(The Church Needs to Know) 2. Can Christians Be Demon Possessed? — Miki Hardy

So, I would like to speak to you today on the same topic that we started last month. What the church needs to know. There are a few things that the church needs to know. The last time we talked about divorce.

And for these few weeks, I would like to talk to you about Christian deliverance. Is Christian deliverance from demons scriptural? I say that again. Is Christian deliverance from demons scriptural? Are we got to go through deliverance sessions as Christians who know Jesus Christ and who want to serve Him?

Firstly, I would like to share with you something that you know. Look, demonic activity is real. Demons are real. Evil spirits are real. There's nothing more real than the spiritual world. It's more real and more powerful than what you and I may think.

The spiritual world is powerful. That's why you and I can be transformed in one second. What we can try to become in our lives, in many years, can happen in even one second when God touches your life.

In the same way, there are people that are demon possessed. And all their lives may be influenced by these demon and evil spirits that make their living in people's lives. It's real. Sometimes you talk about demons and evil spirits and deliverance to people and they don't believe you.

They don't believe that demons and evil spirits can take hold of people's lives. But the first thing that we need to agree is that the demonic activity is real, powerful, even if it's divine, godly, or demonic.

But it's two opposite worlds. That's why we see that demon spirits live in people. We can read that in all the Gospels. When Jesus was on earth. The four Gospels talks about people that are being set free and delivered from evil spirits and demons.

They can bind people's lives. People become sick by the presence of demons and evil spirits in their lives. They become infirm. All sorts of sickness and disease. We can read that in the Bible. We can read that in the Gospels.

When Jesus himself casted out demons out of people's lives. People who were sick and those who were demon possessed. He casted them out. It's real. We don't deny that. We Christians, we know about it because we have the Bible and we know and we read about it.

And even many of us maybe. Maybe when we became Christians, we were set free of demons that used to take hold of our lives. Christians that have gone to witchcraft, open their lives to demon activities.

And many Christians today, they live in total freedom after having been delivered from demons and evil spirits. This is real. We can't deny that. It's a spiritual activity. And the Apostle Paul, in his epistle, talks about that.

So that's something that is clear. And we can't just deny it. But what I want to talk with you is, are we Christians demon possessed? Or can we Christians be demon possessed? That's my question, which I want to share with you because I believe we need some truth about it.

We need some truth. Jesus' ministry was to unbelievers. Jesus' ministry was to unbelievers, people that were not Christians. Jesus had not died yet. He had not gone to the cross yet. And he came to bless people.

And he came to give life. And he came to heal the sick. He came to show man that we were sinners. He came to show the consequences of sin and at the same time to make people understand and know that he can deliver them and set them free and bring them to know him and to walk in freedom.

But what does the church do today? When I look at the New Testament church in the book of Acts, when I read the epistles, I don't see one single case of deliverance in the lives of Christians. Not one single case of deliverance in the church of the book of Acts in the lives of Christians.

Born again Christians. Men and women that became born again. That were truly converted. That truly surrendered their lives to Christ. Either you are born again or you are not born again. You cannot be half born again.

Either you are coming closer to become born again, but yet you are not born again. Now let's open our Bibles in the book of Ephesians chapter 2. And the Apostle Paul shares with the Christians their state before they became born again.

In Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1 to verse 5. And you he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins. Now he wants to show the Christians where they came from and who they are now. In which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

But God who is rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, he made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved. Okay? So that is our state before we became born again.

We were dead in trespasses. We were under the control of the power of Satan. We were children of wrath, of disobedience. We did not know God. And many of us, we were possessed by evil spirits and by demons.

That was our condition before we become born again. Now open your Bibles with me in Acts chapter 2 verse 38. I just want to show you the sequence of someone who doesn't know Christ, where he is living, and when he knows Christ, what happens to him.

So in Acts chapter 2 verse 38, we read,. Then Peter said to them, therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God had made this Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart.

In other words, they were touched by the Holy Spirit who showed them their condition and gave them a desire to give their lives to Christ. And Peter said, now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do?

Now Peter replied, repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of the sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Repent and be baptized. Repent and be baptized and your sins will be forgiven.

That's conversion. That's being born again through repentance of your sins. You understand where you were and now you want to repent of your sins and you receive the forgiveness of your sins and the washing of your sins by the blood of Jesus Christ.

