Some people think that the Bible never mentions threshold guardians. The most common one is in fact named once (in Acts 16:16) but alluded to many other times. The writers of Scripture didn’t need to name it – because the very word for a defiled threshold contains its name. Python.

How do you know whether you’re experiencing Python’s activity in your life? By the constriction of time, money or circumstance that comes your way every time you try to come into your calling.

2 Feb 2017 – TESTING OUR CHOICES

The word in Hebrew for “heel” is also the word for “if” – it basically means “choice”. Look at the words again that God spoke: “he will crush your head, and you will strike his choice.”

Every time we make a choice, Python has a right to be there. Of course most the time, our choices are too trivial to warrant its attention. And not being an omnipotent being, it picks its moments – those when we’re in the process of making choices that concern our God-given calling. It waits for the threshold times – and thus it’s a threshold guardian.

What is Python looking for in us? Well, righteousness. If we’re perfectly righteous, it’ll let us pass. And yes, it will credit faith as righteousness and still let you pass.

But it will do everything in its power to crush, squeeze, constrict, strangle that faith into the dust.

Get rid of the idea that Python can be bound. Its right to test your choices on the threshold is not usurped or illegal.

4 Apr 2017 – ACTION WHEN REALIZATION OF SUCCUMBING TO A COVENANT

Python’s ultimate goal is to get you to make a sacrifice, thereby coming into covenant with it. To do this it uses a combination of tactics:

CONSTRICTION

AMBIGUITY AND SILENCE

TEMPTATION TO DIVINATION

INTIMIDATION

SEDUCTION

ILLNESS

The first thing to do if you’ve fallen for one of these tactics is to go to God and say “sorry”. The second thing to do is to ask Him what it is in you that enabled Python to succeed.

8 Aug 2016 – OPEN ARMS TO ONENESS

The episode of Lot, the angels and the men of Sodom is a story of threshold covenant violation. It contrasts sharply with the blessings of ordinary threshold covenant in the immediately previous story of Abraham, the angels and God’s visit.

The best part of a thousand years later, the people of Israel under the leadership of Moses return to the valley where Sodom had been. And what spiritual force ruled there after all that time? Baal Peor, the god of the opening or lord of the threshold. Without much doubt, this is the spirit we’d call Python.

It has an agenda – to make sure we do not cross over the threshold and come into covenant with God. It will tempt us towards any sin that compromises the possibility of that covenant. It doesn’t have to be sexual sin; it can be anything that is primarily to bring us into oneness with itself. Things as seemingly innocent as yoga exercises; colouring in certain kinds of pictures; checking out a horoscope. It is a spirit of divination, after all.

10 May 2016 – REAL OR FALSE OPENING

It took me ages to understand why when Paul and Silas were in Philippi and being trailed by a slave girl, that sometimes the word used for the spirit she had was translated “Python” and sometimes “spirit of divination”. Why was a threshold spirit like Python also the spirit of divination? It turns out it’s because divination is about opening our minds, just as Python is encountered on opening a (defiled) spiritual door. Raises a very awkward and difficult question: if Python is still constricting the doorway into our calling, how can we be sure the prophecies we’ve received about our calling are indeed prophecies and not some form of divination?

21 Feb 2017 – TEMPTATION WITH IF …

Jesus meets the spirit of Python. Forty days in the wilderness and the satan turns up. In the guise of Python.

We can tell it’s Python by the repeated “if” in the conversation. IF You are the Son of God… IF You are the Son of God… IF You will bow down and worship me…

And Jesus answers with words from Scripture. Which often leads preachers to a message about how important it is to know the Word of God. But that’s only part of it. We also have to be in intimate communion with Him.

You see, Jesus’ answer: “You shall not test the Lord your God,” isn’t the obvious answer here. Because there are several times in Scripture when God does ask people to test Him.

In fact, irony upon irony, Jesus is the embodiment of the prophecy by Isaiah about God’s answer to a king who refused to test Him.

So dealing effectively with Python can never be about a formula. The only possible way is by keeping close to Jesus.

1 Aug 2016 – FOUR IF’s

I was listening to a preacher read from Philippians 2:1 and thought, “Bit of an overkill on the ‘if’ word, Paul. What’s this fourfold emphasis thing?” Then it occurred to me: a single “if” doesn’t mean much but four must be significant. And they’d be really significant if 1 Corinthians 13 begins with four “if” statements too. Oh, yeah. Better go check.

Now the “if” in Corinthians is a reference to Python (Python Apollo, to be more specific, and the use of “if” as a symbol of divination). And Paul cast the Python spirit out of the slave girl at Philippi (Acts 16:16) so it’d be natural to write to the Philippians about it.

But that doesn’t explain why FOUR.

Still, all thresholds require a sacrifice. We know this in our spirit, if not in our head. When the threshold guardian, Python (or one of its allies), demands a sacrifice to pass over into our calling, we make one of four choices:

• to sacrifice ourselves
• to sacrifice someone else
• to sacrifice the honour of God
• to declare that the blood of Jesus is the all-sufficient sacrifice for every threshold

Of course we like to think we do the last. But most people, most of the time, choose one of the first three. And symptoms of choosing one of the first three are the constriction, wasting and backlash that prevents us getting into our calling.

21 Mar 2023 – NOT TESTED BECAUSE OF SIN

Python, the spirit of constriction, does not test you because you have sinned. Its legal rights do not stem from your personal transgressions or from generational iniquity. Certainly its legal rights can be massively reinforced by either of those aspects. However, the bottom line is that, even if you had no issues whatsoever in those areas, you’d still be confronted by Python.

Jesus was without sin but He still had several face-offs with Python. The first and most obvious of these was after He had fasted for forty days in the wilderness. So Python’s presence is not about sin, it’s about choice. It’s about being on the threshold of our calling in God, just as Jesus was as it came time for Him to begin His ministry. Python turns up when we make the choice to go forward, and not turn away.

Any attempt to bind Python is not just futile but may be dangerously counter-productive. Python has God’s permission to test our choices. “You will strike his heel,” God told the serpent in Eden. (Genesis 3:15) The word for “heel” is related to “if”, the signifier of choice. Adam and Eve had not yet sinned when they encountered Python. They’d already been living with choice, but had not yet been presented with a temptation surrounding that choice.

Now did Jesus try to bind Python when He was being tested and tempted? Did He tell Peter He would bind Python for him when He informed him that the satan had asked to sift him (and all the other disciples for that matter) as wheat to the point of overthrow?

No. And no.

We step outside the bounds of our authority when we try to limit the rights that Python has been granted by God. We do not have the authority to set aside the Word of God. “All authority” means the delegated power to uphold God’s Word, not to suppress it in favour of a desired outcome of our own choosing.

Mar 14, 2018 REMEMBER

One of the most significant spirits that guard the threshold is the spirit of forgetting. God gives us instructions about guarding our memory on thresholds and the most important of these are found wrapped up in a single directive which is to be written on doorposts and gates and tied to hands and foreheads: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”

This is all about remembrance. It’s why that little “box” called the mezuzah from the word for “doorpost” is affixed near the doorway.

And no surprise – if God gives us a command to remember, the evil one wants to ruin it by having us forget. Most of us don’t realise there is a spirit of forgetting. Its activities are well-known to us, though we often fail to recognise them for what they are. And though there are several options for the “name” of such a spirit, I’ve chosen Ziz in my new book. Because “ziz” is the central syllable of the word “mezuzah”.

5 Oct 2018 –  OVERCOMING WITH TRUTH AND JOY.

The most efficient of all the threshold spirits who try to block our way into our calling is the spirit of forgetting. At least, that’s my assessment. Forgetting is the opposite of re-membering, and its opposite is, most accurately, dis-membering. What does forgetting dismember?

Truth.

The belt of truth mentioned in Ephesians 6 is, in fact, the belt of not-forgetting! How do we overcome this spirit of forgetting (which, when we forget truth, will lead us into jezebelic practices including witchcraft and ingratitude)?

Simple – we’re given two things. One is part of the armour of God and one is a fruit of the Spirit. The part of the armour is obviously the belt of truth. The fruit of the Spirit is joy.

How do we get joy? Not as hard as you might think. We start practising the art of thanksgiving at all times and in all circumstances. The Greek word for thanksgiving, “eucharisteo”, has hidden within it “charis” – meaning “joy”.

What have you got to be thankful to God for today?

9 Jan 2018 – JOY AND THANKSGIVING

I’ve just finished reading Ann Voskamp’s book, “One Thousand Gifts”. In it, she points out that at the Last Supper, Jesus gave thanks and broke the bread.

To give thanks is “eucharisteo” – and in the middle of it is “charis” meaning grace, and like a kernel inside “charis” is “chara”, meaning joy.

Joy is ultimately related to thanksgiving. But more than that, Jesus linked giving thanks to memory. “Do this in memory…”

On the threshold into our calling, there is a spirit of forgetting waiting to stop us. How do we overcome this spirit? With joy.

And how do we get joy? Through giving thanks.

1 Sep 2017 – DOORWAYS

You know that frustrating feeling when you go into another room and forgot what you came for? Well, according to researchers exiting or entering through a doorway can be a signal to the mind to file away a previous episode of activity and get ready for the new.

There’s not just a psychological component to doorways and memory, however. There’s a spiritual component. Maybe that’s why God directed His people to remember His command to love Him with all your heart and mind and strength at all times, even to: “Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” (Deuteronomy 6:8)

Not just because we so easily forget, but because there’s a spirit of forgetting only too willing to help us. If you think it’s on your case, it almost certainly is. It’s a high level spirit so we should be careful not to overstep our authority. It’s not advisable to bind it but to say, as directed by two different apostles, Jude and Peter: “The Lord rebuke you!”

7 Feb 2017 – GUILT AND SHAME

There are many reasons we come into agreement with a spirit of forgetting and make an alliance with it. Two of the most common are guilt and shame.

Instead of taking our guilt and shame to the cross of Jesus and leaving it there, we devise a coping mechanism: forgetting. Soon enough, a spirit can see the enormous advantages of what we’ve done and, instead of an occasional one-off action, ‘forgetting’ or perhaps ‘re-writing history’ becomes a lifestyle.

By that stage, we’re never taking our sinful responses to Jesus. We don’t even remember them.

