GOD'S IN CONTROL!                 DO 2084                  12/85
--Nothing Can Happen without His Permission!

(From a Tape to Apollos about the New Heaven's Girl Series:)
         1. SON, I ENJOYED YOUR LATEST EPISODE, YOU'RE REALLY GOING GREAT! I think it's very good, & teaches a very good lesson about being more receptive & responsive to the voices of our spirit helpers. But before you go too much further with this next part of the story about the battle, I have a question about the part in which we're on the way over to Marie's & are attacked by a demon.
         2. FROM ALL I GATHER FROM THE SCRIPTURE, WE'RE NOT THAT VULNERABLE TO SATANIC ATTACKS. If we're not that vulnerable in the flesh, surely we wouldn't be that vulnerable in the spirit! I know it makes a good story & is dramatic & all that, but we've gotta stick consistently with the Scriptures & God's actual dealings. And if their Guardian Angels couldn't protect them any better than that, than for that bolt to hit Abner, they weren't on the job!
         3. IT'S BEEN MY IMPRESSION FROM THE SCRIPTURES, "HE SHALL GIVE HIS ANGELS CHARGE OVER YOU TO PROTECT YOU IN ALL YOUR WAYS" & you can't even stub your toe or dash your foot against a stone, they'll bear thee up in their hands. (Psa.91:11-12)--That His Guardian Angels protect us from everything, except from the penalties of our own sins.
         4. HE WON'T LET A HAIR OF YOUR HEAD BE TOUCHED! "HE THAT TOUCHETH YOU TOUCHETH THE APPLE OF MINE EYE!" (Mat.10:30; Zech.2:8) The only time He allows Satan to really seriously attack us is as a penalty for our sins. In other words, we let the Enemy in through our own mistakes, shortcomings, weaknesses, sins, disobediences etc. Otherwise He sets a hedge about us so that the Devil can't even touch us, like He did Job. He does sometimes allow the Enemy to hinder us, distract us & thereby delay us, or if we need it, to test us.
         5. BUT I HATE TO GIVE OUR PEOPLE THE IMPRESSION THAT WE CAN BE SO EASILY ATTACKED IN THE SPIRIT WORLD or they won't even want to go there!--That we're not given any better protection by our Guardian Angels, that we're worse off in the Spirit World than we are in this one.--Even though we're here now in the weakness of the flesh & they are powerful spirits with super powerful forces, God doesn't even let'm touch us now unless we are disobedient or out of His Will or to straighten us out somehow or teach us a lesson we can't learn any other way. If we go running out of the tower of His protection of His Will, as the Lord once told us, He will then allow Satan's fire to scorch us with disease, accident etc.
         6. WHAT KIND OF ATTACKS DOES THE LORD ALLOW US TO HAVE? Usually they're a result of our own carelessness. They're just like child-training, they're like chastening. We get a little out of line & then we get a little spanking, the Lord allows the Enemy to give us a little swat or two. Or we're foolish & we catch cold, or we don't get enough rest & we get run down & we get something else etc. Or we're careless in our conduct & we have a little accident.
         7. SO IF PEOPLE GET OUT OF LINE & ARE DISOBEDIENT OR OUT OF GOD'S WILL & GOING THE WRONG DIRECTION, THE ENEMY IS ALLOWED TO ATTACK THEM! Now if we had been going the wrong direction & we had been disobeying the Lord, I could see God allowing something like that to happen to stop us & stun us.
         8. BUT THERE ARE VERY FEW INSTANCES IN THE ENTIRE SCRIPTURE WHERE THE ENEMY WAS EVEN ABLE TO DELAY AN ANGEL OR AN ANSWER. I think that was a very rare instance in Daniel's case, extremely rare, because it was an extremely important mission in which God's Angel was going to reveal to Daniel the entire future! Therefore it was really a battle! And maybe it wasn't only the Prince of Persia but a few others helping him that could've delayed him. (Dan. 10:12-13)
         9. BUT IT DOESN'T SAY THAT HE TOUCHED HIM IN ANY WAY OR HURT HIM OR KNOCKED HIM OUT OR KNOCKED HIM FAR AWAY OR STUNNED HIM OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT, HE JUST HINDERED HIM. God's Word speaks of the Devil as the hinderer, & he's the tester also, the accuser. And against us, he uses doubt & fear almost more than anything else! "He feared a fear & it came upon him." (Job 3:25) If we "fear not", then he's not able to touch us. If we have faith & confidence & are strong in His Word & we know the Word & we know God's protection & we have faith in it, then He just does not allow us to be attacked by that!
