Month: March 2020

America is in a state of inconsistency. How you live from day-to-day during the COVID-19 crisis depends on your locality. Our friends in California are housebound. Here in Arizona, just across the state line, life is reasonably normal, except for the run on paper products. In places such as New York, a full quarantine is in effect. Times Square is empty. Theaters are closed. Restaurants are empty. Across the nation many are quarantined, isolated by government decree or by choice. They are waiting out the passing of the death angel of COVID-19, and most don’t have the blood of the lamb on their doors.

Many are alone, fearful, and panicking. They are looking to the government for a handout, but too few are looking to the Lord for hope and health. For everyone, I have a message: GOD ISN’T QUARANTINED! He isn’t limited by a killer virus. He can’t be told to stay at home. He is an “essential service” that politicians can’t defy. He is needed by the poor and the wealthy, the well and the sick. He is in our midst now to deliver us as individuals and as a nation.

The Lord doesn’t have to stay home, hunkered down with hoarded food and Lysol. He is the Lord of the Universe. As Psalm 66:1-2 says, “Heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool. Where is the house that you will build me? For all these things My hand has made, and all those things exist.”

He wants to heal our land and bless us with the fruits of our labors if we’ll repent of our immorality and arrogance. He isn’t like Amazon Prime or FedEx. He always delivers, on time and with what we need, not what we want. Exodus 34:6-7 declares that the Lord is “merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands.” If you are sequestered, be assured that the Lord is there in the midst of your confinement to comfort and restore you to health. America, God is not quarantined.

We live in an age of scientism and rationalism. To suggest that a viral disease has a spiritual identity appears on the face of it ludicrous. But look at it this way. Yes, the coronavirus is an intracellular organism, an infectious agent. Its composition and agency are observable. But its identity as a pathogen can also be spiritual, if we look at what results from its presence. COVID-19 does more than cause physical suffering. There are also spiritual ramifications. 

We are all learning that there are profound social and financial costs to COVID-19. Travel, consumerism, the stock market, even toilet paper are collateral consequences. But consider the spiritual impact. For the first time in America’s history, churches nationwide have been shuttered. Sunday morning congregational worship is non-existent. A tiny virus has hindered corporate prayer, worship, and giving. 

I understand the necessity of stopping the spread of disease. But whatever the motive, the facts are incontestable. Many churches and Christian ministries are fighting for survival, including us. Tithes and donations have dried up. Mission programs are stifled. Mortgages and rents are coming due. Marginalized Christians who irregularly attended church, now have an excuse to stay home, and many won’t be back. They’ll fall victim to all kinds of evil without the support of a preaching pastor and a caring community. That’s what I mean when I say that this virus is spiritual in nature. 

There may be some good things that come of this. Families will spend more time together at home. People will learn to live without professionally performed praise music. Some pastors may get more real about human need with less emphasis on feel-good theology. But if this pandemic lingers, the fallout is going to change the face of American Christianity into something unrecognizable at present. Our ministry, for example, is being prohibited from ministering deliverance in person by way of seminars because of social distancing edicts. The devil’s got to be happy with that. We’re fighting back with weekly live-streaming ministry on YouTube. We still meet privately with people for encounters at our ministry center in Phoenix, Arizona. And we cast out demons daily on Skype. We’re determined that if coronavirus is spiritual, we’re going to wage spiritual warfare more than ever!

The coronavirus epidemic, known by its abbreviated designation COVID-19, is demonic. But perhaps not in the way you think. This virus, which is causing panic in every sector of society, certainly could be a demon functioning as a disease. From my experiences, demons can operate three different ways. They can 1) cause a disease, 2) take advantage to exacerbate a pre-existing diseased condition, or 3) be the actual disease itself. For example, using the disease of cancer as an illustration, some people have cancer due to genetic or environmental conditions. Some have their malignancy exploited by spirits of infirmity. Others have cancer because they have a cancer demon. I have seen instances of all three factors of infirmity with many different diseases. Often, only an exorcism, or attempted deliverance, will find the root cause of an illness. 

I say that COVID-19 is demonic, not because I have empirical evidence. As of yet I haven’t ministered to anyone who has the virus. If they were diagnosed, they’d be in quarantine, not scheduling an encounter with me; however, here’s what’s really demonic. Not the disease itself, which in a nation of more than 330 million people has so far affected just over 1,000 people, which is about .000003 percent of the population! That’s about 3/1,000 percent of the population.    

What’s demonic is the fear factor. In Luke 21 Christ spoke of the End Times and declared that during the final hours of humanity these things would be present: (1) “nations will be in anguish and perplexity “(v. 25), and (2) “men will faint from terror” (v. 26), or as the KJV puts it “men’s hearts failing them for fear.” Can you find a better depiction for what’s happening with COVID-19? No, the end isn’t yet. What we’re witnessing is a trial-run for the Apocalypse. And demons of fear are milking this for every ounce of terror they can foment.   

