I have a very disturbing message to bring
before you today, friends, but it needs to
be preached because we need to be aware
of what's taking place in our society today.
In the book of Acts, in chapter 19,
beginning in verse 11, we read, And God
wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul,
so that from his body were brought unto
the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases
departed from them, and the evil spirits went
out of them.
Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took
upon them to call over them which had
evil spirits, the name of the Lord Jesus
saying, We adjure you by Jesus, whom Paul
preacheth.
And there were seven sons of one Sceva,
a Jew, and chief of the priests, which
did so.
And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus
I know, and Paul I know, but who
are ye?
And the man in whom the evil spirit
was leaped on them, and overcame them, and
prevailed against them, so that they fled out
of that house naked and wounded.
This striking passage of scripture speaks of demonic
activity where the demon overpowers these seven individuals,
these seven sons of Sceva, who are completely
powerless to deal with this demon.
And the demon prevails against them, beating them
up, stripping them of their garments, and wounding
them, sending them on the run.
I believe we live in a day friends,
right before the return of Antichrist, where we
are seeing increased demonic activity in the land.
Every time you see the news media report
another mass shooting, you are witnessing demonic activity.
Why do you think someone intentionally goes out
to gun down strangers?
It's demons brother, demons.
Demons who have taken control of an individual
and threw that demon possessed person.
Those demons rage, murder, and destroy.
The title of my message today friends is,
When Demons Rage.
We live in a violent society, and the
violence is ratcheting up with increased activity.
I believe the reason for this is, Satan
knows he is a defeated foe, whose time
is short, right before the Lord's return.
And in these last days in which we
live, these end times, there is a noticeable
increase in demonic activity.
Now, you will never hear a news anchor
or a talking head on TV attribute mass
killings to demonic activity, but that's what is
taking place.
And sadly, the church is so stupefied by
her spiritual declension, that you won't hear the
church saying that these recent mass shootings are
carried out by demons inside of people.
Nobody wants to talk about it and become
a target of criticism.
So the church deals with it by her
silence, because she is impotent to do anything
about it.
No, the reason for the mass killings, the
media tells us, is better gun control, social
problems, environmental or psychological issues.
But nobody is telling you the truth, that
it is a spiritual problem.
It's demonic activity.
We live in a sex-crazed society that
has rejected the God of the Bible, and
the church has so compromised herself that she
is completely powerless, like these seven sons of
Sceva.
I believe the words of Alan Redpath best
sum up why the church today is so
powerless, like these seven sons of Sceva.
Listen to his words.
Today, the Christian church is helpless behind the
scenes and away from the public arena.
We are facing powers of darkness too strong
for us, because somewhere in our personal lives,
we have forfeited all right to the Spirit's
anointing, His authority and His power.
In His absence, all we can do is
substitute planning and organization, schemes and techniques.
Well, I believe Alan Redpath hit the nail
on the head.
A few are prevailing in prayer today to
push back the darkness in our communities until
the church repents and confesses her lack.
Demons will continue to rage.
What the church needs is a fresh baptism
of power from on high.
But to get that costs something, and few
are willing to pay the price, while demons
rage and wreck hell among us.