         10. I THINK YOU NEED TO READ THE 91ST PSALM OVER AGAIN. It sounds like we come through all that absolutely unscathed. What does it say about fiery darts in the Bible? It says, "Above all, taking the shield of faith, which shall quench all the fiery darts of the wicked." (Eph.6:16)
         11. MY IMPRESSION OF THE OTHER WORLD IS THAT GOD RULES IT, NOT THE ENEMY! The Enemy's extremely restricted in his activities, except if we disobey & get out of God's Will & are careless, just like down here now. He & His Angels are absolute rulers of both Heaven & Earth, & all spiritual places as well, & the Devil cannot do a damn thing without His permission!
         12. THE ONLY TIME WE'RE VULNERABLE IS WHEN WE OURSELVES GET OURSELVES OUT OF THE PROTECTIVE FORCEFIELD, so to speak, & we go astray or we disobey or we get careless, or we fear, or we doubt. All of these are sins. I don't think the Devil can touch us except as a penalty of our sins or shortcomings, & I don't think the Lord will let him do that unless we persist in it.
         13. BUT I REALLY DON'T BELIEVE THAT SATAN NOR ALL HELL NOR ALL HELL'S ANGELS CAN EVEN TOUCH US--"not a hair of our head", He says--without God's permission! And I can only believe that God would give such permission when we are out of line. I don't believe that the Devil can touch us when we are in the Will of God doing God's Will.
         14. DON'T FORGET, THE DEVIL'S WORKING FOR THE LORD TOO! Didn't you ever think about that? He's God's little devil & demon & imp & chore boy to whack us around with God's permission when we get out of line! But otherwise he doesn't have a right to put a finger on us!
         15. LOOK HOW THE DEVIL EVEN HAD TO PLEAD WITH GOD ABOUT JOB! (Job.1-2:6) He had to argue with God about it! Until finally, because the Lord knew Job's weakness & so did the Devil, He allowed the Enemy to attack him in that which he was most vulnerable, & that was his own pride & self-righteousness.
         16. BUT I'LL TELL YOU, AS FAR AS I'M CONCERNED, & I'VE BEEN TAUGHT THAT ALL MY LIFE SINCE I WAS A LITTLE TYKE BY MY MOTHER, whenever we got sick or anything the first thing she would ask us was, "What have you done? Why do you think the Lord is dealing with you like this? Why do you think God let you get sick? What did you do? Were you careless about sitting in a draft? Did you get enough sleep? Did you eat the wrong thing? What did you do that probably brought this on you?"--Which is most likely!
         17. IT'S THINGS WE DO OURSELVES THAT USUALLY BRING ON THE ATTACKS OF THE ENEMY BECAUSE WE HAVE LET THE BARS DOWN, we have let our forcefield of protection get a little too holey, & we have let the defenses down. I don't believe the Devil can lay a finger on a Christian unless that Christian allows him to in some way, by some weakness or disobedience or failure or lack of prayerfulness. I really don't!
         18. NOW "MANY ARE THE AFFLICTIONS OF THE RIGHTEOUS", I'LL GRANT YOU THAT, BUT AS I'VE OFTEN SAID, NOT ONLY DOES THE LORD "DELIVER HIM OUT OF THEM ALL", BUT THAT'S WHAT KEEPS HIM SO RIGHTEOUS! (Psa.34:19) Because every time the very righteous man gets the slightest bit out of line, the Lord lets the Enemy give him a good whack to get him back in line. I know it seems I can't get away with anything but what the Lord really chastens me or allows His Angels to, & I don't think He usually lets the Devil do it either.
