSIONS OF DEMONIC AFFLICTION
7 DEMONIC OCCUPATION
8 DEMONIC BASE & STRONGHOLDS
9 THE CONCEPT OF CURSES AND COVENANTS IN SPIRITUAL WARFARE
10 PREPARATIONS FOR SPIRITUAL WARFARE
11 PRACTICAL DELIVERANCE
12 HIGH LEVEL SPIRITUAL WARFARE
13 APPENDIX
INTRODUCTION
There are metaphysical realities that are epistemologically provable because they form part of our existential experience even though many may be beyond the grip of the locus of reason or mental investigations.
The idea of spiritual world and transcendental happenings bring to the fore the complex dynamics of human existence, that we are not caged into the garage of senses, as some “half informed” scholars will want us to believe. The Western categorization of the truth into bits and pieces that never seem to weave a single cloth is not holistically helpful. Apart from the fact that simple, unsuppressed common sense admits metaphysical realities, Christian faith explores extensively the many faces of the transcendental realties human is engaged in. Even in the scholastic parlance the limitation of human sense or reason is recognized. The human reason is a measuring measure [mensura mensurans] only insofar as it is first a measured measure [mensura mensurata]. Once the human reason is measured, it can not be an absolute measure of all things. Human reason can therefore not capture all forms of knowledge especially metaphysical issues.
This work is an attempt, from the scriptural point of view, to explore divine testimony regarding the cosmic and metaphysical (spiritual) warfare the believer is engaged in. A systematic, panoramic approach will be taken in delving strategically into the nitty- gritty of the whole concept of spiritual warfare as the Bible teaches with embellishment with several experiential testimonies as affirmation of the scriptural truth.
The principal actors in the warfare will be identified with the believer singled out for special attention. The archenemy (Satan), his cohort and kingdom, strategies and devices will be succinctly exposed and his knitted operational web investigated. The believer’s position vis-à-vis God’s decree will be clearly presented and various divine dynamics for spiritual warfare will be elucidated.
Certain issues of importance relating to administering deliverance, high level spiritual warfare, spiritual mapping, dealing with demonic strongholds, breaking curses and covenants etc will all be explored. Questions of importance will be addressed and various weapons available for the believer will be identified including how they can be practically put to use.
This book is an attempt to balance theology with experience and proof the truth that good theology explains human experiences. Theology becomes relevant when it addresses practical issues of life even as it point to the greater reality of God’s existence and workings. Any theologies that deny and refuse to address practical issues seize to represent the truth of the Bible. Any theology that denies the truth of spiritual warfare must be a theology of Satan and must be categorized as part of devil’s evil arsenals that must be fought against by every true meaning Christian.
I must here admit that this book is not exhaustive but only seeks to introduce you the essentials of spiritual warfare. This is a summary of more than 15 years research, involvement and experience in spiritual warfare, as a trainer (teacher) and a warrior across states of Nigeria and many regions in Ghana. I am therefore writing as a theologian not just sitting at the library but right there at the battle front, not engaged in abstract and imaginary theological arguments but dealing with relevant issues, bulk of which I have personally experienced and have also helped others deal with. This is also an advanced treatment of this subject especially when compared to my first publication “Manual on Spiritual Warfare”. It is my prayer that this piece will be of great help to you, not only as you read but as you also put the truth in it to practice
Your co-warrior
Rev. Dele Kolade
CHAPTER ONE
THE NATURE OF SPIRITUAL WARFARE
It is not an easy thing to describe anything at all. Whatsoever thing one want to describe must first be reduced into imageries and symbols. Anything explained in words and symbols can therefore not be fully presented in its original form.
The limitation of human description must be humbly admitted even of physical and familiar realities of life. To describe a spiritual matter is indeed a (more) greater task because familiar words and symbols will have to be used in explaining the unfamiliar.
It is therefore unfortunate when hypocrites bluntly deny certain truths because they are coded in familiar words and symbols to explain the unfamiliar ideas of spiritual warfare but interestingly the same people result to the same usage of imagery and symbol in putting forth their argument against the exponents of the concepts of spiritual warfare. We must all agree that symbols and imageries must be employed in exploring spiritual realities although they may not necessarily exhaustively explain what is being passed across. From the known however, the unknown can be better attempted or viewed.
Spiritual warfare will be explained using what we are familiar with even as Jesus explained the truth about the kingdom of heaven using earthly imageries. We must be careful, however of reducing everything into the test tube of reason just as those asking Jesus about the nature of marriage and remarrying in heaven ( ).
Another dynamics that will help us in understanding the presentations of this book also is the complexity inherent in human personality. The tripartite nature of the human and interconnectivity of his body, soul and spirit even as he relates with the physical, mental and spiritual is a key to our understanding spiritual issues interplaying with our existential life (living). The inter connectivity seen in the web of life will not allow setting any sharp dichotomy between the seen and the unseen, the physical and the spiritual. Life must be seen and treated in wholeness for it to make meaning and for its meaning to be enjoyed.
The designation, “Spiritual”, explains the nature of the warfare and differentiate it from that of the physical battle just as the Apostle Paul declares that it is not the matter of fighting flesh and blood.
The spiritual is partly inherent in the human and partly beyond and outside of the human. Spiritual warfare is therefore “within” and “without” the human personality. This dual nature or dimensions of spiritual manifestation are sometimes “visibly” demonstrated or at least its influence physically felt. The things that are seen (physical) explain things not seen (spiritual) just as God who cannot be seen can be understood primarily through things seen. The spiritual aspect of the human personality makes sense of the spiritual realities within and around him.
It is true that in as much as the spiritual warfare transcends the physical, some of its influences and effects can be physically felt. The truth is that the spiritual is distinct from the physical and at the same time we cannot neatly separate the two from one another. The tension of distinction and connection must be held together if our understanding of the dynamics of spiritual warfare will be coherent and balanced. To assume that the “Spiritual world” is neatly separated from the physical will result in truncated theology and to deny the distinction of the two will also produce a “lumped theology with many ambiguities. If our theology of spiritual warfare starts from the recognition of the fact that the physical has direct association with the spiritual and that there are essential distinctions of the two, then the believer’s position and operation will rest on a solid platform.
The truth that human, because of the impartation (breadth) of the divine, is made living, enables him to relate with the spiritual world. Human, by virtue of his make-up and the presence of the breath of life in him, can relate with the spiritual world. There is the spiritual dimension in the human personality; therefore humanity is not an alien to spiritual issues because of his humanness. The fall of man in the Garden of Eden further widen the gap between human personality and the spiritual realities within and outside him.
The first discovery regarding the nature of spiritual warfare and for that matter the most important discovery is that the warfare is nearer than most people could imagine. Majority of the so called “deliverance minister” today think of the warfare as something out there, in the space, transcendental realm or the antediluvian world. If you don’t win the one within you cannot conquer those without and around you. Even when it seems those around you are being conquered, you still remain a looser because the focus of the war is more of the “within” and not the without. The battle without is targeting the seat within. (Romans 7: 23).
The human anatomy explains better the reason why the soul of human being is the battleground and also the focus of the warfare
“And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Thess. 5: 23)
Human being is described in the Bible as the “Pneuma psychosomatic” being. The body is the housing and for that matter gives human access to interact with the physical realm of matter. The soul is the real man; soul gives man his personality and real identity. The struggle therefore is for the human soul. It is the soul of the human that Christ died for and it is the soul of man that must be won for Christ. The eternal destiny of the soul is determined by what human do with God’s redemption offer in Christ. The soul therefore becomes the central part of human personality, sandwiched by the body and the spirit. The soul is the link between the body and the spirit. The human spirit is that which is direct from God and which makes human a living soul. The spirit is the breadth from God. The spirit gives human the consciousness of the divine and at death returns back to the giver (God) [Eccl. 12: 7]
B
O
D
Y
SOUL
Y
S
P
I
R
I
T
SOUL
REASON
AFFECTION
VOLITION
SPIRIT
CONSCIENCE
COMMUNION
INTUITION
CHAPTER TWO
BIBLICAL & THEOLOGICAL BASIS FOR SPIRITUAL WARFARE
Seeking for Biblical and theological basis for engaging in spiritual warfare is essentially important because there is a need for both forensic support and scriptural guidance. Spiritual warfare is an aspect of Christian ministry that demands a divine mandate and backing. What then can the believer lay hold on as foundation or anchor on which his operation can be held firmly together and a perfect insurance to resort to for trusted security?
The messianic manifesto forms the principal forensic stand for the believer to hock to for engaging in spiritual warfare. This is what Jesus declared during one of the Temple worship service at his hometown; Nazareth’
“The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are brushed, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord” (Lk 4: 18 – 19).
“…For this purpose the son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil” (I Jn 3: 8b).
The overarching authority and basis for the believer’s involvement in spiritual warfare is the fact that it is principally the messianic ministry’s focus. The messianic ministry is basically “undoing” devil’s work, liberating souls from the slave market of sins translating sinners from devils kingdom to God’s kingdom of light and life. If Jesus’ ministry was spiritual warfare focused, then the church and the believer for that matter have nothing to do but continue in the steps of the master. The messianic spiritual warfare is all encompassing and holistic. The church has got to do likewise; breaking into the territories of the devil and liberating souls from the grip of hell and the shackles of the evil ones.
The second basis is the apostolic mandate, which can be described as an outgrowth of the messianic mission. Jesus himself spelt out categorically what the disciples were called into. Let us explore the scriptures together to establish the focus of the apostolic mandate as given by the master himself.
“And he went up on the hillside, and called to Him (for himself those) whom He wanted and chose, and they came to Him. And he appointed twelve to continue to be with Him and that He might send them out to preach (as apostles). And to have authority and power to heal the sick and to drive out demons” (Mk 3: 12 – 15)
The calling and ordination of the twelve into the ministry gives an overall description of what the apostolic mandate and ministry is all about. The concept of the divine election is very evident in the Markan record. The primary reason for the disciples calling is identified as RELATIONSHIP; that they continue to be with the master. Christian life and for that matter our basic understanding of spiritual warfare must begin from this recognition. We are not called first to do but to be. Our “doing” must therefore be an outward expression and a result of our “being”. This is what is badly missing in our contemporary time especially with many Christians in the power ministry. The attention is now on “what we do” and not on our “being”, our continual being with the master.
The disciples, in this passage were not called just to go and preach, heal or cast out demons but first to be with the master. How very unfortunate today that the majority of Christians have misplaced priority because they are majoring on the minor, seeking to do many things at the expense of their “being” and personal relationship with the master.
After establishing what should be the principal focus of the apostolic calling, we must in no way loose sight of the truth that spiritual warfare was part of what they were called into. The mandate was that they should go and preach, heal the sick and cast out demons. The instruction has not changed today; the true believer must know that he/she is called to do battle in preaching, healing and casting out of demons. No new theological definitions that we may attempt coming out with can underscore or change the master’s plain and unambiguous instruction of preaching, healing and casting out of demons.
