Proclamation of the Victory of the Lord Jesus Christ over Evil; and, a Word of Warning to the Wicked

Table of contents

1.  Proclamation of the victory of Jesus Christ over evil

2.  A warning to the wicked

3.  Christ shall vindicate and avenge the oppressed

     Addendum

J. D. Gallé | Saturday, 7 October 2023

1.  Proclamation of the victory of Jesus Christ over evil

• The Lord Jesus Christ has defeated the powers of evil and darkness already.
• Evil shall not win.
• The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ cleanses from every and all sin, for those believing in him.
• Jesus Christ is King, and has all power and authority in heaven and on earth.
• I rebuke all the powers of darkness, evil humans, and evil spirits who have arrayed themselves against me, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and command you to depart from my presence immediately, and go wheresoever the Lord Jesus Christ sends you.
• No weapon that is formed against me shall prosper, and every tongue that rises against me in judgement, shall be condemned.
• All the emissaries of the Evil One, human and non-human, individually and collectively, from whatsoever agency or society, I command you to depart from my presence now in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
• All workers of iniquity without exception shall be condemned to the lake of fire.
• All forms of witchcraft and sorcery are an abomination to Yahweh God.
• The Lord Jesus Christ has defeated evil decisively through his death, burial, and resurrection approximately two thousand years ago, and he shall return to fully reclaim the world as his kingdom.
• All evil shall be everlastingly expunged from the new heavens, new earth, and new Jerusalem, the everlasting kingdom of God the Father and his only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

2.  A warning to the wicked

        To those human beings for whom it is yet possible to turn away from evil, who have not committed the sin against the Holy Spirit that shall not be forgiven in this age or the age to come, turn immediately from your wickedness; seek and follow the Lord Jesus Christ in order that you may be delivered from the wrath to come.

        If you are set against the people of God, the brothers and sisters of the Lord Jesus, you are an enemy of God and shall be judged as his enemy, suffering the retribution of age-lasting destruction.

        The wrath and curse of God remain upon all those who love evil and lawlessness. Those who have despised the Lord Jesus Christ and his ways shall be banished into the age-lasting fire and age-lasting punishment, when the Lord Jesus returns as King with all his holy angels to judge the nations in justice on a day God the Father has designated.

3.  Christ shall vindicate and avenge the oppressed

        The Lord Jesus Christ is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He is a God of vengeance and wrath, and shall avenge the suffering, oppression, and blood of his holy ones.

        The wicked and lawless, that is, the children of the Devil, the False Accuser, the Slanderous One, are those who have taken pleasure in harming, hindering, raping, abusing, oppressing, trafficking, enslaving, torturing, and murdering the holy, innocent, and vulnerable since the foundation of the world.

        The end of the children of the Slanderer is in the lake of fire, wherein they shall be cast along with their god and father, Satan, the Adversary.

        The Lord Jesus Christ shall avenge and repay all workers of iniquity in full in accordance with their evil, wickedness, and love of unrighteousness.

Copyright © J. D. Gallé, 2023, 2024. All rights reserved.

Addendum

        The above piece is an expanded version of my original article, ‘The Powers of Darkness Cannot and Will Not Prevail against the Lord Jesus Christ, Lord of All’ (21 Jan. 2023).

Latest revision(s): added a paragraph break (7 Jun. 2024); added a comma in one place (16 Oct. 2024).

The Satan, Enemy of God and Humankind: a Survey of an Active and Dangerous, albeit Defeated, Foe; and, a Remonstrant’s Renunciations of the Domain of Darkness

J. D. Gallé | Monday, 29 August 2022

The character of the Calumniator

        The Satan,[1] that is, the Adversary of Yahweh God, his elect angels,[2] and all humankind (particularly the consecrated ones of God, namely followers of the Lord Jesus Christ), in this present, passing, evil age,[3] is leading astray the entire inhabited earth.[4] He is also known as the Devil,[5] that is, the Slanderous One. The Lord Jesus identifies the Slanderer as the father of falsehood: a malignant, malevolent entity devoid of truth, whose native tongue is that of speaking lies,[6] who ever seeks to defame the character of God, and relentlessly accuses the people of God in the presence of God.[7]

