Keep Trampling!

Said the seventy disciples of Jesus to Jesus upon their return from ministry, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name Luke 10:17. When was the last time you heard your church leaders tell you demons are subject to you in Jesus name? Better still, when was the last time you actively confirmed that as reality for yourself? If, in both cases it was recently, then praise God for them and thank God for you. You are one of the few in this Laodicean age of the church that Satan and his crowd are truly afraid of. In fact, such Christians are the only people he and his are afraid of. They’re not afraid of those who know the truth of this, only those who act on the truth of it.

Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions….. Whether in animal or insect form, human or spiritual form, the authority is yours when engaging in the work the Lord Jesus Christ has called you to. The crafty and the cunning, the toxic and the treacherous, the vile and the venomous, the malicious and the malignant; all can be trodden under foot in the spiritual sense with Jesus giving His full support. And over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you Luke 10:19. Not, “some power” over the enemy, but all power. If that is so, we might rightfully ask, then why are our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ being so mercilessly persecuted and slaughtered in the Middle East and beyond?

Two parts of the question are easily answered. First: From the beginning Jesus told His followers that persecutions would come. And you will be hated by all for My names’s sake Matthew 10:22. For many, they were told death for His name’s sake would be the outcome. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul Matthew 10:28. Second: Death comes to all and none of us knows when that time is ours. And it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment Hebrews 9:27. It would be great if the Scripture began with, “When man reaches the age of 95 years it is appointed… but that’s not how it is. Reality tells us there are no guarantees of life for anybody even after the first 95 seconds of it!

Other parts of the question are not easily answered. It may well be that many of these brothers and sisters in Christ are not aware demons, serpents and scorpions are subject to them in Jesus’ name. Perhaps they have little or no access to a Bible and/or a Bible teacher who believes the literal truth of such Scriptures. Perhaps they’re not aware that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God Romans 10:17. By God’s great grace they have the faith to suffer and die for the Lord but I wonder what that same grace would do for them if they were thoroughly schooled and skilled in the Scriptures, especially on what they teach us about getting victories through prayer and the exercising of spiritual warfare in our midst.

There’s no greater blessing than to observe an on-fire-for-God fellow Christian growing in leaps and bounds in his or her Scripture knowledge and authority, whether that be for getting victories over serpents and scorpions of personal sin or for anything else coming against them. Which is why it saddens me greatly to observe the general state of Christianity throughout the western world where there’s little persecution to speak of and no slaughter, as yet. So many Christians there are, caving in to the voice of the roaring lion without him even taking a bite at them! 1 Peter 5:8. Here we have today, every demon from hell forcing his perverted world-view in our midst and instead of Christians trampling on it as in the Book of Acts, we see them being trampled on!

There’s no excuse for Christians in our part of the world to be trodden on by the same devil and his crowd. At our fingertips we have access to any number of Bibles, Hebrew and Greek Lexicons, Concordances, teachers and teaching helps galore. Anything we need God has made it readily available to us – at little to no cost if we take advantage of what’s freely offered online by many of His most blessed and generous servants. What wouldn’t our persecuted brothers and sisters give to grab hold of those things if they were blessed to be in the same situation? To ignore what God has given here so we can live victoriously is to have us one day hang our heads in shame before Him. Bless all who have taken advantage of it.

Where are our church leaders today, for the most part? They’re in the same place as the world leaders – they’ve been pummeled into submission by politically correct tyrants. There’s an excuse for the world leaders; the Lord Jesus Christ, God Almighty Incarnate, is not their Lord, nor their God. Dare the church leaders say the same? No, they dare not, even if they know it’s true in their case too. They dare not because those sitting under them are their meal ticket and there’s no way they’re going to put that in jeopardy. Apart from USA’s Franklin Graham and a few others they’ve been bitten and stung by the serpents and scorpions rendering them poisonous as well as powerless. Don’t be fooled by their “love” talk either. Love….rejoices in the truth 1 Corinthians 13:6.

As Christians, we must come to terms with the reality that if we overlook our Christ-given authority to trample on serpents and scorpions in the church fellowship, we are not going to be successful in our attempts to do so in society. In other words, if we are prepared to overlook it when our leaders weave their political correctness into their preaching and teaching, we cannot expect much from God other than to overlook our efforts when coming against Satan’s perverted world-view. In God’s language that’s hypocrisy and He has nothing good to say about it anywhere in the Scriptures. That which grips society must be “ungripped” in the church first. It’s time to get real with the truth that judgment must begin at the house of God 1 Peter 4:17.

But now here’s the real problem facing too many Christians today. For judgment to truly begin at the house of God, we must first individually judge ourselves by sitting alone before God. For various reasons, too many are reluctant to do that. King David said it best. Search me Oh God and know my heart; try (test, examine, prove) me and know my anxieties (cogitations, thoughts); and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting Psalm 139:23-24. The first time I did that, the last word I expected to hear from the Lord was, “relax.” But that’s what I heard, so that’s what I did. It was many years ago now but God has been ever so unfailingly gracious every morning since. Conviction comes, yes, but never condemnation Romans 8:1.

When you tell God the very worst about yourself it doesn’t matter who throws what at you, it’s water off a duck’s back! Just like it’s wise to act on Paul the apostle’s advice to examine ourselves before partaking in the Lord’s Supper, it’s wise to do it anytime. For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged 1 Corinthians 11:31. Take God seriously on this matter and He’ll take you seriously – and so will the devil and his crowd as mentioned earlier; you will be a force to be reckoned with! For example: when you decide you’ll challenge your leader for his wishy-washy PC nonsense he’ll throw every accusation imaginable at you. But don’t worry, it’s only because he knows he’s been caught out.

And don’t worry either when you’re told to leave the fellowship. That simply confirms you’re a force to be reckoned with; he can’t bear for you to be in his presence. He’s had no victory, you have. Righteousness has won out over unrighteousness; that’s what’s taken place. It was the same for Jesus and the apostles. They went from strength to strength with their trampling until their earthly time was up. And so the same deal is promised to us. Presently it is easy to think, “But I’m only one person. What effect could I have on Satan’s perverted world-view in my midst?” Firstly, God has never needed large numbers for His purposes and secondly, you’re not the only one; God is preparing others like you and when the time is right you’ll meet with some.

Does that mean I believe God is preparing you for a world-wide revival? No, I don’t think that’ll happen this side of the Tribulation. If I’m wrong, then great – He’ll use you. But more and more people are becoming repulsed by Satan’s perverted world-view being foisted upon them and they don’t know where to go for help. They tried their local churches and got no help, so they’ve resigned themselves to thinking the way it is, is the way it is. Not so, God. He knows their thoughts, He sees their heart and when they reach desperation point, He will reveal Himself. That’s when the prepared of God will come into their own. In the meantime, the job of such a one is to keep trampling! And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons;….. they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover Mark 16:17-18.