The Invasive Power of The Kingly Authority

The Three Authorities of the Church
The Church has been given three authorities – Priestly Authority, Prophetic Authority and Kingly Authority. For the purpose of this article, I am going to share about the results when you apply the Kingly Authority in your life and ministry.

The Priestly And Prophetic Authority
The Priestly Authority is for entering the presence of God. That is the place where we talk to God and so strictly speaking, it is not a battlefield but more like the throne room of God. The Prophetic Authority is used to minister to the people of God. It is applied after we have spent time in God’s presence. It is in this place of prayer where we apply the Priestly Authority to receive direct instructions from God for His people. Then we turn around and face the people to deliver God’s Word with the Prophetic Authority.

The Kingly Authority
The Kingly Authority is different from the first two authorities as it is for spiritual warfare, attacking purposes and is confined to confronting the spiritual enemies and engaging diseases. This is primarily for invasion purposes. We do not pray or preach when we are engaging the enemies in spiritual warfare. We command the demons and diseases to leave in mighty name of Jesus. In spiritual warfare, we take on the role of a spiritual warrior and attack the domain of darkness. In the frontline engagement, whether we are healing the sick or casting out demons, we are representing the kingdom of God, coming in the mighty name of Jesus and utilizing the Kingly Authority that Jesus has given us.

Here are some of the results when we believe the promises of God and apply the Kingly Authority.

GREAT COURAGE – Like young David who faced Goliath, people who recognise their Kingly Authority have Spirit-empowered courage. Peter, who denied Christ three times, applied his Kingly Authority and he was able to confront the kingdom of darkness with unprecedented boldness. Being full of the Holy Spirit, Peter preached with great courage, confronted the spiritual forces with the Kingly Authority that produced great signs and wonders and continued to do so until his martyrdom. Today, the same Holy Spirit plays a very important role in providing divine courage to all who believe.

UNSHAKEABLE FAITH – When filled with the presence of the Holy Spirit, a believer is firm and fearless in his confrontation against the demonic power. He knows his God-given authority to command and he will not request or beg the demons to come out. He is unshakeable in his faith as he takes authority over the demons and like those early ordinary disciples who came back from their mission, he can declare that even the demons submit to him in the mighty name of Jesus (Luke 10:17). In the same manner, you can exercise your God-given power and authority against all demonic activities and diseases.

DIVINE CONTROL – During the time of ministry, the Holy Spirit is in full control. He will give you a calm disposition and full control of your emotion and mental faculty. You do not need to become hysterical or behave as though you, yourself, have been possessed by an evil spirit. I have seen that happened before. The minister was inexperienced and got caught with the emotion of the situation. He was screaming and ranting, behaving worse than the one who was possessed. My mentor, Rev William Lau, has been my primary model of what a true power-packed minister is all about. During ministry, whether it be healing or deliverance, Rev William is always calm and confident. He is not pretending because he has the fullest confidence of the promises of God and the power of the Holy Spirit.

TANGIBLE POWER – Jesus promised that we will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon us (Acts 1:8). The Greek word for power is dunamis, which refers to the inherent power of the Holy Spirit residing in us to preach the Gospel with signs and wonders. This power continues to abide with us and lives within us.

On many occasions of ministry, I could feel the power of God being imparted from my body and touching the infirm. There would be a warm sensation or something that felt like an electrical current that travelled through my arms and palms. There is nothing mystical about this. Jesus, Himself, had experienced tangible power leaving Him. When the woman with the issue of blood touched Him, Jesus exclaimed, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”

In most instances, the people, whom I laid hands on, were healed instantly. However, having mentioned that, we do not need to have this type of tangible feeling or sensation for the power of God to flow and heal the infirm.

INTRINSIC POWER – In a house church in Shanghai, my body was very tired after ministering the whole day. As I sat and rested on a chair, a tall young man approached me to command healing for his chronic headache. I had seen him seeking healing ministry from the other trained believers but to no avail. As I was about to stand up to lay my hand on his head, the young man asked me not to bother standing. Instead, he bowed his head to the level where I was sitting so that I could lay my hand on it. He further added that he would receive his healing from the Lord that way. What faith he had! Hence, I laid my hand on his head as he bowed low. I did not feel anything during the command for his healing. He suddenly raised his head and shouted that the pain was gone!

Another healing miracle happened in Johor, the southern state of West Malaysia. Grace and I were ministering in a Church when during the healing session, an elderly man, with a deaf ear, requested for healing ministry. We usually allowed the trained participants to do the healing but at that moment, I was passing by this man when the request was made. I simply put my finger into his ear and commanded in Mandarin, “Ear, be opened”. That was it. There was no sensation of warmth or electrifying current in my hand. Absolutely nothing. The most exciting part was that the man was instantly healed. He could hear and repeat every word when I tested him. At that time, I was so fascinated by this instant miracle that I tested him a few more times just to be sure that I was not mistaken.

These incidents only confirm the fact that the Holy Spirit’s power can work miracles with or without any intense physical sensation. The Lord had honoured the pure simple faith of this young man and healed him instantly. And in similar vein, the Lord had healed the elderly deaf man because of his faith.

The HEM Seminar is a 6-day stay-in intensive training seminar. It would resume in 2022. For further information, please contact the blogger.

Failure to Exercise Kingly Authority

Many churches today seldom apply their Kingly Authority because they have placed great emphasis upon the Priestly Authority and the Prophetic Authority. This means that churches spend a lot of time praying and preaching but hardly any time encountering the enemies.

Jesus prayed and preached much, but He also spent much time engaging the demonic forces by casting out many evil spirits and healing the sick. Therefore, to restore their ministry balance, the believers in the Church need to reach out to the community and exercise their Kingly Authority to heal the infirm and cast out demons.

These miracles and the message of the Gospel will point people to Christ.  The Elijah Challenge is a ministry that focuses upon this Kingly Authority. To date, thousands of believers are able to heal the infirm and cast out demons as they exercise this Kingly Authority in the name of Jesus. The Healing Encounter Ministry (HEM) is also getting very good results. Many of those disciples who have received our training are themselves ministering with power and authority. In fact, healing the infirm and casting out demons in the mighty name of Jesus has become second nature to them. Praise the Lord for the revival of this ministry of Power Encounter.

If you need further information about The Elijah Challenge ministry please go to our website: https://theelijahchallenge.org/

Here is a video that might help you understand more about the Three Authorities of the Church.

Five Practical Steps To Demolish Spiritual Strongholds

During her teenage years, a lady became a believer after her parents got divorced. She learned about her father’s infidelity and felt betrayed. However, she found comfort in God who became her loving and perfect Father. Her cell leader taught her about forgiving her father, and she did. For twenty-plus years, she lived with that belief that she had forgiven her biological father. However, in a recent counseling session, the Holy Spirit revealed that her forgiveness for her father was done in a self-centred, condescending and judgmental manner. She was focusing on all the wrong things that her father had done instead of the love of God for her wayward father. Her forgiveness was clinical or legalistic but without true Agape love.

In fact, hidden within this sister was lots of unresolved anger. Her way of retaliation was by making a personal vow to succeed so that she and her mother would never need to depend on her father or any other men. As she grew into a young adult, she had many failed boy-girl relationships. The primary reason was because she had lost trust in men. Somehow, she got this notion that all men would behave just like her father. She vowed to take care of her mother all by herself and never allowed her mother to be bullied by another man. All these resolves had made her a very hard person. Little did she realize that she had allowed the devil to build spiritual strongholds of pride, self-idolization, self-dependence and bitterness in her life.