But nevertheless we’re constantly asking God, “Why aren’t You answering my prayers?”

For some of us, the answer is: because you haven’t cancelled your alliance with the spirit of forgetting.

17 Oct 2018 – FORGETTING LEADING TO PANIC

Just in the last few days, I have realised how strong the alliance between the spirit of forgetting and the spirit of rejection is. (Thanks to the many friends from all corners of the globe who gave me little pieces of jigsaw that slotted together!)

The spirit of forgetting is overcome by joy through thankfulness to God. But what happens when that spirit realises its time is up in your life? Naturally, it calls up reinforcements to make it almost impossible for you to give thanks. If you’re panicking, thankfulness is the last thing on your mind. If you’re feeling rejected, you’re definitely not in the mood to “give thanks in all circumstances.”

A prime example of this is found in the story of Elijah. Jezebel has basically lost after the confrontation at Mount Carmel. But with just a few words, she causes Elijah to panic and run for his life.

Now, I know others see the primary spirit behind Jezebel differently but I consider it to be “the spirit of forgetting”. She is an exemplar of a person so dominated by it, she is able to project it at others. Elijah forgets all God has done in his life during the drought, he forgets God’s intervention at Mount Carmel just 24 hours previously, he forgets what Obadiah told him about 48 hours previously (that there are 100 prophets safe in a couple of caves). Driven by panic, he runs into the desert. And even though he meets with God at Mount Horeb, he never really recovers from the threat Jezebel made. God gives him a job – to anoint three people. But he only anoints one.

If you’ve been practising thankfulness lately – and have suddenly been attacked by bouts of panic – it’s not because being thankful wasn’t working in developing joy. It’s because it was.

6 Feb 2017 – SOLUTIONS

Yesterday I talked about the spirit of forgetting. But I didn’t mention how the issue was solved. Once I realised my faulty memory wasn’t (always) a physical issue, I asked God what I could do about it.

His answer was that it wasn’t a simple matter. Rebuking the spirit wasn’t going to work very effectively. It would simply laugh – because it had more rights than I could even begin to imagine. So, He asked me to remember something: that He is the God who works all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. So, what He hinted was that I should ask that, when I did forget that (1) I would realise I had forgotten and (2) as I worked to recover the memory, I would uncover more that I’d lost than I would ever have had if the memory had not been lost.

So that’s what I did. The more the spirit took from me, the more I eventually gained back. Spectacularly so. We serve a God of abundance, after all.

The spirit of forgetting finally decided it wasn’t willing to stick around in these circumstances, so it took off. It didn’t do this instantly; I guess it hoped that I’d lose faith in God’s willingness to come through for me and that I’d slip back into my old ways.

Now, don’t make a formula out of what worked for me. Maybe a simple statement, “May the Lord Jesus of Nazareth rebuke you!” will work for you.

Talk to God and ask Him to design a personal strategy for you.

22 Aug 2016 – HONOUR

It’s no coincidence that Levi and Leviathan start with the same letters. Their functions are similar: the tribe of Levi to serve in the Tabernacle and Temple; Leviathan to serve – originally – in God’s court. Because the gifts of God are irrevocable, the fallen spirit Leviathan still has an office as a guardian of honour.

It’s also a guardian of the threshold. Psalm 104 tells us Leviathan was formed to frolic in the sea. That word translated ‘frolic’ or ‘sport’ is a word often found associated with threshold covenant (and violation of threshold covenants). Believers often want to bind Leviathan and cast it away from the threshold. Apart from this not being in any way a wise choice (see Job 41), it runs counter to what God formed this amazing creature for.

I have always found that, if you are beset by Leviathan, the issue is one of honour. If we are not allowed to dishonour even the fallen angels (see 2 Peter 2 and Jude 1), why should we be allowed to dishonour any part of creation – including ourselves?

22 Jun 2018 SHALOM – RETALIATION

For a long time I’ve said to God that I don’t know much about the spirit of Leviathan – except that it seems to be a fallen seraph that still retains an office of guarding against dishonour. And it can be symbolised by a crocodile, a scorpion, a stingray – anything that has a tail that can whip you around and lash you so severely you’re tempted to swear you’ll never try to cross the threshold again.

But what overcomes Leviathan? Besides repenting of dishonour, that is. Love is what makes it possible for us to overcome Python, the spirit of constriction, and joy makes it possible for us to overcome Ziz, the spirit of forgetting. So – is it a logical sequence? Is it peace that helps us overcome Leviathan?

Hmmm… that’s trickier to answer than it seems. I’ve had to completely overturn my understanding of “peace” to answer it. “Shalom”, the word we usually translate as peace, is a complex word. It isn’t a word that means absence of war or conflict, though that of course is part of it. It means wholeness and well-being, health and soundness, completeness and prosperity. Perhaps most significantly, “shalom” can be translated as “recompense” – receiving back that which has been stolen.

Yay! We’re all for that – restoration of our lost inheritance! But – – – what if we’re not as innocent as we assume? What if, unknown to us, our family was the one that did the robbing? What if our family is the one covered in dishonour? Here’s exactly how Leviathan finds legal ground to twist “shalom”: suddenly “recompense” looks like “retaliation” and “retribution”.

22 Jun 2018 – HONOUR

It’s one thing to say that dishonour is the big issue when it comes to retaliation from Leviathan, but it’s another to really understand what honour is.

“Honour everyone,” says the apostle Peter in 1 Peter 2:17. That would be “everyone”, not just people who honour you, not just people who are higher in status than you, not just people you like, not just people who you agree with politically or theologically.

Head over to the next epistle of Peter, second chapter again, verse 10 this time and we discover we can’t even dishonour Leviathan or spirits like it. Or retaliation will happen! (No surprise there.)

Honouring everyone sounds simple. But – – – big BUT! Our hearts incline to idol-making, so we need always to be on our guard against honouring others more than we honour God. It’s so easy, for example, to honour our children more than we honour God. Think of Eli who was asked by God in 1 Samuel 2:29 – “Why do you honour your sons more than Me?”

The house of Eli came under a terrible curse – lives cut short, blindness, feebleness – all because honour for the children came to equal dishonour of God.

“Honour everyone” means just that. And honour God first.

27 Jun 2019  – GIFTS, CALLING AND OFFICES

Perhaps the most common difficulty people experience as they try to understand the role of threshold guardians like Python and Leviathan in their life is this: why does God let them attack us and test us and block every possible way into our destiny? Why does God allow them to exert so much authority over us?

The answer is simple. God does not revoke the calling He puts on our lives. Ever.

This is why we can see leaders with a great anointing who move in the immense and wondrous power of the Spirit and also have various GIFTS of the Spirit operating through them – and yet they display nothing of the FRUIT of the Spirit. We look around today and wonder why so many leaders are involved in abuse or else complicit with abuse – and yet they are still flowing in so many spiritual gifts that we are almost blinded by them.

The truth is: God does not recall His gifts. They wouldn’t be GIFTS if they could be forfeited because of misbehaviour. Once a gift is given, the giver has no say in how it’s used. Otherwise it’s not a true gift because of the strings attached.

“God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable.” (Romans 11:29 NIV)

Just as for humanity, God does not revoke the offices and role of these threshold spirits: they retain the position they were originally given.

Jesus tells us that we know His disciples by their fruits. Not gifts. That’s the mistake most people make. It’s so easy to become dazzled by the gifts and fail to notice the fruit. And then to become disillusioned by both church leadership and God when the gifts continue on unabated despite abuse and sin and a violent, ungodly lifestyle. This is to misunderstand the nature of gifts.

At the end of the Day, it’s the fruit that’s going to count, anyway, not the gifts. “On judgment day many will say to Me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in Your name and cast out demons in Your name and performed many miracles in Your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from Me.'” (Matthew 7:22-23 NLT)

This is an incredible and shocking verse – miracle-working in the name of the Lord is no indication that the person knows Jesus! As Jesus said, it’s the fruit that is the true indicator of His disciples.

The threshold guardians are totally unimpressed by the gifts of God but it’s a different matter when it comes to fruit. They back off. Because they know exactly what the fruit means.

18 Mar 2020  – DISHONOUR THROUGH PRIDE

Leviathan gains its spiritual legal rights from dishonour. There is so many injunctions in Scripture about honouring others but, by and large, we make excuses for ourselves as to why we can insult politicians, revile demonic powers or mock others.

But this dishonour means that the things we should inherit from the royal priesthood we’ve been given are taken from us. In a priestly space we should have sight and vision (from the light of the menorah), discernment (from the incense altar and the prayers rising from it) and a taste for the Word of God (from the Bread of the Presence).

Leviathan, as a spirit that retaliates against dishonour, is an angelic official of the heavenly Inner Court (just like the Levites in the earthly Tabernacle). In that space, it can deprive us of vision, discernment and an appetite for God’s Word. Simply because we’ve dishonoured others.

Because Leviathan is king of the sons of pride. And the surest way of exposing hidden pride is through our dishonour of others.

6 Dec 2018 – CONSULT GOD

When we come up to the threshold into our calling, why do so many of us falter and stumble? Why do we fall headlong into the traps set by the enemy instead of stepping adroitly around them? Why does our paraclete seem to be awol when we shout, “Cover me!” as warfare rages around us?

The fact is: we’ve got used to relying on our coping mechanisms.

Often we aren’t even aware that we’re not going to God for the specific, personalised, bespoke strategy that fits our unique circumstances – instead of following the Lord’s battle plan, we’re using the tried-and-true methods that worked in the past. Sometimes those methods didn’t work for us but we’ve heard they worked for others, so we try them in faith.

But faith doesn’t overcome Python, the spirit of constriction. Love does.
Faith doesn’t overcome Ziz, the spirit of forgetting. Joy does.
Faith doesn’t overcome Leviathan, the spirit of retaliation. Peace does.
Faith doesn’t overcome Rachab, the spirit of wasting. Patience does.

Get the picture? An increase in faith is not the answer to every battle in life. The only Person who knows the strategy that will work for you is the Captain of the Hosts and your battle-companion, the Paraclete. Consult with them.

2 Aug 2020  – RESPECT OTHERWISE RETALIATION

In recent months, I have been researching a particular spirit named Resheph. I first came across it while working on the book “Dealing with Leviathan” when I was examining the relationship between Leviathan and the Inner Court of the Temple. Since Leviathan is a nachash and a seraph is also a nachash, it seemed likely Leviathan was a seraph.

