In the previous chapter, I talked about how the issue at hand became a human rights issue instead of spiritual warfare. Why do I call it spiritual warfare? It is because life is more spiritual than physical. We know that even man is a spirit that lives in a human body, and has a soul. The body that we see is just a house for the real inner man; the spirit. Now, everything that happens with a man, to a man, and by a man has its backing from the realm of the spirit. When you understand this truth, you realize that physically dealing with a spiritual issue will not yield any fruits because it will quickly lead to brutality or compromise; both of which are not spiritually healthy. Now, a person that is born again has the Spirit of God joined to them and they become one Spirit. A person that is not born again does not have this privilege. That means that an evil spirit can join itself to them and that is why we have cases of demon possessions. If not possessed, they can have an easy time manipulating and influencing them in whatever way they want because there is no Holy Spirit in them that helps them to navigate and overcome the attacks of the devil even to their character.
Kindly, let me digress a little bit. The church is a spiritual family; a family that belongs to God, and He is the one that builds it and nurtures it to grow by His word, and through His shepherds.
He says in His word that He will build His church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Here, we see His perfect intent. This thought can also be linked with individual believers
because we are the church as well. How God builds the church is by feeding the members with His word, teaching them how to appropriate it in life, and how to overcome and win in life by it.
Now, you see that all these things are spiritual; God being a Spirit and a Father of spirits. Satan is also a spirit. Therefore, all his maneuvers are first accomplished in the realm of the spirit before we see them in this earthly realm. Now you understand that nothing just happens whether good or bad. Everything that happens has been concluded in the realm of the Spirit.
Now, in the Old Testament, the consequences of any sort of perversion were extremely harsh; as harsh as being put to death. The consequences that were put down were a means to curb these perversions and to culture the people how to live by the laws of God. Even at that, it was not the most effective way for man to attain righteousness because of the fallen state.
Therefore, God in His infinite love and mercies brought us into a New Testament where we are living in the era of grace and truth. God knows that anger cannot cause anyone to be saved, but love can do that effectively. So, He demonstrated His love by sending His only begotten son Jesus Christ to come and die for us as sin, so that in Him, we are set free from the law of sin and death and become the righteousness of God. In Christ, there is a New Testament that speaks of better things for Us. In this era of grace and truth that Jesus Christ ushered us into, God is extremely slow to anger and quick to forgive. He displays too much love that He is unwilling that anyone should perish. This love for everyone constrains Him not to punish sinners by death or any means, but would rather that they repent and be saved. He would rather His mercies speak over judgment. This love and mercy is the reason why we have not seen any floods of judgment or a repeat of Sodom and Gomorrah. Even so, this act of mercy, love, and kindness
should never be interpreted as powerlessness or weakness. He allows us to live in and enjoy an era where the grace for salvation has appeared to all. We have not outrun this era.
Titus 2:11`
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is
longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to
repentance.
These scriptures show us the will and the mind of God concerning everyone that is not born again, as well as those who are swallowed up in all kinds of perversions. God is not interested in their punishment now, but there will be a judgment when the time comes. Before that time comes, all He wants is that all men get saved and come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord. This is the role of the church.
In times past, due to a lack of sufficient knowledge on what to do with people who are caught up in these traps of the devil, a lot of cruelty came into the picture. These acts of cruelty did not spare the church, and they caused so many people to leave the church and turn away from God entirely because all they experienced was hate, condemnation, animosity, and more. Instead of being drawn to the body, they were chased off. Since the church is the representative of God on earth, most people interpreted these actions as a reflection of God. The church miss-painted
the picture of God as one who is cruel; one that is out to get them; one that is out to condemn them. As they ran away from God, the devil was waiting with open hands for them. He made them feel okay and safe to be whatever they want to be and to express themselves in whichever way they wanted. One thing they never knew is that in that safety, they were surrendering themselves to the devil even more to fulfill his wicked agenda over humanity; corruption.
As time went by, people started bashing the church, including Christians, for all the wrong treatment against the people in these communities. Well, some of these Christians were well-meaning, nevertheless, compromised because they also did not offer an incredible solution.
The church cannot just allow these perverted lifestyles to creep in and sit quietly hoping that the people concerned will not be too vocal about who they think they are, thereby recruiting other members of the congregation. Amid some sort of confusion, the church seems to be slightly torn between a degree of cruelty and compromise. Many churches are somewhat afraid to speak boldly and openly about their stand concerning these lifestyles and identities. The ones that speak up and call it as it is, sin, get bashed by the world and even some Christian circles. Then we have the churches that embrace these communities and even officiate these unnatural marriages. It is even worse when they attempt to bless the unions in the name of Jesus Christ. Do you see how confusing these matters have become to the body of Christ?
While the church as a unit has mixed reactions and responses to these matters, the devil is laughing at us, while luring many more away from what is right and natural. When we have churches that support these lifestyles, identities, and marriage, chances are that many more
people will give themselves over to these seducing spirits. Only God knows how many of His children are being tempted by the devil to join these perverse communities, but they are exercising restraint over themselves by the word and by prayer because they know the stand of God in this matter. When a supposed man or woman of God stands up and says it is okay to have and express unnatural affections, that believer will give up this fight for their faith and soul. The devil will keep winning my generation to himself. You see, the devil is also raising false prophets and teachers who will propagate the doctrines of devils. If the devil can disguise himself as an angel of light, what makes you think his agents cannot? Other than that, he can also introduce a corrupt interpretation of the word of God, and many believers will propagate that interpretation. It will take a revelation from the Spirit of Truth to counter those lies.
