Pride and Humility — Zac Poonen

Creation, Sin, and the Ruin of the Earth

When we open the pages of the Bible, the first thing we read is of the creation of the heaven and earth and if you turn there for a moment, when you read the Bible too fast or carelessly and don't think, we can miss certain things.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, Genesis 1 verse 1. And the earth was formless and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep. Now, I want to read a verse to you. You know, when God creates something, if you think, that's why I said when you read you must think, does God ever create anything formless, empty, dark?

No, that's completely contrary to His nature. In James 1 verse 17 it says, only good things and perfect things come from the Father of Lights. James 1 verse 17. Every good thing and every perfect gift comes from the Father of Lights.

So how did this God the Father from whom only good things and perfect things come, how did this create an earth which is formless and void and darkness? When we read something like that, we must stop and say, there must be something here that I don't understand.

And if you don't understand, just leave it for the time being, one day you will. I remember when I was converted in 1959, one of the first things I did was to read through the whole Bible. I said, never read the whole Bible even once, so let me read through it.

There are many believers who have been believers for ages and they never read through the Bible even once. I'd say, if anybody's sitting like here, you should go home and put your head in your hands and say, Lord, I'm thoroughly ashamed of myself.

I haven't read the Bible through even once. So I decided as soon as I was converted that I would read through the whole Bible, even if I didn't understand it, I would read it. And I finished it in about six months.

A lot of things I didn't understand, but I got a general idea of the whole thing. Then I of course read it subsequently many times in the last 60 years. But here's one of the things that made me think, how it just cannot be formless and void and dark.

God never does anything imperfect like that. When God makes something, it is perfect. It can become imperfect through sin or some man messing up with that. So I discovered that something must have happened between verse one and two, which is not written here.

It must be written somewhere else in scripture. And that is the fall of the highest archangel. Adam was not the first created being. Because in Genesis three, you read about Satan. Where was he created?

You should ask that question. Where in the world did this Satan come in? It's not mentioned in chapter one or two. So then when you meditate and think, Satan, the source of all evil, he must have come there between verse one and two.

And that was the cause of verse two. So then I asked myself, why isn't it written there? It's not written there because this book was not made for the devil. It was made for man. So it does not give the devil the dignity of coming in the first page.

It gives man the dignity of coming on the first page and say, we'll relegate the devil to another page and tell later on what happened to him. So when Adam sinned, we know this, that the earth suddenly became wild and a jungle and the animals became wild, who were very pleasant and good until then.

Just one man's sin brought thorns and thistles and all the poison and evil, the poisonous snakes and poisonous weeds and everything, sin, just one sin. If you want to see how serious sin is, just think of Genesis three.

What happened when one man sinned with one sin? And once you see the seriousness of that, you will see what havoc sin can do in your inner life and you don't even know it. What havoc sin can do in your family.

There's one thing we should hate with all our heart, it is sin. And yet most Christians have never come to the place where they hate sin with all their hearts. And here I can see the havoc that sin came, that brought when the highest archangel fell, that beautiful earth which God created became without shape, without shape, empty, dark.

And then I see this wonderful word, the spirit of God began to move and he did not create the earth there. He already created it in verse one. But this ruined earth was the devil ruined. God remade it.

And if you look carefully, in verse one, you read created. But thereafter, you always read the word made. Verse seven, God made, God made. Verse 16, God made. There's a difference between created and made.

Read the Bible carefully. Created is created from nothing. Adam's inner soul was created. So we can say Adam was created. But he was also made because his body was made from existing dust. So his inner being was created but his body was made.

So there's just a little thing that you need to notice. When God creates something, it is perfect. The devil ruins it and God remade it into something beautiful in six days. Now he could have done it in a moment.

But the reason he did it in six days is to give man the principle of life that he must work for six days and rest for one day, which all humanity follows. People of every religion, even those who don't accept the Bible, they still work for six days and rest on the seventh day.

Muslims, Hindus, every religion in the world, Buddhists, every Tom, Dick and Harry, they work six days and work the seventh day. They are indirectly acknowledging the chapter one of the Bible is the truth.

Imagine, people of every religion. So I thought we could think a little about what was it that made the earth formless and void and dark. So turn with me to what happened between verses one and two, which is not written here because this book is written for man.

