I get the intercessor emails from John, and this one is "Profound" (in the words of my wife Sandy)...
The primary enemy of the Gospel (and of our message and ministry) is the Religious Spirit, which, sadly, has a large part of the church in the U.S. under it's influence. This is nothing new. Where did the most constant and most intense opposition against Jesus come from? It wasn't Rome. It was the religious leaders. I mean, good grief, he heals a guy on the Sabbath and they want to kill him for it (John 7:14-24). You can see how intense this hatred and jealousy is. The enemy doesn't want the true Gospel getting out there. He's fine with all sorts of false versions (church-ianity, legalism, religion) but man o man does he hate the real thing. You see this down through church history, how men and women bringing the true Gospel are persecuted not by pagans but by the church. Paul is dumbfounded by the Galatians, who so quickly turned from the Gospel to add to Jesus "circumcision and keep the law." That's the Religious Spirit at work, bringing in something that sounds like righteousness and truth just enough to snare God's people back into bondage. And to de-fame Paul and his message to prevent it from spreading.
A friend just shared with us a story, how the leadership of her church told her "Captivating is from the pit of hell." Another man is reprimanded and then "silenced" by his pastor for teaching Wild at Heart. We also just learned that a denomination just banned our books from their church bookstores. This is the work of the Religious Spirit. I could tell you a lot more stories but I think you get the idea. It is so sad and it makes me really mad, because what we have to say is healing so many, drawing people back to God, bringing a genuine revival to God's people. Because it IS so powerful and so true, the Religious Spirit is defaming us, and trying to shut it down. He comes directly against us with assault and oppression of various kinds; he comes subtly out there to cause people to "question" the message. ...
John finishes the letter with a call to bind the religious spirit from Ransomed Heart. I would like to encourage you to do the same in your own life.
Mat 7:22-23 [CEV]: On the day of judgment many will call me their Lord. They will say, "We preached in your name, and in your name we forced out demons and worked many miracles." But I will tell them, "I will have nothing to do with you! Get out of my sight, you evil people!"
Rocco
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