THE STRANGE CHILDREN OF THE LAST ENEMY
Dr. D. K. Olukoya
The first question to ask is who is the last enemy? I Corinthians 15: 26 says, “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” The second question is, who are the strange children? Psalm 144:7 says, “Send thine hand from above; rid me, and deliver me out of great waters, from the hand of strange children.” This is the psalmist praying his usual warfare prayers. Verse 11 says, “Rid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.”
THE GREATEST FEAR OF MAN
The greatest fear of man is the fear of death. The fear of death does a lot of things to people. Hebrews 2:15 says, “And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” So the fear of death can put a person in bondage forever. When you see men running away from dangerous animals it is out of the fear of death. If you see people avoiding lunatics in the streets, it is out of the fear of death.
If you see people being careful with electricity, roaming about herbalists houses for protective charms or hanging charms in their cars, it is out of the fear of death. The major reason people join cults, lodges or go into all kinds of occultic things is the fear of death. Unfortunately, even many Christians are under the grip of the fear of death. There are many pastors and ministers of God who are afraid of death. Beloved, one of the reasons many people die before their time is fear. Once the fear of death grips a person, he could sometimes behave like a mad man. When the fear of death grips a person, it would open doors to several other things. These things know that they cannot kill you. They just come to see if they can instill fear in you and if you allow the fear to grip your heart, then you open the door through which they can operate. It is when the first strange child grabs a person that the other strange children would move in.
This is what the last enemy does. He wants to remove your attention from God.
CEMETERY OF FAITH
Fear would paralyse your faith. Fear would bury your spiritual growth. Not only that, it would distribute your home address to other strange children such as discouragement, sickness, etc.
FEAR OF DEATH
The fear of death does not recognise any academic qualification. In fact, the most fearful people are those who are well-read. Death has another evil and strange child. I Corinthians 15:54 says, “So when this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.” After that exhortation the next verse says, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” Then verse 56 says, “The sting of death is sin…”
THE STING OF DEATH
Another strange child of death is the sting of death. If you refuse to play with the strange child of death which is sin, it cannot sting you.
THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY
The Bible talks about the mystery of iniquity. Someone knows that what he is doing would hurt him. He knows that the thing is bad. After the thing has harmed him he says, “I won’t do it again” But the next moment he is on it again. That is the mystery of iniquity. For example, a man drinks alcohol to drown his sorrow and when he wakes up in the morning, he develops head-ache and suffers from indigestion. He cannot go to work. He has what you call hangover. Then, he says, “I am not going to drink again.” But behold, as he passes by the street, somebody invites him for a drink and a chat. He goes in again and starts the same thing that almost destroyed him. That is the mystery of iniquity. Likewise someone knows that something has been telling him or her that his or her patience as a husband or as a wife is not good enough. So he or she takes a quality decision not to get angry again or allow himself or herself to say harsh words. But after sometime, the same thing starts again. That is the mystery of iniquity.
Sin is a sting of death and the wages of sin is death. Sin is the greatest instrument of death. A sinner dies but for the saint, God calls him home. Once you are born again, and have given your life to the Lord, you become a saint. For the Christian, death is a special sleep or rest.
WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF DEATH?
Death was tied to a tree in the Garden of Eden. Genesis 2:17 says, “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die.” This was man’s first introduction to the word death. Therefore, by simple implication, man was meant to live forever. So, the word, death came from disobedience. Romans 5:12 says, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” So death came into the world through Adam’s disobedience to God’s word. God’s pronouncement then came upon him: “Dust thou art and unto the dust thou shalt return”. So the devil is the author of sin in the universe. He gave a share of the sin to Adam. Since satan is the author of sin and sin then brought death, satan became the controller of death.
Although God has the overruling power to say yes or no, satan controls death through his department of death. And I tell you something, my name is not in that department. Hebrews 2:14 says, “For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil”. Man through disobedience has given the devil ample opportunity to kill him like a house fly and this he does through the department of death. Lecturers in that department include sickness, accident, murder through magic, suicide and poisoning. Therefore, another strange child of the last enemy is sickness or the spirit of infirmity. They sometimes render medical science powerless. The spirit of infirmity could sometimes hide in a person’s life and rapidly kill the person at a time of spiritual weakness. So, sickness is another strange child.