Satan's Fall and the Origin of Pride

And the history of how the highest archangel became the devil is very important for us to know for one reason, because the origin of sin in this universe was not in Genesis three. That was the origin of sin in the human race.

But the origin of sin in this world was in Genesis one, between verses one and two. And that is written in Isaiah chapter 14, where the highest angel, an archangel, who's called star of the morning, his name is not mentioned anywhere.

God does not give Satan the dignity of revealing what his name was. It's when Satan fell that Michael, the archangel, took over as the archangel in heaven. But he was not the first one. This other nameless archangel was the first one.

He was senior to Michael, senior to Gabriel. But it says about him in Isaiah 14, he's called here in verse 12, the star of the morning, the sun of the dawn. Now that is translated in some early Latin translations as Lucifer.

It's not his name. It's just a translation of star of the morning, star of the dawn. So people began to call him Lucifer. That's not his name. His name is not known. He became the devil, became Satan.

O star of the morning, sun of the dawn, how you have fallen from heaven. You have been cut down to the earth, you have weakened the nations. Subsequently he weakened the nations. You said in your heart, this is how he fell.

Very important to see how Satan fell because that is the origin of sin. Whenever a doctor diagnoses a sickness, he wants to know what is the origin of it. Where did it come from? Where did COVID -19 come from?

They try to trace it, to find a cure for it. Very important. Where did the devil come from? How did sin come into the universe? In a perfect God who is full of love and perfection, how did sin come? Here it is.

When the highest archangel said in his heart, he didn't even open his mouth and say it, just in his heart. So there the first lesson we learn about sin is that sin came not with an action, not with a word, but with a thought.

The first sin in the universe began in the mind of a created being. And that's where sin originates even today, in our mind. So if you don't deal with it there, it will ruin your life. The earth became formless and shapeless and empty.

Your life will become shapeless and empty. Watch over your thoughts carefully, like it says in Proverbs, where all the issues of life come out from there. He said only in his heart. That means nobody heard him.

In his heart. He got a plan. He's already the head of the angels. Millions and millions of angels accept him, whatever his name is. You are our leader. But he was not satisfied that all creation respected him.

Imagine, every one of these billions of angels respected him as their leader and he was still not satisfied. We have to learn lessons from this. Sin comes from a dissatisfaction with our appointed lot in life.

Even though your appointed lot may be very much more blessed, much more blessed than millions of people in the world. If you have a refrigerator in your house, you're more blessed than more than 90 of people in the world.

Have you ever thought of that? And we could think of many, many other things like that. We are so blessed. But there's a dissatisfaction. Get rid of that, my brother, sister. Otherwise, it will destroy your life.

It will destroy your home. It will destroy your church. Dissatisfaction, which leads to expressing your complaint and gossiping and backbiting. You said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven. That's the next thing to think about.

Sin came when a person wanted to go higher than God had already placed him. Imagine, he was already the highest. Where does he want to go next? Supposing you're the president or the ruler of the most powerful nation in the world.

What more do you want? I want to go still higher. That's how sin is. Even if you have everything, you're not satisfied. So one of the first lessons you need, you know, when you see sin, you see the opposite of what holiness is.

So when you learn that sin is being dissatisfied, even though you have everything, and you can see plenty of that in our country here. So many rich people and their children who have almost everything they can ask for.

Dissatisfied. That is how people go into drugs. Even though they have everything, they're not satisfied. They want something more, something more. Be very careful. That is a lust. And you must kill it.

I will raise my throne above the stars of God. OK, that's all right. I will sit on the Mount of Assembly. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. Here is the dangerous, dangerous part. Verse 14.

I will make myself like God. Oh, boy. How did sin come when a person created being, wanted to become a God, wanted to become like God, wanted to run other people's lives? Do you have a lust to run other people's lives?

I know many pastors who like to run other people's lives and they use scripture to rule over people in their church. They're not following the master who washed people's feet. I have a responsibility for many churches, but I can honestly stand before God today and say, I have no desire to run anybody's life.

Even when people come to me for counsel, many, many people have come to me through the years for some advice, some situation, some problem. I say, my brother, sister, I'm sitting there sitting with me in my house and I say, listen, this is my I can't tell you what you should do, but this is what I would do if I were in your situation.

This is my advice. Then I tell them. Don't do it until you hear from God. You've only heard from me. Take this. Go home. Take this advice I give you before God. Christ, he's your head, not me. And say, Lord Jesus, this is what Brother Zach suggested.

