1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,000 Those of you in the back, all right. 2 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:08,000 I'd like you to open your Bible with me to Psalm 91. 3 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:19,000 I have occasionally, through the last 25 years or so in the ministry, 4 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:28,000 read books or talked to individuals regarding this matter of spiritual warfare. 5 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:38,000 It hasn't been until the last year and a half or so that I have become more aware of it, let us say, 6 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:47,000 and begun to learn a few more of the principles involved in how to fight Satan in warfare 7 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:50,000 and to help others who are in bondage. 8 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:57,000 I'm grateful for what God has taught me, and I want to give thanks to God for each person 9 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:01,000 that he's brought across my path in the last year and a half, 10 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:07,000 as I've been learning about this, and the Lord has been very good to us. 11 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:13,000 When you get into this sort of thing, one of the responses in your heart naturally, 12 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:19,000 and I think supernaturally, is that of fear, and spirits love to threaten. 13 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:25,000 I have been threatened many times, my life, my family, this church, and so on, 14 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:30,000 and what they're going to do because of the involvement in this. 15 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:31,000 Thank you. 16 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:39,000 As I was talking with a friend of mine regarding this area of ministry, 17 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:47,000 he suggested that I look to Psalm 91, and I'd like for us to together just look at this psalm briefly tonight 18 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:55,000 because it is a tremendous psalm of security, and it's a psalm that deals with spiritual warfare. 19 00:01:56,000 --> 00:02:02,000 Why don't you put those glasses on, the glasses of understanding the reality of spiritual warfare, 20 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:06,000 and read this psalm. It can never be the same to you again. 21 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:12,000 So with that kind of a mindset and with that world view of the reality of spiritual warfare, 22 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:14,000 notice what the psalm says. 23 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:23,000 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. 24 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:31,000 I will say to the Lord, my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust. 25 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:36,000 Notice he uses four words already for the security that God provides for us. 26 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:43,000 He calls God our shelter, our shadow over us, our refuge, and our fortress. 27 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:50,000 He goes on to say it is he who delivers you from the snare of the trapper. 28 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:52,000 What is a trapper? 29 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:56,000 Or a fowler, if you have the King James. 30 00:02:56,000 --> 00:03:01,000 If you have the King James, it's somebody who catches what? Birds. 31 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:04,000 Somebody who captures and snares birds. 32 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:08,000 And here our spiritual enemy is compared to that. 33 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:14,000 He is the trapper. He is the fowler who is out to capture us. 34 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:21,000 And it says he is the one who delivers us from the snare of the trapper and from the deadly pestilence. 35 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:27,000 He, the Lord, will cover you with his pinions. What are pinions? 36 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:34,000 Feathers? This is not opinions. This is pinions. 37 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:41,000 He will cover you with his pinions and under his wings you may seek refuge. 38 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:47,000 And so God is compared to a great eagle, as it were, overseeing his young. 39 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:49,000 Holding out his wings. 40 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:54,000 And it says his faithfulness is a shield in bulwark. 41 00:03:55,000 --> 00:03:59,000 What is our protection as we talk about spiritual warfare? 42 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:02,000 It is God's faithfulness. 43 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:08,000 It's not that we're clever. It's not that we are gifted with such great insight. 44 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:12,000 It's not that we can stand against these forces of darkness. 45 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:18,000 But it is that God, in his faithfulness, is our shield in our bulwark. 46 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:20,000 God takes care of us. 47 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:26,000 And I just want to testify to you tonight that I have seen that again and again and again. 48 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:32,000 That we don't have to be afraid. God looks out for us. 49 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:38,000 He says in verse 5, you will not be afraid of the terror by night, 50 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:47,000 the arrow that flies by day, the pestilence that stalks in darkness, or the destruction that lays waste at noon. 51 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:53,000 A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not approach you. 52 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:59,000 Whatever the threats are, it says it shall not approach you. 53 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:05,000 You will only look on with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked. 54 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:09,000 So we said before, I think it was this morning, wasn't it? 55 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:13,000 When you get old, this kind of happens to you. You forget where you've said things. 56 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:18,000 We're tempted to take vengeance and not to forgive. 57 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:22,000 And we want to recompense to people what we think they deserve. 58 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:29,000 But if we will get out of the way, if we will extend forgiveness and get out of the way, 59 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:36,000 it lets God take recompense on our enemies, on His enemies. 