“When an unclean spirit comes out of a man, it passes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ On its return, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and dwell there. And the final plight of that man is worse than the first” (Luke 11:24-26).
The ‘gods’
The “gods” are among us! When reading the Bible we find that there are numerous references to the “gods.” When we think of the term “gods” we think of the pantheon of gods in the ancient Greco-Roman world or we think of the many deities worshipped around the world in different cultures and countries. We associate these gods with the idols and images that have been built depicting them. However, the Bible in both Testaments, reveal that these “gods” are in fact spirit entities, rulers and authorities and powers of this dark world, spiritual forces of evil in the unseen spiritual realm of the heavens (the atmosphere), that are at work in this fallen world in and through the lives and hearts of the unsaved. As it is written; “the whole world lies in the power of the wicked one.” Also these “gods” in the unseen spiritual realm are at work to spiritually disable New Covenant Bible believers who are saved and walking with God. We are told that the worship of idols is in fact the worship of demons. (Deuteronomy 32:16-17) (Psalm 106:36-37) (1 Corinthians 10:20).
Idols
Idols come in many forms today in this world. It may be the love of money, power, pornography, drugs, sport, entertainment, careers, material possessions, addiction to cyber space virtual reality games and videos with inappropriate content. For example it is not wrong to enjoy watching sport but if this becomes an obsession and we find ourselves spending all of our time watching it to the neglect of reading our Bibles and praying or missing fellowship with other believers, then it is an idol and it can open the doors for demon activity in our lives even as believers. This sounds extreme to some, but it is the reality we face as New Covenant believers engaged in the spiritual war we are waging with Satan and his cohorts from Hades.
For example, we may enjoy certain movies that are not intrinsically evil with inappropriate content, but if watching movies becomes an addiction or an obsession that diminishes our desires to meet with the Lord and to spend time in His Word and in prayer, then it is an idol and no different from the one a pagan would worship and revere in his jungle village.
Another example is one can have a love for their wife or a wife for her husband or a strong affection of a girl for their boyfriend or a boy having a strong affection for his girlfriend, and this is normal and desirable of course, but when that loved one become more important than the Lord then that person becomes an idol. Any addiction to anything in this world including human relationships of one sort or another is idolatry because it takes God’s rightful place in ones affections. In fact anything we become addicted to other than God and His Word, is an idol and opens us up to be affected mentally, emotionally and spiritually by demonic powers. There are wholesome things and pastimes in life that can and should be enjoyed but we must always be aware of dethroning the Lord on the altar of our heart being the control centre of the soul.
Idolatry is in fact a matter of the human soul, being composed of our intellect, our emotions and the will and the outward actions expressed are the result of the inward attitude of the soul and what is also in the heart, being the inner spirit man or the control centre of the life (Matthew 15:19-20) (Luke 6:45) (Proverbs 4:23). An idol is anything or anyone that replaces God as the first and foremost priority in one’s life
A deeper and sinister power
But there is a deeper and darker and sinister power that is at work behind every form of idolatry. When a person genuflects or bows down to an idol or to a physical object they open themselves up to a demon spirit or entity to control their lives. They licence that wicked entity to control them and in some instances possess them if they do not have the Spirit of God living deep down on the inside of them. A truly born again believer, washed in the blood of the Messiah and walking in the Holy Spirit cannot be possessed by an evil spirit because the seed of God’s Spirit remains in their inner spirit man and they will be prevented by Him from falling into habitual and wilful sin, because they have been sealed with the Spirit for the day of their redemption and for deliverance out of this present evil age according to the will of God our Heavenly Father (1 John 3:7-9; 5:18-19) (Ephesians 1:13; 4:30) (Galatians 1:4).
Confession and cleansing
A believer can fall into a sin, and all of us commit sins and sometimes it is even wilful, but not remaining habitual, but accompanied with a desire to be set free from it that can only happen when there is repentance and a reliance upon the Spirit of God to apply the cleansing blood of Jesus to our heart and life. At times we may not even aware that we have sinned, however, the blessed Holy Spirit convicts us of it, and when we confess it as such, making no excuses for it, and owning up to it, and turn from doing it, is the time we get rid of it, and the blood of the Lord Jesus cleanses us from all of it, and will keep us from it and keep us clean, if we continue walking by faith in the light of God’s Word and in the mercy and providence of God and kept by the power of the Holy Spirit (1 John 1:7-9). A little boy in class was once asked by his Sunday school teacher “what is repentance?” he replied “to feel so sorry for what you have been doing that you stop doing it!”