How A Spiritual Stronghold Is Being Built
A spiritual stronghold may be referred to as a bad attitude, negative habit, harmful idea or distorted belief that has dominated one’s life to a point that one continues to make wrong choices and ungodly decisions. A stronghold often begins with an inner hurt or a disappointment that the victim has experienced. When this hurt is not quickly handed over to the Lord in “Handing-over Prayer” then after a long time it begins to grow deep roots. This discrepancy in life becomes the foundation upon which the enemy will build the stronghold. Brick by brick of misinterpreted ideas and distorted concepts will cause the wall of this stronghold to steadily rise and strengthen. For example, the sister whom I mentioned above, believed the lie that all men would be like her wayward father. As she listened and read more news about wayward husbands, her mind began to justify her misconception. What was her mistake? She had taken the “part” to become the “whole”. Her spiritual stronghold had almost become an impregnable defensive structure of justification in self-preservation.

What Does A Spiritual Stronghold Do To You?
A spiritual stronghold is powerful enough to modify the way you behave and respond to normal situations. The same sister did not respond very well to suitors and even though she did like some of them. Her belief that these men would ultimately betray her had caused her to turn them away. The lie about all men being unfaithful had become such a stronghold that it was producing a deep anguish in her soul. Her ‘perception of reality’ contradicted with the ‘actual reality’ and that caused confusion within. She went through unimaginable mental stress and emotional turmoil. She was angry with herself because she did have some positive feelings for some of these men. Then she blamed her father and was very bitter about his past sins. Ultimately, she was upset with God for creating all the unfaithful men like her father. She was in a catch-22 situation – her heart desired to have a male companion or husband but that same heart distrusted men.

Is Having Spiritual Strongholds Similar To Demonization?
A spiritual stronghold is more like a demonic oppression but not to the point of demonic possession. The mind, emotion, and will are being trapped by the continual bombardment of fresh lies or memories of old lies. Daily, all these negative thoughts become fodders for the human reasoning to chew upon. The enemy is working overtime to help the victim justified why he or she has the rights to be remain hurt and disappointed.

We notice that even though the victims are believers, when they are in spiritual bondage, they suffer spiritual blindness too. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:4, “The god of this age [a reference to Satan and his demons] has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” It is not just the unbelievers who are blinded by the devil but the disobedient believers are also afflicted in the same way. For example, there seems to be a persistent hindrance in preventing these people with spiritual strongholds from fully accepting the Word of God. Apart from that, they are basically blinded to the truth, facts and reality. Some actually get very angry when we try to present these to them.

Here are five practical steps that you can take to demolish all spiritual strongholds in your life:

1. Finding The Root Causes – Before you can demolish your spiritual strongholds, you have to know the the root causes of these lies. You cannot remove the strongholds with changed behavior alone, you need the power of the Holy Spirit. It is never about behavioral modification but identity transformation. First, allow the Holy Spirit to reveal the root cause of your spiritual stronghold – like the sister mentioned above, her root cause was that of rejection and insecurity. Some have strongholds because of unforgiveness and others because of hatred. Whatever it may be, hand it purposefully to Jesus in your handing-over prayer. As we have been forgiven by God for all our sins, we have to learn how to forgive those who offended or hurt us.

2. Handing-over Prayer – Handing-over prayer is a really good tool to use in forgiving the people who have hurt you. As the Holy Spirit reveals different people who hurt you, all you need to do is to surrender them to the Lord. Literally hand them over to the Lord. If the hurtful memories come back and mess up your emotion again, calm down, hand them over to Jesus again. You can do this type of prayer wherever you are and whenever you have time. For example, I do my handing-over prayer while cleaning the house, driving a car or simply relaxing. Whenever any unhappy thought comes or judgmental spirit attacks, I just whisper a prayer to hand all these to the Lord. Keep handing over until your faith and emotion catch up with your handing-over prayer.

3. Taking Every Thought Captive – Paul says that – “We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). All these strongholds of harmful thoughts, when not contested, will affect your life and destiny. Watch how Jesus prevented a God-contradicting idea that was hurled at him when His own disciple, Peter, suggested that He should avoid the cross. The Bible says that Jesus turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns’ ” (Matthew 16:22–23). That was a decisive and clean move. It instantly took the “crossless” thought captive. As a former military man, that temptation was tantamount to the enemy trying to establish a beachhead onshore. And Jesus used the biggest canon to blow it away.

4. Appropriating The Name of Jesus – I like to share a technique that I use when negative or angry thoughts want to take over my mind and cause me to hate or criticize someone. I declare out loud, “In The Mighty Name of Jesus!” You will notice that these words have eight syllables and it should take you less than eight seconds to declare these words.
Why is this important? The reason is that when those negative thoughts come, they want to enter into your basal ganglia that is the part of your mind where you are entertaining all your hurts and disappointments. And if you do not rebuke those thoughts in eight seconds, they will become a part of your misery. When you open your mouth to take authority in the mighty name of Jesus, you bind the strong man and prevent him from pushing all these unhealthy thoughts into the region of your self-doubt, worries, inner hurts and disappointments. Immediately after your – “In The Mighty Name of Jesus!” – you are pulled back from the twilight zone of demonic influence into the present moment where the Spirit of God is. You can then immediately hand all those negative thoughts and ideas of hatred over to Jesus. [see Handing-Over Prayer),

5. Meditating Upon The Scriptures -If the feeling of anger and bitterness continue to grip your heart, it can only mean that there are still vacancies and voids in your life. Your life is not fully transformed as it may still have rebellion, immorality and corruption. The Bible says to not “give place to the devil” (Eph. 4:27). The next thing that can definitely help you will be meditating upon the Scriptures. Let God’s Word fill the voids and vacancies. Our church has prepared a series of scripture-meditation videos that are no longer than 15 minutes each. You can get started immediately by watching these free videos.

Submit yourself to the Word of God and let the presence of God saturate you. You do not resist the devil by sheer will power but by the Word of God. The more you submit to God’s Word, the lies of the devil will have no place in your heart. The devil does not like yielded disciples of Christ who humble themselves and obey the Word of God. “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

A constant meditation upon the Word of God will also give you the assurance of who you are in Christ and what your real identity is in the kingdom of God. This truth alone will nullify the persistent lies of the devil which include self-doubt and self-rejection.

All spiritual strongholds can be destroyed but you need to take those drastic measures mentioned in this article so as to get rid of them. You can be victorious and live in peace, joy and blessings! Here is a helpful video for you.

What Makes The Demons Come Back Again?

A woman desperately wanted to place a curse upon her ex-husband. She had been to different bomohs and witch doctors but somehow, their black magic were not effective. Through some friends, she learned that she could cause real harm to her ex by getting the supernatural power herself. She was recommended to a Thai temple in Bangkok and so with a friend, she flew there. They found the Wat (Thai word for temple) and without hesitation, this hurting woman agreed to perform in a very unique power-endowment ritual. She was to strip and allow the monks to wrap her naked body with a large yellow blanket-like talisman that had many demonic curses written upon it. In that hour-long ceremony, the monks summoned evil spirits to respond to her request and the result was that she, herself, became possessed by evil spirits.

