Arming The Saints Blog

When we all learned about someone killing nine followers of Jesus Christ in the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Carolina, some said it was the most unbelievable and unimaginable thing possible. Inside a church? After a bible study?  People tried to label it – a hate crime, a terrorist act, perhaps something unable even to be labeled. But today the headline on CNN spoke the truth, as it quoted the Reverend Norvel Goff as saying that, “No evildoer, no demon in hell or on earth can close the doors of God’s church.” Indeed, this attack was brought on by evil. It was a part of the spiritual war.

This ministry is not geared toward people who aren’t followers of Jesus Christ. It’s called “Arming the Saints” because it’s main goal is to help followers of Jesus recognize the supernatural, and to react accordingly. And if you’re a follower of Jesus Christ, then you believe in the Bible and what the Bible teaches. And if you believe in what the Bible teaches, you should see the truth of recognizing something demonic at work inside the church in South Carolina.

The Bible is clear that we’re in a spiritual war: “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Eph. 6:12). Knowing this, if someone would have asked me where some of the heaviest fighting would be, I would have said, quite confidently, inside our churches and against God’s people. There’s nothing unimaginable about a demon wanting to come into a church to harm followers of Christ. It’s exactly what I would expect.

Now, I’ve been in a lot of church buildings, and I’ve been in more than I’d like to mention with some demonic presence. I know it sounds bad, but it happens (virtually always unintentionally), and so I’ve done my share of rebuking demons even inside what we like to think are some of our most hallowed buildings. But I’ve also been in church buildings with such an incredibly strong covering of prayer and rebuking that no demonic presence can even get close. And, please, don’t get me wrong. I am by no means saying that any of the people in the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church did anything wrong. They are Saints, losing them is a horrible loss, and I only hope that when I go, I go like them – praising Jesus Christ while facing down evil with the knowledge of God’s grace and an awaiting eternity.

But a spiritual issue requires a spiritual response. So when you hear the natural world talk about how to keep this “unimaginable” thing from happening in the future, remember that Ephesians 6 gives us the true answer: “Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”

May God bless and show His infinite grace to all persons.