         19. SO I JUST DON'T THINK THE LORD ALLOWS US TO BE TOUCHED UNLESS WE NEED IT & DESERVE IT! You get it? So I don't want to see these guys getting knocked around, & I don't want to get knocked around either by the Devil unless I step out of line & out of the forcefield of God's protection! I mean it! I don't want people to think that God is so weak in our protection & our Guardian Angels are so weak that they don't even warn us when attacked!
         20. USUALLY THEY WARN US FIRST OF ALL THAT WE'RE OUT OF LINE! Now if we go socking our kids around without even telling them what the rules are, how unjust & unfair that would be. And even then, as I've told you before, I warned my kids two or three times what would happen if they did so-&-so, & I would usually then give them a final warning about the third time. I said, "If you do that again then I'm going to sock you without warning!" Then I would do it!
         21. GOD ALLOWS THESE THINGS TO TEST YOU TO SEE IF YOU CAN BE DISTRACTED, to see if you're determined & persistent & insistent, like the woman pleading with the judge. She would not give up! She was single-minded, single-eyed, she refused to give up! The Devil tested her, the judge tested her to see just how bad she wanted it, & she really meant business! (Luk.18:1-8;11:5-10)
         22. WELL, GOD IS A LOT THE SAME WAY! He allows you to have your faith tested & your patience tested & to see how much you really want to stir yourself to call upon Him. I've talked about this before.
         23. SOMETIMES GOD HAS TO LET SOMETHING DRASTIC HAPPEN TO US TO GET OUR ATTENTION, if we're too distracted & thinking about too many other things & the cares of this life & the thorns & whatnot, & we're not thinking about what we ought to be thinking about! We're too worried about this & that & the other & get our minds off the Lord & off of trusting the Lord & on our burdens instead of casting our burdens on Him & letting Him take care of it!
         24. THERE ARE SOME TIMES IT CERTAINLY IS TRUE, WHEN THERE IS A VERY VERY IMPORTANT THING THAT YOU'RE ABOUT TO DO THAT THE ENEMY DOES PULL OUT ALL HIS BIG GUNS & ALL STOPS & TRIES HIS BEST TO STOP YOU! Maria's reminding me of how sick I was last year right before the Poster Push.
         25. BUT THE LORD ALLOWED IT FOR SOME REASON, & MAYBE IT WAS TO TEST ME TO SEE HOW DETERMINED I WAS TO GO THROUGH WITH THAT POSTER PROGRAM! Because I didn't let it get me down! I think I was only flat on my back sick in bed one day, but I got up & worked every other day, I kept going even if I was coughing half the time! I fought back & I fought my way through that thing & out of it!
         26. SO THE LORD HEALED ME BECAUSE HE SAW I WAS DETERMINED TO GO THROUGH WITH IT! Because it took a lot of determination & He wasn't going to allow me to do such a big project that was to have such an impact on millions all over this Earth unless I was pretty well purified by His fires of testing & purification, & I had my heart in the right place & the right direction & I was doing it for the right motive!--Not for self-glory or just to make the World look pretty or just to please the people, but to give them the Message they needed, like it or not!
         27. I HAD TO HAVE SUCH STRONG CONVICTION OF GOD THAT I WAS RIGHT & I WAS DOING THE WILL OF GOD & I'd heard it from the Lord Himself & He had given the pictures & that the people needed them, like it or not, live or die, sink or swim, I was going to get'm out, because I knew it was the Will of God!
         28. ALL RIGHT, SO HE LET ME BE TESTED A LITTLE BIT TO SEE HOW WILLING I WAS, IF I WOULD BE WILLING TO DIE FOR IT.--And I nearly did! But I kept fighting! I think if I had given up I probably would have died, but I fought! I fought the Enemy & I fought myself until I finally pushed it through! But I think that most of my fight was with myself. The Lord was allowing me to be tested to test me & my faith & my conviction & my determination & my faith in Him & His Word & His vision & His Message!
         29. I'VE GOT A GOD WHO IS ALL-POWERFUL & HE RULES OVER EVERYTHING! He won't let the Enemy, not one of his little devils or imps or Satan himself, lay a finger on a hair of your head, unless you need it or deserve it or somehow it's warranted. I mean it! I want you to make God's domain all-powerful, Son!