The Evil One hinders the human race

        In accordance with his ill will towards God the Creator and his creation, particularly those originally made in the image of God,[8] namely human beings, the god of this age utilises manifold artifices and tactics to blind minds,[9] deceive, divert, ensnare, harass, harm, injure, and prevent human beings from being reconciled to God the Father through faith in Jesus Christ, who died and was raised again to procure salvation for the entire human race.[10]

The aim of the Adversary’s attacks against the faithful

        For those who are presently united to Christ, the Adversary seeks to undermine and diminish their faith through temptations to doubt, disobedience, fear, and unbelief, opportunistically assailing them through grievous trials, and assorted bodily and mental afflictions. His aim is to ultimately destroy the faith of the saints, the holy ones of God, leading them to depart from Christ, the Son of the living God, their only hope of salvation. For this reason, the prospect of apostasy is treated as an actual danger in the New Testament writings, a temptation to which disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ must not succumb even under the most dire of circumstances.

The Slanderer: ruler of this world

        True to his nature, the Enemy, the Slanderer, is also called the Evil One, under whose domain the whole world is reclined.[11]  As shocking as it might be to some, the Satan possesses a powerful, hierarchical, orderly kingdom of his own that is in direct opposition to the kingdom of God.[12] He is the Mastermind of the corrupt, evil, fallen world-system; the Psychopath of psychopaths; a cold, calculated genius, who seeks to mimic and pervert the ways of the One to whom he shall ever be inferior: the Lord Jesus Christ, who, in the flesh, in obedience to the Father, defeated and rendered the Slanderer powerless by submitting to an agonising, humiliating death on a Roman cross approximately two thousand years ago at Golgotha.[13]

Salvation from the powers of darkness

        Through the proclamation of the Good News of Jesus Christ, all persons everywhere are now called to change their minds and turn from darkness to light, from the authority of the Adversary to God,[14] from the authority of darkness to the reign of the Son of his (God’s) love.[15]

        In what is commonly referred to as the Lord’s Prayer, a model prayer for Christ-followers recorded in the Sermon on the Mount,[16] the Lord Jesus underscores the solemnity with which we are to regard our spiritual enemy, instructing his disciples to entreat their Father in the heavens for deliverance (or rescue) from the Evil One.[17]

The end of the Evil One

        According to the scriptures, the Slanderous One’s fate shall be in the lake of fire and sulphur,[18] the fire of the age to come, the age-lasting fire,[19] into which he and his angels (messengers) are to be permanently banished by the King, Jesus the Anointed One.[20] This shall occur when the Lord Jesus, accompanied by all his holy angels, returns in glory at the consummation of the age, and judges the nations in righteousness, fully reclaiming the world as his rightful kingdom.[21, 22] Amen.

For this objective the Son of God was made visible: in order that he may annul, break up, destroy, dissolve, loose, undo[23] the works of the Slanderous One. 

(1 John 3.8cd)[24]

 

But if we may keep walking in the light just as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from every conceivable sin. 

(1 John 1.7, LNT)[25]

A Remonstrant’s renunciations

• I renounce Satan and his works;
• I renounce the kingdom/reign of Satan;
• I renounce the authority/dominion of Satan;
• I renounce the authority/dominion of darkness;
• I renounce all Satanic and demonic affiliations and associations;
• I renounce the spirit of the Antichrist;
• I renounce all sorcery and witchcraft;
• I renounce any curse written, muttered, or spoken against me, in secret or in the open;
• I renounce all forms of sexual perversion and immorality as contrary to God and his will.

Renunciations relating to the Seventh-day Adventist Church

        On Ellen G. White.

• I renounce Ellen G. White (1827–1915) as a false prophetess;
• I renounce Ellen G. White as the Spirit of Prophecy;
• I renounce Ellen G. White as one being in possession of, or manifesting, the gift of prophecy imparted by the Holy Spirit at any time during her ministry, antedating or postdating the establishment of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1863, to the time of her death on Friday, 16 July 1915;
• I renounce Ellen G. White as an infallible interpreter of scripture;
• I renounce the writings of Ellen G. White as being in any way authoritative or divinely inspired, and thus deny that ‘[h]er writings speak with prophetic authority’ or that ‘her writings are a continuing and authoritative source of truth’;
• I renounce Ellen G. White as ‘the Lord’s messenger’ or ‘the messenger of the Lord’.

