Well, those of you that missed the intro at the other, I'll go through it again. I know some of you weren't here, but I painted the picture of a hostage situation, that the plane is on the tarmac, and it's off at one end of the runway. The terrorists have taken over the plane. And as they sit there, they've radioed to the tower what their demands are. And the hostages are very afraid. They're in the plane. So far, no one has been harmed. Picture that I just painted isn't Saudi Arabia or Beirut, but it's the lives of some of us who have been through traumatic situations that have left us feeling like a hostage. Bondage is a good word for what the enemy does, because you realize what it means to be a captive. But as I mentioned, as an object lesson, I brought one of the new gold $1 American currency here. It's got sescajuea or some people say sescajua or whatever on it. Got to be politically correct here. But every one of us that is in the process of rebuilding our lives or those that are working with people who are rebuilding their lives has a two-sided, has two-sided elements in their life. On the first side We're just glad to be alive. We're just glad to be surviving. It's more of a defensive position, because as the enemy brings wave after wave of things against us to try to pull us back into the things we were involved in, it's more just coping day to day with what he's doing. And some of us are just at that stage. Some of us that are helping hurting people are also, we can see that in their lives. But there's the other side, and that's what we want to talk about today. That's more the offensive side. That's where we, like the commercial says, don't get mad, get glad. It's don't get glad, get mad, is what we want to say. We're just mad that the enemy has robbed us of so much. We're mad that he is trying to manipulate us and control us. And frankly, we're not going to put up with it anymore. In our terminology, the hostages have just taken over the plane. We're just doing it. We're just doing it. That's what we want to talk today. How to do that. How do you, especially those that have come through the occult and different cults where they've seen the power of the enemy and they've seen what he tries to do in their lives and other people's lives. How do you not be afraid of him? How do you not be afraid of the roaring lion? That's what we're going to talk about today. But I'd like to think first of what we've been robbed of. Think of the people you minister to, or you yourself, if you've gone through a lot of traumatic things, especially as a child. Some of the things we've been robbed of is the freedom to be normal. You know, the freedom to go to bed and just, you talk to people. I remember when I used to stay awake for hours and hours waiting, I sort of was It was a pattern to wait and listen for footsteps, because nights were real terrifying at my home. So when I found freedom in the Lord, I still had this pattern of listening for things at night, and I didn't sleep very well. So I used to talk to people and say, well, what do you do when you go to bed? And they'd say, well, sometimes I have real problems. I'd say, well, what do you mean? What do you do? And they'd say, well, sometimes it takes me up to a half hour to fall asleep. And I'm thinking, well, And here I'm thinking four or five hours is what it was taking me. And I said, well, what do you do? And you said, well, sometimes it's bad. I wake up maybe, you know, two, three times during the night. And I said, well, what happens when you wake up? Well, I fall right back asleep, you know. And I was dealing with apparitions and presences in my bedroom and, you know, terror and I'm fighting and all like this. And I thought, you know, I really wish I could be normal and just do what they're doing. Also, we've been robbed of the innocence of our childhood. Don't you ever wish you could go back and be a child again? and do it right this time. I have a border in my room at home. I put it up about a foot wide. It goes all the way around. And I call it the promise of a restored childhood is what I call it. That's not what the wallpaper store called it. They just called it Border 106. But what it is is it's a picture of a little girl dressed up in a real frilly dress with a big floppy hat. And she's serving tea to her golden retriever and her teddy bear. And I tell myself, this is how childhood should be. It should not be filled with confusion and incest and all the other horribleness that goes on in so many of our lives. It is possible to get that back. Also, we've been robbed of being able to sit in church and enjoy the symbolism, the cross, the candles, the Bible itself, especially those of us that have come through the occult. We, you can't, I remember even at Christmas, it was real difficult to sit in churches where they had candles around. Because to me, candles meant something different. Or the altar in front, or the communion service. Those of you that have been through a lot of cultic stuff, I know it's real difficult for you to go through it. You get robbed of that. One of the biggest things you get robbed of is that inner peace. The inner peace so that you can fuss over small things. You know? You hear people talking, and they're going, oh, I don't know. What's the problem? Well, you know, this, that, and the other. And you try to be sympathetic, and you want to be, but you realize, well, you know, last night I just relived the scene that happened to me when I was a kid, and I woke up so nauseous I couldn't go to work, or this, that, and the other. Or if the cult that you were involved in is still very active, trying to get you back, you know, you have the terror of dealing with that, or the phone calls with the hang-ups, Those are the things you're dealing with. You feel robbed that you can't be worried because, oh my goodness, I was at a restaurant and I was talking with a deeply wounded person. We