         30. I JUST CAN'T BELIEVE GOD LETS BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO US WITHOUT ANY WARNING OR FOR ANY REASON WHATSOEVER, except for some good reason. Either we've been bad & we deserve it, or we've been good & He just wants to see how bad we want to be good! As I used to say, sometimes God lets things happen to us to humble us, to make us humble, & later on He may let things happen to us again to see if we're still humble.
         31. BUT I HAVE AN ALL-POWERFUL GOD WHO CAN DO ANYTHING & PREVENT ANYTHING & WILL NOT LET THE DEVIL GET ANY POWER OVER US! As long as we are obeying God & trusting Him & do not doubt & have the faith & rest in His Word, I don't believe God's going to let much happen to us except maybe a little test to just see how much faith we've got, how determined we are & how much patience we have, & how convinced we are that we're right to go ahead with what we're doing.
         32. I'M ALWAYS PUTTING THE LORD FIRST! I'm not saying, "Oh, the Devil did this to me, look what Satan's done, blah blah!" That's a worship & glorification of Satan. I believe God is responsible for everything, even the Devil! How about that?
         33. BUT THE LORD ALLOWS US TO BE TESTED IN AN AREA IN WHICH WE ARE THE WEAKEST SPIRITUALLY, SOMETIMES PHYSICALLY. He allows us to be tested to see if we are going to stand firm no matter what, though He slay us!
         34. DON'T TELL ME WE DON'T ALL HAVE THINGS WRONG WITH US MOST OF THE TIME! But on the eve of something very big & very important that we need to do, He wants to make sure we are ready to do it, so He purges out the chaff & the flotsam & the impurities & we pass through the fire, but we come through as pure gold ready to do the job!--Just like soldiers in training. They do all that tough training to get'm in shape for the battle!--To get them purged of their weaknesses of the flesh & their disobediences & everything else & learn how to obey no matter what! Discipline & purging!--Those are trials!
         35. WHAT DOES HE SAY ABOUT TRIALS OF FAITH? "THE TRYING OF YOUR FAITH IS MORE PRECIOUS THAN GOLD!" (1Pet.1:7) And "think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you. But rejoice!"--Why?--"Inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's suffering!" (1Pet.4:12-13) Why did He ever let Christ suffer? "Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience through the things which He suffered." (Heb.5:8) He let Him suffer so even He knew what obedience was like, & also to even know what sin was like, even without sin, because He had to suffer for our sins! (2Cor.5:21)
         36. I THINK MOST OF GOD'S TRIALS & TESTINGS ARE CARRIED ON BY HIS LOVING & FAITHFUL ANGELS, HIS OWN ANGELS, NOT THE DEVIL! I think if Job hadn't been such a severe case, He wouldn't have even let the Devil do that! But there's nothing God hates like self-righteousness! So He had to use the Devil himself to really bring Job down!
         37. SO LET'S NOT PUT THE EMPHASIS ON THE NEGATIVE. Let's put the emphasis on the positive & how safe we are within His forcefields of His protection & with all His Angelic hosts to fight for us & the billions watching how marvellously we get along without interference from the Devil most of the time! I think it's a lesson we all need to learn, to have more faith in the Lord & His power & His protection.
         38. THE LORD LIKES TO TRY YOUR FAITH because He likes to see it prove itself! He likes to see you prove you've got the faith. He doesn't like to give you proof, He likes you to prove it. He likes you to prove it to Him! He had a lot of faith in Job! He knew Job was going to make it, that's why He let the Devil test him. But He knew Job needed to have a whole lot of stuff burned out of him too, mostly his self-confidence & self-righteousness. So Job learned his lessons & then the Lord relieved him, PTL!
         39. BUT GOD'S GOT A REASON FOR EVERYTHING & I STILL SAY HE'S THE MOST POWERFUL & THE DEVIL CAN'T DO A DAMNED THING WITHOUT HIS PERMISSION! Some say let's give the Devil his due, but don't give him more than his due or give him credit for having more power than he really has! So I'm sending this back to you & you see what you can do with it in the light of what you just heard! And if you just make a few little slips, don't worry about it! That's why the Lord probably let you do it, so I'd preach you this sermon! So there! Our mistakes even bring good. "All things work together for good to them that love the Lord", do you still believe that?--OK! GBY! ILY!