        On the Seventh-day Adventist Church organisation.

• I renounce the Seventh-day Adventist Church organisation as the remnant church of God, and rather affirm that the organisation was ultimately founded upon presumptuous, false prophecies concerning the timing of the Second Advent of the Lord Jesus Christ by William Miller (1782–1849), and creative, false reinterpretation of those failed prophecies by some of his despondent followers, who refused to accept that they had been deceived;
• I renounce the deception of the Seventh-day Adventist Church organisation;
• I renounce the unrepentant, self-justifying spirit of the Seventh-day Adventist Church organisation.

        On 1844 and the investigative judgement / pre-Advent judgement.

• I renounce any notion that the Lord Jesus Christ is not presently at the right hand of the Father;
• I renounce the Seventh-day Adventist doctrine of the investigative/pre-Advent judgement;
• I renounce the suggestion that anything novel or significant occurred in redemptional or salvational history on Tuesday, 22 October 1844;
• I renounce the notion that believers in Jesus Christ who rejected William Miller’s false prophecy concerning the Second Coming of Jesus Christ on earth in 1844 underwent any change in their salvational position or status before God.

        On the seventh-day Sabbath and the keeping of a specific day.

• I renounce belief in present or future Sunday observance as the Mark of the Beast and seventh-day Sabbath-keeping as the seal of God;
• I renounce seventh-day Sabbath-keeping as in any way binding, mandatory, or necessary in the new-covenant era;
• I renounce seventh-day Sabbath-keeping as being in any way necessary for new-covenant believers in Jesus Christ to attain and/or retain salvation in this age, or inherit salvation in the age to come (eschatological salvation); or, in other words, I renounce seventh-day Sabbath-keeping as a ‘testing truth’ for new-covenant believers, and deny that honouring and refraining from work on the weekly, seventh-day Sabbath is in any way determinative of a person’s entrance into the kingdom of God in the new heavens and new earth, whether one shall inherit or be banished from God’s kingdom;
• I renounce the necessity of keeping a specific day of the week in the new-covenant era, whether it be the seventh-day Sabbath or the first day (Sunday), for the purpose of attaining or retaining salvation, or growing in holiness/Christ-likeness (progressive sanctification);
• I renounce seventh-day Sabbath observance as a definitive sign or mark of allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ, for the end of the law is Christ, resulting in righteousness for everyone believing in him.[26]

Further renunciations 

• I renounce mysticism, false visions, demonically inspired spiritual experiences, and false tongues;
• I renounce the religious system of Roman Catholicism;
• I renounce prayers to the saints;
• I renounce prayers to the Virgin Mary;
• I renounce prayers to angels;
• I renounce Calvinism, in all its creeds, confessions, forms, and varieties, as the standard for Christian orthodoxy;
• I renounce the doctrine of everlasting, conscious torture as an unassailable, requisite dogma of the Christian faith;
• I renounce any and all organisations, religious or otherwise, which seek, wittingly or unwittingly, to raise themselves above the knowledge of God in Christ Jesus;
• I renounce spiritual abuse, emotional abuse, verbal abuse, psychological abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse;
• I renounce saying prayers to, or seeking in any way to communicate with, the dead;
• I renounce any and all communications with unclean / foul / impure / evil spirits (demons), other than to rebuke them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and command them to depart to wheresoever the Lord Jesus may send them; 
• I renounce all the lies of the Evil One in, for, and against my life, through whomsoever they may be spoken;
• I renounce rock-and-roll and heavy metal music, and all forms of music and lyrics which are contrary to the glorification of the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ and the building up of his kingdom, which are rather designed to manipulate, warp, distract, and distort the minds and perceptions of human beings, and appeal to the cravings of the flesh, the cravings of the eyes, and the arrogance of life in humankind[27];
• I renounce substance abuse of any kind, including drugs and alcohol;
• I renounce pride and self-exaltation;
• I renounce double-mindedness;
• I renounce despair;
• I renounce chaotic, irrational thoughts;
• I renounce suicide and suicidal thoughts;
• I renounce thoughts and feelings of worthlessness;
• I renounce covetousness;
• I renounce atheism;
• I renounce nihilism;
• I renounce meaninglessness;
• I renounce fatalism;
• I renounce misanthropy;
• I renounce gluttony or surfeiting;
• I renounce uncontrollable anger or rage;
• I renounce the love of pleasures rather than the love of God;
• I renounce the love of pleasures more than the love of God;
• I renounce all false Jesuses, all false Christs;
• I renounce taking vengeance for myself, and give room to the wrath of God;
• I renounce denying, disowning, or disregarding the holy name of the Lord Jesus Christ;
• I renounce blaspheming, the light treatment and misuse of, the holy name of God and the Lord Jesus Christ;
• I renounce all harsh thoughts against the goodness and trustworthiness of God, who sent his Son to die for my sins that I might be saved;
• I renounce any thought or consideration of blaspheming or speaking against the Holy Spirit;
• I renounce my participation in evil and unclean works;
• I renounce my participation in fellowship with the unfruitful, shameful works of darkness;
• I renounce any and all involvement with the occult.

