Avoid the Roaring Lion

"Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, like a roaring lion, walks around, seeking whom he can devour, whom resist, steady in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brothers that are in the world." (1 Peter 5:8)

I don't talk a great deal about the devil. I don't want to exaggerate his importance.

And yet, the Apostle Peter saw fit, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost to include the above words in the book of First Peter in the Bible and New Testament.

The New Testament is the last twenty seven books of the Bible. It is preceded in the Bible by the Old Testament, the first thirty nine books of the Bible. So, thirty nine plus twenty seven totals sixty six books in the Bible.

Peter says to resist the devil, steady in the faith. So, Peter is writing to Christians. If you're not a Christian, you are not well-equipped to fight the devil and his demons. You're at a disadvantage against these enemies.

First become a Christian (Romans 10:9,10), and then ask the Lord for the Baptism with the Holy Ghost with the speaking in unknown tongues, for that added power that the Lord wants us to have. (Acts 1:8) When you pray believe you receive what you ask for. (Mark 11:24)

What does Satan want? He wants to devour us. Devour us how? Devour us by ruining our health, our marriages, our finances, our careers, our families, our futures, and ultimately, if he can, get us to a fiery hell, where there's "weeping and gnashing of teeth, where their worms don't die, and where the fire is never quenched," says Jesus, in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

A good scripture on this subject is John 10:10, "The thief comes only to steal, and to kill, and to destroy, I have come so they can have life, and so they can have it more abundantly."

The demons want to steal from you, and to kill you, and to destroy you. Don't cooperate with them. Resist them.

Satan doesn't like people. People have the opportunity to get saved (born-again) and go to heaven. Satan doesn't like that. He doesn't have the opportunity to get right with God and go to heaven for himself.

He should have stayed right with God while he was in his initial position as Lucifer, Son of the Morning.

But he was corrupted because of his brightness. He wanted to be worshiped. He said, "I will be like God." (Isaiah chapter 14)

Isaiah chapter 14, verse numbers 12 How have you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How are you cut down to the ground, who weakened the nations! 13 For you've said in your heart, "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will sit also on the mountain of the congregation, in the sides of the north, 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the most high." 15 Yet you'll be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. 16 Those who see you shall narrowly look at you, and consider you, saying, "Is this the man that made the earth tremble, that shook kingdoms, 17 That made the world like a wilderness, and destroyed the cities of it, that didn't open the house of his prisoners? 18 All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, everyone in his own house. 19 But you are thrown out of your grave like a dirty branch, and like the clothing of those who are killed, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit, like a carcass trampled under foot. 20 You won't be joined with them in burial, because you've destroyed your land, and killed your people, the descendants of evildoers shall never be renowned."

It says, "Is this the man that made the earth tremble..." But, of course, Satan is not a man, he's a fallen angel. He will go to hell, and then to the lake of fire at the time that hell is transferred to the lake of fire.

At one point, the Bible says that Satan entered into Judas Iscariot. This shows that Satan is a spirit being, not a man.

These spirit beings, the devils, are normally not visible to our natural eyes, just as angels are normally not visible. Our natural eyes see things in the natural world, not in the spirit world.

But God can open someone's eyes to see into the spirit world, as he did with Kenneth E. Hagin, as I've mentioned before.

Hagin saw a demon on a woman with lung cancer. Hagin cast out the demon, and the woman made a full recovery. (She had been at the point of death.)

It says Satan doesn't open the house of his prisoners. His prison is hell. Once people die and go to hell, they don't get back out.

You stay out of hell by getting born-again, and living for Jesus, and going to heaven instead of hell. And Jesus will be your friend who sticks closer than a brother.

"A man that has friends must show himself to be friendly, and there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother." (Proverbs 18:24)

When Satan rebelled against God, some of the angels followed Satan and became fallen angels, which are demons, or devils. There is a scripture that suggests that it was about one third of the angels that followed Satan. (Rev 12:4)

Satan is called "the devil." He is the top devil, or demon. His demons are also called devils.

Demons can get into people and affect their behavior. Jesus did a lot of casting out of demons while he was on earth.

Now that Jesus has gone back to heaven, it's up to the Christians to continue the casting out of demons, and Jesus said we'd do greater things than he did because he was going back to heaven.

A Christian has the authority to cast out demons in Jesus' name. (Luke 10:19 and Mark 16:17,18)

"See, I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall in any way hurt you." (Luke 10:19)

Who is talking there? Jesus. He gives us Christians authority over all the power of the enemy, and we know from Ephesians chapter six that our main enemy is Satan and his demons.

From Mark chapter 16, verses 17 And these signs shall follow those who believe, in my name they'll cast out devils, they'll speak with new languages, 18 They shall pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it won't hurt them. They shall lay hands on the sick, and they'll recover.