The disciples did exactly what the master told them: -
“And they went out, and preached that men should repent. And they cast out many devils and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them” (Mk 6: 12 – 13)
The instructions (mandate) were further extended to everyone that will come to faith. This corrects the erroneous impression and conclusion by some that this was necessary at the beginning of the early Church to confirm God’s sanction and lunch the Church. Unfortunately, the proponents of this fake theology denial the continuous activities of the devil in our days and the many woes of humanity even in our contemporary time. The apostolic mandate by virtue of its “open-ended” nature and the strong proof that the opposing situation the early church faced is still evident in our time-re-authenticate the validity of the Church active involvement in spiritual warfare today. This is the timeless mandate Jesus extended to all his followers: -
“And these attesting signs will accompany those who believe; in My name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new languages; they will pick up serpent and (even) if they drink anything deadly, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will get well” (Mk 16: 17 – 18 AMP)
Luke further attests to the master instruction to his disciples
“Then he called the twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick” (Lk 9: 1 – 2)
Down the history lane the church has continued in this mandate and in active involvement in spiritual warfare. Even at the time of moral and spiritual decadence, the ministry of the remnant continued to uphold the master’s instruction. The re-awakening of the Church in this our contemporary time on the issues of spiritual warfare is therefore not a new thing but a retracing of the Church’s steps back to the apostolic foundation and landmark.
Another classical scriptural imagery useful in understanding the right focus and basis for the believer’s engagement in the spiritual warfare is the “EPHESIANS STANDING ORDER” as taught by Apostle Paul.
“Put on the whole Armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil …………wherefore take unto you the whole Armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand, in the evil day and having done all, to stand” (Eph. 6: 11 –14, emphasis is mine)
This passage is one of the most informative passages of the Bible on the concept of spiritual warfare and it is therefore not surprising that it appears at the very end of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians Church. The three standing orders described in this passage by Paul capture the right focus of the believer’s involvement in spiritual warfare. If this information is put in its right perspective, our activities, operations and approaches to spiritual warfare will be right placed and we shall become more effective in our spiritual exploit for the Lord.
The three identified standing orders in this passage can be logically described as follow: -
STANDING AGAINST ABILITY OFFENSIVE
WITHSTANDING AGILITY DEFENSIVE
TO STAND STABILITY POSSESSIVE
The goal of Spiritual warfare should not just be fighting and only fighting but wining, possessing, occupying. The believer’s concentration should not only be on the offensive issues but also on the defensive and spiritual warfare must culminate in the believer’s better relationship with God and stability of his faith and spiritual standing. The success of spiritual warfare should therefore not be measured only in the casting out of demons or “falling under the anointing” but also in the agility of the believer to withstand in the evil and trying time and the consistency of faith displayed by the believer over time. Our inability to withstand and the inconsistency of our Christian lives are all signs of failure in spiritual warfare. If demons are cast out but the believer continue to live in secret sin and manifest inconsistency in his Christian life, he will still be scored negative as far as the scriptural demand and expectation is concerned. Holistic spiritual warfare as presented in the Bible must result in changed live, matured faith and consistent Christian living. [I Peter 5: 8 – 9, Prov. 24: 10]
CHAPTER THREE
THE KINGDOM OF DARKNESS X-RAYED
“Have respect unto the covenant: For the dark place of the earth are full of the habitation of cruelty” (Ps. 74: 20)
“Who hath delivered us from the power of the darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear son” (Col 1: 13)
In a very simple term a kingdom can be described as “a king and his domain”. “Darkness” as used in the Bible to describe the domain of Satan rulership is not a literal darkness but a symbol depicting the negativity as the trademark of this kingdom. The kingdom of darkness therefore is a well-organized, highly systematized empire of evil, elaborately set up to oppose God’s purpose.
The domain of darkness should not be misconstrued to mean geographic territories but rather a spiritual domain not limited by human understanding of time and space. This kingdom extends to the soul of human being and everywhere and everything the devil can get access into.
A clear understanding of the set up of the kingdom of darkness is very necessary because we must not be ignorant of the devices of the devil including the set up of his kingdom. This knowledge will better inform our warfare prayer, our research network, spiritual mapping and the way we do spiritual battle.
If I am asked to describe the kingdom of darkness using familiar things I will use the imagery of the “Spider web”. Satan’s kingdom is a standard network of evil, complexly weaved together to achieve certain diabolic goals. The web set up aids in the following:
(a) Linking up
(b) Monitoring
(c) Channeling
(d) Perpetual imprisonment of victim
(e) Reinforcement for the demonic entities and emissaries
The kingdom of darkness is essentially made up of fallen angles that alongside with the devil rebelled against God’s rulership (Rev. 12: 4). About 1/3 of the angelic population became victims of this rebellion (Rev. 12: 4, 9) and together with Satan were deported from Heaven (presence of God). This evil kingdom now includes the human who also rebelled against God by forsaking His way and counsel. Anyone not redeemed by the blood of Jesus automatically belong to the domain of darkness.
A more elaborate description of the kingdom of darkness is given in the scripture to help us understand how knitted and complex evil world is like. There is a territorial description and also personality description or categorization. In other words, demonic entities can either be described or categorized based on where they are or came from (base) or based on their personality or function.
“That in (at) the name of Jesus every knee should (must) bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth” (Phil. 2: 10 AMP)
Based on Philippians description of various realms of existence, demonic entities can be categorized as follow:
OLYMPIAN/ASTRAL
HEAVENLY
(ATMOSPHERIC AND STELLAR HEAVENS)
TERRESTRIAL DEMONS
(LAND, MARINE, MOUNTAIN HUMAN ETC.)
UNDERWORLD
SHEOL
This described only the territorial bases of the evil spirits but does not necessarily mean they are operationally limited to those bases.
Another description is given in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians
“For we wrestle…against
…………Principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of darkness of this world
and spiritual wickedness in high place” [Eph 6: 12]
This description can be pictured as follows: -
SATAN
PRINCIPALITIES
POWERS
RULERS OF DARKNESS
SPIRITUAL WICKEDNESS
A
B
C
D
E
ASATAN - He is the Supreme and final authority of the demonic world. He is a spiritual dictator. He is a created being (Col. 1: 16) and originally called Lucifer or the morning star. Once an arch angel of God but fell from grace and became degenerated. He is now called Satan; meaning persistent hinderer of purpose or Devil meaning “Slanderer” [Read more about Satan: Ezek. 28: 12 – 19, Isa 14: 12 – 14, Zech 3: 1, I Peter 5: 8, Rev 12: 9]
PRINCIPALITIES
B - They are arch demons. They take direct order from Satan and are directly responsible to him. They are heads of each arms of the Kingdom of darkness - They draw strategies for demonic operations. They are usually behind the scene organizing, co-coordinating and reinforcing. They form the “Alpha and Omega” council of satanic realm. They don’t posses human beings except in serious cases of occasional demonization. Examples of principalities include Appolyon/Abaddon (Rev. 9) who is the principal guiding spirit of the Sheol. I came across a skeletal demon from Sheol in 1995 while ministering to a young man (a student of SACOED). Another example is Beelzebub, a principal spirit in charge of Paganism, occultism, witchcraft and all forms of divination unto the astral realm.
CPOWERS - Functionally, they are next in rank to the principalities. They are spiritual controllers of specific aspect of demonic operations and are directly responsible to the principalities. Example of powers includes: -
Gog and Magog: - This spirit controls war, strife, anger, and violence. He is commonly called “War Lord”. In Yoruba religious setting is called “Ogun”, the god of iron. Ezek 38: 1 – 19, Rev 20: 8
Asteroth (Astarte) - Popularly called the “queen of heaven”. She is the same as “Iya” of Ogboni fraternity, Cybele of Rome and possible Madonna of Catholicism Jud 2: 13, 10: 6, I Sam 7: 3, 31: 10, 2 Kg 23: 13
Baal {the demon of spiritism and paganism} - He is called Jupiter in Rome and “Orisa nla” or “Obatala” by the Yoruba of Nigeria. [Num 22: 41, Jud 2: 11, I Kg 16: 32, 19: 18]
Other examples include Jezebel’s spirit, Asmodee (spirit husband and wife), Orion, Chemosh, Molech etc (Jer 48: 7), and Jug 11: 24, Jer 18: 21, Jer 32: 35, Amos 5: 26)
DSPIRITUAL RULERS OF DARKNESS
These are very significant demonic entities because they are mostly directly encountered in deliverance situation and most of the time behind the scene as territorial forces. They are forces of darkness directly assigned to control Physical territories from the spiritual. The set up of the spiritual rulers is also in knitted hierarchy, over compounds districts, towns/cities, states and nations. We engage them in spiritual battle directly when we go into high-level spiritual warfare or global prayer network. Example of spirit ruler is the prince of Persia encountered by Daniel during his intercessory warfare prayers for his people. [Dan. Chapter 9-10].
More will be explored in later chapter, which will directly deal with dynamics of high-level spiritual warfare.
ESPIRITUAL WICKEDNESS
This category is recognized by many to be lower ranking forces of darkness in operation possibly through human agents who occupy significant political or religious position in the society. It can also mean demons directly worshipped by people, represented by idol objects placed at vantage places or points.
The knowledge of the Strata of the Kingdom of darkness is a necessary concomitant to the understanding of how the spiritual warfare should be addressed or approached by believer. The knowledge about the enemy is necessary in every battle especially for strategic planning. The knitted and “web like” representation of the evil kingdom should help the believer not to handle any spiritual case as isolated case. Every demonic problem or spiritual challenge should be treated as part of a larger elaborate network of evil workings.
The spiritual inter connectivity evident in the Satan’s kingdom should help the believer in prayerful dealing and breaking the evil networking even when handling a “minor spiritual case”. Our warfare prayer must focus on:-
1. Stopping every external demonic reinforcement
2. Every organized demonic communication
3. Breaking every demonic contact and monitoring
4. Weaken and destroy the territorial persons and strongholds
CHAPTER FOUR
DEMONIC ENTITIES
It is necessary to explore further into the detail of the spiritual emissaries that make up the evil kingdom of darkness. This will be needful because the believer encounters these forces daily and he also engages them in spiritual close contact combat every time. A caution must however be sounded right here that much attention should not be given to details about demons at the expense of the real warfare. Some people have gone to the others extreme by trying to name every demon and attributing every unusual happening to some demons. I must state here that when demons are truly exposed they become weakened or overpowered but when also given undue recognition they will manipulate you.
I have personally encountered several demons these past 15 years in deliverance ministry, details of which I cannot even remember. It is uncalled for; for a matured Christian to be asking demon for his name and detail about his operation as guide to how deliverance will be handled. Do not forget that one of the trademarks of the devil is lie and when given slightest opportunity will surely lie. The discernment of the spirit should be our principal guide and not information given by demons. It is only the spiritual imbeciles who still receive direction during deliverances season from demons under torment
Nevertheless, we learn a great deal of lesson from practical experiences acquired over years. When demonic spirit is manifesting I can easily decode many things about his personalities and his base. This is however not very simple to objectively teach someone because manifestation comes with various complex variations which only the discernment of the spirit can sort out.
Demon can be designated by their own names, which can also differ from place to place, or by their function or habit. Some demon names are given in the Bible some other factual names exist which is not directly mentioned in the Bible, several other evil spirits are designated by their function. Demons can also be categorized based on their general work or demonic base they come from.
I must first identify some general categories of evil forces very common in our everyday spiritual warfare encounters. These have become distinguished arsenals of evil operations in our days:
1. Elemental Spirits: - They are “on – the ground” spiritual personalities and responsible for most direct spiritual attacks. They are referred to as harbinger of evil powers. They are largely terrestrial based.
2. Informant Surveillance or Diplomatic Demons: - They mostly don’t engage in direct assault but rather serve as media between demons world and human world. They ensure effective monitoring and channeling networking of the demonic world.