Ancestral renunciations

• I renounce, to the fourth generation, any and all ancestral/familial associations, participation, involvement, indulgence of, and ties, past or present, by persons living or dead, with the following fruitless works of darkness:
• rebellion against the Most High God;
• unnatural love of self (self-love);
• pride and self-exaltation;
• self-worship;
• an abusive, enslaving, controlling, tyrannical, domineering spirit, which seeks to dehumanise, diminish, subjugate, and lord itself over others;
• a power-hungry spirit;
• an entitled spirit;
• a spirit of self-importance;
• a self-serving, exploitative, parasitic spirit, which seeks only its own perceived good, enjoyment, advancement, health, comfort, welfare, and betterment, and views others as a means to an end;
• a selfish spirit which refuses to recognise the dignity and rights of others;
• a manipulative spirit;
• a contemptuous, hateful spirit;
• an envious spirit;
• a brutish, animalistic spirit;
• love of money or wealth;
• love of lies;
• hatred of the truth;
• a spirit of lying;
• a spirit of murder;
• the occult;
• occultic writings;
• obsession with the occult;
• obsession with the powers of darkness;
• the speaking or reading of magical incantations;
• sorcery, magic, wizardry, witchcraft;
• astrology;
• astral projection;
• automatic writing;
• channelling;
• palm-reading and fortune-telling;
• remote viewing;
• mediums, seances, necromancy;
• divination;
• telepathy;
• telekinesis (psychokinesis);
• scrying;
• energy healing;
• yoga;
• transcendental meditation;
• martial arts;
• prayers to Satan;
• prayers to fallen angels and/or demons (evil, unclean spirits);
• prayers to false gods;
• prayers to ancestors or ancestral spirits;
• prayers to the saints;
• prayers to the Virgin Mary;
• prayers to angels;
• Freemasonry;
• covens;
• secret societies;
• substance abuse;
• tarot cards;
• Ouija boards;
• drug and alcohol reliance or addiction;
• Satanic/demonic music, bands, and lyrics, which seek to glorify Satan, and/or blaspheme, diminish, deny, mock, and revile the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, who, on a day God the Father has appointed, shall judge the inhabited earth in righteousness[28];
• hatred of the scriptures, the Word of God;
• unnatural, demonic aversion to the holy scriptures;
• mockery of the Word of God;
• mockery of the Lord Jesus Christ;
• hatred of Yahweh, the God of Israel, Creator of the heavens and earth;
• hatred and blasphemy of the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ;
• hatred and blasphemy of Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God;
• diminishment or denial of the victory of the Lord Jesus Christ achieved against the Evil One and the powers of darkness, from the time of his enfleshment (incarnation) to enthronement, who is now seated at the right hand of God the Father, including the life; teaching, healing, and deliverance ministry; suffering and death on a Roman cross; burial; resurrection on the third day; and ascension of the holy Son of God approximately two thousand years ago;
• denial of Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God, who has taken away the sin of the world;
• denial of the holiness of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, its necessity for the salvation of sinful, fallen human beings, and its efficacy to save those who turn to God through faith in Jesus Christ;
• denial of the Lord Jesus Christ as the great High Priest in the heavens;
• hatred of the cross of Jesus Christ;
• hatred of the blood of Jesus Christ;
• hatred of the Holy Spirit;
• speaking against, and blasphemy or vilification of, the Spirit of God, the sin that shall not be forgiven in this age or the age to come;
• honouring, serving, or tolerating any false Jesus or false Christ, whether it be the false Jesus of Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, or some other false Christ;
• the worship of idols;
• the worship of ancestors or ancestral spirits;
• the worship of human beings;
• the worship of animals;
• the worship of plants;
• the worship of nature;
• the worship of Satan, false gods, fallen angels, demons;
• the worship of creation;
• all forms of sexual perversion, bondage, and abuse;
• incubi and succubi;
• uncleanness;
• malice;
• envy;
• unnatural attachment to objects/possessions;
• the use and reliance upon amulets or charms as a means of attaining favour or protection from harm;
• voodoo dolls;
• bestiality;
• sadism;
• the torture of humans or animals;
• the ritual sacrifice of animals;
• cutting and self-harm;
• suicide/self-murder;
• the entertainment of suicidal thoughts;
• the shedding of innocent blood;
• the harm, abuse, and murder of infants and children;
• murder/man-slaying;
• human sacrifice;
• the drinking or consumption of blood, human or animal;
• vows or oaths made to Satan, fallen angels, demons, false gods, ancestors or ancestral spirits;
• any consecration, allegiance, covenants made with, or service rendered to Satan, the fallen angels, demons, false gods, ancestors or ancestral spirits, that may have occurred, or may presently be taking place, by any and all persons in my ancestral/familial lineage, living or dead, to the fourth generation.