A spiritual wrestling match
So then, our spiritual wrestling match as New Covenant believers is not against human beings or adverse circumstances, although they may well be the means Satan uses to oppress us, but in reality we are wrestling with these wicked unseen spiritual entities that are always on the prod looking to fight against what God is doing in our lives (Ephesians 6:10-18). Having said this we can be harassed and afflicted emotionally and mentally and even affected physically, by an evil spirit or entity (2 Corinthians 12:7) (1 Thessalonians 2:18). Even as we are walking in the Spirit, we will encounter spiritual oppression and even bouts of depression, and that from a wicked spirit, hell-bent on disabling us spiritually. Satan cannot be everywhere at once as he is not omnipresent so he has a highly organised hierarchy of wicked spirits that he assigns to harass believers.
So then because we are not wrestling with mere human beings, although they might be the ones through whom the evil spirit is working, we need to always remind ourselves that we wrestle against these spiritual powers of wickedness in the unseen spiritual realm. This is why we need to make much of the blood of Jesus and confess what the Bible says the blood of Jesus does for us and daily put on the whole armour of God accompanied by praying continuously in the Holy Spirit! (Jude 1:20).
Taking communion every morning in our devotional time and confessing aloud what the Bible says the blood of Jesus does for us, will hold the devil or any other wicked entity at bay. We will be attacked but have the capacity to resist and when the going really gets tough we can call on the name of the Lord and He will deliver us! If we continue to persist in resisting Satan then over time his power will be diminished especially in that area we are having the most trouble with. All of us have an Achilles heel and we must moment by moment walk in the Spirit, stay under the cleansing blood of the Messiah, and feed on the Word of God every day. Also we must not neglect fellowship and we will do well to have several brothers or sisters we can fellowship with in the Holy Spirit, that we might be encouraged and encourage them. As it is written “we comfort others with the comfort that we ourselves have received from God.”
No “rivals” allowed!
Idolatry is the most serious form of sin and the first listed of the Ten Commandments. As New Covenant believers our first and foremost affection and worship should be given to the Triune God alone and that we have no other rivals for our affections. God is a jealous God because He does not want any rivals in our hearts, and loves us, and has redeemed us by the blood of the Messiah, and He wants us to be with Him, live for Him and to enjoy walking and talking with Him moment by moment of every day, not only in this life, but also in the life to come, a desire that the Lord Jesus, being God the Son, expressed when He walked this earth (John 17:24).
Satanic Infiltration
There is a story told of a young woman engaged to a young man and he was living in another country. The young man decided not to continue with the relationship and when his fiancé found out she was very angry and because she could not get to him physically she took out a photo of him and threw it to the floor and trampled on it. She could not get to him so she defiled his image. Satan tried to confront God but failed and so Satan went for the man and woman made in God’s image, being Adam and his wife Eve, and succeeded in defiling them spiritually causing Adam and Eve to turn away from their relationship with God and the consequences of this act gave Satan authority over the human race, an authority broken by the Lord Jesus at the cross (Hebrews 2:14-15) (Colossians 2:15). This act of rebellion by man opened the portals for the first satanic infiltration of the human race.
Nimrod and the Tower of Babel
When Nimrod, a major type and foreshadow of the final Antichrist, built the Tower of Babel seeking to build an empire to confront God. It was said that Nimrod was very angry with God for sending the flood. It is also said that at the top of this tower or Ziggurat was some form of occult symbol and a portal by which men tried to interact with entities in the unseen spiritual realm. Of course God put a stop to this as He will do again with the Antichrist and his empire at the end of this present age.
Co-habiting with human women
The next infiltration of the human race by the fallen entities dwelling in the unseen spiritual realm happened when these spiritual beings came to earth and co-habited with human women and produced offspring as we see in Genesis Chapter Six. Most likely this event was the original source of Greek Mythology which depicts sexual acts between ‘gods’ and humans producing Titans such as Hercules that were half demonoid and half human. These Greek “gods” in reality were fallen spiritual entities who in some way were able to transform their DNA to be able to have sexual relations with human women.