60 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:44,000 It says, you have made the Lord my refuge, even the most high, your dwelling place. 61 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:48,000 No evil will befall you, nor will any plague come near your tent. 62 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:53,000 One of the questions I had of this person I was talking with is, what about my family? 63 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:59,000 What about the threats against my children that these spirits make? 64 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:05,000 He said, remember the Lord says no plague will come near your tent. 65 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:10,000 And so I have just learned to stretch out my tent a little bit. 66 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:14,000 In fact, if you're part of this church, you're part of my tent. 67 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:16,000 I hope I'm part of your tent. 68 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:20,000 We're the family of God, and we're in the same tent. 69 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:22,000 And so we don't have to be afraid. 70 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:24,000 No plague is going to come near us. 71 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:26,000 It doesn't make any difference what the threat is. 72 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:30,000 God will take care of us. 73 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:38,000 It says in verse 11, He will give His angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all your ways. 74 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:43,000 They will bear you up in their hands, lest you strike your foot against a stone. 75 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:45,000 Where have you heard this before? 76 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:52,000 Yeah, it was one of the temptations, wasn't it? And Satan used this verse and misquoted it, twisted it, 77 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:57,000 to try to get Jesus to presume. 78 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:02,000 And of course Jesus didn't yield to that. 79 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:04,000 He didn't respond to it. 80 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:07,000 He quoted the word of God to Satan, and that was it. 81 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:15,000 But this is a promise, not only a promise to the Lord Jesus, of course, but it's a promise to us in Him. 82 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:20,000 That God assigns His angels to watch over us. 83 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:25,000 Do I believe in guardian angels? I absolutely do. I'm convinced of it. 84 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:28,000 I'm convinced of guardian angels. 85 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:33,000 They will bear you up in their hands, lest you strike your foot against a stone. 86 00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:37,000 You will tread upon the lion and the cobra. 87 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:42,000 Who in the Bible is called a lion? 88 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:48,000 Well, Satan. Jesus is called the lion of the tribe of Judah, but that's not the kind of a lion here. 89 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:52,000 He's talking about a threatening lion here, a cobra, a snake. 90 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:55,000 Who's called a serpent in the Bible? Satan. 91 00:07:55,000 --> 00:08:00,000 So behind these words there are spiritual significances. 92 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:03,000 He's talking about spirits, evil spirits. 93 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:07,000 You will tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent. 94 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:10,000 You will trample down. 95 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:13,000 And then it closes with this wonderful paragraph. 96 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:17,000 Because He has loved me, this is God speaking, therefore I will deliver Him. 97 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:22,000 I will set Him securely on high, because He has known my name. 98 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:25,000 He will call upon me, and I will answer Him. 99 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:28,000 I will be with Him in trouble. I will rescue Him and honor Him. 100 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:33,000 With a long life I will satisfy Him and let Him behold my salvation. 101 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:35,000 Another great psalm. 102 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:41,000 And when you put on the glasses of understanding the worldview that is biblical, 103 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:43,000 it just begins to leap out of the page. 104 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:49,000 And as you begin to turn to some of the other psalms, you'll see similar kinds of statements and promises 105 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:55,000 that God has made to us regarding this matter of spiritual warfare. 106 00:08:55,000 --> 00:09:01,000 I wanted to begin with a little something from the Word tonight that's always a great place to begin. 107 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:07,000 And to get our minds saturated with it and thinking in a proper framework. 108 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:12,000 As we talk about this matter of spiritual warfare, we don't have to be afraid. 109 00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:17,000 We don't have to be afraid. 110 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:20,000 We have some great questions, and obviously we're not going to get to them all tonight. 111 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:26,000 And so we will continue, let's see, not next Sunday night, but the one after that. 112 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:29,000 By the way, next Sunday night we're going to have a special guest here. 113 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:32,000 She works with the Christian Embassy in Washington, D.C. 114 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:35,000 If you don't know about that ministry, you need to come and hear about it. 115 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:39,000 It's an exciting one, ministering to diplomats from all over the world. 116 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:44,000 And she'll be here next Sunday evening to tell us about what she does. 117 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:47,000 But two weeks from tonight we'll pick up wherever we leave off here. 118 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:55,000 And only God knows where that's going to be when we get to 7 o'clock. 119 00:09:55,000 --> 00:10:01,000 Let me cover a couple of questions that relate to the message this morning first. 120 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:02,000 Several are similar to this. 121 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:08,000 Why did you say 3 a.m. is the time that you have bad dreams? 