Final renunciations

• I renounce the desires of my oppressors and all the oppressors of the saints/holy ones of God, human and non-human, natural and preter-/supernatural, who seek to harm, harass, hinder, abuse, torment, enslave, and destroy those who would follow the Lord Jesus Christ;
• I renounce all strongholds, demonic portals, and access points of the Adversary and his emissaries whereby the powers of darkness may gain, maintain, and/or regain legal entry into my life;
• I renounce the fear of human beings;
• I renounce the fear of the powers of darkness;
• I renounce the fear of fallen angels and/or demons;
• I renounce the fear of the Evil One;
• I renounce any and all idols;
• I renounce any created being’s belief or claim of ownership of me, or over my life, as utterly false, demonic, and Satanically inspired;
• I renounce any and all persons, places, and things which seek to hinder and usurp wholehearted allegiance to God the Father and his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, in my heart, mind, and life;
• I renounce the will of the Slanderer for my life.

 

        The Satan is the Adversary. He is opposed to God the Father, his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. He is a liar and a murderer, and the originator of both practices. I renounce Satan as my enemy, and the enemy of God and Christ. I renounce the kingdom of the Evil One and the dominion of darkness in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, whom the Father has raised from the dead and highly exalted above all powers, rulers, authorities, and dominions, and given him all power and authority in heaven and on earth. Amen.

        Jesus Christ is the true God and eternal life. He is King, Lord, Saviour, and Redeemer. The blood of the Son of God cleanses me from every sin. Amen.

A prayer for the freedom of the people of God

        May all the enemies and haters of God, who seek to hinder, harm, abuse, exploit, slander, and oppress those belonging to the Lord Jesus Christ be thwarted in their evil designs. Father God, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, set your people free to serve you. Grant them protection from the Adversary and his emissaries, and deliverance from the evil oppression of your enemies. Bring your justice soon to pass upon those who hate you, your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and who seek to harm and destroy your people. Repay them according to their works. Amen.

“No weapon formed against you shall prosper, / And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. / This is the heritage of the servants of [Yahweh], / And their righteousness is from Me,” Says [Yahweh].  (Isaiah 54.17, NKJV)[29]

 

So he cut two tablets of stone like the first ones. Then Moses rose early in the morning and went up Mount Sinai, as [Yahweh] had commanded him; and he took in his hand the two tablets of stone. Now [Yahweh] descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of [Yahweh]. And [Yahweh] passed before him and proclaimed, “[Yahweh], [Yahweh] God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”  (Exodus 34.4–7, NKJV)[30]

 

Baptism, […], now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.   (1 Peter 3.21–22, ESV)[31]

 

An invitation to Roman Catholics and Seventh-day Adventists

        If you are a Seventh-day Adventist or a Roman Catholic, for whatever good that you might believe has been, is being, and/or will be provided to you via these systems, I pray that your eyes will be opened to see the darkness that lurks deep within, and that you will call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to free you from their bondage and deception.