ACCIDENT PRODUCERS
Another set of strange children are accident producers. These are strange powers that manipulate vehicles and drivers to cause accidents. They would confuse the driver and distract his attention. They would cause mechanical faults. They make motorists to drive under the influence of alcohol. They attack drivers and pilots, blocking their visions and thereby cause all kinds of problems. So believers should not travel without prayers. Believers must not just jump into vehicles and start going.
Another set of strange children are drinkers of blood and eaters of flesh. There may be conscious or unconscious witches/wizards in your vehicle who would kill the careless and the unprotected. They also use idols to kill people. They use candles and pressing of sand to eliminate people. They dig into a person’s background to see the doors through which they can enter.
This is why we must send God’s fire to the root of our lives. We need to pull down what I call foundational demonic stronghold. When a demonic foundation has been built in a life, even before the person was born, a palace has been built in the person’s life. When the person gets born again, the enemy will confront him. If the enemy checks a person through and sees nothing, he will check the mother and father. He digs deep into a person’s background.
When you pray that all these foundational demonic strongholds should be pulled down, they would be pulled down. They won’t have any place to hide.
Another strange child is the spirit of murder. This spirit instigates murder in cold blood. Sometimes people just kill others senselessly. When you ask them why they did it, they would say, “One voice told me to do it.”
Another strange child is the spirit of suicide. Many people hear voices asking them to kill themselves. The devil would engineer a problem which he knows will eventually get a solution, but he makes it to look like a giant so that the victim would say, “I will kill myself.” Some swallow poison because they want to die. If you have ever made such an attempt on your life, you need special prayer urgently.
THE CURSE OF FAMILY DESTRUCTION
Another strange child is the curse of family destruction. You will find that members of some families die in horrible and mysterious ways. The spirit enters a family and kills each member before he or she is 40. It is the spirit of family destruction. It kills according to certain patterns. In some families the members will first run mad.Sometimes, it is only the males that are affected.
I know a family of four girls and three boys. The four girls got together and through witchcraft powers ate the three boys. The strange child causes health problems that would defy medical solutions, and in some cases chooses some age groups. This is the strange child of the last enemy.
ANTI -DELIVERY SPIRIT
Another strange child is the anti-delivery spirit affecting pregnant women. It causes problems for women during pregnancy and during child birth. Sometimes it gives rises to long and tormenting labour. Sometimes it involves abnormalities in the exit of the baby from the womb. Sometimes it leads to excessive bleeding during labour. The Bible does not say that believers should die during childbirth. In fact, it says in I Timothy 2:15: “Notwithstanding she shall be saved in child bearing if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety”.
CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH A CHRISTIAN MAY DIE
1. By laying down his life for the cause of the gospel like Brother Stephen in the Bible did. All the old apostles were like that. The Bible says that when they were being beaten, they were smiling and praising God. Beloved, how wonderful would it be when somebody is being dealt with horse whips and the person would still be smiling saying, “Praise the Lord. They are beating me because of Jesus, I enjoy it. I know that I would have a better reward.”
2. Old age: Try and know this very well.It is impossible to kill a Christian. Colossians 3:3 says, “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God”. You are dead and your life now is first of all hidden in Christ, then that of christ is hidden in God. So whoever wants to get at you has an impossible job, because first of all, he has to remove Christ from inside God and put Him down. And he would put his hand inside Christ and take you out. Then he would put his hand inside you to remove the Holy Spirit, then he will get at you. But that is impossible. A Christian may die at old age, after living the fullness of his days on earth. Psalm 90:10 says, “The days of our years are three score years and ten, and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow, for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.” So the minimum life span is 70 years. If you want more than that, you can always ask God for it.