In looking at the story of the seraph who puts the live coal on Isaiah’s lips, I discovered that the word for “coal” is “rizpah” and another word for “coal” is “resheph” which is related to “seraph”.

Now the first thing I noticed about “resheph” is that, depending on the Hebrew spelling, it might actually have the word “threshold” built into the name. So I googled the Hebrew spelling and immediately discovered that it was the name of a pagan godling. Apart from the fact its symbol was a deer or an archer, it seemed very like Leviathan.

So, six months on, what can I say about Resheph? I can say this. In the academic world, Leviathan and Resheph are totally different entities. In the spiritual world, I am personally convinced they are the same. Now, this has practical implications. If you’ve been following my posts, you’ll know that I consider Leviathan’s legal rights result from dishonour. When it comes to Resheph, the same is true – however, there is a specific focus that relates to a particular aspect of the Inner Court. Not unnaturally, that’s the altar of incense where the live coals are burning.

But the altar of incense is where prayer is offered. Dishonour at this place is often subject to swift retaliation. Think of Zechariah who was struck dumb for doubting the message of the angel Gabriel. Or think Uzziah who was walloped with leprosy; or Jeroboam who suffered a withered hand; or Nadab and Abihu who died for offering strange fire; or Korah, Dathan and Abiram who, while they weren’t at the altar itself, would have been if they and their followers could have fitted in the Tabernacle.

We need to be very careful that our prayers are not presumptuous; that our attitude regarding our petitions is respectful and humble and that we are not dishonouring others while expecting favour for ourselves. All too often we take a “power” stance with respect to prayer, instead of a “grace-reliant” one. As a consequence, we find ourselves subject to a retaliation we don’t understand. Resheph specialises in killing heat – whether of drought, fever or fire.

The answer is the same as always: return to Him.

12 Sep 2016  – WASTING

Yesterday, Louise asked about wasting – and that’s a spirit I don’t address all that much. I think I am alone in attributing the action of wasting to a separate spirit, other than Python. So please be discerning with this information.

Python tries to constrict and squeeze your circumstances; make them thin, narrow, restricted.

Rachab on the other hand tries to broaden your circumstances; make them wide, open, unrestricted.

Sound good? Sound freeing? Nah! Rachab (anagram of cherub in Hebrew, which should give you some hints about it) wants to spread you so thin you’re exhausted. Wants all the doors to be open so you don’t know which to choose. Wants everyone to be asking you to be involved in things that aren’t really you’re calling, so you are drained. Wants you to invest time, money, emotion, energy and effort into what will ultimately prove to be rubbish.

Now the greatness of God is that He can even redeem these wasteful choices.

And of course these spirits, Python and Rachab, can work together. There are many ways they can do this but my personal favourite (because I fell for it so many times) is for Python to frustrate you so much with a blocked path that you sit back and say, “God must be teaching me patience.” And thereafter you do nothing. But wait. Maybe occasionally drop a subtle hint to those who are responsible for blocking the path and could clear it for you.

It took me years to realise God had already taught me patience and that Rachab was, as Isaiah said, a spirit of “do-nothing”. I had thought I was waiting on God to change the situation. Quite the contrary. I had simply moved from Python’s camp to Rachab’s.

[NOTE: if you want to look up more about Rachab in the Bible, try spelling it “Rahab”. In order not to get confused with Rahab of Jericho, I use the legitimate alternative spelling with a C in it.]

23 Aug 23 2018 – EGYPT

Egypt is called Rahab the Do-Nothing in Isaiah 30:7. (I spell it “Rachab” – which is a legitimate alternative – just so as not to confuse it with the inn-keeper of Jericho.)

This defines the spirit behind Egypt – the spirit of doing nothing, of wasting, of being spread out and spread too thin to be effective, of being puffed up with pride.

Rachab is one of the main spirits we find waiting for us on the threshold into our calling. It can tempt us in so many different ways – perhaps to doing nothing or even to the opposite extreme, doing everything and never delegating; or of being too proud to ask for help; or of simply being arrogant.

If we’ve been assailed by the spirit of constriction and overcome it, sometimes our reaction on encountering the “freedom” that Rachab appears to offer is to embrace it whole-heartedly.

But God calls us out of this too. Out of Egypt, He constantly calls us.

20 Mar 2017 – CHOOSING A SACRFICE
When we approach the threshold into our calling, we become suddenly aware that a sacrifice is required of us. Blood is an age-old requirement for coming into reconciliation and covenant, so our sense that an offering is needed shows that we’ve correctly discerned the spiritual dynamic of the threshold.
Who asks this sacrifice of us?
Sometimes it’s one of the fallen cherubim – Python, the spirit of constriction or Rachab, the spirit of wasting.
But it may also be one of God’s holy cherubim.

Some of us back away at this point and decide the price is too high. Others of us do what is needed – we choose a sacrifice. The three I’ve noticed most often are:

(1) someone else – our spouse, our children, our partner, our colleagues
(2) ourselves – we self-sabotage at a crucial moment and allow someone else to gain the office – the calling – meant for us
(3) the honour of God

The truth, however, is that none of these are necessary. Because, yes, a sacrifice is required – but, no, it is not required of you. Jesus is the all-sufficient sacrifice even for crossing over the threshold into your calling.

And if you keep doing (1) or (2) or (3) on a regular basis, then your head might believe in the all-sufficiency of Jesus but your heart sure doesn’t.

2 Jan 2019  – FRUIT NOT GIFTS

Jesus didn’t ever say, “By their gifts, you will know them,” when He was talking about how to identify a disciple of His. He said, “By their fruit…”
That means by the evidence in our lives of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
In many people’s eyes, the gifts of the Spirit are so much more important than the fruit of the Spirit they are willing to overlook abuse from a leader because they’ve elevated the gifting to such high status.
Yet as I’ve worked with increasing numbers of people to help them over the thresholds into their calling, it isn’t the gifts that bring the breakthrough. It’s always the fruit.
The ungodly powers who guard thresholds – spirits like Python and Leviathan, Rachab and Ziz – are completely indifferent to your gifts. But the fruit… that’s a different matter entirely. With a basket of fruit in your hands as you approach the threshold, you might as well be toting a bag of spiritual grenades.

23 Apr 2017  – PRIDE

This evening marks the start of the day commemorating the fall of the city of Jericho.

So perhaps it’s appropriate to look at the Rachab, spirit of wasting, which is also the ruling spirit in the story of the battle of Jericho. Rachab’s main tactic to block us from crossing the threshold is wasting – either through delay or through spreading us thin, so we are no longer effective in any one area.

And of course, it wants to tempt us into pride – because then it doesn’t need to devote its full attention to us. It knows that God keeps His word and that His word says: “Pride goes before a fall.” So it wants us to put ourselves in a position where God will besiege us, rather than it.

How do you deal with this spirit? You don’t.

You don’t bind it, you don’t accuse it, you don’t revile it or curse it. (See what Peter says in 2 Peter 2:10 about the connection between pride and heaping abuse on celestial beings like this.)

You ask God to besiege it.

God laid siege to Jericho – it wasn’t really the Israelites. So too we must rely, not on ourselves, but on God – and wait on His timing.

6 Dec 2018 – FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT NOT FAITH

When we come up to the threshold into our calling, why do so many of us falter and stumble? Why do we fall headlong into the traps set by the enemy instead of stepping adroitly around them? Why does our paraclete seem to be awol when we shout, “Cover me!” as warfare rages around us?

The fact is: we’ve got used to relying on our coping mechanisms.

Often we aren’t even aware that we’re not going to God for the specific, personalised, bespoke strategy that fits our unique circumstances – instead of following the Lord’s battle plan, we’re using the tried-and-true methods that worked in the past. Sometimes those methods didn’t work for us but we’ve heard they worked for others, so we try them in faith.

But faith doesn’t overcome Python, the spirit of constriction. Love does.
Faith doesn’t overcome Ziz, the spirit of forgetting. Joy does.
Faith doesn’t overcome Leviathan, the spirit of retaliation. Peace does.
Faith doesn’t overcome Rachab, the spirit of wasting. Patience does.

Get the picture? An increase in faith is not the answer to every battle in life. The only Person who knows the strategy that will work for you is the Captain of the Hosts and your battle-companion, the Paraclete. Consult with them.

28 Nov 2016 – BUT GOD MAKES A WAY

God’s instructions to the Israelites in Exodus 14:2 seem, millennia later, to be just a set of road directions: “…turn back and camp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you shall camp in front of Baal-zephon, opposite it, by the sea.”
Far more is here than just a map! In a single verse, we have an allusions to four spirits of the threshold: in order, Leviathan (Pi-hahiroth), Migdol (memory/forgetting), sea (Rachab), Baal-zephon (Python). And that takes no account of the pursuing armies of Egypt.
When there is no way forward on a threshold, when every avenue of progress is sewn up and booby-trapped by the enemy, God can make a way by opening up that which has never been opened before.
But it’s no coincidence that Numbers 33:7 tells us this fine detail: “They journeyed from Etham and turned back to Pi-hahiroth, which faces Baal-zephon, and they camped before Migdol.”
Etham is a placename most closely related to “the time of the present”, perhaps “the appointed day”.
God has a way through. Sometimes we know, through prophecy or His word what that way through will look like. But when we try to take it in our timing, not His, we wind up retaken as captives by the pursuing armies or smashed against the threshold stones.

19 Jun 2020 – AVOID BELIAL – LET JESUS DEAL WITH IT

I woke up this morning with a strange thought. Right in the forefront of my mind was an incident that happened almost forty years ago. Although it was a very significant and stressful event at the time, it hasn’t taken up any mental real estate for decades. So why it should recur in my memory just today, I have no idea.

Anyway, up popped this remembrance along with the sudden realisation: “Hey, that was Belial!” I was stunned I hadn’t realised it before. I ticked off all the characteristics of this spirit of armies and abuse: group mind control, gas-lighting, blame-shifting, guilt-inducing, perversion and symbol inversion. Jesus confronts this spirit when He delivers the man from “Legion”.