Primary notes

        1. Greek: Σατανᾶς, Satanas.

        2. See 1 Timothy 5.21.
        3. See Galatians 1.4.

        4. See Revelation 12.9.

        5. Greek: Διάβολος, Diabolos.

        6. See John 8.44.

        7. See Revelation 12.10 (cp. Job 1.9–11; 2.4–5).

        8. See Genesis 1.27.

        9. See 2 Corinthians 4.4.

        10. See 2 Corinthians 5.14–15, 19 (see also Jn 3.16–17; 12.47b; 1 Tim. 2.6; 1 Jn 2.2; 4.14).

        11. See 1 John 5.19.

        12. See Matthew 12.25–28.

        13. See Hebrews 2.14–15.

        14. See Acts 26.18.

        15. See Colossians 1.13.

        16. See Matthew 5–7.

        17. See Matthew 6.13 (cp. Lk. 11.4, Byzantine/Majority Text).

        18. See Revelation 20.10.

        19. With few exceptions, the Matthean phrase, τὸ πῦρ τὸ αἰώνιον, to pyr to aiōnion (Gk) (Matt. 18.8; 25.41), which I have here elected to translate as ‘the fire of the age [to come]’ and ‘the age-lasting fire’, has been consistently rendered in most English Bible translations, committee-approved and independently produced alike, as ‘everlasting fire’ (e.g. CEV, GW, KJV, NKJV) or ‘eternal fire’ (e.g. ASV, CSB, ESV, NASB, NET, NIV, RSV). Notable exceptions include independent, non-committee translations by scholars such as David Bentley Hart (‘the fire of the Age’ [2017]); J. Webb Mealy (‘the age-long fire’ [2022])*; Richard Francis Weymouth (‘the f/Fire† of the Ages’ [1903]); and Robert Young (‘the fire[,] the age-during’ [1862]). 

        20. See Matthew 25.41.

        21. Matthew 25.31–46 (see also Matt. 13.36–43).

        22. Recall that, according to Matthew 4.8–9, the Slanderous One claimed ownership of the kingdoms of this world, and offered them to the Lord Jesus on the condition of prostrating himself before him and worshipping him (cp. Lk. 4.5–7), a temptation which the Anointed One stoutly denounced (Matt. 4.10; Lk. 4.8).

        23. Although most English Bible translations render λύω, lyō (Gk) as ‘destroy’ in 1 John 3.8, the term may also be translated ‘annul’, ‘break up’ (so Young’s Literal Translation [1862]), ‘dissolve’ (so David Bentley Hart’s The New Testament: A Translation [2017]), ‘loose’ (so Tyndale [1526]; Coverdale [1535]; Geneva Bible [1587]), or ‘undo’ (so John Nelson Darby’s translation [1890]; Literal Standard Version [2022]). (Richard Francis Weymouth’s New Testament [1903] reads, ‘The Son of God appeared for the purpose of undoing the work of the Devil’ [emphasis added]).

        24. My (slightly amplified) rendering.

        25. Lavender’s New Testament (2015),‡ emphasis added.

        26. See Romans 10.4.

        27. See 1 John 2.16.

        28. See Acts 17.31.

        29. New King James Version (1982). I have here rendered the Tetragrammaton (YHWH) as ‘Yahweh’ in square brackets, thus replacing the conventional, compromised rendering still retained in the NKJV and most English Bible translations, namely ‘the LORD’ (sic).

        30. Regarding the square-bracket enclosement of the Tetragrammaton, see note 29 (above).

        31. English Standard Version (2001–2016), emphasis added.

Secondary notes

        *  J. Webb Mealy, The Spoken English New Testament: A New Translation from the Greek, 1st edn (Eugene, OR: Head, Heart & Hands Books, 2022). ISBN: 978-0-9669908-6-7.

        †  Inexplicably, Weymouth capitalises ‘fire’ in the very same phrase occurring in Matthew 25.41, but not 18.8. I imagine that this was simply an oversight on his part.