3. Regimental Demons: - They are demons of rank or sometime called the “strongman” or captain spirit. They occupy the major demon base and are sometime designated “throne”. They normally have a number of lower demons at their command (Mt 12: 29)
4. Familiar Spirits: - They are basically ancestral demons or family demons. These spirits can mimic or give accurate information about their victim. They do manifest also through necromancy. Even when the victim is dead, the familiar spirit can appear, talk like the deceased or display the deceased attributes. They are noted for their long-standing close association with their victim or family. Familiar spirits operate on a strong covenant base and consequently “legitimized” their stay and are difficult to unseat. Acts 16: 16, Deut 18: 10
5. Marine Spirits: - They are numerous around coastal and riverine areas. They have become influential due to their diplomatic approach in their evil operation. They are more interested in social life of their victim e.g. marital life. They are responsible for several other mishaps like barrenness, broken home, strange disease etc. They operate sometimes in connection with the witchcraft spirit. They are diplomatic in the sense that they sometimes “help” their worshippers but in exchange for something more vital, their soul destiny.
6. Witchcraft Spirit: - This has become one of the most ancient elemental forces operating cross continentally. Witchcraft is basically on “soul trading”. At times it can be used to “help” in some ways but also consequently in an exchange for human soul. Ezek 13: 18 – 23, Nah 3: 4
7. Lying spirits (rumor): - The work of the lying spirit is basically deception and delusive lobbying of human mind and soul.
“The coming (of the lawless one, the Antichrist) is through the activity and working of Satan, and will be attended by great power and with all sorts of (Pretended) miracles and signs and delusive marvel – (all of them) lying wonders – And by unlimited seduction of evil and with all wicked deception for those who are (going to perdition) perishing because they did not welcome the truth but refused to love it that they might be saved” [(II Thes 2: 9 – 10) Jun 8: 44, II Tim 4: 41, Acts 28: 26, Zech 7 : 11]
8. Spirits of Infirmities: - They directly afflict their victim with diseases. Work in connection with the witchcraft world.
“And there was a woman there who for eighteen years had had, an infirmity caused by a spirit (a demon of sickness) she was bent completely forward and utterly unable to straighten herself or look upward” (Lk 13: 11 AMP) Jn 5: 5
9. Demonic Suckers: - They primarily seek to remove good things from people. It may be either spiritual or material elements. They can cause financial failure or disappearance of material things under very strange circumstances – Mt 13; 19.
Demon names and categories can in no way be exhausted. Several other demons are named after their respective functions.
DEMONS’ NATURE & ATTRIBUTES
It must be understood that demons are not impersonal forces but rather celestial being with personal attributes. Some of their attributes are below enumerated: -
1. They always oppose God’s works and purpose. This is the principal reason why they are referred to as “contrary spirit” (Rev. 12: 13)
2. They posses and enslave God’s creature. Demons are “celestial beings” that are not created to inhabit this terrestrial realm. For them to actively function however, they need a material being to live in and operate through, hence they result to possessing human and other terrestrial object (Luke 22: 3)
3. They cause affliction of varying degrees. Apart from the fact that they inhabit parasitically the terrestrial beings, they also inflict severe afflictions on their host or victim. These various afflictions will be carefully looked at in separate chapter (Job 1: 12).
4. They tempt God’s people. One of the ambassadorial tasks of demons is to lure God’s people away from the light into their region of death and darkness. A lot of deceptive and seductive dynamics are put in place to achieve this. The believer must therefore be careful not to slip into the temptation of the forces of darkness. We are not immune from temptation but rather empowered to withstand it (Mt 4: 1)
5. Demons are destructive and malignant. They are characterized by wickedness, hate and destructiveness. The main aim of every demon operation is to steal, kill and destroy (I Peter 5: 8, Jn 10: 10)
6. They are knowledgeable. At times some Christians do underestimate demon’s ability. The Bible gives a clear and balance information about them and their capabilities so that the believer can be on guard against their wiles and manipulations. They have knowledge about their personalities, about God’s power to the extent that they even tremble. They know a lot about the scripture, although they normally draw out wrong interpretations. Religious demons like augury can quote Bible prophesy and speak in tongues of demons. Uninformed Christians can easily be deceived by some of their religious activities (Mt 1: 24, 5: 9)
7. Demons can be very boastful and vocal. Some demons do use the vocal system of their victim to communicate (Mk 1: 24). During deliverance ministration however, this must be discouraged particularly in the public settings because the demon can make “good” use of such opportunities to confuse people, instill fear or disseminate coined lies.
CHAPTER FIVE
DIMENSIONS OF DEMONIC AFFLICTIONS
The wickedness of demonic entities and elemental forces are made manifest in the various afflictions they inflict on their hosts and victim. One of the main aims of Christian spiritual warfare is to stop these afflictions wherever they are found. It must also be understood that some of these afflictions are found in some believers’ life due to certain spiritual principles broken, or ignorance of their position in Christ or Spiritual broken hedges or lope holes in their lives. It must however be rightly stated that the believer is strongly immune from any kind of afflictions that is connected to the devil having “legal right of ownership” over his body-soul realm.
The spiritual “legal right of ownership” can in no way be shared between Christ and Satan; therefore, the believer’s soul cannot be spiritually traded by the demon.
“Many are the afflictions of the righteous; but the Lord delivereth him out of them all” (Ps 34: 19)
For this reason, I strongly believe a child of God can in no way be possessed by the evil spirit (s) because this requires “legal right of ownership”. Believer can go through several other forms of affliction, which are sometimes wrongly concluded to be demonic possession by some ministers or deliverance workers. Not every manifestation is direct indication of demonic possession or even demonic presence. At times even when God is at work some conclude it is a demon and when demons are manifesting they mistake that for the Holy Ghost’s working. As a result of this ignorance several people have been subjected to unnecessary ridicule and even some lives wrecked. I must admit also that there are a lot of strange complications during deliverance session, which are sometimes difficult to decode or interpret. Drawing uninformed conclusions and assumptions out of them can be very dangerous. Man of God must be very circumspect in his utterances and must avoid exaggerated pronouncement not founded on any truthful and factual foundation.
My practical involvement in spiritual warfare for years, and my many research into deliverance, has helped me identify certain categories of demonic afflictions evil forces of darkness inflict upon both people and things. These afflictions are panoramically briefly identified below:
1. DEMONIC REGRESSION: - Believers and unbelievers can experience this. It can take toll on spirituality of the victim (If a believer) and also on the physical or material life of the victim (believer or unbeliever alike). Things will begin to take a backward drift in the victim’s life e.g. work, finance, social standing etc. It must also be noted that not every regression in life is traceable to demon activities; some regressions may have environmental factors necessitating them. Demonic regression will come with spiritual signals and will defy every natural attempt to salvage it.
2. DEMONIC REPRESSION: - This can simply be described as a situation in which a feeling or a desire of which in the conscious mind one is ashamed of is “force” on one “unconsciously”. A victim of demonic repression can do unnatural things, logically unexpected of him to do. A millionaire can steal a pen worth one dollar from supermarket. This normally results in the “sin of commission”. Some Christians can sometimes fall victim of demonic repression.
3. DEMONIC SUPPRESSION: - This is similar but somehow opposite to repression. This result in “Sin or omission”. In this case you are unable to do the right thing you wish to do. This was the case with Peter, James and John at the garden of Gethsemane.
4. DEMONIC DEPRESSION: - This usually manifest in the victim being controlled continuously by unusual feeling of sadness and rejection. There are a lot of people suffering from depression today, not only because of demonic involvement but also because of the many challenges they can not cope with. As psychological attention can be of help to these set of people, demonic depression however defies any form of psycho-therapy. The understanding I am trying to establish is the fact that there can be a psychopathological explanation to some kind of depression and some are completely demonic or spiritual in nature. General signs of depression include: sadness, apathy, inertia, insomnia, hopelessness, fear, and guilt, shame, lost of interest in work and or sex, loss of concentration, and loss of appetite. Depression in the category of psychology can be reactive, endogenous, psychotic, neurotic or chronic. Ps. 42, 43, 69, 88, and 102 contain great information about the nature of someone depressed.
5. DEMONIC OBSESSION: - This is more complex than demonic depression, in that it does not stop at unwanted feelings but sometimes result in unwanted serious actions. Some extreme unchecked obsession can result in murder or even sometimes suicide. Some bizarre stories of adults raping kids can be traceable to demonic obsession.
6. DEMONIC OPPRESSION: - This is a broad spiritual attack, which does not only affect animate but also inanimate terrestrial objects. It can manifest in several forms and can bring disorder to the body-soul functioning of the victim. It can sometime manifest in sickness or infirmities. Believer can experience some form of demonic oppression.
7. DEMONIC POSSESSION: - This is a higher form of spiritual affliction requiring securing “legal right of ownership” over the soul of the victim. When this happen the invading demon (s) gains control over the victim’s personhood. The more complicated afflictions, which cannot be elaborated on in this book, are demonizatoin and dehumanization.
CHAPTER SIX
DEMONIC OCCUPATION, BASE & STRONGHOLDS
A careful investigation will be undertaken to expose and explore the various dynamics involved in strategies of demon securing entrances into their victims. This will be necessary to ensure for prevention of further attacks and afflictions after deliverance session.
It has earlier been explained that the general initial in-road of demonic entities into the terrestrial realm was after the abortive coup de al organized by Lucifer against God’s heavenly government. It must be noted that the normal route/path to the world (i.e. through a woman’s womb) was not taken by the demonic entities hence they are referred to as strangers and thieves.
In expressing themselves however, demons prefer possessing human beings through which demonic expressions can be displayed. Certain reasons are responsible for the ability of demons to successfully make in-roads into human life (Eph 4: 27). These can be described as specific routes through which demons can enter into an individual. Some of these routes are below identified: -
1. THE GATE OF SIN: - Whosever sin, the Bible declares, is of the devil. This legally indicates/implies the extension of Satan’s authority and Power over such an individual. Most demonic afflictions are related to sins of the victims (although this may not be said of every spiritual or demonic problem).
“Afterward, Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee”: (Jn 5: 14).
Deliverance clients must be made to know the truth of the required commitment to holy living without which there cannot be any permanent deliverance. Sin is of the devil and wherever if is found demons activities are equally found there.
2. GATE OF THOUGHT: - Most people fall victim of demonic problems after opening up their minds to demonic desires, feelings and thought. The human mind is one of the most powerful powerhouses that must be constantly guided.
Right from the Eden’s episode of the human fall, devil has continued to play on human mind, luring it to the pit of hell and dungeon of affliction. Countless myriad of victims of demonic affliction abound in the scripture who confessed to the fact that they lost the battle right from their minds (Jos 7: 1, Gen 3: 6, 2 Cor 4: 4)
There is a pneuma-therapeutical solution of the problem of demonic captivity of human mind elaborately expounded in the scripture:
“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusted in thee” (Isa 26: 3)
“With my soul have I desired thee in the night, yea with my spirit within me will I seek thee early…” (Isa 26; 9)
“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; 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” (II Cor. 10: 4 – 5)
“And the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things” (Phil 4: 7 – 8)
3. VISUAL GATE: - Information is channeled into the human mind through the physical senses. Our Pneuma-Psychological formation largely depends on the kind of information we allow inside us. The most active sense in this regard is our visual organ. The kind of things we watch can greatly influence our spiritual formation either positively or negatively. It was when the first woman “saw” the forbidden fruit that she started negatively thinking about it. It was when Achan saw the beautiful Babylonian garment that he thought of hiding it for himself. Human visual organ is a very strong information receptor. We must therefore be watchful of what we give our visual attention to (Gen 3; 6). Some people have gotten into spiritual bondages as a result of pornographic pictures they are watching or the horror and the immoral blue films. Unless such bad habits are discontinued, deliverance can never be thorough and sustained. This evil channel must be blocked first before any help given can truly work.
