the power of the spirit
Here is a cross post of a pastor’s blog entry who is in our sister church in Amsterdam.
Never I don’t know if I can describe the Yesterday four of us As It was only a few minutes later when Andrew Two weeks early a relationship of his went sour. As we were conversing we told him we “My problem is He looked at us and Andrew continued, “Most people in this world don’t “So” I said, “what is it you “The Andrew then proceeded to open his life to us. “I “The Andrew “You We continued to talk for some time. “Why are you in Amsterdam?” he said to me. “I came here over two years to start a church.” “So, you are doing His work.” “Yea, I am his servant.” “Its too late here, we already own this I answered back, “yeah, you may be right, but we are snacking souls out of this hell, one at a time.” As Please join with me in praying for Andrew for the next 30 God is strong enough to bear it, he bore it on a cross.
28 July 2005
seeing
before have I seen the stark contrast of good and evil as I have seen
in Amsterdam. Never have I more strongly felt the presence of evil and
sickness as I have here. Never before have I looked in the face of evil
as I did yesterday.
experience I had yesterday. I don’t think I can paint a clear enough
picture of the event, though I will try.
stood on a bridge in the red light district of Amsterdam. Like every
Tuesday we were praying for the city and reaching out to drug addicts
and dealers. As I was standing on the bridge watching the people of all
ages, race, class, and nationality pass before me, I prayed a simple
prayer. Little did I know the answer to my prayer would come so quickly
and clearly? Little did I know the magnitude of what I asked to see?
I looked upon the many comers and goers I prayed, “God open my eyes,
let me see the spiritual realms and understand what is happening in
this place.”
approached us. He was looking for “Excalibur”, a local bar. He was
about my age and looked like a normal guy, other than the word “Fuck”
on his sweat shirt. We asked Andrew if he lived in the area. He
proceeded to tell us a story, not just a story, his story, one I will
never forget.
She was the second person he ever loved. What better to do than head to
Amsterdam, indulge in every possible sin and forget his pain? His sole
mission: smoke as much crack as he could and sleep with as many
prostitutes as possible.
were Christians, “oh, I know the New Testament very well” he said. And
he did. Andrew proceeded to tell us a dark and disturbing tale, “I have
rejected God” he said. “I have not only turned my back on God, but I
have made it my aim to hurt him as much as possible.” “How do plan on
hurting him?” we asked. “By hurting those he loves, the creatures
created in his image” Andrew responded. “I know I am going to hell and
I want to bring as many people with me as I can.”
pride” Andrew continued. “I will not bow my knee to God. I refuse to
admit my need of his salvation, it would be an act of moral cowardice.”
Andrew began referencing stories of pride in Persian mythology and the
book “Paradise Lost” by John Milton. He began to talk about the devil
and his demons. “The Bible says there will be a day all of us will
stand before God and every knee shall bow. God is going to have to
break my knees, because I will not bow.”
chuckled, “You Christians, you always talk about winning the battle.
You don’t get it. We know we’ve lost. We’re not trying to win. We’re
trying to take as many down with us as we can.” “We” I said, “who do
you mean by we”, “the legions, the devil and his demons” he replied in
a calm manner. “We hate you, for you are the loved and we are the
forsaken.”
know whom they are serving. They are blind to the spiritual forces.
They are slaves to the master of this world. You know what the devil
wants; he doesn’t want you to suffer in this world, because when people
suffer, they turn to God. He wants you to be distracted. He wants you
to have a nice house, with a nice income and lots of entertainment,
anything to keep you sedated.”
don’t want people to know about God?” “We don’t want people to know He
loves them. His love is dangerous. We want to keep the people blind.”
world is fortunate I am a small man, if I had money and power I would
hurt a lot of people. I would do tremendous evil. You see these crack
heads on the street, I’ll give them money, but first I make them
renounce Jesus as their Lord and Savior. I make them say it out loud. I
make them condemn themselves for a Euro, or a hit of crack.”
Andrew continued, “I
had a Christian friend once, he invited me to a Thanksgiving dinner, to
be nice and because he thought I would be lonely on my own. What he
didn’t understand, is that I don’t get lonely, I am loneliness, my soul is a barren wasteland, I am desolate and dead inside. I feel nothing.”
was adopted when I was three” he said. “When my adopted parents got me
they found cigarette burns up and down my back.” “I don’t remember
anything from my first three years of life, all I know, is enough bad
stuff happened to really fuck me up. In high school I was tested and
diagnosed as a sociopath, I have no remorse or guilt; I have no love for people, only hatred.”
only love I felt was with my last girlfriend. It was the first time I
felt emotions. I began crying when I watched sad movies, I was like
“what the fuck is happening to me.” I felt myself changing. Love
changes a person, it’s dangerous. Now the relationship is over and I’m
back to my self, my heart is dead again. After experiencing all this, I
figure there may be a possibility for me to accept God’s love, but it
would only be possible through another persons love.”
continued “There is one thing I fear.” “What is that?” we responded. “I
fear demons have influenced my thinking, making me unable to think for
myself on these matters. I have thought about asking God to ride me of
all demonic influence for a period of 30 days, in order to see if the
things I have told you are my thoughts or demon influenced.” “Why not
ask him?” I responded “Isn’t it worth knowing, I mean, you are talking
about spending all of eternity apart from God, in hell, wouldn’t you
want to know if your thinking was wrong?” “Yes I would” Andrew replied.
can pray right now and ask him” I said. “O.K.” he replied. We bowed our
heads and Andrew prayed this prayer. “Jesus, you know I hate you, you
know I want nothing to do with you, but I want to ask you, if you will
listen to me, remove any demonic influenced thinking in my life, give
me 30 days of clarity, so I can know if these are my thoughts or the
thoughts of others.” Andrew then allowed me to pray for him too.
city. Just look around. We’ve won here.” As I looked around, it was as
if my eyes were opened. I saw red lights, sex shops, drug addicts and
drug dealers. I saw tourist with cameras. I saw souls imprisoned, minds
blinded and hearts hardened. I saw evil oppressing and hatred stealing
people’s lives. I saw sickness and devastation. I saw Andrew’s reality.
I saw a city blinded to love and truth. It was horrifying.
we were finishing our conversation, I thanked Andrew for his honesty
and for not pretending who he was truly serving. I also let him know,
that by talking with us, he was actually helping to serve the kingdom
of God. He replied “I know! I hate that, He always turns our evil into
good.”
days. It was no small thing that Andrew asked God for help. I believe
God knows Andrew and heard his plea. As Andrew said himself, “If I were
to become a Christian, I know I would be a very powerful servant for
God. But I don’t think I could bear the remorse I would feel for all
the evil I have done. If I would turn to God I would have to admit my
wrong and I don’t think I could take it, I don’t think I am strong
enough to bear it.”
But I have to keep remembering…Satan is the enemy, not people…