July 12, 2009
When I was in university and first exploring Christianity, I met for a few weeks with a Christian group on campus led by a guy named Ed. Ed had been a drummer in a rock band and had left the world of sex and drugs to follow Jesus. Ed with his long, dirty-blond hair was what we called a Jesus freak. We would sit on the floor in a circle and Ed would beat out rhythms on the floor with his hands and then call out, “Praise you Jesus!” This was completely new to me, totally unlike anything I had ever experienced in church with my parents.
One morning when we were sitting and praying, Ed called out and began to exorcize the demon of sleepiness because everyone was yawning. I was not at all experienced in this sort of thing but I remember thinking that people wouldn’t yawn if they had not stayed up so late the night before.
James wrote in his letter (James 4:7)
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
It is with this emphasis that I ended the sermon last week.
When we are confronted by demonic oppression, we are to resist the devil, but how do we know the evil we are facing is from the devil?
My church history professor, Richard Lovelace, pointed out that sin exists in the form of the world, the flesh and the devil and it is critical that we be able to distinguish between these.
Because humans have a sinful nature, the structures we create in the world will be flawed structures. Institutions will be set up so the rich and powerful benefit in ways that the poor and weak will not. Institutions will discriminate on the basis of race, sex, family name and religion.
In addition to flawed institutions and institutional policies, cultures have values that are not God’s values. The US, for example, is highly materialistic and individualistic and these false values have infiltrated the church, corrupting the gospel.
In all cultures we value those who are rich and famous. Michael Jackson has received an enormous amount of press and attention in the weeks since his death, as did Elvis Presley when he died. John F. Kennedy and C. S. Lewis both died on November 22, 1963, but to whom did the world pay attention? What we value and who we value in our cultures are rarely Kingdom of God values and the saints that are entering God’s kingdom.
The institutions and structures of the world are corrupted and oppress us. The values of the world infiltrate our gospel and corrupt our understanding of what is true. We need to resist evil in the world by working to reform our laws and institutions and by consciously choosing to value people who are entering into God’s kingdom.
Evil is also found in the flesh. The flesh is my own human nature. Given a choice between God and me, my flesh will always choose me. My flesh wants to find satisfaction in what does not and cannot satisfy. Food, drink and sex are wonderful gifts of God but the flesh distorts these gifts and they become my master. My flesh wants to find the easy way to do something. My flesh does not want to suffer to accomplish anything. My flesh makes me the most important person in the world and expects the world to serve me.
Paul wrote about this in Romans 7:18
I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
We resist our flesh by practicing the spiritual disciplines.
Evil is found in the world, the flesh and the devil and the devil, as Peter wrote in his letter,
prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
Do you see why it makes a difference to discern what is the source of the oppression I am experiencing? When Ed prayed against Satan to cast out the demon of sleepiness, he was wasting his breath. What he needed to do was teach about the disciplines of the flesh and the need to get the proper sleep required to be alert Sunday morning during church.
If you rebuke Satan because you eat too much, exercise too little, play too many computer games, sleep in too late or spend too little time meeting with God in prayer, Bible reading and journaling, you are wasting your time by rebuking Satan. It is time for you to begin exercising self-control and practicing the spiritual disciplines of meditation, prayer, fasting and study.
If you go to a bank to get a loan and are rejected because of the color of your skin, it does not help to resist Satan. What is needed is to work to reform the laws of the land to make this kind of discrimination illegal.
If you identify that you have difficulty sharing your weakness in a small group because of your culture’s value of independence, you need to break away from the values of your culture and become more Biblical in your thinking.
But when you identify that the opposition you are facing is from the devil, then you need to resist him.
A Moroccan friend told me stories of his experiences with witchcraft. There was a woman who was a witch who lived with her family in the apartment above where he lived. This woman had powers that were well known in the neighborhood.
One day her son’s motor scooter was stolen. He told her and she dressed up in the special clothes she wore and spent some time chanting (my friend did not see this but was told by her son the things she did). She looked up after her chants and told her husband and son the address where the motor scooter was, including the apartment number and the name of the person who had taken it.
My friend, who was then sixteen years old, went with her husband and son to the address and they found the scooter and the thief just as she said. The police came to arrest him and he went to prison.
My friend also told me about how some children are born with a straight line across the palm of their hand. These children are considered special and there is a name for these children, zouri or something like that. When a witch is looking for blood to tear demons away from a treasure they are guarding, a drop of blood from one of these special children is taken to pull the demons away. Then the treasure can be uncovered. My friend told me the names of people who had made a pact with the devil in order to get these riches.
How do you react when you hear these stories? Do you believe them? Are you skeptical?
Let me tell you another story.
In a student fellowship at university in Nigeria, a prayer cell met and served as a deliverance team. One day as they were praying, someone received a word of knowledge that the devil was planning to kill someone in their larger fellowship in the next few days.
