Power over the Enemy: Breaking Free from Spiritual Strongholds (13 page)

Now, go forth and preach the Gospel to the poor! Jesus commanded us: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). Go to the aid of that one with a broken heart. Bring healing to those in sorrow. As you allow the Holy Spirit to arise in your spirit, you will find that the compassion of Jesus will begin to flow as a soothing, healing stream to those in need.

Many people in our generation are held in bondage by demonic forces. Jesus said, “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons” (Mark 16:17). It is important for us to know that we, as believers, have the authority to use the Name of Jesus. As you study God’s Word and begin to see yourself seated in heavenly places with Christ Jesus, and as you begin to exercise the authority that is already yours, the captives will be set free!

This is the demonstration that God wants you to bring to the world.

I
believe that we are living in the last days and that Satan is waging all out war to try to deceive Christian believers. There are many false prophets, false teachers, false prophetesses, and false Christs appearing throughout the world, trying to lead God’s people astray, which is why we’ve got to be spiritually keen. We must be full of the Holy Spirit, in touch with God, know the Word of God, and stand on it. The warfare is an intensifying battle.

In the days ahead we’re going to see supernatural manifestations in the world such as we’ve never seen before. God is pouring out His Spirit on all flesh, and the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit are in operation. But right alongside are deceptive manifestations that appear to be exactly the same. This is why people are deceived. They think that just because something is supernatural, it is of God. But that is not true! Just because something is supernatural, strange, or spectacular doesn’t mean it is of God.

How can you tell the difference? How can you know whether a person is a false prophet, a false teacher, a false individual who has been sent by Satan to lead you astray?

I have seven important guidelines to recognize and separate these deceivers from the true ministers of God. If you will learn these seven rules and apply them to those who represent themselves as spiritual leaders, when the hour of deception comes, God will help you see these people for the deceivers they are and prevent them from leading you and others astray.

Second Corinthians 11:13–15 says, “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers,
transforming themselves into apostles of Christ
. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.”

Notice carefully that the apostle Paul says Satan is transformed into an angel of light and that his ministers are transformed as the ministers of righteousness. It should not shock us to realize that Satan has ministers just as the Lord Jesus has ministers; but instead of helping us, Satan’s ministers want to destroy our souls.

When these false ministers come, they will tell you that they have a new, deeper revelation from God. They claim to have light—spiritual insight and understanding—that your pastor, church leaders, and teachers do not have. They say theirs is a special revelation that God has unveiled to them in these last days, especially for an elect few, and especially for you.

Beware of anyone who claims to have deep and great revelations about which none of the other people in your church have any knowledge. This is virtually always a sure mark of a false minister, a deceiver. These people appear as angels of light, but they are ministers of Satan.

A woman once came to me and said, “Pastor Osteen, God has given me a revelation so deep that even you won’t believe it.”

I looked her right in the eyes and immediately declared, “It’s a lie! It’s not from God, because God knows that I will believe anything His Word reveals.”

She was so shocked by my reply that she dropped her defenses, and I was able to help her see that such a statement and attitude was not from God.

Always remember that any revelation can and should be tested by your leaders. The Word of God can test revelation. Beware of far-out doctrines that twist the Scriptures in order to have something biblical on which to be based.

Several years ago some people in our area got a “new revelation” and, as bizarre as it may sound, went around claiming to cast demons out of Christians, having them vomit up evil spirits. They actually carried bags around! They felt if you didn’t vomit up everything inside your stomach that you weren’t getting rid of the demons.

A friend of mine got caught up in this deception. He and his wife went around carrying bags. They seemed to see demons under every tree and between people’s toes. We had to deal with these people. Without question, they did “supernatural” things. They talked to demons, and the demons talked back. But it wasn’t of God. They were deceived. They had no Scriptures on which to stand. For instance, we are not to talk to demons; we are to cast them out.

My Bible also tells me that a Christian can’t have two masters. Either he belongs to God or to the devil (Matthew 6:24). Our bodies are called the temples of God (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19), and I don’t believe God is going to let a demon live in His temple.