Things became so spiritually corrupted where the imagination of man was continuously evil all of the time that God had to destroy the whole world by a flood, except for a faithful believing remnant being Noah and seven others that were preserved and protected in the ark of salvation, a picture in type of the cross and salvation found only in the Lord Jesus. The flood was a type or foreshadow of the final judgement to come at the end of this present age in which we are now living. This time it will not be by water but by fire! (2 Peter 3:6-7, 10-13).
Portals into the spirit world today
Today we see this satanic infiltration coming through the portal of the internet, through television, videos, movies, virtual reality in the cyber world depicting all kinds of sexual depravity, violence and internet and through specific movies about occult power via Hollywood, all conspicuous features of Noah’s generation and addictive activities that control the imagination of billions of young minds around the world, and not only young people for that matter. Having said this, there is a global satanic infiltration in this world especially in the western democracies historically associated with Jude-Christianity that only the power of the gospel of the kingdom can break.
They have always been around
These “gods” have always been around, even before the creation of man, and after the fall dwelling in the atmosphere just above the surface of the earth and having access to the minds and hearts of men and women dwelling on earth. These “gods” had to be challenged by God’s power and they were such as we see with Moses and Aaron when confronted by the Magicians of Egypt and when Elijah encountered the false prophets on Mt Carmel. This conflict, against spiritual wickedness was active in the times of the Patriarchs of faith Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, in the ministry of the genuine prophets, in the ministry of the Lord Jesus, and in the ongoing ministry of the apostles.
On the Mount of transfiguration the Lord Jesus openly declared to the whole fallen spirit world that He was the Messiah and the Son of the one and only Living God and that He, as God in the flesh, had the power over all principalities, powers and spiritual entities of wickedness in the heavens, on the earth and under the earth. Mt Hermon, where the Transfiguration took place, was a major centre, a stronghold and enclave of the occult and where occultists sought to engage with the spirits and entities from the unseen spiritual world. Attached to this form of idolatry were actual images of their “gods” that they worshipped. These we see in the Ancient Greco-Roman world such as Zeus and Pan and other entities or “gods” in Greek Mythology both male and female. The Ancient Roman Empire just changed their names.
They have made a comeback
It is the same today for the faithful Body of the Messiah where only by the power of the blood of Jesus, by the absolute authority of God’s Word, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, and by the power of prayer in the Holy Spirit, that the power of these “gods” can be broken! It was the gospel of the kingdom that broke the power of these ancient “gods” in Greco-Roman culture that saw Pagan Rome become a Christian empire. However, Satan worked hard to turn it into a religious empire and introduced pagan symbols and rituals into the structure of the empire to destroy its Jewish roots and the authority of God’s Word.
Today these “gods” have returned with more spiritual power than they had back then, why? Because Israel as a nation and wider Christendom by and large have turned away from God’s Word and turned to the wicked practices and pleasures of these ancient “gods” who have made a comeback big time! Now you have within wider Christendom pagan symbols, practices and religious ceremonies and idols, modelled along the lines of pagan religions but re-packed in Christian wrapping, not to mention the programmes for Church growth based on secular marketing strategies. The apostasy has kicked in within wider Christendom today and the practices of the pagan world have captivated the nation of Israel as well that by and large have departed from the living God, have rejected the Messiah our Lord Jesus, and are enslaved to idolatry and clinging to idols!
Cleaned and swept?
Did not our Lord Jesus Himself say; “When an unclean spirit comes out of a man, it passes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ On its return, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and dwell there. And the final plight of that man is worse than the first” (Luke 11:24-26).
Spiritually speaking, when a person repents and believes in the Lord Jesus for salvation the blood of Jesus cleanses that person from all sin and breaks any demonic stronghold over their life. They are made spiritually clean through the Word of God and by the blood of the Messiah applied to the door frames of their heart by the work of the Holy Spirit. However, to remain clean that person must walk moment by moment under the control of the Holy Spirit every day and avoid any contact with those things that can lead them into temptation and defile them spiritually.