I respect him, but this is what he suggested. If that is what you want me to do, give me peace in my heart. That's what you should pray. It's by peace in your heart that you know what God's will is. And I said, if you don't find peace in your heart to follow the advice I give you, please don't do it.

You will not be disobeying God by disobeying me. I'm only a man. Don't do it. That's the advice I consistently give to everybody. Because I do not want to be like the devil to run people's lives. When my children were small in the home under my authority, God told me to be their head and to rule them.

And I ruled them. Otherwise, I'd be disobeying God. But then as they grew up and left home, I gave them the freedom to choose. Still guiding them, advising them, warning them, correcting them, but not trying to run their life.

I kept on advising them about the type of girl they should choose to get married to. And a lot of other advice. When they were in college, and all four of them, they went away from home when they were 18 years old.

And they came to the United States on a scholarship to study here in colleges. And I would keep in touch with them frequently. And in the early days, there was no emails. And phone calls were very expensive.

But when emails started, I wrote to them regularly. And I preserved those emails for many years. Emails that I wrote in the 90s, 1990s and 2000s and all that. And more recently, we printed it as a book called Here Are My Sons.

That's the advice I gave to my teenage children when they enter college. And I recommend all teenage children to read it. You don't have to buy it. You can buy it if you want. We have an office in Texas.

But you can go online. Everything we offer is free. You go to cfcindia .com, go to resources, books, and all my 30 books are there. You can read all of them absolutely free. So if you don't have to buy it, you can read it.

Humility in Family, Church, and Human Authority

But here we see that he wanted to be like God. That is the origin of sin. When a created being was not satisfied with the position God had made for him or her. Apply that to yourself. What is sin? Sin is not just going and killing somebody or telling lies.

Sin is when you are not satisfied with the position God placed you in. If you are not satisfied to be a woman when God made you a woman and you wish you were a man. There is no difference between your sin and the sin that made Satan into Satan.

No difference. When you want to rule over people over whom God gave you no authority. To rule over your children. Right. You should do it. But to rule over people over whom God gave you no authority. When you try to boss your husband.

When God says the husband must be the head of the wife. That doesn't mean you can't give any advice to your husband. Of course you should. The Lord said that Eve is the helper. And a helper must give advice.

If you don't give advice, you are not being a helper. But you are not to rule over your husband. Then you are trying to take a position that only God can have. Even as an elder in a church, I don't have the right to rule over anybody.

Each person in my church, even a newly converted person, is under the headship of Christ. I am a member who is there to help him. To be closely connected to Christ. And I must always recognize that position of mine.

I am there to wash their feet. To make it clean. So I am just trying to show you the origin of sin. You try to make yourself like God, you will be thrust down to hell. That's one place where we see how this highest archangel became Satan.

There is another passage in Ezekiel 28. These are the only two passages that we know in scripture that tell us how the highest archangel became the devil. The origin of sin which is between verses 1 and 2 of Genesis.

Now here, first of all, the word of the Lord, Ezekiel 28, came to me saying, Son of man, say to the leader or the ruler or the prince of Tyre. That was the earthly ruler of Tyre, which is a city and a sort of a region on the Mediterranean coast north of Israel.

Say to the prince of Tyre. But over that prince there was a king. That king was the devil, who rules over. He is called the prince of the power of the air. He was the one who ruled over this earthly prince of Tyre.

And this devil is called in verse 12, the king of Tyre. This other guy below him was only the earthly leader, verse 2. And above him was the king of Tyre, the real king, which was this archangel who became the devil.

And to the devil, the Lord says, there was a time, verse 12, when you were perfect. You had the seal of perfection. Like Adam was created perfect. This archangel was created perfect. Nothing wrong, no defect in any part of his being.

Full of wisdom. Perfect in beauty. Imagine a created being, perfect, the most beautiful created being. We've seen many beautiful human beings. The archangel was far more good looking and attractive than any human being you've ever seen.

The perfection of beauty. That's what it says here. Full of wisdom. And you were in Eden. Aha. So there was somebody in Eden before Adam. There was an Eden in Genesis chapter 1, verse 1, which became full of chaos by the time it came to chapter 1, verse 2.

