A Weapon to Fight the Powers of Darkness

You know, no one is such a successful deceiver as the one who has deceived himself, who really believes his own deception because he speaks with real conviction.

So, and again, where it says “evil men and impostors,” the Greek word is ‘enchanters’ or ‘wailers.’ And it speaks about people who cast spells by enchanting and wailing. Again, we’re dealing with the occult.

This is very real. Some years ago, a man came to see me, and he said he’d come to apologize to me because he had put a curse on me and my family. Then he told me, and I mean, I didn’t accept everything he said, but I just listened. He said he was a practitioner of the occult and regarded as the most powerful wizard in America.

And then he told me that he’d practiced various forms of occult power. But he said, ‘I’ve come to the conclusion, much the most successful form of power is enchanting.’ Chanting. That really registered with me.

I thought, so when we are singing in the Spirit, we’re releasing God’s power. And then I thought about the Middle East, where I have lived many years. And I thought about the practice of the Muslims, five times every day from every mosque, and there are thousands of them. The muezzin, the thing that comes out, the chant, you know. How many of you have heard it at least once? All right. It’s the most I think it’s the ugliest sound on earth.

We worship in a church in Jerusalem inside the old city, which is right next door to the mosque. And every now and then at crucial points in the service, we have this awful wailing blaring out at us. But it doesn’t quench the Spirit because the Spirit is more powerful. But anyhow, I thought to myself, and I think this is important, the place that had the area of the earth that has most persistently resisted the gospel is the Middle East. And it’s because of the presence of Islam, the Mohammedan religion. And what has given them that tremendous power is the regular proclamation of their satanic lie five times every day.

And if that is so, then what is one of the most powerful weapons that we have? Tell me. Proclamation. That’s right. That’s why Ruth and I always make a proclamation before I stand up to preach because it releases the power of God into the situation. I’ve told people I don’t believe either Ruth or I would be alive today if we had not learned the power of proclaiming scripture. Because we both passed through a time of severe illness. And in that time, we learned to use proclamation. Let me give you one of the proclamations that we gave. Come on, Sweetheart, it doesn’t take long. Psalm 118. Yeah. Somewhere in the middle of the Psalm, about verse 15 or one. No. How did we start?

“You pushed me violently that I might fall, but the Lord helped me. The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation. The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous. The right hand of the Lord does valiantly. The right hand of the Lord is exalted. The right hand of the Lord does valiantly.”

Now listen.

“I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord. The Lord has chastened me severely, but He has not given me over to death.”

That’s our testimony.

“I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.”

The Lord has chastened us severely. We went through a time of chastening, both of us. But He did not give us over to death. And if God doesn’t give you over to death, you won’t die. And I don’t there’s no way we can count how many times we said, “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.”

“I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.”