What does an exorcist read? The Bible, of course. Every day. Beyond that I stay in touch with politics, religious trends, social change, world events, and church history. I’m particularly interested in knowing how the American evangelical church has adopted such a mostly pathetic state of dumbed-down Christianity. I don’t mean that Christians are dumb. I’m referring to our culture-driven, comfy-cozy, intellectually-dull, entertainment-oriented, commitment-phobic brand of Christianity that so predominates American spiritual life. Mostly, I fear how any call to real spiritual warfare is avoided assiduously.
In addition to all my other reading, I work my way through several major books a year. My current passion, a book my wife got for me (she knew I’d love it, and I do) is entitled, The Spirit of Early Christian Thought. The nearly 400 page volume seeks to uncover the true roots of post-apostolic Christianity by delving into the mindset of the greatest early theologians. The author, Robert Louis Wilkin, is Professor of The History of Christianity at the University of Virginia. The book is published by Yale University Press. Wilkin’s exploration ranges from St. Augustine to Cyril of Alexandria to Maximus the Confessor in the 7th Century. The book is deep and I’ll not bore you with its complex intellectual meanderings.
What a book like this does make clear is that for the first 1,000 or so years of the Church, the leaders of Christianity took the Bible very seriously. They often wrote hundreds of pages (on parchment by hand, not churned out on a laptop) about a single sentence, or a single word. Take John 6:38, for example and the word “will.” Huge church councils were called to debate exactly whose will was being exerted, and whether Christ’s will was different than that of the Father. The outcome of that discussion determined much of what we believe today.
Sadly, it is hard for American Christians to even read God’s Word, let alone parse deeper meanings. And when it comes to the thought that the true Kingdom of Christ is established by casting out demons (Luke 11:20), that is incomprehensible to most evangelical. What we have is a version of Christianity for Dummies, ignorant of the battle with Satan that rages all around us, and mostly unaware of how Christians can be demonized. Our International School of Exorcism is out to change all that. If you haven’t enrolled, please do so today and learn the truth about spiritual warfare. (To enroll, please CLICK HERE.)
An encouraging word: LET GOD AVENGE YOU
Everyone has enemies. They may be disgruntled family members, former friends who turned against you, or people in the pathway of life who oppose you for seemingly little reason. There are good and bad ways to handle this problem. The bad way is to retaliate and make your enemy angrier. The psalmist
David had the proper attitude in Psalm 18:47-48: “He is the God who avenges me, who saves me from my enemies.” When you meet opposition, it’s better to leave it in God’s hands than to take matters into your own hands.
Bob Larson has trained healing and deliverance teams all over the world to set the captives free and Do What Jesus Did® (Luke 4:18). You can partner with Bob and support this vision to demonstrate God’s power in action by calling 303-980-1511 or clicking here to donate online.