were discussing some issues and the waiter came by and then all of a sudden went, oh, oh, oh. I said, what's the matter? He said, I have a paper cut. And it was just sort of funny to us because he was like, oh my goodness, I've got a paper cut. And we had just been discussing a life that had just been full of terror and destruction. Not that we shouldn't be concerned about paper cups, but the irony of it was interesting. Can you think of other things that you've been robbed of or people that you minister to have been robbed of? Let's just add a few things to our list. What has been robbed from them? Can you think of anything else? I know it's early, but. Relationships. You didn't have time to be developing these social skills, you know, how to relate to the opposite sex or how to do this or that or the other. You were terrified of the opposite sex. Or you didn't know the finesse of doing this, that and the other. You were just glad that you were alive when you came to school. The richness of discovering who you are. Yeah, who you are. Knowing who you are. Sense of security. Have any of you ever had your home broken into? A couple of you, yeah. Doesn't that leave you just feeling vulnerable in some ways? You get very mad at it, but something is violated or changed. You can imagine if starting at age three that was happening to you. Just the no sense of security or no sense of protection. Something else? Your innocents are being robbed of your innocence. There's a song that we sing sometimes. We have a once-a-year retreat for, we don't call them ritual abuse survivors. We call them TOGS, Trophies of His Grace. And we have a retreat once a year out in Colorado Springs specifically for TOGS. And one of the songs that we sing is, You Can Go Back to the Innocents. It's really a powerful song. I would have brought it today, but I always have to bring my Kleenex, so I didn't want to do that. Powerful truth. Anything else we've been robbed of? Identity, our identity. Right. Just robbed of being able to relate to him because so often you're just very terrified. If he didn't have the name God the Father, it wouldn't be so bad. robbed of love and being able, this is a normal bonding that I think Jim Wilder has been talking about with your parents, hasn't been there. Trust, ability to trust. Don't you wish you could trust? There's a really I think a real powerful truth in one of the books on our table is called, This Changes Everything. And it's helping people learn how to trust God. And it deals with the issue that most people don't trust God for good reason, because they have a wrong picture of the God they're trusting. But besides that, they don't really believe that he loves them unconditionally. If we could kind of take a barometer reading on each one of us, how much do we really believe God loves us unconditionally? I think it shows, it parallels how much we're able to trust Him. Those of us that are kind of caught up in performance things and ministry, you know, and there's just drivenness in us to do ministry, that may be a mixed motive. It's because, well, you know, we're supposed to, and so we got to keep Him happy. And so we do that. That's what we do. It's real freeing to really ask the Lord, show me what it means that you love me unconditionally. I don't like to be irreverent, but I say the closest thing on earth to God is a golden retriever. Because golden retrievers have this exuberance and gladness to see you when you come home, no matter what you've done, no matter how you've been. They just love to be in your presence. They just, they love you, no matter what. Well, magnify that about a bazillion times, and that's probably a little bit of how God loves us unconditionally. Well, how, can you think in scripture of any, going back to the hostage model now, of any people or person that was a hostage? Can you think of where we might go for a model in scripture? Joseph, that's a real good one. Can anybody think of anyone else? Saul, yep. Cain. There's a lot of people, go ahead. The little maid that was stolen, right? And remember, she played such an important role. I was thinking too of a big group, the children of Israel in Egypt. And that's what I'd like to take a look at today. We know the story, but what I'd like to do is just put up some verses and let the scripture tell the story. Because some of us are the people that we're helping are in this situation. We're in bondage. Pharaoh is such a good example of what Satan has done to God's people. And you may want to, on your own, go back and take a look at the story in Exodus. But let's just read through. First of all, to see what does God think about the situation? What did he think about the situation the children of Israel were in? And what does he think about the situation that those of us that are in a hostage position are in? Now, it came about in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died. This is in Exodus 2. And the sons of Israel sighed because of the bondage. And they cried out. And their cry for help because of their bondage rose up to God. So God heard their groaning. And he remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And God saw the sons of Israel and God took notice of them. And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmaster, for I am aware of their sufferings. So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land. to a land flown with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. And now behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to me. Furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them. Therefore, come now, I will send you to Pharaoh, he tells Moses, so that you may bring my people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt. Let's go back to the first sheet just a minute and look at some of the verbs, some of the responses that God has to the bondage. He talks, he's heard them, he's remembered them, he took