August,
2002
Dear Ministry
Friend,
The Bible teaches
that there are ways to open and close the door to Satan's destruction
coming into your life or family or nation. One of the key scriptures
is Ephesians
4:27, "Never give place to the devil." Another
translation says, "Do not give the devil an opportunity"
(NAS). Therefore, it must be possible to keep the devil out, and
it must be possible to let him in! 1st
Peter 5:8 says, "Be sober, be vigilant; because
your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking
whom he may devour." Notice the emphasis on "whom
he MAY devour." It is not just anybody.
We have to give the
devil "place" in order for him to hurt us. If he could
just walk up and kill a Christian, we would all be dead and this
would be an empty planet. The devil is not leaving us alive because
he is a nice guy. He is seeking whom he MAY devour,
and there are certain things that open the door and give him access.
Certainly sin is
at the top of the list. If we "sow sin", we "reap
destruction". If people sin, it is not the instant loss of
salvation, but the instant "giving place" to the devil
that occurs. The devil then causes people to "reap
destruction" Galatians
6:8 (NIV). Along these lines, "The wages of
sin is death" Romans
3:23 (death of a relationship, death of an area of physical
health, death in career or finances, death of our reputation,
death of our joy or peace, etc.). Now it is true that God can
raise the dead. I have seen two people come back to life when
I prayed for them. But it is much easier to prevent death. If
we will not yield to sin, or stop sinning if already entangled
in sin, we will prevent many unnecessary problems.
There are other areas
of "sin" that many people do not think of as sin. For
example, fear opens the door to the devil. Some people fear cancer,
some fear losing their job, some fear having a car accident, etc.
The Bible says in Romans
14:23, "Whatever is not from faith is sin."
Fear is the opposite of faith, so it is sin! Another example of
a common "sin" is strife. Many families argue and fight
in various ways, then are perplexed about how destruction comes
into their family. James
3:16 says, "Where envying and strife is, there
is confusion and every evil work." The Bible promises
there will be evil where strife is. So no one having strife needs
to continue wondering how the devil got in to steal their finances,
health, relationships, etc.
In a similar way,
as a nation of people sin, it gives the devil "place"
and if they sin in greater ways it gives the devil
place in greater ways. The nation of Haiti had made devil worship
their national religion even their flag represented it
graphically. On August 14th, 1791, a leader by the name of Boukman
called a meeting in a wooded area called Bois-Caiman near Cape
Haitian, which was attended by a large number of people. They
celebrated a Satanic ceremony, sacrificing a pig and drinking
its blood, swore to serve the devil and dedicated Haiti to him.
Up to the present, Haiti's historians have all attributed Haiti's
developments to this ceremony. What was the result? Haiti became
the most poverty-stricken nation in the western hemisphere. But
change can happen. For 206 years, Bois-Caiman was a very "holy"
place to the voodoo priests, a high place which could only be
entered by witch doctors during Voodoo ceremonies every August
14th to sacrifice to Satan. But on August 14th, 1997, a large
number of Christian leaders came together to fast and pray for
the curse to be broken. They rallied in front of the President's
palace and then marched for 6 hours to the place where the Satanic
ceremony took place 206 years ago. They had informed the government
and media of their intentions weeks before the event, and were
told that the witch doctors would be there, as they were every
year. When they arrived, the voodoo priests had hidden themselves,
unable to directly confront the Christians. It was a significant
spiritual battle to reach the tree under which the pig was sacrificed
in the original ceremony. They formed a "Jericho march",
circling the strategic tree seven times. On the seventh time around,
God gave many people a vision of the devil fleeing from the area.
The Christians were overjoyed. They prayed and canceled the Satanic
"contract" and broke the curse, then celebrated communion
and dedicated the area as a place of prayer. They also declared
August 14th to be a national prayer day, on which people should
pray that Haiti will fully return to God. The Haitian government
initially protested, speaking in a press release of "terrible
damage to a Voodoo holy place in which no Christian had set foot
for 206 years." But the U.S. Ambassador to Haiti publicly
countered the Haitian government's position, and the government
relented and respected the legal right of Haitians to gather at
any place on Haiti, including Bois-Caiman, where they now allow
all Christian groups to meet. The place is now very popular, and
local Christians gather there daily for prayer and fasting.
This same kind of
break-through can happen in any nation, including America. God
said, "If My people who are called by My name will
humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their
wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their
sin and heal their land." 2nd
Chronicles 7:14. It is time for America to experience the
revival that comes from repentance, humility, and seeking God.
America has been
in a moral free-fall since the 1960's. All the statistics have
gone off the charts on crime and corruption, drug and alcohol
abuse, immorality and illegitimate births, the rise of false religions,
and the attitude of the government and media against Christianity.
Especially serious is the enormous number of abortions which have
occurred since 1973 (well over 30 million). God promised judgement
on a land that spills innocent blood (Numbers
35:33). The Lord woke me up at 3:30 am on May 1st, 2002, and
spoke to me in a dramatic way while I was seeking Him during that
early morning time. He showed me that this blood still cries out
to Him for judgement, and that His judgement has been slowly descending
on our nation. This judgement usually touches the "high places"
first like the World Trade Center towers places
of pride and arrogance and the worship of false gods like mammon.
Repentance causes God's judgement to lift. Our nation experienced
a small measure of repentance immediately after the events of
September
11th, but then Americans have drifted back into complacency
and even persecution of Christianity again. The long term
forecast for America all depends on spiritual issues like repentance,
revival, and people being born-again. Only major levels of people
giving their lives to Jesus can ultimately reverse God's judgement
on America for our taking so many innocent lives through abortion.
But all things are
possible with God. We need to pray, give, and work for national
repentance and revival. We are at "war" spiritually.
But major change has been experienced in other cities and nations
through prayer. This has been well documented in two powerful
videos titled Transformations and Transformations
II. I am offering these videos this month to show
people how spiritual renewal and reformation can occur. These
videos present "blueprints" of how ordinary Christians
and ministers prayed and worked to see dramatic spiritual change
in a short period of time. Many people have wept as they saw what
God did as presented on these videos. You owe it to yourself to
see this, and share it with your family, church, or other group
of people. Your children and grandchildren ought to have this
record of God's transformation for them to see.
Teaching God's Word
for Spiritual Change,
Dale &
Judi Leander |