The Church: The Restrainer of Evil

In the Prayer Closet, the Pulpit, and the Public Square

Part Two

October 4, 2024

Ricci Johnson-Wilson

 

Since this is “part two” I want to give a brief summary from last week:

The Lord gave me vision of the Church with mold, rust, and other contaminants that were preventing the Church from moving about freely and either restraining or forcing back the evil of our day.

I saw the shaking that the Church is in right now and the beautiful result of this shaking in the days ahead.

I spoke on the call that is on the Church to restrain evil in our day along with some specific evils that the Church should be capable of restraining much more than we currently are. Lawlessness, human trafficking, abortion, and the LGTBQ+ indoctrination in schools is chief among these evils we should be addressing in prayer as well as from our pulpits and the ballot box.

I shared a little bit about what the Scripture says it means to be a “restrainer” along with why, we the Church, have not been capable of restraining certain things and/or have waned in our responsibility to do so.  

Before we closed out, I listed three of the four points detailing why the church is not restraining evil as we were commissioned to do in this hour..

  1. We have not had the full revelation of God the Father, Jesus His Son, and Holy Spirit.
  2. We don’t know the power of WHO resides in us
  3. Liberal theology has watered down the Gospel

Tonight, I’ll continue in that same vein on the last and primary point as to why the Church is not restraining evil. Then, I’ll conclude with how we can shift things in the coming days.

 The next point which would be “d” from last week’s message:

  1. Sin clouds our effectiveness.

Sin is quite rampant in the Church. This is not a judgement statement; it is a fact. It’s a by-product of the first three points I shared last week.

The Church is the heart of the nation. What does the heart do? With every heartbeat, the heart releases nutrient-rich blood, providing lifegiving oxygen to every cell in the body, while at the same time carrying away the waste of carbon dioxide. That heartbeat builds strength in the body. This is also the function of the Church within a nation. We should release the truth of the nutrient-rich Word of God infused with the Spirit of God from our pulpits to every area of the nation, i.e. the public square and the government. This would in turn, expose sin while and carry away the waste and decaying effect of sin on a nation. If we functioned as we should: as people of prayer, eager for His Word, and pursuing the Holiness of God, our presence would bring the fear of God in the land.

Unfortunately, we’ve partnered with the sin instead of exposing and removing it with a strong Biblical standard. We have abortion, human trafficking, and the embracing of LGTBQ+ lifestyles even within our leadership. The Bible speaks of a great falling away, is this singular? I don’t believe so, I believe these events come in waves, and we are indeed seeing a great falling away now as evidenced by these key issues:

  • Denominations have completely split over whether or not to allow the LGTBQ+ agenda in their pulpits.
  • As far as abortion, there are three camps on the issue: we either wholeheartedly support it as a woman’s right to choose, we just don’t talk about it, or we do what the Word says and speak directly to the truth of the issue.
  • Human trafficking is either addressed or ignored from the pulpit because we simply do not know how to approach it, let alone solve the issue.

I know this seem to be a no-brainer, but we are supposed to filter things occurring in our culture through the lens of the Word and then come forth with a strong Biblical worldview so we can continue to bring forth lifegiving truth to the nation in which we live.

It’s important to note this cannot be done by those who are either afraid to address hot-button issues or simply do not know the truth for themselves.

We are to teach people what the Word says about hot-button issues.

I Corinthians 6:6-10 teaches us who will not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven:

 8 But [instead it is you] yourselves who wrong and defraud, and that even your own brethren [by so treating them]!

 9 Do you not know that the unrighteous and the wrongdoers will not inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived (misled): neither the impure and immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor those who participate in homosexuality,

 10 Nor cheats (swindlers and thieves), nor greedy graspers, nor drunkards, nor foulmouthed revilers and slanderers, nor extortioners and robbers will inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God.

Should we allow the preaching of the Word of God by those who cannot inherit the Kingdom of Heaven themselves? How can they lead others to salvation through the Cross if they themselves will not bow the knee to the Cross of Jesus Christ? They can’t. Sin clouds our effectiveness in the pulpit and impacts the effect of the Church—as a whole—in the nation.

