Month: May 2016

A week ago, the former drummer for metal band Megadeth, Nick Menza, died at age 51, collapsing on stage on the third song of a set. A month ago, pop music superstar Prince was found dead at 57, from an apparent drug overdose. Earlier this year David Bowie died at 69 and Glenn Frey died at 67. There are few pop/rock artists that make it to their 70s. Most don’t survive until their 60s. Or their 50s. Okay, so Mick Jagger is 72, but who wants to look like that at any age? Generally speaking, a life in entertainment, at least rock ‘n’ roll, is somewhat short-lived. Drugs, STDs, fast living, and sin in copious quantities takes a toll.

As for me, I’ve outlived all of the above. I’m not bragging, just observing that it pays to serve God. Being a Christian won’t automatically guarantee a long life, but it gives a good running start. One still has to eat wisely, exercise frequently, maintain sound mental health, and treat the temple of one’s body with respect. But minus all the booze, cigarettes, pills, weed, and God knows what else rock stars consume, Christians usually live better and longer.

Deuteronomy 6:2 tells us that keeping the Lord’s commandments leads to “long life.” The psalmist said that those who call upon the Lord would receive the “honor” of a long life (Psalm 91:15). Proverbs says that a long life is at the right hand of Wisdom (Proverbs 3:16). Ephesians 6:1-3 admonishes that obeying and honoring one’s parents is the “first commandment with promise,” and that such showing of respect is another way to “live long on the earth.” I don’t know about the personal lives of Menza, Prince, and Bowie, but judging by the messages in their music, I can’t imagine that respect for their earthly parents or their heavenly father was high on the agenda. “Live fast and die young,” goes the old adage. Without eternity in mind, it might sound good when you’re in your 20s and 30s. But Hebrews 9:27 lurks in the wings of life’s stage as a reminder: You live once and then face the judgment of God.

An encouraging word: JESUS IS THE WAY & THE LIGHT

“There came a man sent from God,” declares the apostle John in his gospel (John 1:6). He spent the previous 5 verses telling us about the man Jesus, God incarnate, who was sent from God. One was The Way, the other the way-shower. One was the Light, the other came to “bear witness of that light” (John 1:8) Make no mistake, Jesus Christ is the Way (John 14:6). But you and I are, like John the Baptist of whom verse 6 speaks, those who show the way to The Way. He is the light, and we are just candles lighting the path to the Savior and Son of God. Today, ask the Lord to provide you with the opportunity to show someone the way to Jesus.

Bob Larson has trained healing and deliverance teams all over the world to set the captives free and Do What Jesus Did® (Luke 4:18).  You can partner with Bob and support this vision to demonstrate God’s power in action by calling 303-980-1511 or clicking here to donate online.

When I was in Ukraine just a few weeks ago, pastors took me aside to inform me of a pending scandal in that war-torn country. As if battling Russian-backed separatists in Eastern Ukraine were not enough, I was told that the biggest church in the nation was about to implode. Then, last week the press picked up the story. Sunday Adelaja, Pastor of the largest church in Ukraine (third largest in all Europe) confessed to having sex with at least 30 or more women in his church, Embassy of God. (Embassy has 25,000 members plus 700 daughter churches in 45 countries.) According to published reports, Adelaja couldn’t actually remember how many church women he’d had sex with.

So why bring up yet another sordid story of ministerial misconduct? For one thing, this isn’t conjecture. Adelaja has admitted his misdeeds, and, according to a church official, Adelaja is unrepentant and refuses to submit to spiritual and moral authority. Then, there is the sheer volume of the sin. Thirty or more women? In his church? And he admits there are probably more?

Our ministerial associates in Ukraine pointed out that Adelaja has fiercely opposed deliverance ministry and publically taught that Christians can’t have demons. Well, guess now, who has the demons? Is there any other reasonable, spiritual explanation for such egregious actions of such moral magnitude? Let me be clear. I am not Adelaja’s judge and jury. Who really knows why all this happened? He obviously was a spiritually gifted man. But the facts must be faced. Anyone, including pastors, can fall prey to great evil. And it’s not always the “flesh” that is to be blamed. Sometimes it really is the devil and his demons. I pray that good men of God will help pastor Adelaja and his wife sort this out, but I pray even more that someone will confront the demonic forces in and around him that caused this lamentable tragedy. As I’ve said before, and will emphasize again, “Everyone needs to break curses. Everyone needs deliverance in some measure.” That includes pastors and all those in Christian leadership.

