Demon strongholds and Christian fortresses
EPHESIANS 6:12
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
2 CORINTHIANS 10:3-5
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,
5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
One area of spiritual warfare in which little information seems to be known, is in the area of demon strongholds. What I mean by this is physical areas where demons are allowed to dwell such as a house, temple, building, special tract of ground, etc.
Unfortunately many Christians are unaware of this and get themselves into trouble without even realizing what they have done. For example, I have read where well-meaning but uninformed Christians will enter pagan shrines and temples and pray for the removal of the temple, or will try to cast out the demons attached to these places.
Usually within a short period of time, these Christians come under intense attack, and suffer greatly. They petition God for relief, and many times don't seem to receive it, and they cannot understand why this is happening to them. There are several reasons for this, which it would be wise for all Christians to understand.
All pagan religions and some ‘parallel Christian’ religions are demon created, therefore churches, temples and the like are created for them and they have the legal right before God to dwell there.
The structures and property they exist on are dedicated to Satan through that religion, therefore Satan has legal ownership of them. Even Jesus didn't dispute Satan's claim to own the entire Earth during the time that He tempted Jesus. Jesus knew it to be true. Scripture records;
LUKE 4:1-8
1 Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,
2 being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.
3 And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
4 But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ”
5 Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
6 And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.
7 Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.”
8 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”
Note also, that Jesus didn't fight with Satan concerning the mastery of the world. He had not
received commandment from His Father to do so. And being obedient in all things, He waited for
power and commandment from His Father to do so, which was given to Him after his atoning
death on the cross.
You cannot just enter their temples or churches with impunity.
If you do you will indeed find the fight you are looking for, but you will lose. Why? Because you didn't go in at God's command. You went in on your own. And if you go in without His command or permission, He will not go with you.
A soldier doesn't attack the enemy without his commander's permission, for if he does, he does
so by himself and does not have the power of the commander or his army behind him. Even so
we must wait for our Commander's will in spiritual warfare.
Even the apostle Paul learned this as he was preaching on his missionary journeys. Scripture records;
ACTS 16:4-7
4 And as they went through the cities, they delivered to them the decrees to keep, which were determined by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem.
5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily.
6 Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia.
7 After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them.
They may not have understood why the Holy Spirit would not allow them to go to Asia Minor, but they obeyed His commandment and traveled only where the Spirit would allow them to go.
A good example of the consequences of not obeying God's command is found in Numbers, when Israel tried to attack the Canaanites without God's permission. When approaching the promised land, Moses had sent twelve spies into the land to see what it was like. They had returned with ten of the spies reporting heavily-fortified cities and men of giant stature dwelling there whom Israel could not defeat and they wailed that God had brought them out of Egypt to kill them. Only Joshua and Caleb urged Israel to go in and possess the land, a good land, a land flowing with milk and honey as God had promised. Pay special attention to verses 39-45 below.
Scripture records;
NUMBERS 14:28-45
28 Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you:
29 the carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above.
30 Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in.
31 But your little ones, whom you said would be victims, I will bring in, and they shall know the land which you have despised.
32 But as for you, your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness.
33 And your sons shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years, and bear the brunt of your infidelity, until your carcasses are consumed in the wilderness.
34 According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for each day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely forty years, and you shall know My rejection.
35 I the Lord have spoken this. I will surely do so to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. In this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.’
36 Now the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation complain against him by bringing a bad report of the land,
37 those very men who brought the evil report about the land, died by the plague before the Lord.
38 But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive, of the men who went to spy out the land.
39 Then Moses told these words to all the children of Israel, and the people mourned greatly.
40 And they rose early in the morning and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, “Here we are, and we will go up to the place which the Lord has promised, for we have sinned!”
41 And Moses said, “Now why do you transgress the command of the Lord? For this will not succeed.
42 Do not go up, lest you be defeated by your enemies, for the Lord is not among you.
43 For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and you shall fall by the sword; because you have turned away from the Lord, the Lord will not be with you.”
44 But they presumed to go up to the mountaintop. Nevertheless, neither the ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses departed from the camp.
45 Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who dwelt in that mountain came down and
attacked them, and drove them back as far as Hormah.
Note that in verses 39-45, Israel disobeyed the Lord and tried to enter the land without His permission and they were defeated because of their disobedience. Even so, if you enter into a demon stronghold or domain without the Lord's command or permission, no matter how sincere your intentions you are guilty of disobedience before the Lord and are subject to attack from Satan. You have trespassed on his territory, and he has the legal right to attack you.
Disobedience has it's roots in rebellion, and as the prophet Samuel said to king Saul
concerning disobedience;
1 SAMUEL 15:22-23
22 So Samuel said: “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.”
We as Christians know that pagan religions and some parallel Christian religions are demonic,
and therefore we should be very careful in our dealings with them, and with those who practice
those religions.
I learned a strong lesson concerning this recently. My wife had driven to the store, but on the way realized that she had forgotten something, and needed to go back to the house to get it. She entered the parking lot of a nearby Mormon church, turned around and headed back home to retrieve the item she had forgotten.