The Result Of Playing With Fire
When this woman returned home, instead of having the supernatural ability to harm her ex, her own life was thrown into a tailspin. She was seeing apparitions, hearing strange sounds and experiencing deep depression. She realized that she was in big trouble and sought for help. One of her friends, who had just become a Christian, brought her to the Church. Later, she repented of her sins, renounced the devil and accepted Jesus as her Savior. But devil was not going to give her up so easily. She manifested and during the deliverance sessions, some demons left. However, her inner struggle with unresolved anger and bitterness towards her ex continued to be the magnet that drew the demons back into her life.

Every time, she had the evil thought and felt the deep anger against her ex, it was as though, she had placed Jesus outside the door, while she partied with the demons inside. There was definitely no Holy Spirit to serve as the Strong Man in her life. Her confession and repentance were only superficial at best. It took many months of counseling, confessing, repenting, renouncing and forgiving before she could be set free. In our experience with such deliverance, the unresolved anger and bitterness are the toughest doors to close. We can cast out the spirits but soon they would return to the victim. We thus called this the type of deliverance the “swinging-door” syndrome.

The Swinging Door of Unresolved Anger and Bitterness
From case to case, we are 100% certain that the “swinging door” of spiritual attack is revolving around unresolved anger and bitterness. When you lack self-control and allow such anger to overwhelm you, the devil will sneak in through the back door and fan the flame of hostility. The devil will instigate you to inflict harm on someone else by falsely accusing them or even uttering a curse against them. Such unrestrained dislike will lead to hatred and bitterness that subsequently will lead to physical violence. The hatred can become so intensified that the person may seek demonic power, just like the woman that I mentioned above, and move you down the dark alley of the occults.

When To Stop Casting Out Demons
There was a very difficult deliverance case, no matter how many times, we cast the demons out, in a short while, it returned back into the victim. In one of our Elijah Challenge training seminars, this woman suddenly created a commotion at the back of the sanctuary. She was singing and praising God loudly. The ushers could not stop her and so Grace rushed to handle the situation. With a few volunteers, she led this woman into the prayer room. By the time the training was over, Grace and the volunteers were still casting out the demons from this woman. When I went in to help, I realized that there was only one persistent demon left. When we took authority over it, the demon was literally weeping and begging. It pleaded for us not to cast it out as it had no place to go. We insisted that it had to leave that woman and it was agreeable. It screamed, “I will go! I will go!” When the demon left and we could see that the tension in the woman was gone and her face showed total relief.

As we prepared to leave the prayer room, suddenly the woman manifested again. It was the same demon who claimed that it had no place to go and so it came “home”. We cast it out, asked the woman to invite the Holy Spirit into her life, but in a short while, the evil spirit came back again. We did that several times and every time it was able to come back. We decided to stop the deliverance session and went into counseling.

We began to question the woman, looking for a reason why there was a swinging-door syndrome. The woman said that she hated her mother and that she would never forgive her. The reason was that her mother had rejected her when she was being conceived and had wanted to abort her. She said that after the abortion failed and she was born, her mother just hated her. In fact, now that she had a daughter of her own, her mother would often talk to the grandchild but would not talk to her. Her heart was wounded with disappointments and hurts. She hated her mother for all the deep emotional injuries that she had experienced while growing up. She hated her mother more for showing preferences to the granddaughter but did not even bother to communicate with her.

It was a big mess of emotional hurts and spiritual bondage. We could not convince this woman to hand all her grievances to the Lord and forgive her mother. She was adamant that it would be wrong for her to forgive that evil mother. To cut the story short, we had to go because she was unwilling to take the first step of forgiveness. When we left her, her whole being was still wrapped in the shackles of hatred, firmly held on by the evil spirit. It was a sad case, the key of hatred and bitterness had given the demon a free access into that person’s life. We have not heard from her pastor whether she was finally set free or not.

Here are some simple steps to prevent evil spirits from dominating your life.

1. Live a repented life – Repentance is changing your mind about your former way of life and turning around to accept the forgiveness of sins offered by Jesus on the cross. By doing that, you have been justified and fully saved. Living a repented life is to continue in the direction of the way of Christ by denying self and taking up your cross daily (Luke 9:23). A life of repentance is not a life of doubt but the tangible expression of the forgiveness of the Lord in your daily walk. It is also a call for your spirit to be aware of your self-centred weakness to follow after your own will and abandon the will of God. A repented life solves tons of life issues that centred around self and pride. And that also solves the bitterness and anger issues.

2. Surrender Your Compulsive Behavior – You know that you have a problem with demonic influence when you are having sudden urges of hostility and rage, strong desire for illicit sex and any forms of sexual perversion, uncontrollable craving to talk dirty, curse, gossip or blaspheme, consume defiled things such as drugs, alcohol and various types of harmful substances. To prevent further intrusion of this demonic influence, you need to refer back to the first point and that is to repent. And to live a repented life by learning how to hand over every assault upon your spiritual life to the Lord. You can learn how to do Handing-Over Prayer every day.

3. Stay away from the occult – Going to fortune-tellers, mediums, bomohs and spiritualists is a sure way to suffer demonic attack. It is just as dangerous dabbling with feng-shui, horoscope, astrology, tarot cards, yoga, qi gong, transcendental meditation, New Age etc. We have cast out demons out of a “Christian” who was obsessed with horoscope. One good guideline for Christians is that if you encountered any so-called spirituality that is not rooted in the Holy Spirit and God’s Word, then you know that you have to avoid them because they are from the demonic world.

VICTORIOUS LIFE IS YOURS – You can live a victorious life if you are willing to learn from Jesus who came as the Son of Man. The writer of Hebrews states in Chapter 4 and verse 15, “For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have One who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet He did not sin.” You have the same Holy Spirit, who was then working with Jesus, in you right now. He will empower you to overcome. Moreover, He is that “Strong Man” in your life. Trust that this message will be helpful to you when it comes to resisting temptations.

Here is a short 8-minute video on how to hand over everything to the Lord.
https://youtu.be/0id08_E_-30

What To Do When Attacked By Demons of Gong Tau (Black Magic)

As we were preparing to leave the church for our residence, I felt an invisible force hitting me from the side and I became dizzy. Anyone could have thought that it was a physical symptom that needed medical attention. Immediately, in my spirit, I realised that I had become the target of a ferocious demonic attack. Even though the demons could not enter me, their force upon my whole being was overwhelming and consistent.

In one of our Elijah Challenge healing meetings, Grace and I ministered to a man whose life was turned upside down because of a curse caused by black magic or Gong Tau (降头) . The story began when this Malaysian man had an illicit relationship with a young foreign girl. When the relationship turned sour, this girl apparently used a black magic spell to send evil spirits against him. This type of demons possesses a stupefying power that totally dominates and subjugates the victim. The man became mentally confused and gave the woman all his money. Then, his emotional health started to deteriorate until he could not even hold a job. His friends who brought him told us that this man had been “blur” for two years after the affair. We proceeded to cast out the evil spirits. Immediately, the demons left and the man returned to alertness and full consciousness. Praise be to God.

A SUDDEN DEMONIC ATTACK
After the deliverance, we prepared to leave the church for our residence. Suddenly, I felt an invisible force hitting my head from the side and I became dizzy. Anyone could have thought that it was a physical symptom that needed medical attention. However, in my spirit, I immediately realised that I had become the target of a ferocious demonic attack. Even though the demons could not enter me, wave upon wave of unseen power upon my whole being was overwhelming and consistent. I remember telling Grace that “these stupid demons are attacking me!”