An encouraging word: DON’T SPEND TIME WITH SINNERS

What kind of crowd do you hang out with? The psalmist David has some advice: “Do not gather my soul with sinners” (Psalm 26:9). What great advice. You know the old adage, “Birds of a feather, flock together.” I understand that in the course of employment and commerce we have to spent time with those who don’t know the Lord. But when it comes to our personal, quality time that’s of our own choosing, we need to be careful about our associations. If the wicked are throwing a party, don’t go. If sinners are going to the bars or clubs, don’t go. If you spend too much time with sinners, you are more likely to become like them, then they are to become like you.

Bob Larson has trained healing and deliverance teams all over the world to set the captives free and Do What Jesus Did® (Luke 4:18).  You can partner with Bob and support this vision to demonstrate God’s power in action by calling 303-980-1511 or clicking here to donate online.

Beware so-called experts. The dictionary says that an expert is a person with “special skill or knowledge in some particular field, a specialist; an authority.” Which brings me to an article I read this past week by a nationally-known, well-respected Christian pastor. I know this man personally. He’s a good man and has done great things for the Lord, in his areas of gifting. But for some reason he decided to weigh in on the topic of spiritual warfare and demons.

Much of what he said was excellent, and I agreed with 90% of what he said. But that 10% or so veered into an area in which he is not an expert. This successful pastor declared, “In 25 years of ministry I have only encountered five people who needed some kind of exorcism.” He went on to say that any casting out of demons should always be done in a “private setting.” So much for our nearly 8 million YouTube viewers who have been exposed to the gospel and power of Christ in scores of nations worldwide.

I have high regard for this man of God and thank the Lord for all the great places that his spiritual gifts have taken him. But I encounter more than 5 cases of exorcism on an average day, and 40,000 catalogued cases going back nearly 40 years, many hundreds of them documented on video, captured live and in action. Surely he can’t dismiss all of that summarily with his “expertise.” Christians in places of responsible leadership need to be cautious about using their spiritual gifts in those areas where they are NOT an expert. This pastor in question (and he’s not alone in this regard) has been used of the Lord to build thriving churches where thousands attend, something I haven’t been called to do. I don’t tell him how to grow a local congregation. He’s the expert at that. I wish that he, and others like him, would back off a little from offering their “expert” advice in areas about which they have little, if any, experience. Leave the credibility and necessity of deliverance and exorcism to those of us who are God-called experts, by Spirit-led experience and the grace of our common Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

FOR THOSE WHO WANT BIBLICAL & HISTORICAL FACTS ABOUT EXORCISM AND DELIVERANCE,

Enroll in our International School of Exorcism®,

CLICK HERE or call 303-980-1511.

An encouraging word: HE IS COMING

“Behold, He is coming!” That opening statement of Revelation 1:7 sums up what we need to know about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. There is much speculation among well-meaning Christians about when and how that will happen. Some have divided into so-called Pre-Trib, Mid-Trib, and Post-Trib factions, depending on when they believe the rapture will take place. Some say it will be before the Millennium and some after. But whichever group you are part of theologically, one thing is certain. He is coming! In the words of the Nicene Creed “He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and His kingdom will have no end.” Amen.

Bob Larson has trained healing and deliverance teams all over the world to set the captives free and Do What Jesus Did® (Luke 4:18).  You can partner with Bob and support this vision to demonstrate God’s power in action by calling 303-980-1511 or clicking here to donate online.

The below is adapted from Chapter Two of

DEALING WITH DEMONS, “Cracking the Code” section.

When I start to minister to someone they usually begin telling me their problem(s). Often I interrupt to say, “Let me first find out some things about you.” Some are offended. They want me to get on with the job of getting out the devil. They want an exorcism and they want it now. They want deliverance and they want it yesterday. Sometimes I call this “drive-through deliverance.” But getting the devil out is not the same as keeping him out.

Evil is not random or capricious. It is deliberate with a defined matrix. More important, these patterns change little. Once you decipher the code of the devil, you know how to spot it under many seemingly different circumstances.

Decipherment, as it’s known in the world of code-cracking, typically involves ancient languages or military communications. Today it may also refer to the Human Genome Project whose goal has been to determine the sequences of base pairs that make up the human DNA. This endeavor has turned out to be the world’s largest collaborative biological project. Since it was completed in 2003 about 90 percent of the human genome has been mapped with 99.99 percent accuracy. (By the way, that 90 percent uses only about 10 percent of the available genetic coding material.)

Here is a discrepancy I find interesting. Science takes such a meticulous approach to the solving of human misery while many involved in deliverance ministries take a shotgun approach, firing ammunition in every direction in hopes of hitting something. Could it be that Satan’s plans are just as complex but just as discoverable? With all the yelling and commanding done in some deliverance circles, often with little permanent results, shouldn’t we be considering a more methodical approach?