But then God remade that Eden in Genesis chapter 2. That's the second. It was the same Eden remade. But that Eden was a beautiful place in the beginning. Between verse 1 and 2 of Genesis. You were in Eden, the garden of God.

And then He describes His beauty in terms of various precious stones, ruby, topaz, beryl, and all that. And on the day you were created, verse 14, you were the anointed. You know how many believers seek to be anointed?

Here was one who was created and anointed from the day he was created. The anointed angel. And the Lord says, I placed you there in Eden. You know, that's why when many years later, when Satan saw that he had been expelled and somebody else had come to Eden, Adam and Eve, he was determined to get them out of there.

Jealousy. How dare they come to the place where I was first? Jealousy. It's another thing that originates with Satan. And he was determined and schemed. He was the wisest of all creation. It says here, he was full of wisdom, verse 12.

And when wisdom gets twisted to hurt others, he could think of a wonderful scheme to get Adam and Eve out of Eden. He says, I can't do it, but I'll make God do it. So he schemed and planned to get him out of that place which he thought he belonged to him, Eden.

You were the anointed cherub and God had placed him there on the holy mountain of God. Here's another statement about this archangel. Verse 15. You were blameless. Not a single fault in him in any area from the day you were created until one day unrighteousness was found in you.

And we read that in Isaiah 14. I will exalt myself. I'm not happy with my present position. I want to go up, up, up. I want to be like God. Once you understand that is the origin, that's how this beautiful earth which God created became corrupt.

You will realize that sin is not just dirty thoughts or pornography or hatred or murder or telling lies. It's much bigger than all that. It is pride. Pride is the first sin that came in this universe.

That made this universe into a hell or the earth anyway into a hell. You were internally filled with violence and you sinned. Verse 16 middle. Therefore I cast you as profane and I destroyed you, O covering cherub.

What happened? Verse 17. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. Oh how much that has happened to so many human beings since that day. You look in the mirror and say what a good looking man I am.

What a good looking woman I am. You know where it began? It began with the archangel who became the devil. Your heart was lifted up. They didn't talk about it. No, you don't go around telling people I'm so good looking.

No, no, no. You just look in the mirror and admire yourself. That's all. Or you look at your abilities, your intellectual abilities and how you're so smart when you can work on computers or other things that you can do better than others or construction business or what it is.

You look at what you've done and say boy am I not smart. You know where it began? With an archangel who became the devil. It's good to know where all these thoughts begin and they're not innocent. It says you corrupted your wisdom by being your heart being lifted up.

You never said a word to anybody. It was just in your heart. You began to admire the beauty God gave you. You never created it yourself. That smartness that you have, that intelligent mind you have, you never made it.

God gave it to you as a gift from your birth. You got it in your genes. What can you boast about? Exactly like that archangel. He didn't create it. God created him like that. And she should have fallen before God and said God thank you for making me like this.

Let me never compare myself with other people and say boy am I more good looking than them. Aren't I smarter than those dumb guys in my office or those other dumb people in the church. This whole looking down on other races, racial superiority.

You know where it began? Right here. Right here. Am I not smarter? Am I not better? Is not my race of angels superior to that other race of angels? I'm the one perfect in beauty. That's what he thought.

Whether it's angels or human beings or anything. Am I not superior? That is the origin of sin. And so you corrupted your wisdom. You know he is called here. Verse 3 of Daniel. Ezekiel 28. You are wiser than Daniel.

Ezekiel 28 verse 3. It's quite interesting. We've always thought the wisest person, human being was Solomon. They talk about the wisdom of Solomon. The wisest human being that lived was Solomon. No. Solomon was wise in an earthly way but he married hundreds of women and had many concubines and worshipped idols.

He wasn't wise at all. But in God's eyes, if you were to ask in the Old Testament who was the wisest man, it was not Moses. It was Daniel. Moses was a great leader. But Daniel was the wisest man. And you read the book of Daniel and you see he was the humblest man.

The wisest man is always the humblest. If pride gets in, he is no longer wise in God's eyes. Daniel was such a humble man. Even when Nebuchadnezzar tried to praise him, he says, oh no, it's not me, oh king.

It's God. He never took the glory to himself. Even when he came out of the den of lions, he said, oh Darius, it is not me. It's my God. Shut the lion's mouth. We can learn some things from this. Do you want to be wise in man's eyes or in God's eyes?

