CANDIDATES OF BEWITCHMENT

Dr. D. K. Olukoya

This is a direct message from the Lord to you today. The fact that God has preserved your life up till this time means that He has a purpose for your life. The message is entitled, “Candidates of bewitchment.” Acts. 8: 9 – 13: “But there was a certain man called Simon which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one. (So the man had been bewitching the people of Samaria.) To whom they all gave heed, (although he was bewitching them, they all gave him 100 per cent attention) from the least, to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God. And to him they had regard, because that of a long time, he had bewitched them with sorceries. But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Then Simon himself believed also; and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done.” Later, the secret of Simon was revealed and it was known that he was a sorcerer.

Many people and many nations are being bewitched. The Lord has a controversy with many people because they are not walking the way He wants them to walk. Many people go to churches to get themselves entertained instead of getting their spirit man changed. Many are working below the standard God wants them to work. Such people must do something before God looks away from them because bewitchment is a terrible thing and it is taking an epidemic proportion these days. Many people now are behaving just like the Samaritans in the scriptures above. The people of Samaria were under so much suffering but they never realised it. They were under blindness and satanic elusion but they didn’t know. They praised the very man who was destroying them. They did not really know who Simon was. He was sapping them dry but they believed he was delivering them. It is the same thing with a lot of people. They do not know whom they are dealing with and what such people do at night. They are just being sapped dry. Simon was destroying them properly and thoroughly but satan made sure they were blinded to it.

This is not a time to be spiritually blind, so you better pray off the blindness now. The people of Samaria ignorantly hailed their enemy. They called their friends, enemies and called their enemies friends. This is what we call bewitchment.

A lot of people invest their money where they are not supposed to and they have been losing. Some put their legs where they should not put their legs and they are licking their wounds now. In Samaria, destruction had already settled over them, sadness was everywhere in the city; unclean spirits had already possessed so many people. Nevertheless, they went about normally. They dressed in three - piece suits and went about like respected men and women although they were bewitched. Successful businessmen and politicians of Samaria were all blinded by the devil. There were sicknesses in the land, it never bothered them. There were unclean spirits everywhere, almost in every home, yet they felt strangely normal. They thought Simon was the answer to their problems whereas he was the problem. Slowly, ironically, they were dying and praising the man who was drowning their boat.

What was happening in Samaria? Bewitchment. They were bewitched, but all of a sudden, the Holy Spirit located Simon and declared him as a satanic agent. We have a lot of people going about looking normal and respectable but inside, they are bewitched.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE BEWITCHED?

It means to be spiritually influenced by the power of witchcraft. Bewitchment is casting a spell on people. You find a lot of people burying cows alive, some eating raw animals in order to bewitch others and they succeed in caging so many people. That is the bewitching power of the devil. It is when a person has been captured like this that he cannot move ahead again. Although he is making motions, he is not making any progress.

Examine your life to see the dark areas of your heart that the light of God has not touched. A lot of negative things are manifesting in the dark regions of people’s lives. Except they allow these dark regions to be reached by the fire of the Holy Ghost, they would continue to be bewitched. They urgently need to work on these areas of their lives that are still bewitched.

Perhaps, you have been allowing sin to bewitch you and God has been warning you, talking to you, and even making some trouble to come your way so that you can sit up, yet you hold on to the sin. A prophet of God is telling you that sin is a viper and that it would certainly kill, but something makes you to continue in that evil excitement and it removes the eyes from the effect of the bewitchment, trouble is coming. All the “I don’t know what made me to do it,” is the work of bewitchment.

Bewitchment paints sin in attractive colours and makes it respectable. Things like pride, drunkenness, indiscipline, rebellion, lying, dishonesty, homosexuality, gossiping, promiscuity, laziness, drug addiction, belonging to one cult or the other, adultery, prostitution, are evidence of bewitchment.

WHO IS A BEWITCHED PERSON?

• A bewitched person is a person who blindly clings to sin, inspite of warnings.
  A young man of 17 was brought to us for prayer. When he removed his clothes, there were sores all over his body, including his reproductive organ. But in spite of all the sores, he still continued in his immorality. That is bewitchment.

• A bewitched person is a person who has been blinded by the devil and cannot even see that the devil has been defeated.

• A person who has been kept away from using his or her divine weapons is bewitched. The Bible says in the book of Galatians 3:1: “O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?” These Galatians were going to church but were bewitched all the same.

• A bewitched person is a person operating under the destructive effect of sin.

• A bewitched person is a person suffering from mind confusion. If you notice that your mind is always confused, you can’t put things together or when you do and it gets to the edge of success, something goes wrong, know that there is bewitchment in place.

• A bewitched person is a person who exhibits stubborn disobedience to God’s command.

• A bewitched person is a person who makes unexplainable mistakes. Such a person cannot explain why he does some things. He cannot justify his actions. When a professor begins to make the kind of mistakes that someone who is uneducated should not make, you know that he is bewitched.

• A bewitched person is a person operating under different powers that are beyond his control.

• A bewitched person is a person who does not know what happens to his or her money. He or she just knows that the money comes in but does not know what is happening to it. It is bewitchment.
  Sometime ago, a certain man came for prayers. He was a millionaire but lost everything in a mysterious way. He came for prayers and the Holy Spirit revealed that it was his daughter that destroyed his money. So, I asked him to bring her. He brought her and she confessed that she used witchcraft means to lock up her father’s money. She also said that one of her aunties was her accomplice. The man had money but did not know what happened to it - bewitchment.