122 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:09,000 Others of you may have wondered about that. 123 00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:11,000 I didn't have time to talk about it this morning. 124 00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:16,000 I thought I might get you back tonight if I didn't answer the question then. 125 00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:19,000 So I'll try to give you an answer about that. 126 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:25,000 The reason that I talked about 3 o'clock in the morning is that 127 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:31,000 satanic covens meet at night. 128 00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:38,000 And they finish their ceremonies about 3 o'clock in the morning. 129 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:46,000 And when they finish, they send spirits out to attack their enemies. 130 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:51,000 So that's the reason that many people awaken at 3 o'clock in the morning 131 00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:52,000 or 4 o'clock in the morning. 132 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:55,000 That time frame or have bad dreams about that time, 133 00:10:55,000 --> 00:11:02,000 because those are the times that spirits are sent out by satanic covens against their enemies. 134 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:06,000 You say, well, I don't think I know anybody in a coven. 135 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:12,000 Well, you may not, or you may and don't know it. 136 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:15,000 If you're part of this church, then you don't know anybody personally, 137 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:19,000 but they know you because you're part of this church. 138 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:27,000 And this church has been attacked by at least one coven and maybe others in their network. 139 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:31,000 And so as a part of this church, you may be under attack. 140 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:32,000 So what do you do? 141 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:35,000 What do you do if you wake up and you feel something in the room? 142 00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:37,000 Have you ever had that experience? 143 00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:42,000 How many of you have had the experience of waking up and you're just afraid? 144 00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:43,000 I have. 145 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:48,000 I have woken in terror that something is there. 146 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:52,000 How many of you have had the experience of waking up at 3 o'clock in the morning 147 00:11:52,000 --> 00:11:57,000 and you've had a terrible dream and you just can't get back to sleep? 148 00:11:57,000 --> 00:12:00,000 Any of you? 149 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:03,000 Now, it may happen at 3 o'clock and it's completely coincidental. 150 00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:06,000 But the reason I did mention 3 is because of what I said. 151 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:09,000 Now, what do you do when you have that experience? 152 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:11,000 Well, it's really very simple. 153 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:14,000 In fact, the answer always is pretty simple. 154 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:20,000 It is that you simply say, Lord Jesus, I commit myself to you. 155 00:12:20,000 --> 00:12:23,000 I thank you for your presence with me and for your protection. 156 00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:28,000 And anything that's not of you around here, I command it to part in your name. 157 00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:32,000 And your heart will settle down a little bit. 158 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:34,000 The fear will subside. 159 00:12:34,000 --> 00:12:40,000 The presence of the Lord will be made clear to you. 160 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:44,000 Any follow-up on that? 161 00:12:44,000 --> 00:12:47,000 I want to try to keep the follow-ups, thanks, as limited as we can 162 00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:53,000 because we're trying to get as much of the content on tape as possible. 163 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:58,000 Okay, let me go on to another one that was asked by a number of people here. 164 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:03,000 Basically, the question is, can Satan read our minds? 165 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:05,000 Have you ever thought about that? 166 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:07,000 Now, most of us have. 167 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:10,000 And let me see where I am today on this question. 168 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:20,000 You know, about some of these things, we have to settle for our best opinions. 169 00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:26,000 We can't point to a chapter and verse and definitely tie it down. 170 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:29,000 And I know there are people who feel very strongly that Satan cannot read our minds 171 00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:31,000 because he is not God. 172 00:13:31,000 --> 00:13:32,000 He is not omniscient. 173 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:33,000 And I agree with that. 174 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:35,000 He cannot know everything. 175 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:36,000 He is not God. 176 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:38,000 He is a created being. 177 00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:46,000 The thought that I've had, though, regarding that is that it is the whole realm of thinking 178 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:50,000 where Satan is active. 179 00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:54,000 And if he can't read my thoughts, then why is it when he is tempting me to sin 180 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:57,000 I have a little conversation going on in my mind. 181 00:13:57,000 --> 00:14:01,000 I may respond to the thought, but there seems to be a thought that comes against that. 182 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:05,000 You understand what I'm saying there? 183 00:14:05,000 --> 00:14:12,000 So my opinion, and it is a humble opinion, believe me, and it will change if I find some better instruction 184 00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:21,000 or thinking about it, is that probably Satan can read our thoughts. 185 00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:31,000 And I know there are some who say, well, I thought we could pray to God and Satan wouldn't know what we're saying. 186 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:33,000 That may be true. 187 00:14:33,000 --> 00:14:39,000 There may be a way that God has of locking Satan out of our prayers. 