If you want to be wise in God's eyes, always give the glory to God. Never touch it. Say, it was he who did it, not me. You corrupted your wisdom and so I cast you down. That is how this highest archangel became a devil.

The Heavens, Demonic Powers, and Spiritual Warfare

So from this third heaven, you know there are three heavens. The first heaven is what you read, it says in the Psalms, when I see the heavens, the work of your hands, all of creation. That's the first heaven.

In 2nd Corinthians 12, we read of the third heaven. That's where Paul once was lifted up in a vision. In 2nd Corinthians chapter 12, he says in verse 4, I was caught up to paradise. In verse 2, he says, I was caught up to the third heaven.

The last part of verse 2. 1 Corinthians 12 verse 2. That's the one place in scripture where we realize there are three heavens. And when he calls that paradise in verse 4, paradise is in the third heaven.

That's where believers go when they die. That's where Christ is. That's the place to which Paul was lifted up in spirit. The third heaven. The first heaven is what we see in the Psalms, when I behold the heavens, the work of your hands.

Between this first heaven that we see, which includes all of space, millions of miles, between that and the third heaven, there is a second heaven. And when the devil was cast out of God's presence, he was cast down into the second heaven.

That is why we read in Ephesians chapter 6, our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, these evil rulers and powers, the world forces of darkness, the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenlies.

Which heaven is that? Not this physical heaven. Not the third heaven. He was cast out of the third heaven into the second heaven. The devil is not in hell. He's never been to hell yet. He's in the second heaven.

But he comes down to earth. There are some demons who have been cast into hell. You read about that in 2 Peter chapter 2. Certain demons who were disobedient, 1 Peter chapter 4, 2 Peter 2, were cast down into hell.

But the devil himself and many of his demons are not there. They are in the second heaven. And they have access to the earth. They are the ones who possess people. Demon possessed people. Demons that come into people.

They come from the second heaven. They have freedom to move up and down. But they cannot go to the third heaven. When the devil spoke to God in the book of Job, he spoke from the second heaven to God in the third heaven.

It's good for us to know these things. So sin came by a created being wanting to go up. Wanting to be more than what God made him. That made him proud that he was better than all the others. Comparing himself with other created beings.

It's the spirit of the devil. When you compare yourself with other believers in a church, be careful which spirit is operating in you. When you are proud of your cleverness, your wisdom, your intelligence, your good looks or anything you are proud of, know where it came from.

It came from that evil spirit who was cast down because of his pride. And that is why when Jesus had to overcome Satan in order to deliver us, he had to do the exact opposite of what Satan did. That's the only way to conquer Satan.

Satan exalted himself. Jesus humbled himself. The only thing that can conquer pride is humility. If a person who is not humble turns around to the devil and says, in Jesus' name, I resist you, you know what will happen?

I'll tell you. You read about in Acts of the Apostles when some people tried to do that in Acts chapter 19. There were some people who had heard Paul casting out a demon. In Jesus' name, get out. And in Acts 19 we read of the seven sons of Scewa, a Jewish priest.

We read about them in verse 13. Some of the Jewish exorcists, Acts 19 .13, went from place to place saying to the evil spirits, I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul is preaching. And those, when seven sons of Scewa did this, the evil spirit answered and said to them, I recognize Jesus and I recognize Paul, but who in the world do you think you are?

I like that. And the man who had this evil spirit, who spoke, jumped on these seven sons of Scewa and tore their clothes and overpowered them. You can't use the name of Jesus like these people did against the devil if your life is not right with God.

If you're a proud person, the devil says, hey, you and I have fellowship. How are you trying to cast me out? You and I have got the same spirit, man. You can overcome Satan only by humility, not by rebukes and things like that.

I've been to, you know, I've told you there are areas where I disagree with the Pentecostals and Charismatics, not only in speaking in tongues, but also in the way they cast out demons. I've seen numerous cases of these people in the Pentecostal Charismatic Churches yelling and screaming and shouting and going on fasting and prayer to cast out some demon from a person.

Did Jesus ever do it like that? Never. These sons of Scewa were doing it. Jesus always spoke one word and the demons fled. We've had to encounter demons in India, in the villages, especially because where people worship idols, in 1 Corinthians it says there's a demon behind every idol.

The demon gets into some of those people and we've seen them. And some women who are demon possessed are so strong that three, four men cannot hold her down. But in every one of those cases I've seen one word, in the name of Jesus, get out, they leave.

