Tuesday 28 May 2019

Bind the Strong Man


Scripture: Mark 3 v 26-27: ""And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end. 
27 No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house."

Luke 11 v 18 - 20: "If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because ye say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub.
19  And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? therefore shall they be your judges.
20  But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you."


Over the nearly 40 years of this ministry I have learned that many people are bound or oppressed by evil spirits, which manifest in bizarre behaviour, addictions, suicide, murder, religious extremism, nightmares, eating disorders, and sexual abnormalities.  These demons also manifest in diseases or afflictions like blindness, deafness or plagues.

Satan is the god of this world and hides in the shadows of fantasy so our God gets blamed for the calamities and tragedies the devil orchestrates.  His superstorms, large earthquakes, tsunamis, financial crises, and plagues always grab headlines and cause many deaths.  That is his modus operandi and to survive we must outwit him and overcome him.

When we pray we need to intelligently consider our plan. We need to be guided by the Holy Spirit into the correct way to deal with every situation. Many prayers go unanswered because we pray amiss according to James.  The Lord will help us very much as He desires us to stop being passive and fight back against the enemy.
James 4 v 2 - 3: "Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.
 3  Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts."

We need the gifts of the Holy Spirit to bring our focus onto the real underlying issues. We need the gift of discerning of spirits of good and evil. To obtain these gifts we must be born again Christians, baptised in water and thereafter, baptised in the Holy Spirit.

This gift of discerning of spirits reveals if the problem is caused by an evil or unclean spirit, or demon. The carnal person would refer to this as "feeling a bad vibe!"  A demon is a disembodied spirit that seeks a body of flesh through which to manifest its nature.  Some people can smell fear or have a premonition of impending doom.  

People afflicted by epilepsy go through an aura that precedes a fit.  That aura is the demon preparing to strike.  The demon throws itself into a fit inside the human being.  Likewise the violent alcoholic stumbles and starts fights and throws things and worse.  That is the demon of alcohol at work!  It is violent and unruly and causes its victims much damage.  So many say, I cannot remember doing that.  It's because it really wasn't them.  It was a demon within released to manifest drunkenness because alcohol is poison.

Jesus says in Matthew 15 v 17 - 19: "Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?
 18  But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.
 19  For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:"

A demon of hate in a person will exhibit tendencies like racial hatred.  Think about all the types of racial division and hatred you have witnessed.  The cause of all of it is Satan and his demons.  Not all the wise men nor governments of this world can stop racial  hatred but the love of Jesus can.  We must bind the strong man and spoil (or destroy) the goods in His house i.e. all his evil plans and intentions.

The strong man is the chief demon, or ruling spirit, over a bunch or gang of lesser demons.  It may be a strong root of Bitterness ruling over alcohol, drugs, violence, temper, anger.  We need to discern the strong man and bind that Bitterness in the power of Jesus' name, and then deal with, and spoil, the rest of the gang.  If you don't bind the strong man but pray out all the others, he will call them all back in and the condition is known as relapse.

Sometimes the strong man takes a long time to conquer as happened to Paul in Acts 16 v 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: 
 17  The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.
 18  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."

Soothing and divination is also known as fortune telling, psychic readings, astrology predictions, water divining.  It is an occult spirit which does much harm.  Paul prayed for many days until the Holy Spirit let him know that the strong man was fully bound.  Paul felt grieved or had a nudge and immediately cast that demon out.  

Our nations are reeling under the power of ruling spirits that are very well entrenched in the affairs of men who are drug lords, warlords, corrupt politicians, criminal businessmen, false churches, false religions, dirty cops, human trafficking, the list goes on.  We need more information to deal with a wily, evil, deceitful foe who is troubling our nation, city, business, church or family with sickness or poverty or racially motivated hate crimes.

Speaking in tongues bypasses our limited understanding and enters into the depths of the mind of Christ who knows all things. Revelations, wisdom and knowledge bubble to the surface in our minds and the answers are very clear.  He will give us the name of a demon that is a strongman.  Over South Africa the strong man is Division.

Division is strongly linked with witchcraft and occult practices.  Centuries of voodoo, black magic, witchcraft and tribal rites resulted in a major ruling spirit of Division, which eventually manifested in the evil regime of Apartheid, racial segregation.  However, there is greater division between different African tribes and factions within them, than ever existed between white and black people. To win this battle we need to overcome witchcraft, worship of ancestors, racial hatred and ancient feuds.  A big ask.

If gangsters fuelled by music and lyrics that incite violence are loose in your environment, Jesus may give you a scripture like Daniel 3 v 9 - 10: "They spake and said to the king Nebuchadnezzar, O king, live for ever. 
10 Thou, O king, hast made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, shall fall down and worship the golden image:"

Jesus wants you to bind a strongman - a king - called Nebuchadnezzar who used idolatry and music to control people.  Jesus may give you a vision of something and He will guide you to pray to make changes in what He is showing you.  Change from negative to positive.

When we are under attack from an unseen enemy this spiritual information is priceless. It will reveal the "strong man" or ruling spirit. The spirit from hell that is controlling the situation which is going from bad to worse.

He has evil spirits under his authority who stir up trouble and confusion. These things begin when you are starting out in the ministry. The enemy wants to discourage you before you become a problem to him. Jesus did not say your ministry would be trouble free. He said He would be there to get you out of trouble. 

In Hosea it says "My people perish for lack of knowledge" and sadly its true. Jesus died that we may know the truth and the truth shall set us free. At the beginning of the chapter on the gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12) Paul writes, "My brethren I would not have you ignorant concerning spiritual gifts."

Used with wisdom and under the control of the Spirit they form an arsenal the enemy has no answer for. After years of continual use the gifts flow powerfully in your life. Many of you will have parcels under the tree for your family at Christmas. How would you feel if no-one opened their gifts or ever used them?

How do you think Our Father feels when He sees calamity befall us and hinder us when it could have been avoided or fixed using the gifts He gave us. My people perish from lack of knowledge.  This verse empowered me to start this blog site.  I was perishing from lack of knowledge until God got hold of me and opened my eyes.  I can only trust Him to open yours too.

There are many Strong Men of demonic origin that need to be bound.  Work with Jesus and let Him guide you so that you may bind that strong man and set people free.  Jesus loves you and wants you to be free to enjoy His abundant blessings.  The enemy wants to steal every blessing and render you impotent.  If a thief was stealing your wallet would you not challenge him and if you could, restrain him? You must do the same to Satan and his demons over whom you have the same authority Jesus had.  I say had because He has it no longer! He gave all power and authority to us.

He laughs when you ask Him to remove a demon from your life! Command that thing to leave you. Bind and rebuke it in My name.  Reject it and resist it, it will flee from you.  Don't throw Bibles at it or holy water, just cast it out in My name says Jesus.

Prayer: Heavenly Father forgive us for spurning or neglecting Your precious gifts that are given to give us the edge over our enemies. We need all the help we can get. Teach us to use Your gifts wisely to bind the strong man sent to destroy us. Let's turn the tables on him. In Jesus' name. Amen.