188 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:42,000 I mean the prayers that we do in our minds are thought prayers. 189 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:45,000 I don't really know. 190 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:54,000 One of the questions dealt with this particular angle, though, if I am doing warfare, 191 00:14:54,000 --> 00:14:59,000 do I need to say something out loud or can I think it? 192 00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:04,000 And my response to that is that there may be times when I need to be silent. 193 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:07,000 I can't say something out loud. 194 00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:14,000 For example, if I'm under attack and I want to use the sword or the spirit against the enemy 195 00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:18,000 and I'm in a public meeting, I obviously can't talk out loud. 196 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:22,000 And even to whisper it out loud may be a problem. 197 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:31,000 So it seems to me that a mental reaction, bringing the word of God to my mind in those situations, 198 00:15:31,000 --> 00:15:34,000 will do battle with the enemy. 199 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:39,000 However, I think that whenever we can, it certainly doesn't hurt to speak out loud. 200 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:44,000 And even at night when I have awakened, as I've described earlier, I sometimes whisper. 201 00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:50,000 I don't wake my wife with conversation, but I whisper and quote a verse of Scripture 202 00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:53,000 and pray to the Lord. 203 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:55,000 And so I do it out loud. 204 00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:57,000 And I personally enjoy that. 205 00:15:57,000 --> 00:16:02,000 If it's not necessary, for God at least, it gives me a greater sense of doing it 206 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:07,000 if I am actually going through the process of getting it from my mind out through my mouth. 207 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:10,000 It's good for me to do it that way. 208 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:12,000 So that is my opinion on it. 209 00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:15,000 And I recognize that there are those who have different opinions. 210 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:20,000 And I want to respect those who feel that Satan cannot read our minds. 211 00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:25,000 And I will continue to study and learn about that. 212 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:33,000 Do demons harass children, even three or four year olds, at night or during the day? 213 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:36,000 Well, the answer to that is yes, he can. 214 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:45,000 And there are lots of anecdotes about this taking place. 215 00:16:45,000 --> 00:16:52,000 But let me respond to it and say this, that generally speaking in a Christian home, 216 00:16:52,000 --> 00:17:01,000 the children have protection because of mom and or dad walking with God in prayer. 217 00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:06,000 The children are protected. 218 00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:13,000 But there can be occasions when spirits can harass children. 219 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:18,000 And let me give you an example of how that could take place. 220 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:24,000 If a parent gets involved in sin, it can happen. 221 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:30,000 I didn't tell that part of the story this morning about the five year old who wanted to be a girl. 222 00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:36,000 The father had gotten involved in some moral problems. 223 00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:42,000 And once he had thoroughly done an inventory of his own life and repented of that before God, 224 00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:45,000 he went in to pray over his child. 225 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:47,000 And then there was complete freedom. 226 00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:53,000 The child was no longer harassed by those thoughts, I want to be a girl. 227 00:17:53,000 --> 00:18:02,000 So if a parent lets down the guard, it can have repercussions upon the children. 228 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:09,000 Sometimes spirits harass in particular homes. 229 00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:14,000 I think if you move into a home, it's not your home originally. 230 00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:18,000 If you move into a home, it's a good idea to spiritually cleanse the home. 231 00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:19,000 Very simple to do. 232 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:24,000 You just walk throughout the home and dedicate this space to the Lord Jesus Christ. 233 00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:27,000 And in doing that, you just close the doors. 234 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:29,000 If there's anything there, you say, what could be there? 235 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:34,000 Well, you don't know who may have lived there before or what they may have been involved in. 236 00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:39,000 And it's possible that they may have been involved in some occultic kind of thing. 237 00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:44,000 And therefore a spirit has stayed in the house. 238 00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:49,000 Sometimes that's the reason the spirits appear in bedrooms with children. 239 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:52,000 They have gotten into the home because of people who have lived there before. 240 00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:56,000 And until they are told to leave, they will stay there and harass. 241 00:18:56,000 --> 00:19:04,000 I heard a story yesterday on tape about a whole family this happened to out in the East. 242 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:07,000 Children range from young to teenagers. 243 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:10,000 And the home had this kind of a history about it. 244 00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:17,000 They didn't think too much of it until they began to experience seeing this black thing 245 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:22,000 that would appear with an upside down triangle around its neck. 246 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:24,000 It had no face. It was just a glob. 247 00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:29,000 And it would appear at night sometimes and go open the doors and shut the doors. 