4. BAD FASHION & MUSIC: - Modesty, decorum and dressing etiquette is gradually being eroded in our society today. Several fashion and styles of demons are replacing decent and godly dressing. Some of these evil fashions are not without their spiritual implications and influences on people. Some of these designs that leave sensitive part of the body exposed are engineered by demons to wreck the societal moral life. Believers and for that matter whosoever want to be victorious in life must desist from designs that expose the sensitive part of their bodies and those with inscriptions that does not give any glory or credit to God. Those who market their bodies through what they wear are definitely agents of darkness and you must beware of them. They are more dangerous than HIV/AIDS! They are mobile monuments of Satan, part of what devil is using in his destructive roaming around for more prey. Don’t fall prey to them for they will drag you into spiritual bondage and hell!
5. DEMONIC CONTACTS: - There are a lot of demonic mechanizations strategically designed as spiritual traps to the unsuspecting people who are spiritually blind or who are careless or desperately seeking for help. Casual or conscious contact with demonic objects (e.g. Shrine, demonic book, charm. Sacrifice, medium ornaments, food trap, demonic harp etc) can land someone in spiritual prison.
Some have become initiated into occultism after eating from their agent friends or relative. Some have landed themselves in big time problem after consulting fetish priest or diviner, demonic prophet (ess) or after reading occult book. Some others enter spiritual bondage after visiting strange “Churches”, shrine, funeral of a possessed or occult person. You must learn to avoid such mentioned contacts or in an unavoidable situation secure your protection by actively appropriating your spiritual protective weapons in Christ Jesus.
6. SEXUAL GATE: - The scripture sets a very serious and cautious tone in its treatment of sexual sin to warn people of its spiritual danger and implications. Many demonic cases and spiritual problems become entrenched as a result of past sexual sins and involvement.
“Do you not see and know that your bodies are members (bodily parts) of Christ, the Messiah? Am I therefore to take the parts of a prostitute? Never! Never! Or do you not know and realize that when a man joins himself to a prostitute he becomes one body with her? The two, it is written, shall become one flesh…shun immorality and all sexual looseness – flee from impurity (I thought, word or deed). Any other sin which a man commits is one outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body” [I Cor 6: 15 – 18 AMP]
7. COVENANT & CURSES: - Several covenants exist and curses that were cast on people continue to serve as “Spiritual navels” through which spiritual assaults are landed against people. This is a major area of importance in spiritual warfare that must be understood clearly. A separate chapter is dedicated to the treatment of this crucial subject.
8. THE GATE OF DREAM: - Dream can be a channel of blessing or curse. God can use dream to release divine blessing into the believer’s life and also Satan can use this channel to sow evil seeds. Dream can be deliberate (natural), divine, (blessed) or demonic. In the witchcraft world, through esoteric manipulations, objects, sickness etc can be spiritually projected into a victim’s body during dream and it will have attendant effect in the physical when the person wakes up. Those who can also not be gotten in the physical can equally be initiated into secret societies in their dream.
“Another parable He set forth before them, saying, the kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while he was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed also darnel (black, wild wheat) among the wheat, and went his way. So when the plants sprouted and formed grain, the darnel (weed resembling wheat) appeared also” [Mt 13: 24 – 26 AMP]
CHAPTER SEVEN
DEMONIC BASE & STRONGHOLDS
Demon base and strongholds are spiritual fortresses of evil spirits where their tentacles are firmly established and their power booster located. Depending on the level of demonic operation, base and strongholds can be in an individual or at a specific strategic location (river, forest, mountains, and objects e.t.c).
To discover the enemy base is therefore a strategic warfare task that will eventually result in a more effective use of spiritual ammunition geared towards more effective warfare campaign. Demon base are usually fortified territory of the dark world intended to perpetuate satanic hold on the victim or the place of the evil operation.
Our spiritual artillery weapon in Christ must be directed towards the identified demon base or stronghold (II Cor 10: 4). When the stronghold is demolished the satanic influence is equally quenched. When the base of the demon is not recognized the deliverance will become unnecessarily elongated or the evil forces can easily re-organize after the deliverance session.
The principle of satanic stronghold is built on the warfare strategy employed in the physical warfare. The strongman stays at the stronghold and builds around him fighting and operational forces. The idea is to give protection to the strongman, so that in severe battle, he will be the last force to fall and penetrating to the stronghold made very difficult. David fort idea was built around the same warfare strategy.
“So David dwelt in the fort, and called it the city of David. And David built round about from Millo and inward. And David went on and grew great.” (II Sam 5: 9 – 10)
We have a prophetic mandate to demolish every fort and strongholds of the enemy, which are set up against the divine counsel.
“And the fortress of the high of thy walls shall he bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust”. (Isa 25; 12)
For practical purpose, the believer engaged in spiritual warfare must understand that spiritual beachheads are established to enforce satanic holds and legitimize the demonic stay. The spiritual beachheads must be identified, prayerfully destroyed and activities attached to it discontinued. Satan, in his spiritual diplomacy has put in place strategic activities to renew evil treatise necessary for re-fortifying his holds in people and places. Some customary rites, religious festivals and rituals which are seasonally observed are intended to re-fortify Satan’s stronghold. Some ceremonial initiations, taboo, religious observances are strategically put in place to ensure for revitalization of demonic activities from generation to generation. These are part of power and operational booster for the Satan’s strongholds in persons and places.
Identifiable demon strongholds may include ancestral hold (family god (ess), symbol, name etc), potential “demonic depot” (e.g. cemetery, forest, mountain, spiritually activated road junctions, abortion clinics, cinema houses, drinking spots ghettoes etc), secret sins, certain evil habits, unforgiving spirit, fear and evil imagination, high places and demonic objects, artifacts and “demonic holds” like pets and agent house helps. The list of possible strongholds is indeed opened-ended.
In the African setting, demons have entrenched themselves in homes and town through these established shrines and places of Satan’s worship. Again are the many seasonal festivals that are demonic in nature. This does not mean that everything about African culture is demonic; an extreme position some people have taken, but we must recognize that many so call cultural practices are demon worship in disguise. We have a lot of educating cultural practices that tell of who we are and some that tell of our moral and social values. In as much as we seek to promote the good cultural practices and values, we must equally be bold not only to condemn the demonic aspect but also to discard them completely. Festivals and cultural ceremonies that go with rituals and rites dedicated to some deity and ancestors must be done away with. Some of these ceremonies are strategically put in place by Satan to perpetuate his stay and lure many more into bondage.
Satan is so cunning that he has put in place certain demonic programs for virtually every rite of passage in some community. What suppose to be a social rite has turned to be masked demonic bondage. Ask yourself questions about some of what you culturally do during naming ceremony and why you do them, and you will be amazed at your own findings. The same thing with rites performed to usher young ones into adulthood and even when funeral is locally performed, most often something will have to be done that no one is able to fully and clearly explain why or the rational behind the practice. I think it is high time the church come out with theologically sound alternative liturgies for these rites so as to now do them in Christian way and at the same time fulfilling the social cultural imports of the traditional ones.
CHAPTER EIGHT
COVENANT CURSES AND CURE
If there is any spiritual element struggled with mostly in spiritual warfare then it must be the spiritual legal issues of covenants and curses. Through the provisions of covenants demons do legitimize their stay in people and places making it sometimes difficult to drive them out of their holds. A balance understanding of dynamics involved in covenant enact ion is necessary for victory in spiritual warfare.
Generally speaking, covenant is built on mutual agreement between two parties and it is usually two-sided; blessing and curse sides. When all provision of the covenant is met then the blessing encoded in the covenant treatise is bound to manifest but if otherwise the negative manifestation of curses. Curse is a spiritual contagious spell, which brings evil upon whosoever it is unleashed.
“The leprosy of Naaman shall cleave unto thee and unto thy seed forever. And he went out of from his presence a leper as white as snow” (II Kg 5: 26 – 27)
Curse is contagious (unlike spell) because its effect is felt from generation to generation. Its effects can be limitless if the spiritual beachhead is constantly renewed. Curse is strong because it operates from a spiritual legal foundation. Curse is not time and space bound because it can move from place to place.
“As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the Curse causeless shall not come” (Prov. 26: 2)
“Then I turned and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying scroll. And he said unto me, what seast thou? And I answered, I see a flying scroll; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits. Then said He unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth: for everyone that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and everyone that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it. I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts and it shall enter into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name; and it shall remain in the midst of his house and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stone there of” (Zech 5: 1 – 4)
Fundamentally, curses and covenant are spiritually handled together. The believer’s prayer missile must target the basic elements upon which and through which curse and covenant are built and operate. When prayer is offered to break the force of curse and covenant, these foundational elements must be addressed.
Spiritual bond, which serves as the legal contact between the oppressed and the oppressor
Spiritual base, which is the regimental fortress of the strongman of the covenant and the curse
Identification Symbols which are used to mark victim and recognize them – it may be charm, amulet, shrine, monument, name, incision etc
Monitoring or guiding spirit, which normally moves to effect the provisions of the covenant and curse?
There are a number of types of covenant of significance in believers’ spiritual warfare encounter. Other types of covenant may exist but we follow the same principle in breaking their power and holds on their victim. The common types include the following: -
1. BLOOD COVENANT: - This can be the most dangerous covenant that can be contracted and also very difficult one to break. Blood is used as bond and seal of this covenant of life exchange or bound. It may be by incision or exchange of blood. Once blood involved the person’s total life is brought on evil line for all manner of demonic manipulation.
2. SEXUAL COVENANT (I Cor 6: 15 – 20): - The dynamics involve in this is already mentioned in the previous chapter. Anyone you have sex with you become one with. There is therefore a spiritual opening into your life from his/her life meaning that you share every spiritual thing (problem, curse etc) together
3. ANCESTRAL COVENANT: - This is a covenant contracted by the forefathers and bounding on everyone on the lineage of the family whosoever shares in the family blood bond. This is one of the hidden sources of people’s spiritual problem. Investigation must be conducted into the family past and warfare prayer lunched to destroy every evil covenant contracted in the past.
4. REPRESENTATIONAL COVENANT: - This kind of covenant is built on the principle of pneuma-social interconnectivity or relationship. There are certain kinds of representation what can legalize and authorize someone entering into covenant on behalf of another. Ancestral covenant is built on the same principle. By the virtue of marriage covenant either of the spouses can enter into covenant on behalf of the other partner and the covenant will forensically hold. The father can contract covenant on behalf of his children or family because of his spiritual authority over the family. The king of a land can enter into covenant on behalf of the entire people under his domain because of the spiritual recognition of his political authority over the land. The company director on behalf of the company workforce can contract covenant that can hold on everyone in the company. In situation like this, the antidote is appealing to greater authority to prevent or destroy such influence.
5. OCCULT COVENANT: - This covenant bounds together the occult members and prevents them from breaking out of the society. Most occult group engages in blood covenant to seal their souls to the society.
6. PHILIA COVENANT: - Some people are in spiritual bondage today as a result of covenant they entered into with their friend. There is a spiritually recognized cord of friendship that activates whatsoever covenant friends contract. Be careful of what you enter into with your friends because they can have their toll on your life in the future (I Sam 20: 16 – 17; 18: 1 – 4). Some interesting records in the Bible showing the power and result of curse include the following: -
a“And Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, cursed be the man before the lord, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho; he shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it” (Jos 6: 26)
One stubborn man later decided to build Jericho, but not without paying the heavy price.