notice of them, he's seen, he's given heed, he's aware, he's come down to deliver. So many of the people we minister to don't think God cares. This is a powerful passage to remind them. God sees the bondage that you're in. God knows where the past has brought you to. Maybe on the second sheet we can look at the verbs that are used there. He's again, he's seen and he's sent someone. That is so cool. Who he sent for us is Christ. If Christ hasn't come, there would be no hope about us getting out of bondage. I mentioned yesterday that I'm working on a book called The Cross of Christ and Monday Morning. And it's a Bible study about the cross of Christ. And it's the idea that what difference does it make when I'm making coffee on Monday morning that the cross of Christ is an event that has happened? Can I name ten things that would be missing from my life if the cross had never happened? How would I be making coffee if the cross hadn't happened? If someone came to me and said, I don't understand the cross of Christ and its significance, can I take them to five passages in scripture where they should go to see what the cross means? Do I know what the cross means? I think it's so central in the lives of people that have been in bondage to realize that freedom from the enemy came at the cross. There's a whole lot of, everything comes at the cross, actually. There's an old book called The Universality and Centrality of the Cross, you know, back in the days when the titles were longer than the cover had space. But I think it's really true. So if you want to do a Bible study on your own, head for the cross. It really is a powerful thing. Well, let's look in Exodus 3 now, as the story goes on, starting in verse 15. Exodus 3, 15 and 17. And God furthermore said to Moses, thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, the Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob has sent me to you. This is my name forever. And this is my memorial name to all generations. Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, the God, the Lord of our fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has appeared to me saying, I am indeed concerned about you. and what has been done to you in Egypt. If your people or you yourself have ever wondered what God thought, there it is in a nutshell. So I said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites to a land flowing with milk and honey. By the way, most of these people in Canaan were Satan worshipers. Some people wonder why in Jericho there was such devastation there. The Lord said, don't take anything of theirs, just get it away from you. Another name for Jericho is the Moon City, because of the worship of the moon that went on there. And when that's happening, you know what that's connected with. Then in Exodus 5, starting in verse two, but Pharaoh, now this is the guy in charge of the enemy's kingdom. Do you recognize him? Said, who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord. And besides, I will not let Israel go. But no one can resist God's hand. So let's watch what happens to him. How do you deal with blackmail is what we're talking about. How do you deal when the enemy comes to you and says, you know, if you try to get control in this area of your life, you know, I'm going to draw you back into the cult, or if you do this, I'm going to do this in your life, or are you sure that you want to mess around with this, or he puts on the pressure. As soon as you start reading scripture, you just, I mean, your mind feels like it's going to explode. You just, you can't deal with anything. You're emotionally overwhelmed every time you go to the word. So you say, well, I better not go to the word until I get this straightened out. No, the best thing to do is head straight for the word. Blackmail is insidious because if you give into it, it just strengthens the blackmailer. When I was brought to a place in Michigan where the Lord really used one of the pastors there to help me find freedom from the occult that I had been involved in. I began sitting in with him and some of the other elders to help other young people that had come. Mostly they, unlike me, they had opened the door in their life to the enemy's work through drug use. And as I used to sit in and try to be a help to the people, especially the women that were there, the enemy came to me very early on and planted a thought in my mind. Well, what if your involvement in helping other people drags you back into the darkness you've just escaped? Are you willing for their sake to be dragged back in. And I learned very quickly I had to shut down that kind of blackmail very early on. I refused to believe the lie that the enemy can pull me back into the darkness. I have a whole stack in my mind of ammunition verses, verses like, no weapon that's formed against you will prosper. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their vindication is from me, says the Lord. or greater is he who is in me than he who is in the world. Because as helpers of hurting people, you're not immune to blackmail either. Because someone will whisper you in your ear and say, well, what if what's going on in their life suddenly becomes over to your life? Or what if your children start having problems or your spouse? Or what about if I do this or that or the other? You need to have ammunition, which we'll be talking about later, practical ways to shut down that blackmail. But here in Exodus 5, This is when Moses goes before Pharaoh. The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or the sword. But the king of Egypt said to them, Moses and Aaron, why do you draw the people away from their work? Get back to your labors. Again, Pharaoh said, look, the people of the land are now many, and you would have them cease from their labors? So the same day, Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters over the people and their foremen, saying, you are no longer to give the people straw to make bricks as previously. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. But the quota of bricks which they were making previously, you shall impose on them. You are not to reduce any of it. Because they are lazy, therefore they cry out, let us go and sacrifice to our God. Then the same thing happens that happens in our lives. When they left Pharaoh's presence, they met Moses and Aaron as they were waiting for them. In other words, the people. And they said to them, may the Lord look upon you and judge you for you have made us odious in Pharaoh's sight and in the sight of his servants to put a sword in their hand to kill us. The discouragement that sets in when the person that you're discipling comes to you and says, it's getting worse. It's not getting better. It's getting worse. You know, what are you doing? I mean, I'm giving up on this. To be able at that point to know, wait, if the book of Exodus had stopped in this chapter, it would look like the Lord wasn't answering his promise, wasn't fulfilling his promise. But Exodus doesn't end here. But Moses goes to the Lord with his discouragement, starting in verse 22. Then Moses returned to the Lord and said, O Lord, why hast thou brought harm to this people? Why did thou ever send me? Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, He has done harm to this people and thou has not delivered thy people at all. Have you ever gone and kind of yelled at the Lord and said, I mean, Lord, it's not working. You know, we must be on the wrong track. We must be doing something wrong. It's just, it's a mess. Maybe we should back away for a while. Maybe, maybe it's too intense. Maybe we're fighting the enemy too much in the trenches here and we should just kind of ease off for a while. This is the same thing that happened to Moses. But Pharaoh, it's interesting to watch, you begin to see, he begins to realize he's losing his grip on the children of Israel. And when he begins to realize that he's losing his grip in your own life, or those you minister to, in the areas where you're in bondage, or the areas where there's strongholds that have never been broken, your whole life you've wrestled with this, all the way from those issues to issues of people who have been involved in hardcore things, and there's no part of their life that seems free. Satan begins to lose his grip. There's a verse in scripture that says, in due time, their foot will slip. I love to quote that verse. And also, there's another one that says, I would have despaired unless I believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord, it says. You need to have ammunition against this kind of discouragement that comes right here. Ask the Lord to give you some. Pharaoh begins to see that he's losing his grip, starting in 825. And Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said, he begins bargaining, go sacrifice to God within the land. Because Moses said, no, we got to go within the land. But Moses said, it is not right to do so. For we shall sacrifice to the Lord our God what is an abomination to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice what is an abomination to the Egyptians before their eyes, will they not stone us? We must go a three days journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as he commands us. And Pharaoh said, I will let you go that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness. Only you shall not go far away. Make supplication for me. Here he begins saying, all right, if you want to mess with this, OK, but you still have to stay within my land. You still have to stay in my kingdom. But the verse in scripture says he has transferred us out of the kingdom of darkness and brought us in the kingdom of his son. we come out of his kingdom. Even his servants, it's not up there, but even his servants get the picture. In Exodus 10, 7, they said, and Pharaoh's servants said to him, how long will this man be a snare to us? Let the men go that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not realize that Egypt is destroyed? Do you often wonder that some of Satan's workers might go to him and say, well, why don't you just, I mean, we're losing, man, we're losing. Let's look at the statistics. But Pharaoh, being Pharaoh, insisted that that he didn't listen to his advisors. So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, go serve the Lord your God. Who are the ones who are going? And Moses said, we shall go with our young and our old, with our sons and our daughters, with our flocks and our herds, we will go, for we must hold a feast to the Lord. Then he said to them, thus may the Lord be with you, if ever I let you and your little ones go. Take heed, for evil is in your mind. Not so. Now go, the men among you, and serve the Lord, for that is what you desire." So they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence. Sometimes, you know, this is an interesting application, those that are ministering to MPDs or DIDs, because he said, well, I'll just keep the little ones here with me. You know, and we say, no, the little ones even will be free. Often you can encourage those little ones by speaking to the person no matter what's going on on the surface level and saying, I just want the little ones to know God's going to rescue you. Don't worry. God's going to rescue you and I'm going to help you. In Exodus 10, Pharaoh comes back and realizes more of his power. He's beginning to see that he's got to do some major bargaining in order to keep these people under his control. Then Pharaoh called to Moses and said, go serve the Lord. Let your flocks and your herds be detained. Even your little ones may go with you. So now I say, okay, the little ones, but not your possessions because you need to be able, I need to have this so that you'll come back to get all your possessions. But Moses said, you must also let us sacrifice and burnt offering