248 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:32,000 And sometimes it would come around the house during the daytime. 249 00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:37,000 And over the course of several months, it had terrorized everybody in the home. 250 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:42,000 And they did some research on it. And in that particular case, the spirit... 251 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:47,000 I hope I'm not getting my stories mixed up. 252 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:54,000 But in that particular case, I believe that spirit was in that home because of where the home was built. 253 00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:58,000 The home had been built on an Indian burial ground. 254 00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:05,000 Anytime you have Indian burial mounds, you have the very real possibility of spiritual involvement. 255 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:11,000 Because Native American religion is very demonic, very animistic. 256 00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:16,000 And where they have buried their peoples, you will find spiritual involvement. 257 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:23,000 And even a house built on that property can result in a spirit occupying that space. 258 00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:26,000 It feels it has some claim there. What do you do? Very simple again. 259 00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:32,000 You simply claim that space for Jesus Christ and forbid any evil involvement. 260 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:35,000 And they're gone that fast. And that's what happened with that spirit. 261 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:41,000 In fact, the family asked a pastor to come over and to deal with it. 262 00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:47,000 And so he did. And this doesn't happen all the time by any means. 263 00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:54,000 But in this particular case, the spirit ran out the front door and bumped into the family as they were standing out on the front sidewalk. 264 00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:59,000 They felt something bump against them after the door opened. 265 00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:03,000 So you hear stories about apparitions and ghosts and so on. 266 00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:07,000 Are there ghosts? Do departed people come back and haunt homes? 267 00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:12,000 The answer is absolutely not. They do not. It's spirits, exactly. 268 00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:20,000 It is spirits who are mimicking these people or trying to imitate these people for whatever purpose. 269 00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:26,000 But do people see things? They absolutely do. They are spiritual creatures. 270 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:36,000 And they're not to be toyed with. They're not to be played with. Some people kind of find a certain play in spirits. 271 00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:43,000 In fact, I know one family that I love very much that had such a spirit in their home. 272 00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:49,000 They didn't realize what it was. But they had a spirit that they even named. 273 00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:53,000 And this thing would appear every now and then. It never seemed to be harmful. 274 00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:59,000 And so they just sort of adopted it as a member of the family. 275 00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:02,000 Well, you'd think that that's kind of far out and bizarre. 276 00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:08,000 And I suppose in a way it is. But these folks were not familiar with any of the stuff we're talking about, really. 277 00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:11,000 And at least hadn't put it together. 278 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:20,000 And so they went home and did this. And that was the end of the one they called Uncle Elizabeth. 279 00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:23,000 So yes, children can be harassed. 280 00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:33,000 And it's important that as parents that we not traumatize our children with these things. 281 00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:35,000 What do you do if your child is being harassed? 282 00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:41,000 Well, as I suggested this morning in the story, the five-year-old, wait until the child is asleep. 283 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:44,000 And then go into the child's room and pray. 284 00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:47,000 Or if the child comes into your room and he's seen something in the room, 285 00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:53,000 just walk back in the room with the child and have prayer and thank the Lord Jesus that he's there in that room. 286 00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:55,000 He's going to take care of little Johnny. 287 00:22:55,000 --> 00:23:02,000 And demand that anything that is not from Jesus, leave there right now so that Johnny can go back to sleep. 288 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:04,000 And that'll take care of it. 289 00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:22,000 But you want to be careful not to traumatize children with these things for obvious reasons. 290 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:29,000 It may be that you are having some kind of a spirit manifestation in your home. 291 00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:38,000 Don't feel like if you are that something's happened to you that you're weird or that you're demon possessed. 292 00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:40,000 This happens occasionally. 293 00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:44,000 And it usually happens because there's been some inroad into the home. 294 00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:50,000 I've talked about the possibility of where the home is built or someone who's lived there before. 295 00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:57,000 Or a parent who lets down the guard and allows spirits to get involved in his life and brings them into the home. 296 00:23:57,000 --> 00:24:02,000 There's also the possibility of transference. 297 00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:08,000 This can not only happen to homes but can happen to people where spirits are transferred from one person to another. 298 00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:11,000 I have witnessed this reality. 299 00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:17,000 I haven't seen the actual transference but I've seen the result of it so I know that it takes place. 300 00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:21,000 And an example of that would be a friend of mine who was a missionary in Japan. 301 00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:25,000 And this happened 30 years ago. 302 00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:29,000 He had not been aware of these things that we're talking about. 