“In his days did Hiel the bethelite build Jericho: he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Segub according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Joshua he son of Nun” (I Kg 16: 34)
Imagine through wisdom, if this man had no child and decided to build Jericho or if all his children were ladies? In foolishness he defied the spiritual order but paid dearly for his action.
bThe innocent pronouncement of Jacob when challenged by his father-in-law for stealing his gods, to me was the reason for the untimely death of Rachael. For those who can discern and read between the lines will see the spiritual connection between Jacob’s words and Rachael’s death.
“With whosoever thou findest thy god, let him not live; before our brethren discern thou what is thine with me, and take it to thee. For Jacob knew not that Rachael had stolen them”. (Gen 31: 32)
Rachel eventually died in transit, unable to enter the “promised land”, strongly possibly because of the curse. (Gen 35: 16 – 20)
cThe full analysis of Gideon’s problem can only be unraveled from the Genesis account of Chapter 48.
“And he said unto him, oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house”. (Jud 6: 15)
If you compare this passage with the whole of Gen 48, then you will understand why in Israel’s history Manasseh was not a significant tribe (spiritual and politically). This will also help you to understand why Gideon was asked to start his ministry and warfare campaign from his own father’s shrine.
d The resultant effect of David’s prophetic declaration against mount Gilboa after the death of Saul is still there till today for all to see.
“Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain, upon you, nor fields of offerings: for there shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, as though he had not been anointed with oil” (II Sam 1: 21)
On mount Gilboa today, there is no green grass: This may not be unconnected to the words of David.
It is necessary for us to understand the interconnectivities between covenant, curse, and spell. They are basically related but technically different in manifestation and complexity. As covenant is built on mutual agreement and two sided, so there must be a reason also for a curse to be established. Both covenant and curse can be contagious but spell is specifically directed toward a particular person or thing.
It must also be understood that curse and covenant operate on some basic principles. The concept of order of authority and power of relationship are two important dynamics upon which the two operate. In curing curses however, appeal is technically made to the higher authority. The highest available authority is Divine authority in Christ. As believers we must therefore recognize the power of authority and be sensitive to the spiritual implications of our actions and relationships. A good example of a demonstration of clear understanding of authority is the action of the Centurion in Lk 7:6-10
CHAPTER NINE
PREPARATIONS FOR SPIRITUAL WARFARE
If the whole of Christian living is regarded in some way as spiritual warfare, then the issues raised in this chapter are issues of Christian life’s principle and not just things to observe when going into certain warfare situation. To me, I see these principles as fully embodied in the believer’s quest for growth or maturation. The principle of continuity is enshrined in the believer daily victorious living. Preparation for spiritual warfare is therefore a daily exercise, a nonstop discipline that every believer must engage in.
Effective and consistent personal spiritual check-up must be regularly observed by anyone who wants to be victorious in spiritual warfare. Like the scripture says that we must pray without season, indicating that we must always pray so the believer must be prepared always. Daily spiritual check up involves spending quality time with God in conversational prayers, meditative study of the scripture, quality worship and lively sessions of praise. During this period, personal examination through heart searching and inner x-raying should be done. It is an objective strategic way of “taking heed” less one fall. An unevaluated life is a devaluating life. A vision without a revision will only lead to confusion. Christian life must therefore be daily evaluated.
Apart from daily personal examination, there must also be a daily spiritual saturation. Let your head lack no anointing. On daily basis there must be a progressive and significant amount of growth experienced. You must consistently pray to –
Ø Off load yourself from every demonic deposit and load
Ø Free yourself from all self and demonic limitations.
Ø Pull down every demonic fortification and stronghold around you.
Ø Free yourself from all demonic ties, navels and evil connections.
Ø Block all spiritual leakages of doubt and fear.
Ø Destroy every spiritual networking and spiritual remote control.
Ø Pull down all strange altars and thrones.
Ø Receive divine strength, and enablement.
Apart from the daily spiritual exercises, other things must be known and observed. Among them are the under mentioned issues –
Ø Right standing is the first thing you must ensure. The strength of a soldier is first in his standing. You must be sure you are in a right relationship with God. If you don’t have a standing with God you can’t successfully engage in warfare against the devil.
Ø You must also count the cost. Spiritual warfare is not for undisciplined people. Certain commitment is required, sacrifices will be required from your part because you will sometimes have to let go certain things you so much cherish. It may some times require for going your regular sleep and leisure. If you cannot let go then you can not let God.
Ø Firmness and boldness is also a require attribute for someone engaged in spiritual warfare. There are situations that will separate boys from men, sisters in the church from mothers in Israel. Your boldness and firmness is needed at the battle ground. Sometimes in deliverance situation, you are faced with frightening scenes that may cause you to want to jump out of yourself. Cowards can not be effective in deliverance and exorcism. Instability is a cancer, and an unstable person can not receive anything from God.
Ø Understanding for your standing. Spiritual warfare is the warfare of the word. You must therefore be enlightened and be well informed. You need knowledge and understanding to survive in this battle ground. Knowledge is power, understanding is strength, and wisdom is knowledge and understanding well applied. In all your getting get knowledge and understanding. You need to keep upgrading yourself, learn from others who are gone ahead of you. In as much as you are not taking everything raw, you still need to learn like the Berean brethren.
Ø Holy living is the first requirement. There is nothing you can do or achieve for God that can be a substitute for that requirement to be holy as your heavenly father is. This is one major missing link between the apostolic days and our contemporary time. There is no two ways about this; the command is that we must be holy even as our heavenly father is. The issue of holy living is not popular today because everybody want to do what he or she likes and at the same time expects the flow of the power of God to continue. As the command applies to the one doing deliverance, it does apply also to the person receiving deliverance. If we are not prepared to live holy life, then we are not prepared to experience the great move of God.
CHAPTER TEN
PRACTICAL DELIVERANCE
This chapter may be the most sensitive of all. Care must therefore be taken to understand the concept being presented within the context in which the presentation is made. There are certain universal principles that the book seeks to posit, and a scripturally tested paradigm of doing deliverance. I must also state, from the onset, that we have to define certain confines and admit once again that the subject of exorcism is a wide subject area and also complex practice. There is no “ABC” rule anywhere like logarithm table for doing deliverance, that not withstanding; certain guides in the scripture, are identified as fundamental plumb line that all practices must conform to. I have led a lot of very dangerous and complex deliverance situations after which I was approached by some to give the formula I used. I must here state that there is no “almighty, step by step formula” for conducting deliverance. We only follow scriptural guides and specific instruction from God for each warfare situation. Some have come out with step by step formula, but this I must confess is not only impracticable but misleading. In as much as basic principles of exorcism must be understood, approach sometimes differs from situation to situation as the Lord may direct.
Let us go together to the Synagogue and analyze a particular deliverance scene.
“And in the Synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice, saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him, saying hold thy peace and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not. And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, what aword is this! For with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits and they come out.” Lk 4:33-36
This is an interesting scenario in which Jesus himself was seen doing exorcism. From the above narrative, it is suggested that the original recipient/audience are already aware and familiar with the concept of demonic activities in human life. Let’s x-rayed the passage –
In the Synagogue - It is of interest to me that the demoniac in this passage was not at the cemetery but rather the synagogue. What an unusual location for a demoniac to be! We must understand that those in need of deliverance are all over the place, even right there in our parishes. I have led several campaigns to dislodge ancient demons from shrines and evil forests but I must also say that many of the very dangerous demons I have encountered these past 15 years of doing spiritual warfare were met right inside the church. There seem to be a shift in the direction of demon operation today. In my own observation, demons are decamping from the traditional locations they are known to love to reside. Less people go to shrine today. It seem everybody want to go to church. The world has become so churchy that demonic world also seems to be consumer conscious. More demonic activities are taking place right inside “church” than even at the shrine today. Many strange churches are springing up along side with the true one and devil is really getting more people in the fake churches than he is getting through shrine. There are a lot of agents of darkness starting churches today and many so called men of God practicing witch crafting and priest crafting.
A man with a spirit of an unclean devil – This statement reveals a very important thing in deliverance ministry. We need to recognize the facts presented in this narrative as they affect our operation in deliverance today. There is a clean and clear cut differentiation in the personality of the possessed man and the possessor (demon).This is very important information we must understand. In casting out demon, we must know that the possessed man must be differently handled from the demon that possessed him. Many people are found of making this unfortunate mistake of not separating the two personalities. Sometimes people under demonic afflictions are rough handled during deliverance session because the handler does not understand the dynamics of the double personalities during deliverance ministration. Another interesting thing in this passage is the description of the demon as a spirit of unclean devil. The question that will readily come to mind is that are there demons that are clean? I must say here that no demon is clean, however, in this passage the description may have being used because of the particular manifestation of this spirit entity in the life of the person. There is high probability that the presence of this demon was making him engage in obscene and lewd actions. The Greek adjective akathartou used to describe the demon can also mean ceremoniously or morally unclean or foul. It can be rendered foul demon.
The crying out – It must be understood here that when demons encounter God’s power, they react in bizarre way. The reactions of demons when they encountered God’s power during deliverance are generally termed manifestations. It must also be said that not all these strange reaction do mean demon presence. Some times the human personalities can also respond to God’s power similarly. Discernment of the spirit will help differentiate the various manifestations. The manifestation in itself however is not an indication of deliverance. Demon do manifest in differs ways, sometimes depending on the kind of demon at work. The demons of lust normally display sex motions, stretched fingers and nerves, swaying and gyrating of waist and hip. Serpentine spirits do twist the body of the victim like snake, pulling of the tongue in and out speedily and blowing out of air forcefully from all the body openings. The spirit of gog and magog (fighting spirit) manifest by kicking hands and legs, violent movement of the body and literal attempt to fight the handler. Death spirit manifests through numb limbs, stillness and stiffness of the body, rolling inside of the eye ball. The presence of the witchcraft spirit may be identified by clinging of the hands like that of the cat, screaming and distorted face. Augury spirit displays by tongue speaking and even sometimes prophecy. Marine demon can twist the body of the victim like fish, spitting and desperate request for water to drink. These manifestations should not be conclusive way of discerning the presence of demon, further spirit investigation will be needed to ascertain the actual demon in operation.
Let us alone - Sometimes in deliverance situation one can encounter vocal demon. Demon can yell out, plead for help, make verbal outburst and insist of not leaving. Also, we should know from this particular statement that there is a clear indication that the demons are more than one. Have you come to destroy us? This statement is a clear sign that the demons are many. Most of the time in deliverance situation, it is the strongman or the principal demon that usually speak, and the last to leave. If the strongman is cast out the lesser ones automatically leave. It is also possible that some lesser demons can go and the principal demon remains. In this situation, the deliverance will not be considered complete. You must be careful not to be engaged in unnecessary conversation with demons. Immaturity and lack of knowledge are two major factors which make people develop interest in conversing with demons. There is no spirituality in dialoguing with devil.
