Life Walk Bible Lesson 81 -- The Resident Evil’s Time Limit
Why do so many bad things happen to good people, and at a global level? I present today some answers which grant us not only hope, but great victory. Jesus encouraged us that He has already overcome the world, and by implication, so can we. [John 16:33]
The answers are not only found in Scripture, but today I also present Uncanonical and Apocryphal writings, which support Scripture, to make the answers, set in motion from the beginning of time, very plain.
The Apostle Paul made it vert clear that we encounter the realm of the evil spirits, just as much as we encounter the realm of the Kingdom of God. [1Corinthians 16:9] Evil spirits intend to thwart the work of God wherever possible. Yet we as believers, in Christ as our Savior, have been fully equipped with everything we need to resist them, and live victoriously. It helps to be informed, to know God’s word on a matter, and so be armed with the timeless truths, the sword of His Spirit, which God has given us by His indwelling Holy Spirit. Here is how.
Ephesians 6:10-17 [NKJV]
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. [John 15:1-17, Stay in Christ]
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; [Matthew 5:1-11]
16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;
18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints —”
Who are the Evil Spirits , and Where did they Come From?
If you have walked with me for any length of time you will already know that I like to start at the beginning so some of this will be a refresher as we revisit how all this began.
Genesis 1:26-27 [NKJV]
26 “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’
27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
Genesis 2:7
“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”
The Ancient Book of Jasher puts it this way:
The Ancient Book of Jasher 1:1-2
1 “And God said let us make Man in our image, after our likeness, and God created Man in his own image.
2. And God formed Man from the ground, and He blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and Man became a living soul endowed with speech.”
Genesis 2:21-24
21 “And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place.
22 Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
23 And Adam said: ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.
24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.’”
After several generations, Scripture records in Genesis 6, the angels who rebelled and left their place in heaven came to the earth, cohabited with humans, and bore three classes of giants according to Apocryphal writings which corroborate this history. Let’s look at them, and find out why it is important to us today.
A quick glance at some cross references:
According to some records, mentioned below, there were three classes of giants — first the great giants [who stood 3,000 ells tall; an ell is and ancient measurement equivalent to a cubit, used in Scripture, being 18 inches]; and to them were born the Nephilim, [Hebrew for this word means bully, or tyrant] and to them were born the Eliud [in some manuscripts spelled Eljo]. [According to Syncellus, quoted in the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, Volume 2, R. H. Charles, in a footnote in 1Enoch, P.192]
Let’s begin with the Deuterocanonical Books of Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch and 3Maccabees, which are found in the Common English Bible and the Catholic Bible.
Wisdom 14:6 [CEB]
“Near the beginning, at a time when proud giants were being destroyed, the hope of the world escaped on just such a raft. This was now the genetic character [seed, or DNA] of a new generation survived for the world to come. They were steered the whole way by Your hand.”
Sirach 16:7 [CEB]
“The Lord didn’t seek reconciliation with the ancient giants [Hebrew: princes] who rebelled in their might.”
Baruch 3:26 [CEB]
“Giants were born there, the famous ones from the beginning of time, who were very large and expert in war.”
3Maccabees 2:4 [CEB]
“You destroyed those who did evil in the past, even giants. The giants in their bodily strength and boldness, but You destroyed them in a great flood.”
Judith 16:6 [CEB]
“Their leader didn’t fall to his knees because of young men, nor did the sons of the Titans strike him down, nor the tall giants assault him. But Judith, Merari’s daughter, paralyzed him with her beauty.”
Jubilees 7:20-24 [Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, Volume 2, R. H. Charles; the Book of Jubilees begins on Page 11]
20 “And in the twenty-eighth jubilee, [1324-1372 A.M.] Noah began to enjoin upon his sons’ sons the ordinances and commandments, and all the judgments that he knew, and he exhorted his sons to observe righteousness, and to cover the shame of their flesh, and to bless their Creator, and honor father and mother, and love their neighbor, and guard their souls from fornication and uncleanness and all iniquity.