This is the spirit that wants to turn the “children” against the “father” or the “father’s ideology”. It’s mentioned 27 times in the Hebrew Scriptures but you won’t find it in most English translations because it’s hidden under the relatively innocuous “worthless fellows”.

This, however, is a very important trait connected with this spirit. As I reflected on what happened four decades ago, I realised something about Belial that I’ve missed up to today. It works very hard to convince the world you are “worthless” and that your ideas are “worthless”, particularly if they have to do with ministry.

You might not fall for its mind control. You might not come to believe you are worthless. You may well resist that lie. But the people around you may not.

So what did Jesus do? He left the region.
What did Paul tell us to do when confronted by Belial? Have nothing to do with it. Remove yourself.

Call on Yahweh Sabaoth, the Lord of Hosts, to deal with this spirit, but don’t stick around.

17 Oct 2020 – FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT – SOW TO WIN.

One of the most remarkable things I’ve discovered about researching thresholds is the utility of the Fruit of the Spirit in overcoming threshold guardians like Python and Leviathan. When I first stumbled across the pattern, I wasn’t sure how widely it applied. After all, there are – as far as I understand it – seven threshold guardians and nine Fruit of the Spirit. There didn’t quite seem to be a one-to-one correspondence. But then I got to wondering: what if the problem is translation? What if, as Paul was writing the list of the Fruit of the Spirit and thinking in Hebrew, he couldn’t quite find the perfect Greek word to render a particular Hebrew concept?

Now that’s what I believe is the case: that kindness, goodness and faithfulness can be all rolled up into one Hebrew word. Three flavours of the one Fruit, so to speak.

Now the reason I think this is important is because of its practical implications. You see, back in the Garden of Eden, fruit was weaponised by the enemy against humanity and therefore, because of the sowing-and-reaping principle, the Fruit of the Spirit can be used as weapons against the enemy. It’s become evident to me that each of the threshold guardians is adversely affected by one particular Fruit. Therefore we should do our best to cultivate and mature each of these in our lives. My thinking changed even further when I realised that, although God is the Gardener, we need to be active in planting “seeds” in our life. When it dawned on me that the kernel of joy is thankfulness and that we can cultivate joy by practising thankfulness, I began looking at the other words more closely to see what their “kernels” or “roots” were.

So the “root” or “seed” of kindness, goodness and faithfulness is truth. It’s important to practice truth in a way that produces kindness, goodness and faithfulness. And which particular threshold guardian is repelled by this combination? Belial, the spirit of abuse, perversion and group mind control.

26 Jan 2021 WORD MEANINGS – HIS WORD IS TRUTH

Many people are aware that the Accuser is an extreme legalist. So, of course, are the threshold guardians who try to block our calling. But what many people are not aware of is that they are also gamesters when it comes to words.

In this activity, they counterfeit God the Poet, who created us as His “poetry” in Christ Jesus to accomplish good works through our calling. (Paraphrasing Ephesians 2:10) God delights in wordplay as He overcomes the wiles of the enemy to bring us into the calling He has designed for us through the gift of a name.

In the last year, the war of the enemy as he “games” words has intensified greatly. His strategy relies greatly on warping the meaning of words, so that they are defined differently to the past. He also relies on our ignorance and our assumptions that words still retain the dictionary definition we’re used to, not that some “authority” has quietly changed the meaning.

I used to think I was suspicious, but now I know I have never been suspicious enough. We can no longer assume that words have their traditional meanings. We need to start asking, “What do you mean by that?” And as you do, may you be granted discernment to see through ambiguities and be sanctified by His truth, because His Word is truth.

18 Feb 2021 BELIAL- SPIRIT OF ABUSE, PERVERSION, ARMIES AND GROUP MIND CONTROL

In some of my early books, I dubbed one of the threshold spirits “Janissary”. That was for want of a better name – because, at that stage, I could see it at work in various Scriptural stories but couldn’t discover what it was called.

A “Janissary” is a term coming from the Ottoman Empire and it originally referred to young Christian boys who were taken from their parents, inducted into the Sultan’s army, brainwashed and converted and then sent out to fight the Sultan’s wars – including those conflicts that involved their own families.

It was a neat strategy: turn the sons against their fathers and get the enemy of the Empire to resource the war against themselves.

Eventually I realised that the Scriptural name for this spirit is Belial – a name recorded 28 times in the Bible. However, most English versions bury all but one of those beneath the designation “worthless”. I’m very grateful for the initial hiddenness of this name because, by adopting “Janissary” temporarily, I was able to see a significant part of the agenda of Belial I’d otherwise have missed.

It became clear that besides being a spirit of armies, Belial is also a spirit of perversion, a spirit of abuse and a spirit of group mind control. Its agenda is not just to turn children against their fathers but to actually kill them or, failing that, their father’s ideals and beliefs. This is true in both the natural and the spiritual.

Now one aspect of perversion is that Belial wants us to resource the war against ourselves, to basically fund the very programmes that will destroy us. It’s been remarkably successful in this and, through mind control, has hidden it very well too.

But the most surprising thing about its agenda (well, surprising to me – but it might not surprise you) is that, while its ultimate target is the father and fatherhood, it always attacks the mother first (or else waits until the mother is out of the way). I believe that the reason for this is because the greatest danger to Belial’s ultimate success is not the father but the mother.

At the present point in time, though it is disguised in many “inclusive” ways, there is a war on mothers and motherhood. Various attempts to erase women and mothers simply demonstrate Belial’s hatred of women and, especially, mothers.

The ideological war against fathers is heating up. And, exactly as in a game of chess, the greatest threat is the queen, not the king.

12 Apr 2021 – ASK FOR TRUTH TO PREVAIL

One of the most difficult threshold guardians to overcome is Belial, the spirit of abuse and armies. It’s a fallen angel with a complex, multi-pronged agenda.

The tactic that makes it so difficult to deal with is its ability to exert group mind control and to make the watching world believe the victim is the abuser and vice versa. This is the point to start in prayer: ask God to break down the group mind control it exerts and ask Him to prevent it spreading and being re-instated. Ask for truth to prevail.

5 May 2021: DENIAL – TIME TO START PROCESSING MY GRIEF

As I’ve begun to research the tactics used by the spirit of abuse, I’ve focussed my attention on a relatively narrow area: how institutions, particularly churches, respond when allegations of abuse first surface. That’s not hard to discover. Almost universally, the response is not to investigate but to deny, delay, deflect and defame.

There are many possible counter-responses, but none of them seem to be terribly effective. Most people side with the perpetrator and believe the narrative put forward, however dodgy it is.

Now, the kind of denial I’m interested in is not the denial of the perpetrator, which simply amounts to deception. You’d expect that. But what is always difficult to understand, no matter how many times you encounter it, is the fortress of denial that is created in the supporters of the perpetrator—a denial that defies all evidence and logic. How can people continue to be so blindly loyal when proof becomes overwhelming and utterly clear-cut?

Finally I’ve become convinced that it’s not misplaced loyalty that the supporters are suffering from. I think they get stuck in the first stage of grief—shock and denial.

A few weeks back, I suggested that the first step in dealing with the spirit of abuse is to pray for the breaking off of the group mind control that is a specialty of this spirit. Now I’m suggesting the second step: pray that the supporters of the perpetrator are able to process their grief swiftly and appropriately and not get stuck at any stage, but particularly in that first stage of denial.

30 Jun 2021 – MAKING SUFFERING FUTILE
God promises us that, for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose, “all things work together for good.” (Romans 8:28)

This doesn’t mean that God ordains suffering for us. It means that He can take the ugly and the stained and the damaged and weave it back into something beautiful. He is glorified by our testimony that He’s taken something broken and mended it so wondrously that we can now help others who are broken in a similar way.

This activity of God is exactly what the spirit of abuse, Belial (sometimes translated “worthless”) tries to undermine. It wants to drive us into a false refuge and make worthless everything that God has repaired and is in the process of repairing. It wants to make our suffering futile, where God wants to make it meaningful. It wants to make our life achievements into ashes, where God wants to make them into beauty.

14 Aug 2021 – WORKING WITH THE ENEMY AGAINST OURSELVES
One of the hardest things to recognise in ourselves is our complicity with the enemy of our souls. It’s a heart-tearing, mind-spinning moment when we come to recognise that, instead of standing against the spirit of abuse or rejection, we’ve actually been following its agenda.

And that, more than that, there are plenty of examples in Scripture to tell us not to allow ourselves to fall into this kind of deception and then take up residence in a nice cosy false refuge of denial where we refuse to believe the wool’s been pulled over our eyes. We know about Adam and Eve being deceived, but we think it can’t happen to us, unless we’re openly and deliberately disobedient.

We miss other incidents in Scripture because we’ve made heroes out of the characters and then denied them the flaws of humanity. Prime example: Elijah.

Totally into denial. Utterly stuck in it. So thoroughly into it that, even when he’s become just like the enemy he’s so opposed, he doesn’t get it.

After his triumph on Mount Carmel over the prophets of Baal, he fled when Jezebel threatened to kill him. He already believed that he was the only true prophet of God left, despite what the king’s steward told him. He said as much at Mount Carmel. He repeats this line when God (twice) asks him what he’s doing at Mount Horeb. Not only does God tell him he’s wrong and that 7000 have not bowed the knee to Baal but we soon learn of different prophets, sons of the prophets, and men of God advising Ahab, and also confronting him, during a series of wars with Ben-Hadad.

Elijah’s denial and self-pity brings him into an alliance with the very enemy he’s fought so valiantly against.

Jezebel’s name means “Where is the prince?” or “Where is the lord?” It was a ritual cry used in the ceremonies to celebrate the return of Baal. At the end of each winter, the followers of Baal would stand outside a cave calling him forth, back into the land of spring and summer.

When Elijah went to Mount Horeb, he went into a cave. And God had to call him forth. Just as Jezebel would have done for Baal. (I sometimes wonder whether that still, small voice was a still, small sigh.)

And when God asked Elijah for the second time what he was doing there and it became clear he was still in denial, God basically said he could retire. Just anoint three people first. Perhaps he did one of the three – Elisha – but even that is unclear. The others he definitely didn’t.