Jesus rebuked him – Jesus was not interested in ego boosting, and unnecessary business with the demon, he rebuked him. You must note here that the rebuke was directed at the demon manifesting and not the human victim. The rebuke Jesus gave was an affirmative, declarative, authoritative order for the demon to leave the victim. In deliverance we do not do devotional prayers but we give authoritative order in Christ’s name. We say to the mountain to move and not pray to the mountain to go. There is a difference between praying and saying and also speaking and seeking. This must be understood by anyone doing deliverance. There is power of attorney given to you by Christ to put the devil where he belongs. Exorcism is one of the various ways of exercising the power we have in Christ. Be silent was Jesus’ order. Today a lot of people doing deliverance are rather interested in conversing with the devil. No where in the Bible is this encouraged. I was at a deliverance center where a manifesting person was given the microphone to talk with the congregation for more than 30 minutes. In this case the demon really took over the pulpit in the name of demonic confession. What the church failed to realize was that the devil is a liar and when given any chance, will by all means use it to his advantage . Jn. 8:44
Hurt Him not – Despite the fact that the demon threw the man down, he was not hurt. I must say that different demon manifest differently (Lk.9:42, Mk 1:26). Some demons can be very dangerous and destructive. Care must be taken in deliverance situation to ensure that people are not unnecessarily hurt in the name of manifestation. The deliverance environment must be free of harmful materials, well enclosed to prevent the person being prayed for from running across the street or hurting him or herself with harmful objects. Deliverance ministers must see themselves as care givers. All the time we must consciously separate the person from the demon we are casting out.
There is another interesting deliverance scenario that will bring us into a new dimension of exorcism. Let’s get down with the master to the borders of Tyre and Sidon and observe the interesting scene together –
Mk. 7:24-30 “And from thence he arose and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into a house, and would have no man know it, but he could not be hid. For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him, and came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. But Jesus said unto her, let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and cast it unto the dogs. And she answered and said unto him, yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs. And he said unto her, for this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter. And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed”.
Whose young daughter – This is another dimension to how deliverance is done. There is what we call representational deliverance. This is a situation in which the actual person in need of deliverance is being represented by another person based on the principle of association. In this particular case the daughter is being represented by the mother. The power of God is not limited by time or space. The deliverance, according to the passage was effective although the victim was distant away from where the deliverance was being conducted. I have experienced similar situation whereby the person in need of deliverance can not be reached but a relative standing as a point of contact. The fundamental principle upon which this kind of deliverance is built is the idea of association. The person bringing the case of another person should be related in some way. It may be blood relation or friend or someone you have some kind of authority over. From this scriptural passage and my own experience these past years, I can boldly say that representational deliverance is an effective method of doing deliverance.
What new paradigm did Peter brought to the practice of divine healing and exorcism at the Solomon’s porch and Paul while at Ephesus?
Acts 5:12-16 “ And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch…Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing might overshadow some of them. And there came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits, and they were healed every one.”
Acts 19:11-12 “And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or apron, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.”
This is the idea of transfer of anointing. It is in itself not a completely new idea. The idea is seen in the ministry of some of the Old Testament prophets like Elijah and Elisha (2Kg.4:29). It was also practiced in some way by Christ himself. That anointing can be transferred from one medium to another only further establish the fact that God’s power defies any form of limitation. The shadow of Peter became a medium of manifestation of God’s power; likewise Apron from Paul healed the sick and the demoniac. The only caution in this is that some can easily abuse it and equate the media with the Holy Spirit. I have read a popular book by one faith preacher that the anointing oil is the Holy Spirit mysteriously bottled. This is nothing but a blaspheming. There is no doubt that points of contact can be used but must be used rightly. It must not become a regular practice without which people develop the concept that God can not work. All portions of the Bible where the use of points of contact were used, it never became a standard way of healing all the time. To develop an almighty formula for using it all the time will not be consistent with the Scripture. I do use points of contact as led by the Holy Spirit but not all the time like a formula for getting things done. If so, Jesus would have gone ahead opening all blind eyes by spitting on the clay. You remember that that usage was only once. When some of these wonderful provisions are misused people get confused and don’t see anything good at all in them. In any thing we do, we should make sure they are consistent with the practice and the teaching of the Bible.
There is another wonderful practical lesson we can learn from a scenario in the book of the Acts of the Apostles. Let’s get down to Philippi with Paul and Silas.
Acts 16:16-18 “And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying: The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, these men are the servants of the most high God, which shew us the way of salvation. And this did she many days, but Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.”
This is an interesting passage to learn from. The basic lesson from the passage is the fact that we need divine direction for discernment. The common concept of the devil we have is that of a ugly, negative, visible evil but in deliverance situation at times the devil do appear like an angel of light. The idea of a kingdom divided against itself only complicate matter especially when devil is seen doing some seemingly “good” things. Is it that his kingdom in that regard is divided against itself? It is not everyone that call Christ’s name that is truly following him.
We went to Pray – This is a clear picture and description of people who can do valiantly in spiritual warfare. The eagerness of the Paul- Silas team to find a place to pray reveals one of the basic requirements of a spiritual person who can effectively do spiritual warfare. Spiritual saturation and empowerment can only be gotten in the chamber of prayer and a man of God must daily spend quality time doing that daily. I believe the many successes of Paul in his mission campaign and spiritual warfare is traceable to this singular exercise.
The description of the possessed girl is another thing of interest to me. I guess the girl may be a teenager, owned by some people who are indicatively not the parents. The Greek word used to describe her; paidiske, means bondmaid. It has an undertone meaning of someone ‘covenantedly’ bonded She was simply under some spiritual remote control and was been used for business. The western mind may find this very absurd, but the truth of the matter is still the fact that metaphysically, someone can be spiritually controlled through means far beyond the reach of natural science. Some of the happenings in deliverance are sometimes very difficult to explain to people, simply because most of them defy any mental analysis. She is described here in the passage as a soothsayer (manteuomai). The manteis were possessed of a mantic fury which displayed itself by the eyes rolling, mouth foaming, hair flying and so forth. In this state of ecstasy, all senses of reason is suspended. During deliverance ministration for someone with this demon, some of these manifestations may be noticed.
The most interesting thing in this passage is the theological accuracy of what the possessed was saying. I do not think anyone can fault the girl on the basis of what she was saying. Her message is perfectly correct. This sometimes presents a big problem to young Christians whose only way of discerning is the sweet things the preacher is saying. In discernment, the message is as important as the messenger. It is not only the message or the action that matters but also the source of the message and the action. Imagine Jesus saying that many will say in the last day that they performed miracles, healing and even raising of the dead in his name but still he will tell them he do not know them. This is simply complex for some to comprehend. A lot of people are being deceived today by signs and wonders because they can not see through the eyes of the spirit to see the power behind the scene. Once there is miracle, healing and performance and the person is holding Bible then he is from God. May the Lord open your eyes to see beyond your nostril!
One may ask for the reasons why the girl was saying what she was saying. To me, apart from the fact that she was a nuisance to Paul and his team and that she was really physically disturbing them she was doing far more harm. Imagine the possessed girl, already known in the community, now endorsing the ministry of Paul, how will people see Paul? Won’t this bring a great confusion in the mind of people as to the relationship between what Paul is doing and saying and the already known activities of the Girl? The devil does not only work for the present but also with the future in view. This to me is worse than she being just a nuisance. A demon one time was shouting “I have left her!” The question to ask then is if truly the demon is gone how possible then that he is still using the vocal cord of the person to announce this?
OTHER PRACTICAL HINTS
The foundational information needed for effective operation in the spiritual warfare campaign is clearly presented in the passages examined above. I must say that any other hints expounded are one way or the other related to the above submissions. Again is the fact that we must understand the dynamics and challenges of the time in which we live. To be relevant to our time we have to employ tactics appropriate to deal with today’s situation without necessarily disrupting the flow of foundational instruction of the Bible. New action taken today to deal with current issue may not necessarily be in the Bible but must not in any way be contradictory to the principle of the Scripture. Today, we use amplifier, film etc but in the Bible we cant find their usage. The world of the Bible time had no complex technology of such but since we have this today it can be used to our advantage and the advancement of the Gospel without necessarily being at variance with any doctrinal foundation of the word of God. In the same view the below mentioned hints are there to help our operation in deliverance ministry today, to be better organized and effective in the face of the many current challenges we are facing. The hints are outcome of my more than 15 years practical involvement in exorcism.
1) Pre deliverance preparation - It is logically unwise to go to a strong man’s house to spoil him without preparing one self. Before any major spiritual warfare campaign is launched, you must be well prepared for it. You need spiritual examination, fortification, and saturation. If it is a corporate deliverance the entire team must prepare together and be one. There must be a sense of direction and proper co ordination. In mass deliverance situation all involved must work together and all activities must be convergent. The ushers and the counselor must be trained ahead of time on what they are expected to do and how they are expected to do them.
2) Pro active strategies – Apart from the fact that we help cast out demons, and enforce deliverance of those in bondage, our approach must also ensure for future monitoring and further possible contacts. Deliverance must not end at casting out of demons but people must be helped to maintain their deliverance. This is where we see the broken link and this is one reason why we keep delivering the same set of people over and over again. Do not make yourself become a small god to those you are trying to help. They should be helped not to see you as their savior but to see Christ the deliverer. This can only be done if they are helped to stand on their own instead of building their faith around you. Some deliverance ministers don’t want people to know what they know because they want them to always come to them. If you have this mentality as a deliverance minister, then you also need serious deliverance.
3) Place of Spirit’s gifts – Since this is spiritual warfare, we must recognize our total dependence on the Holy Spirit, His enablement, and the outworking of His grace. Care must however be taken when in corporate warfare setting to make sure gifts usage is well coordinated. Generally, power and revelation are most essential in deliverance situation.
4) Place of deliverance – Sometimes we down play the importance of ensuring for appropriate environment for deliverance. I think where regular deliverance is taking place must be a right place to avoid unnecessary problem. It is not advisable to be using your residential home for regular deliverance. If it is one to one deliverance situation, especially if it is also for an opposite sex, an enclosed, private room is dangerous. Deliverance is better at a place that is opened, and where prayer is always offered. Dangerous materials like knife, cutlass etc is to be kept away from deliverance environment. It is also not the best to be conducting regular deliverance in a storey building.
5) People undergoing deliverance – The way we treat and handle people manifesting during deliverance prayer must also be taken note of. It is spiritual warfare and we must recognize that fact when we are handling people. People should be helped not to get hurt or humiliated or disgraced in any way. We are care givers and we must show concern and give out our best in handling our clients.
6) Procedure – Like I earlier posited that there is no fast rule as to how deliverance can be conducted. Never memorize any ABC steps to doing deliverance. This notwithstanding, you must recognize all the basic principle relating to deliverance in the Bible. . Never memorize any ABC steps to doing deliverance. This notwithstanding, you must recognize all the basic principle relating to deliverance in the Bible. You must be guided by the Holy Spirit and the divine directions received must be in tandem with the teachings of the Bible. Like the caution I gave regarding the use of the point of contact, point of contact is not an almighty formula in deliverance situation. Care must be taken in the use of laying on of hand. In as much as it is biblical to lay hand, it is not a compulsory formula all the time you want to do deliverance. Of a special example is the serpentine spirit which can sometime require avoidance of laying on of hands, most especially if the handler is a young believer. Sensitive parts of an opposite sex should also not be a target of hand laying. I don’t see any reason for laying hand on a woman’s breast in order to cast out a demon. Some people also get mechanical when doing deliverance. You do not need to help the Holy Spirit by pushing people in the name of doing deliverance. There is also the cyclical style, where the head of the person being prayed for is turned round and round until the person falls down. Some of these practices are becoming popular because people thinks it is only when you fall down that you are delivered. These are all carnal procedures that must be avoided by all informed deliverance workers. Falling down has nothing to do with a demon leaving. If you have this kind of mentality, then you can easily be deceived by demons. I can not imagine why a true minister of the gospel will want to be pushing people down in the name of doing deliverance. Pushing, turning people round etc are simple mechanical exercise or better called, priest crafting. Another thing to note as earlier identified is the fact that we need not be chatting with demons. We do not need the information from demon to guide our approach to deliverance. It’s simply immaturity that normally makes people to be conversing with the devil. You must also note that it is not your screaming that will scare the devil out but rather the anointing. You do not need to loose your voice in order to get a demon out or to shout and excrete to effect deliverance; it’s the anointing that will make the difference. It is funny sometimes that one can not make out the difference between the person manifesting and the person doing the deliverance because they are both shouting and demonstrating at the same time.