These are the signs that are supposed to follow Christians. Notice that the very first sign is the casting out of devils, or demons.

But I don't think that very much of that is happening these days in the churches of America. We'd better get more serious about doing what Jesus, the head of the church, wants us to do, or the Lord could send judgment against us.

There are already a lot of disasters in the news. Tornadoes destroying parts of the Midwest. Wildfires on the west coast. Severe storms on the east coast. Extreme weather conditions.

Jesus was talking with K.E. Hagin one time, and told Hagin, "People who are praying for me to do something about the devil are wasting their time. I gave you (the Christians) authority over the devil, and if you don't use it, the job won't get done."

If we Christians don't cast out the demons, Jesus is not going to come back down and do it. No, that's our job. Let's do the job the Lord wants us to do.

Another sign following is the speaking in new languages. This refers to the Baptism with the Holy Ghost with the speaking in unknown tongues (languages).

The Lord wants every Christian to have that and to pray in tongues on a regular basis--every day, I would say, for normal Christian life.

It's an unknown tongue because the person speaking doesn't understand the language that he's speaking. But the Holy Ghost gives him the words to speak in an unknown tongue, and that Christian speaks out those words.

If you haven't received the Baptism with the Holy Ghost with the speaking in unknown tongues, ask the Lord Jesus for that, and when you pray, believe that you receive the things you ask for. (Mark 11:24)

Another sign following is the laying on of hands for healing. Do you have hands? If you're a Christian with hands, the Lord wants you to lay your hands on sick people for healing. When you do, say a simple prayer, asking the Lord to heal the person. When you pray, believe that you receive. (Mark 11:24)

If you don't have hands, then ask the Lord to heal your body so that you have good hands, and arms, and legs, and feet, and ears, and everything.

American soldiers have been coming back from the war zone missing body parts blown off in the war. I have good news. You can have your missing body parts back by getting your healing from the Lord.

Kenneth E. Hagin was healed of a terminal heart disease when he was a teenager. Doctors said he'd never reach age twenty one. He lived until about eighty six.

After the Lord healed him, He told him, "Now go teach my people faith." So Hagin taught faith for about seventy years, and wrote about a hundred books, available at www.Rhema.org

There is no such thing as a health problem that the Lord can't fix. Jesus fixed the man with the withered hand, and restored him to normal.

Jesus healed a man at least forty years old who had been born blind, and gave him his eyesight.

I did, however, meet a man in El Paso, TX, and told him the Lord could put back the part of his leg below his knee that he had lost. He told me that was impossible.

I told him, no, the Lord can do it. He said it couldn't happen.

Finally, I agreed with him and said, "Well, that's right, you can't be healed, and the reason you can't be healed is that you say you can't be healed."

You can tie the Lord's hands from helping you if you make the wrong confession with your mouth.

What that man should do is say, "I was wrong before. The Lord can and will give me back the rest of my leg."

When you get a healing from the Lord, you get it by faith, and faith doesn't say, "It can't happen." That's not faith talking. Faith says, "It will happen, and I have it now."

Faith calls the things that are not as though they were. (Rom 4:17)

"When you pray, believe that you receive the things you ask for, and you shall have them," says Jesus in Mark 11:24

First you believe, then you receive. But if you leave out the believing, forget about the receiving.

Today happens to be Thursday. Two days ago, on Tuesday evening, I found some software on the Internet that I wanted for my computer.

I paid for it and downloaded it, but it didn't seem to want to work for me, and I'm no slouch when it comes to computers.

But it was getting late, so I went to bed.

Wednesday morning, I got up, and remembered the software problem. I opened my mouth and spoke some words. I said, "Today is the day that this problem gets solved." I put my faith with my words.

And what do you think happened?

Not long after I spoke those words, I got what I said.

I had sent an email or two. I made a phone call. This fellow told me, "With that particular model, you use this other technique."

As I was installing, the instructions said, "If you want this, click on that button." I didn't want that, so I clicked on the only other button.

The problem with that, is if you click the other button, installation stops.

So I went back and clicked on what seemed to be the wrong button, and things turned out OK. The new software worked for me. Thank you, Jesus.

But if I had gotten up Wednesday and said, "Well those people are just crooks. They've stolen my money. I'll be lucky just to get a refund," does that sound to you like faith talking? Of course not.

I put my words and faith to work, and shortly thereafter, the problem was solved.

Another scripture along these lines is Mark 11:23, "For truly I say to you, that whoever shall say to this mountain, be removed, and be thrown into the sea, and doesn't doubt in his heart, but believes that the things that he says shall happen, he shall have whatever he says."

Who spoke those words? Jesus, and Jesus never lies.

Scriptures like these tell us that we can have what we say.