So now you are born again. Okay, you are born again. You have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit. God Almighty comes and lives in your heart. We are now the temple of the Holy Spirit. He lives in us.

That's what the Bible says. We become the temple of God. We have been forgiven that nature of sin that took hold of your life has now been replaced by the nature of God because God himself come and lives and abides in us.

We become children of God. Correct? All right. Now open your Bibles in Colossians chapter 1. What happens now when we become born again? Colossians chapter 1 verse 13. He has delivered us from the power of darkness.

Delivered us from the powers of darkness. And he has translated us into the kingdom of the son of his love. Now in other words, he delivered us from the kingdom of Satan and he translated us into the kingdom of his dear son.

He delivers us. What happens when someone gets born again? If someone truly repents and is truly converted and he wants to give his life to Christ and surrender his life to Christ, two things can happen as far as him being demon possessed.

Firstly, you don't have even sometimes to pray for these demons to flee. Sometimes you don't even have to pray about it. And if the person is so much under conviction of his sins, he truly repents and gives and surrenders his life to the Lord fully that God himself by the power of the spirit sets him free and delivers him from all the powers and the demons and the evil spirits that came to abide in him before he knew Jesus Christ.

It can happen in even one second. You don't have even to pray for that person. There can be some manifestation of demon spirits, of evil spirits, without even praying. The Lord sets that person free. But there are also cases where we pray for the people, we pray for these newborn Christians, these new converts, and as we pray for them, the Bible says you shall lay hand on the sick, they will recover, and also you will cast out demons.

So as we pray for them and we rebuke these evil spirits and these demons, then they flee. Then these people get delivered. They are Christians, born again now, totally converted to Christ. Are you with me?

That's what we've just read. We've been translated from the powers of darkness, under the power of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of his dear son, delivered from demons, delivered from evil spirits.

You see, there's one problem in the church today. Not in the church, but there are many people who come just to be blessed. You know, they've heard that in this place, when you pray for the sick, they are healed.

When people pray for deliverance, demons flee. So they come and they don't really want to give their lives to Christ. They don't want to surrender their lives to Christ. They don't come with their heart that first needs God, but they want only to be blessed and to be healed and to be delivered.

So you can pray for these people and you see the manifestation of demons. You see the manifestation of demons. And sometimes these same people, they come back to church Sunday after Sunday, but their lives are not surrendered to Christ and these demons still oppress them.

And many, many, many times they are not born again. Many times. They are not born again and they are not ready to surrender their lives and give their life to Christ, but they only want to be set free to go and live their own lives.

And no wonder, no wonder that they keep the activity of demons alive in them. And Sunday after Sunday, you see these same persons coming and having manifestation of demons and they go home and nothing changes because their hearts don't want Jesus.

They want the blessings. They want the blessings. But we as Christians who want to serve the Lord, we cannot be under the power of demons anymore. We cannot be demon possessed in any way. Can you understand what I'm saying?

It needs to be clear. You know, in my country here in Mauritius, I know about pastors who get together and are delivering session between themselves. That's weird to me. That's weird to understand that.

Not only they are delivering session for Christians, but they are delivering session for themselves. It's amazing. You can have weaknesses in your life, but that doesn't mean to say that you are demon possessed.

That you've got a demon hiding somewhere and that you've got, I've got the pastor to come and pray for you to cast that demon out. I don't know about in all the other countries, but in my country, you know, demon spirits are everywhere.

In bicycles, in fridge, in everywhere. Under the bed, they hide in mattresses, they hide in your cupboard, they hide everywhere. Sometimes, you know, they tell people that they've got to change mattresses so that they can have nice sleeps.

I mean, you hear stories about so many things that are so weird, so weird. You know, I know a couple in this church a few years back, about eight, ten years ago, the husband came to me and said, you know, we've got problems in our couple.

And you know, my wife had decided to go in another church, but because there they cast out demons, they have deliverance with us. I said to him, but brother, you know, it's not a question of being demon possessed, but I believe that if you surrender your life to Christ and you allow God to do what he wants to do in your life, you'll find out that it's more of your flesh than being demon possessed.

And he said to me, yes, but my wife, you know, she's made the decision, she wants to go in that church, and apparently there's a power of God there, and people are thrown everywhere, and you know, demons are being cast out, and you come out, you're free.