303 00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:32,000 Had not learned about a Bible school. I didn't either. 304 00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:34,000 Most people don't. 305 00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:39,000 So he was in Japan with his wife and two sons at that point. 306 00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:42,000 And the sons began to complain of pain in their legs. 307 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:45,000 They would wake up and they would be crying with pain in their legs. 308 00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:48,000 And the doctors couldn't find anything wrong. 309 00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:54,000 And they would have these moments when tremendous fear would come upon them. 310 00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:57,000 And they just couldn't understand where all this was coming from. 311 00:24:57,000 --> 00:25:03,000 One day George was praying with a friend of his a walking distance away. 312 00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:11,000 And as he was praying with this friend he got this impression in his heart, you need to go home right now. 313 00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:15,000 So he got off his knees and walked home or ran home. 314 00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:21,000 And around his whole home there was a whole pack of dogs barking at his house. 315 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:25,000 And he walked in and Marilyn was just terrified. 316 00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:27,000 She didn't know what she was terrified of. 317 00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:29,000 She was absolutely petrified of something in the house. 318 00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:35,000 And the children were in the bedroom crying with their legs hurting. 319 00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:39,000 And so by this time he had picked up a little bit of information, was getting some ideas. 320 00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:45,000 And so he began to think, now how could spirits have gotten into our home? 321 00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:51,000 And they had a maid who had brought a little gift into the home. 322 00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:56,000 And the little gift was an idol that they had worshipped. 323 00:25:56,000 --> 00:26:01,000 And so she brought it and they hung it on the wall in their home. 324 00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:06,000 And that was the means of the spirits then attacking that family, gaining entrance into the home. 325 00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:11,000 It was a transference you see, through this object. 326 00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:15,000 And so they prayed, cleansed the home, took the idol out and burned it. 327 00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:19,000 And that was the end of all of that experience. 328 00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:24,000 So if you have some kind of experience like this, don't think that you're weird and bizarre. 329 00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:28,000 These things do happen. How do you handle it? 330 00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:38,000 Well let me say first of all that you need to pray, of course, and ask God to handle these spirits, to bind them and to remove them. 331 00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:45,000 That's the first thing, very simple thing, to say, Lord, you know what this is all about. 332 00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:52,000 We're not even sure perhaps, but we commit this to you and we pray that you will bind these spirits and remove them from this property. 333 00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:55,000 We dedicate this home to you. 334 00:26:55,000 --> 00:26:59,000 And then secondly, ask God to set angelic guards around your home. 335 00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:02,000 Have you done that before? 336 00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:05,000 Boy, when I got into this, that was about the first thing I did. 337 00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:12,000 And I've never seen them, but I am absolutely convinced that they surround our home out there on Boardwalk. 338 00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:17,000 I'm convinced, I don't know how many there are, but there's enough to take care of whatever arises. 339 00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:21,000 Ask God to set angelic guards around your home. 340 00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:32,000 And then cancel in the name of Jesus Christ whatever source there be of this interference or this curse in your home. 341 00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:38,000 Now sometimes the interference can be the result of a curse that is placed against you. 342 00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:44,000 You say, do curses work? Yes, they do. They certainly do. 343 00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:58,000 When people are connected with the occult and they place a curse against somebody, the result of that is that a spirit seeks to fulfill that curse. 344 00:27:58,000 --> 00:28:04,000 And so ask God to cancel any curse against you that may be involved in this. 345 00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:10,000 And the final step is to ask God to bring judgment on the source of the curse. 346 00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:23,000 So here we get from the defensive to the offensive. That's a little more fun, frankly, to pray on the offensive. 347 00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:29,000 Well, I have a whole handful of questions here and some down there. 348 00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:35,000 I've answered those two. Michael is the archangel. What function does Gabriel fill? 349 00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:45,000 I've always thought he was an archangel as well. Gabriel is never called an archangel. If he is an archangel, we don't know that. 350 00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:54,000 Gabriel fills the function of a messenger. Whenever we see him in the Bible named, he is delivering a message to somebody. 351 00:28:54,000 --> 00:29:08,000 Michael, as the archangel, seems to be the top of the heap, so to speak, the captain of the Lord's hosts, and is a warrior angel. 352 00:29:08,000 --> 00:29:15,000 Would Michael be in the power of Satan in a flattery? 353 00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:21,000 It's possible. Some feel that Satan was originally the highest one as the guardian of God's throne. 354 00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:33,000 And of course, he's not any longer and is cast down. But Michael may well be a cherub, and that seems to be what Satan was, a cherub, a particular kind of angel. 355 00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:40,000 So it's possible that they are peers in that sense. 