As my wife drove us back to the house, my head was still spinning. In the midst of that unswerving spiritual attack, a part of me was extremely calm and peaceful. The Holy Spirit was ministering to my spirit and that He was giving me the assurance of His support. I began the counter-attack by rebuking under my breath but Grace had already taken over in rebuking the demons.

My wife had absolute faith in the Lord – when she took over, she was relentless in her commands of authority from the Lord. She did not resort to speaking in tongues like what most believers would do because she knew that speaking in tongues is for the purpose of communicating with God and not for spiritual warfare. She took full authority in the name of Jesus and rebuked the evil spirits and they were gone. As sudden as it came, the dizziness also left.

The reason why you need to do ministry with another ministry partner is for the purpose of covering one another in the event of spiritual attack.

To me, the attack felt like it was for a couple of hours but my wife told me that everything was over in less than ten minutes. The presence of the Holy Spirit was so strong that the attack was lifted immediately and the demons fled. I thank God that my wife is my ministry partner and she is adequate in the “Two-hand Punch Ministry” of casting demons out, healing the infirm and preaching the Word of God. Now, that is the reason why Jesus specifically sent out His disciples two-by-two so that in the event of such attack, they could cover for one another. The rule of the thumb is never try to do this type of ministry alone. We must always go with a ministry partner.

BE ALERT AT ALL TIME
From time to time, spiritual attacks, such as what I had experienced, come as a tangible physical force against the body. It’s like being punched in the head. However, such direct demonic confrontations are rare. They are a form of spiritual attacks that is to create intense fear in the victims. For example, strange things may happen in the physical realm – the furniture are moving by themselves, plates start flying off the shelves, strange sounds may be heard and even apparitions start appearing.

.All these may look scary but when we know their intention, we can respond appropriately. If we were to respond with fear, then the demons would have succeeded. Simply stand your ground as a covenanted warrior of the kingdom of God, washed by the Blood of Jesus, and rebuke these manifestations in the name of Jesus and with the boldness of the Holy Spirit.

If no one places emphasis on prayer, then the demonic bondage will spread like virus and the power of the enemy will flourish.

PRAYING IS WELCOMING THE POWER OF GOD
In a previous article, I shared about the “demonic werewolves” that are very adept in the hit-and-run tactic of routine harassments and temptations. Whenever they find families, communities, cities and even whole nations that are poor in resisting them, they will seek to dominate and put them into spiritual bondage. That is why praying for your family, community and nation is very important.
Praying is welcoming the power of God over your situation, into the place of your authority and also into your life. When you pray, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”, you are basically coming in alignment with the will of God and the power of the Holy Spirit to break all spiritual strongholds. If no one places emphasis on prayer, then the demonic bondage will spread like virus and the power of the enemy will flourish.

Here are some steps that you can take in repelling the attacks of the enemy. Please note that there is no magic bullet or any mystical formula. To protect yourself from being overwhelmed by the demonic power, you need to take definite steps of faith, perseverance and have a deep personal devotion to Christ.

STEPS TO REPEL DEMONIC ATTACKS
1. Live A Repented Life – in short, you are to live a moral life according to the scriptural teaching of loving God and loving others as yourself.
Do not go back to any worldly and religious practices of your past – such as worshipping idols, getting involved in witchcrafts, visiting fortune-tellers, consulting bomohs, mediums, or astrologers. Break all unholy soul-ties, gangland involvements and adulterous relationships. Stop all activities such as flirting, seducing, gambling, and cursing etc.
Begin to grow spiritually by the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit so that you will not only have the gifts of the Spirit but the fruits of the Spirit as well. And the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Spiritual transformation has to do with you being transformed internally to become more like Christ in your thought-life, emotion-life and decision-making life. It is not just an external behavioral change but an internal motivation and purpose to that of the lordship of Christ. This is what living a repented and moral life is all about.

2. Come Under The Covering Of A Church – You will notice that believers who reject being active members of a local Church usually come under spiritual attacks in the areas of their pride. These people are too proud to come under any spiritual authority and thus become isolated souls in the spiritual wilderness. As in the natural, predators always select and attack the isolated prey, so isolated believers become fair games for these demonic predators.
The Church is a spiritual organism and organization for spiritual growth, protection and ministry. Attending the Church services regularly will help to strengthen you as you receive the teachings, instructions and corrections of the Lord without the risk of straying from the Word of God. Many who are isolated from the community of faith ultimately depend a lot on self-instruction rather than that of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God. That is where the vulnerability to demonic attack lies. Find a home Church, learn humility, serve others, attend a cell group, pray together, walk in the love of Christ and get involved in the ministries there. You will be safer and spiritually healthier.

3. Apply The “Two-Hand Punch” – Learn to use “Power Evangelism” whenever you reach out to the pre-believers. In Luke 9:1-2, we read, “When Jesus had called the Twelve together, He gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick”.
The “Two-hand Punch” has to be applied so as to knock out the devil – one hand-punch is “to drive out all demons and to cure diseases” and the other hand-punch is “proclaim the kingdom of God.”

4. Engage In Daily “Handing-over Prayer” – Learn how to pray by handing over every unwelcomed thought, every temptation, and every uncontrollable concern to the Lord. This type of prayer is so easy that you may doubt its effectiveness. However, the biggest mistake that most believers make is having the belief that the power of prayer lies with themselves. The truth is that the power of prayer lies with God and not in you. He is the One who will hear your prayer, however feeble, and He is the One who is going to respond to you. Your handing-over prayers do make a difference in how the devil is going to treat you. This fallen angel does not like to attack someone who is spending a lot of time with God.

Here are some resources to help you grow in your walk with the Lord and also to engage effectively in spiritual warfare. God bless.
Albert Kang

Getting Started In “Handing Over Prayer”.
What is “Handing Over Prayer”?
How do you get started?
Learn how to have your own “Handing Over Prayer” in this free step-by-step video lesson by Rev Albert Kang.

Are You Being Attacked By Demonic Werewolves?

The Second World War officially ended when Nazi Germany formally surrendered on May 8, 1945, followed by the surrender of Japan on August 15, 1945. The world celebrated but not the occupying Allied force in Europe. They were attacked by pockets of German resistance fighters, known as Nazi “Werewolves”. These radicalized guerrillas were killing isolated Allied soldiers in their jeeps or any lone soldier foolhardy enough to wander through a back road by himself. Many Allied soldiers lost their lives even after the war was officially over. Do you see a resemblance of what is still happening in the spiritual world? Though the victory has been won at Calvary cross, and the enemies have been defeated, Satan continues to send his demonic “werewolves” to attack the disciples of Christ. And the Church continues to suffer casualties.

THE CHURCH AS THE OCCUPYING FORCE
We, the Church of Jesus Christ, are the occupying force for the Kingdom of God. Through the Great Commision, we have been assigned to take back what the devil has stolen. Before Jesus returned to heaven, He declared that we, His disciples, would do what He did and greater things we would do (John 14:12). Through the Holy Spirit, we will be able to preach the Good News to liberate every prisoner and heal the infirm plus cast out demons.

We have been given the legal rights to do so. Since the cross and resurrection, our debt of sins has been cancelled (Colossians 2:14) and we are free! The old devil has no legal rights over us and thus he is powerless to control us. He may use deception but he has no real power to dominate the Church. In short, we now have eternal life and while here on earth, we have the power and authority of Jesus, our commander-in-chief, to fight back.

“Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—” (Hebrews 2:14)

Now, we are fighting from victory, not for victory. In Jesus, we have already won the war. What we are now engaging are just spiritual skirmishes and battles. We will fulfill the Great Commission if we continue to do this “mopping operation” according to God’s way. Here are some ideas as to how we can engage the enemy’s “werewolves”.