21 For owing to these three things came the flood upon the earth, namely owing to the fornication wherein the Watchers against the law of their ordinances went a whoring after the daughters of men, and took themselves wives from all which they chose: and they made the beginning of uncleanness.
22 And they begat sons, the Naphidim, and [they were all unlike] and they devoured one another: and the Giants slew the Naphil, and the Naphil slew the Eljo, and the Eljo mankind, and one man another.
23 And every one sold himself to work iniquity and to shed much blood, and the earth was filled with iniquity.
24 And after this they sinned against the beasts and birds and all that moves and walks on the earth: and every imagination and desire of men imagined vanity and evil continually.”
Some refer to these laws and commandments as the Noahic Laws, which Noah gave his descendants, and the Apostle Peter refers to them when speaking to the Gentile converts, not wishing to lay upon them difficult burdens as the Mosaic Law represented, but that which God instituted in the beginning, simply that no one should sin against humans or animals. [Acts 15:1-20]
1Enoch 86:4, 88:2, [Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, Volume 2, R. H. Charles], are referenced here also, however it helps to have read at least the first 16 chapters of 1Enoch to recognize that in this particular vision the writer is seeing what has already occurred but in parable form (in the section on Wisdom). God shows him animals whose characteristics resemble the behavior of these giants, and how they treated human beings and animals, much like in today’s cultures, people write children’s stories using animal characters and their behaviors to convey a concept. Jesus spoke of this same method, where He spoke truth plainly to impart wisdom to some, and also in a parable to hide the wisdom from others. [Matthew 13:11; John 16:25]
Let’s begin with the account of the pre-flood world as recorded in 1Enoch, and see how it also corroborates Genesis 6.
1Enoch 6:1-8 [R. H. Charles Translation]
1 “And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters.
2. And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: ‘Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children.’
3. And Semjâzâ, who was their leader, said unto them: ‘I fear ye will not indeed agree to do this deed, and I alone shall have to pay the penalty of a great sin.’
4. And they all answered him and said: ‘Let us all swear an oath, and all bind ourselves by mutual imprecations not to abandon this plan but to do this thing.’
5. Then sware they all together and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it.
6. And they were in all two hundred; who descended in the days of Jared on the summit of Mount Hermon, and they called it Mount Hermon, because they had sworn and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it.
7. And these are the names of their leaders: Sêmîazâz, their leader, Arâkîba, Râmêêl, Kôkabîêl, Tâmîêl, Râmîêl, Dânêl, Êzêqêêl, Barâqîjâl, Asâêl, Armârôs, Batârêl, Anânêl, Zaqîêl, Samsâpêêl, Satarêl, Tûrêl, Jômjâêl, Sariêl.
8. These are their chiefs of tens.”
Jesus took Mount Hermon back on the day of His Transfiguration, where He spoke with Moses and Elijah in agreement about His Own future, and God, our Father in Heaven, visited them in a cloud and declared His love for Jesus, and that all should listen to Him, including the evil spirit realm He was about to encounter at the foot of the mountain. [Mark 9] But we will visit this again later.
Genesis 6:1-8 [CEB]
6 “When the number of people started to increase throughout the fertile land, daughters were born to them.
2 The divine beings saw how beautiful these human women were, so they married the ones they chose.
3 The Lord said, “My breath will not remain in humans forever, because they are flesh. They will live one hundred twenty years.”
4 In those days, giants [Nephilim] lived on the earth and also afterward, when divine beings and human daughters had sexual relations and gave birth to children. These were the ancient heroes, famous men.
5 The Lord saw that humanity had become thoroughly evil on the earth and that every idea their minds thought up was always completely evil.
6 The Lord regretted making human beings on the earth, and he was heartbroken.
7 So the Lord said, “I will wipe off of the land the human race that I’ve created: from human beings to livestock to the crawling things to the birds in the skies, because I regret I ever made them.”
8 But as for Noah, the Lord approved of him.”
And now we will see where these evil spirits came from, and why, and in what context God declared that humans would be given 120 years to live.