Not only that, godly men and women always have their youth renewed. Psalm 103:5 says, “Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagles.” As a Christian you should be looking younger not older. And if some people would stop worrying their souls and stop being afraid, they would look younger. If some people would stop getting angry, they would look younger. And if some people can smile often rather than screwing up their faces all the time they would look younger. If some people can do more fasting and prayer, they will look younger. Fasting does not make people to age, it makes them look younger. Sometimes when we say, “Hold seven days dry fast,” some people would say, “What?” I told a nurse to do three days dry fast and she said that there would be no supply of sugar to her brain. Think of Moses, he was always in the presence of God. Deuteronomy 31:7 says, “And Moses called unto Joshua, and said to him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong and of a good courage: for thou must go with this people unto the land which the Lord hath sworn unto their fathers to give them; and thou shalt cause them to inherit it”. Moses handed over to Joshua. Deuteronomy 34:7 says, “Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.” Then Joshua 14:10-12 : “And now, behold, the Lord hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years, even since the Lord spake this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness; and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old. As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in. Now, therefore give me this mountain…” So, as long as you ask, claim and believe the promises of God, nothing can snatch you away before your time. That is the basic Bible truth.
3. By personal desire: One can die by personal desire. Jesus was not killed. He laid down His own life. He said in John 10:17-18, “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father. A Christian may die before 70 by personal wish. Philippians 1:23-25 says, ”For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better. Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith”. So, Paul said, “I prefer that place but I am in a strait between two but for your sake I will stay”. So, if he wanted to go he would have gone. But people like David refused to die. He said, “I shall not die but live to declare the works of the Lord.” Elijah too at a stage wanted to die, so when he said so, God translated him to heaven. People like Hezekiah said “I don’t want to die, I want more years,” and God said, “Take 15 more years”. But a believer should not sit down and say, “Well, I want to die because I don’t have money”. “I want to die because my colleagues in school are riding big cars and I don’t have a bicycle”etc.
4. Ignorance or lack of knowledge: A believer may die out of lack of knowledge. Hosea 4:6 says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” People of God can die out of ignorance. Failing to reject death is lack of knowledge. Lack of knowledge has made a lot of Christians to fall prey to the enemy. If you ignorantly collect a clinical prophecy or demonic prophecy, you may lose your life. If you are a Christian in this environment and you know nothing about spiritual warfare, nothing about sending back evil arrows and nothing about amputators, you may die out of ignorance. You won’t go to hell fire but just die out of ignorance. Sometime ago, at one of our spinsters meetings, one sister came forward and asked a question: “Sir, why is it that my fiancé said we would be getting married in three months time and when it was one week to the wedding, he said it would be in another three months time, and when it was one week to the wedding again, he postponed it.” I told her that that is what you call the powers of the emptiers. She said she did not understand what I was talking about. I asked her how long she had been coming to MFM and she said that was her first day. Then I understood why she could not understand me.
THE EMPTIERS
The emptier is somebody that would allow you fill a cup to a stage and then pours it away. You will go through the trouble, gather the money, gather everything without any problem but when you get to a stage everything is poured away.
When a Christian is just going to church and does not know all these things he is wasting his time. If all he knows to do is to sit down and sing canticles and psalms, and does not have the correct knowledge of what to do, there would be problem. If all you know is reading psalms and you are still unrepentant while and you are reading the psalms with anger and bitterness in your heart, it won’t work. A believer who goes to church but does not know how to apply the blood of Jesus lacks vital knowledge which may eventually lead to death.
The last enemy of man called death is seen by many as very irrational. It does not make sense to many of us that it kills babies and teenagers, that it kills people at the prime of their lives, that it would remove the only bread winner from a family and While leaving all the poor people around and that it would render children orphans. Why? It is because it is not under the control of God although God has the final yes or no. The spirit of death tried to kill Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego but God said no. So, it could not kill them. It tried to kill Daniel. Its agent made sufficient attempt. Those who threw him into the lion’s den definitely wanted to kill him but God said no. However if Daniel lacked knowledge, he would have died. Many of the present-day believers in Daniel shoes would have been eaten up by the lions within the first five minutes, because fear would have killed them even before they got there. Imagine somebody going to pray for a sick person in the hospital and is already shaking at the door. How would he pray?
I want you to listen to this basic truth. Death did not overcome Jesus, He laid down His life. The passage we read in Corinthians says that death is swallowed up in victory. Revelation 1:18 says, “I am he that liveth and was dead, behold, I am alive for ever more. Amen. And have the keys of hell and of death.” Therefore believers should not fear death because their Master is holding the key. And believers should not blame God for any death because the devil also kills people. A believer must take a quality decision because if you want to die the death of the righteous, you must also live the life of the righteous. A believer must also recognise that some people’s death are useless before God. Psalm 116:15 says, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints”. So although some deaths are useless before the Lord, the death of His saints are precious in his sight. Therefore, to be afraid of death is to demonstrate that your salvation is questionable.