Recognize That The Enemy Is Real
Some young Allied soldiers did not believe that the Nazi Werewolves were still in existence when the war was over. So, that was how they lost their lives to these Nazi guerillas. In similar vein, some people believe that the enemy is just a figment of our imagination. However, the Bible reveals that Satan is a real evil supernatural being. Any efforts to explain away the presence of this fallen angel do not negate his reality. The Apostle Peter knew the truth and he warned, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8).

Recognize That The Enemy Is A Defeated Foe
The sniping activities of the Nazi Werewolves did not end until 1947 – two years after the war. Now after more than 2000 years, the demonic “werewolves” are still sniping. In spite of that, we must note that the whole focus of the Bible is about Jesus and how He has overcome the evil one. No matter how active the enemy might be, he is still a defeated foe. Jesus has not only given us the armour of God but he has also given us the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. And from His Word, we exercise the power and authority to cast out demonic “werewolves” and destroy the works of the evil one. The enemy will try to distract us by his relentless attacks, however, we must be careful not to become too fascinated with the evil one and the ministry of deliverance. There are other aspects of kingdom ministry that we have to engage in.

Recognize The Tactics Of The Enemy
The Nazi Werewolves used many guerrilla techniques such as explosive traps and hidden snares to ambush the Allied troops. Since the Fall of mankind, the devil has tried to trap us with false teaching, tantalizing sins, and temptation of developing bitterness towards one another. He uses the “divide-and-conquer” technique and many believers have fallen into it. Once, bitterness sets in, the believer will isolate himself or herself from the spiritual community, and that is when the demonic “werewolves” will attack.

One common trick that the Nazi Werewolves used was deception. Some disguised themselves like Allied soldiers so as to carry out subotage works. Other time, they disguised as civilians, walked near an unsuspected soldier and killed him at close quarters. Since they had no heavy guns and tanks, they relied very much upon hit-and-run tactics. When the young Allied soldiers began to lose their comrades, one by one, they quickly became discouraged. They became vulnerable to fear, stress and anxiety, especially when they had no idea where, when and how the attack would come. Many resorted to heavy drinking to allay their fear while others became mentally and emotionally unstable.

Though the devil has no direct power over us, like the Nazi Werewolves, he is able to manipulate us because he is the master of deception and discouragement. He works on our fear and builds upon our doubt. Dr. Chuck Lawless describes vividly what the scheme of the devil is all about  – that the enemy wants us to mess up (fall into sin), give up (get discouraged), get puffed up (live in arrogance), split up (divide), or shut up (quit evangelizing).

What The Enemy Wants From You?
What do you think the old devil really wants from you today? He wants you to be happy attending Church and doing all the religious stuffs. He wants you to keep your religion to yourself because it is a “private” matter. He wants you to think that happiness is the most important thing in life. In order to have long-lasting happiness, he recommends that you live only for yourself, achieve by yourself, and share everything with only yourself. As long as you behave this way, he will leave you alone until the appropriate time for the slaughter.

What The Lord Wants From You?
Jesus wants you to obey the Great Commission and serve as the occupying force for the kingdom of God.

“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” -Matthew 28:18-20

The Lord wants you to model after Him and do what He did. What did He do while He was here on earth?

He preached the Gospel.
He healed the sick.
He cast out demons.
He made disciples.

Are you preaching the Gospel to the lost?
Are you healing the sick in the mighty name of Jesus?
Are you casting out demons from the afflicted and possesed?
Are you making new disciples for Jesus?

When You Do What Jesus Did
When you begin to take the Great Commission seriously, you will definitely face resistance. But because you have been blessed with the “Two-Hand Punch” then you are not perturbed by any opposition. With one hand, you share the Word of God. With the second hand, you cast out demons and heal the sick. Just like the disciples of antiquity, you are a well-equipped part of the powerful occupying force of the kingdom of God.

The demonic “werewolves” may still be around but when they know that you are not afraid of them, they will try to avoid you. That is when you have to go and find them. You are to cast them out in the mighty name of Jesus wherever they are. A true disciple of Christ is very powerful, such as Philip the Evangelist. In his presence, the demonic “werewolves” became like frightened little kittens.

“When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. ⁷ For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. ⁸ So there was great joy in that city.” (Acts 8:6-8)

The Chain Reaction Of Obedience
That was how early Christianity began to spread like wildfire. Disciples such as Philip touched hundreds of people in Samaria with the “Two-hand Punch” approach and subsequently the Lord directed him to a desert highway so as to get the Ethiopian eunuch saved. Consider the chain reaction that Philip had created. Every of his new converts was armed with the Two-hand Punch approach – going out there to save the lost and deliver people from diseases and demons. All these new believers, in turn, went out there and did the same. The domino effect was rapid and unstoppable.

Your life can be like that and you can be a catalyst for tremendous growth in the kingdom of God. Get yourself into the Word and read about the activities of the kingdom of God especially in the Gospels and Book of Acts. Read what Jesus did and what the Disciples did. Let the words of God speak to you and then take definite steps to fulfill the Great Commission in your life.

If you like to learn how to minister in healing and casting out demons, please visit the website of The Elijah Challenge. All materials and training videos are free in this website – https://theelijahchallenge.org/

You may like to watch this video about how to apply the proper approach to cast out demons in the mighty name of Jesus.

How The Elijah Challenge Seminar Changed Our Lives

The launching of Elijah Challenge Asia in 2007. Pastor William and Pastor Lucille are 2nd and 3rd from the left. Dr. Thiagan is 4th from the right.

A ministry with signs and wonders was the farthest from our minds until we met Pastor William Lau and his wife, Pastor Lucille, the founders of The Elijah Challenge. That crucial day was 8th December 2005, my wife, Grace and I would have our lives and ministry completely transformed. From 20-plus years of “powerless” pastoral ministry with less than ten people healed through my prayer, my wife and I now have more than 10,000 healing miracles through our ministry since that day in 2005.

God’s Special Plan
It was our dentist, Dr. Thiagan Sinnadurai, a dedicated servant of God who challenged Grace and me to attend a healing seminar organised by his house church. I was not keen to attend because I knew that I did not have the gift of healing. For over 20 years of my ministry, I did not see many successful healing miracles after my prayers. In fact, a few people died after I prayed.

On that warm day of 8th December 2005, Grace drove me to the healing seminar. I was not in the most amiable mood. I had work to do and the chronic pain condition in my back was also not accommodating. When we could not find a parking space, I was elated. Now, I could miss the seminar and give a great excuse to Dr. Thiagan why we were not able to attend his meeting. However, God had other plan and He opened up a nice parking space for us. Still unhappy and mumbling under my breath, with Grace helping me, I walked slowly to the training location at Bangsar.

God’s Healing Approach
That day was to become a defining moment of our lives and ministry. Pastor William Lau, an American-Chinese, with a gentle Christ-like spirit, was systematic in his teaching. As a pastor, I was very attentive to catch any theological deviations or wrong doctrines. To my pleasant surprise, there were no strange doctrines, subjective visions or scary testimonies of being caught to heaven. Pastor William was not there to impress us with his profound theology because all he did was to read from the scriptures. Then he allowed those scriptural verses to speak for themselves.