7) Post Deliverance Actions – It is very unfortunate that most of the time we have no post deliverance program for those doing the deliverance and those delivered. This kind of approach is like an evangelist making converts instead of making disciples. Those engaged in deliverance should see sense in refortifying themselves by continuous effective spiritual exercises. We must also plan to help those we pray for to stand on their own and mature spiritually. What we do after the deliverance can have a great deal of effect on the whole exercise. After every major campaign, vengeance demons will always want to attack you, so you must always be on guard. Somehow there is that human tendency to want to relax after every major success. In spiritual warfare, we keep keeping on until we are finally called home.
The above insightful hints, I believe will go a long way in helping you operate in Spiritual warfare as a better minister. These seven issues are very strategic, and they should form the key foundation upon which a new sound paradigm for doing Spiritual warfare can be built. I must say also that to be effective in whatsoever you are doing, you must always engage yourself in meaningful dialogue with people who can help you grow and know better. You need to constantly upgrade yourself and keep abreast with what is going on in your field. Like I established the fact at the beginning of this discussion that what we know is far less than what we do not know, we must therefore be humble enough to learn from others.
In an organized deliverance center where record is kept for monitoring purposes, certain information and paper works are kept to facilitate better understanding of each deliverance case. Such information is very useful for future usage especially in a case where the person who handled the case first is not available. Those who work on the coalition of the information must be matured Christians, who can discern and are trained on the basic skills of counseling and pastoral care giving. They may not necessarily be the same people who will conduct the actual deliverance. The case report prepared by these people becomes the primary working tool and guide for those at the deliverance section to use. Below is an example or model case report form that can be used during counseling session with the client –
GLOBAL DELIVERANCE TEAM (GLODET)
(Center for Spiritual Warfare & Missions)
P.O.BOX 1215, OYO TOWN NIGERIA
TEL 2348038565127/23438241496
E-Mail – kolade2002@yahoo.com
DELIVERANCE CASE REPORT FORM
PATIENT’S NAME ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AGE ----------------- SEX -------------------- MARITAL STATUS------------------------------
PATIENT’S ADDRESS -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEXT OF KIN ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PROBLEM SUMMARY ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FAMILY ‘TREE’ EVALUATION -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SPIRITUAL X-RAY OF THE PATIENT’S LIFE -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PSYCHOLOGICAL EVALUATION --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
Patient’s Signature Next of Kin’s Signature
OFFICIAL COMMENT -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------
Counselor’s Signature & Date
Most of the items on this form require some technical expertise from the part of the counselor who is doing the counseling. Like I earlier said, it is important that the person have knowledge of the basic counseling skills. We can not discuss at length about the necessary counseling skill needed in this chapter because this is not the main focus of the book. I must however say that the counselor must engage the client in a friendly dialogue that will make the client develop confidence in him. Certain useful information will never be divulged unless the client sees the counselor as someone he can trust. You must also help the client to develop hope and have confidence in him/herself. Allow the client to talk and avoid unnecessary interruption when the client is making emotional confession. Let the client see you as human and not a super person. Your testimonies can help build hope in your client and help him /her see hope for his/her case. Do not judge your client for wrong doing and do not condemn him/her to hell. Empathize with him/her but never get carried away when your client get too emotional. As you help your client build hope, never allow him/her see you as the savior but Christ.
Looking at the form itself, certain items on it require in-depth understanding of counseling dynamics. Below are some hints to help you know how to take down the required data –
Next of Kin – It is necessary that a close person accompany the client who may have certain information possibly not even known to the client. The form is not only an official document for the deliverance center but also a legal document, hence the presence of the next of kin is important and a witness to all procedure. During counseling session, if the client wants the next of kin to be eschewed for the purpose of privacy, you can allow that.
Problem Summary – This is the initial narration of the problem as given by the client or the next of kin. The simple history of the case is then taken down as the Problem Summary. It is not necessary to have all the details recorded, but only the important issue.
Family Tree – This is a more technical spiritual evaluation. It is necessary to recognize that many spiritual problem people face today are traceable to their family. The two parents’ side must be checked for possible involvement in occultism, ancestral covenants, contacts with any demonic spot, shrine etc. The significance of the family name and the family past must be identified. Name serves as entry point for demon. The religious and social background of the family may be useful in shedding light to the problem the client is facing. Sometimes, divorce or polygamy can have negative spiritual influence on the next generation.
Spiritual X-ray of the Patient – The client’s personal spiritual situation is of a great significance in deliverance. You have to know if the client is born again. You also need to know his/her past involvement in spiritual things. How fervent is he/her in the Lord now? Has he/her made covenant in the past or consult oracle or an occult person? Have he/her offered sacrifice to some god or deity or made incisions on his/her body? Has he/her made ritualistic circumcision to launch him/her into adulthood? You need to also help your client evaluate his/her dreams. Regarding dream, we must be careful not to over spiritualize every dream. Dream can be divine, deliberate, or demonic. It is our responsibility to make sure that we are able to identify what force is at work in each dream narrated. Some of the possible significant dreams include –
Ø Discovering yourself in your old school like you are still back there even after many years of graduation may be a retrogressing power of witchcraft at work.
Ø Seeing someone taking your blood in the dream or making incision on you may be a prelude to occult initiation.
Ø Swimming or crossing river in the dream may suggest presence or influence of marine demon.
Ø Seeing yourself in meeting in strange places and among strange people may be an indication of advance initiation.
Ø Picking fruits and or snail in a thick forest or in a refuse ground or ants attacking you may suggest problem of financial failure or attack on you finance.
Ø Having sex in the dream, or breastfeeding a baby may be a signal of asmodee spirit or spiritual marriage.
Ø Being pressed down in the dream or when you are half awake and you could not shout or move your body for some time may indicate that you are under witchcraft attacks. It may also sometimes manifest in you being pursued by dangerous animals or masquerades.
Ø By eating food in the dream someone may be initiated or a demonic deposit spiritually projected into his/her system.
Apart from strange occurrences in the dream, sometimes people do experience strange things even physically – like strange disappearance of personal effects, crossing of cobweb at strange places where web normally should not be etc Some of these happenings may shed light on the problem of your client. I must however caution that discernment is needed before drawing conclusion on any narration.
Psychological Evaluation – Our evaluation of things must be holistic and we must not force to give spiritual meaning to everything narrated to us. Some of the problems of our client may be psychological in nature. Some people are simply suffering from the psychological abuse of the past or certain environmental factors. Some of the psyche problems that may require technical or professional attention include- affective underdevelopment, identity crisis, non achievement of psychic intimacy, dysfunctional family system etc. Our ability to sort out things and put them at there appropriate places will help us give a more holistic help to our clients. Imagine a woman who does not know how to cook well or how to take good care of the house, now having problem with the husband, to me the problem is more of the physical than the spiritual. She will better be helped if she can go and learn how to cook well instead of spending all her time praying and fasting. We must also admit the fact that we may need a referrer help sometimes when we are confronted with professionally technical cases. We also need to have a wide range of knowledge that can make us relevant to many situations.
In the deliverance setting, the patient is given hope of divine intervention. In raising people’s hope we must however be careful not to play God. In all situations we need to seek divine counsel to know what to do and how to do it. You should never think that God will use you to heal every sick person that comes to you. God has the last say in all situations. As a result of the above truth, it becomes necessary for the deliverance minister to be equipped with psychological understanding of coping mechanism. People with strange problems and sicknesses, from the time they become aware of the problem, through the various stages of its development will be going through fluctuating emotional challenges that goes with certain coping mechanism. Apart from the spiritual helps they are offered at the deliverance center, they equally need psychological help to be able to handle their emotion well.
Upon the first awareness of the problem, the first psychological experience will be that of Shock. Shock is normally accompanied by two coping mechanisms namely denial and panic. Denial is a psychic anaesthetic to an unbearable reality. Denial helps the victim not to hear what he/she can not emotionally accept. This initial response may be somehow healthy in that it helps the victim muster inner forces to cope with situation capable of overwhelming him/her. When denial however becomes pronounced and prolonged, then it becomes dangerous. In the Christian setting however, some people mistake denial for faith. In this case faith rather becomes misinterpreted to mean fraud. Let the weak say I am strong and the poor say I am rich. Do not forget that the advice is to the weak and the poor. In the first place, for this provision to be appropriated there must first be that initial recognition of ones weakness and poverty, if not there is no need at all of confessing the riches and the strength. We need to understand the full dynamics of faith operation before coming out with statements in the name of exercising faith. Faith is not a denial of rational or scientific reality but rather the ability to see beyond it. Many people who exercise faith today are only exercising denial and not faith. You must know where you are and where your client stands. Panic on the other hand is the alternative response to shock. When this is expressed, all structure and reality checks become lost, and the victim will resort to impulsive, uncontrolled and unrealistic behavior. The situation, if not checked may become fluid and this may invariably lead to self destruction or psychosis. We must be careful of how we reveal certain realities to our client. You must not make the mistake of talking to your client about his/her problem like you are at the same level of faith. Information must be packaged in a manner that it will not make the hearer to panic. Some deliverance ministers are fond of making people panic just for the sake of making people see how powerful and spiritual they are. A true pastoral care giver will not be interested in making people panic but rather building hope in them.
Catharsis is another emotional expression which normally surfaces immediately reality begins to be established. Catharsis is an outward manifestation of one’s feeling of anger. The anger may be directed towards oneself, a loved one, the caregiver or even sometimes God. If this feeling is not expressed, it may be turned inward and may assume neurotic proportion capable of resulting in depression. You need not appear invincible or ‘too spiritual’ in handling someone suffering from catharsis. You may be tempted to judge or condemn the person or become annoyed at the person especially if the anger is directed at you or God. You need to understand what the person is going through and adequately help him/her come out of the state of catharsis.
Drama of Cognition sets in immediately the victim becomes cognizant of his/her condition and faced with either realistic hope or despair. The client will have to be helped to personally experience realistic hope in God instead of the choice of despair manifesting in stoic bitterness and hopelessness. Our focus in deliverance ministry should be to help people become spiritually rich and emotionally sound and balanced.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
HIGH LEVEL SPIRITUAL WARFARE
(DEALING WITH TERRITORIAL POWERS)
This is not an exhaustive treatment of High Level Spiritual Warfare, but an attempt to introduce you to the basic rudiments of what it entails to deal with the territorial powers. This aspect of spiritual warfare, I must confess is not all that popular, but of recent, Christians are being educated to launch into it.
High level warfare is a “close quarter combat” with the elemental and territorial spiritual powers on high places. This is more complex than what we encounter when we are doing regular exorcism for people. We are directly invading the seat of high ranking evil personalities who are spiritually given the oversight of designated territories by Satan.
We need to first understand that there are a lot of people who are very skeptical about anything spiritual. Such people are influenced by the western system of epistemology, which strongly downplay on spiritual entities and realities. They are doing theology by looking at universal structure of reality by employing only the Greek algorithmic logic. They see the devil as a system of evil and not a definite personal reality that truly exist as a real entity. This same idea influence the way they view the concept of territorial power. A theology that is constructed using this tool can not really, practically apply the divine revelation appropriately to human context but rather resort to using vague argument to explain away human realities that seem not in agreement with algorithmic logic. The result is a theology that is not comprehensive and which fails to capture all realms of reality. Portions of the Bible that are clearly indicating metaphysical reality of the spiritual are given unwholesome interpretations.
