Militant Evangelism! (28 page)

I preached once outdoors about occult-rock and was afterward approached by a non-Christian teenager. He said how he had been stoned while listening to a song called, "Stairway
To
Heaven." He was standing directly in front of the stereo listening, when suddenly he "fell backwards and went into a fit."

More than likely, at that point a spirit entered him.

The Dead Kennedys, on the front cover of their album called, "In God We Trust" had a picture of Jesus crucified on a dollar bill. Four letters words were common with their song called "Religious Vomit," referring to the then President of the United States, as being a "Born-again with a fascist craving." Catch the words of one of their songs with a message:

"God told me to skin you alive ...

I kill
children ...

love
to watch them die ...

I kill children ... make their mommies cry.

Crush them under my
car ...

I love to hear them scream ... feed them poison candy ... spoil their Halloween."

Around the time I was studying this music, I was driving in my car when I saw a group of people in the middle of the road. As I approached, it was obvious that a child had been knocked off his bike a few minutes earlier. I drove passed and saw a sight that I will never forget. The youth was dead because his head had been crushed under a car. I wept all the way home. It turned out that five doped youths had been trying to scare kids on bikes with their car and on this occasion they had gotten one. The spirit that permeates through many of those into this
music,
is written backwards on their t-shirts ... "REDRUM" ... MURDER.

The fact that the battle is
spiritual,
was brought home to me by the following encouraging incident. A Christian friend pulled into a fast food store and heard a local Christian radio station on full volume. He remarked that it was good to hear it, to which the woman behind the counter replied, "I only have it on that station to keep the punk-rockers away. They don't come near this place when that station is playing."

If there is one thing that rock music has in common, it is the spirit of rebellion. The word rebellion is from a root word meaning "bitterness," and means "to be disobedient, to provoke and to rebel." Rebellion in the heart of man is an open invitation for demonic possession. The Scriptures warn that "an evil man seeks only rebellion; therefore, a cruel messenger shall be sent against him" (Proverbs 17:11). The word "against" comes from a Hebrew word which is always used in relation to a downward aspect.

This was evident in the life of King Saul who was rebuked by Samuel with the words, "Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft" and followed that downward trend of being tormented by a demonic spirit.

Sin says, "Not Your will, but mine!" Psalm 10:4 tells us that "the wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God." It is not that the ungodly
cannot
find
God,
it is that he
will
not.

The rebellion of the will is clearly evident in the "I wills" of our natural father, before the fall:

"How you are fallen from Heaven, Oh Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: I will ascend into Heaven,

I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mound of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High" (Isaiah 14:12-14).

Give no Place

A young punk-rocker once manifested demons at an altar after I had spoken at the church he had started attending. The strongholds in his life
were,
sex, vanity and rock music. I sat the youth down, gave him a drink of water and said, "I want you to pray about your sex life, your musical tastes and do a study on humility." The next evening I received a phone call from him saying that he had taped over all his rock cassettes with Christian music. He also decided to stop frequenting bars (as he had done in the past as a professing Christian), and he was also going to tell his girlfriend that he now loved God, and their sex-life was over.

He found complete freedom from the demonic realm
because he closed the door by an act of his own will.
Any
Christian
who has continued difficulties with demonic possession, is having them because
somewhere there is an open door. The Bible says, "Give no place to the devil." If he "has place" it's because it is being given to him.

Many Christians live in a world of naivety when it comes to the spirit world. We once had a meal with a Christian family, and during the meal the mother got up from the table to turn up the volume on the television so that her son could listen to his favorite heavy rock music.

One of the most popular children's programs on television introduced the program with a group similar to KISS (the SS is shaped like the SS on the Nazi police uniform). The rock group on this program was called "
Molech
."
Molech
was the name of the
Ammorite
idol of the Old Testament, which sat upright with arms outstretched. The arms were heated until they were white hot
,
then children were placed into its arms as a sacrificial ritual. Drums were constantly played to drown out the screams of the child.

To encourage children into rock music is to place them into the white hot arms of
Molech
,
and the beat and power behind the music will drown out the cries of the child as
occultic
powers envelop him and take him into the fires of Hell.

I received the following letter from a young girl:

"Some time ago, I had a rather frightening experience through listening to rock music (before I was born-again). I've been a Christian since I was about ten years old (I am now fifteen), but I never walked in the light until now.