that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. Therefore, our livestock, too, will go with us. Not a hoof will be left behind, for we shall take some of them to serve the Lord our God. And until we arrive, we therefore, we ourselves do not know with what we shall serve the Lord. But the Lord hardens Pharaoh's heart. Let's not get distracted with that sentence. We could talk about that all day. but he was not willing to let them go. Then Pharaoh said to him, get away from me, beware, do not see my face again, for in the day you see my face, you shall die. And Moses said, you are right, I shall never see your face again. I love that. Again, if the book of Exodus had ended here, we would have just said, well, the Lord promised to bring freedom, but it doesn't look like it, it's getting worse. Stay with your people until the end of the book of Exodus. Because in Exodus 15, we all know the story of the Red Sea, you know, and how Pharaoh's army at the last minute decided, what have we done, and went back to try to recapture the people. And the Red Sea closed over them, the people escaped, and then this is what, this is the hallelujah service that they had. Then Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song to the Lord and said, I will sing to the Lord for he is highly exalted. The horse and the rider he has hurled into sea. This is a good verse to sing when you reach a roadblock with someone that you're working with. Just get out this passage in Exodus and exalt the Lord. Use the weapon of praise and just praise the Lord for the coming deliverance. The horse and the rider he has hurled into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song. He has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise Him. My Father's God, and I will extol Him. The Lord is a warrior. The Lord is His name. Thy right hand, O Lord, is majestic in power. Thy right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy. And in the greatness of Thy excellence, Thou dost overthrow those who rise up against Thee. Thou didst blow with Thy wind. The sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters. Who is like Thee among the gods, O Lord? Who is like Thee, majestic in holiness? awesome in praises, working wonders. In thy lovingkindness thou hast led the people whom thou hast redeemed. In thy strength thou hast guided them to thy holy habitation. The Lord shall reign forever and ever. Sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted, the horse and the rider he has hurled into the sea." Isn't that beautiful? The enemy that is opposing you as you minister to people who are in bondage is the same enemy that literally saw the Red Sea part and Pharaoh's army sink down like a stone. Maybe he needs to be reminded of that. Maybe he needs to be reminded that the line of the tribe of Judah is his creator. There is none greater than him. The hostages have taken over the plain, like we said. The other side of the coin that we can encourage herding people to develop is a godly boldness and confidence and teaching them how not to be afraid of the enemy. When I was a kid, I watched The Wizard of Oz, and partners technically besides all the problems I had with the witch that showed up because I knew what those were. When the little bald-headed guy who is the Wizard of Oz, those of you that have seen it at the very end, he's trying to scare everybody and he's behind this big curtain. He has a microphone and he's yelling, how dare you come before me, you know, like this. But then the dog goes over and pulls the curtain back and there's this little short bald-headed guy that just looks, doesn't look like he could scare anybody. And to me, over the years, that's been a picture of Satan because Satan has to bluff, otherwise he couldn't get us to be afraid of him. And I'm not suggesting we take a flippant attitude about Satan. He's a very powerful being. And if we try to confront him one-on-one ourselves, we're in real problems. But the truth of our union of Jesus Christ and the fact that we are in Christ and that Satan is under Christ's feet, he's also under our feet. There's a greeting card I saw once and it said, keep looking down. And inside it said, for you are seated in heavenly places with Christ Jesus. I think what the enemy has done in our churches is either made a fear of him or a fascination with him. And we need to guard against those. We need to teach the people we minister to, you don't, no longer do you have to be afraid of the enemy. What often comes up is, well, then where was God? Why wasn't God, was he not powerful enough to stop that abuse as I was five years old or whatever? Encourage your people to have what I call an unexplained box into which they put things that they don't understand for the time being, let's place them over there, and not allow them to be used as barriers to me learning what this God is really like. Because the enemy wants, I always point at that, well what about that? Where was he? What about that? How can we go from hostage to hero? How can we encourage people to no longer be afraid of the one that they saw as all powerful in their life before? Well, the first point is stick around people who know their God and are bold. Stick around people who know their God and are bold. A godly boldness that says the roaring lion is powerful, but the reason he roars, I'm sure you've heard it in sermons before, is they usually send the old lions when they've got this whole strategy when they're going to capture an antelope or something. And they begin, they have the old lions stay here and they begin to ring the young lions in a circle. It's really amazing to watch on those PBS things. And they go around and kind of surround it. But the job of the old lions, they can't run too much anymore, is to move forward into the herd and start roaring. And all they do, all their job is just to roar because they're toothless. You know, they can't run anymore. So