It is true that we don’t see these evil emissaries face to face, but in spiritual warfare we wrestle against them as Paul posits in Ephesians’ epistle. When Paul was talking about principalities and power and spiritual wickedness in high places, it will be exegetically fraudulent to reduce these entities mentioned to just mere impersonal forces or systems. Paul was talking about Spiritual realities, and distinctive entities of evil personalities. The truth is that there are rulers of darkness of this world that are really holding people and nations back from the knowledge of God. They are the spirits of disobedience working in the life of those in the slave market of sin.
Daniel’s encounter in chapter 10 of his book and the consequent explanation of the situation of what was going on in the spirit realm during the period of Daniel’s prayer and fasting can not be wished away as some physical drama. Daniel 10:13 says “But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.” There are no ambiguities in understanding that the Prince of Persia here is not the physical human prince but a spiritual entity having influence over the kingdom, Persia.
I see no good reason why the church should be divided on the issue of strategic warfare to the extent that some theologians even brand those doing it as occultist. In as much as there can be excesses in the way people sometimes handle spiritual matter, it will be another excess to totally condemn strategic warfare. The problem we have is that for a long time our mission strategies has being the human, flesh and blood approach, taking little cognizance of the spiritual dimension. Some blindly argue that there is no example of strategic warfare in the Bible and no clear statement that designated demons were ruling geographical locations. The church of the Acts of the Apostle were not doing mission the way we are doing it now. We are using marketing strategies, but they were being moved and directed by the Holy Spirit. Their method was simply power evangelism. Power evangelism has embedded in it strategic warfare principle, binding the strong man to take his spoil. We have a lot of methods today that does not need the help of the Spirit, the result is new converts that are reached mentally but not transformed spiritually. Their old master is still in charge, so we spend all energy in trying to make them conform to the church creed but they are truly not transformed from within.
Read over and over again the first mandate given to the first disciples, Mk. 3:14-15, “And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach and to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils.” What is missing in our mission is the power aspect and that is why anything in the line of power seem strange to a lot of us. Jesus in his days was carrying out exorcism with the power of God but the ‘theologian’ of his days accused him of using Beelzebub’s power because there were magicians in Jesus’ time using other means to try to cast out devils. Today, history is repeated, many are saying strategic warfare is built on the concept borrowed from tribal and eastern religion. It is not everything you don’t understand that should be automatically branded demonic, if care is not taken you will be wrongfully accusing the genuine move of God. Instead of asking for the power of God for our mission we are always thinking of human methods that can suit our carnal context. This is not an attempt to out rightly condemn all methods, but a strong caution that methods can never take the place of the Spirit. In all things that we do we do methodically, the argument is that even our methods must be informed by the Holy Spirit.
Jesus mission was power mission because in every city he went, he did not only preach the message of repentance, he also cast out demons and healed the sick. When the twelve and the seventy went into every city they did the same. What this means is that in every city they went to, they confronted forces of darkness as they were doing their evangelism. Throughout the Acts of the Apostle, the kind of evangelism seen is power evangelism. The problem now is that the church does not want to wait for the endowment of the power from on high again but instead want to go out harmed with methods and gadgets. Philip the evangelist went down to Samaria in Acts chapter eight and launched power mission that pulled down the demonic stronghold in Samaria. (Chap. 8:5-12). What about Paul at Ephesus and Athens? The church of the Acts of the Apostles encountered directly ruling power of darkness every city they entered, and their evangelism method was spiritual warfare.
The idea of phenomenological approach to doing theology today is of more help. Both principles in systematic theology and biblical theology are comprehensively captured in missionlogical approach. Missionlogical theology seeks to employ phenomenology and ontology to exegete both the scripture and ministry setting and consequently contextualizing the gospel. Divine revelation must be rightly applied to human context. The idea of territorial power is seen from the Old Testament through the New Testament. Israel’s encounter at Egypt is a clear example or territorial power. In that act of deliverance and the coming of the ten plagues, the 10 ruling spiritual forces of Egypt were dealt with. Israel’s occupation of Canaan was not just a physical take over of the land but God intended it to be a complete overthrow of evil forces of the land. Indeed when Israel got to Canaan they met the people worshipping the territorial spirits. To say that the idea of territorial spirit is not in the Old Testament is really theologically fraudulent.
What then are the challenges to doing High Level Warfare today?
Ø Ensuring for strong and effective defensive warfare strategies.
Ø Building “spiritual” covering for the team.
Ø Full use of our weapon of warfare in Christ.
Ø High sensitivity to the direction of the Holy Spirit (Discernment).
Ø Effective networking and unity among the team.
Ø Discovery of the “strongman” and the territorial personality.
Ø Strategic mapping.
Of interest here also is the argument that we are not asked to use the weapon of our warfare at the devil directly but rather for our personal spiritual growth. We must recognize that in the Ephesians’ catalogue of the weapon, we have the defensive and the offensive ammunition. Eph. 6:17-18 says “--- and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit ----“Warfare prayer is part of the “all manners of prayer”. It is an example of Jesus’ teaching on warfare prayer that we should say to this mountain. Binding the devil in prayer is in agreement with binding the strongman before taking his spoil. The strongman can be bind through prayers.
I want to suggest a model approach especially to doing the deliverance of the land and for engaging in prayer walk. Since this is a major warfare, we need to count the cost before embarking on it. I have personally led several deliverance of the land, and I can tell you that it call for seriousness and sensitivity. Our ability to take the land for the Lord is given to us from God and does not depend on our own strength (Num. 13:30). I am dividing the processes of the deliverance of the land to stages to aid understanding and to make it orderly. The stages mentioned are not almighty formula that must always be followed to letter, but they are guides to ensuring for an orderly and strategic campaign.
INCEPTION STAGE
Deliverance of the land is a vision that must be conceived and given birth to. It should not be something to rush to out of mere curiosity or just for experimentation or out of emotionalism. You must receive a specific mandate and Rhema from God before going ahead. All high level warfare and deliverance in the scripture began with people of God with specific mandate from heaven. When the burden is received, then there will be the need to communicate it to people of like passion, bearing in mind to obey the law of association.
INTERCESSORY STAGE
Intercessory stage is a strategic stage, because that is where the burden and the vision are incubated. Burden for deliverance of the land must be born and nurtured in the chamber of prayer (Neh.1:4). Do not just start any warfare campaign until you have spent quality time with God in the chamber of prayer. From the onset till even after the main deliverance, intercession must continue to go on. Intercessory time will help your team receive open heaven for the warfare.
SELECTION STAGE
Deliverance of the land requires collaboration among believers. This is one area of ministry where churches in a particular location can work together and overcome the limitations of denominationalism. This campaign normally will have a lot of people on board exhibiting different gifts and ministry abilities. Everyone that will be involved in the warfare must be carefully chosen based on their ministry and gift ability. People like “Achan” must not be among the team. The team should comprise of researchers, intercessors, evaluators, group leaders, and the overall co coordinator.
RESEARCH/DATABASE COLLECTION STAGE
At this stage, useful information is gathered through the help of the researchers and the strategic surveyors. This stage is very crucial to the success of the warfare, since the result of the investigation and the research will be the bedrock on which the battle strategy will be built. In all these we must recognize the Spirit direction and help, because with the arm of flesh we can do but nothing. The researchers must be skilled, gifted and must be able to interact well with all categories of people.
Certain means and methods can be used in gathering useful information about the land you want to deliver. The methods include: Questionnaire, investigation into important places like museum, libraries, boundaries, markets, shrines, palace, and interview with important people like chiefs, old people, market women, non-indigenes domicile in the land and the resident pastors. In using any of these three tools, you must take note of the following to guide you in what are needed to be focused on –
Ø Historical Analysis – Investigate into the history of the place. We need to consult the history of the land to be able to discover a lot of useful information that will be useful for our warfare campaign. You need to know when and how the place was founded, the founding father(s); their ideologies, religion and manners of life.
Ø Religious Analysis – What religion is prevalent at the place? Are their shrines and occult groups? You will also need to study the trend of the church growth and deduce possible causes.
Ø Identification Analysis – Certain symbols and representational signs of the people can tell you a lot of things about the people. Spend time to understand and interpret the meaning of the name given to the land, the logo, motto, and the slogan of the people.
Ø Social – Cultural Analysis – The way of life of the people should be studied and understood. Observe the moral and the marital lifestyle, the way the people interact with other culture and people, the strangers, poor, handicaps, widow, orphans and the marginalized in the society. All these social issues can have great spiritual implications.
Ø Observe and identify sites of riot, accidents, immoral acts, cemeteries, important plaza, monuments, sin centers like abortion clinics, prostitution and exploitation spots, important road junctions, strategic hills and mountains, palace and occult strongholds.
COLLATION/EVALUTION/INTERPRETATION STAGE
All information received must be reduced to simpler form and must be rightly interpreted. Care must be taken to avoid computation error. All materials must be checked and cross checked before being used as further indicators. Interpretation of the information can be plotted into graph, pie chart, bar chart or spiritual mapping. This requires maturity and certain skills.
COMMUNICATION STAGE
A vision well articulated and communicated will be well participated. All information and research outcome must be communicated to everyone involved in the campaign. No one should go into the warfare without adequate information and clear understanding of what will be the nature of the warfare. Lectures and mobilization seminars should be organize to adequately educate the team members and the concerned members of the community. Other believers in the land should also be carried along particularly for general intercessions (Judges 7-8).
WARFARE STAGE
The warfare stage comes at the end of the campaign, and this is described as the close quarter combat. The spiritual mapping made is now practically put into use as it guides the team to identify the strategic locations needed to touch during the prayer walk. You will need to bring to bare the fundamental principles you have learnt so far as deliverance prayer is offered at strategic places identified on the spiritual mapping. There will be the need to be very sensitive to the specific leadings of God at this time. Most of the time, prayer walk is the strategic tool employed. Examine the strategic prayer of Elisha for Jericho in 11Kg.2:19-22, “And the men of the city said to Elisha, behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth: but the water is naught, and the ground barren. And he said bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein, and they brought it to him. And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and said, thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land. So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake.” This is an example of deliverance of the land. This does not however mean that the details of what Elisha did should be repeated, because each warfare campaign follows specific strategy as the Lord will direct. What Elisha did, I believe, must be based on specific leadings of God. He was not just doing drama, but was following divine direction. A new cruse and salt are symbolically significant. The prayer he prayed is also an example of the kind of prayer prayed during warfare time. Elisha’s prayer falls within the type of prayer called strategic prophetic prayers. In breaking of the territorial covenants and curses, the natives should be used. It is usually more effective using people who are directly, spiritually connected to a particular ancestral or territorial curse or covenant when such covenant or curse is being broken. If you are not specifically led to pull down any shrine you should not (Judges 16:25).Most times after the prayer walk, demonic trees will wither and fall, evil brooks will dry and in the process, some demonic people may go with it. The general attendant results of such campaign include physical and spiritual progress, peace in the community, and salvation of lost souls and revival of slumbering believers. I can personally tell of great results and effects of High Level Warfare in places that we have been to launch such campaign. I must also say that there are no strict ABC rules and you are not even limited by the spiritual mapping you are using. So many things will be discovered and learnt on the spot when the warfare is going on.
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