I said, my brother, you are free. You are free, bring your wife there. And effectively, they went, or she went, I don't know exactly the full story, she went. She went, and I'm sure that she's been, she's gone through deliverance and all that sort of thing.

And a few years back, she came back, and she was the same person. I'm sure that she's gone through deliverance session many times, many, many times. But you see, you cannot substitute a work of sanctification by deliverance.

You cannot do that. You can't substitute the work of God in your life by pressing a button or by prayer. You cannot do that. That's why when you take the message of the cross and you put it aside, you try to find out other solutions for your problems.

Yeah? You find other solutions. You try to find other solutions, other principles and techniques to replace the work of the Spirit in our life. So I'm sure that sister is sitting here today. But praise God that deliverance cannot solve the problems of your couple as a Christian.

You know, in the old days, the start of the ministry, you know, we were also involved in all sorts of things. When people used to come to church late, it must have been a spirit of laziness. You know, you invent all sorts of things.

Someone comes late to church, you know, you want to cast out a demon of laziness. I don't know where they get that from. But it's the truth. Everything is a demon. It's like you are obsessed and possessed by demons yourself.

You ride your bicycle and you get a puncture, you start to cast out the demon in your tire. I mean, you get to the extremes and I'm telling you, that's the truth. I'm talking about the truth. All sorts of things.

That's why we need to understand, you want, you leave the message of the cross aside, you'll find yourself in all sorts of false teachings and doctrines. You'll find yourself getting involved in all sorts of things.

For some churches, deliverance is the backbone of their ministry. Deliverance from demons. It's as if the church is a gathering of demon possessed Christians. It's a shame. It's a shame. You know, if pastors start to cast out demons among themselves, they must agree that their congregation is a gathering of demon possessed Christians.

That's very sad. That's very, very sad. Where is the power of the cross? Where is the power of God? Are we walking around with demons all the way we go? In all our Christian life, are we walking around with demons everywhere?

You shout with your wife, it's a demon. Everything that you do wrong, it's a demon. It's an evil spirit. Where are we going? That's why when non-Christians come to true repentance, true repentance and surrender their lives to Christ, demons cannot come and abide in you.

It's impossible. And let me give you some good news or bad news. It's just your flesh. It's just the desires of your flesh. That's all it is. I have found that for myself. I'm not talking about for you.

I'm talking even for myself. I have discovered that many things that happened to my life, where it was a defeat, it was my flesh. And I have learned. I have learned and I'm still learning to take up my cross.

I'm still learning to deny my flesh the rights of taking my life. In other words, I'm denying myself of my rights and I have decided to lose my life, to take up my cross and I can tell you it works. It doesn't work in an instant, but it works.

It takes some time, but it works. I don't need anyone to cast out any demon out of my life. I'm demon free. Are you demon free? I'm demon free and I've found out that each time my flesh wants to take over, I'm in trouble and I've got only one aim.

One thing to do is to die, to swallow, to lose, to deny myself of my rights. You see, there's one verse of scripture that is so clear. It's in Romans chapter 8, verse 12. Read that with me. Romans 8, verse 12 reads like this, therefore brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh.

Can you see that? In other words, you don't owe anything to your flesh. In other words, you don't have to abide to its desire. You don't have to. We are not supposed to. And every time you find yourself in problems, and if you understand the gospel, you will agree that it was the desires of your flesh that took over your life.

We are not debtors to the flesh in any way. No way. Is that clear? That's the scripture. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh to live according to the flesh. We don't want to owe anything to that flesh so that we live according to its desire.

That's what Paul is saying here. I don't want to. I don't want to bow myself before my flesh. I don't want to have to surrender to its desire. God has opened the way for me, which is a cross, so that I am ready to die to myself and not surrender to the desires of my flesh.

God found a way for me. That's why my life has got nothing in common with demons. Your life has got nothing in common with demons. Nothing. Can you say that? Nothing in common with demons. I'm demon-free.

Hallelujah. The Spirit of the Lord lives in us. The Spirit of God lives big in us. And He's the one who helps us. He intercedes for us. He helps us, by God's grace, to crucify that flesh. That's where, that's the key.

That's the solution. You can't substitute the cross. You cannot substitute the work of sanctification. You can't substitute what God wants to do in your life by going to someone and say, cast a demon of laziness, cast a demon of anger, cast a demon of jealousy, cast a demon of hypocrisy.