Verse upon verse, precept upon precept, line upon line, my eyes were opened. Suddenly, everything about the power and authority to heal in light of sharing the Gospel began to make sense. Nowadays, I call this approach the “Two-hand Punch” – one hand is to minister in signs and wonders and the other hand is to share the Gospel. I remember, while Pastor William was teaching, I was thinking to myself why didn’t they teach me this Elijah Challenge’s approach in the Bible seminary? Even after earning a Master of Divinity, this truth in the Bible had completely eluded me. Why was I not told that there is a difference between the gift of healing and the authority to heal? Why didn’t the professors teach us how to use the kingly authority to do spiritual warfare and heal the sick in the context of preaching the Gospel?

Then came the most fascinating part and that was when Pastor William said that he would demonstrate this God-given power and authority by healing some of the participants in the name of Jesus. We noticed that he did not pray to Jesus to heal the infirm but rather he firmly commanded the infirmities and pain to leave the “patients”. He did exactly that to a couple of participants and they were healed of the back pain, leg pain and other infirmities.

Then he invited some of us to try. I was really interested and volunteered myself. I remember feeling the nagging pain in my own back while facing a participant who claimed to have three numb toes. With a fellow participant, I laid my hand on those numb toes. Pastor William specifically instructed us not to pray but command the infirmity to leave. And so that was what I did – I commanded for the feeling to return to those numb toes in the mighty name of Jesus. To my great surprise, the participant claimed that sensation had returned to his toes and he quickly testified to Pastor William. I was more shocked than happy. I did not believe that this brother’s toes were healed by me who simply spoke to them. That was my first experience in having immediate healing result after ministering.

The Elijah Challenge
Grace and I were to attend the same Elijah Challenge seminar another three more times and later took an advanced training course with Pastor William. Since then, our ministry has been completely transformed. It is filled with signs and wonders which is line with what the Bible says about the kingdom of God as not being a matter of talk but of power (1 Corinthians 4:20).

We have personally ministered healing to more than 10,000 people and witnessed them being healed in the name of Jesus. Since December 2005, we have also trained thousands of believers from both the mainline and Pentecostal/Charismatic churches through the Elijah Challenge training sessions and also the Healing Encounter Ministry. We have the joy of seeing our own trainees healing the infirm in the name of Jesus and casting out demons too. We trust that more and more believers will be encouraged to use the “two-hand punch” and touch many for Christ.

HOW YOU CAN HAVE YOUR OWN HEALING MINISTRY
If you are interested in having your life and ministry being transformed into a “two-hand punch” power-packed encounter, please visit the Elijah Challenge website at theelijahchallenge.org
Everything is free in the website and you can also take a video-training course offered by Pastor William Lau.
Kindly read the following articles to get some basic understanding of how you can have your own healing ministry. Do contact us through this blog if you need further clarification. We will get back to you as soon as possible.

The Confused Helper

Are Signs and Wonders for Today?

#healingmiracles #elijahchallenge #healingencounterministry #HEM #albertkang #faithLine #twohandpunch #williamlau #signsandwonders #healthesick #injesusname #john316 #albertconnect

Are Signs and Wonders for Today?

Albert Kang

A Lutheran missionary to Cambodia visited me while I was working in Phnom Penh to ask for some advice on casting out demons. He did not know what to do with a demon-possessed person in his congregation at Siem Reap. He said he was never taught how to cast out demons during his seminary training. In fact, he was taught that all signs and wonders have ceased.

After showing this missionary how to use his God-given authority and power to cast out evil spirits, he went back to do so by faith. After a week or so, he returned and happily informed me that he had successfully cast out the evil spirits from the afflicted person.

Through The Elijah Challenge and Healing Encounter Ministry, we train believers to exercise their faith in healing the infirm. Here, in Gujarat, a deaf and dumb man was healed. He could hear and speak after the healing command.

Are The Modern Miracles Lying Wonders?
Today, there are Christians who believe that signs and wonders have ceased in spite of many evidences and testimonies of unexplained instant healing cases reported in news portals and various social media channels. These “anti-miracles” Christians explain all these signs and wonders away by calling them “lying wonders.”

They base their understanding on 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12.  This portion says that Satan will deceive people who do not love the truth by using signs and lying wonders. They also refer to Revelation 13:13 that describes the false prophet as having the ability to produce signs and wonders such as causing fire to come down from heaven. Then they invoke the serious warning by Jesus found in Matthew 7:21-22, misquoting this portion to associate those who are still doing signs and wonders to be false prophets.

However, a closer examination of the scriptural context reveals that the Lord had already identified the false prophets in Matthew 7:15-20. And he had indicated that the way to recognise true or false prophets is by identifying their fruits. From Matthew 7:21 to 23, Jesus was talking about obedient and disobedient disciples. He had given all of them authority and power to prophesy, heal the infirm and cast out demons in His name. The undeniable credential of a true disciple is his obedience – he is most willing to do the will of the Father. A disobedient disciple is not a true believer.

According to Luke 9, Judas was an Apostle and Peter declared in Acts 1:17 that “He was one of our number and shared in our ministry.” Being among the Twelve, Judas also received the authority and power from the Lord to do miracles. However, due to his disobedience and self-will, he was ultimately denied of his place in the Kingdom of God. Therefore, Matthew 7:22 is not for the purpose of rejecting people who exercise their God-given authority and power to heal the sick and cast out demons. It is a warning for people who are disobedient and do not do the will of the Lord.

These ladies were from a local tribe and they suffered from chronic backpain because of the hard labours they had to do every day. Many were too poor to see doctors and that day, we brought the healing miracles of the Lord Jesus to these ladies. All of them were healed in the mighty name of Jesus.

Signs And Wonders Ceased After The Bible Was Completed?
Another reason that some believers give as to why God performed miracles and healed people only in the past is that those incidents were primarily for the purpose of writing the New Testament. Since that task has already been completed, all miraculous powers have also ceased. For the same reason, not only miracles have ceased but the spiritual gifts, particularly speaking in tongues and prophesying, have also ceased. Their favourite supporting verses are found in 1 Corinthians 13:8-10.

Let us read verse 10: “But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.” (NKJV) or in the NIV translation: “But when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.”

They have taken the Greek word, “tevleio” which means “completion” to refer to the “Completion of the Bible” as written words of God rather than the “Completion of the Age.” Did Paul actually write about the completion of the Bible or was he referring to something else?

The context of this scriptural portion has no indication that Paul even had the “Completion of the Bible” in mind when he wrote to the Corinthian Christians.  In fact, Paul did not even realize that God would use his epistles to become an integral part of the New Testament. How could he write something that he had no idea at all? How could he add an idea that was outside the context of his explanation?

A good basic rule that governs biblical interpretation is that the Bible should never be interpreted to say what it never did say. Why then is this traditional argument that depicts the “Completion of the Bible” as the reason to reject all signs and wonders? Could it be due to the lack of miracles in these churches that has forced them to find an excuse?

It seems that once a certain theory is repeated long enough, it is then believed to become synonymous to Biblical Truth. People tend to equate their own subjective experiences with objective truth. To begin with, they already have no faith to trust God for any healing miracles and therefore, no miracle happens in their ministries. How to explain to their flock about this lack of signs and wonders? They conveniently declare that signs and wonders have ceased.

In Elijah Challenge and Healing Encounter Ministry, we believe that as long as you are a true disciple of Christ, you can heal the sick and cast out demons in the mighty name of Jesus. With more than 10,000 healing miracles since 2005, we can safely share that “all things are possible to those who believe” (Mark 9:23). If you have read up to here, you must be ready to put your faith on the line. I did that in 2005 and it totally changed my life and ministry.