1Enoch 15:8-11
8. “And now, the giants, who are produced from the spirits and flesh, shall be called evil spirits upon the earth, and on the earth shall be their dwelling.
9. Evil spirits have proceeded from their bodies; because they are born from men, and from the holy Watchers is their beginning and primal origin; they shall be evil spirits on earth, and evil spirits shall they be called.
10. As for the spirits of heaven, in heaven shall be their dwelling, but as for the spirits of the earth which were born upon the earth, on the earth shall be their dwelling.
11. And the spirits of the giants afflict, oppress, destroy, attack, do battle, and work destruction on the earth, and cause trouble: they take no food, but nevertheless hunger and thirst, and cause offences. And these spirits shall rise up against the children of men and against the women, because they have proceeded from them.”
Samuel 24:13 speaks of “an ancient proverb” which states, “Out of the wicked comes forth wickedness.” This is from the Ancient Book of Jasher, chapter 64:5, and refers to Zepho, Esau’s grandson, who forgot the ways of the Lord and served other gods. It is clear that there is no forgiveness for these evil spirits, and they cannot help but cause evil in the earth as they are spirit and therefore immortal.
The Ancient Book of Jasher Chapters 4-5 — the account of the pre-Flood society, which the Book of Genesis summarizes.
Chapter 4
1 “And all the days that Enoch lived upon earth, were three hundred and sixty-five years.
2 And when Enoch had ascended into heaven, all the kings of the earth rose and took Methuselah his son and anointed him, and they caused him to reign over them in the place of his father.
3 And Methuselah acted uprightly in the sight of God, as his father Enoch had taught him, and he likewise during the whole of his life taught the sons of men wisdom, knowledge and the fear of God, and he did not turn from the good way either to the right or to the left.
4 But in the latter days of Methuselah, the sons of men turned from the Lord, they corrupted the earth, they robbed and plundered each other, and they rebelled against God and they transgressed, and they corrupted their ways, and would not hearken to the voice of Methuselah, but rebelled against him.
5 And the Lord was exceedingly wroth against them, and the Lord continued to destroy the seed in those days, so that there was neither sowing nor reaping in the earth.
6 For when they sowed the ground in order that they might obtain food for their support, behold, thorns and thistles were produced which they did not sow.
7 And still the sons of men did not turn from their evil ways, and their hands were still extended to do evil in the sight of God, and they provoked the Lord with their evil ways, and the Lord was very wroth, and repented that he had made man.
8 And he thought to destroy and annihilate them and he did so.
9 In those days when Lamech the son of Methuselah was one hundred and sixty years old, Seth the son of Adam died.
10 And all the days that Seth lived, were nine hundred and twelve years, and he died.
11 And Lamech was one hundred and eighty years old when he took Ashmua, the daughter of Elishaa the son of Enoch his uncle, and she conceived.
12 And at that time the sons of men sowed the ground, and a little food was produced, yet the sons of men did not turn from their evil ways, and they trespassed and rebelled against God.
13 And the wife of Lamech conceived and bare him a son at that time, at the revolution of the year.
14 And Methuselah called his name Noah, saying, The earth was in his days at rest and free from corruption, and Lamech his father called his name Menachem, saying, This one shall comfort us in our works and miserable toil in the earth, which God had cursed.
15 And the child grew up and was weaned, and he went in the ways of his father Methuselah, perfect and upright with God.
16 And all the sons of men departed from the ways of the Lord in those days as they multiplied upon the face of the earth with sons and daughters, and they taught one another their evil practices and they continued sinning against the Lord.
17 And every man made unto himself a god, and they robbed and plundered every man his neighbor as well as his relative, and they corrupted the earth, and the earth was filled with violence.
18 And their judges and rulers went to the daughters of men and took their wives by force from their husbands according to their choice, and the sons of men in those days took from the cattle of the earth, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and taught the mixture of animals of one species with the other, in order therewith to provoke the Lord; and God saw the whole earth and it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted its ways upon earth, all men and all animals.
19 And the Lord said, I will blot out man that I created from the face of the earth, yea from man to the birds of the air, together with cattle and beasts that are in the field for I repent that I made them.
20 And all men who walked in the ways of the Lord, died in those days, before the Lord brought the evil upon man which he had declared, for this was from the Lord, that they should not see the evil which the Lord spoke of concerning the sons of men.
21 And Noah found grace in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord chose him and his children to raise up seed from them upon the face of the whole earth.
Jasher Chapter 5
1 And it was in the eighty-fourth year of the life of Noah, that Enosh the son of Seth died, he was nine hundred and five years old at his death.
2 And in the one hundred and seventy-ninth year of the life of Noah, Cainan the son of Enosh died, and all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years, and he died. [Some manuscripts spell it Kenan]
3 And in the two hundred and thirty-fourth year of the life of Noah, Mahlallel the son of Cainan died, and the days of Mahlallel were eight hundred and ninety-five years, and he died.
4 And Jared the son of Mahlallel died in those days, in the three hundred and thirty-sixth year of the life of Noah; and all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years, and he died.
5 And all who followed the Lord died in those days, before they saw the evil which God declared to do upon earth.
6 And after the lapse of many years, in the four hundred and eightieth year of the life of Noah, when all those men, who followed the Lord had died away from amongst the sons of men, and only Methuselah was then left, God said unto Noah and Methuselah, saying,
7 Speak ye, and proclaim to the sons of men, saying, Thus saith the Lord, return from your evil ways and forsake your works, and the Lord will repent of the evil that he declared to do to you, so that it shall not come to pass.
8 For thus saith the Lord, Behold I give you a period of one hundred and twenty years; if you will turn to me and forsake your evil ways, then will I also turn away from the evil which I told you, and it shall not exist, saith the Lord.
9 And Noah and Methuselah spoke all the words of the Lord to the sons of men, day after day, constantly speaking to them.
10 But the sons of men would not hearken to them, nor incline their ears to their words, and they were stiff-necked.
11 And the Lord granted them a period of one hundred and twenty years, saying, If they will return, then will God repent of the evil, so as not to destroy the earth.
12 Noah the son of Lamech refrained from taking a wife in those days, to beget children, for he said, Surely now God will destroy the earth, wherefore then shall I beget children?
13 And Noah was a just man, he was perfect in his generation, and the Lord chose him to raise up seed from his seed upon the face of the earth.
14 And the Lord said unto Noah, Take unto thee a wife, and beget children, for I have seen thee righteous before me in this generation.
15 And thou shalt raise up seed, and thy children with thee, in the midst of the earth; and Noah went and took a wife, and he chose Naamah the daughter of Enoch, and she was five hundred and eighty years old.
16 And Noah was four hundred and ninety-eight years old, when he took Naamah for a wife.
17 And Naamah conceived and bare a son, and he called his name Japheth, saying, God has enlarged me in the earth; and she conceived again and bare a son, and he called his name Shem, saying, God has made me a remnant, to raise up seed in the midst of the earth.
18 And Noah was five hundred and two years old when Naamah bare Shem, and the boys grew up and went in the ways of the Lord, in all that Methuselah and Noah their father taught them.
19 And Lamech the father of Noah, died in those days; yet verily he did not go with all his heart in the ways of his father, and he died in the hundred and ninety-fifth year of the life of Noah.
20 And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy years, and he died.
21 And all the sons of men who knew the Lord, died in that year before the Lord brought evil upon them; for the Lord willed them to die, so as not to behold the evil that God would bring upon their brothers and relatives, as he had so declared to do.
22 In that time, the Lord said to Noah and Methuselah, Stand forth and proclaim to the sons of men all the words that I spoke to you in those days, peradventure they may turn from their evil ways, and I will then repent of the evil and will not bring it.
23 And Noah and Methuselah stood forth, and said in the ears of the sons of men, all that God had spoken concerning them.
24 But the sons of men would not hearken, neither would they incline their ears to all their declarations.
25 And it was after this that the Lord said to Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me, on account of their evil deeds, and behold I will destroy the earth.
26 And do thou take unto thee gopher wood, and go to a certain place and make a large ark, and place it in that spot.
27 And thus shalt thou make it; three hundred cubits its length, fifty cubits broad and thirty cubits high.
28 And thou shalt make unto thee a door, open at its side, and to a cubit thou shalt finish above, and cover it within and without with pitch.
29 And behold I will bring the flood of waters upon the earth, and all flesh be destroyed, from under the heavens all that is upon earth shall perish.
30 And thou and thy household shall go and gather two couple of all living things, male and female, and shall bring them to the ark, to raise up seed from them upon earth.
31 And gather unto thee all food that is eaten by all the animals, that there may be food for thee and for them.
32 And thou shalt choose for thy sons three maidens, from the daughters of men, and they shall be wives to thy sons.
33 And Noah rose up, and he made the ark, in the place where God had commanded him, and Noah did as God had ordered him.
34 In his five hundred and ninety-fifth year Noah commenced to make the ark, and he made the ark in five years, as the Lord had commanded.
35 Then Noah took the three daughters of Eliakim, son of Methuselah, for wives for his sons, as the Lord had commanded Noah.
36 And it was at that time Methuselah the son of Enoch died, nine hundred and sixty years old was he, at his death.”
Notice that the ark was too small for any giants to have entered, should they have even tried.
Book of Jubilees Chapter 5 — the account of the Flood, and the reasons for the destruction of the earth because of the extent of the sin in it
According to the words of the Angel of the Lord, recorded in the Book of Jubilees, this information was given to Moses by God, through His Angel, while on the Mountain with God during the forty days when Moses received the commandments and the instructions for building the Tent of Meeting and its contents. It mirrors Scripture, and gives details, as does the Book of Jasher, not contained in the Torah.
Jubilees Chapter 5
- And it came to pass when the children of men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born unto them, that the angels of God saw them on a certain year of this jubilee, that they were beautiful to look upon; and they took themselves wives of all whom they chose, and they bare unto them sons and they were giants.
- And lawlessness increased on the earth and all flesh corrupted its way, alike men and cattle and beasts and birds and everything that walks on the earth — all of them corrupted their ways and their orders, and they began to devour each other, and lawlessness increased on the earth and every imagination of the thoughts of all men (was) thus evil continually.
- And God looked upon the earth, and behold it was corrupt, and all flesh had corrupted its orders, and all that were upon the earth had wrought all manner of evil before His eyes.
- And He said that He would destroy man and all flesh upon the face of the earth which He had created.
- But Noah found grace before the eyes of the Lord.
- And against the angels whom He had sent upon the earth, He was exceedingly wroth, and He gave commandment to root them out of all their dominion, and He bade us to bind them in the depths of the earth, and behold they are bound in the midst of them, and are (kept) separate. [NOTE: This sentencing of the evil spirits was written in great detail within the first 16 chapters of 1Enoch, and corroborates this account of the pre-flood events]
- And against their sons went forth a command from before His face that they should be smitten with the sword, and be removed from under heaven.
- And He said, ‘My spirit shall not always abide on man; for they also are flesh and their days shall be one hundred and twenty years.’
- And He sent His sword into their midst that each should slay his neighbour, and they began to slay each other till they all fell by the sword and were destroyed from the earth.
- And their fathers were witnesses (of their destruction), and after this they were bound in the depths of the earth for ever, until the day of the great condemnation, when judgment is executed on all those who have corrupted their ways and their works before the Lord.
- And He destroyed all from their places, and there was not left one of them whom He judged not according to all their wickedness.
- And he made for all his works a new and righteous nature, so that they should not sin in their whole nature for ever, but should be all righteous each in his kind alway.
- And the judgment of all is ordained and written on the heavenly tablets in righteousness, even (the judgment of) all who depart from the path which is ordained for them to walk in; and if they walk not therein, judgment is written down for every creature and for every kind.
- And there is nothing in heaven or on earth, or in light or in darkness, or in Sheol or in the depth, or in the place of darkness (which is not judged); and all their judgments are ordained and written and engraved.
- In regard to all He will judge, the great according to his greatness, and the small according to his smallness, and each according to his way.
- And He is not one who will regard the person (of any), nor is He one who will receive gifts, if He says that He will execute judgment on each: if one gave everything that is on the earth, He will not regard the gifts or the person (of any), nor accept anything at his hands, for He is a righteous judge.
- [And of the children of Israel it has been written and ordained: If they turn to him in righteousness He will forgive all their transgressions and pardon all their sins.
- It is written and ordained that He will show mercy to all who turn from all their guilt once each year.]
- And as for all those who corrupted their ways and their thoughts before the flood, no man's person was accepted save that of Noah alone; for his person was accepted in behalf of his sons, whom (God) saved from the waters of the flood on his account; for his heart was righteous in all his ways, according as it was commanded regarding him, and he had not departed from aught that was ordained for him.
- And the Lord said that he would destroy everything which was upon the earth, both men and cattle, and
- beasts, and fowls of the air, and that which moveth on the earth. And He commanded Noah to make him an ark, that he might save himself from the waters of the flood.
- And Noah made the ark in all respects as He commanded him, in the twenty-seventh jubilee of years, in the fifth week in the fifth year (on the new moon of the first month). [1307 A.M.]
- And he entered in the sixth (year) thereof, [1308 A.M.] in the second month, on the new moon of the second month, till the sixteenth; and he entered, and all that we brought to him, into the ark, and the Lord closed it from without on the seventeenth evening.
- And the Lord opened seven flood-gates of heaven,
- And the mouths of the fountains of the great deep, seven mouths in number.
- And the flood-gates began to pour down water from the heaven forty days and forty nights,
- And the fountains of the deep also sent up waters, until the whole world was full of water.
- And the waters increased upon the earth:
- Fifteen cubits did the waters rise above all the high mountains,
- And the ark was lift up above the earth,
- And it moved upon the face of the waters.
- And the water prevailed on the face of the earth five months-one hundred and fifty days.
- And the ark went and rested on the top of Lubar, one of the mountains of Ararat.
- And (on the new moon) in the fourth month the fountains of the great deep were closed and the flood-gates of heaven were restrained; and on the new moon of the seventh month all the mouths of the abysses of the earth were opened, and the water began to descend into the deep below.
- And on the new moon of the tenth month the tops of the mountains were seen, and on the new moon of the first month the earth became visible.
- And the waters disappeared from above the earth in the fifth week in the seventh year [1309 A.M.] thereof, and on the seventeenth day in the second month the earth was dry.
- And on the twenty-seventh thereof he opened the ark, and sent forth from it beasts, and cattle, and birds, and every moving thing.”
[NOTE: A.M. Latin, Anno Mundi: In the year of Earth, counting from Day one of Creation]
Isaiah 58: 9b-12
9 “…If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
10 If you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday.
11 The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought,
and strengthen your bones; you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
12 Those from among you shall build the old waste places; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.”
Truly, we are called to walk the narrow road, with God as our Leader, Who is directing our steps so that we can live well, without being tossed to and fro by the storms of life, nor the distractions which try to take our life with Him from us.
We have been given authority over the evil spirits which [1Enoch 15:11] “afflict, oppress, destroy, attack, do battle, and work destruction on the earth, and cause trouble: they take no food, but nevertheless hunger and thirst, and cause offences.”
Those afflicted by eating disorders are affected by the demonic realm and need deliverance just as much as the epileptic child at the foot of Mount Hermon, and the anointing of the Holy Spirit can break these yokes as easily as, “In the Name of Jesus, rise up and walk,” as Peter declares to a crippled man. [Acts 3:6]
The disciples learned a valuable lesson that day at the foot of Mount Hermon, which we have the benefit of observing, and putting into practice. Fast, yes. Pray, yes.
It goes without saying, however, that a continual lifestyle of walking with, and believing and obeying God, is imperative for a successful journey with Him. Then, when we encounter trials, tests of our faith, or the need for delivering others out of oppressing circumstances, or even demon-possession, we will have put on the whole armor of God, and then we are fully equipped to be sent for such purposes.
