AN AMERICAN METAPHOR

 “When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, searching for rest. But when it finds none, it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from'. So it returns and finds that its former home is all swept and in order. Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before” (Luke 11:24-26, NLT).

In Luke 11, before Jesus shared this rather troubling and prophetic passage, He had been challenged by a group of legalistic, religious people. They challenged Him because He had cast a demon out of a man who was mute. Jewish exorcists of that day felt it was necessary for them to know the name of a demon before they could cast it out, which put this poor man in an impossible place since the demon had rendered him mute.

Jesus laid this misguided thinking to rest by casting the demon out without asking it anything—and the man was immediately set free and spoke.

Jesus’ action created a controversy and some of the people accused Him of casting out the demon by the power of Satan. Such is the illogical thinking of legalistic fundamentalists—and it hasn’t changed in 2000 years.

Jesus finishes this incident by explaining what happens when a demonic spirit is removed from a person but the person does not invite Jesus/the Holy Spirit to take residence in him. The demon spirit, Jesus says, will eventually come back to see what has happened to its previous residence. If it finds the place cleaned and empty, it will go and find friends more evil than it is and the end result will be worse than the first.

As I read and studied this story I was struck with an understanding that this is a prophetic warning for America.

America was begun as a Christian nation. The first settlers came to this country to escape the religious bondage of their homeland. They made the treacherous journey across the Atlantic to establish a land where they would be free to worship and serve God. When the new nation finally freed itself from the domination of Great Britain, it was founded to be a Christian nation. Emblazoned across our money is the phrase, “In God We Trust.”

For the first two hundred years of existence, this nation has enjoyed the blessing of the Lord in ways that are virtually unparalleled in history. For a nation to rise so quickly and dramatically to become the most powerful nation in the world as quickly as the U.S. has is unprecedented. The blessing of God that has been on the nation is indisputable.

Unfortunately, America’s prominence and power has been tarnished and is dwindling.

How could this be happening? Why is it that America seems to be on the edge of an economic meltdown? Why are terrorists beginning to strike in the heart of America? Why is violence and lawlessness on the rise all over the nation? Why is there so much pessimism throughout the land?

I believe the answers lie in the story that Jesus told in Luke 11. When the evil spirit was cast out, it had to go. When this nation was founded and began to function as a Christian nation and the people were free to worship God as they wanted, the demonic spirits were no longer in control and they had to flee. 

Jesus said that the demon spirit came back and found that its previous home was not being occupied. Therefore the demon went and found friends that were more evil than it was and brought them back with him (Luke 11:25-26).

Demon spirits are again taking up residence/control in America for, in my opinion, two major reasons:

1.      Secular humanists and atheists have demanded and are causing the removal of all evidences of America’s Christian heritage and beliefs, and they are being aided by liberal politicians and theologians.

2.      The contemporary American church has largely become a powerless social club preoccupied with feeling good about itself—consumed with numbers and not with spiritual life. The power of the Word of God has been replaced with “feel good” messages; meaningful worship has been replaced with songs that are largely narcissistic; prayer meetings are virtually nonexistent, as is preaching about sin, holiness and repentance. The American church of 2015 is the most biblically illiterate church since America was founded as a nation.

An invasion of America by demonic spirits is underway!

Revelation 12:12 (ESV) says about this time: “Woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”

Our only hope is for a prayer revival to break out, led by burdened, broken-hearted people—those willing to pay the price in fasting and prayer to see the church visited by revival before it’s too late.