How do you recognise that you are in the grip of death and her strange children?
You can determine by asking yourself some questions:
Do I experience constant fear? If the answer is yes, you are in the grip of fear and must be loosed. Do I feel lifeless sometimes and get sick of living? If the answer is yes, you need to pray. How long do the members of your family live? At what age did your father and mother die? Your uncles, how old were they? If you find that they were cut off at the prime of their lives you need to pray. If you take it for granted, it just stays there. Do you have a family shrine or a family altar? If you do, you have to pray seriously. They might have donated you to it and at the appropriate time it wants to eat you, you will die. If there is no discernment of spirits, you will not even know what to pray about.
Have you ever participated in a sacrifice to demons or ritual before? You may actually have been killing yourself when you were slaughtering that ram for sacrifices, so you have to pray seriously. Do you have any sickness that defies medical diagnosis? Then you really need to pray. Have you undergone surgical operation more than once? Then you should pray seriously.
Have you ever been addressed as the re-incarnation of somebody? Are you respected and called honourable names because it is believed that you were somebody before? Then you really need to pray very hard. Does your own father prostrate for you simply because he feels you are his mother that died? Have you ever been involved with somebody who asked you to bring certain things and dress and he took you to the forest where you undressed and he took the fine clothes away while you put on something else. Then he said, “Today you have said bye bye to death. You no longer have familiar spirit.
The Bible says, “In the name of Jesus, you shall cast out demons.” It does not say you would do so by buying fine clothes and dropping it in the forest. If you have experienced such a thing, you are probably in the grip of a strange child, and you need to release yourself.
Have you ever used charms to protect your life, or you have a blessed picture, or used blessed soap, sponge, cream or perfume? You need to pray. You are probably in the grip of something. Were you terribly sickly when you were very young and they carried you all over the place and eventually they took you to a place where they said okay, “We shall preserve his or her life?” You need to pray. Have you ever been in a fattening room because you want to get married? Do you see things that other people don’t see? Do you hear voices that others don’t hear or you perceive some odours that others don’t perceive? You need to pray.
Are you the kind of person that can be described as being very stubborn? The problem with stubborn people is that they die suddenly, just like Pharaoh. Are you addicted to alcohol, tobacco and sex? Then you need to pray. Are you the kind who always experience terrible menstrual period and you have tried medicine to no avail and doctors have advised you to keep boyfriends? You need to pray. Do you experience sleepless nights? Do you experience dizziness often? Then you need to pray. Are you getting leaner and leaner in spite of the fact that you are the greatest eater in your family? Do you get moody and angry without any cause? Do you have unnatural heat or something moving all over your body? If such a thing is there, do you want to wait until it gets to your heart and grips it?
Do you discuss with voices within you and you know that the voices are not the voice of the Holy Spirit? Do you sometimes sense an invisible presence of evil when you are alone? Or do they press you down on your bed? Are you the kind who wakes up in the morning with scratches and incisions on your body? Have you ever dreamt of discussing with dead relatives and eating with them? If your answer to some of these questions is yes, the truth is that you are under the grip of either the spirit of death itself or its strange children. And whether you like it or not you shall be released, in Jesus’ name.
If you have any sickness, I don’t see why you will continue with it after reading this message unless you are not serious. The Bible says that whosoever asks receives. If you keep quiet and make no request, or you are playing the gentle man before the enemy, may God have mercy on you.
PRAYER POINTS
Spirit of death and strange children, release me and release my home, in the name of Jesus.
Put one hand on your head and the other hand on your stomach and pray like this: Every plantation of the strange children, be uprooted now, in the name of Jesus.
Put one hand on your head and the other on your stomach and say: Spirit of infirmity, depart from my blood, in the name of Jesus.
I release myself from every ungodly grip, in the name of Jesus.
O Lord, lay your mighty hand upon me now, in Jesus’ name.
