The Papers are Already Drawn Up

I’m starting to wonder if we understand marriage.

A guy appeared on Sid Roth’s show a while back. His name is John Benefiel. He teaches that we have “married” evil spirits such as Baal and Ashtoreth, and that we need to be divorced. Something like that. I am not going to watch the whole thing again and take notes. The upshot appears to be that, like any spouse, an evil spirit who is married to a human has rights. If you get rid of them and exercise your rights, obstacles in your life disappear.

He also says we can loose angels to help us.

I suppose it will be a surprise, but I agree with him, to an extent. I don’t believe in talking to angels. That’s idolatry, or at least it has been throughout history. Magic and occultism are basically ways to command angels and demons. The Bible complains about human beings worshiping “the host of heaven.” Satan, an angel, offered Jesus all sorts of things in exchange for worship. In effect, he offered to be his genie (from the Arabic “djinn,” which means “demon”). In order to get his kingdom, Jesus had to turn him down.

I know of no scriptural example of a righteous person commanding an angel. I won’t fool with it.

The marriage stuff, though, that has me thinking.

What is marriage? It’s not sex. If you have sex with someone, you can walk off immediately afterward and never speak to that person again. Generally, that person will not get any power over you. Marriage is different. According to Paul, in a marriage, each spouse gives the other authority over his or her flesh. See 1 Corinthians 7:4. In a marriage, a woman takes a man’s name, which means she derives her authority from him and can use his wealth. She relies on him. She gives him (in an ideal universe, not this one) unrestricted access to everything about her. It’s a little bit like becoming a slave, except that the partnership is more like 60/40 than 95/5.

If you sin, you give spirits claims on you, just like a woman who marries a man. They may serve you to some extent, bringing you pleasure and so on, but you will be the subordinate member of the relationship. They will have authority over your flesh. They will be able to influence your behavior. In extreme cases, like drug addiction and possession, spirits take away free will. In possession, they take over completely, replacing you as the operator of your body.

It’s funny, but people are becoming more and more like demons. “Respectable” people now do what demon-driven convicts used to do. They cover themselves with convict tattoos, and they wear little convict chin beards. They shave their heads like convicts. And what do they call people they want to dominate? “Bitch.” That’s Satan’s word for “wife.” It’s a person you humble, degrade, and control. In the vilests sense, you enter them, and their struggles enhance your pleasure. Thirty years ago, men didn’t call each other “bitch.” I think the workings of the supernatural realm are becoming exposed, as we get farther from God.

Odd thing: when dogs couple, they become attached temporarily. During that time, it’s impossible for the female to get away. Free will is gone.

What does Jesus want? Marriage. He calls us the Body of Christ and the Bride of Christ. He says there will be a wedding feast. He wants authority over our flesh, and he pursues it through the baptism with the Holy Spirit, which is what evil spirits are imitating when they try to control or possess us.

The story of creation is a story of two beings who fight for control of your flesh. God wants you to give him control through consent. He will fill you with the Holy Spirit and guide you in various ways, but you will always be able to say no. Satan will try to convince you to consent to control, but he will also trick you into giving up free will, so he gets control without your express agreement. He comes in through the window or however he can. Jesus comes in through the front door, after telling you exactly what he is.

We beg for spirit marriage from the days we’re born until the days when we give ourselves to Jesus. I didn’t say “when we accept salvation,” because most people who accept salvation want to continue serving themselves and Satan while they’re on earth.

We beg for spirit marriage through sin and iniquity. We’ve become so ignorant, we actually believe that evil things we do to open the doors are good. We think pride, excessive ambition, lust, greed, aggression, and cruelty are positive things, because they help us get ahead in life and they bring us fleeting pleasures. We work hard at becoming what the Bible says we should not be, and in the process, we tear down the walls that protect us from spirits that want to enter and control us. We invite them in and prepare a feast, when we should be working to keep them out. They’re like rats. Would you prepare a meal for a rat? Three months down the road, you’d have a hundred rats.