However, if they neglect so great a salvation, and allow the world and the flesh and the devil to infiltrate their life and do nothing to prevent it happening, then their spiritual state at the end will be seven times worse that their previous spiritually defiled state before they had responded to the gospel of the kingdom. They may have been delivered from one spirit, but in turning back after putting their hand to the plough, they have allowed seven more spirits to enter in and spiritually defile them. There spiritual state will be far worse than it was before they were saved.
The same is true of a nation that once responded to the gospel of the kingdom but over time its leaders and people progressively turned aside from following God and His Word and embraced the pagan ideology and practices of the “gods” of the pagan unsaved world. These “gods” that were worshipped in ancient times had certain characteristics that marked the sort of “gods” they were. These characteristics are back among us today in the western democracies that were associated historically and Biblically with Judeo-Christianity and are also in Israel. What were the characteristics of these ancient ‘gods’? What sorts of things were they known for? Let’s very briefly look at some of the major “gods” and their effect spiritually in relation to what is happening in western society today, especially in countries such as America, England, Europe, Australia and South Korea, all nations traditionally and historically associated with Biblical Judeo-Christianity.
The ‘gods’ are back with a vengeance!
The “god” Moloch
Moloch, also spelled Molech was a Canaanite deity associated in biblical sources with the practice of child sacrifice. The Israelites embraced this ‘god’ who demanded child sacrifices with children being thrown into the fire before the statue of the “god.” Today we see mass non-therapeutic abortion for any and every reason being performed on the pagan altars of abortion clinics in the western democracies. It is almost ‘fashionable’ to promote and to encourage and militate for the right to abort babies. In the Old Testament Israel by and large were into killing babies and very little children on pagan altars and even some of the kings were also participants.
God puts up with many things but the murder of innocents in the womb for no other reason than convenience is one of the worst forms of idolatry and inadvertently the worship of the “god” Molech repackaged in the altars of abortion clinics where multitudes of women accompanied by many men as well, offer up their unborn to this “god” of murder and mayhem. Judgement hangs heavily over any nation that endorses this pagan demonic practice of non- therapeutic abortion. Unless the gospel of the kingdom penetrates the hearts and lives of those practicing it, and over those approving and promoting of it, the ramifications will be seven times worse in the end for those nations condoning this killing of the innocents in the womb who have no way of speaking up for themselves! The secular media make much of women’s rights, but what about the rights of the unborn? Having said these things there are organizations both within the Church and within secular society fighting to stop this demonic practice!
The “goddess”Asherah
Asherah, also known as Ashtoreth, was the name of the chief female deity worshiped in ancient Syria, Phoenicia, and Canaan. The Phoenicians called her Astarte, the Assyrians worshiped her as Ishtar, and the Philistines had a temple of Asherah (1 Samuel 31:10). According to ancient descriptions of her she was the wife of Baal. She was also known as the goddess of sexuality and she gave birth to Eros (eroticism). She was also known as the goddess of spells and witchcraft. It also says in ancient descriptions that she was a woman but also a man.
She had the power to turn a woman into a man and also maculating women and feminizing men. In her temples men dressed up as women. Same sex relationships were common in the enclaves of this female “goddess.” Many of her priests were surgically altered. She was also worshipped as the goddess of love and war and was sometimes linked with Anath, another Canaanite goddess. Worship of Asherah was noted for its sensuality and involved ritual prostitution. The priests and priestesses of Asherah also practiced divination and fortune-telling. What do we have today in our western culture?
We have sensuality of all kinds, pornography, prostitution, Sodomy, fortune telling, gender alteration and the ascendency of feminism. In many situations men are becoming more like women and women becoming more like men in business, in politics, in society and even within Christendom, where same-sex marriage and relationships are accepted as the norm and where the ordination of practicing homosexuals and lesbians is happening in the name of ‘love.’ Now they want to change the gender of children and that without the permission of their parents that in some states and territories face litigation if they do not comply with the government regulations and mandates concerning such demonic practices.