356 00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:52,000 And that may well be why Michael did not bring an accusation against Satan over the body of Moses. 357 00:29:52,000 --> 00:30:00,000 Do you remember that passage in the book of Jude? He did not bring accusation directly against him, but said what? 358 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:06,000 The Lord rebuke you. And I think that's a great way for us to handle it too. 359 00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:15,000 But I do also believe that in Jesus Christ, our authority is greater than that of Michael's. 360 00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:21,000 Because we are in Jesus Christ reigning with him, and he is above all rule and authority. 361 00:30:21,000 --> 00:30:30,000 And that doesn't mean that we can go around ordering angels and be presumptuous. I'm not saying that at all. 362 00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:37,000 But I am saying that there are those who feel free to rebuke Satan directly in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. 363 00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:44,000 Never in one's own authority, but always in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I don't think that's inappropriate. 364 00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:56,000 But it's just as appropriate to say, as did Michael the Lord rebuke you. 365 00:30:56,000 --> 00:31:03,000 Okay, we've got a bunch of them here that are very similar. 366 00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:11,000 Do you think there's a demonic component to people with diseases such as Alzheimer's and Tourette's syndrome, 367 00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:17,000 with the extreme foul language and sometimes self-abuse? 368 00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:25,000 That's a really good question. And I'm not sure that I am qualified to answer that, except to say that it is suspicious, isn't it? 369 00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:34,000 It is suspicious. Can demonic oppression result in physical ailments? The answer is yes. 370 00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:42,000 One of the symptoms of demonic oppression that I didn't get into this morning because my list was too long are physical symptoms. 371 00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:55,000 And I think, for example, of the lady that Jesus delivered of demons and healed, who was bent over all of her life. 372 00:31:55,000 --> 00:32:03,000 Do you remember that? And when he delivered her of the demons, she was able to stand up straight. Thank you, sir. 373 00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:12,000 Thank you, Reskaya. Can I tell them your story? 374 00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:18,000 Yeah. You want to come up and tell it? 375 00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:26,000 This touches upon this particular point about the body and how spirits can affect the body. 376 00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:41,000 You've heard Reskaya's testimony back in September. You had not prepared for this tonight, had you? Do you feel safe? Okay. 377 00:32:41,000 --> 00:32:47,000 Before Galen and I started working, we knew that we were going to have to deal with some spiritual things. 378 00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:53,000 And I knew that that was a very dangerous thing to do if you weren't prepared, although I didn't know much about it. 379 00:32:53,000 --> 00:33:11,000 So I prayed that God would give some sort of a sign that it was safe to go into this area. 380 00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:26,000 And we had a session in which spirits were confronted that had long been afflicting Reskaya. And the next morning was when... 381 00:33:26,000 --> 00:33:43,000 One of the things that happened as we were working, the spirits that were afflicting me were things that were inherited, things that had been passed down to me. 382 00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:53,000 And I had believed that if I let them go, that other children would die, different things would happen. We worked a lot. 383 00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:57,000 They lied to you about that, didn't they? As we were saying this morning, the spirits lie. 384 00:33:57,000 --> 00:34:03,000 And they told her that if she were to get rid of them, that they would take it out on others. 385 00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:12,000 And so Galen did a lot of convincing and a lot of praying. We had Muriel Johnson, too, of the staff, everyone around. 386 00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:18,000 I was very frightened that if they left me that they would hurt someone else. That's what they had told me. 387 00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:27,000 Not us, the spirits. 388 00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:32,000 Working with Galen is such a joy, don't you think? 389 00:34:32,000 --> 00:34:42,000 Anyway, one of the things that happened during that time, and many, many things happened, I had always suffered a lot of pain. 390 00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:51,000 And one particular area of pain was in all my joints. And I had been born with crooked feet, which had affected my knees and hips and back. 391 00:34:51,000 --> 00:34:56,000 And I always felt embarrassed about my ankles and my feet, how crooked they were. 392 00:34:56,000 --> 00:35:08,000 And toward the end of that first session, and we worked three hours at a time for about six weeks each week, and then worked in the week, too. 393 00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:17,000 Anyway, there would become intense pain, either headaches or wanting to throw up on Galen or do horrible things to Galen. 394 00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:26,000 They had all kinds of what I would later call party games, things that they would use to distract from getting to the truth. 395 00:35:26,000 --> 00:35:34,000 And Galen would always say, no, in the name of Jesus, you have to stop that behavior. And it was true. 396 00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:41,000 And toward the end, I got intense pain, and it started at my head and went all through my joints, every joint. 397 00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:50,000 And it was like transparent maggots is the only thing I can think of what it was like. And it was just, it hurt so much. 398 00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:59,000 And each place it attacked, Galen would say, you know, no, you can't be there, you can't hold on anymore, you can't do this anymore. 399 00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:11,000 And I just went down and down and down through all my joints, got to my ankles, got to my feet, and it felt like it was just tearing out of the bottom of my feet because they didn't want to go. 400 00:36:11,000 --> 00:36:21,000 And the reason they didn't want to go is that they get into a huge amount of trouble with their leader when they lose anybody. 401 00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:31,000 So they're not real eager to let you go, even if you've been someone who's been sort of stolen into their, or kidnapped into their realm. 402 00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:32,000 Victimized. 