When I was younger, I actually worked at being less good. I had some good traits that worked against me in the secular world. I tried to be more aggressive. Nastier. Less honest; honesty had caused me a lot of problems. I tried to be less clean sexually. I practically advertised, looking for supernatural rats to come aboard. Now I work to get them out. And I shouldn’t say “work,” because the stuff that works is prayer and speech. It’s easy. I use God’s supernatural power. I filled the Augean stables, and only the river of the Holy Spirit’s living water will get them clean.

In the Bible, we don’t see a whole lot of stuff about declaring things in God’s name, or other ways of using language to fight our battles. I think some people go overboard, making claims God won’t back up. They declare this or that, or they “take authority” over things they can’t really control. They challenge Satan directly, by name, which seems like a really bad idea. But the Bible proves we can bless and curse, and we can order common spirits out of our lives and out of the lives of others, if our authority is strong. So I think Benefiel is right when he says it’s good to formally divorce spirits that screw up your life.

Much sickness and defeat comes from sin. It comes from making yourself the wife of a bunch of spirits who are associated with sin. If you’ve invited these creatures in, they have a right to be there, and they may have the right to give you cancer, wreck your marriage, or prevent your prayers from being answered. Maybe you need to declare a divorce.

I’ve learned that the Bible is like a statute book. It’s full of promises a powerful authority will enforce. But they don’t necessarily work before you claim what’s yours. It’s like the Constitution. The Constitution is well over 200 years old, but jails are full of people who would be free, had they exercised the rights it grants. In that way, jails are like hell.

You need to know your rights, and you need to enforce them. Remember what God said through Hosea? “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”

I believe ancient people knew much more about the supernatural than we do. That knowledge has been piddled away. Every so often, God brings some of it back to us, and we piddle it away again. But if you pray in the Spirit every day, even if the people who came before you didn’t teach you what they should have, God will bring you revelation and tell you things you should already know. I believe this is what God meant when he said, “When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up (Psalm 27).” Our parents and ancestors failed us, but God is there to restore.

I think it also refers to non-Christians who infuriate their relatives by becoming Christians, but that’s another story.

The Trinity is confusing, but one thing is clear. The throne room of God is a court. The Bible points out that spirits appear before God and make their cases. Consider the book of Job, for one example. Jehovah is the judge. Even Jesus has to make requests of him, like a lawyer. He is the final arbiter. What if you’re praying to be healed of cancer, but a spirit can appear before Jehovah and say, “This person ‘married’ me willingly and has not cast me out, so I have the right to stay and give him cancer. His flesh is my flesh, and I have authority over it, as Paul said”?

This has been on my mind for a few days. It sounds reasonable to me. Jesus has a body, or bride, in the earth. So does Satan. We are expected to “marry” Jesus, so our relationships with Satan and his underlings must be similar. In fact, we “marry” little insignificant human beings, giving them power they should not have. We let them abuse and use us. Can we complain, if we give them title?

There may be great power in this. This may be the correct explanation for demonic occupation and influence. It may explain what “casting out” is all about.

Jesus told us we could not plunder a strong man’s house unless we bound him first. He also told us we are houses. “Binding” is a verbal thing, done in the name of Jesus, using his authority. It may be that in spite of your faith, you are like a home full of squatters who need to be shown the door.

When I pray for people to be healed, I always pray that God will cleanse them of any sins or iniquities that cause their illnesses. This offends people. I don’t care. We know for a fact that many illnesses are the result of sin or iniquity. We have to address that. It may be that if you’re stuck waiting for the answer to a prayer, you need to rid yourself of the guests you’ve allowed to block God’s help.

I would not follow Benefiel’s teaching and “loose angels” to help me. Seems to me that if your goal is to drive spirits out, you don’t want to turn around and invite new ones in.

Here is good evidence that this is right. It’s a longer quote from Hosea: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.” Here you can see that choosing not to KNOW God (which is a term related to marriage) will cost you his protection and his ear. And because you have no knowledge, you will not be able to help your children. You will forsake them, as Psalm 27 says, so only God can take them up and restore them.

Interesting stuff.