A few years ago I was asked to do follow-up for a woman who had been set free from several demons. I know this is a controversial subject. Christians do not agree that it even happens, never mind to other Christians, but as an eye-witness, I can say that it does.
This woman was a believer, but she toyed around with a particular sin to the point that she lost control. Satan sent a few of his cohorts to keep her totally occupied and she could not deal with this herself. Eventually, the four people she “hated the most” became the four people who helped her out of this mess.
After that deliverance, I spent at least one night a week with her. Her story was startling. I gained a new respect for the powers of darkness, but more so for the incredible protection of God. No matter how hard the enemy worked to destroy this woman, God took care of her and brought her out of a very black hole into His light.
If there is a message in this experience, it is this: Don’t dabble in sin. Don’t think that I can do something and ‘it won’t matter’ or ‘God will forgive me.’ The possibility of becoming a slave to sin is not worth whatever pleasures it might offer as bait.
My reading today speaks indirectly to this issue. In Acts 5, the apostles were brought before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. He was angry and said, “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”
Guilt is a funny thing. You either are or you are not. Someone else cannot ‘make’ you guilty. This was a side issue and the apostles knew it. The real issue was ‘who’ would they obey?
Peter and the other apostles already had their minds made up. They replied: “We must obey God rather than men! The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead—whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
The church was established by Christ and built on the foundation of these solid believers who refused to compromise. Not only were they determined to avoid dabbling in sin, they were also determined to die rather than disobey the Lord.
Sin’s temptation is always with us. It might not be as big as a threat of jail or death for obeying God, but some little thing that seems not to matter very much, perhaps a hidden sin that first goes on only in our minds, something that gives us pleasure, but no one knows about it. This is what happened to the woman with the demons. Those who knew her, including myself, were oblivious to the sin that held her in its snare. She faked her spiritual life to all but four discerning people that God knew would be able to help her.
I’m rather terrified of the responsibility tied to this experience. God put me there because He knew about the situation I’m would be in now? He knew that someone I care about is also battling demons and needs deliverance?
I’m thinking that this is correct. I also see that to be any help to her or anyone else, my own life has to be clean. I cannot yield to temptation. I can’t stop trusting the Lord. This is a war, not only for my own life, but the life of at least one other person. If I look at myself, I know I cannot do it. If I keep my eyes on Jesus, I know all things are possible.
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