So they asked for volunteers to fast for three days and pray, especially for whoever that person was. After three days a sister who had recently become a Christian was brought to their prayer cell group. She was exhibiting demonic manifestations and they began to pray for her. As they did, the demons took over and started speaking. They said they had been sent to kill this woman on her birthday, just a few days from now. She had entered into a pact with them earlier in her life and now she had violated that pact by aligning herself with what they called “the righteous one”.
So they prayed and the demons were cast out of the woman. Her birthday came and went and she was fine.
How you react to these stories has a lot to do with the culture you come from.
Roland Müller wrote a book, the middle part of which is titled, The Message. In this section of his book, he writes of three worldviews. There is the guilt/innocence worldview of North America and Europe. This worldview focuses on being right and wrong. In any situation, being right or wrong is the most important thing. The conscience figures prominently in this worldview. When those with this worldview read the Bible, they see a gospel that says we are sinners and are guilty because of our sin. God has a sense of justice that must be satisfied so we can be redeemed.
North Africa, the Middle East and Asia have an honor/shame worldview. In this worldview it is not as important to be right as it is to protect your honor.
Arabs tell a story of a sheik who was sleeping under a palm tree. While he was sleeping, a thief stole his expensive cloak. The family of the sheik hunted down the thief and brought him to trial. At the trial the thief said, “Yes I did steal this cloak. I found a man lying under a palm tree and had sexual relations with him before I took his cloak.” The sheik immediately asked to see the cloak, took a quick look at it and said, “This is not my cloak,” and the thief was set free.
The honor of the sheik was more important than the theft of his cloak. In the guilt/innocence culture of the West, the man would have said, “He’s lying. That is my cloak and I would have know if he had sexual relations with me but I did not. Convict him. He’s guilty.” In the West justice is more important than honor. In honor/shame cultures, honor must be protected at all costs.
The third worldview is that of Sub-Saharan Africa and some island tribal groups and that is the fear/power worldview. This worldview is very sensitive to the supernatural world of angels and spirits and demons.
Cultures reflect not just one of these worldviews but one dominates in the culture. Morocco is primarily an honor/shame culture but, as the stories I told reflect, it is also a fear/power culture.
All three worldviews are reflected in the Bible. In the creation story in Genesis, for example, when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden of Eden, they disobeyed God and moved from their innocence to being guilty of sin. They moved from being naked and feeling no shame to having to cover their nakedness because of shame. They went from walking with God in the garden to hiding because they were afraid. The consequence of the fall was that they experienced guilt, shame and fear.
Read through the Bible and you will see these worldviews expressed.
The reason I am talking about these three worldviews is that our worldview makes a difference in how we are susceptible to Satan.
When I told the story of the witch who helped people find treasure and who found the name of the thief who stole her son’s motor scooter or the woman delivered of demons in Nigeria, if you come from the West, you probably view those stories with a bit of skepticism. The struggle in the West is to be aware that the devil is real and not an imaginary figure. In the West there are lots of stories about people getting into a battle of wits with the devil and beating him. There is a song about a fiddle contest with the devil in which the devil loses. The devil is part of folklore in the West but not taken seriously as a real presence. The West has a difficult time taking the existence of the devil seriously.
On the other hand, if you come from a fear/power culture, the devil is a very real presence and your response to the stories was probably to be reminded of stories you could tell about the power of the devil and witches or witch doctors.
Let me make three observations that will help you resist the devil when you are being attacked.
When you identify that the demonic oppression you are facing is coming from the devil, follow the biblical teaching and resist. As I mentioned at the end of the sermon last week, resist by speaking out the truth.
This is what Jesus did when he was tempted by the devil in the wilderness. Jesus was hungry after a forty day fast and the devil tempted him by acknowledging that Jesus had the power to turn stones into bread.
Remember that Jesus had just discovered at his baptism that he was God’s son. Jesus had known he was different but exactly how he was different became clear at his baptism when God spoke to him (Mark 1:11)
You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.
In these days of his fast he entered into new ground in his relationship with God and in his understanding of who he was and what was his mission.
So the devil took advantage of this and tempted Jesus with the first use of his powers.
If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.
How did Jesus respond? He resisted and he resisted with Deuteronomy 8:3
“It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
The devil came back and offered Jesus an easy way to prove to the people of Israel he was the Son of God.
There was a rabbinical tradition that the Messiah would reveal himself by standing on the roof of the Temple. At the corner where the Royal Porch and Solomon’s Porch met, there was a drop of 150 meters into the valley of the brook Kidron. If Jesus had appeared from above on the corner of the roof and jumped off, landing safely, unharmed, he would have been revealed as the great wonder-worker who would save Israel. And he would not have to suffer on the cross.
But Jesus spoke truth to the devil by quoting Deuteronomy 6:16
“It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Finally the devil offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world. The devil is called in the Bible the ruler of this world and he offered Jesus all he had if he would only worship him. Again, the devil offered the easy way to success, gain without pain.