I’ve heard the arguments, “Jesus cast out demons quickly,” or “He did it with just a word” (see Matthew 8:16). The idea is that ridding someone of demons should be quick and easy. Seldom is that the case. Deliverance can be an arduous process. I genuinely want to make it faster, easier, and more effective. That’s why cracking the code is so important.

An encouraging word: ONE MAN DIED FOR SIN

The Bible is clear about the existence of sin in mankind. “Through one man, sin entered the world,” Romans 5:12 tells us. That man was Adam. Verse 15 of that chapter reminds us that another man, Jesus Christ, became the second Adam to remove the curse of sin. Jesus represented the entire human race on the cross and paid the price for the first Adam’s sin. By this, the effect of sin on the human race was overcome, and it is now possible for all to be saved, forgiven, and have eternal life. One man brought evil and death. One man destroyed that evil by his death. Trust in that one man, the incarnate Jesus, today, and you too will be free from sin.

Bob Larson has trained healing and deliverance teams all over the world to set the captives free and Do What Jesus Did® (Luke 4:18).  You can partner with Bob and support this vision to demonstrate God’s power in action by calling 303-980-1511 or clicking here to donate online.

The Washington Post contacted me this week about a controversial statement by former House Speaker John Boehner. He called Presidential candidate Ted Cruz, with whom he has been at odds in the past, “Lucifer.” The Post reporter wondered what an exorcist would do, if the accusation were true. I responded in detail, and the Post published my account of a theoretical exorcism. That got me thinking. Suppose that Hillary and Trump had demons? What demons might they have? The Post reporter was being tongue-in-cheek. So am I, though not entirely, as I explore this hypothetical scenario.

Let’s start with Hillary Clinton. Her demons? That’s easy. Jezebel, Jezebel, Jezebel. It’s obvious to anyone schooled in deliverance. Her husband Bill, a serial adulterer, was driven by lust most of his sexually active life. Monica Lewinsky, Gennifer Flowers, Paula Jones et al. Was his lying and immoral behavior demonic? Could have been. His mother was married four times. Two of them ended in death. A curse? Perhaps. Her second husband, physically and mentally abused his stepson, Bill. That could have opened doors for Bill’s demons. Hillary’s grandparents were troubled. Even if Hillary didn’t get demons from her own bloodline, there was plenty of opportunity for the devil to embed her with curses and unclean spirits via her hubby. The marital flesh/soul-connection alone would have been sufficient. (My book JEZEBEL is a must read to fully understand this. To order CLICK HERE.)

Trump? That’s easy too. To profane shock-jock Howard Stern, in 1997, Trump said that sleeping around and risking STDs was his own “personal Vietnam.” He admitted he was lucky to have so much sex without diseased consequences. God only knows what kind of STDs (spiritually transmitted demons) he did pick up from all those women. Jezebel again, and of course, we must add Mammon. That’s obvious too. That’s not to take away from his “art of the deal” and business acumen, but Mammon had to be lurking in the corners of his life, right behind Jezebel.

So, are both disqualified from becoming president because I think they likely have demons? No. If that we the case, there a lot of pastors in America who’d have to step aside. I’ve dealt with plenty of preachers in the pulpit who have demons from generational issues and their own past indiscretions. With the way Satan is at work in our world (and Washington, D. C.) today, it would be nearly impossible to find any politician immune from demonic interference. So, seek your conscience, get politically informed, and cast your vote, even though you might be selecting a demonized candidate, at both federal and state level, who badly needs deliverance. Your decision might be the lesser of two potential evils..

An encouraging word: HOLD FAST TO GOD’S WORD

“Hold fast the pattern of sound words,” Paul said (2 Timothy 1:13). He was telling his young protégé to hang on to the model of truth that he had put forth in his life and writings. There is no more sound word than God’s Word. We need to grasp it tenaciously. Hold it fast. How? Memorize it. Hide it in our hearts. Make it part of our conversation and thoughts. Read it. Quote it. Most of all, live it. All that man speaks, no matter how eloquent, is fleeting. It might be Shakespeare-like quotable, but it’s not a pattern that will lead to eternal life. Only Holy Scripture can do that, so hold it fast.

Bob Larson has trained healing and deliverance teams all over the world to set the captives free and Do What Jesus Did® (Luke 4:18).  You can partner with Bob and support this vision to demonstrate God’s power in action by calling 303-980-1511 or clicking here to donate online.