Dealing with Spiritual Terrorists
Have you ever heard the term “spiritual terrorist”? Allow me to clarify. A spiritual terrorist is an individual who is openly hostile to the Godhead, the Bible, and Christianity. They are not kind or passive in their refusal to believe, but rabid. They are 100 percent convinced the truth of the Word is not truth at all. And there are two types of spiritual terrorists: 1) the type who hold you hostage to trying to “save” them from their unbelief and 2) the type who vehemently fight to discredit and make illegal godly values and beliefs in all public settings.
Holding You Hostage
Recently, a young man reached out to me very concerned about a friend of his. This was part of the message he sent me:
“There are so many ‘contradictions’ in the Bible. Taking time to painstakingly study it verse to verse and page to page…”
Later on he text me: “And if I am eventually not convinced then...I may stray from the flock…”
Honestly speaking, I am worried for him because there is no other way other than Jesus Christ! Please help me out as the Spirit leads you for this brother to see the need to have a contact with the Spirit of God and arise!
This was my response to him:
Your friend is studying [the Word] without faith or a relationship to God/Holy Spirit. If He has no faith, He won't understand God's Word. Also, don't be moved by his threat. Pray for him, that the Holy Spirit would work on his heart. If he's “threatening” to leave, let him. There's nothing you can do to make him stay. It's the Holy Spirit that draws us. This is His job, ultimately. All you can do is pray the Holy Ghost would word your lips and speak to his heart.
When I was pondering this situation, the Lord brought the story of The Rich Man and Lazarus back to my remembrance. Here is the part that stood out to me:
Then [the Rich Man] said, “I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.” Abraham said to him, “They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.” And he said, “No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.” But he said to him, “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.” (Luke 16:27-31)
This Rich Man’s brothers and most likely the Rich Man himself were very probably spiritual terrorists. And as with all dead spiritual terrorists, he lifted up his eyes in Hell and discovered the error of his ways too little too late. As we can see from verses 19-26, the Rich Man was not one to follow the Law of Moses or the words of the prophets. If he had, he would have been mindful of the poor around him. (See Isaiah 58:7-9.)
Besides the fact that Father Abraham was incapable of doing anything to change the hearts and minds of the Rich Man’s brother, he also knew it would be pointless if a supernatural occurrence were to happen to them because they were utterly convinced in their unbelief. It would’ve been about the same equivalent as when the ghost of Jacob Marley appears to the miserly Scrooge who convinces himself he’s simply suffering from indigestion instead of actually seeing an apparition of deceased business partner.
This is the type of spiritual terrorist who will (knowingly or unknowingly) rob of you of your peace by insinuating that if you don’t wrack your brain day and night to convince them of a truth they refuse to believe any way, that it will be YOUR fault if they leave the faith and wind up in Hell.
A person like that will never be convinced by man.
A person like that is not being drawn by the Spirit, and thus cannot answer the Spirit’s call.
Only God Himself can reverse their situation. Only He can create the brick wall that causes them to come to themself and see the error of their ways.
This is when you give yourself permission to walk away in love because all that will be accomplished is you losing sleep, gaining guilt, and being spiritually tormented.
This is NOT your assignment.
God gives you the grace to minister to those whose spirit is prepared to receive what must be heard and sooner or later, they will act upon it.
This is a distraction. Bless them and go your own way.
Holding U.S. to Ransom
The second type of spiritual terrorist has a much further reaching end in mind. His or her goal is not to merely hold one person hostage, but an entire society. But before we further describe them, let’s take a look at some spiritual terrorists of the worst kind in Scripture.
And about that time there arose a great commotion about the Way. For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Diana, brought no small profit to the craftsmen. He called them together with the workers of similar occupation, and said: “Men, you know that we have our prosperity by this trade. Moreover you see and hear that not only at Ephesus, but throughout almost all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that they are not gods which are made with hands. So not only is this trade of ours in danger of falling into disrepute, but also the temple of the great goddess Diana may be despised and her magnificence destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worship.”
Now when they heard this, they were full of wrath and cried out, saying, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians!” So the whole city was filled with confusion, and rushed into the theater with one accord, having seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians, Paul’s travel companions. (Acts 19:23-29, see 21-41 for full context)
Demetrius was a spiritual terrorist of the worst kind for real! He was in no way even pretending to be concerned about “The Way” being right, but rather with preserving his own pagan ways and was not satisfied to brew by himself. Oh no! He had to rile up every weak-minded, passive, and politically correct person around him in the process. One man raised a city-wide riot in Ephesus. Now thankfully, some wise city clerk halted the damage from going any further (verses 35-41). But in our modern society, these spiritual terrorists are becoming increasingly bold and dangerously popular.
You know how Target is bowing to the squeaky wheel and making all of their bathrooms open to transgenders who choose which one they *feel* like using?
Spiritual terrorists.
You know how PayPal has refused to continue their plans to build in Charlotte, taking back the 400+ jobs they promised - and convincing other corporations to do so as well because of these bathroom laws?
Spiritual terrorists.
You know how Bruce Springsteen and other artists are refusing to perform in North Carolina in protest of the protest against the bathroom laws?
Spiritual terrorists, every one.
They say we are discriminating, but in all actuality, they are holding the evangelical and conservative populace to ransom. They feel they are standing up for the underdog, but they are leaving the women and children open to easily foreseen attacks. They think they are being noble, but in all actuality, they are negotiating and siding with spiritual terrorists and becoming them themselves.
There is no nobility in supporting a man who says he is a woman or a woman who says she is a man. A child has more common sense than that.