The issue isn’t being wrong. The issue isn’t being in defiance of God. We all are. The issue is staying wrong, staying in defiance, settling in denial, choosing to remain complicit with the spirit of abuse and rejection. “We have met the enemy and they are us.” Only when we recognise how true this is can we begin to realise we desperately we need the help of Jesus to deal with the treason hidden in our hearts.

26 Jan 2022 – KRONOS: TIME AND MIND CONTROL

Twice in Isaiah 28, the prophet refers to covenants with Death and with the Grave that God promises to annul through the establishment of a cornerstone in Zion.

Implicit in Isaiah’s description is also a covenant with Time – or Chronos, one of the faces of the spirit of abuse. The old stories about Kronos refer to a titan chained in the netherworld because of its voracious appetite. It is able to “eat” the past, but if it were to be set free, it would also consume the present and the future.

As we look around in today’s world, we see exactly that happening. The present is being consumed and the future is hopelessly mortgaged (“death writ”). Regardless of the political landscape and the actions of our leaders in making agreements with Kronos, we have to be sure we are not complicit with it ourselves. How to we set about checking if we are?

We pray that God will break its mind control over us – and also over our loved ones, communities, cities and nations. Until the mind control is broken, this threshold guardian retains our legal “ok” to keep on abusing.

20 Jun 2021 – KRONOS: COMPILCITY

Warning: long post. Tissues may be handy. Triggers possible.

If you’ve been following these posts for any length of time, you’ll know there are repeated themes: thresholds, fallen spirits who watch over thresholds, what to do to overcome them. As a general rule, all the tools for prevailing over them are simple: repentance, forgiveness, renunciation of false refuges, revoking covenants. These could all be classed under one category: giving up our complicity with the enemies of God.

It’s complicity that’s our biggest problem. We have agreements and alliances in the spirit world we know nothing about. Sometimes we even have a promissory pact with the very spirit we think we’re opposing. Imagine, for example, being abused and yet having a covenant with the spirit of abuse. How self-defeating is that? How can anyone break truly free of abusive relationships when, hidden deep in the heart, is an agreement with the spirit of abuse?

I’ve been talking this last week with an expert in abusive relationships. He mentioned there are two statements every single person he’s ever ministered to has said. (1) Why wasn’t God there when I needed Him? (2) I have survived. I got through it. These things always end.

That second thought becomes a life statement: sooner or later, this will end. This too will pass. Behind it is the sneaking hope: I’m one day sooner to this trauma all being over.

Sometimes, later in life, when abuse returns and begins to repeat itself and goes on and on, people begin to have quiet misgivings about their life statement. “This will end” morphs into “Will this ever end?” and perhaps even “This will never end.”

“This will end” is a false refuge.
“Will this ever end?” is a doubt.
“This will never end” is a lie.

These statements don’t always have to be the result of extreme abuse. Even prolonged low-level abuse can predispose us towards forming them. Disappointment on the threshold or extended suffering can plant them deep in our hearts.

All three statements—the false refuge, the doubt and the lie—are matters for repentance. Because all of them come down to complicity with Time. We cling to a hope in the passing of time, not in the presence of God. After all, how could God possibly be present: we’ve already assumed with that initial question, “Why wasn’t God there when I needed Him?” that God had abandoned us.

Now the thing about complicity with Time is this: the oldest stories call him “Father Time”, Kronos or Chronos (from which we get words like ‘chronicles’ and ‘chronology’). He is the ultimate abuser and child-destroyer. Complicity with Time is an alliance with the very spirit that inspires abuse in the first place.

So, what on earth are we—who are so embedded in time it is impossible not to look forward to the moment when abuse will end—to do about this false refuge, “This will end”? Sure, we can speak words of repentance and ask Jesus to empower them, but what is our new hope to be?

Difficult as this is going to be for so many of us, it’s to be Immanuel, “God with us.” Instead of putting our hope in Time (or perhaps even in his guardians, so we can be kept safe from Kronos), we have to ask Jesus to bring the eternal NOW of His presence to dwell with us. We are to ask Him to annul our covenant with Time, to redeem the time we have wasted and to take us into that covenantal space that is raised in time but is beyond time.

There’s an image in Scripture of that covenantal space where time holds no sway.

Joshua said to the Lord in the presence of Israel:
“Sun, stand still over Gibeon,
and you, moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.”
So the sun stood still,
and the moon stopped. (Joshua 10:12–13 NIV)

Time, measured by the movement of the sun and the moon, was disrupted.

There’s a word for the sun standing still. It’s solstice. And this year, depending on what part of the world you’re in, it’s on 20 or 21 June.

Know what? It’s a threshold day. Because it’s the official beginning of a new season.

In every way the perfect symbolic day to say aloud to Abba God: “I’m sorry I put my trust in the passing of Time instead of You. Forgive me for my complicity with the child-destroyer. I thought I was fighting the spirit of abuse but I’ve just realised I have an alliance with it. I repent of my false refuge of putting my faith in the thought the suffering would end and my agreement to the lie it might never end. I ask Jesus of Nazareth to empower the words I have just spoken. I ask Immanuel to grant me the eternal now of His presence and I ask Him to help me call on Him so my hope is in Him, not in the power of Time itself to ease my wounds. I ask the Holy Spirit to cut off from me any covenant with Time, its agents or its guardians, and to keep me and hide me in the timeless covenant of the blood of Jesus. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, Yeshua HaMashiach, Immanuel. Amen.’

28 Oct 28, 2020 – SEVEN NOT NINE

In looking at the Fruit of the Spirit through Hebrew eyes, rather than Greek ones, some unexpected aspects turn up. First, if you look back over this series of posts, you’ll find that there are seven Fruit, not nine.
And the other surprising thing is that each of the Fruit is the maturing of particular “seeds” – some are obvious and some are not. Perhaps the biggest surprise to me so far has been the “seed” from which the Fruit of Gentleness grows. The Hebrew threw up one massive surprise. What is gentleness related to? Friendship and leadership. Who’d have thought? Yes, there are some expected things in the mix – humility and meekness – but friendship and leadership?! Isn’t that extraordinary? Because generally the world associates leadership with assertive behaviour that verges on dishonour, not with a humble gentleness that speaks honour to everyone.

3 Jan 2019 – BY THEIR FRUIT YOU SHALL KNOW THEM

Another thing Jesus didn’t say about His followers was this: “By their doctrinal purity, you will know them.”
Now don’t get me wrong. I think doctrine is very very important. And I think we should constantly be on the alert for false doctrine that leads people astray in the faith.
However Jesus was totally clear on this point. He said, “By their fruit…”
You know, it’s not having the right doctrine that saves us. The way some people judge others, you’d think it was. We’re not even saved by faith, despite the tendency of some writers and speakers to be loose enough in the way they express themselves to suggest this.
We’re saved by grace. Through faith.
That means it’s all of God – nothing to do with our level of faith. And grace shows itself in the fruit. Grace is consistently nuanced by the Greek descriptor, “poikilos”, meaning many-coloured, manifold, various, diverse – and what could be more diverse than
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control?
In many people’s eyes, doctrinal purity is so much more important than the fruit of the Spirit that they are willing to overlook a seriously ugly lifestyle in favour of theological accuracy.
Let me make this point once more: the ungodly powers who guard thresholds – spirits like Python and Leviathan, Rachab and Ziz – are completely indifferent to the accuracy of your beliefs. They not only believe in God too (James 2:19); the accuracy of their belief and what they know about Him is undoubtedly far greater than most of us will ever achieve in a lifetime.
But they don’t have a relationship.
And that’s what the fruit of the Spirit is all about – and why they are overcome by it – because it is evidence of covenant relationship with the Most High.

2 Jan 2019 – NOT BY YOUR GIFTS

Jesus didn’t ever say, “By their gifts, you will know them,” when He was talking about how to identify a disciple of His. He said, “By their fruit…”
That means by the evidence in our lives of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
In many people’s eyes, the gifts of the Spirit are so much more important than the fruit of the Spirit they are willing to overlook abuse from a leader because they’ve elevated the gifting to such high status.
Yet as I’ve worked with increasing numbers of people to help them over the thresholds into their calling, it isn’t the gifts that bring the breakthrough. It’s always the fruit.
The ungodly powers who guard thresholds – spirits like Python and Leviathan, Rachab and Ziz – are completely indifferent to your gifts. But the fruit… that’s a different matter entirely. With a basket of fruit in your hands as you approach the threshold, you might as well be toting a bag of spiritual grenades.

6 Oct 2020 – LACK OF FAITH? – NOT THAT SIMPLE

The default answer when we’re in trouble, looking for divine help and feeling that it isn’t forthcoming, is to think that we’re lacking in faith. This is, in fact, rarely the case. Most of us do indeed have the requisite mustard seed level of faith.
Now we can go wrong in two ways: we can try to increase our faith by various stratagems instead of simply holding on to the hem of Jesus’ garment and recognising that it’s His faith as He mediates for us before the Father that is all that’s necessary.
The second way we can go wrong is by trying to use faith as the weapon to overcome Python, Ziz, Leviathan (Resheph), Rachab and the other threshold guardians. Not one of them is impressed or deterred by our faith.
Python is overcome by love, Ziz by joy, Leviathan by peace (or more accurately “shalom”), Rachab by patience and so on. The fruit of the Spirit is vital in spiritual warfare.
Not only that, it’s a way of recognising those who truly believe in Jesus. We tend to discern other believers by gifts and talents but that, as Jesus points out, tells us everything about God’s grace and nothing whatsoever about the character of the recipient.

SEVERAL POSTS WITH SPECIFIC LILITH Q&A’S – –

18 Feb 2021 – JANISSARY & WAR AGAINST MOTHERS:

Question: Then I am assuming the other threshold guardian is Lilith, and the corresponding fruit of the spirit would be gentleness?

Anne: Yes, that’s right. I haven’t yet looked into the Hebrew nuances of gentleness, though, so I don’t know if there is a special way of looking at it that may be different to our present culture.

Question: In the book of Enoch..Lilith was the first humankind to rebel against God..is that correct, if I understood what i read? And she flew off?…she actually changed form?..how could she do that?

Anne: standard talent of a shapeshifter. In Norse culture, a shapeshifter/skinchanger is connected to the idea of a familiar spirit that attends to a family line.

19 May 2021 – COMPLICITY WITH BELIAL:

Question:. You don’t have much info out on Lilith. I’m curious about her…?

