Disbelief and Demons
A national news commentator reported that Tik-Tok has put out 138,000 videos on how kids can disown their parents. They tell kids their parents are toxic because of what they believe, or who they voted for, which has never been the case in my lifetime. Families have always disagreed over religion and politics, but they were never encouraged to disown parents.
Jesus believed in demons, He cast them out. In our culture, demons are never a diagnosis, … that is a cover-up for the truth. What is causing kids to disown parents? It is an attack on God’s order of authority, and it dishonors God’s Fifth Commandment to honor your parents. Satan hates God and Satan hates you. Jesus cast out demons repeatedly. Why? They made people sick in body and mind. Some things never change.
Demons?
When I first become a Christian back in 1970, the emphasis in most Churches who were making a difference, were those who talked about surrender, obedience to God, Prophecy, and demonic oppression. That may seem like a small menu of ministry topics, but it was an era of young people realizing the hippie movement left them wanting, and they were looking for something real. The Jesus Movement, back in those days, was concerned about the absence of teaching on the demonic, and so there was a big emphasis on exposing the Devil’s agenda.
Fast forward to today some 56 years later … the same conditions prevail in most Churches. We just don’t believe that demons have any relevance to the conditions in our society, yet all the activity of the immoral movements such as transgenderism, homosexuality, hatred for parents, abortion, and even the rash of disgraced preachers, all have the markings of demonic activity. Why do we believe in the supernatural works Jesus performed, but fail to realize that demons were a part of it and are still real and active in today’s world?
John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Isaiah 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
Scriptures means just that … lying, deception, hating good, and changing the narratives that define good and evil. The Apostle John said this about Jesus:
1 John 3:8 The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.
So, what works was the Apostle John talking about? I suppose you could say most of what culture promotes today, are works of the Devil. I am not one of those people who thinks there is a demon under every rock, but I am concerned that we don’t receive much teaching in Church on this subject anymore. As we approach the coming of our Lord, and the fulfillment of the end of this world, it gets darker, and the weapons of our warfare must include our understanding how demons operate in the Last Days. Demons will only respond to the power of Jesus’ Name, and when we fail to realize their existence and we are ignorant of how to deal with them, just gives them more power to destroy.
Surrender
This is a theme that is overlooked as well in our modern Churches. Surrender unequivocally to Jesus is missing. I read about a mega church out East who is in a lawsuit with its congregation over voting for elders in the Church. Really? Don’t we have more important things to do than argue about Church polity? Silly issues that keep us away from the Mission of the Church have dominated the emphasis of many ministries today, while our kids are hating their parents, and transitioning to the opposite sex. Really? Are we in the Church living in the reality of what is happening all around us? Our freedom is being threatened by the Democratic Socialists who want to make us like Eastern Europe or even worst. Let’s be honest … freedom comes at a cost and too many of us have settled for easy Christianity. In some parts of the world today, Christians are paying the ultimate price for following Jesus, and we are arguing about how to elect elders. It’s pathetic.
As believers, our call in the Last Days must reignite this idea of surrender, no comprise, no alternatives, no additives … just plain Jesus. Do what we saw the disciples doing … healing, casting out demons, and preaching the Gospel.
Answer the Call
The Holy Spirit convicts us of things that are not right in our lives, as well as in the Church. We have become sloppy in our discipleship, and live in an ease of Christianity. We sway to the worship music without any conviction about what the Message is conveying. We go to Church like a routine trip to the gym, do the exercises of worship, listen half-heartedly to the sermon, and then go have lunch. There is a call to a simpler more meaningful Christianity that drives the stake deeper into being the disciples of Christ. We need to be awakened to the understanding that the hour is late, and the need to become inundated with His Word and His Spirit in which we become a force in our society to be reckoned with. His Kingdom is coming, and it is coming for people who stand their ground in defending the truth about Jesus Christ.
This will never happen until we rid ourselves of the casual Christianity, and begin to believe what the Word tells us about demons, the devil, surrender, and deliverance from our passions for this world.
Challenging the Culture with Truth … Larry Kutzler