Christians sometimes endure sickness and torment because they are convinced they have a 'thorn in the flesh' that God will not heal. They base this on 2 Corinthians 12: 7ff, where Paul says: 'In order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 'Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it [...]
It amazes me how little preparation missionaries receive in curses and spiritual warfare before going to places that are infested with demons. The ‘attrition rate’ is high, often because of ignorance and unbelief by churches and mission organisations. This often results in sickness, tragedy and even death among godly, faithful people. Over the years, I have prayed for many returning missionaries suffering from things like chronic [...]
Is it time to get onto the battlefield? Many Christians are defeated because prayer is not enough. They need to fight as well. Most never do. Prayer is not spiritual warfare. Prayer addresses God. Warfare addresses the enemy. You will see limited results if you only do one or the other. Paul said in Ephesians 6 that we wrestle with rulers, authorities, powers of [...]
The Freedom House team is seeing some incredible healing miracles by applying Jesus' teaching on 'binding the strong man'. You can find it in Mark 3:27, Matthew 12:29 and Luke 11:29. In Mark 3, Jesus spoke about Satan and demons. And then he said (v 27): ‘No one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s [...]
In a war, you don't send foot soldiers to fight enemy boats. And in spiritual warfare you need to be clear who you're fighting, and where. Many Christians believe that demons and Satan's angels are the same thing and that you fight them in the same way. But they're not and you don't. These are the differences: What they are Demons are evil spirits under the [...]
I recently visited Jesus' baptism site at the River Jordan (right), where many people dressed in white were being dipped in the murky water. The site is in the desert, surrounded by barbed wire and landmines. The bleak and dangerous wastes show why John the Baptist's message of repentance still applies today. I was queuing in the gift shop when a woman shoved past me. She [...]
It puzzles me why churches become ‘culturally relevant’. They end up so like society, they’re not worth joining. Their 'gospel' is so insipid, so diluted, so politically correct and so immersed in inoffensive cultural claptrap that few people get saved. Why would they? Jesus’ church was culturally irrelevant. He bulldozed cultural norms by having female disciples. He spoke to Gentiles, he ate with "sinners", including tax-collectors, [...]
Jerusalem is a crazy crucible of religions and races who live in surprising harmony. I went there recently and saw this sign (right) in the grounds of St Anne’s Church. It celebrates Jesus healing a man with a broken spirit at the pool of Bethesda. Now, the church is in Jerusalem's Muslim Quarter and sits amid Arab shops and homes. Yet the sign - like many [...]
Some teaching about visualisation and using your imagination is wrong. It assumes that if we ask God to fill our imaginations, then he will. But he is Lord, and doesn't always obey our orders! Also, our imaginations can be filled by our own fantasties, or by the enemy, too. Yes, Father God gave us creative imaginations when he made us in his image. But they are [...]
When Jesus faced his final hours, he needed his friends' support. But they messed up. First, Judas betrayed him. Then the others slept while he agonised over his future. And when the Roman troops tried to arrest him, Peter sliced off a soldier's ear. Hmm. How pointless. And it gets worse. Jesus' friends all run away - and one ends up naked. Oh dear. Just what [...]