Way back in 2006, when Elijah Challenge took root in Malaysia. From left, Rev William Lau, Rev Lucille Lau (Founders of The Elijah Challenge) Rev Albert Kang, Rev Grace Kang-Ong (Founders of Healing Encounter Ministry and Coordinators of Elijah Challenge Asia).

I will explain further in future blogs why you can actually obey the Word of God and that signs and wonders can be an integral part of your life and ministry.

This article is adapted from the book, Three Authorities of the Church written by Albert Kang

“The Three Authorities of the Church” is available in Canaanland Bookstore in Kuala Lumpur. You can also purchase it for RM30 each right here through this blog. Just write to me.

For further understanding about why signs and wonders are still available today and also applicable in your life and ministry, please check out the following video teaching.

#healingmiracles #elijahchallenge #healingencounterministry #HEM #albertkang #faithLine #powerevangelism #church #christianministry #deliverance #faith #jesuschrist #christianity #bible #jesus #christ #signs&wonders #faithlineinternational #prayer #holyspirit #godisgood #blessed #hope #worship #truth #believe #scripture #jesuslovesyou

The Confused Helper

By Albert Kang

Imagine you hire a helper to clean your house. She comes with very good credential, having served as a housemaid for many years. So, when she turns up on the first day, you gives her the “authority” to enter every room of the house so that she may clean them. Then you give her “power” which is your expensive cordless vacuum cleaner. With her working background, she should be able to clean all the rooms in no time. However, to your surprise, she looks at you and says, “Madam or Sir, would you please clean the rooms?” What would you do in a situation like that?

You may think that this story is ridiculous…but read on. Your response would definitely be that of confusion and frustration. You would ask this helper, “Excuse me, am I the boss or are you the boss? I have given you the fullest authority to go to every room and even given you the power which is my best vacuum cleaner to do the job. And now, you are asking me to clean the rooms. Are you having a fever or something?”

Before we carry this story further, let’s look at some scriptures to show you the correlation between this story and your story… that is if you are a disciple of Christ. Let’s see what has been given to the disciples of Christ:

“Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.” (Luke 9:1-2 NKJV)

Let put the narrative in the context of the story of the helper – Jesus is the boss and you are the helper. The boss gives you power and authority over all demons and cure diseases. He sends you to preach the kingdom of God and he emphasizes that you are also to heal the sick.

When you encounter demons and diseases, what would you do? Normally, the believers will PRAY and ASK Jesus to get rid to the demons and heal the diseases. I did that for many years and received very little results. I think around about less than ten people got healed through my prayers. You most probably get around the same result. The reason that you and I got very low number of healing miracles is because we are really the “confused helpers”.

When I prayed, I was actually telling Jesus to be the maid. He did those healing miracles during the first 20-plus years of my ministry was because of His grace and mercy. But something happened in 2005. I learned something that I had never learned in seminary – I learned how to minister healing without forcing Jesus to be the maid. Rev William Lau, the founder of The Elijah Challenge taught me and Grace how to really minister as true servants and “maids”.

Through Elijah Challenge Ministry and Healing Encounter Ministry, we provide training and healing practicum for believers.

We no longer “instruct” Jesus to do the healing but we command the diseases and demons to go in the mighty name of Jesus. The result was astounding – since that time, Grace and I had encountered and initiated more than 10,000 healing miracles. Deaf ears were open, the mute talked, lame walked, arthritic limbs were healed, chronic pain left and as our faith grew, more miracles happened. That training by Rev William Lau literally changed our lives and ministry.

You can visit the website of The Elijah Challenge and receive your training from there. Everything there is free. Rev William believes that freely he has received and freely he is giving.

www.theelijahchallenge.org

You may watch this video to further understand about how you can minister as a true servant of Jesus instead of asking Jesus to do your job.

#healingmiracles #elijahchallenge #healingencounterministry #HEM #albertkang #faithLine #twohandpunch #evangelism #mercyofgod #christianministry #servantofgod #deliverance #faithinchrist #jesuschrist #christianity #bible #jesus #christ #faithlineinternational #godisgood #prayer #holyspirit #godisgood #blessed #hope #worship #truth #believe #scripture #jesuslovesyou

The Missing Two-Hand Punch

By Albert Kang

Recently, a Chinese boxer by the name of Xiong Cheng Cheng (熊呈呈) was able to, with one hand, beat a pugilist named Yu Changhua (俞昌华) who claimed to be a Wing Chun master. Throughout the match, Xiong punched only with his left hand. While placing his crippled right hand behind his back, he was able to knock out his opponent. This boxer reminded me of most churches that are doing evangelism with only “one-hand punch” and they do it expertly. However, in the early Church, evangelism was done with”two-hand punch” – the first “punch” was healing the sick and casting demons. The second “punch” was sharing the Gospel of the kingdom. This Holy Spirit’s empowered “two-hand punch”combination of miracles and message was very effective and productive in soul-winning.

Xiong Cheng Cheng was able to defeat Yu Changhua with only one hand. Is the Church today going to depend upon the “one-hand punch” approach to evangelism?

Looking at the present situation of the modern Church, did the Lord remove one arm from the Church so that she has to depend solely upon spreading the Gospel without the accompanying signs and wonders?

Before, we look at the answer, let’s get back to Xiong, the one-armed boxer. When asked, wouldn’t it be better if he could use both hands, Xiong said how he wished he could do that. With both hands, he was sure that he could be a lot more powerful and effective in boxing. However, his handicapped right hand, though it looks normal, has a couple of screws holding the bones together. That practically renders the right arm useless, especially in a bout.

Is the Church today given two good hands or just one hand to fulfill the Great Commission? Let’s see if there are any biblical precedents in this matter.

Jesus And His Two-hand Punch
The ministry of Jesus began with a two-hand punch. He said, “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.” (Matthew 12:28). Healing miracles may be found in the Old Testament but casting out demons is strictly a New Testament’s phenomena. The Savior had come and the rule of Satan was threatened. Therefore, we find more reports in the New Testament of the two-hand punch combination – confronting the works of the evil one with signs and wonders, plus simultaneously proclaiming the Good News.

Matthew 4:23
And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.

Mark 1:39
And He was preaching in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and casting out demons. (NKJV)

The Early Church And Her Two-Hand Punch
If you were to read carefully through the Gospels, you will see how often this two-hand punch concept of evangelism approach was being used. Jesus subsequently passed this approach to His disciples. Jesus said to them in John 14:12, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.” With Jesus going back to the Father, the “two-hand punch” ministry of preaching the Gospel with signs and wonders fell upon the apostles and the early Church. The Holy Spirit was given that they could continue the “two-hand punch” ministry of Jesus effectively.

Can the churches of today still apply the “two-hand punch”?

The Book of Acts opens with the coming of the Holy Spirit and subsequently, we read about different miracles that the Church was performing as they spread the Gospel. For example, Peter and John healed the lame man in Acts 3 and that miracle opened the door of opportunity for them to preach the Gospel. That day, about 5,000 men turned to the Lord (Acts 4:4). Philip the Evangelist, who was not an apostle, also used the two-hand punch approach effectively in Samaria.

Acts 8:4-8
Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip when they heard him and saw the signs that he did. For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. So there was much joy in that city.

The “two-hand punch” approach was peppered throughout the Book of Acts:

Acts 5:12-16
The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed.