It's your flesh, sir. And if you want to look at it, you can find it in the book of Galatians, chapter 5, verse 19. It gives you a description of your flesh. And I'm sure each one of us here can identify with at least two, three, or four of the list.

Open your Bibles with me. Galatians, chapter 5, verse 19. We're going to read it slowly so that each one of us, we can identify somewhere there. And let me tell you, you don't need any deliverance of any demon to give you the victory over one of these things here.

The victory is in the cross. That's where the victory is. Okay. Have you got all ears open? The ears of your heart open? Okay, we're going to read that together. It's going to be exciting. Don't feel discouraged.

It's part of life. Don't get under condemnation. It's okay. It's part of life. Okay. Now the works of the flesh are adultery, the works of the flesh, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, rivalries, and the like.

How many you've got? How many you've got, guys? Eh? How many of you? Maybe there's someone still bound by alcohol there. It's okay. It's the work of your flesh, brother. You don't need to go through deliverance of demon.

It's not a demon of alcoholism. Can you understand? It's your flesh that wants it. You've been used to it in the past and you still like it. Your flesh like it. Your tongue like it. Something in your mouth likes it.

That's all it is, sir. You've got to crucify that flesh. You've got to take up that cross. You've got to deny yourself. You've got to be ready to lose your life. And things are going to be clear. We are demon free.

Yeah, we are demon free. Born again. Full of the life of Christ. But weak. Weak in many areas. So what? We're coming there. We're reaching the goal. We're reaching the goal. We are winning. We are winning.

We're walking on that road. We are winning. That's why the testimonies are there. Two months ago, that's how I was. Now, that's who I am. It's not the demon was gone. No, the demon is not there anyway.

No, no, no, no, no, no. Can you see? That's why we are full of testimonies. Full of testimonies. Six months ago, not one day passed by that I had a problem with my wife. Now, it's once a month. Glory to God.

Yeah. I'm telling you. There's not one place in this New Testament where I've read that the Christians had to go through a deliverance session. Not one place. I've always come across non-Christians that were demon possessed that were then set free.

When the apostles and the disciples prayed for them and they came there and their hearts were opened and they gave their lives to the Lord, they were converted. I tell you there are many things that can happen.

God is good. The Lord is good. I tell you the Lord is so wonderful. Okay. We need to understand where the message of the cross fits in our lives. We need to understand where that message fits in. I spoke to a brother who was serving the Lord four days ago, three days ago.

And he was telling me how he met a certain pastor somewhere and the pastor was talking to him about his problems, about his discouragement, about all the things that he was going through. And he was sharing with the pastor about how himself, his life, that he's now prepared to identify his life with Christ's sufferings and Christ's death.

He talked to him about the cross. And the first statement that comes out of this pastor is this. That brother, Jesus Christ suffered for us. Jesus Christ died for us. He said it is finished. We don't have to go through all this stuff of giving your life, of losing your life and everything.

You don't have to go through that stuff. Can you see? So in other words, the church believes, the whole church believes what Jesus Christ did on the cross. The whole church believes that his work was complete.

The whole church acknowledges that he destroyed principalities and powers, that he conquered sin. The whole church believes. But there's one thing that many churches don't agree. It is the fact that we, as Christians, we need to identify our lives with him.

We need to be ready and accept to surrender our lives and put it on the altar as a sacrifice. We've got to accept the sufferings. We've got to accept the identification to his death. In other words, to allow him to change us and mold us to his image.

So the message of the cross is put aside and we want to substitute it with deliverance. You can't do that. It's a shame to the work that Jesus Christ did on that cross. It's a shame. We can't do that.

That's why I believe it's time for the church, it's time for the church to know. And not just swallow everything. A work of sanctification is absolutely necessary. Deliverance becomes a shortcut. We just want a prayer.

Even to accept that we are demon-possessed. Even to accept that demons are living in us just because either we don't know or we don't want to take up that cross and follow Jesus Christ. And deliverance from demons for Christians has become a shortcut.

A shortcut. But praise God that we don't want a shortcut. We don't want to go through a shortcut. We don't want a press-button Christianity. We want to take part fully and identify ourselves with the sufferings of Christ and his death.

James chapter 1. We're going to read through a couple of verses here. Verse 13 it says, Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he himself tempt anyone.