Anne: Working up to it! I think sometimes I’m avoiding it because of the necromancy aspect!

8 Oct 2022 – OUR FEELINGS POST:

Question: What might be the reason someone always uses the word “tired”, that’s drained, not foggy.

Anne: sounds like Lilith, the vampire spirit. Drains resurrection life.

AH Sep 3, 2020 NECROMANCY

When Jacob was talking to Joseph, he described his dream-vision of angels ascending and descending on a ladder between heaven and earth as happening at Luz. This town was the place that he renamed Bethel, the “house of God”. Abraham had lived there, Samuel was later to have a court there.

But things were to become unspeakably corrupt there. 42 boys were killed by a bear for mocking Elisha, the man who rebuilt Jericho came from there, Jeroboam set up a golden calf there – just as he set up one in Dan in northern Israel. By the time of Hosea, it was so corrupt the prophet referred to it constantly by the name of a nearby town, Beth Aven, “house of evil”.

It’s not enough simply to give a place (or a person) a new name: it’s important to deal with the layers created underneath that new name. Luz means “almond”, referring to the beautiful tree that marks the threshold between seasons as the first to “wake up” after the winter is over. However, Luz also means “twisted” and is related to nightfall (as a “twisting away of the light” similar to an almond demonstrating that a “twisting away of the winter”). It can also mean “deviant”, appropriate to the “twisted and perverse generation who lived there”. It is also just one poetic step away from the name of the night-demon, Lilith.

God wanted Abraham and Jacob and Samuel and those who came after them to redeem the name and bring it into alignment with “house of God”. But in time, the old idolatry returned with a vengeance. Luz-Bethel was in the territory of Benjamin and, like so many other towns there, it seems that the Benjaminites came to an accommodation with the spirits defiling the land. And in their particular territory, these were spirits of the underworld. It is no coincidence that Saul, the first king, is named for Sheol, the underworld, and that on the night before he died he tried necromancy to call up a spirit to consult.

In our world today, we are seeing increasing levels of necromancy. Of calling on the spirits of the dead. Of communing with them through ritual repetition of their names. Of looking for an inheritance or a mantle from some celebrated deceased person that we have no personal relationship with.

Believers and non-believers alike are dabbling with the underworld. And before we start praying for God to deal with the things non-believers are doing, we need to look at ourselves. We need to start with the House of God. Otherwise, we will call down further disaster on ourselves.

3 Mar 2022 – DRUNKEN AND MAKING JUDGEMENTS

We’re up to verse 7 of Isaiah 28 and things are starting to turn. Up to this point, Isaiah’s listeners could have taken solace in the fact he was talking about Ephraim – yep, those idiot apostates who worship at Shechem and won’t come to Jerusalem. Perverse and stupid drunks who can’t tell the difference between Moreh and Moriah.

But now Isaiah begins to get stuck into his compatriots in Jerusalem for much the same reason – drunkenness. The picture he builds is one of chaos (in preparation for a turn to order in a few verses), reeling and staggering. But I have to wonder about that word for “judgment” – it occurs only here and nowhere else in the Bible. And it has an odd look – as if perhaps the vampire spirit, Lilith, is part of the word. The one who sucks life out of her victims.

13 Feb 2019 REJECTION CHOICE

As I said yesterday, Valentine’s Day might seem a strange time to be talking about rejection – but actually it’s a kind of makeover of a more ancient feast which was to do with the godling Pan.

Now the goat-man hybrid, Pan, might not be mentioned by name in Scripture but it lurks in the background of one of the most significant events of the Christian faith: the conception of the church.

The Greeks had built a shrine to Pan at the headwaters of the Jordan river. There, at a place called the Gates of Hell, they worshipped this shepherd spirit who had charge of many flocks and who had saved their armies in time of war by inducing panic in the enemy. (Yep, the word “panic” comes from the name of this godling.)

Jesus brought His disciples to the Gates of Hell when He visited Caesarea Philippi and made that remarkable announcement that He was building His church on a “cephas”. Now I don’t want to get into a denominational bunfight over whether this “cephas” is a person or that person’s faith, I simply want to point out that “cephas” isn’t any old rock. It’s a special kind of rock. It’s a threshold stone or cornerstone. It’s related to the words for “atonement” and for “mercy seat”.

There are many clues in this story that point to the day Jesus did this: it was the Day of Atonement. He had come out into the wilderness to the pagan shrine of a goat godling to start His church. This might seem strange until you realise that He was using the symbolism of the scapegoat – the rejected one sent out into the wilderness on the Day of Atonement.

Now six days after this, Jesus took three of His disciples up a high mountain to hear another announcement: “This is My beloved Son, My chosen One…” Yes, the Chief Cornerstone, the one that was rejected is declared as the Lord’s choice for the Head of the Corner.

The point of all this: did Jesus bind the spirit of panic (aka the spirit of rejection) while He was at Caesarea Philippi as “the scapegoat”? Did He cast out Pan? Did He revile it or decree its fate? Actually, His decree was about the church – which He was setting up in the presence of its enemies. The Good Shepherd chose the temple of the shepherd of panic to prophesy over the church He was creating.

When it comes to rejection, there is a choice: you can sit with Jesus, the rejected Cornerstone. Or you can fulfil the agenda of the spirit of rejection – and panic. And as I said yesterday, the spirit of rejection does not work alone. Once you panic, the spirit of constriction, forgetting, wasting and retaliation are waiting with open arms. They want you to wish, not pray.

23 Jul 2019 – REJECTION REACTIONS

Without doubt, one of the hardest tests of all that any threshold spirit can throw in our direction is that of “rejection”.

Just what are you going to do when you’re having to face down the spirit of rejection? In the past, I’d classified most people’s reactions to this spirit in three main ways:
(1) you reject other people before they reject you
(2) you can run from it – inevitably taking you into a false refuge
(3) you can ignore it – which is a false refuge in and of itself

Very recently, I encountered another even more dangerous false refuge.

It’s repeatedly declaring favour and acceptance over yourself.

Specifically, it’s pronouncing that you’ll be given a particular position or office or assignment and that your appointment will be universally acclaimed.

Let me just point out something very important. I believe that each of the threshold spirits has an occult specialty. Python, for example, specialises in divination; Leviathan specialises in enchantment; Ziz in sorcery. The spirit of rejection specialises in spell-binding, that is, in spellcraft which includes the abuse and twisting of the Word of God to achieve an end not in line with God’s will and purposes.

Jesus is the rejected Cornerstone. He promised us persecution which, the last time I checked its definition, didn’t mention anything about favour, acceptance and universal acclaim. Do not fall into the trap of speaking over yourself words of acceptance that, ironically, draw you into a covenantal alliance with the spirit of rejection.

12 Oct 2017 – GO TO GOD TO SOLVE

One of the most difficult of the guardians who block the doorway into our calling is

REJECTION.

In Genesis 4, God rejects the offering of Cain because he did not do what was right. And, as a result, sin waited at the “door” for Cain.

“Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.'” Genesis 4:6-7

Here is rejection as a threshold spirit. And here is the answer to it: not to cast it out or to try to bind it. To rule over it.

And how do we rule over REJECTION? We go to God and ask Him for a strategy uniquely suited to our circumstances.

17 Oct 2018. FORGETTING LEADING TO PANIC

Just in the last few days, I have realised how strong the alliance between the spirit of forgetting and the spirit of rejection is. (Thanks to the many friends from all corners of the globe who gave me little pieces of jigsaw that slotted together!)

The spirit of forgetting is overcome by joy through thankfulness to God. But what happens when that spirit realises its time is up in your life? Naturally, it calls up reinforcements to make it almost impossible for you to give thanks. If you’re panicking, thankfulness is the last thing on your mind. If you’re feeling rejected, you’re definitely not in the mood to “give thanks in all circumstances.”

A prime example of this is found in the story of Elijah. Jezebel has basically lost after the confrontation at Mount Carmel. But with just a few words, she causes Elijah to panic and run for his life.

Now, I know others see the primary spirit behind Jezebel differently but I consider it to be “the spirit of forgetting”. She is an exemplar of a person so dominated by it, she is able to project it at others. Elijah forgets all God has done in his life during the drought, he forgets God’s intervention at Mount Carmel just 24 hours previously, he forgets what Obadiah told him about 48 hours previously (that there are 100 prophets safe in a couple of caves). Driven by panic, he runs into the desert. And even though he meets with God at Mount Horeb, he never really recovers from the threat Jezebel made. God gives him a job – to anoint three people. But he only anoints one.

If you’ve been practising thankfulness lately – and have suddenly been attacked by bouts of panic – it’s not because being thankful wasn’t working in developing joy. It’s because it was.

18 Nov 2018 THREE STEPS TO DEAL WITH REJECTION

If you’ve had a mysterious message about “red hair” lately (I’ve had a couple of completely independent ones which is why I’m mentioning it), consider the possibility that it’s about “red” and “hair”.

That is, about “edom” and “seir”, which when combined refer to the Biblical character Esau. Keep digging into this name and you’ll eventually realise it has a deep connection to goats and scapegoats. It’s about rejection.

How do we deal with rejection? Now most of us don’t. Most of us have coping mechanisms – which can be a shrug of the shoulders and a decision to not take it personally or it can be running as fast as we can from any situation that looks like we’re going to wind up being outcasts or it can be pre-empting the matter by rejecting others before we are rejected.

But none of these are God’s way of overcoming rejection. His way is threefold: (1) repenting of our false refuges (2) severing any covenant with the spirit of rejection (3) becoming one with Jesus the rejected cornerstone.

That third step – sitting with Jesus in the place of rejection – is what all our coping mechanisms are trying to avoid. But we need to remember something: that Jesus essentially declared Himself the scapegoat as well as the rejected cornerstone when He went to “the gates of hell” at Caesarea Philippi where the shrine to the goat-demon Pan was located. Six days later on the Mount of Transfiguration, God said, “This is My Son, My chosen…”

When we climb with Jesus from the place of rejection, we find ourselves in the cloud-canopy where the Father declares us as His beloved.

26 Dec 2020 REJECTION / ACCEPTANCE / SAFE

Just recently, I’ve begun work on a book about the spirit of rejection. So naturally, I’ve begun collecting quotes about acceptance—dozens of them. And most of them are along the lines of this thought from Dr. Phil: “The number one fear in life is rejection. The number one need is acceptance.”