Even one death of COVID-19 is one too many. As a country we must do all we can to fight back against this killer. But this disease, by itself, shows no signs of destroying us as a nation. The fear of this disease could transform our lives, our freedoms, and how we worship. And that is demonic. As I’ve often taught, one of the most powerful demons is the spirit of Fear. It is a gateway demon that opens the door to many other evil spirits. Fear is the antithesis of faith. When a nation, or an individual, becomes driven by fear, all kinds of evil impulses take over.   

Instead of wringing our hands and pointing political fingers, why not declare a National Day of Prayer to combat COVID-19? Better yet, a National Day of Exorcism to confront every spirit of fear in our land. That, and seeking a medical cure, would be the best way fight back against the demons of fear which are exploiting COVID-19.  

Coronavirus is a health crisis, especially in China. I get that. But balance is needed concerning how serious this really is. The media is milking it. Politicians are exploiting it. And people are dying, but not exactly in apocalyptic proportions. Depending on the actual stats by the time you read this, the deaths from this disease won’t come anywhere near the yearly toll of the common flu – up to half a million deaths each year worldwide and 36,000 in the U.S. About 50,000 Americans die each year from drug overdoses. The total of murders each year in America is pushing 20,000. In 2018 over 48,000 people killed themselves. In perspective, coronavirus is an exceedingly minor threat. In fact, less than 2% of those infected die.   

But on TV, it’s all coronavirus.  Cable news needs crises to get ratings. Having exhausted themselves catastrophizing immigration issues, Russian election interference, climate change, and identity politics, the coronavirus crisis is made to order to get the public’s attention. Horror stories of disasters incite fear in the public, and that provides talk show topics. Meanwhile, the real crisis of a demonic takeover of society by New Age mystics, yoga classes, reiki energy healers, mindful meditation gurus, enneagram advocates, Wiccan covens, and Satanist cults marches on. Worse yet, it’s being exploited by preachers who treat the topic as it if were the fulfillment of the plagues in John’s Revelation. It’s not even close.  

A global health threat is concerning; but a spiritual pandemic of occultism has a 100% eternal death rate if left untouched by the power of Jesus. What’s really scary is the seven angels with the seven plagues in Revelation 15. That should strike fear in the hearts of all those who flaunt evil. Revelation 9:20 sadly states that even after the visitation of God’s wrath many in the End Times will not repent of their sorceries. Before the final apocalyptic catastrophe of disease and destruction strikes, turn to Christ now, and escape that awful day. Be set free from the spiritual epidemic of demonic influence and the infectious effect of sin. 

People are shocked when I say that half the people in good evangelical churches have demons. They are offended at such a suggestion. It makes them angry that I would dare make such a claim. But I stand by it, as preposterous as it sounds to some. As I’ve stated previously, only in North America is the teaching discredited that Christians may be demonized. The church in most parts of the world accepts the idea that demons can torment Christians, and that all believers need some measure of deliverance. Here are some wrong beliefs that allow demons to stay in Christians and torment them. Far too many Christians inadvertently keep their demons by believing these falsehoods. 

• CHRISTIANS CAN’T HAVE DEMONS: The training in our International School of Exorcism (ISE) thoroughly debunks this argument from a biblical and practical standpoint. Many of our books, such as “Dealing with Demons,” do the same. Many downloadable videos in the “Online Resources” section of our web site teach on this matter in detail. No need to articulate here what is already available in print and on video. The point is this: If you believe a Christian can’t have demons, and you do have demons, it’s impossible to expel them. 
• ALL CURSES WERE BROKEN AT THE CROSS: Demons often enter and maintain their stronghold through the curses of ancestors. If you don’t confront these demonic matters in your bloodline, your demons aren’t leaving. They will remain attached to unbroken curses. Again, ISE and our book “Curse Breaking” explain how to remove the influence of generational evil which may allow demons to attack Christians. 
• DON’T ALLOW DEMONS TO SPEAK: Even some deliverance ministries propagate this false teaching. Jesus permitted demons to speak (Mark 1:24). He questioned them (Mark 5:9 & Luke 8:30). He set the example of what’s necessary in an exorcism. Interrogating demons can provide critical information about how they got there and what legal rights they claim. Forbidding demons to verbally communicate with the deliverance minister is another way of keeping your demons. 
• I’LL GET RID OF MY OWN DEMONS: Some think they will fast and pray their demons away. That may work with minor demons not deeply entrenched, but powerful generational demons must be forced out. Cast out. I sometimes tell such an individual, “If you could have gotten rid of your demons, you would have.” The biblical model of the Great Commission is for followers to cast out demons from others in the name of Jesus. The Bible gives many examples of demons being exorcised, but no instances of self-deliverance. It’s possible, but rare and potentially dangerous.

Of course, you don’t want to keep your demons, but believing one or more of these falsehoods will keep you in bondage. Take our Demon Test (click here) and discover the probability of whether you might have demons. We can help. Contact us today. Schedule a personal one-on-one encounter or let us connect you with one of our many local Do What Jesus Did ® prayer teams. Don’t keep your demons. Be set free in the name of Jesus of all the evil inside, and discover the complete freedom offered by Christ.