But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Each one is tempted, how? When he is drawn away, how? By his own desires and enticed. Then when desire has conceived. Which desire?

The desire of your flesh. When it has conceived, what happens? It gives birth to sin. It gives birth to sin. And sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death. Correct? Very clear. It's very clear. Now in Galatians chapter 2 verse 20, the Apostle Paul gives a clear statement.

We all know that scripture. Chapter 2 verse 20. It says, I have been crucified with Christ. Now listen here. He's not talking about the day that Jesus Christ was crucified. He's talking about his life.

And the result of that is. It is no longer I who lives. It's no longer the desires of my flesh. It's no longer the lust of the flesh. It's no longer I who lives. But it is Christ who lives in me. Has the Apostle Paul gone through deliverance?

To state that. To bring that statement. Has he gone through deliverance? Demon deliverance? No. Paul learned how to deny himself. Paul learned how to crucify the flesh. Paul learned how to deny himself.

Paul learned how to identify himself with Christ. He received that revelation. He received it. He walked in it. He lived it. He preached it. And his life was completely transformed. His life was completely transformed.

And that statement speaks loud. Loud. It's no more me. It's not more me who lives. It's Christ who lives in me. It's amazing. Oh, I'm glad that we are demon free. We are demon free. Where is the cross today?

Where is that cross? Where is that message? Where is that message? To bring us to our knees. Where is that message? To bring that conviction in our hearts. Where is that message? So that the Holy Spirit can convict us so much.

To stop our fleshly walk. To stop. And to take up that cross again. To stop and be ready to offer our lives at the sacrifice again. The message of the cross is a constant warning. Constant warning. Constant reminder of the weakness of our flesh.

The message of the cross, I say it again, is a constant reminder and warning of our weakness in the flesh. This is what brings us to see ourselves. To repent. To come back to the cross. And to deny ourselves.

I believe that the only place where Christians can be demon possessed again is when they start to deny the work of the Spirit. When they backslide to the point where sin takes hold of their lives again.

Where they no more consider the fellowship with Christ. And they give themselves to the world. They open the door to demon activity again. It's as if they've come to the place where they've never known Christ in their lives.

Never known Christ in their lives. Their lives could have been worse than before they've known Christ. Open their hearts and lives completely to demon activity. That's the only place. It's as if these people have never known Christ.

I believe we need to make the difference between people that attend churches and Christians that want to serve the Lord. People that come to church, they like the church. They like the atmosphere. They feel the love of God.

But they want to hold on to their lives. They come for prayer. Every Sunday they come for prayer. They come for prayer. They come for prayer. Yeah. Church goers. I call them church goers. But when you look deeply in their lives, there's one question.

Are they born again? Are they truly born again? Have they decided really to give their lives to Christ and surrender to Him? We must make the difference between weak Christians and those who are church goers.

You can be weak, but in your heart you know where you're going. You can be weak. You can be a young Christian. But you know that deep down in your heart that you have surrendered your life. And I even believe, deep down in my heart I'm convicted.

You can be a weak Christian, but demon free. You are a weak Christian, but demon free. Yeah. But you can be a church goer, liking the church, never being born again. And come to church, and every Sunday, or every day, come to church.

And have all sorts of manifestation in your life, but you are not born again and you become a church goer. But a truly born again Christian. Truly born again Christian. Who listens to the Word of God.

Who is weak, strong, whatever. You are demon free. You are demon free. It's only your flesh. It's your flesh, sir. That's all it is. That's why the Apostle Paul talks a lot about the flesh. In the book of Romans, he talks a lot about it.

He talks even about his own life. So many times he wants to do things, but he can't. And so many times he doesn't want to do it, but he does it. No, the Apostle Paul was, he knows, he knew that. He knew he was aware of the desires of his flesh.

He was aware of his weaknesses. But he never went to Timothy, or Barnabas, or Silas, or someone for a deliverance session. No. It's amazing how we can have that mentality. That each time we fall, it's a demon.

Each time we fall, it's a demon. Oh, I bless God. I bless the Lord that we can live with all our weaknesses and demon free. You know, there's something else that I would like to share with you. It's about Christian counseling.

Things that we call inner healing. Christian counseling. It's like special psychologists in church. You know, that go deep in your past life. Deep, I mean very, very deep. Up to your third and fourth generation where your forefather, your fore forefather was.