"My girlfriend and her boyfriend were in the dining room while I was in the lounge dancing to some rock music. While I was dancing something made me turn off the light. Suddenly, my body seemed possessed by some kind of spirit (something like the Holy Spirit, but instead of peace it made me terrified), but I was sort of fascinated. I danced for about one hour not knowing which direction I was facing, moving with the music. When the tape ended I was able to find my way to the switch and turn the light back on. My friends had come into the room and were watching
me,
I walked over to them and sat down.

I couldn't even speak. My friend said to me, 'Don't look at me like that Tracy.' I managed to speak by now and asked, 'Like what?' She replied: 'You've got the devil in you!'"

When someone gives themselves over to heavy rock music, they don't get into the
spirit.
. . it gets into them. The word 'wiles' used in Ephesians 6:11, to describe "the wiles of the devil," comes from a Greek word '
methodieas
' which is the word from which we derive our English word 'method.' One of
satan's
major methods of snaring this generation has been the international method of music. Maybe you are ignorant of this fact, but aged rocker David Bowie isn't. He said, "Rock and roll has always been the devil's music
—you can't convince me it isn't."

I heard about a young girl who saw a wire hanging from the top of her house. She grabbed the wire with one hand and was fascinated to find that as she moved its raw end across the concrete, sparks began to fly. She then gripped it with both hands and began to wave it back and forth across the concrete with sheer delight, as sparks flashed like sparkling fireworks. Unfortunately, her hand touched a piece of broken wire and a mass of electricity began to flow through her little body. She screamed, 'Mommy, Mommy . . . my
hands are on fire!'
Her mother rushed out of the house, but was flung away with the power when she touched her child. It was then that a
passerby
ran into the garage, grabbed an axe and cut the wire.

That action saved the little girl's life, but not before she had been severely burned. That story is a graphic illustration of the occult. Satan attracts the mind through fascination, but waits until he has your will—until he has both hands on the wire, before he pours on the heat. Those who escape with severe burns are fortunate compared to the many
who
don't. The only answer is to sever all connection with the sharp axe of renunciation. Paul speaks of this in 2 Corinthians 4:2: "We have renounced (disowned) the hidden things of dishonesty (Greek shame)."

We also need to realize the authority and the responsibility we have in Jesus Christ. Perhaps we are tempted to look at the Scripture which tells us that when the enemy shall come in like a flood, "the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him," and think that it exonerates us from all responsibility. The Spirit of the Lord
will
lift up a standard against him, but through us. The Church is like a man who is searching for his glasses while he is still wearing them. We are looking for God to raise the standard, when God
in us
is that standard ... we should be "salt" and "light."

What Should We Then Do?

There is no doubt that the enemy is coming in like a flood, but the question arises as to what we as God's people should do. First, I believe that we should 'sanctify the Lord God in our hearts,' and our homes. Do we have any idols sitting in our homes in the form of statues, pictures, paperweights, souvenir masks, or
occultic
books, tarot cards,
etc
? If you are not sure about a certain item, pray about it and if you have no
peace,
destroy it. The enemy has infiltrated and left ticking time bombs right in your territory, so don't wait if you are suspicious.

If you have been involved in any of the following practices and have never renounced them, do so from your heart and never open the door to them again.

If you have a fascination for the mystics, repent of it, for even the fascination means that the door is slightly open (even if it is only for you to peep through). Desire to look into the mystics is a work of the flesh (Galatians 5:20) which, in the Christian must be reckoned dead. Those who
practice
such things will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven (verse 21), so don't let
yourself
be tempted.

Have you ever had your fortune told, followed horoscopes, been hypnotised, attended a
seance
, had involvement in spiritualism, been into heavy rock music, 'played' with a Ouija board,
planchette
or tarot cards, practiced levitation, chanted mantras, used E.S.P., consulted a medium, sought healing through a spiritualist or
color
therapy, used good luck charms—rabbit's foot, horseshoes,
etc
?

I was ministering at a camp when a girl in her late teens asked whether or not I thought she should get rid of a rabbit's foot key ring she had been given as a gift. I said that she should pray about it and come to her own decision about destroying it. I had made my mind obvious through the message I had given that morning.

She came back the same afternoon and told me that after praying about it she felt the Lord said that it was "O.K. to keep it." That night she manifested demons at the altar.

In another incident, I went to visit a woman who had been having oppressive problems and I was amazed to see a 4-5 foot carved idol in her living room. It was a gift from her husband, and she felt
that as a Christian she should do
all that
she could to keep peace in the home. I directed her attention to Deuteronomy 7:25-26: