Like it or not, every one of us is in a spiritual war. God is for us, and the devil is against us. The one we cooperate with is the one who will control us. You can’t be discharged from the service in this war, and ignorance of its extent only aids the enemy. The enemy loves to work covertly, using his only weapon, deception. In this teaching, Andrew exposes this war and the enemy for what he is
welcome to gospel truth with Andrew
Wommack a teaching ministry that
emphasizes God’s unconditional love and
grace and now here’s Andrew welcome to
our Wednesday’s broadcast of the gospel
truth today I’m halfway through my
second week of teaching on the believers
Authority and I have a brand new book
study guide CDs DVDs out on this I tell
you this is going to be a powerful
series I’ve already covered a lot of
things we’ve had a tremendous response
to this and I know that people are being
set free through this I think that this
is an area that there’s a lot of abuse
in either people err on one side to
where they don’t recognize that there’s
a spiritual war that they’re fighting
demons and so by default
Satan is winning because they’re just
fighting things in a human power not
using their spiritual authority on the
other hand there are a lot of people
who’ve come to realize that there are
demons and a spiritual warfare and
they’ve gone to an extreme to where they
actually are giving the devil too much
attention too much credit I personally
have done that I gave some examples of
that already this week about some things
that have happened and you know it’s a
miracle that God ever uses us it’s a
miracle that things have worked but you
know God just hadn’t gotten anybody
perfect to use and even though I did a
lot of things wrong when I first started
casting demons out of people we saw some
good things happen and I know that there
are people who are abusing this and too
far extreme in this and all I’m trying
to do is bring some balance to this and
show you that you need to not be extreme
believing that Satan is on every single
thing that happens is the devil but at
the same time you can’t go the other
direction and just look at it is only a
human cause there is an enemy and we’ve
got to fight it what I want to do today
is begin to show you where Satan God has
a power in authority from and of course
all power originally comes from God and
most people just assume that Satan used
his god-given angelic power
to rural men and that as an angel he was
superior in power and might there’s many
examples of how an angel could do things
that a man couldn’t do and there’s many
scriptural examples of this they have
supernatural superhuman power and
authority and so most people assume that
God created Satan Satan when he rebelled
retained his supernatural angelic power
and authority what I’m going to do is
show you from the word that Satan lost
his power and authority as an angel and
he took mankind’s human authority and
power and that’s what he’s been
oppressing people with and if that be
true which I’m going to show this to you
from the word well then that means that
all Satan has is a human Authority and
power this is why he has to have some
physical being cooperate with him to get
anything done and once you understand
this this brings him down to a
manageable size that allows you to be
able to be bold in your dealings with
the devil you need to estimate your
opponent and recognize where his
strengths and weaknesses are and I tell
you these are some major weaknesses in
the devil that I think that most people
have not seen so here in Genesis chapter
1 the very first book of the Bible it
says in verse 24 and God said let the
earth bring forth the living creature in
verse 25 God made the Beast
and in verse 26 God said let us make man
in our image after our likeness and let
them have dominion over the fish of the
sea this word dominion here is talking
about power and authority to use that
power in other words rule control so he
says let us make man in our image after
our likeness and let them have dominion
over the fish of the sea over the fowl
of the air and over the cattle and over
all the earth and over every creeping
thing that creepeth upon the earth so
God created man in his own image in the
image of God created he him male and
female created he them and God blessed
them and God said unto them now later
I’ll be making a bigger
point out of this but let me just make
this point right here that every time
God created something he spoke it into
existence the way that God released his
power and the way that God also released
his authority and gave authority to
people was by the words that he said and
so it says in verse 28 and God blessed
them and God said unto them be fruitful
and multiply and replenish the earth and
subdue it and have dominion over the
fish of the sea and over the fowl of the
air and over every living thing that
moveth upon the earth and so God said
that he had given them all of these all
of this food to eat etc here’s my point
all authority all power everything comes
from God there was nothing that existed
without God God made the heavens and the
earth he created the angelic beings God
created all of these things so
everything came from God and all power
and authority comes from God so when God
made the heavens in the earth he created
Adam and even specifically said to them
and by these words released his power
you have dominion you rule you subdue
you control this earth and you know when
Jesus came on the scene in he quoted
from Psalms chapter 82 and verse 6 let
me get over here and find this verse but
people were criticized and the Pharisees
were always after Jesus and he quoted
this scripture when they were
criticizing him for saying he was God
which according to their law was
blasphemy and he possibly could have
been taken right then and yet it wasn’t
his time so the way he deflected this
criticism he went back to an Old
Testament scripture and in Psalms
chapter 82 verse 6 it says I have said
Ye are gods and all of you are children
of the Most High but you shall die like
men and fall like one of the princes now
this was God speaking to the nation of
Israel and he was specifically saying I
have said you are gods and Jesus quoted
this verse and he said if
the people to whom the Word of God came
were called gods then how can you
criticize me for saying I am the son of
God and anyway momentarily this stopped
their opposition but the point is that
Jesus referred to this and the reason
I’m bringing this up is to say that when
God gave mankind authority over this
earth in a sense he made men the god of
this earth not God in the sense of
capital G in the sense that he was
Almighty or divine or any of those
things but God in the sense that he had
absolute control here’s another
scripture that would go along with that
is in Psalms 115 and in verse 16 it says
the heaven even the heavens are the
Lord’s but the earth hath he given to
the children of men now this is saying
that God by creation of course
everything belong to him the universe
everything came from God he spoke them
into existence therefore it all belonged
to him it was his he had power and
authority over but when he created the
earth this verse says that the heaven
even the heavens talking about the realm
beyond the earth
belonged to the Lord but the earth hath
he given to the children of men when did
he do that when he said you have
dominion over this earth you rule you
subdue use of you control the fish of
the sea the fowl of the air the animals
are on the earth everything it is
absolutely yours in a sense he made man
that God the absolute dictator and ruler
over the earth and here’s the reason
that I’m pointing this out and I think
it’s significant and that is because in
Psalms 89 34 my covenant will I not
break nor alter the thing that has gone
forth out of my lips now remember when
God created the earth he said let there
be light he said the earth bring forth
he said you have dominion when God says
something it’s binding to him it’s a
covenant it’s a contract you know people
aren’t like this we
all kinds of things and if what we say
comes back to haunt us we just say
whoops I didn’t mean it you don’t have
it in writing doesn’t mean anything
man’s word today doesn’t mean much but
God the scripture says in Hebrews
chapter 1 verse 3 that he upholds all
things by the word of his power if God
was to ever break his word well then the
universe would self-destruct because the
word of his power is what is holding
everything together God cannot violate
his word Psalms 138 verse 2 says that he
has magnified his word above all of his
name the Word of God is even greater
than the name of God the name of Jesus
every knee is going to have to bow
psalms chapter 2 says and yet psalms 138
says he’s magnified his word above his
name God will never break his word he
will never violate so here’s my point
when God said you have dominion you rule
you subdue by saying that he delegated
authority to physical human beings over
this earth and God would not take it
back God never intended for us to turn
the rule of this earth over to Satan and
make Satan the god of this world but he
gave us that much Dominion that much
power in authority that was not the way
he wanted us to use it and again if God
would have been a man if he would have
been like one of us when he saw
everything go contrary to what he wanted
most of us would have just broken in and
said timeout Kings ex do-over this is
not what I intend we would have just
come in we would have tried to fix the
situation but see God bound himself by
his word when he gave man authority over
this earth then that mean it was meant
he could give it to whoever he wanted to
he could do whatever he wanted to and
when we chose to obey the devil Eve was
deceived it says in first Corinthians
our first Timothy chapter 2 I believe
it’s around verse 15 somewhere in there
it says Eve was deceived but the man was
not deceived and he was the one that was
in the transgression
Eve was deceived by the devil but Adam
went into the eating of the fruit with
his eyes open and he was the one that
had been given authority and rule over
the earth and because of his love for
Eve he didn’t want to be separated he
willfully plunged himself into the
corruption that even experienced he
submitted himself to the devil who had
authored that temptation and transferred
the authority over this earth to Satan
and this is where Satan God his
authority and power was from man the
angelic power that he had as an angel is
not what he used to oppress men he
didn’t come in the Garden of Eden you
can turn to the third chapter of the
book of Genesis and you can see that
when Satan came against Adam and Eve he
chose the most subtle animal he didn’t
choose the strongest animal animal or
the are the meanest or the most vicious
looking he didn’t have a mammoth put his
foot on top of Eve’s head and say eat
the fruit or I’ll squish you he didn’t
have a lion come and try and intimidate
them with his fangs and all of these
kind of things he chose the most subtle
animal the serpent because he had no
power against Adam and Eve to force them
to do anything all of Satan’s power was
delegated power from God for the benefit
of his people in Hebrews chapter 1 verse
14 the scripture says all of the angels
are ministering spirits sent forth to
minister for those who shall be heirs of
salvation
angels are ordained created by God to
minister to those who will be heirs of
salvation
Satan was in the garden to serve Adam
and Eve he had no power all of his
angelic power and I’m going to go into
more detail I won’t be able to do it
today but on our programs arrested this
week I’m going to go into more detail
and show you that all of Satan’s power
as Lucifer the angelic being that God
created it was only to serve men
was only for good he had no power for
evil he couldn’t do anything against God
he was there to serve as God’s messenger
to serve Adam and Eve and what he did he
didn’t use this superhuman angelic power
he submitted he got Adam and Eve to
submit to him through deception like it
says in Ephesians 6 verse 11 that you
have to stand against the wiles the
deception the cunningness the craftiness
of the devil and it says in 2nd
Corinthians chapter 11 I fear lest as
the serpent beguiled Eve through
subtlety so your minds might be beguiled
through the simplicity that’s in Christ
there’s a comparison here Satan came
against Adam and Eve not with force but
rather with lies and deception because
he had no force no power against them I
don’t know if you’re listening to this
but this just makes me wanna jump up and
down on the inside this changed my life
to realize that Satan was absolutely
powerless he had to come and deceive
this is the reason that you know the
truth and the truth set you free
once you know the truth deception lies
have no power the only power in
deception is that if you don’t know
you’re being deceived the moment you
know it’s deception all the power is
broken
Satan’s only power is the wiles of the
devil the deception of the devil and
once you understand this that Satan
didn’t come in overpower Adam and Eve he
had to get them to willingly cooperate
with him and he took authority over this
earth not from God God didn’t give Satan
the god of this world and lose him on
Adam and Eve as this dish’s demonic
power down there just to see if Adam and
Eve could withstand him I’m going to
explain this more on our program
tomorrow I just haven’t got time to get
into it today but that’s not the way it
happened rather Lucifer the anointed
cherub that covered was down here
serving mankind he had no power against
mankind
and he came against Adam and Eve and got
them to submit unto him and Adam and Eve
gave their authority that God had given
them over this earth to the serpent and
see now God was in a situation where
because he cannot violate his word all
the whole universe is held together by
the power of his word Hebrews 1:3 if God
would have said well that’s not what I
wanted so I’m taking this Authority back
he didn’t put that kind of qualification
on it
he didn’t tell Adam and Eve now you have
authority as long as you do what I want
you to do with it no he gave them an
unconditional authority no strings
attached no fine print it was theirs
they could do whatever he never intended
for them to yield to the devil but they
had the authority to do that and when
they did it God would listen to what I’m
saying this will shock some of you but
God would have been unjust to come down
and just kill the devil wipe him out
remove him cast him into a lake of fire
do something with him and just intervene
in the affairs of men because he had
given mankind authority to rule this
earth to do what they wanted to he
didn’t play them like a puppet on a
string where he pulled the strings and
made them do things he gave us freedom
of choice and we chose to give this
authority to the devil so even though it
was not God’s intent even though it was
a lie on the devil’s part even though
there was some things going on you know
what God would have been unjust to break
his word and come down and just fix
things and so this is why God didn’t
just wipe the devil out take him out and
come and redeem man immediately it took
a long period of time for God to
intervene and you know why because he
had given authority over this earth to
physical human beings and according to
John chapter 4 verse 24 God is a spirit
and those who worship Him must worship
Him in spirit and truth God didn’t have
a physical body God was a spirit and he
gave authority over this earth to people
with physical bodies since God didn’t
have a physical body God did not have
authority over this earth to really
intervene the only way he could
intervene was as a spirit he would speak
to the spirit part of man and impress us
and draw us and to the degree that
people would submit to God God could
flow through them and bring some
godliness and righteousness back into
the earth but he was dependent upon
going through people and the problem was
that no one person was completely
submitted to God you know there’s
actually a passage of Scripture I’m
sorry I don’t know where this is right
now but hopefully my television crew can
find this and put it on the screen but
the Lord was speaking and he said I
sought for a man and wondered that there
was no one to stand in the gap and then
he goes on and says wherefore my own arm
brought deliverance you know what that’s
doing is saying that God wanted to
intervene he wanted to fix this problem
that man had created by yielding the
authority over this earth to the devil
but he couldn’t do because he was a
spirit and so he sought for some man who
would yield and let God’s power flow
through him and he sought but there was
no person all of us were corrupted by
our own sin all of us were separated
from God we were dead in trespasses and
sin so God became a man this is why God
had to become Jesus it’s why Jesus had
to become a physical man and Jesus even
said this over in the fifth chapter of
the book of John I’ll turn to this later
and we’ll study in more detail but he
said that God the father had given him
authority to execute judgment also
because I am the son of man this term
son of man every time you see it is
referring to the humanity side of Jesus
the physical body the term son of God
refers to his divinity Jesus was God in
the flesh son of God refers to his
divinity son of may
refers to his humanity so he says this
is the reason I have authority to
execute judgment is because of this
physical body when God became a man now
the devil was in big trouble because
cease Satan had been having free reign
because physical human beings who had
authority over this earth had willfully
submitted that authority to him and so
he was reigning in a sense by right it
wasn’t ever god’s intention but mankind
gave him that power and authority and
God would have been unjust adjust pull
it back and violated his word and his
promise to man he said you can do with
what you want to man gave it to the
devil so Satan was able to operate and
God could not really intervene because
he was a spirit and man was willfully
yielded and submitted to the devil but
when God became a man now the devil was
in big trouble because now God wasn’t
just a spirit God had become a man and
now God had authority in this physical
earth and man Jesus took it to the devil
and of course there was this opposition
Satan thought he had won when he killed
Jesus and and took him to the grave and
yet that was the way that God gained
entrance into the into the bowels of
Hell and he just destroyed Satan and
resurrected him and he came out with the
keys of death and of Hell and after
Jesus resurrection he says all authority
is given unto me in heaven and in earth
remember that scripture in Psalms 115
verse 16 where it says the heaven even
the heavens are the Lord’s but the earth
hath he given to the son of men prior to
the time of Jesus God had authority in
the heavens but not in the earth he had
given that authority to men but when
Jesus became a man and he died and rose
from the dead and he now had all
authority in heaven and in earth and
even under the earth in hell he now had
the authority over hell
Jesus bought back all of this authority
I tell you the things that I’ve said
right here today I know that this is a
lot it took me
decades to glean some of these things
and get it all worked out and I’m going
to be saying this over and over we got a
lot more to share about this but this is
really powerful if you understand this
this answered so many questions for me
it answered questions about why did God
have to become a man why did God wait
about 4000 years after the fall of Adam
and Eve before he sent Jesus to this
earth I didn’t answer that specifically
but I gave the the basis for that we’ll
be explaining that more and if you
understand this it just answers a lot of
questions and it shows you the authority
that God placed in mankind and the
authority that we now have back through
Jesus God observes this chain of command
Satan observes it it does exist and you
need to understand and that’s what we’re
talking about is the believers Authority
and I tell you this is really going to
help you now we’re out of time today but
we do have these materials I’ve got this
tape that we’re offering today or the
teaching on CD is entitled who made
Satan and we’ll get into this tomorrow I
think it’s really going to bless you so
listen is our announcer gives you that
information call or write today and join
me again tomorrow for the gospel truth
the believers Authority is available for
the very first time in book form you can
receive your copy for seven pounds
request book T 327 when you write or
call or when you go to our website a
Spanish version is also available
request book T 735 the believers
Authority companion study guide is
available 417 pounds 50 request study
guide T 427 when you contact the
ministry Andrews complete teaching
titled the believers Authority was
recorded live at a recent gospel truth
seminar it’s available on DVD for 19
pounds request DVD album t 3205 d when
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teaching as seen on TV it’s available on
either CD or DVD when you send 19 pounds
request CD album t 1045 C or DVD album t
1045 d when you contact us the second
teaching in the audio CD album titled
who made Satan is also available for
three pounds but if you’re simply unable
to afford it Andrew and his partners
will provide this second teaching free
of charge request teaching T el 19 when
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hundred
and I’d like to encourage you to check
out our Karis Bible colleges we have so
much of course the things that I’m
sharing here on television I know that
many of your saying I’ve never heard
this before well there’s a lot in the
Word of God that most Christians have
never heard and that’s why we started
our Karras Bible colleges is to help
educate people you will know the truth
and the truth will make you free and I’d
like to encourage you to please check it
out we have not only the campus here in
Colorado Springs but we have twelve
Bible colleges scattered throughout the
world we’ve got them all over the world
and we’ve got more coming online we’ve
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correspondence course many ways you can
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today
we’d like to point out Andrews upcoming
speaking schedule he’ll be an Amsterdam
for the Euro spirit conference May 21st
through the 23rd Colorado Springs
Colorado for the annual summer family
Bible conference June 29th through July
3rd and in South Africa for a gospel
truth seminar July 21st through the 23rd
for more details on Andrews next meeting
in your area call our helpline or visit
our website at aw mi dotnet this is
Andrew Wommack and I’d like to invite
you to join me on May the 21st through
the 23rd in Amsterdam
I’m going to be speaking at the Euro
spirit 2009 and we’re going to have a
number of different speakers I’ll be
ministering to each day the 21st through
the 23rd of May we’re going to be
holding this at the Victory Outreach in
Amsterdam it’s going to be a great time
and so all of you watching over god TV
I’d encourage you to come and be a part
of this May the 21st through the 23rd
Victory Outreach in Amsterdam
we’re getting close to our summer family
Bible conference it’s going to be on
June the 29th through July the 3rd and
it’s going to be a great time for the
whole family we have children’s ministry
we have it set up so that there are our
CBC classes in the morning but the
afternoons are off and then evening
meetings it’s just a great time and I
believe that it could be a vacation for
you and your whole family the children
will be blessed so make plans to join me
June the 29th through July the 3rd for
our summer family Bible conference