Divine Protection Part 4-Protection By Miracles And Deliverance
In part 1 of “Divine Protection”, we talked about having God’s perspective when facing threats, in order to be able to see armies of angels and fear no danger. In part 2, we discussed the role of prayer and of hearing God’s voice in escaping danger, like Joseph and the wise men were warned in dreams about how to escape Herod. Part 3 was about overcoming evil with good, as we bless and pray for those who would harm us. As we saw in the story of Elijah and the Aramean armies who were blinded, overcoming evil with good is often combined with an element of supernatural protection. Today, we will discuss protection through miracles.
Fire From Heaven!
In 2 Kings, we read a story of Elijah being delivered from bands of men sent to take him. They were consumed by fire from heaven!
2 Kings 1:9-15 (NRSV) Then the king sent to him a captain of fifty with his fifty men. He went up to Elijah, who was sitting on the top of a hill, and said to him, “O man of God, the king says, ‘Come down.’” But Elijah answered the captain of fifty, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” Then fire came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.
Again the king sent to him another captain of fifty with his fifty. He went up and said to him, “O man of God, this is the king’s order: Come down quickly!” But Elijah answered them, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” Then the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.
Again the king sent the captain of a third fifty with his fifty. So the third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and entreated him, “O man of God, please let my life, and the life of these fifty servants of yours, be precious in your sight. Look, fire came down from heaven and consumed the two former captains of fifty men with their fifties; but now let my life be precious in your sight.”Then the angel of the Lord said to Elijah, “Go down with him; do not be afraid of him.” So he set out and went down with him to the king
This story was probably the reason that in the New Testament, Jesus’ disciples asked if they should call down fire from heaven to consume the Samaritan village that rejected their ministry. Jesus’ response?
Luke 9:55-56 (NIV) But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village
However, there are still many modern-day parallels to this story of Elijah and the fire from heaven. Instead of the fire consuming the attacker, it stops them in their tracks and can also deliver them from the demons that influenced them. Even when Jesus’ opponents came to arrest him, they fell to the ground when he said who he was. Jesus chose to go to the cross-they could not have taken him unless they were allowed.
John 18:4-6 (NRSV) Then Jesus, knowing all that was to happen to him, came forward and asked them, “Whom are you looking for?” They answered, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus replied, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they stepped back and fell to the ground.
Violence Stopped By Miraculous Intervention
Carlos Annacondia is a prominent evangelist of the revival in Argentina. In his evangelistic crusades, large percentages of the populations of whole cities have made commitments to follow Christ. His evangelistic crusades have been especially marked by many people being delivered from demonic oppression. It is often found after many evangelistic crusades that only a small percentage of the people who made commitments for Christ have a significant change in their lives that can be seen a few years later. However, Annacondia’s crusades have been unique in their long-term impact.
Annocondia has preached in dangerous places, and he shared several stories of the Lord’s protection in his book Listen To Me, Satan. On one occasion, a woman hid a knife in her clothes to kill Carlos. When she came near to kill him, she instead fell on the ground and was carried to a tent to receive deliverance minister. When they were ministering to her they found the knife, and the heard her story afterwords. (Pg. 122)
When Carlos was in the city of San Martin, people told him to not go up on the stage because several men were waiting to shoot him. He was unmoved, because he saw from God’s perspective. He told them that he must pray for the sick, and those who were waiting to shoot him would soon be kicking their way to the deliverance tent. It sounds like he had come to expect this! When he took the microphone and said “Jesus”, the armed men fell to the ground and were taken to the deliverance tent, just as he had said. (pg. 123)
In the city of San Justo, a sniper tried to kill Carlos. Every time that he tried to shoot, a fog covered the platform so that he couldn’t aim. The gun would not fire when aimed at Carlos, but fired when pointed in any other direction. After trying several times, he also ended up in the deliverance tent. (pg. 124)
Here is the testimony of another assailant. “I was the one throwing the stones on the roof, and I can’t believe what has happened to me. I grabbed a big stone. I wanted it to go through the roof and hit you and kill you. As I was about to throw it, my hand froze. Then my fingers went limp, and the stone fell on the ground. But that wasn’t all; I felt two strong hands pushing me, and I moved forward almost one and a half meters. I turned around, but I didn’t see anybody. I felt pushed again, but there still wasn’t anybody there. Push by push I was brought to the entrance of this place. The last push was so strong that I ended up in the middle of the congregation, and when I wanted to stand my legs wouldn’t support me.” (Pg. 125)
In another place, a group of armed men came out of hiding to shoot Carlos. Without even noticing the armed men, he put his hand out of the car window to wave goodbye to some people. The next day he found out that they saw the armed men who were aiming at them fall to the ground when he put his hand out of the window. (Pg. 126)
On another occasion, bandits tried to set his car on fire. When they came near it, they fell on the ground. They tried to push it, but the license plate was on fire and they couldn’t touch it. Other thieves stole chairs, but when they tried to sit on the chairs, the chairs were burning. Strange things happened with the other stolen objects as well. (Pg. 126)
I have personally heard testimonies from many other people who were at gunpoint and the gun wouldn’t fire, or whose attackers were scared because they saw angels. Todd White shared the story of when a drug dealer fired at him repeatedly from ten feet away as he got into his car to drive away. He heard God speak to him in the car “I took those bullets for you”. There were not even any bullet holes in the car! Apparently, the bullets vanished or were stopped before they hit the car. It was improbable that Todd would not be hit at such a close range, but impossible for his car not to be hit.
If you begin to ask other believers about what the Lord has done in their lives, you may hear some amazing stories! Such instances of miraculous protection are much more common than many of us have imagined!
Next week, we will talk about deliverance from violence through supernatural transportation. I will share a fairly recent story about two believers being rescued by an angel from captivity and impending death.