they just roar and move forward and it scares them all. And so they run into where the other lions are waiting in ambush. Well, it's not coincidence that the Lord uses the phrase roaring lion for Satan. Because compared to God's power, he's toothless and he can't run fast enough anymore to catch anybody. I think that if we ourselves understand our union with Christ, we begin to develop a godly boldness. I've got some resources on the, I think one of the back chairs, Lucy put them. There's three separate things. One is, it talks, where do I begin? And it's a one-page short Bible study, gives verses of understanding our union with Christ and the authority we have in him. Those are good verses for you to study but memorize. Because if you don't have clear your position in Christ and the fact that you don't have to be afraid of Satan, it's real easy when the enemy knows how to, you know, act like the Wizard of Oz and, you know, you have some sort of an eruption when you're talking with someone and you're suddenly faced with something that looks very powerful. The reason he looks powerful is that's his only weapon. He's not as powerful as the Lion of Tribal Judah, so his best effort is to be those old roaring lines in the middle of the pride of lines. Secondly, study your authority in Christ. That's just what I mentioned in the back of the room. If you had to say, okay, let me see, let me memorize five verses that have to do with my position in Christ or my authority. Some of us would think, well, it's like prego spaghetti sauce. I know it's in there. It's in there somewhere, but I'm not sure where. This is one of the things you can teach your people if you're doing Bible studies with them. Begin talking about our union in Christ and what it means. You know, I think it's really insidious the way the enemy has done this. In the last five years, he's becoming so blatant so that the occult and things are no longer hidden. They're just right there. I'd heard of a guy that used to go out and pass out tracks at some of these I think it was Twisted Sisters was the name of the group. They used to follow, kind of go around. He was a Christian and he'd stand outside and pass out tracts to the kids that were coming. It was a very occult group, the Twisted Sisters and some of the others. And he said it was really amazing to him because in recent years when he does that, when he goes around and passes out tracts, used to they say, oh, I'm not interested in this. But now when he passes out tracts, they say, well, this is a different God. I serve Satan. I don't want this. And because they're very much aware that part of what goes on at the concerts is linking up with the supernatural being. They have a dragon that comes out on stage and the whole business. Satan has become very blatant. Well, what preceded that in the church over the last 15 or 20 years is he's beginning to cover over what it means that we're united with Christ. So that the only response in many Christians' lives is fear when they see that. If we'd been able to hang on to the truth of our union in Christ, then we may have responded differently when he now is just so blatant. I don't believe he could be this way had he not silenced our understanding in many churches about what it means to be in Christ. The third one is get a biblical perspective on the enemy and the warfare. There's two sheets back there. One is understanding the basics about our enemy, Satan. And there's another sheet that says Jesus encounters with wicked spirits. It's fascinating to me for people to believe that at some point in history, like there were wicked spirits in the Old Testament, they did serve demonic forces, Paul says, when the Gentiles Worship the I sacrifice to the idols. They were really sacrificing to the demons behind the idols He says so there obviously he thought there were demons in the Old Testament Christ experienced wicked spirits Paul experienced wicked spirits But for some reason at some point in history it must I don't know what happened It just got cut off and after that there were no wicked spirits. I don't know how that worked You know at whether invention of the Model T or some point in history I don't know what happened and then after that there's no more wicked spirits and then Usually the people that believe that there aren't any wicked spirits, they believe they're angels, good angels. Well, what happened to the one-third that weren't good angels? But I think it's real easy, it's an area to get way off the beam when you're talking about spiritual reality, spiritual warfare, deliverance. I believe that if you have a ministry that's a deliverance ministry, it has to be in the context of discipleship. It's just a part of discipleship. When Martin Luther led someone to the Lord, he used to have them make this declaration, and I don't know the exact wording, but it was the idea that I renounce any agreements I've ever made with Satan or his workers. I mean, it was just part of the renunciation of the past. And when people were baptized, they understood the symbolism of what that meant. I'm no longer in Satan's kingdom. I'm identified with Christ. But somewhere over in church history, we've sort of silenced it and now sometimes it's this big, out of, sort of distorted deliverance ministry that I think if it's not in the context of an overall discipleship approach, I think it can really become grotesque and distorted and people can really fall to deception. So you can pick up those if you like in the back there. The next point, find specific ammo. Specific ammo against being afraid of the enemy. I was on the radio a couple days ago, and something happened that hadn't happened in a long time. When the host from the radio show called the day of the show, he said, I don't know, but this must be going to be an interesting radio program because I had some real spiritual opposition during the night. And I didn't tell him