Good Morning John:
I sat under this teaching for
many years. The Authority of the Believer is taught in "faith" circles
- The rationale being that when Adam chose to
go along with his wife rather than obey God he passed the authority/dominion
given him in Genesis 1:26 to the adversary by default which then
made satan the "god or prince of this world" and this fact
Jesus Himself acknowledges in John 12:31 when he says "Now is the judgment of
this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out" and in John
14:30 "Hereafter I will not talk much with you, for the prince of this world
cometh, and hath nothing in me".
So the prince of this world
was defeated at Calvary because he had no ground (in Jesus) for doing
what he did to Him - he had nothing in Him.
Where the premise fails however
is in the area of our obedience. He (the prince of this world) has a whole
lot in some of us. Jesus had authority to speak peace over
nature. The faith teachers say that we also have authority (in His name)
to do the same. However, we have problems that he didn't have in that
the majority of those who profess to serve Christ have little or no
spiritual discernment and the adversary has quite a lot of ground in some of us
through unrepented tradition, generational sin etc. so that our hearts are not
pure and neither are our motives. I believe that Jesus paid the price
for us to have this kind of authority, it is part of the Covenant we have with
God through Him and the real thing should be evident in the lives
of overcomers (those conformed to His image).
Pat Robertson claimed to have
prayed hurricane Gloria away from CBN's sattelite dish in Virginia Beach 15
years ago in 1989 but Gloria went on to destroy a large part of upper State
New York - how can a follower of Christ rejoice in that? I have the
same problem as Terry with it. Why can't we as believers be content
to stand on God's promises which are all yea and amen in Christ for ourselves
and our families such as Isaiah 43:1,5 and many, many others - these apply
to His people in every generation?
Grace and Peace,
Judy
What is the scriptural argument for this conclusion? John
Michael D: Yes, God created the universe etc, but one must remember that an alien invaded the 'universe' and has brought chaos and disorder into the mix. This alien is our enemy, and we would do well to recognize when he is operating or trying to operate and resist him. Paul established that precedent when he mentioned to the Corinthians that he and they weren't ignorant of his devices, and therefore their actions should be guided by that fact.