As soon as she walked through the door, she immediately became violently ill. As I was seeking to find out what was causing her illness she offhandedly mentioned what had happened, and suddenly I understood what was going on.
She had innocently entered Satan's territory, and by doing so, had given him the right to attack her. We immediately went before the Lord, and repented of what she had done, rebuked the demons that were afflicting her, and the attack stopped. It was then that we learned about entering into territory that was legally owned and controlled by Satan.
I went before the Lord again concerning this Mormon church, for my daughter needed to walk by
this church on her way to school each day, and I was afraid of her being attacked by the demons
there. God told me, "Their authority ends at the street. There is no sidewalk in front of this
church therefore the demons attached to the church have authority only out to where the
property meets the road. As long as she doesn't leave the road, she is safe.”
Something else to consider concerning strongholds. If you give permission from people of other
religions to use your church, or invite them in as part of the "Inter-Faith" or "ecumenical"
movements, you are giving their demons permission to enter the church. If you let the enemy
within your gates, he will seek to destroy your church stronghold from within.
A good example of that is a church in Washington State that I used to attend. Just before I left, it had been a thriving church, one in which the Spirit of the Lord was indeed felt. In fact, when I first attended, as soon as my wife and I walked in our spirits felt at peace, and for the first time in a long time we were able to lay down our spiritual armor, and rest. It was a wonderful feeling.
Several years later the pastor, a dynamic and God-fearing man was called by the Lord to pastor another church. I left shortly afterward as I had received a job offer in another state.
When we left, the church had a membership of several hundred people. Apparently they soon became caught up in the Ecumenical and Inter-Faith movements, and within three years after we left their membership had dwindled to about 15 regular people. Satan had entered the church, and had destroyed it.
Sadly, this is the same church I spoke of in my vision described in my testimony page , the
church where I saw Satan in the form of a tiger prowled the parking lot, snarling in frustration
because the spirit of the Lord in the church was so strong that he couldn't get anywhere near it.
Satan will try to dwell where he has no legal right to, such as in a Christian church, Christian homes, etc. With no legal right to remain there he can be rebuked and cast out. But if he has the legal right to remain there by right of ownership, different procedures must be followed.
When God commanded Israel to invade Canaan they were commanded to smash all idols, burn the sacred groves, burn the cities with fire, etc. This was the only way to legally remove Satan and his demons from the property. As long as there was something there not destroyed that belonged to them, they had a legal right to remain there.
As God told Moses;
EXODUS 34:10-14
10 And He said: “Behold, I make a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels such as have not been done in all the Earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord. For it is an awesome thing that I will do with you.
11 Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I am driving out from before you the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.
12 Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be a snare in your midst.
13 But you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images
14 (for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God)
And;
DEUTERONOMY 7:1-5
1 “When the Lord your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you,
2 and when the Lord your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them.
3 Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son.
4 For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; so the anger of the Lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly.
5 But thus you shall deal with them: you shall destroy their altars, and break down their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images, and burn their carved images with fire.
However, if other religions are allowed to use the church building, removing the demons in this
case will be a painstaking process. You will have to thoroughly cleanse the church, removing or
anointing with oil any cursed objects left behind which may be dedicated to demons as the Lord
directs. You will also have to anoint the doors and windows of the church to seal them, you must
walk the property line and claim the property as holy to the Lord, and must dedicate the building
and the grounds as holy to the Lord. Basically, you are dedicating the property and everything in
it to the Lord.
Concerning the Mormon church I spoke of, granted, my wife innocently entered the parking lot without knowing the consequences of her actions, but one thing needs to be made clear.
If a soldier accidentally stumbles into an enemy encampment, are the enemy forces going to say, "That's ok, you didn't know we were here so we'll let you go. Sorry about that." ??? Of course not! They're going to attack with everything they have!
Even so we must remember that if we commit sins of disobedience, even if we do so in ignorance, we are still guilty before God and are open to attack from Satan.
Bottom line:
Our homes and churches are to be sanctuaries, places where we can rest from battle. But if we allow Satan access to our homes and churches through willful neglect or ignorance, then we have no cause to cry out to God for relief.
We must be diligent to frequently cleanse our houses of unclean or accursed objects that we bring into our homes. How can the unclean things enter our house? Simple. We bring them in.
Some examples;
Music - Not all music is evil. Listen to the lyrics. Would you want Jesus to hear what you are listening to? Remember, His Spirit dwells within you, so whatever you hear, He hears also! Ask Him what music is ok to listen to. And ask Him to tell you clearly what He finds offensive, even if you don't want to hear His assessment.
Mythological creatures - Statues and posters of unicorns, wizards, gargoyles, dragons, etc.
Video games - Occult based, mythological/magic based, lewd pictures, etc.
Idols - crucifixes, statues (idols) of Jesus, Mary, "saints", medals, pictures and paintings of these.
Television - Would you want Jesus to see what you watch? He does! Would He approve?
Granted, it's difficult to keep ourselves and our homes spiritually clean. Jesus never promised it would be easy. Satan is a master deceiver, and will use any deception he can to bring us into bondage. But as the apostle Paul said, we need to be diligent;
2 CORINTHIANS 2:11
11 lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.