I've cast out a number of demons, many parts of India. Never once did a demon not leave. Every single time they left with one command. If it did not leave, I would have to say to Jesus, Lord, I have to go and fast and pray.

Something's wrong with me. Why didn't that demon, am I like the sons of Scewa? Just using the name of Jesus, but every single time they left. I remember once one sister brought a lady to our house and my wife and I were sitting there in our sitting room.

I thought she just came for prayer and she wanted her to accept Christ. So I told her, ask Jesus to come into your heart and say to the devil, you were defeated on the cross. I always tell people to say that.

Every person who accepts Christ must tell the devil you were defeated on the cross. And she turned around to me with her face changed and said, I was not defeated on the cross. Oh, I thought I was talking to the woman, the demon inside her began to speak to me.

So when a demon speaks to me, I reply. So I quietly said to the demon who was inside her, you were defeated on the cross. Jesus defeated you. Get out of her right now in Jesus name. Gone. Then I told that lady, now tell the devil you were defeated on the cross.

And she said it. You were defeated on the cross. It's not special about me. If you walk in humility and purity, you can do it. Anyone. I remember a true story of a Chinese pastor who was in one of the villages in China in the early 20th century.

And there were a lot of demon possessed people and they would bring them to him and he would cast out the demons. Every time. And one day they brought a demon possessed person and the pastor was not there.

His 12 year old son was there. And they brought this. His pastor is not here. Shall we go? He said no. The little boy said come right in. 12 years old. He'd seen his pastor. He'd seen his father casting out demons.

Simple boy was lived in simplicity and purity. He commanded the demon to get out of the demon left. It doesn't matter if a boy is 12 or not. His heart is pure and his humble. It's the name of Jesus that he fears.

Not you and me. He was defeated on the cross. You have to be absolutely convinced not only that your sins were forgiven on the cross, but Satan was defeated on the cross. Satan was active on the earth throughout the Old Testament.

That's why you never read of Satan activity on the earth after Genesis 3. God did not allow Satan to go around rampant because everybody would have been demon possessed. And he would have destroyed so many lives because they had no power.

Where do you read in the history of Israel Satan coming? Only once it says Satan indirectly tempted David to number the people in a very abstract way. That's about the only place Satan is mentioned. Even in the book of Job, he's not mentioned as Satan is on the earth.

He's talking to God in the heavens. You never find Satan anywhere on the earth because God restrained him. But the moment Jesus came to earth, that's when you begin to see Satan's activity on this earth.

He would go into a synagogue and this demon possessed man who was sitting there for years listening to the boring sermons of the Pharisees got all worked up because Jesus had come and began to yell and scream and Jesus would shut him up and cast out the demon.

Those Pharisees who knew the scriptures forwards and backwards, they had no power over that demon. It's the same today. It's the same today. I remember here in Loveland at a conference I came years ago, not in this church, but there was another group here many years ago before RLCF was started.

There was a meeting here and I was speaking and the leader came to me and said, there's a lady here. I've been trying to counsel her. She's not able to help her. Can you please talk to her? So I went and talked to her.

She was a white American lady, but dressed in nightclothes and pajamas. I said, why in the world does she come for a public meeting like this? And I discovered later she belonged to some type of cult.

And so I counseled her and I said, now say, Lord Jesus, forgive my sins. She opened her mouth and said, I cannot say that name. Aha. Then I realized she had a demon. She can't mention the name of Jesus.

She just could not say it. I rebuked the demon and cast out the demon. And then I said, now say the name of Jesus. Again, she said, I can't say the name. And inwardly, I asked the Lord, Lord, what is that?

And the Lord said to me, the demon is gone. But she's got into the habit of saying, I cannot say the name. Thank you, Lord. And I said to her, you can say it now. Say, Lord Jesus come to our and she said it.

Then I said, say, thank you, Lord Jesus. I cannot say the name. I said, you can say thank you, Lord Jesus. She said it. And the next morning, this lady all dressed up so well, neatly, the hair combed and everything, looking very attractive, came to me and said, Brother Zach, you recognize me?

I said, really? Are you the same person? Yes, she was. Overnight, she had changed. The devil has come to ruin people. We have authority over him. But if there's something in you which is similar to his nature, you'll have no authority over him.