But Jesus spoke the truth of Deuteronomy 6:13
“Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”
Why should you study your Bible? Why should you memorize scripture? Why do you need to know what it is you believe and why you believe it? There are other reasons but this one is primary: when you resist Satan you need to be armed with the truth you need to resist him.
Zak will be talking more about this next week, but in putting on the full armor of God from Ephesians 6, you need to be armed with the sword of truth. Your knowledge of scripture is what equips you to stand up and resist the devil.
Notice that the devil also quoted scripture when he tempted Jesus. The devil quoted Psalm 91:11-12
“ ‘He will command his angels concerning you
to guard you carefully;
11 they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
But Jesus quoted from the heart of the Old Testament, Deuteronomy, and as my theology professor pointed out, the poetic truth of the Psalms was no match for the steel-hardened truth of Deuteronomy.
When you stand on scripture, make sure you are standing on solid ground. Learn the verses that give you a solid foundation. It is good to know that
John 11:35
Jesus wept
but it is far more helpful to remember
Romans 8:1
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
or
II Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
or
Romans 8:38-39
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Resist the devil by speaking the truth of the scriptures. Keep your sword sharp by knowing the powerful scriptures on which you stand as a Christian.
Secondly, do not be intimidated by thinking you have to do battle with Satan. If it was up to you to do battle against Satan, you would lose. It would not even be close.
It is Jesus who did battle with Satan and defeated him. When Jesus died, the devil thought he had won but then Jesus did the impossible, he rose from the dead, not just rising from the dead to die later in time, but rising from the dead to live for eternity. In that action the devil suffered his final and permanent defeat.
When you resist Satan all you have to do is claim the victory of Jesus over the devil. You do not have to fight yourself. You have only to resist and claim the victory of Jesus.
Paul wrote in I Corinthians 15:56-57
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The victory of Jesus is given to us, all we need to do when we resist the devil is to claim it.
In the name and power of Jesus we rebuke Satan and claim the victory of Jesus for ourselves.
Thirdly, the devil has power over us when we allow him to have power.
I mentioned last week that we give the devil power over us when we listen to his accusations or yield to his temptations, but I want to go further with this.
Satan has been defeated and is limited as a created being, but he will take any power we allow him to have.
What do you do if someone goes to a witch or a witch doctor and pays to have a curse cast on you? If you are from the West, it is easier to dismiss this because our worldview does not recognize the power of that curse. The West views this as superstitious nonsense. If, however, you come from a worldview that recognizes the supernatural and a culture where the supernatural is common in daily life, then it is a bit more of a challenge.
In fear/power cultures it takes special effort to stand up and resist the power of this curse. As soon as you begin to believe or fear that this curse could have an effect on you, the devil uses this to get his claws into you. Believing that he might have power over you gives him power over you.
So you need to stand strong and speak the truth of scripture. Say with Paul
II Timothy 4:18
The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
It takes great strength to stand up to the values of your culture and to deny its false truths.
In the West the devil uses our fears as well, but in a slightly different way. If you are afraid of death, the devil will use this fear to weaken you and pull you away from faith in God. Whatever your fears are, the devil will use those to attack you.
John wrote in I John 4:18
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
When we identify what it is that makes us fearful, we need to work to be released from our fears. We may need help with counselors and prayer for spiritual healing but this is part of our spiritual work, to be released from fear so the devil cannot use our fears against us.
Let me end with one more story.
A British couple had been married for nine years and were unable to have a baby. Each time she conceived, the pregnancy ended in a miscarriage in the first month or two. They did all the medical tests and everything was normal. Finally their small group prayed and believed there was a spiritual block. The woman remembered that on their honeymoon in Turkey they had visited a shrine where relics of the Prophet are kept. She had called her husband over to show him where the Prophet’s beard was when she saw the woman guarding these relics look at her strangely.
She shared this memory with her small group and as they prayed, they believed this woman had put a curse on her. So they prayed and broke this curse in the name of Jesus. Two months later she conceived and nine months later she delivered their first baby.
Satan has power, regardless of what worldview we come from. And when we discern that the oppression we are facing is not from the world and not the weakness of our flesh but the devil, then we need to stand on the truths of scripture and rebuke him. Because of the victory of Jesus over the devil that has been given to us, we can claim the victory of Jesus over the devil for ourselves.
A friend of mine who was a powerful teacher, healer and counselor recently took his own life. He had been depressed and decided to end his life. This man who had himself been wonderfully healed by Jesus slipped back and in his weakness Satan attacked him and took advantage of his weakness.
Satan prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Luke wrote that after the temptation of Jesus, the devil departed waiting for an opportune time.
The devil is vigilant, waiting for you to be weak so you need to be strong in your attachment to Jesus.
Whenever you are tempted with the pleasures of the world, be careful because it is not just a matter of doing what is wrong. In yielding to temptation you are allowing Satan to put his claws in you to use you and own you.
Whenever you give in to fear, you allow Satan to have power over you.
Whenever you yield to sin, you give the devil an opportunity.
I Peter 5:8
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 11 To him