How does one make the house a fortress?
Start by removing any objects such as the ones I have listed above. Ask the Lord to guide you in this endeavor, and to show you things that He considers to be unclean. In the case of idols, games, music CD's and videotapes, anoint them with oil, and bind any demons attached to them in the name of Jesus Christ. Then destroy the objects, and put them in the trash.
Walk through the house and anoint the doors, and windows leading to the outside of the house. What I mean by "anoint", is put a drop of oil (cooking oil, motor oil, etc. It does not need to be "blessed" by anyone.) on the top lintel and the side posts.
Any other openings to the outside (fireplaces, vents (such as stove hoods) need to be anointed as well). Be sure to do the same with mirrors also! Why mirrors? Satan will use them as doorways when he can, as many who have played "Bloody Mary" can attest.
When you are finished with them, open a door to the outside, and command any demons within the house to leave through that door. Then close the door, and out loud claim the house and everything in it as holy to the Lord. This will "seal" the house as the oil represents the power of the Holy Spirit.
Sound far-fetched? Some close friends of ours anointed their apartment one night, and later that night, the lady of the house awoke to hear voices whispering outside of the apartment. At first she thought she was hearing things, then she realized that her husband was listening to them too.
They both attested that they could hear demons testing the doors and windows of the house, seeking entrance. The demons were whispering to each other in frustration, as they couldn't get in because the house had been sealed against them.
Walking the property
Those of you who live in a house, even if you're just renting, need to walk the property line, and claim the property and everything in it as holy to the Lord. Walk along the property line, and out loud, tell Satan that he is forbidden to cross the property line, as the property is holy ground before the Lord. Walk completely around the property line, if you can. When you are finished, out loud command any demon on the premises to depart to wherever the voice of the Lord shall send them. This will seal your property before the Lord, and He will put His angels around it to protect it.
Sound weird?
Several years ago, we had vandals come up our street late one night. They broke car windows, put sand in people's crankcase oil in their cars, etc. They hit virtually every house on the block.
Except one.
Our house was the only one not touched by the destruction. I had walked the property the evening
before, and had claimed the property as holy unto the Lord, and He had protected His property.
What if I live in an apartment?
In the case of an apartment or condominium, walk around the inner perimeter of the house, and claim the apartment or condominium as holy property to the Lord. Also, if you are able, walk outside of your front door (and back door, if you have one) and walk the porch and patio, and claim them as holy unto the Lord also. Be sure to anoint all doors and windows leading to the outside also.
Can the seal be broken?
Most definitely. I had recently bought some video tapes of several movies I liked, not thinking about what may have been attached to them. Soon, there was strife in our house, and even when I anointed the house and walked the property, the problems continued.
Finally, I went before the Lord and asked what was going on, and he pointed out that I had brought unclean objects into the house, and he led me to the videotapes. I sheepishly apologized, and got rid of them. When I did, the problems stopped.
Recently the Lord showed me that I need to pray over everything I bring into the house - groceries, mail, whatever. The reason? Satan will attach his demons to anything he can when he tries to enter a house. And you never know who has handled that which you bring into your house.
Sound paranoid? Maybe. But remember, just because you might be paranoid, doesn't mean that someone isn't out to get you. Ever read the Old Testament Law? Especially the Scripture that says;
DEUTERONOMY 7:26
26 Neither shall you bring an abomination into your house, lest you be a cursed thing like it: you shall utterly detest it, and you shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing.
and;
2 CORINTHIANS 6:17- 18
17 Therefore, “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.”
18 “I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord
Almighty.”
Bringing property owned by Satan into your house or church will give him legal access to dwell
there. And as he is an abomination, he will quickly turn you and your house into an abomination
before the Lord if he is allowed to remain there.
How long does the anointing seal last?
That depends on how soon something unclean is allowed onto the property or in the house. If a unsaved friend, family member, or relative is allowed to enter the house, that could break the seal. In case of relatives or family members, ask the Lord to seal the house in such a way that the person(s) involved will not break the seal when they enter the house, or come on the property.
In the case of visitors and friends, ask the Lord to maintain the seal while they are there, and be
sure to re-anoint the house and walk the property line as soon as possible after they leave.
Some of this may seem far-fetched, I know. I was skeptical when I first found out about it, but
the Lord has since shown me that these things indeed work. If you have doubts, ask Him yourself
to show you the truth of these things.
But it is up to us to make our churches and homes to be fortresses against Satan and his servants. We must also be aware of property dedicated to him, and keep away from it, unless the Lord directs us to enter there.
We must be diligent to keep the unclean thing from our households and churches, so as to keep ourselves holy unto the Lord. And anything unclean within our house must be anointed with oil, and the object destroyed, unless the Lord says that the anointing is enough. Sometimes if an object is precious to us, He will allow us to keep it.
And I pray that the Lord will open your eyes to the truth of these things. Too many churches are
dead or dying because of demons dwelling there, and too many households are torn apart by
demons being allowed to dwell within our homes. It's time we take the offensive against Satan,
and reclaim what is ours before the Lord.
Questions? Comments? E-mail: watchmen_777@yahoo.com