I’m not quite sure when I started to have suspicions about this, but it finally dawned on me that maybe, just maybe, this wasn’t entirely correct. See, I know people who actually set themselves up for rejection—over and over and over again. They know that they do it and they hate that they do it, but some strange compulsion drives them. And there are others who reject before they are rejected, which of course creates a rejection cycle, and again the people who do this know and loathe their own behaviour.

For these people at least, if not for others, the number one fear is not rejection and the number one need is not acceptance. It’s “safe”. That which is unfamiliar is unsafe, that which is familiar is safe—even if the safety is a rejection they hate.

And these thoughts have rattled around in my head, along with those wonderful lines from THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA at the moment Lucy and Susan realise with trepidation that Aslan is a lion:
“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

If 2020 has taught us anything, I think it’s shown that “safe” is an idol. So many people are willing to lose so much to feel “safe”. And as I look deeper into various stories in Scripture, I see this is not something new. We’re not content with “good” when it comes to God. We’re not content with being safe WITH Jesus; we want safe PLUS Jesus. We don’t want to walk with Jesus into dangerous places, safe in His presence; we want to walk with Jesus, safe in His presence, in comfortably safe places.

News flash! The world is, by its nature, dangerous. There is no such thing as a “safe refuge” PLUS Jesus. He is the one and only safe refuge, but paradoxically He is not safe: He’s good and holy and loving and just and merciful and kind and compassionate and gentle and slow to anger.

And if you think that makes Him safe, you don’t understand any of those adjectives that describe Him. He wants to transform us so we exhibit those same things. And that transformation means giving up the need for “safe” PLUS Jesus or, in fact, anything PLUS Jesus—and it means facing fears we often don’t even know we have.

27 Jul 2021 – PHARMAKEIA

In times of crisis, the Greeks had a ritual similar to that of the “scapegoat”. They would exile or sacrifice a person called the “pharmakos” as a means of purification and atonement.

In Israel, on the Day of Atonement, a goat would be chosen by lot and exiled out into the wilderness to Azazel.

Now, curiously, there is said to be no connection between the words, “pharmakos” and “pharmakeia”. However in the Book of Enoch, it is “pharmakeia” that Azazel is renowned for illicitly teaching to mankind. “Pharmakeia” is a combination of incantations and root-cutting. In other words, it’s drug-based sorcery and is translated “witchcraft” in Galatians 5:20.

Azazel, the scapegoat, is the spirit of panic and rejection. It’s always been connected with addiction… which is both a false refuge and a way this spirit gains power over us. This is the one that does not come out, except by prayer and fasting. And “fasting” when it comes to addiction is avoiding the substance entirely.

Each Monday and Thursday, Christian Writers Downunder’s faithful and talented blog team contribute blogposts to inspire and inform aspiring and established writers.

Today’s spotlight is on Anne Hamilton.

Anne Hamilton is a former Maths teacher, multi-award winning author of picture books, fantasy fiction and meditative theology; former President of the Omega Writer, publisher editor. She gives incisive feedback and thoughtful, up-to-the-moment analyses of the market. Annie has made an invaluable contribution to Australian and New Zealand Christian writers through her tireless efforts, prayers and vision.

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Jeanette: Annie, you have to date 17 published books. What or who inspired you to start writing, and to keep going? What projects are you currently working on?

Anne: I can’t remember when I first wanted to become a writer. The desire was always there. I wrote and illustrated my first ‘book’ in a lined exercise pad. It was an episode from my favourite anime cartoon at the time, Marine Boy. In my very late teens, I discovered The Chronicles of Narnia and I fell so deeply in love with the genre that it rekindled the desire to write something similar.

Keeping going is not hard. I think Meg Murry of A Wrinkle in Time who says her mother isn’t quite herself when she’s not writing. That’s the sentiment anyway. And that’s me. I’m not myself when I’m not writing. Right at the moment I’m working on several talks for a seminar in New Zealand based on the books in my devotional theology series. Apart from that, I’m working on a re-issue of Merlin’s Wood and its sequel, Taliesin’s Mantle. I’m also researching for a book on the design of John’s Gospel. I’m editing a book for a first-time author who has a contract to take a book about fatherhood into China—that’s an interesting project because the cultural nuances are so different.

Jeanette: You’ve written some fantasy novels, including Merlin’s Wood, Many-Coloured Land and Daystar. What do you like about writing fantasy? What challenges have you found in writing and reading in this genre?

Anne: There are deep theological truths that can’t be expressed outside of fantasy. That’s what I love about the genre. Name covenant is a forgotten spiritual issue in Christian circles but it’s an idea as common as mud in fantasy. The whole notion of armour that is activated by a kiss is inexpressible in contemporary fiction but easy to do in fantasy. That’s why the fantasy genre was the natural choice for Daystar—I couldn’t imagine working into any other format the Hebrew notion that kissing is putting on armour, an idea that happens to be integral to Paul’s writing on the Armour of God.

The challenges of this genre? Amongst Christians, it’s generally (though by no means universally) despised. Even more than romance is. Amongst non-Christians, there’s a tendency to be seriously critical of anything that follows in the steps of CS Lewis. For that reason I was beyond astonished when Daystar reached the CBCA Notable list this year. The Christianity is subtle, but not that subtle.

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Jeanette: Your mediative theological books, beginning with God’s Poetry, are deep and thought- provoking and appreciated by many. What themes do you touch on in these books and what relevance do you think they have for Christian writers?

Anne: Basically the books are about crossing ‘thresholds’ and what that means spiritually. More and more as I talk to people, I discover that even a tremendous number of the Christians I consider a ‘success’ don’t believe they have ever come into their calling. So many people resonate with the words ‘constriction and wasting’ as the operational dynamic in their lives as they’ve tried to fulfil what they believe God has called them to.

I consider my books as opening a dialogue—certainly not the last word on the subject of name covenants and threshold covenants. They are a challenging read. Mainly because the concepts are so unfamiliar and so complex people struggle to grasp them. But there’s rarely a day goes past that someone doesn’t send me a message to say the books have contained the keys they needed to avoid being smashed again as they pursue their calling.

As for their relevance to writers: well, a first book, in particular, is a threshold. Transitioning from one kind of publishing to another is a threshold. A new book in a different genre is a threshold. So these issues of threshold covenant apply to writers. The reason so many writers fall into honey-baited traps set by vanity publishers is, I believe, because they haven’t dealt with the spiritual issues surrounding their personal threshold.

Jeanette: Your first novel was published in 2003. What changes have you seen since those early days of publishing Christian fiction downunder. Have your early aspirations been fulfilled? What changes would you like to see?

Anne: It’s been a hard struggle. A couple of lovely peaks, but mostly long deep troughs. Several wonderful awards, but that hasn’t really translated into significant sales. Early on, Ben Gray of CHI books said to me: ‘If some Australian publisher has the time and money to invest in an unknown fiction author and support them through five books, they’ll eventually do well.’

I realise that, unless you’re a celebrity, ‘five books’ is about where it’s at, fiction or non-fiction. By that time, your name is starting to be known; you’re starting to be a credible author with a track record. There are two issues here: the publisher has not to lose too much money on the way to the fifth book; and the author has to have five books in them. Most don’t. I’m immensely grateful to Wombat Books for the risk they’ve continued to take on my fiction. They’re still carrying me through to that fifth fiction book.

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Jeanette: As a writer, editor and publisher, what simple advice would you give to new writers?

Anne: As a writer: commit to spend at least half an hour every day writing.

As an editor: everyone needs editing by a professional. (And your English teacher doesn’t qualify when it comes to novels.) And I’d like to mention my own personal Law of Proofreading: There is no such thing as too many proofreaders.
As a publisher: the average number of copies sold of any particular book title in Australia is 200 (and falling). This is not profitable for any publisher to invest in—a publisher has to edit, to proofread, to design, to print—and to get it to a distributor or bookstore at 65% off the retail price. Factor in 10% royalties for the author and that totals 75%. Simply to break even, a publisher has to be able to produce for $5 a book selling for $20. No way is this possible, if the likely sales are 200. This is why publishers look for writers who already have an existing ‘platform’.
Content marketing is the best way to develop a platform, if you don’t have one already. If you’d like to see how I do content marketing for my own books, check out https://www.facebook.com/anne.hamilton.7355

Jeanette: An early member of Omega Writers, you were president from 2008 to 2014 and initiated the CALEB prize. How do you think Christian writers, editors, publishers and illustrators can better help each other?

Anne: It’s quite simple. Words of Jesus: do unto others as you would like them to do unto you. The Golden Rule.

As a publisher, I know that a book needs 25 reviews before any effective marketing can begin. It’s really not worth putting money into marketing unless those reviews exist. For many years, I’ve reviewed children’s books for Buzz Words and, when I became a publisher in my own right, I suggested that perhaps I should stop because of the conflict of interest. But no other publisher was willing to let me go. That’s how rare reviewers are and how difficult it is to get one.

When it comes to Christian publishing, I am still shocked by the large numbers of strangers who cold-contact me to ask me, as a reader, for a review but are unwilling to give one back. The excuses are many: don’t have time; don’t read the genre you write in; don’t do reviews; don’t like your theology; need to focus on my own writing and marketing. Or my personal favourite: I write, I don’t read. (Like, what!!!!!? Excuse my ungrammatical exclamation marks.)

I used to think it was simply a matter of courtesy to be willing to give back in a similar way to what you’ve received. After all, Jesus said even the pagans did this.

At the end of the day, every author needs to support their publisher because the publisher is taking risks and making sacrifices on their behalf. One of the most practical ways to do this is through reviews. But those writers who do review Aussie and Kiwi authors are few and far between.

My personal belief is that God honours those who consistently lift other authors up. And when that starts to happen, then the publishing industry in Australia and NZ will change dramatically. Aussie and Kiwi authors will be a voice that resounds across the world.

Jeanette: Thank you, Annie, for taking time to share your journey and your wisdom with us and for all the many contributions you have made to the Australasian writing scene over the years. Wishing you all the best for your latest projects and in what God has for your writing.

