The church fellowship I was associated with during the time of my street ministry very quickly developed a reputation for it’s sound Biblical teaching and workings of God in the community. As a result, Christians from other churches became regular visitors. Many such visitors then became committed members, whilst others, although not as committed, nevertheless were regular attendees among us. One such man was Dan – a single man in his late 50’s.
Dan was a fervent crusader against the Pope and the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church. Every Sunday after the service, over tea and coffee (which he refused to drink), he could be seen without fail mingling among the fellowship, warning all who would listen to him. Not only did he speak against that church but he was also “armed” with a shoulder bag full of anti-Catholic literature, in the form of pamphlets, newsletters and booklets, which he freely gave away.
Although he could be counted on to be with us after each service, not always would he be in attendance in the service. Often at that time he would be with fellow crusaders standing outside a Catholic church or cathedral or rally somewhere, “doing the work of God,” telling Catholic practitioners of their errors.
I knew of some of those errors. My religious upbringing was in the Roman Catholic church. I was a former altar boy who also attended a primary-school convent for four years and was taught by dedicated nuns, so I knew their teachings very well. When Dan spoke of the differences between the doctrines of Protestantism and Roman Catholicism, he did so using the Bible as his reference. As a result, he was accurate with his biblical knowledge. He certainly knew how to quote the Scriptures in their right context for his arguments, but sadly, it was all according to the letter of the law.
Dan was a religious legalist. And like all religious legalists, he lacked the presence, the grace and the power of God the Holy Spirit. Listening to him speak, it was not difficult to discern bitterness within him, plus a zealous, religious, self-righteousness and a misguided understanding of biblical love. He was also riddled with arthritis, which in my opinion, was an outward confirmation of my discernment.
Whenever Dan would came to me with the purpose of “getting into my ear,” I would listen, but then challenge him as to what God was saying and revealing to him personally. He could never give me a direct answer. I asked him about his personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Each time I questioned him on it he would look at me and smile, continue with his mission for a minute or so and then move on to someone else. This went on for some months.
Then one day I called to Dan’s home. He invited me in and during the course of our conversation I yet again asked him about his salvation in Christ. In answering, he spoke of his doubts in Christ’s forgiveness, saying he had lots of guilt for his past sins and, “one day I’ll have to give an account to God for every one of them.” I thought as much. Here sitting opposite me was a classic case of one who knows all the Scriptures one needs for legalistic religious purposes to pull down and put guilt trips on others, but he doesn’t know Christ’s forgiveness, mercy, peace and love for himself.
I could also discern the presence and powers of the demonic – both in Dan and in his house. But I ignored those and simply shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with him, regardless of his previous understanding of it. As a result, Dan wanted to commit or re-commit his life to the Lord. So I led him in a prayer enabling him to do so. No sooner had he completed this however, when once again he proceeded to continue on with his zealous mission. I encouraged him to lay that aside for a time and begin to use his energy getting to know the Lord through prayer and the study of His word. He said he would do so, but I knew it would not be easy for him based on the demonic presence in him and around him.
Four weeks later I revisited Dan at home at his request, specifically to do some foundational Bible teaching. He was a living example of a Christian who has no foundation in the word of God. His Biblical knowledge was extremely limited because of distorted and perverted teachings or understandings. And as a result, he operated out of half-truths.
The problem with people or churches who operate out of half-truths however, is that they open themselves up to the powers of spiritual deception by believing they have all the truth on any one subject. That is why the New Testament gives the exhortation for Christians to study to show ourselves approved unto God, and become workers who do not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
We spoke about the influence and power of demonic beings, with Dan acknowledging that they were in him and in his home. At nights while he was in bed, he said they would wake him from sleep with all sorts of disturbances, having done so for many years. I asked him if he could recall his first encounters with them and he told me it happened when he was in Africa, “many years ago.” He said it was there that he saw one which followed him around and it spoke to him often.
I suggested to Dan that he probably had heaps of them following him since then and that, “they were doing so to this day.” He agreed. He confessed any known sin before God as a result of allowing these demons to come into his presence and then we began to pray some of them out. In the space of about two hours, in Jesus’ name, we took authority over the religious spirit, the spirit of bitterness, uncleanness, sickness, afflictions, lies, deceptions – to name a few – and Dan was becoming a changed man before my eyes.
At a later date I called on Dan again and he acknowledged that he was feeling much better – less fearful, less oppressed etc and he had ceased his Catholic-bashing all the time I was with him. I took the opportunity here to suggest to him that his anti-Catholic mission was not a ministry given to him by God.
He continued to do a few basic Bible studies with me. My objective was to make sure that he filled himself with the word of God, because it was the only way he could keep his deliverance from the demonic beings. I explained to Dan that each biblical Christian is in a continuous spiritual battle with the demonic and as such, it was within his interests to discipline himself to prayer and Bible study, so that he could learn how to discern what was of God and what was of the devil.
I told him that God would always give him authority over any demonic presence he came up against, but that God’s way is always through the excercise of these disciplines. I gave him Jesus’ example from Matthew 12:43-45, where He spoke about the unclean spirit going out of a man, who then went through dry places looking for rest, but found none. So he decided to return to where he came from. On doing so he found the house empty etc, so he went and found seven others more wicked than himself. They all entered and dwelt within the man and the last state of him became worse than the first.
The last time I saw Dan after those meetings, it appeared that he was continuing to take that advice. “And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 2:4-5.