1 Binding the Strong Man Copyright 2012 Nicholas Duncan-Williams Published by Digital iNQ (+ 233 243 652 700) All rights reserved. All Material is the property of Global Prayer Summit. You may not reproduce or plagiarize this material any form, written or otherwise. All scriptural quotations are from King James Version of the Bible unless stated otherwise Classics by same Author 1. Divine Timing 2. Praying Through The Promises of God 3. The Supernatural Power of a Praying Man 4. The Incredible Power of a Praying Woman 5. When Mothers Pray 6. Destined to Make an Impact 7. The Price of Greatness 8. Enforcing Prophetic Decrees Introduction The believer is God’s law enforcement agent here on earth. According to the Scriptures, “The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s; but the earth has He given to the children of men” (Psalm 2 115:16). God spoke to man and said, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on earth” (Genesis 1:28). The Scripture also says that God has crowned man with glory and honor and has put him in dominion over the works of His hands (Psalm 8:5). This is a position of supreme authority! The word glory is interpreted from a Hebrew word which means weight. This signifies that God has put some weight on man, and that means that He gave man authority and responsibility over the affairs of the earth. Man, therefore, became God’s delegated authority and was to fully represent God’s interest on the earth. Satan, through his deceptive and manipulative acts, caused man to commit high treason. Satan stole the authority and dominion that God had given to man in the beginning. Through the work of the cross, Satan has been defeated (Phil. 2:5-9). The authority Satan stole from Adam in the Garden of Eden has been recovered by Jesus Christ and has been handed over to every believer in Christ from Pentecost to the rapture. It must be noted that Satan’s license of 3 operation has not yet expired. It will expire after the rapture and his thousand- year reign on the earth subsequent to the rapture. After this time, he will then be cast into the bottomless pit (Rev. 20:1-3). Satan is presently operating illegally here on the earth (1 Thess. 2:18; 2 Cor. 4:4; Eph. 2:2) and the believer must enforce the law and the will of God over him. The present-day believer must study Scriptures, which are God’s laws. We obtain understanding through the study of the Scriptures so that we gain the revelation of the mind of God and the intention of God about every aspect of life and creation. Principalities, powers, thrones, dominions, and authorities were created by the Word of God and are therefore subject to His words. (Col. 1:16). Friend, it is only after we have gained understanding through study of God’s Word that we can enforce the laws of God over all entities of darkness. We are required also to superimpose the written will of God over every situation of life. One of the main obstacles the enemy places in the path of believers is ignorance. Ignorance is very dangerous. In fact, your ignorance is the strength of the enemy! The extent of information that you have about the strategies of the enemy will 4 determine your level of advantage over him. National governments spend much of their resources to acquire information about their foes and even their friends (because a friend today could be a hidden enemy tomorrow). So much more so, we, as saints of God, would do well to acquire maximum knowledge about the covert operations of our enemy. Satanic and demonic activities have intensified against the church in these end times because the enemy knows his time is short. I believe that by this book the Holy Spirit is empowering me to share with you the wealth of experiential knowledge that I have gained through many years in ministry. Binding the Strong Man was written to give you: 1. Access to the strategies of Satan and his infernal host of wickedness. 2. Insight on how to deal with the master spirits that exert their influence on specific locations, institutions, and even families. 3. Ways of identifying them spiritually. I crave your indulgence to give this book your absolute concentration. Friend, please do not put this book down until you have read it all. 5 Because his book is based on experiential knowledge, and on research gained from battles fought over the years against the strong man and his host of agents, I believe strongly that this book will benefit you. Strange occurrences took place in the effort to write and publish this book. Files containing certain portions of this book repeatedly got lost. But, we have the victory through Jesus Christ! It is my prayer that the Holy Ghost will keep you from every distraction and interference, and that God will give you absolute concentration. This book is written to give believers the most valuable input each one needs to live a fruitful Christian life. Because of its depth of definition, it can also be used as a resource for teaching. Archbishop N. Duncan-Williams Chapter One THE BATTLE LINE IS DRAWN “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel” (Genesis 3:15). The above verse of Scripture opens up the subject that is the basis of this book. In the continuing chapters, I will be taking you through the various aspects of this 6 Scripture’s impact. The Bible makes it plain that a battle line has been drawn between two kingdoms, or two realms of authority. One is the kingdom of God, which is the kingdom of light and righteousness. The other is the kingdom of the devil, which is the kingdom of darkness and wickedness. The human race is the subject of this great conflict and is not exempt. Since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, the battle has raged on, and each power has sought to possess control over the human race. This battle is more spiritual than physical. Its impact is felt in every activity of the human race and in the personal issues of our lives (Eph. 6:10-12). Where Do You Stand? In times of war, the safe place to be is to belong to one of the parties involved in the conflict; but the safest and most secure place is to belong to the winning side. “He who is not with Me is against Me and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad” (Matt 12:30). This scripture completely overrules any neutrality in the issue. My dear friend, if you do not now belong to the winning side in this war, I will ask you to turn to the last page of this book and confess out loud the prayer inscribed there. Mean it with your whole heart, and the matter will be 7 settled. In this conflict, the kingdom of God is the winning side. Jesus Christ is the King and Commander-in-Chief of God’s army; every individual who has confessed and accepted Him as Lord and personal Savior is automatically recruited into His army. Chapter Two NATURE OF THE CONFLICT A story is told of a man who was recruited to join the army during a tribal war in his village. The man was not trained to be a soldier but was simply recruited because of the war. Initially, he took everything casually; until after a few days of action, he realized that: Bullets and arrows were flying past him. Bullets and arrows were being fired at him. They went out to recover the wounded and dead. It was only after some of these experiences that this newly recruited soldier realized and became fully aware that he was at war. This is the condition of many Christians today! They have not recognized the reality of the spiritual battle that is raging. Many people, including Christians, have a very casual attitude about this fierce, aggressive, and very dangerous spiritual conflict. 8 Spiritual battles are more aggressive and dangerous than physical ones. What is even more serious is that we are engaged in a conflict with an enemy who cannot be detected with the physical senses. Even so, he is real. The enemy is not imaginary, he is very real. Friend, you must become aware that: 1. There is an enemy. 2. The enemy is spiritual. 3. The enemy operates from the spiritual realm. The first deception of the enemy is to make you believe that there is no enemy. The warfare we find ourselves involved in is dangerously aggressive. This warfare is with a very determined, very experienced, and well-organized enemy. You are one of the targets of this well-organized enemy. But, friend, the exciting truth is that our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the King of kings and Lord of lords, overcame this enemy. He has given us the ability and the right to overcome the enemy, as well. “Having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it” (Col. 9 2:14-15). You are not fighting from the losing side of the battle, but from the exalted and victorious position of the battle. You and I have to enforce the written sentence and judgment over the enemy, and we will experience tremendous victories (Psalm 149:5-9). Chapter Three THE HIERARCHIES Both the kingdom of God and that of Satan operate in hierarchical order. That is to say, there are grades of authority or status from the highest to the lowest ranks. The Godhead also operates in the same order, and so do the angels of God who operate in various rankings with varying degrees of authority—chief or higher angels, lesser angels, in that order. The hierarchy mentioned in Colossians 1:16-17— “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him— is different from the satanic hierarchy mentioned in Ephesians 6:12: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of darkness of this age, 10 against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Take note that “rulers of darkness of this age” and “spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places” are not mentioned in the Colossians account. God has angelic thrones with accompanying delegated authority in various capacities, according to their assigned duties. Satan, who has nothing originating from him other than evil, has sought to duplicate the divine order with a rival setup to carry out his evil schemes. An example is the story of Daniel, the Archangel Michael, and the Prince of Persia in Daniel 10:13: “But the Prince