Now, here is what I believe the church should do with all of my heart; bring salvation to these souls. One thing is for sure, you cannot bring salvation to them by isolating or ostracizing them and chasing them away. We can only do so by loving and embracing the person and hating and isolating them from sin. We can successfully isolate them from sin by the power that is contained in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to
everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
We must minister to them the word of God with conviction, backed up by the Spirit of Truth and life; the Holy Spirit. Only a man or a woman that has a deep, rich, and intimate fellowship
with the Holy Spirit and the word can minister in this manner because of His influence in their spiritual lives and consequently their words. If not, you will only speak words that will not cause a change. Remember, the power of the Holy Spirit is what causes the word to come alive and to produce life. Words spoken without the influence of the Spirit are not the outbreathing of the Spirit. People will not just hear the word and be converted just because you are reading from the bible. There must be the influence of the Spirit of God that resides within you. It is this influence that will work on a person and not yours.
While under the influence of the Holy Spirit, the church and believers should minister deliverance for these people. As per the leading of the Holy Spirit, one will know whether it is a case of possession or an outside influence. Therefore, you can cast the evil spirit out and/or break its influence over the person. Regardless of the cause of action, the effect will be the same; freedom. The Holy Spirit is so beautiful and diverse in His dealings that even as you minister the word, demons can and should flee and their influences break over people.
Suddenly, their eyes open and they break down in the presence of the power of God in need of the saving power of God.
The church and believers should also lead these souls to Christ Jesus and fill them with the Holy Spirit. The preaching of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ should lead souls to Jesus Christ. We see this truth in what happened with Peter after the Holy Spirit came upon them, and later on, he spoke to the public, and the massive harvest of souls at a moment was registered. Only preaching by the power of the Holy Spirit can have this outcome on people. If it was possible in the bible days, it is much more possible today because where wickedness abounds, grace
abounds much more. These souls must be led into salvation by the confession of Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior of their lives. At this point, everything about them becomes new; the inner man. After salvation, as one that is filled with the Holy Spirit of God, fill them also with the Holy Spirit. I hope you know that someone can be born again and not filled with the Holy Spirit. I believe this is the case with many of the Christians that give themselves over to these lifestyles.
And if they were filled with the Holy Spirit, they ignored Him so much that He laid dormant in them so that they lost consciousness of His presence in them and they became alive in the flesh. They have not constantly and consistently stirred up the gift of God in them.
The church and believers must also arise as intercessors for these souls as sharpened battle axes to cut down the influence of these spirits over people and that nation. You see a nation is not necessarily a country. It is also what describes a group of people that share the same beliefs and values. Therefore, those that subscribe to these perversions form a nation. I call it the modern day Sodom and Gomorrah. Now, every nation is under the control of the spiritual realm. In other words, some spirits control nations. It is either the Spirit of God or rulers of darkness and spiritual wickedness in high places.
Now, in the kingdom of darkness, there is a spiritual hierarchy; powers, principalities, rulers of darkness, and spiritual wickedness in high places. The highest in the ranking are the spirits in the last category. When dealing with these spirits, you are not dealing with a demon that has possessed someone. They do not possess an individual; they influence a whole nation. This information shows us what needs to happen; the church must fight as a unit against these wicked spirits in heavenly realms. In other words, we must be united in all ways and stand
against the influence of the spirit behind this nation living this perverted lifestyle. The beliefs and values they stand for are against God, and the kind of blasphemies that come from this nation is sad to even mention. All these make it clear that there is a significant influence of spiritual wickedness in high places. Think of these as chief rulers and demons as their agents.
The church must engage the realm of the spirit by fighting from the offensive side. It must fight in the fullness of the power of God and His glory. To attain this fullness of power and glory, maturity is a must; not maturity by age but by the revelation of the word. The church must grow to the level of power required to paralyze and conquer these spirits, and to master its use.
Think of it this way, someone can have the knowledge and power to run down a company but that knowledge and power can be insufficient to run down the government of a nation. We must access the level of power that can run down the government and force it to retrieve.
When Prophet Ezekiel was pouring out the lamentations as the Lord commanded, we see his speaking against the King of Tyre and the Prince of Tyre. What we learn here is that behind every nation, there is the person that is leading and the spirit that is leading. Therefore, in such matters, you do not deal with the person only, but also the spirit. The church must fight spiritual wickedness in the high places because when we crush the head of the serpent, everything dies ultimately.
Instead of arguing whether or not to ostracize or embrace the people affected by these wicked spirits, the church must stand in one accord and agree that it is time to go after the head of the serpent. Let us not pet the viper nor inconsistently slice up its tail. Let us attack from all sides and at the same time, prioritize the crushing of its head. This work belongs to the church
because it is the spiritual entity that can deal with this spiritual issue. When we effectively deal with this issue from the spiritual realm, the physical realm will be cleansed of this evil with ease.