• A bewitched person is somebody who has completely lost the joy of the Christian life, that is, the joy of salvation.

• A bewitched person is somebody who is struggling against a force he cannot understand and cannot master. A lot of people struggle with what they don’t understand, it is bewitchment. Just like the people of Samaria who went deeper and deeper into what was destroying them.

THE GOOD NEWS

The good news is that Jesus came and was manifest in the flesh. The Creator was made a creature. It was a fantastic process of humility. Jesus who was clothed in glory now wore rags of the flesh. He, whose glory filled the heavens and the earth was now carried into a cot in a manger because He wanted to deliver us from bewitchment.

He, the God of circumcision was circumcised. The one who owns the earth and the fullness thereof got to a level where He said, “I am hungry, I am thirsty.” The God of life was put to death. The One that said, “I and the Father are one,” now cried, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” In His lifetime, He had no where to lay His head. And when He died too, there was nowhere to lay His body. The Kings of kings was punished, a crown of thorns was placed on His head. His holy ears listened to the blasphemies of men; His face was spat upon, His back was beaten, those hands of power that came on the sick and the sick recovered were nailed to the cross. His soul was forsaken on the cross. Why? So that the whole of the bewitching power of satan, of sin and of the world would be broken, so that the light of God can shine into the darkness of our lives. So that the enemy does not bewitch us anymore. That facility is still open now for those who want to take advantage of it.

Nowadays, a lot of people go to the market and never come back. Some go to buy refrigerators and end up inside the refrigerators. A lot of terrible things are happening in the world today but God has better things for us. If we will lay down our sins, come to repentance, humble ourselves so that God can speak peace into every situation of our lives, our lives would be changed for the better.

You have an opportunity to receive the touch of God in a mighty way and for all the bewitchment of the past years in your life to completely disappear so that you can start a new life. If only you can seize this wonderful opportunity.

SIN

Sin says, “I don’t care about what God is saying, I don’t care about God’s commandments, I prefer to please myself to pleasing Him. I am going to be the Lord of myself.” Sin is not moved by the blessings and gifts of God. It makes one to treat the Almighty God with contempt. The music of sinners is; “I don’t care what God requires, I must have my own way. I refuse to submit to the authority of God. I don’t care what God Almighty has threatened to do, I am not afraid. His eyes may be upon me but I am not going to be restrained, I don’t care what He wants and what He hates. I shall please myself.” That is the music of sinners. But God is asking for repentance today. Where there is no Holy Spirit, there is failure. Do not allow your life to remain the same after reading this message.

2 Chronicles 7: 14 says, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” You must turn away from any evil pattern that you have been following. If you have not made peace with God, you must do so now and repent completely. If there are 50 leakages in a ship and you block 49, the one left can still sink the ship. So your repentance must be entire. God does not want you to be serious today and unserious tomorrow. God does not want you to go back to your vomits. This is the message He has for you as you go further into the year.

A lot of people are under the power of bewitchment. A lot of people are being controlled by the powers they do not understand and a lot of people cannot even see the spiritual powers controlling their environments. Many do not even recognise that the fellow they are sitting with in the office may be calling on another thing to undo or subdue them. It is bewitchment. At this juncture, I want you to make this declaration out loud with holy anger: “Bewitchment must die, in the name of Jesus.”

This message is not for entertainment. It is for you to possess your possession. Therefore, I encourage you to give your life to Christ if you have not done so because you cannot defeat bewitchment except by the power in the blood of Jesus.

HOW TO GIVE YOUR LIFE TO CHRIST AND BECOME A CHILD OF GOD

• Admit that you are a sinner: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3: 24).

• Repent: “Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out” (Acts. 3: 19).

• Confess: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1: 9).

• Forsake: “Let the wicked forsake his way, and return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him” (Isaiah 55: 7).

• Believe: “For God so loved the world that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3: 16).

If you are ready to accept Him, then take this prayer before you pray against bewitchment: Father, in the name of Jesus, I come to you knowing that I am a sinner. I confess my sins (mention the ones you can readily remember now and repent of them). Have mercy upon me and forgive me my sins. I accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Cleanse me Lord with your blood. Thank you Father Lord, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

PRAYER POINTS

1. I dismantle every satanic agenda programmed against me this week, in the name of Jesus.

2. Point your fingers to the heavens and say this: I speak unto the sun, moon, and stars to favor me this week, in the name of Jesus.

3. Point to the earth and say this: Anything programmed against my life in the earth, I dismantle you by fire, in the name of Jesus.

4. Every evil kingdom reigning against my life, I overthrow you, in the name of Jesus.

5. Every plan of the enemy for my life this week, I dismantle you, in the name of Jesus.

6. I raise the whirlwind of the Lord, to pursue every stubborn pursuer, in Jesus’ name.

7. I raise the thunder of the Lord to pursue every stubborn pursuer, in Jesus’ name.

8. Lord, advertise your power in my life, in the name of Jesus.

9. This week, you must co-operate with my destiny, in the name of Jesus.

10. Let the program of my life be enforced upon the enemy, in the name of Jesus.

11. Bewitchment must die, in the name of Jesus.