of Persia withstood me for twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes came to help me, for I had been left there alone with the kings of Persia” and in Daniel 10:21, “But I will tell what is noted in the Scripture of Truth: No one upholds me against these, except Michael, your prince.” It is imperative for every believer to understand the principles that govern binding and loosing. In Matthew 16:19, Jesus says, “And I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be 11 loosed in heaven.” Whenever you bind or loose on earth, the angels of God are mandated to enforce your command in the heavens. Psalm 103:20 says: “Bless the Lord, you His angels who excel in strength, who do His word, heeding the voice of His word.” Do you realize that angels do God’s word, and heed the voice of His word? “The voice of His word” refers to taking God’s Word and vocalizing it. Remember, His Word is the two-edged sword that you hold in your hand as stated in Psalm 149:60: “Let the high praises of God be in their mouth and a two-edge sword in their hand.” The Word of God is also sharper that any two-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirits, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart (Heb. 4:12). The keys of the kingdom, related to binding and loosing, are the knowledge of all the devices of the devil. As surely as one cannot gain access to a room without a key, so also one cannot bind or loose without knowledge. Hosea 4:6 says: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priests for Me.” Ignorance in any area of life is to the advantage of the enemy and to your disadvantage. He preys on you in any 12 area of ignorance. Ignorance, therefore, is an unaffordable luxury. The Infernal Kingdom Ephesians 6:12 tells us: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places.” The above Scripture gives us insight about the structures and setup of Satan’s kingdom. I will take you through these, and we will carefully examine each one of them according to their order of rankings and their varying degrees of authority and spheres of influence. Principalities This word is translated from a Greek word archias. These are princes of the underworld who manipulate certain sections of the universe. Principalities are ruling spirits assigned over nations and cities. Principalities are the highest of the rankings in the enemy’s domain. They have been delegated the power to influence the affairs of nations and kingdoms and to resist God’s purposes concerning these nations and kingdoms. They exert their influence over heads of nations and kings; and they seek to control the political 13 lives of these nations, using the human head as their main instrument of operation. They instigate kings and rulers to pass wicked and unrighteous laws. Most of these laws contravene the laws of Almighty God. The infamous Adolf Hitler, who committed untold atrocities on the Jewish people— exterminating six million of them in Nazi concentration camps—is an example of the work of principalities in modern history. Principalities over the Russian nation gripped that nation and enslaved it for seventy years with Communism. The Russian nation extended its influence over almost half of the nations of the world and brought untold suffering to the citizenry of these nations. In summary, the functions of principalities are: 1. Detailing and directing plans for countries and cities; 2. Influencing men and women in government and positions of decision-making in nations (2 Tim. 2:2; Dan. 10:13) 3. Directly carrying out the evil purposes of Satan. The Powers Powers is the second level of authority in Satan’s kingdom. They exert their authority over the decision-making bodies of a nation, influencing the structures of all the governing authorities and 14 promoting wickedness and injustice by controlling lawmakers, policy makers, and counselors in places of authority in the land. One can read accounts of this in the Bible. For example, governors and counselors conspired against Daniel and convinced King Darius to issue decrees banning all religious activities in an attempt to get Daniel eliminated. Daniel 6:3, 6-8 reads: “Then this Daniel distinguished himself above the governors and satraps because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king gave thought to setting him over the whole realm . . . So, these governors and satraps thronged before the king and said thus to him: King Darius, live forever! All the governors of the kingdom, the administrators and satraps, the counselors and advisers, have consulted together to establish a firm decree, that whoever petitions any god or man for thirty days except you, O King, shall be cast into the den of lions. Now, O King, establish the decree and sign the writing, so that it cannot be changed according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which does not alter.” Note that Daniel, being the only righteous man in the government, was enough threat for the enemy to seek to destroy him by instigating the king to pass the decree. 15