Haunted Houses Ghosts and Demons by Roberts Liardon

Author:Roberts Liardon [Liardon, Roberts]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2012-03-23T12:32:51+00:00

5

THE GATES OF HELL SHALL NOT PREVAIL

Jesus Christ said that the gates of hell would not be able to prevail against His church.

Some people misunderstand that. They turn it around and look at it as if Jesus were saying that the gates of the church would be able to prevail against the forces of hell. In other words, they have a kind of fortress mentality, where the church is standing strong and secure despite an all-out assault against it by the armies of Lucifer.

But that's not the picture Christ was giving us. It's the other way around. It's the church going on the offensive against the forces of evil. When I think about this, I see in my mind a bunch of people with a battering ram, actually crashing down the city gates of hell, and releasing those who are held prisoner there.

This is so important that I can't over-stress it. We are to be the ones who are on the offensive. We are to be the ones who put demons to flight, and not the other way around.

That's the way it was in the church of the first century, and that's the way it ought to be today!

When you read through the Book of Acts, you'll find out that the early church was still doing battle with demon power, even after the Resurrection and Ascension of our Lord—and even after the Holy Spirit was given on the Day of Pentecost. This is important, because there are those Christians who believe that all demons were utterly destroyed by Christ's Resurrection. No...they weren't destroyed. They were defeated, yes, but they were not destroyed. There is a difference. They will be destroyed, but that will be when Christ returns to set up His kingdom here on earth. Other Christians believe that when the Holy Spirit came in His fullness, on Pentecost, demonic power was swept away from this planet—but that, too, is an erroneous belief.

I've actually had people tell me that there couldn't possibly have been a manifestation of demons following Christ's atoning work on the cross. But anybody who says anything like that obviously hasn't read carefully through the Book of Acts. Nor has he looked around him to see what's going on in the world today.

But my point is that if the first century church had to deal with demons—and it did—then we can expect that we will have to deal with demons today—and we will.

For example, in the eighth chapter of Acts, verse seven, we find that Philip was preaching the Word of God in Samaria, and that unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many of those who were possessed.

I have been asked why demons sometimes cry out as they're being forced to leave the human body they've inhabited. It's because they're afraid of the authority being used against them. They don't want to go. And they know the destruction that awaits them.

Now let's go over to the thirteenth chapter of Acts and read about what happened to Barnabas and Paul when they went to the island of Paphos.

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