403 00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:38,000 Victimized, yeah. So I got to my toes, and I'm crying by this time. I said, Galen, Galen, my toes hurt so bad. 404 00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:43,000 And he said, no, you can't have her toes, you can't have anything. You know, you have to let her go. 405 00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:52,000 And so the next morning I got up and I thought, you know, I didn't have any pain in my feet. 406 00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:58,000 And I thought that was really odd because I've always had, I'm 36 now, so I've been 35 years of pain. 407 00:36:58,000 --> 00:37:03,000 And I was supposed to have corrective shoes and all kinds of things, and none of these things had been done. 408 00:37:03,000 --> 00:37:13,000 And I got up and my feet looked strange to me. It was because my toes were straight and my ankles were straight. 409 00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:19,000 And in a few days my knees were straight and a few more days my hips were straight. 410 00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:28,000 And I could run, I could play frisbee, I could do all kinds of things I had never, ever had an opportunity to do. 411 00:37:28,000 --> 00:37:37,000 And my shoes didn't fit right because they had been run down on the sides and things, you know, because of the way my feet were made. 412 00:37:37,000 --> 00:37:45,000 I'm standing crooked now. But my, and what was so powerful for me was that it was such a private thing. 413 00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:53,000 I didn't have to share it with anyone. And for me it said, God was saying, I know that this has been a sorrow to you your whole life. 414 00:37:53,000 --> 00:38:00,000 It's interfered with your whole life and I'm going to give you a sign that this spiritual warfare is important, 415 00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:07,000 that I want you to continue doing it, and I want you to trust me. I'm giving you this gift. 416 00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:12,000 That's been over a year. I have the most beautiful, perfect ankles anyone's ever seen. 417 00:38:12,000 --> 00:38:21,000 My toes are at least a fourth of an inch longer than they were before just because they're not scrunched. 418 00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:28,000 And Galen looked at me when I told him, you know, the next Sunday, he said, did you get any confirmation on this? 419 00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:34,000 I said, oh yeah, you know, I went and showed this person and this person and that person. 420 00:38:34,000 --> 00:38:40,000 And, you know, I was whipping off my shoes and socks for anybody I could find. 421 00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:50,000 So God can heal that way and that was what this, that's the verse that we used was about the woman being straightened. 422 00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:54,000 And God did that. Amen. Thanks, Roskia. 423 00:38:54,000 --> 00:39:03,000 That's very brave of her to share that with you. 424 00:39:03,000 --> 00:39:07,000 But I thought it would be appropriate, especially since she brought this water up here, 425 00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:11,000 that's what brought it to mind, that she might be willing to share that testimony. 426 00:39:11,000 --> 00:39:22,000 And so, yes, spirits oppressing can result in physical pain, physical deformity, and when they're gone, the deformity and the pain is gone as well. 427 00:39:22,000 --> 00:39:31,000 So I'm not qualified to say about the specific ones that were asked here, but you have to be suspicious with some of these things. 428 00:39:31,000 --> 00:39:41,000 And I did hear a psychiatrist quoted one time by a man who was in ministry helping people like this. 429 00:39:41,000 --> 00:39:45,000 The psychiatrist was from Tulane University. 430 00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:53,000 One of his patients had seen this man, Dr. Carl Taylor, a graduate of Bob Jones University. 431 00:39:53,000 --> 00:40:00,000 Dr. Taylor had delivered this woman whose name was Jane, of a number of spirits. 432 00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:04,000 And she came back into her right mind as a result of this. 433 00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:09,000 And of course, they had long medical records on her at the hospital and what she was like. 434 00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:13,000 And now she was whole and they had absolutely no way to explain this whatsoever. 435 00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:25,000 The psychiatrist told Dr. Taylor that he estimated 70 to 80 percent of the people who were locked up in the hospital where he worked were very similar to Jane. 436 00:40:25,000 --> 00:40:35,000 So a lot of the mental illness, as our world view defines it today, is in fact spiritual oppression of people. 437 00:40:35,000 --> 00:40:38,000 And I'm not saying everybody. You understand that, don't you? 438 00:40:38,000 --> 00:40:49,000 But I'm saying a lot of people that are classified as mentally ill by our world view are actually people who are suffering from some sort of spiritual oppression for one reason or another. 439 00:40:49,000 --> 00:40:56,000 And on another Sunday evening, we'll get into some of the ways that this happens to people. 440 00:40:56,000 --> 00:41:00,000 It's not always because of personal sin. It's not. 441 00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:16,000 And so if you hear of somebody who's had a problem, such as in Roskia's case, she was victimized by spirits as a little baby because of things in her family. 442 00:41:16,000 --> 00:41:23,000 So it's not always because of personal sin. We have to understand that there are other reasons why people have spiritual troubles as well. 443 00:41:23,000 --> 00:41:28,000 Well, it's after seven o'clock in time for us to draw a halt for tonight. 444 00:41:28,000 --> 00:41:33,000 Thanks for coming. Thanks for being patient as we've answered these questions. 445 00:41:33,000 --> 00:41:36,000 If we didn't get to yours, we'll try to get it to it next time. 446 00:41:36,000 --> 00:41:46,000 Let's stand together now, shall we? 447 00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:52,000 Let's sing together the chorus, Praise the Name of Jesus. Shall we? Let's look to the Lord as we sing this together. 448 00:41:52,000 --> 00:42:17,000 Praise the name of Jesus, Praise the name of Jesus, He's my rock, He's my fortress, He's my deliverer, in Him will I trust. 449 00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:26,000 Praise the name of Jesus. 450 00:42:26,000 --> 00:42:30,000 Lord Jesus, your name means Savior. 451 00:42:30,000 --> 00:42:42,000 Jehovah saves. We bless you that you have saved us out of the reign of darkness and have transferred us into the kingdom of light. 452 00:42:42,000 --> 00:42:50,000 You have called us the children of light. We rejoice in who you have called us to be and who we are in you. 453 00:42:50,000 --> 00:43:03,000 I pray that you will cause us to walk this week in victory and in great joy, knowing that in you we are complete and you are our protector. 454 00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:09,000 We thank you and we bless you. We worship you, Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. 455 00:43:09,000 --> 00:43:12,000 Good night.