Be wary of any “new revelation.” When you start thinking you know more than the pastor who has been teaching you, take heed that the devil isn’t trying to deceive you. A know-it-all attitude is an open door to the devil.

Also, when you meet in homes and small groups, beware of the bizarre, the extreme, the unusual that sets you apart and makes you different from the rest of the body of Christ. Watch out when you start thinking that your group has tapped into some new special revelation that even the church leaders won’t accept. Your “revelation” will fizzle out, and you will be hurt.

Stay balanced. Study the Bible. Did anything like what’s happening with you ever happen to people in the Bible? Is there even an indication that they might have done it? If your new practice is far-out and different, check it out carefully. Satan may be deceiving you.

When false teachers come in to spoil the flock, they must first convince the congregation that its pastors and elders do not possess the biblical light that they bring. They usually criticize and condemn those who are watching over and feeding the flock—the ones who for years have taken care of the congregation. These false ministers will have bad things to say about the pastor or those in authority.

Why do they do this? They want to destroy the credibility of the church leaders who will stand up against them. But the Bible says, “Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief” (Hebrews 13:17).

The Bible is very clear that we are to submit ourselves to the authority of those who must watch over our souls. Why? God has put them in authority over us and given them the wisdom to protect us and care for us (Ephesians 4:11–13).

More than any other minister, a pastor has the greatest responsibility to guard the spiritual lives of his people, because God has called him to be their shepherd. A shepherd watches over the sheep. If they didn’t have a shepherd, they would always have to be watching and guarding themselves. They wouldn’t have time to eat the grass or lie down beside the waters in peace. They would always be afraid of the wolves, bears, and lions that would come in to devour them.

But the sheep know that their shepherd loves and cares for them, so they don’t have to be constantly on guard and afraid. They know the shepherd is watching over them. If he sees a predator coming to destroy one of his sheep, he takes his staff and drives the enemy away. If the shepherd sees his whole flock drifting in the wrong direction toward any place of danger, he begins to guide the sheep away from danger and back to safety.

If he sees one of his sheep wandering off, he goes over and tries to get that sheep back to the flock. The shepherd is trying to save the sheep’s life.

So what does the sheep do? If he doesn’t understand the role of the pastor/shepherd, he might get mad and think,
I just don’t understand the pastor. I wasn’t doing anything wrong. It seemed like good teaching to me. I don’t understand why he would come and tell me to watch out.
But the pastor sees the danger. He’s trying to protect the sheep.

The Bible calls the pastor a
bishop
, which means “one who oversees.”
Pastor
means “shepherd.”
To shepherd
means “to guard, to feed, to guide, to direct, to take care of, to be responsible for.” We need good pastors who are constantly aware of the needs of their flocks and will immediately go to their defense and rescue them out of the hand of the enemy.

Several years ago a man came into our town. He was one of those whom the Bible describes in 2 Timothy 3:6–7: “For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” He taught several false doctrines and eventually gathered a group of women who called him a prophet. Some of them were fine women from our church, but they had been deceived.

The man claimed he had a great revelation and would teach this group about his special light. These women became enamored with him as a person and were captivated by his seemingly great and mighty anointing of God. They thought he was a special apostle, a great teacher, one who had “supernatural revelations” that nobody else had.

One of the women told me that this man had been a guest in her home and had left a jacket hanging in the closet. The women in the group gathered around his jacket and touched it, thinking it was marvelous to have this piece of clothing that had touched his body. It was the most sacred thing they had ever touched. It almost became idolatry.

The end result of this man’s deception was that he wanted these women to sell their homes, give him the money, and move into a commune he had started in another state. I watched this going on and tried to counsel and pray with this woman, but I hadn’t taken it seriously enough initially. Then early one morning as I was praying and seeking God, He put an alarm in my heart and said, “How long are you going to put up with someone trying to steal one of your sheep? How long are you going to leave this lady to the mouth of the lion and the paw of the bear? Are you going to let her be deceived and sell everything and go to a commune?”