Asherah was also the goddess of parades where men dressed as women and women dressed as men. Today you have the Pride Marches openly advertising homosexuality and Lesbianism as you had in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, those wicked cities that were destroyed in the plain where the Dead Sea is located in Israel. Tel Aviv in Israel was referred to by the Calgary Herald some time ago as one of the most gay-friendly cities in the world, famous for its annual Pride parade and gay beach, earning it the nickname “the gay capital of the Middle East”
Is America or any western nation any better? If Israel is going down this track then so are the nations and apostate Christendom as well. What happens to Israel happens to the nations! God has set Israel at the centre of the nations (Ezekiel 5:5). God judged the pagan world for such practices and He will judge the western democracies that are indulging in this perverse and unnatural sexuality, not to mention those denominations within wider Christendom approving and promoting such unnatural sexual perverseness and even ordaining ministers.
The “god” Baal
Baal was a fertility god that had worship involving sex orgies. The adherents worshiped an idol which was in the shape of an enlarged male sex organ, an Asherah pole was actually shaped as a male sexual organ. Temple prostitutes supported the temple worship of Baal. Its worship was filled with perversion, homosexuality, immorality and sexual promiscuity. Today when you look at the promiscuity, the sex orgies, the sodomy, and the killing of babies in the womb, you see the entity behind Baal has resurfaced, and in those countries once spiritually cleansed through the preaching of the gospel but have now turned away from God, this spirit has brought with it seven others and the spiritual and moral conditions of those countries is seven times worse than it was before.
The “god” Zeus
Zeus was the head of the pantheon of the Greek “gods” well known for his amorousness which was a constant source of perpetual discord with his wife, Hera. Added to this, he had many love affairs. Zeus fathered many children. Among the most well-known are Athena, the goddess of war; Perseus, the hero known for slaying Medusa; and Persephone, Demeter’s daughter and wife to Hades. Zeus is known for his many sexual (and oftentimes non-consensual) relationships outside of his marriage to his wife and sister Hera.
Today on a global scale we have an unnumbered mass of children without fathers or mothers as a direct result of illicit sexual encounters. We also see the divorce rate in Christendom, the same in number as we see in the unsaved pagan world. Also we see interfaith associations happening where different “gods” are worshipped and accepted in religions aligned with Christendom. Satan is the head of the whole fallen spirit world and the promoter of everything wicked, profane and the instigator of unnatural sexual practices, the same ones he orchestrated in those ancient civilizations. In reality Zeus was Satan!
The “goddess” Ishtar
Ishtar was the goddess of Venus, delighting in bodily love. Ishtar was the protectoress of prostitutes and the patroness of the alehouse. Part of her cult worship probably included temple prostitution. Ishtar was the very first goddess of love. Mesopotamians described her in her many myths and poems as young and strikingly beautiful, with piercing, penetrating eyes. In various stories ancient writers describe her as the ultimate power dresser, who applies make-up, jewellery and the most expensive clothing to enhance her appearance before making a public appearance.
Mesopotamian civilizations worshipped Ishtar in ancient marriage and fertility rituals, but her own love life was tumultuous. Although Ishtar’s role gradually subsided over time, her complex combination of passion, strength, beauty and destruction became the starting point for various love goddesses and femme fatale characters that followed. Just look at Hollywood’s depiction of femme fatales. These love goddesses associated with Ishtar included Astarte, the Hellenistic goddess of war and sexual passion, followed by the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation and later the Roman goddess of love, Venus. More recently, some think Ishtar was even a point of inspiration for Wonder Woman, the powerful female role model who merged kindness and justice with warrior strength!
Today society is saturated and fixated with the beauty of the body as it was in the Greco-Roman world where you had the Olympic Games held in honour of the “gods.” The whole spectacle was instigated by the same “gods” and the whole display of the beautiful bodies was the tantalising feature of the games. Today we see society saturated with glossy advertising using beautiful models draped in expensive clothing, make up and jewellery and in beauty products and treatments of all kinds infesting the internet and in plush magazines. You have sensuality of all kinds, an obsession with pornography, prostitution, fortune telling, the ascendency of feminism, homosexuality and Lesbianism, adultery, interfaith associations, a fixation with the beauty of the body, the drug culture and all of it promoted in the media over the internet, through videos, movies, virtual reality in cyber space, and computer games where sex, the supernatural and violence are all connected and fused together that are designed by this “god” to hijack the imagination.