While healing and deliverance may not always be recorded as being accompanied by preaching, we note that this “two-hand punch” approach was accepted as the norm of the Christian ministry in the early days. Today, many put aside the healing and deliverance ministry primarily because of a mental block – “we can’t possibly do those things”. For twenty-plus years as a Pentecostal pastor, I had similar mental block. Less than ten people were healed in those twenty-plus years of ministry. How was that mental block removed from me?

Some of you may know that my wife, Grace and I have been involved in the healing and deliverance ministry for many years. Since 2005, after being trained by Rev William Lau, the founder of The Elijah Challenge International, we have witnessed over 10,000 healing miracles in our own ministry. The reason is that we no longer “pray” to Jesus to heal the sick because we are no longer the “bosses” who have been ordering Jesus by our “prayers” to heal. We have instead become servants who are doing the work of healing by directly commanding the infirmities to go in the mighty name of Jesus.

This “boss” and “servant” concept became the paradigm shift in our ministry. When Jesus the “Boss” has given us power and authority (Luke 9:1-2) to minister healing in His name, then we should just do it accordingly. We cannot “pray” and request the “Boss” to do our work. It was of little wonder why in twenty-plus years, my healing ministry was pathetic at best.

Grace and I have been using this two-hand punch approach to witness to pre-believers. Very few people, after they received their healing miracles, ever rejected us when we shared the Gospel of the kingdom. This two-hand punch approach makes evangelism so easy – healing the sick in the mighty name of Jesus and then sharing the Gospel with the healed person.

In another blog, I will share some definite steps how you can actually minister healing in the the mighty name of Jesus. Grace and I have trained so many ordinary believers who are now ministering healing as they share the Gospel. All things are possible when you believe.

If you are interested about how you can have your own healing ministry, please write to me. To understand further, please check this message that I have shared about why the churches need to apply the two-hand punch approach.

#healingmiracles #elijahchallenge #healingencounterministry #HEM #albertkang #faithLine #two-handpunch #evangelism #church #christianministry #callofgod #deliverance #faith #jesuschrist #christianity #bible #jesus #christ #faithlineinternational #god #prayer #holyspirit #godisgood #blessed #hope #worship #truth #believe #scripture #jesuslovesyou

The Double-Ambush In Spiritual Warfare

The double-ambush is a military strategy that leverages upon the common weakness of human character – pride. Many stronger forces were defeated because they had become proud and extremely confident in their own abilities to defeat the opponents. In spiritual warfare, we must be aware that the enemy of our soul is using this double-ambush effectively. We have to find a way to counter him.

James Oliver Rigney Jr. aka Robert Jordan, a well known author and a much decorated US helicopter gunner during the Vietnam war wrote, “A crafty enemy will set a weak ambush you are meant to break through. Confident because you have dealt with the threat, your guard relaxed, you walk into the second, stronger ambush.”

For example, Joshua was able to destroy the Kingdom of Ai by using this technique. In the first battle with the army of Ai, the Israelites were defeated and ran. (Joshua 7:4-5). The underlying reason was the sin of Achan that had caused God not to stand on the side of the Israelites. However, in the subsequent attack, God had fully forgiven the Israelites and as Joshua’s army drew near, the soldiers of Ai, having been emboldened by their previous victory, came out in full force. Their attack was ferocious and the Israelites started to fall back in retreat.

“All the men of Ai were called to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua and were lured away from the city. Not a man remained in Ai or Bethel who did not go after Israel. They left the city open and went in pursuit of Israel.”
Joshua 8:16-17 – NIV

What the king of Ai did not know was that Joshua had set a double-ambush. He had secretly placed a troop behind the city of Ai and when all the men came out in pursuit, this troop had entered and burned the undefended city. The kingdom of Ai was destroyed because of self-confidence, pride and ego.

This Double-Ambush approach is also regularly used by the devil against God’s people. For example, Samson killed countless burly Philistine warriors, even with just the jawbone of a donkey, only to fall prey in a second ambush prepared by Delilah. David could face Goliath but fell flat in the presence of Bathsheba. Solomon, with all his wisdom and wealth, could not withstand the religious fervor of his pagan wives and concubines. He too fell and sinned against God. Peter the Apostle who was proud of his courage melted in fear at the words of some servants and maids. He denied Christ not once, not twice but three times.

The devil does not really need any new tricks to bring Christians down. As long as the “pride of life” continues to dominate us, the devil will easily have his way with us. The reason why big-time preachers, pastors and church leaders fell like flies to scandals is because of this unrealistic sense of being “untouchable”. The Bible has warned that “pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18).

Others who considered themselves to be highly spiritual, fell into religious pride and became creators of Christian cults. In every instance, the luciferin spirit of pride was responsible for the fall of every single one of these people. All across Christendom, we see shadows of Lucifer behind every arrogant person who defies the correction of the Church and seeks to interpret the Scriptures according to his or her own way. Of course, the excuse has always been “what can I do when I receive this divine revelation”?

C. S. Lewis said, “Through pride the devil became the devil. Pride leads to every vice, it’s the complete anti-God state of mind.” It is not just the double-ambush of the devil that causes a proud person to fall but God also does not like anyone with an arrogant and haughty spirit (James 4:6). If any believer is caught in this type of self-centered pride, he is going to encounter a double whammy. One side, the devil is going to nullify him and on the other side, God is not going to help him. The end-result is going to be really tragic and ugly. A walk through church history should be helpful in seeing how the double whammy happened and how the double-ambush worked.

How are we to keep from being trapped by this double whammy situation and to be destroyed by the double-ambush?

Here are a few practical steps and hopefully they are of use to you.

LIVING IN THE PRESENT AND PRESENCE
I am learning to live in the moment and be very aware of the presence of Jesus Christ in my moments. I have wasted enough time reminiscing the past and pondering the future. Don’t get me wrong – I do appreciate all the past victories and learning experiences that God has given and also what He has for me in the future. However, in order to be productive and useful for the kingdom of God, I have to learn how to treasure the present.

100% FOCUS
This is a tough one – when I talk to anyone, I am practicing how to give them 100% of my attention. I am learning to listen more, even though I fail often in this. However, I know I can overcome. Whenever I catch myself thinking about what story I want to share when my friend finishes talking, I count silently, 5-4-3-2-1 and snap out that bad habit. This little “Five-Second Rule” trick by Mel Robbins is really helpful for me to stay focused. The 100% attentiveness is not only a good way to learn more about other lives, show appreciation and gratefulness to them, it is also a fantastic way to kill my self-centeredness and self-indulgence. This practice leaves little room for the devil to maneuver me into pride again.

GODLY COMMUNICATION
Another helpful practice that I am learning in this journey of humility is how to communicate in a godly manner. Some friends may think that I must be joking since I am teaching “Effective Communication” in Haggai Institute. Seriously, I know myself and how evidently arrogant I am in my communication. Snobbish. proud and unpleasant words would subconsciously escape from my mouth. So, being present in the moment, is helpful in making immediate correction to those loose words. In self-evaluation, I would attach an emotion to a word. Was that word snobbish? Did that statement come across as arrogant? By recognizing and tagging these feelings to everything that I speak, I am able to make definite adjustment in my attitude and behavior.

Finally, let’s listen to the advice of a once-arrogant man and see what we can learn: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.  Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith…” (1 Peter 5:6-9)

I hope these few simple steps help you and if you have other practical ideas, please let me know by dropping a note in this blog. Thanks.
PAK

Here is a video excerpt that might help you to engage in spiritual warfare from another angle.

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