If someone has cancer, that's their mountain. They should tell it to go. If they have tuberculosis, they should tell it to go. If they have kidney stones, they should command them to go, in Jesus' name.

But what if they don't tell the cancer to go? Then it doesn't go. But I am sure that we're better off without cancer.

I regularly confess with my mouth, "I'll never die of cancer, or any disease, but like Smith Wigglesworth, or be raptured."

Wigglesworth was a man of God who died in excellent health at about age eighty five.

Someone might say, but what did he die of? He died of having God take his spirit out of his body and to heaven.

The body dies when the spirit departs from it, as when Jesus "gave up the ghost" on the cross. Ghost and spirit mean the same thing in this context.

The "Rapture" refers to the catching away of the church, as in 1 Thess. 4:16,17.

Ephesians six lists the four categories of demons: princedoms, powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world, wicked spirits in high places. Kenneth E. Hagin has taught on this.

The King James Version says "spiritual wickedness in high places." Hagin says a better translation is "wicked spirits in high places." And God chose Hagin to be a teacher, and to walk in the office of a Prophet.

God has chosen me to be a teacher, too.

But don't try casting out demons in Jesus' name if you're not a Christian. The seven sons of Sceva got beaten up for trying to do so in Acts chapter 19. They were Jews, but not Christians. (It is possible to be a Jewish Christian.)

I'm Jewish, too. I was born into a Gentile family, but we Christians are grafted into Israel, says the Apostle Paul, an Israelite of the tribe of Benjamin. He was Saul of Tarsus before becoming born-again. (see Romans chapter 11)

My religion is not Judaism. I'm a Messianic Jew, a follower of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Judaism used to be the world's best religion. You had your Moses, your Joshua, your prophets, etc. But then, about two thousand years ago, Judaism became the world's second best religion, replaced by Christianity as the world's best religion.

Of course, the Jews could have gotten in on it, and some of them did. But generally, the Jews have rejected their Messiah, Jesus.

Probably one of the main problems for the Jews is that they were expecting the Messiah to set up an earthly kingdom. But Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world."

So what will happen is, a counterfeit Messiah will come along and deceive the Jews. He is called "The Beast," and the "Antichrist" in the Bible.

He will rule the world for the seven years of the Great Tribulation.

I've heard some speculation as to whether Barak Obama might be the Antichrist, but no, I don't think he would be able to persuade the Jews that he's the Messiah.

For one thing, there were prophecies about the Messiah. He would be born in Bethlehem, but Obama was not.

He would be called a Nazarene. Jesus was called a Nazarene because he was a resident of the city of Nazareth. I don't think Obama has lived in Nazareth.

The Messiah would be born of a virgin. Jesus was, but Obama was not.

No, the Antichrist is going to have to be someone else. But one will surely come along. No prophecy of the Bible will go unfulfilled.

It was on the news lately about the guilty plea of Staff Sergeant Bales, who murdered innocent women and children in the war zone about a year ago. He was asked why he did it. He said, "I don't know."

I know why he did it. The demons and Satan wanted him to murder people, and he failed to effectively resist that temptation.

God says, "You shall not kill." It's one of the Ten Commandments in Exodus chapter 20.

It doesn't mean you can't soldier in the Army, and fight against the enemy. It means don't commit murder.

But Bales was probably not a student of the Bible, so he didn't know he was supposed to "Resist the devil, and he'll run away from you." (James 4:7)

It could also be that Bales was under the influence, at the time, of alcohol, or illegal drugs. Someone might point out that in those Muslim nations, alcohol is forbidden.

Yes, and bank robbery is forbidden in the U.S.A., but it happens anyway.

Many of the afflictions that people go to Psychologists and Psychiatrists about are demonic in nature. Things like Epilepsy, Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, excessive anger, Kleptomania, various kinds of fears, and so many other mental disorders.

As Win Worley has taught, basically, any kind of obsessive or compulsive behavior is likely to be demonic in origin.

The Bible says, "God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." (2 Tim 1:7)

But Satan and his demons want us to have fears. If a spirit of fear comes to you, command it to go, in Jesus' name. (assuming you're a Christian, otherwise, step 1: Become a Christian.)

If a fear comes to me, I often say, "The Lord's not gonna let that happen." Then I ask the spirit its name, or how many of them there are, or both, and command them to go and not return, in Jesus' name.

Another thing you can do is laugh at the devil. The Lord told Norvel Hayes, "Your problem is, you're not laughing at the devil." And Hayes didn't feel very much like laughing, but he forced himself to laugh at the devil, and things got better for Hayes.

Scriptures quoted are from the Holy Bible, Hoehn Version and the New Testament, Hoehn Version, copyright 2011, both available as ebooks for the Kindle readers from Amazon.com

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