The nations that were spiritually swept clean by the gospel of the kingdom and that embraced Biblical Judeo-Christianity have now apostatised by and large and seven more spirits or “gods” have “entered into the house” and the spiritual condition is far worse than it was before. This is true in the western democracies of the politicians at the top and all the way down to the man in the street. It has pervaded the court system, the schools, the tertiary institutions, the government and society as a whole, both in the business, the domestic and the religious world. Indeed the “gods” are among us!
To Sum up:
What are we to do as New Covenant believers? How do we respond to this last day’s satanic infiltration? First and foremost any idol must be cast out of our own lives. We must rise up to doing this by calling on the name of the Lord to deliver us out of the hands of the enemy of our soul whom we cannot overcome by our own will power of human effort. It is only by the power of the blood of Jesus, by the power of the Word of God and by the enabling power of the Spirit of God backed up with prayer in the Holy Spirit that can deliver us from the sin of idolatry which all of us at times have committed. We need to keep training ourselves to say “no” to an idol when it presents itself to us which we can do if we are filled with the Holy Spirit and walking in step with Him moment by moment and being continuously cleansed by the blood of Jesus the Messiah. In fact in the blessed Holy Spirit we have God’s supernatural power to demolish the spiritual strongholds in our lives and in the lives of others.
As it is written; “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).
And again it is written; “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny (to just say “no” to) ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, the Messiah Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds” (Titus 2:11-14).
When the gospel of the kingdom is preached in the power of the Holy Spirit the spiritual stranglehold these “gods” have on people are broken and those who were captives are set free. It is by the blood of Jesus released by faith through proclamation that breaks that satanic bondage. After Paul preached the gospel of the kingdom at Ephesus we see the power of the occult rendered powerless. The city of Ephesus was an enclave of idolatry and the power of the “gods” in that city was smashed!
As we read; “Many also of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices. And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing” (Acts 19:18-20).
When the power of the occult is disabled the glory of God is re-established not only in the life of an individual who repents and believes on the Lord Jesus for salvation, but also when a nation and its leaders repent, as we see in the case of the Ancient city of Nineveh after Jonah had preached on coming judgement, the need of repentance and a turning back to God in that city. Repentance opens the door for the Spirit of God to come in and do his saving and sanctifying work. The Spirit of God drives the “gods” out! The Lord Jesus and the apostles drove out the “gods.” The Passover feast remembers the death of the Lamb of God our Lord Jesus who through His shed blood at the cross destroyed satanic power being all and every work of the devil. As the apostle John writes; “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8).
The power of the Lord Jesus is the power to cast out any “god” or idol in any person’s life and to demolish Satan’s strongholds in the lives of both the saved and the unsaved. Through the power of the Holy Spirit we must stand against the “gods” of this age. We have the same spiritual power and authority that Elijah, Moses, the prophets, the apostles and the Lord Jesus Himself had. We must stand up to the “gods” like King Josiah did when he went from one altar to another and destroyed them.
As God’s people we have to be courageous. As it is written; “The righteous are as bold as a lion!” It is the blessed Holy Spirit resting on us and living within us that will give us the boldness we need when confronted by occult power because greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4b). We have power to tread on serpents and scorpions and the enemy by no means will be able to harm us spiritually. As the Lord Jesus Himself said; “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” (Luke 10:19).
The “gods” are back again re-packed of course but well and truly entrenched in every nation on earth and they are at work 24/7, especially in the western democracies where pleasure, leisure, material prosperity, sexual activity, sodomy, the love of money, hedonism, humanism, spiritual deception and selfish ambition are rampant! We are not to bow our knee to the “god” Baal even when the pressure is on to do this. We must only bow our knee to the one true God. We have to be bold if we would see the power of God. It will be a case of “All hands on deck and cleared for action!”
Today, more than at any other time in past history, the “gods” are among us once again but far worse and more numerous than they were in the Ancient world and only the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom in the power of the Holy Spirit will drive them out! Ultimately the victory will come when the Messiah our Lord Jesus comes back!
The Lord Jesus Himself said; “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear” (Matthew 13:40-43).
The “gods” are among us” and we must hear what the Word of God says about them and how to deal with them and their subversive activity within society, within Christendom and especially within Israel, but are we listening?