        ‡  Malcolm L. Lavender, Lavender’s New Testament, A Literal Translation of the Robinson-Pierpont Majority Text (1995). Copyright © R. L. Lavender, 2015. ISBN: 978-0-9795014-7-0.

Copyright © J. D. Gallé, 2022. All rights reserved.

Addendum (28 Mar. 2023).  For a more thorough, expanded, periodically updated, personal list of renunciations (arranged somewhat differently than the present article), see the link to the following web page:

•  J. D. Gallé, ‘A Remonstrant’s Renunciations’ (2022– )

Merrill F. Unger on Spiritual Warfare: Withstanding the Assaults of the Enemy

        It is perilous to ignore the adversary.[1] The apostle Paul recognized that. “We are not ignorant of his schemes” (2 Corinthians 2:11; NASB),[2] he declared. It is equally hazardous not to stand against the enemy. The apostle realized that fact, too. “Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore” (Ephesians 6:13-14; NASB).
        No one can stand firm against the powers of darkness who does not know his position and resources in Christ and the deceptive schemes of the foe he faces. Christ’s glorious salvation and our triumph in Him form the splendid scenery that is always brightly silhouetted against the somber background of Satan and demonic activity.
        Those who imagine that they can triumph in Christ and not encounter satanic conflict deceive themselves. If they do not experience warfare, either their “triumph” is phony or their position in Christ is purely imaginary.[3] They are parading in the sphere of darkness, but somehow they are mistaking it for the realm of light.
        To be delivered from the foe you must know and face the foe. You must claim the efficacy of the blood of Christ and the power of His name. You must face the foe in the light of what you are in Christ and what He has done for you. […] (p. 188)[4]

        [R]ecognition of demonic activity with bold confrontation of the powers of darkness is necessary to be set free. Ignorance of Satan’s devices and theoretical armchair interpretations of Scripture that simply do not jibe with authenticated human experience hinder rather than help the ministry of deliverance.
        Today a new and subtle device of Satan is springing up to distract saints from facing the foe. Because of the flood of anti-occult literature from the evangelical camp that perhaps discloses in some quarters an unhealthy preoccupation with Satan and demonic powers, some believers are falling into another satanic trap. They are loathe to [sic][5] hear anything at all about the powers of darkness. At best, they shy away from facing the full implications of the scriptural teachings on the subject.
        This is just as truly the snare of the devil as fanatical occupation with the powers of darkness. If we are going to be delivered, we must face the enemy squarely. We dare not ignore him even if he appears under the masquerade of supposed biblical orthodoxy that sets arbitrary limits to his sway over a sinning saint where such limitations do not really exist.[6] (pp. 189–90)

Merrill F. Unger, What Demons Can Do to Saints (1977; repr., Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1991)

Copyright © The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, 1991. All rights reserved.

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Notes

        1. Namely Satan (Gk: Σατανᾶς, Satanas).
        2. Scriptural quotations labelled ‘NASB’ are taken from the New American Standard Bible (1977 text edition).
        3. That is to say, such persons are deluded or self-deceived; they are not, in actuality, united to Christ by faith.
        4. Believers must ground their identity completely in the person of Jesus Christ, placing their confidence fully in Christ’s redemptive work, specifically his sin-cancelling death on the cross. Satan is not intimidated by human beings – least of all sinful human beings – nor is he disposed to respond to any authority other than the Lord Jesus Christ.

        5. Rather, they are loath to (i.e. reluctant; unwilling) hear of anything concerning the powers of darkness.

        6. It is not uncommon for conservative Christians to radically underestimate the level of damage that Satan can inflict in the lives of believers who do not walk circumspectly before the Lord and persist in wilful sin.  —J. D. Gallé

Notes copyright © J. D. Gallé, 2016, 2017, 2021, 2022. All rights reserved.

Addendum.  Merrill Frederick Unger (1909–1980).

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Latest revisions: 17 May 2016 (made correction of typographical error in par. 7); 15 April 2017 (altered punctuation in a few places in the notes); 17 and 27 February 2018 (minor textual modifications; altered title); added a note and shifted fifth note to sixth (16 May 2021); removed a comma in note (6 Oct. 2021); added a link concerning the author (Unger) (18 Nov. 2021); expanded nn. 1 and 5 (19 Aug. 2022).