The Kingdom,

The Power

& The Glory:

 

-2-

 

The believer’s

Position Possession

Presumption

(based on conversations I have had with professing christians)

 

Back in the 1990s, when part of The Church was in the grip of full blown charismania, there were certain movements developing & emerging. The most prominent of these trends was strategic level spiritual warfare. Once believers had been taught who they were in Christ & what they possessed in terms of ability & authority, they were ready to enter the big leagues; or so they thought. Even today, there are those who claim to be demon slayers. Christians felt powerful. They prayed bold prayers. They bound, they loosened, they uprooted, they pulled down strongholds & I’m sure that they really, really frightened the devil. I distinctly remember attending some very lively meetings, but it was also puzzling to me that after all of that expenditure of energy, all of the shouting & all of the screaming, our situation did not improve.

Congregations in some churches turned up for services dressed in combat gear. Christians gathered in elevated areas of certain locations to do battle with the powers of darkness that occupied high places. Some folk chartered aircraft to fly over cities & engage ruling demons that they had identified. I’m not making this up. A very prominent word of faith teacher, who owns several aircraft, was involved up to his neck. He was a friend of my then Pastor. Once these principalities & powers, rulers of darkness & lofty spiritual wickedness had been thwarted in their efforts, what then? That’s right darlings; We were told that there would be revival!

FISTPUMP, FISTPUMP, FISTPUMP, YEEHAW, YEAH!!

Well, what actually happened? In a nutshell, very little if anything at all. Spiritual warfare as a precursor for revival rests on a faulty premise & it is this: The believer is in possession of divine ability & authority because of their position in Christ. The Lord delegated His power to The Church when He ascended to Heaven & then sent The Holy Spirit. The Church must learn to walk in the power of The Word & The Spirit, in order to fulfil the great commission then there will be revival.

Is this feasible? Yes. Is this biblical? No. It is an erroneous presumption. When any believer, church, minister or ministry emphasises or promotes anything other than Christ & His Gospel, they are going to get into trouble. When we look properly at what The Lord Jesus said & what the Apostles taught, we will understand why all of the binding, loosing, screaming & pulling down of strongholds came to nothing & will always do so. It is futile. Little old you & little old me, taking on satan & his cohorts? Really? I think not. Perhaps The Church ought to concentrate more on spiritual welfare, rather than spiritual warfare. One is Scriptural. One is experiential. Paul told Timothy, ‘I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables’. (2^nd Timothy 4:1-4).  As I write this, I’m aware that one of the chief culprits pushing the warfare/revival agenda is still peddling his wares. He is billed as an international authority on spiritual warfare. This man’s online course promises the following:

emergency spiritual warfare training. (giggle)

combat tested strategies that actually work. (chuckle)

exclusive revival tools. (chortle)

I was in attendance when this man visited the charismatic church I was a part of in north London, in the early 1990s. It was a rousing message titled, Is there not a cause?

²⁸ And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men; and Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle. ²⁹ And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause? ³⁰ And he turned from him toward another, and spake after the same manner: and the people answered him again after the former manner (1^st Samuel 17:28-30).

the believer is identified with David, the poor & insignificant little shepherd boy, who becomes imbued with a holy boldness. the devil & the forces of darkness were identified with Goliath, the big headed & big mouthed, big guy from Gath. David good. Goliath bad. If this were a pantomime we’d know who to cheer for & who to boo & hiss at. But there’s an ever so small but noteworthy problem here; the portrait that has been painted of The Church from this motif has become a pathetic caricature. it’s not about us.

Ask yourself this; with hundreds of thousands of believers ‘binding the devil’, in The Name of Jesus, why is it that he manages to slip free so effortlessly & continue on about his diabolical business in the world? Is he an escapologist? Ask yourself this; what exactly is being ‘loosed’ when believers decree & declare into the atmosphere? How much is enough? Ask yourself this; what is accomplished by ‘warring in tongues’ at the top of your voice, for hours on end? Is satan hard of hearing? Ask yourself this; what happens to the strongholds that are being pulled down from the heavens? Where do we put them? Funnily enough, no verses or passages from Scripture spring to mind to support these teachings or any of the talk that circulates concerning a coming revival. However, If we look again at the narrative of David & Goliath, there is a place that The Church fits into quite snugly.

¹¹ When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid…²⁴ And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were sore afraid. (1^st Samuel 17:11 & 24).

I can give you a cast iron, twenty four carat guarantee, that all those who think or believe they are able to engage the powers of darkness because of their position in Christ or their possession of Him, would flee just as the men of Israel did if they knew who & what they were attempting to wrestle with. There are five whole chapters to chew through before we get to Ephesians 6:12. We will come to this next time.

It is not a matter of who you are in Christ, but rather a matter of The Christ that you are in.

The biblical account of David & Goliath is one of the many canonical references that show us that The Lord Jesus Christ defeated the enemy in His superior act of redemption. It is pure presumption for any of us to attempt to use unscriptural methods or means in dealing with the presence, activity or identity of evil. I tell you now, in all seriousness brethren; you & I are no match for our adversary beyond that which God’s Word lays out specifically, but we will examine these things more closely in our next meeting.

⁸ Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: (1^st Peter 5:8).

If we are not careful, we will make a simple but significant mistake. The seventy made it & countless others are making it today, even as I sit here writing & you sit there reading. For some, this is a pet doctrine that they will not let go of because it makes them feel strong. For them, the goal is to demonstrate their ability & wield their authority. For them, the aim is to exploit their position in Christ & walk in what they describe as the sonship rights & privileges they possess. For them, the purpose is to bring revival. This is the result of poor, erroneous, experiential & unbiblical teaching. Listen to the words of The Lord Jesus Christ.

¹⁷ And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. ¹⁸ And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. ¹⁹ Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. ²⁰ Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. ²¹ In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight (Luke 10:17-21).

Presumption is dangerous. Abram presumed & on went into Hagar. What happened? Ishmael popped out onto the scene. Presumption is dangerous.

¹ Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. ² And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. ³ And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. ⁴ And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes (Genesis 16:1-4).

Presumption is dangerous. Moses presumed & struck the rock when he was instructed to speak to it. What happened? No jelly & ice cream for Moshe Rabbeinu in the promised land. Presumption is dangerous.

¹² And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them (Numbers 20:12).

Presumption is dangerous. Saul presumed & didn’t finish off the Amalekites. What happened? He was left listening to a chorus of sheep & The Lord ripped the kingdom from him. Presumption is dangerous.

²⁸ And Samuel said unto him, The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou (1^st Samuel 15:28).

Presumption is dangerous. Uzzah presumed & took hold of The Ark to steady it, although he was not a Priest. What happened? Ding. Dong. Dead. Presumption is dangerous.

⁶ And when they came to Nachon's threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it. ⁷ And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God (2^nd Samuel 6:6-7).

Presumption is dangerous. Parts of The Church are presuming now. What’s happening? Believers are going beyond The Word into spiritual experiences that are more akin to the New Age than they are to anything biblical. Presumption is dangerous.

It doesn’t matter what a man says or does. It doesn’t matter what a man believes or teaches. It doesn’t matter how extensive his experience or how vast his knowledge, if he is wrong. The current climate of teaching on spiritual warfare in unbalanced, unhinged & unbiblical. What matters is what The Lord has said in His word. Paul told Corinth & of course us by extension, ‘And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another’. (1^st Corinthians 4:6). If Scripture does not teach certain things being taught, stay away & may I remind you that the kingdom is His, the power is His & so is the glory.

 

 

 

 

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