And in allowing people of either gender to use whatever bathroom they *feel* they identify with at that particular point in time, they are not just putting the privacy and safety of women and children at risk, but they are also putting the transsexual and transgender men (originally and biologically women) who walk into a potential lions’ den of unsaved, unsanctified men who may lash out in unrighteous indignation and bring about their own style of vigilante “justice.” These faux men are putting their own lives at risk!
[Note: I am in NO WAY supporting this vigilante “justice.” Hence the words “unsaved,” “unsanctified,” “lash out,” and “unrighteous indignation.” Yet just because I oppose these actions doesn’t mean I am blind to the fact that these types of attacks do happen.]
But these spiritual terrorists are not only seen in these “bathroom law” situations. They can also be seen in actions such as:
- removing Judeo-Christian prayer from schools whilst allowing/encouraging Muslim prayer
- removing the Pledge of Allegiance (or the words “one nation, under God”) from schools
- removing curriculum on Creationism in exchange for Darwinism and the Big Bang Theory
- legalizing abortion
- removing curriculum on abstinence in exchange for “safe sex” in Sex Ed. classes
- removing Judeo-Christian holiday displays and phrases from public/store greetings
- creating laws that restrict home gatherings
- implementing city planning that restricts and prevents the growth of existing churches and restricts the building of new churches
- trying to remove the Ten Commandments whilst making plans to erect a statue of Baphomet (an alias of Satan)
- legalizing same-sex "marriage"
You may be able to think of some other examples of spiritual terrorism.
And the spirit behind this terrorism is AntiChrist. It opposes God Himself, God’s Word, God’s people, God’s morals, and God’s Kingdom.
Forcefully Advancing Kingdoms
Spiritual terrorism is very literally taking over our societies. It rules in the East and is happily taking root in the West.
Why, you ask?
Because for every Kingdom and apostolic model, driven by a prophetic process, there is a demonic system to counter and replace that Kingdom system (Bishop Tudor Bismark).
Spiritual laws are neutral. So when Christ told us, “the kingdom from heaven has been forcefully advancing,” He followed it up immediately by saying “and violent people have been attacking it,” (Matt. 11:12 ISV). So while we are waging a holy warfare in the spirit realm, Satan’s imps are driving their human missiles to wage war in the natural realm.
When I look at Muslims, I see a group of people who - through jihad - are taking to heart the words of their false prophet and waging unholy wars through means of second class citizenship, forced servitude, persecution, suicide bombers, sleeper cells, and overt attacks. They are advancing the Kingdom of Darkness and their reach is far, touching all seven pillars of society. And in their gungo fervency, they put Christianity to shame.
I repeat the words of Christ:
“My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight...but now My kingdom is not from here.” (John 18:36)
We who are His do not create militias and armies to fight the men and women of this world for our holy cause. Neither do we call down fire on the heads of unbelievers and enemies (Luke 9:51-56). However, we do advance our Kingdom of Light by taking spiritual territory. When we “take it by force” and declare war, we do so from a posture of spiritual warfare in prayer and intercession. And while we (should) vote in a way that exalts righteousness and not lawlessness and ungodliness, we do not lash out at those who oppose us or our beliefs.
Our Kingdom is not of this world.
We are not spiritual terrorists. Our job is simply to provide invitations and directions to the Kingdom that is outside this world: the Kingdom of God.
The sword we use is the Word; the arrows we aim are our prayers; the guns we fire are our declarations.
Our Kingdom is not of this world.
Yet Satan’s job is to prevent any from mounting the Train of Glory and thus, preventing living souls’ access to eternal life. And so he creates spiritual terrorists. They brainwash us. They flex on us. They seduce us. And in our sleepy state, the Church is falling into his traps. And yet, Paul said, “for we are not ignorant of his devices,” (II Cor. 2:11). Jesus said we are to be “wise as serpents and harmless as doves,” (Matt. 10:16), so why are we acting ignorant and dumb as sheep? Christ even praised the wit of the sons of this world saying, “for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light,” (Luke 16:8 KJV).
Fulfilling Our Kingdom Mandates
We have a terrible problem in the world.
Christians are being punked left and right by these spiritual terrorists. Some cower in fear, others compromise their morals to maintain their position and popularity. Others still are far too ignorant of the Word (most likely a personal AND pastoral problem these days) that they do not even know they are being overrun.
Many say “Well, we don’t live in a Christian nation.” But God never said that was a valid excuse to keep you from turning the world upside down and discipling the nations. God never said, “Ask for the nations as your inheritance - but only if they’re all Christians.” No. Not AT ALL. The very reason you ask for, pray for, and disciple the nations is BECAUSE they are not Christians! To all of you struggling with this or anyone who wants to challenge yourself spiritually, I highly recommend one of my favourite books, The Reformation Manifesto by Cindy Jacobs.
God didn’t promise the Governor a.k.a. The Holy Spirit to us so we could recolonize persons and peoples who have already been colonized. England never sent governors and colonists to places already under submission to the British Empire. Britannia sent her representatives to occupy territory she wanted to make part of herself. It is the same with us.
God would not have planted us here if we were not supposed to come and shift the atmosphere around us. He didn’t put us here to be terrorized, punked, or pushed aside by the native populace.
Yes, we know the Bible plainly tells us that the times will get worse. Perilous times. Evil times. Purely wicked times. Deep, dark times.
And yet, the Bible demonstrates that this darkness is paramount to our ability to shine.
And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. (John 1:5)
Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery; but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits. (Daniel 11:32)
Arise, shine;
For your light has come!
And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.
For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,
And deep darkness the people;
But the Lord will arise over you,
And His glory will be seen upon you.
The Gentiles shall come to your light,
And kings to the brightness of your rising.
(Isaiah 60:1-3)
In these perilous yet exciting times, ask God to show you how you are to operate and do battle against the enemy of our souls. He will absolutely show you what you must know in His perfect timing.
