"Is it enough to just rebuke the enemy? Are we missing an important element of prayer? We've all heard people say, "I rebuke you, devil" or "I rebuked the enemy." But, are we following up those words with an action we want the enemy to take as Jesus did? Are we binding and restricting our situation or storms and then speaking to it and declaring over our situation what it should do?" -- Kathy DeGraw
Another area that
word-faithers get wrong is this notion of loosing and binding. I am sure we have all heard it before from the
hyper-charismatics and super spirituals in our own church. They run around
binding and loosing things declaring and decreeing their power over the devil
himself. Some stick to spiritual matters but others just go full tilt and start
binding and loosing everything from common colds to cancer. Such is the case
with Kathy DeGraw. Before we get there however let us understand where she and
the hyper-charismatics get this notion from. This verse about binding and
loosing is from the scene where Peter correctly answers that Jesus is the
Christ. Jesus declares that God gave Peter such an insightful and correct
answer. He states that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church of
Christ. Then He says the second key verse today. That Peter will be given the
keys to kingdom of heaven and whatever he binds on earth will be bound in
heaven and whatever he looses one earth shall be loosed in heaven. Before we
get confused I have one question:
Does earth dictate anything to heaven?
The answer is no beloved. Heaven flows to earth
and not the other way around so what is Jesus saying? First, for simplicity
sake let us understand that loosing means allowing and binding means
prohibiting. Because Peter is being given the keys to the kingdom of heaven he
now will understand what is allowed and not allowed in the kingdom. Thus what
he binds and looses on earth will be determined by this insight. Today we have
the keys to the kingdom of heaven in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. By reading and
understanding the bible, we too know what is permissible and what is not. We
can bind what we know is not allowed and loose what is. The death and
resurrection of Christ broke the power of sin in our lives. Sin is not
permitted in heaven. Thus we can bind the sin that we struggle with. The
supernatural power is not ours beloved -- it is His. It is interesting that Kathy equates rebuking
the enemy with prayer because that is essentially what it is. The problem is
who are you praying to in that scenario? The devil. Let us see what Christian
Apologetics and Research Ministry (CARM) has to say about that:
"Prayer is not to be offered to the saints, to Mary, to dead relatives, or anyone else. Nevertheless, many well meaning Christians make a huge mistake when dealing with demonic forces. During their prayers to God, they sometimes switch, and pray to the demonic forces when they try and rebuke them. On the surface this might sound a good idea, but I find nothing in Scripture that says a Christian is to, essentially, pray to demons and rebuke them. Instead, the biblical pattern is to pray to God and ask God to do the spiritual battle." -- CARM
Once again though, Kathy DeGraw acts as if she is God. As if she has the power that only He possesses. We do not declare anything over our situations. If we want we can declare scripture as a reminder to us what God has said. Perhaps it will bolster our faith but to actually declare what will and will not transpire? Yeah that is not a power we possess as merely the created.
"When we look at the Scriptures, when Jesus rebuked, He gave the item He rebuked a follow-up command. We are rebuking, but I believe it isn't getting us the results it should. For years, I ministered to a couple who had an epileptic child. The wife kept saying, "I rebuked the devil." However, there were three challenges with her prayer. She prayed silently. The devil couldn't hear what she was binding and restricting. She prayed legalistically. She believed just praying in her mind, "I rebuke you, devil" would get the job done. She didn't give the enemy a follow-up command. Once she did rebuke him aloud, if she ever followed my advice and prayed aloud, she didn't tell the enemy what to do, the disease to leave or command her child to be healed. She just kept telling me all the time, "I rebuked the devil." -- Kathy DeGraw
You have got to be kidding me. This is what happens when you run around like the seven sons of Sceva, having no clue what you are dealing with. So in the Charismaniacal crazy-land of Kathy DeGraw, the devil cannot hear silent prayers so he will not listen to being bound unless it passes a certain decibel level. Secondly, just having faith that God will answer the prayers is somehow "legalistic" and lastly she did not give the devil "next steps" so he knew what to do after he was bound. You just cannot make up such silliness. In DeGraw's mind again, we are little gods with the power to now control the enemy if we would only be specific.
When we look at the storm on the water in Mark 4, we see an example of Jesus rebuking the wind and speaking to the sea. "He rose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, 'Peace, be still!' Then the wind ceased, and there was a great calm" (Mark 4:39). Jesus rose up and rebuked the wind, which was causing disruption on the sea. When He rebuked the wind, which is taking authority over it, He spoke to the sea and gave it a follow-up command of authority to be still. Notice, the wind ceased first. The wind and the sea, both things He took authority over, had to react in order for the stillness to come forth. It was twofold: rebuking and speaking a follow-up command." -- Kathy DeGraw
This is just as bad an affront to proper English as it is to the bible. Based upon the grammar, we must conclude that the rebuke was peace, be still. These are not two commands but one. How do we know that? because of the usage of a comma and not a period between peace and be still. What is Kathy DeGraw saying here? That if Jesus had just said "Peace" that the sea would not have grown still? Seriously? The rebuke to the wind resulted in the sea growing still. Nowhere does the text come close to intimating that Jesus is speaking different commands to the sea and the wind. Only in the wickedly deceitful hearty of Kathy DeGraw does such idiotic nuances exist. But wait! There's more!