What was his life? What was he doing? Was he involved in witchcraft? Was he involved in, I don't know what. Was he involved in the Hitler army? Was he in love? I don't know what it was involved. You know, they just dig, dig, dig, dig deep.

Why, why are you in that state? It must be linked to someone very far away. Lord, help us. I tell you, Lord, help us. That thing is not to be found in the New Testament church. Nowhere in the New Testament church, in the epistles of Paul, in the book of Acts, you will find one place where a Christian had to go through intense counseling, intense inner healing.

Two, three, four, five hours. Digging, digging in the bin of your past life. There's nothing worse than that for your life. Nothing worse than that in your life. That's why again I say, when you remove the message of the cross, you try to replace it by something else.

You know, you remove the power. Paul said the message of the cross is the power of God. Now you remove the message of the cross and you find yourself trying to invent things. And you now dig in Old Testament pattern.

Yeah? It's very sad. Very sad. And there are thousands of Christians who are still bound. Oh, Lord, help us. You know, when you go through these things, you are more concerned about your failures. About your state than ever before.

It's as if your old past failure life comes back to life again. Again. If you are in Christ, all things have passed away and all things have become new. All things have become new. You know, I like to read you a scripture in 1 Peter.

1 Peter chapter 1. You know, the Bible says in the book of Exodus, that God punishes, God punishes the iniquity of fathers upon children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Him. That's in the book of Exodus chapter 20.

When God said that you've got to worship Him and believe in Him and Him alone. That was part of the Ten Commandments. And now we try to bring that scripture in the Old Covenant lifestyle. You know, it's as if the blood of Jesus Christ is not enough to cleanse you and purify your life from all your past and all your sins and all your past life.

You need to go back to it and make a special prayer. A special confession. When these 5 ,000 people stood before Peter and they said to him, Peter, what must we do? Peter said, repent. Repent. And receive the forgiveness of your sins.

Now watch. Verse 18. Knowing that you were not redeemed. Redeemed. Can you understand that? The word redeemed. Bought back. Okay? With corruptible things. You were not redeemed with corruptible things.

Like silver or gold. You were not redeemed. Listen. From your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers. In other words, we have been redeemed. But not from silver and gold. But verse 19 says, with the precious blood of Christ, out of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

Can you see that? Here the apostle Peter says, we have been redeemed. From what? Listen from what. From your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers. First, second, third, fourth, fifth generation.

You have been redeemed. Not by silver and gold. But by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. We have been redeemed. Washed, cleaned, cleansed completely. Purified. Whiter than snow. What else do you want?

Redeemed. Purified. Let's go one verse further down. Since you have purified your souls. When that blood washed me clean. It washed my soul. It washed everything in me. It washed my conscience. It washed everything in me.

Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth. Through the spirit. In sincere love of the brethren. Love one another fervently with a pure heart. Having been born again. Not of corruptible seed.

But incorruptible through the word of God. Which lives and abides forever. That's how we became born again. When we heard the gospel. When we heard the word of God. Which has the power. Which is incorruptible seed.

Which has the power to make us become born again. Oh, I tell you. We were washed. Purified. Cleansed. From our past life. Like never before. Hallelujah. Where is your past life, sir? Where is your past life, my sister?

No, it's gone. It's finished. You don't need this special deep counseling. Five hours. I tell you. You need more counseling when you come back from this deep counseling. You need rest. You need deep rest.

I've been redeemed by the blood. Hallelujah. Have you been redeemed through the blood? Hallelujah. No. You leave that cross behind. We get involved in many things. That will complicate our Christian life.

Let the word of God. The power of God. Bring life, restoration, healing. Everything in your life. Let the preaching of the cross bring everything you need in your life. And you don't have demands. And you don't need inner healing or deep counseling.

Am I saying that we don't need to be counseled by anyone? I'm not saying that. I'm talking about the principle of inner healing being practiced in churches. Where you've got to sit down with someone who is a graduate in Christian counseling.

Who is graduated in inner healing. And he makes you go deep. It's like you're sitting in front of a psychologist. In the world. That's why the church has opened its door to the worldly system. We don't want the cross in our lives.

We don't want to give up our lives and deny ourselves. And we prefer to submit to the worldly system. Oh God bless our hearts. We are set free hallelujah. We are set free. Are you set free my brother?