PROF.
BEN ONYEUKWU (REV.)
NCE(Eng.) ND/HD (Journalism); BA (Hons)
MA, PhD.
DELIVERANCE PRAYER IN FORM OF MAGIC (PART 3)
THE
EVILS OF IMPRECATORY PRAYER
“Bless those who persecute you, bless
and do not curse”, (Romans 12:14).
WRITER’S
QUOTE:
“Cursing in prayer is bargaining with
the law of sowing and reaping”.
INTRODUCTION:
Imprecatory
prayer is a “prayer of revenge, which seeks to invoke harm or curses on one’s
offender or enemy, in retaliation of the wrongs done to one. This type of
prayer is one of the evil tools of the occult pastors, and all those who are
under the demonic web of the kingdom of Satan, as well as a great sin against God
and humanity. In a biblical admonition, the Apostle James, advises that tongue,
which is an organ of prayer, be used to bless and not to curse, the man made in
the image of God, (James 3:6-16).
But,
nowadays, a meticulous observer would notice that the Christian Church is fast
becoming a cursing community, courtesy of the activities of some preachers who
exhibit the concept of magic in the body of Christ. In fact, such a people must
be resisted, for they do not serve the interest of God and His Kingdom, but
that of the devil. By this, therefore, the writer opines that;
DELIVERANCE
PRAYER SHOULD NOT CURSE BUT BLESS
One
of the problems of the present day Christianity is that Satan has successfully
redirected the amour of God, designed to work against him and his demons, and
has put it against the people and the church. (2 Corinthians 10:4-5). The
Christian soldier, who is anointed to wage war against Satan and his cohorts,
now deploys the power of the Holy Spirit against the members of the human race,
he is suppose to protect or help out of the powers of darkness. The foregoing,
therefore, serves the purpose of imprecatory prayer, demonically designed to
foster the destructive programmes of the Kingdom of hell, (John 10:10).
Exegetically,
the Scripture shows that the Christian prayer should bless and not curse, but
many today have taken after the occult world, to curse and not bless in prayer,
a development which the part one of this discourse says is akin to voodoo way
of prayer, which a good number of Christians have adopted as a way of
deliverance prayer in the church.
No
doubt, to curse in prayer is to assist Satan in destroying the human race, and
such an act, logically speaking, poses a setback on Christ and His Kingdom,
since it fosters the objective of the devil to steal, kill and destroy (John
10:10), as well as shows that God never answers such a prayer. But, such a
prayer works, at times, one may say. Yes, it sometimes works, and this is
because Satan, who is the god of destruction, takes delight in executing such a
wicked prayer, just to establish faith in the act. However, the verdict of the
Bible is that we should bless and not curse, even in prayer, (Roman 12:14).
DELIVERANCE
PRAYER SHOULD ENFORCE LIFE AND NOT DEATH
The
“Holy Ghost Fire” form of imprecatory prayer is a societal evil of this age,
and Jesus sealed off this type of prayer when two of His disciples opted to use
it against those who opposed their entry to Samaria. The story shows that “when
the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, Lord do you want us to call
fire down from heaven to destroy them, as Elijah did?” But, Jesus rebuked them
and said, “You do not know the kind of Spirit you are made of, for the Son of
Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them”, (Luke 9:51-56).
Truly,
what Jesus said shows that He is not the author of the “Holy Ghost Fire” type
of prayer that is widely said by Christians today for vengeance. Though, some
deny they use it against human beings, but against the unseen forces a
darkness. However, prayer expression like, “anybody who is against my
business”, Holy Ghost Fire!” or “any person behind my backwardness, Holy Ghost
Fire!” as are heard from their prayer closet contradict their claim.
Also,
the claim that the “Holy Ghost Fire” prayer is employed against witches and
wizards under the guise of “suffer not the witch to live”, (Exodus 22:18) carries
a dispensational error. According to Edwin Hartin, “a dispensation is a period
of time during which God deals in a particular way with man in respect to sin
and responsibility”. During the dispensation of law, that is, from the giving
of the law at Mount Sinai to Calvary or from the exodus to the cross, Moses
said, “kill the witches”, (Exodus 22:18). But, this time, since we are now in
the dispensation of grace, that is, from the descent of the Holy Spirit to the
descent or return of Christ, Jesus says, “don’t kill, but save them”, (Luke
9:56).
Therefore,
those who invoke “Holy Ghost Fire” to destroy witch in the acts of deliverance
should better have a rethink, as the “Great Commission”, (Matthew 28:19) is a
call to save souls, including, witches and wizards, and not to destroy them
(Luke 19:10).
DELIVERANCE
PRAYER SHOULD SUE FOR FORGIVENESS AND NOT MALICE
The
strongest force that stirs-up imprecatory prayer is unforgiveness, informed by
string of malicious contemplations buried within the fabric of the heart. If
one may ask, why do Christians engage the Voodoo Pastors, in deliverance
prayers to invoke injuries on those they view as enemies? What do you think is
the main factor that lures politicians to Witch Doctors for imprecatory
invocations against their opponents? And, how does one explain the ceaseless
echoes of “Holy Ghost Fire” prayers that take place in almost every Christian
vigil?
The
answer to the questions in focus is unforgiveness. In fact, if forgiveness is
allowed to reign in church and society, imprecatory prayer will die a natural
death, for the good of all. On this note, the organizers of deliverance prayer
should learn to present messages that promote reconciliation, against those
that breed hatred. They should as well put up a “Holy Ghost Fight” against the
demon of malice, instead of unnecessarily invoking “Holy Ghost Fire” on those
they should pray to save, reconcile or deliver.
Furthermore,
the absence of morality in the deliverance programmes of the Voodoo Pastors
marks a major pitfall in such exercise of faith. It is obvious that these
fortunetelling messengers of hell present economic emancipation, with little or
no consideration for the moral problem of man. However, the Bible promotes that
man should be holy, as well as live in peace with his fellow man, if he must or
desires to partner with God, here or hereafter, (Hebrews 12:14). In line with
this, man is admonished to see to it that no one misses the grace of God and
that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble by which people in society may
become quarrelsome or defiled”, (Verse 15).
In conclusion, please note that
deliverance prayer is God’s design to set people free from the powers of
darkness, but the use of imprecatory prayer in the exercise is strange and
demonic, especially in this dispensation of grace in which non is allowed to
use the anointing of the Holy Spirit to destroy lives, (Luke 9:51-56).
Therefore, the man of God should not violate the principle or take after the Voodoo
Pastors, whose stock in trade is cursing in prayer. BE GUIDED.
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