at that time. I told him later, but I likewise excuse me in the middle of the night there was a sensing of a demonic presence I didn't see anything but just you know how you wake up and there's a very eerie thing going on even I can't notice something I mean she was going like this. You have to have your gun loaded spiritually at that point to stand against that kind of fear. at times when I was years ago real confused, the only verse I could remember in those times was, do not fear. And then I'd say, I choose to obey that. You know, that was great because it was at least one thing. It was setting myself to not fear. Then years later, since my nights were so bad for me for so many years, Then I learned verses like, when you lie down, you'll not be afraid. When you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. Do not be afraid of fear or of the onslaught of the enemy when it comes. For the Lord will be your confidence. He will keep your feet from being caught. Those kind of verses you have to have. You have to teach the people that you're working with those kind of anti-fear personnel weapons or something so that they don't get shell-shocked when the enemy lobs a fear bomb into their midst. Specifically, learn how to deal with the night terrors is the next point. It would be unusual if the people that you're helping don't have lots of trouble at night. You know how it is when you wake up in the middle of the night. What happens to our brains? What is the chemistry going on? Where a little event becomes like just mind-boggling. Oh, I forgot to put those paperclips away at work. Oh, it's terrible. What am I going to do? I got to get to the office. I mean, something happens for all of us at night. Things just get blown out of proportion. Well, if you're used to having awful things happen in your home as a child, that pattern of being afraid at night is there anyway. And you need to know how to specifically deal with that. Ask the Lord to give you some verses of scripture. Have a tape. Well, there's one tape out there on our table. I read the verses from Taking Every Thought Captive that had to do with what is God like. And we put those on tape and a little piano background in the back. That's something some people use at night when they wake up and there's this terror. Just put that, push the button, put it on, so they can be reminded about what God is like. There's another little pack of cards. I don't want to make this an infomercial, but if you've found things like this at other places, let me know, because we want to carry them. The reason we made a lot of them is because we couldn't find them. There's a little pack called King of Kings, and it's a little meditation. We call them meditation verses. They're business card size. But they're verses of exaltation of Christ. And it's like taking the verse and praying it back to God. If you haven't memorized in your topical memory system, just plain verses of praise, using the weapon of praise, that'd be a good place to go. Often we learn application, you know, how I should live, I should be witnessing, share what you have with, oh no, that's priesthood. But being able to have exaltation verses can be very powerful to teach your people. Then next, just study Exodus. Look at what happens when God says, let my people go. Also, study verses about the character of God. When the verse says resist the enemy, the first part says draw near to God. And you can get really out of balance if all you do is resist the enemy and focus on the enemy. First submit to God, draw near to God. And in that context, then you can resist the enemy. Next, avoid the temptation, and this is especially for those who are in bondage, avoid the temptation to quit reading the Bible. That's the first thing the enemy puts in our minds. Oh, I can't come to God. I don't get anything out of it anyway. And when I read the Bible, then bad things happen to me. So, you know, there's a wonderful, let's see, is it a five-letter word? Six-letter word, forbid. I forbid the enemy to retaliate against me. I have to use that a lot because in our ministry, we're in the front lines of people who have come straight from the occult or different cults like David Koresh's, the madness that was there and other things. And there's a lot of threats. So to be able to say, no, I forbid the enemy to retaliate against me. Those of you that are helpers, haven't you in the middle of some intense time had the thought, well, What if I do something to you or your family? This is a real insidious... No, I refuse that. Greater is he who is in me than he who is in the world. I'm not going to put up with that. I'm on the other side of the coin now. I'm taking over the plane. And the last is have your unexplained box ready. By that I mean teach the people that you're discipling, okay, if you hate God, So you don't want to read his word. Are you willing to put aside that hatred for just a minute or that, you know, where was God when aside for just a minute because the enemy wants to use that to block you from ever getting to know God. So what if you just put that aside and see in his word what he's really like. Go to the gospels as though you had a video camera and watch when he's interacting with people and say, OK, what does he show me about what this guy's like? going to scripture for that, but not allowing the unexplained to be a block. Those of you that have ministered to people who have been held hostage spiritually, can you add any thoughts on how practically to quit being a hostage, how to move from a hostage to a hero? Dealing with the fear issue, fear of Satan, I think is a real big one. And you may need to head there with some of your folks to teach them. They don't need to be afraid. Model it for them. Not a mocking. There's a Sunday school song that I really don't like that they teach kids. If Satan doesn't like it, he can sit on a tack or something, some song like