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Anne Hamilton is the author of 17 books [NOW 25]. Several have won awards. She writes picture books, middle grade, YA fantasy to a meditative theology series.
She’s also a professional editor and has worked on over 100 books and magazines, along with so many independent articles she’s long ago lost count. She’s edited both fiction and non-fiction for CHI-Books, Wombat Books, Boom Tree Publishing, Even Before Publishing (now Rhiza Press) as well as many indie books. She is the Australasian editor for The Word for Today and Vision180 magazine.
Anne is also the director of Armour Books, a traditional small publisher looking for books with a kiss from God at their heart.
Anne is also one of Omega Children’s Writers available for Author Visits. She is comfortable presenting to: primary and lower high school students. She lives in QLD and is willing to travel. Further information: http://www.wombatbooks.com.au/authors/our-authors/anne-hamilton. Contact via: phone Wombat Books: (07) 3245 1938
Website: http://fire-of-roses.com/wp/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4110089.Anne_Hamilton

These include:

•sin done deliberately
•sin done without awareness
•sin done in ignorance
•generational iniquity
•sexual sin
•rebellion, domination, manipulation
•occult activity and idolatry
•refusal to forgive
•refusal to repent
•reaction to trauma or loss of control
•soul ties
•bitter root judgments
•bitter root expectancies
•inner vows

Quite a list! Unholy covenants, however, are in the class of their own. They generally cover all of the territory mentioned above plus much more. They also give over more grounds to the enemy than any other Spiritual Legal Right.

Most people think of a covenant as just a higher form of contract. It’s a lot more solemn and usually involves unbreakable vows. Yes! It does have solemn vows and promises but that’s not what makes it a covenant.

In Chapter 7, of Janice Sergison’s book Spiritual Legal Rights, she quoted these verses from Scripture:

After David had finished speaking with Saul,
the souls of Jonathan and David were knit
together, and Jonathan loved him as himself.
1 Samuel 18:1 BLB

Then Jonathan made a covenant with David,
because he loved him as his own soul.
1 Samuel 18:3 ESV

If we read these carefully, we see what makes a covenant different. It’s a knitting together of two souls into one. The essential nature of covenant is oneness.

And that’s exactly the problem! Unholy covenants bring us into oneness with the enemy. In addition, covenants go on forever. They have no expiry date. This means that they don’t end with the death of the covenant-makers. (Remember David looking for someone in Jonathan’s family after he’d been killed in battle? This was because David understood that an integral part of his covenant with Jonathan was a promise to protect his family.)

So covenants just keep on going. They involve families for as long as the bloodlines exist—or else, until someone revokes the covenant.

Now most people, on learning about covenants, want all of this oneness with an unholy spirit annulled in the next two minutes. But it’s not something to be rushed. It has to be done extremely carefully with the help of the Holy Spirit. There are curses for breaking the covenant.

In fact, some of the curses are probably operational already. Turning to Jesus for salvation would have been a violation of any covenant with an unholy spirit. Violation brings down retaliation and backlash; and revocation brings even more!

So don’t start without consulting your Advocate and Counsellor, the Holy Spirit.

Unholy covenants are the biggest problem as far as generational iniquity is concerned. But how do we know if one of our ancestors covenanted with an ungodly spirit?

We know by the evidence we see; by the fruit apparent in our own lives. If we experience constant constriction and wasting whenever we try to come into our calling, then there’s a covenant somewhere.

It’s possible we may have raised¹⁹ the covenant ourselves, through:

•ritual involvement in the occult
•participation in ceremonies with the Freemasons or within a cult
•sexual activity outside of marriage
•participating in worship of an idol through such activities as colouring mandalas, practising yoga,²⁰ and chanting a mantra during a breathing exercise

•entering a temple in a foreign country on a tour

•sharing of blood in childhood as in swearing blood brotherhood or pledging eternal friendship via a ‘witch’s prick’.

Some of these may seem strange. The last two are generally done in total ignorance.

The basic principle behind the list, however, comes from the resolutions of the Council of Jerusalem.²¹ After the early church had convened to decide what aspects of the Jewish Law that Gentile converts needed to obey, the disciples sent a message to them, saying:

It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond these essential requirements: You must abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.
Acts 15:28–29 BSB

All these prohibitions are covenant-related. That would have been clear to first century converts who knew that when you ate food sacrificed to idols, you covenanted with the idols. When you indulged in sex outside of marriage, you covenanted with your sexual partner. When you touched blood, you shared the life of another and thus covenanted with them.

I believe this list spells out the principle. I don’t believe it’s the final-for-all-time list of restrictions. This is why I’ve added to the list above. The apostles didn’t need mentioning not visiting foreign temples, because that was automatically implied in not eating food sacrificed to idols. Today, however, we need to be clearer about it.

Most people today, however, are totally ignorant of covenants. And most haven’t actually fallen into the trap of raising one themselves. The issue for most of us is that we haven’t revoked the covenants that our ancestors invoked.
A common covenant that is passed down from one generation to the next is a covenant with Death.²² Back at an unknown point in history, some of our ancestors lost so much faith and hope that they came to believe that God is not all-powerful or all-loving. In their total despair and anger, they concluded that Death is the strongest being in the universe.

And so they came up with the idea of a totally perverted covenant: they made an agreement with Death to protect their family from itself!

Now certain types of covenants between humans are specifically intended for mutual protection: the covenanting partners pledge to defend each other to the death. The same is true of similar covenants between God and humanity.²³

It’s totally bizarre and back-to-front thinking to expect Death to defend us from itself! But know what? Unholy spirits will take whatever Spiritual Legal Rights we offer them. They will trade with us, no matter how unfair the deal is.²⁴ As soon as this bargain is made, all the family gets is survival. Their inheritance and calling has been forfeited.

If that’s how you feel—that for as long as you can remember you’ve just been barely surviving—then the reason may be that a covenant with Death has come down your family line.²⁵

Always always always consult with the Holy Spirit about revoking a covenant.

STEPS TO REVOKING A COVENANT

Yet again, the acronym A∙C∙R∙O∙S∙S might help you remember these six steps.

•Acknowledge the covenant

If possible, recognise the ‘strong man’ who holds the deeds to the covenant and thus has your calling and family inheritance legally locked up. Do not insult the ‘strong man’ or even call him a thief.

•Confession of sin

If you raised the covenant yourself, then confess your own sin. If your ancestors raised the covenant, then ask the Lord to allow you to speak in identificational confession. That is, to confess on behalf of your ancestors.

•Repentance for raising the covenant

If you raised the covenant yourself, then repent of your own sin. If your ancestors raised the covenant, then ask the Lord to allow you to speak on their behalf in identificational repentance.

Tell God you’re sorry and you want Him to turn your life around. Ask Jesus to empower the words you speak.

•Renounce the covenant

‘I am saying an eternal “no” to this covenant on behalf of myself and my descendants. It ask Jesus to empower these words and to forbid any retaliation against me, my family, friends, colleagues, loved ones including pets and possessions that I am stewarding for God. I ask God to kiss me with His armour of protection.’

•Offer forgiveness

Forgive your ancestors; forgive yourself for taking so long to revoke this unholy covenant.

Ask God to forgive you. And also withdraw any judgment your family has made against God that led them into making a covenant with another spirit.

And this is worth repeating again: don’t forget that we don’t forgive, it is Jesus who accomplishes forgiveness in us and through us. All we can do is ask Him to empower the words we speak.

•Strike down the covenant

Ask God to send recording angels to retrieve all copies of the covenant and to place them at His feet. Ask for it to be annulled and for the spirits that have any claim in it to be rebuked.

•Speak out resurrection life by asking God to send a sign that the covenant is overturned

This often takes a considerable time. The sign of the breaking of a covenant with Death is an ‘unnatural’ event in the natural world. The examples given in Isaiah 28:21 refer to the sun standing still and an inland tsunami. I always ask for gentler and less dramatically destructive things!

One last note about ‘Spiritual Legal Rights’ and their connection with covenants and my apologies (but not many! @) for the relatively heavy-duty theology to finish this chapter.

The Spiritual Legal Rights that are exercised by the enemy over our lives have two sources: one is ourselves, the other is God. We can negate the Spiritual Legal Rights that we ourselves have given over to the satan—and we do this by speaking out words of repentance, renunciation and forgiveness that are empowered by Jesus Himself. However we cannot annul the Spiritual Legal Rights that have been given to the satan by God.

Most people are shocked to discover that God has actually granted the enemy specific Spiritual Legal Rights. The most significant of these rights is found when God pronounces sentence on the serpent in the Garden of Eden.

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike His heel.
Genesis 3:15 BSB

That last word ‘heel’ has a double meaning in Hebrew. It is also the word for ‘if’, and ‘if’ signifies a choice. This verse shows that God granted the satan the right to test our choices.

So our attempts to strip the enemy of this right by ‘binding him’—which, in Scriptural context, actually means ‘taking out a legal injunction to stop him’—are futile when his Spiritual Legal Right comes from the Word of God itself.

We have to pass the tests we are set and do so with honour. One of the most common ways believers hand over Spiritual Legal Rights today during spiritual warfare is by abusing, reviling, insulting and dishonouring unholy spirits. Both Jude 1:8–10 and 2 Peter 2:10–12 warn about the consequences of such behaviour.

Don’t do it! And, if you have, go apologise to God.

____________________________________________________________________________
¹⁹The correct technical terms from Scripture for undertaking a covenant are ‘to raise a covenant’ or ‘to cut a covenant’.
²⁰As mentioned in Chapter 1.

²¹This was the Council where the question of circumcision for Gentile believers was debated and resolved.

²²Mentioned in Isaiah 28:15

²³Actually this is not the normal covenant most people think of: the blood covenant. In both these cases, it is a threshold covenant that is about mutual defence. See Anne Hamilton, God’s Pageantry: the Threshold Guardians and the Covenant Defender, Armour Books 2015 or any of the series Strategies for the Threshold.

²⁴Remember that the satan is an expert in trade. That is why he was cast out of heaven. See Ezekiel 28.

²⁵For more symptoms of a covenant with Death, see Anne Hamilton, God’s Poetry: the Identity and Destiny Encoded in Your Name, Armour Books 2011 or God’s Pottery: the Sea of Names and the Pierced Inheritance, Armour Books 2016