“You
come of the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve,” said Aslan. “And that is both honor
enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the
shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth. Be content.” CS Lewis, Prince Caspian
As a man, as a human being, I am heir to the strengths and many of the peculiarities
of those who have gone before me.
I have brown hair and blue eyes: I inherited these genes from my
parents.
I sunburn easily. I inherited this characteristic from the Scotsmen and
Englishmen who populate my family tree.
I also inherited something from one of my more distant forbears, the
first Man, Adam himself. While I am certainly not his only descendent on planet
Earth, I am one of his descendents,
and one of his heirs. I believe that you and I, Adam’s heirs, have the right to
name ourselves inheritors of his calling.
What was Adam’s calling? What was the first responsibility given to
Adam?
Out
of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of
the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever
Adam called each living creature, that was its name. –Genesis 2:19
Adam’s first responsibility
was to give names to every creature that God made. “Whatever Adam called each
living creature, that was its name.”
I had a revelation recently about how important it can be that we – Adam’s
heirs – are inheritors of Adam’s calling, Adam’s authority.
One night, a group of prophetic intercessors had gathered together in
our home, and were praying about a minor stronghold in our hometown. There was
a high bridge downtown, a favorite among the despondent members of our
community; it became known as “Suicide
Bridge.” For years, it
had been known by that name, and used for that purpose.
Recently, several of us had noticed that when we crossed that bridge,
thoughts of suicide, temptation to jump, came upon us: we who were healthy,
satisfied, happy individuals. These clearly were not our thoughts: they came
from outside of us, from something
associated with death, and associated with that location.
As we prayed together, we understood that there had been enough
suicides, enough wrongful deaths in that place, that the enemy had capitalized
on all the death, and assigned a demon to the bridge, to become a stronghold,
whose responsibility, it seemed, was to maximize the enemy’s investment in the
form of suicides from the bridge.
Most of the intercessors gathered together that night had learned that
the “right way” to deal with things like this was to discern the name of the
demon, and then to use that name, with the authority of the name of Jesus, to
break the creature’s right to live there and to work there.
But we didn’t know the creature’s name.
As we were looking for the name, God spoke up: “You are heir to Adam.”
Hunh? What? “You have inherited Adam’s authority to name living creatures.”
And the light went on!
We named the demon, “Bob,” and then we broke “Bob’s” authority and
assignment in that place, and kicked him out. The “urge to jump” was gone the
next morning, and within a week, the city “just happened” to raise all the
railings on the bridge to eight feet high. There have been no more suicides
that I know of off of that bridge. More importantly, there is no “urge” to end
it all when passing by that place.
Hmm. That was interesting. I suspect we may be onto something.
Another time, we were involved in a wonderful and glorious session of
healing and deliverance, in a wonderful, family-based environment. Most of the
words of knowledge that directed our ministry came through pre-teenagers that
night. Everything was going well, our friend was finding real freedom, until we
came upon one demonic stronghold that would not let go.
After we fussed and fumed for a bit, God said it again. “You are heir to
Adam.” We named the beastie “Squiggly” (as that was the dominant
characteristic: he squirmed and slipped out of our “grasp” as we prayed). We
assigned him the name, seriously: we took up the authority we’d inherited from
Adam, we stripped it of whatever (unknown) name it had gone by, and we gave it
a new name: its name was now Squiggly. Then we commanded it by that name, and the
demon submitted quickly and left peacefully.
If you’ve been part of deliverance ministry, if you’ve been involved with
a team breaking down demonic strongholds, you may have encountered the
obstruction of a demonic beastie whose name you did not know, and therefore you
may have had difficulties overcoming the thing.
Based on our revelation, supported by our experience and by the Biblical
description of Adam’s calling, I believe that we as heirs of Adam have the
right to Adam’s commission: “Whatever Adam called each living creature, that
was its name.” If you can’t find the thing’s name, then give it a name, and use
that name to get rid of it.
(I am not arguing for a
theology that says our authority in Christ is limited only to those
circumstances wherein we know the enemy’s name; I’m merely observing that many
intercessors and ministers have encountered obstructions that we have
associated with not knowing the demonic spirit’s name. And of course, I am not
encouraging rookies to wield this weapon as if it were a talisman; I remind you
of the seven sons of Sceva.)
Finally, I observe that there is, in practical terms, a substantial
difference between referring to a spirit, and naming a spirit. Talking about
“that squiggly demon” is not at all the same thing as naming the thing “Squiggly,” assigning it the name, exercising Adam’s
authority. If I am just talking about
a spirit, a demon, then I am not exercising the authority I’ve inherited from
Adam; I’m merely talking (to it, to
God, about it…) as a man. But to name
something is to both claim and exercise authority over it, authority that you
actually have, authority that you’ve inherited. Step into the authority you’ve
inherited from Adam: wield the authority you’ve been given.
I’m interested to hear if others have found this weapon, and what
experiences they’ve had when wielding it. Please comment here, or email me at nwp@northwestprophetic.com. I look
forward to hearing from you.