this. I'm not talking about mocking this powerful being. I'm talking about hiding in the one who can roar and who causes the enemy to bow his knee. God is a refuge and a strong tower. That's what I'm talking about. There's a picture I may have mentioned last time I was here, but I do a little pen and ink. There was a picture that I was working on, and it has this little lion cub. And he just has this face of innocence, you know. He's just looking around, right? Well, what fun can we have today, you know? And he's just so, so fearless, just having a great time. And he has his hands kind of propped like this on something. And if you realize suddenly what he has his hands propped up on, you know why he can be like that. Because what he's got his hand propped on is this huge paw of a lion. And anybody who wants to mess with the little one has to mess with the daddy lion first. And that's such a clear picture of where we're at. Don't mess with me, Satan. You've got to mess with him. And it's so powerful. If you can instill in the people you're helping, they've got their daddy lion right behind them. And they're so close to him that they can feel the warmth. And they can feel his heart beating. And he's not going to let anybody come and mess with his kids. That's a good point. She was talking about even if you have very fearful people, when they read their Bible, have them sit in a chair that's very comfortable and cozy and you sort of sink into it. and remind them that that's what they can be with God, that they likewise are surrounded by Him. For the sake of the tape, he was mentioning the hope that can come by reminding them of what God has already done in their life. What book in the Bible did God do that in? Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy says, remember, remember, remember, remember what God's done, remember. It can bring real hope. The one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders. Deuteronomy what? 33.12. Yep, I think he's hugging me. Any other thoughts on keeping Christian TV on all night? Or tapes. We don't think we brought them with us. We have what we call doorpost signs and they're little calligraphy things we encourage people to put up in their rooms and they're just verses of strength, you know. we overwhelmingly conquer through Christ. Things like that, those can be helpful. She was 12, and when she was young, she couldn't read, even first grade, second grade, third grade, she couldn't read anything. But her mother, who had some spiritual and emotional problems as well, found that if she provided her with books about vampires, she could instantly read. So her mother thought this was good, so she kept bringing her books about vampires. So by the time she was 10, she had gone to the library, taken all the books about witchcraft out, and learned how to do all the spells. And she became a person who could sell a teenager or child's soul to Satan by going through these incantations. She decided to form a cult that's still active there in Colorado Springs among the teenagers. a vampire cult where they get together once a week, they drink each other's blood, they have occult ceremonies. But she was watching at home, on her video, she was watching Dead Man Walking. It's a movie about someone who's on death row. And there in her living room, she suddenly thought as the man was being led to execution, when I die, what will happen to me because I know I served God's enemy? And in her room at 11 years old, she turned to Christ. So she showed up at ICBC and she wanted somebody to help her. And I began to meet with her and it was so beautiful to watch her making the announcements that we use the Freedom in Christ materials with her. I renounce any agreements I've ever made with Satan. I choose Jesus Christ. I choose the cross of Christ as my protection. I choose the blood of Christ as my covering. And just to see the transformation in this girl's life. That's an example of the power of Christ to take someone whose heart in the very middle of the enemy's camp and basically just turn the Lord, turning her to him, his heart of compassion. There is hope for anyone. Christ is so, Christ is victor. We have a big banner in our office because the people we work with have been through the personal Holocaust that was formed by the same being that planned the Holocaust in Germany. And the people that we see coming to freedom and coming out of bondage and coming to be trophies of His grace, it's because Christ is victor. Lord Jesus, we thank you that we can sing this song because we know the one we're singing about, that Christ is victor, that He is greater than all. I pray, Father, for myself and each one here, that there would be a godly boldness and a realization that we don't need to be frightened of the enemy, that we don't need to give in to this blackmail. that he who the sun sets free shall be free indeed. Lord, I pray you would infuse in us by your Holy Spirit the knowledge that there is no one greater than El Shaddai. We apologize for believing otherwise, Lord, by our actions and and by the fears that we've allowed in our lives. Show us, Father, how to combat specifically those fears in our own lives as helpers and also how to pass on to the people we minister to the boldness that you gave us. We thank you for the boldness of Moses. We saw, Father, he was a scaredy cat when he started. He said, well, I'm not a good speaker. I don't know. I don't have what I need. I don't know how to do this. And yet you put him in the place to stand before Pharaoh and say, we will worship our God. Father, I pray that that same boldness would be in each one of us. We love you so much, Lord. We thank you for transferring us out of the kingdom of darkness and bringing us into your kingdom. And we do bow our knee to El Shaddai. We pray in the name of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ. Amen. Thank you for coming and staying awake. A plus.