Today, Pastors are resigning in shame due to sexual immorality. I’m aware of at least half a dozen in the last six months. I say this not to shame them but to appreciate the fact that they’ve at least removed themselves from their position of leadership in the Body of Christ. We should pray for them and their congregations as they heal. I can assure you, there will be more in the coming days.

God is calling us to be pure, to rise up and restrain evil. How can we effectively restrain evil when we have such sin upon us? I’ll say it again: sin clouds our effectiveness. It’s like the mold and rust on the Church which keeps our light dimmed. This prevents us from effectively addressing those issues in our schools as well as the public square.

Add to this, statements from the White House which declare sinful lifestyles as “brave” while these ‘brave’ individuals literally expose themselves on national television from the White House lawn. Then of course we have progressive Executive Orders from said White House such as “The Equality Act” declaring any opposition to their lifestyle as “hate speech” and we can see how we are already fighting an uphill battle. If we are involved in the sin, there’s no way we can address it in the nation.

As pastors, teachers, apostles, intercessors and prophets, we need to address these issues head on.

Why don’t we? Four of the top reasons:

  1. We are engaged in the sin ourselves. We cannot confront sin we are engaged in ourselves.
  2. We are concerned we will lose people if we address sin. Paul said in 1 Cor 5:9-13 to cast out fornicators. That seems extreme, right? However, if we are not addressing sin, we are keeping people in their sin and dooming them to an eternity away from God.
  3. We are bound by board members from addressing sin. First of all, if a board is over the pastor, this is not Biblical. They will ultimately keep him from addressing sin issues from the pulpit. If a board member is not Spirit-filled, we are opening a can of worms that will take years to bring back into Biblical order. 
  4. The bylaws from which the Church operates are not Scriptural. There are times when bylaws within a Church prevent the pastor from speaking to things labeled as “political”. Today, most sin is labeled as a “political” issue and as such, the pastor is prevented or restrained from addressing them. This is not of God, as it does control the tongue of the pastor, and he cannot effectively lead his congregation in righteousness. This can be birthed out of fear but ultimately, this will stifle true growth within the Church and hinder the maturity of the congregation. How can the people face sin in the world with Biblical understanding, strength, courage, or truth if it is not address by their pastor?

All of this prevents the Church from being the restrainer of evil in our day!

What is the solution? The Church must be refined.

The Church must be refined so it can effectively influence the nation in which we live. It’s difficult to restrain the evil that is roaming the earth, roaring like a lion, seeking whom it shall devour when that evil is openly embraced within the walls of our churches. Not just embraced but at times, even celebrated. We must cast out sin from our lives. Mathew 18:8 tells us if our eye causes us to sin, it’s better to gouge it out, if our hand causes us to sin, it’s better to cut it off. Why? Because sin leads us to hell; Jesus’ statement was shocking to the hearers but consider the alternative. Eternal damnation. We must cut sin from our lives and teach our people to do the same. We must resist the devil and teach our people to do the same. Only then will he flee. (James 4:7)

Again, the Church must be refined into purity! We cannot tolerate compromise and then confront the sin it births and expect to be effective in our fight to win the lost. Before you know it, it’s mocking you from the White House lawn.

The Church was created to represent Jesus in the earth. To walk in His footsteps, to speak as He spoke, to pray as He prayed, to save, to heal, to deliver just as He did when He was here.

Remember in Acts 19, Paul was sending out handkerchiefs and people were being healed miraculously? In the same chapter, there were the seven sons of Sceva, the Priest—these were self-proclaimed exorcists who were trying to deliver the man from demons. They were doing so “in the name of Jesus Whom Paul preaches.” Those demons declared they knew Jesus and Paul, but they didn’t recognize these men and they jumped on them, beat them up, and left two of the seven running from the house completely stripped. Why? Because they were CINOs. Christian In Name Only. These men did not know Who they serve, and the demons were well aware of this fact. This is a prime example of what happens when we do not know the Word and Who we serve.  We lose our effectiveness, the world mocks and scoffs at us.

  1. We are not people of prayer.

Pastor after pastor will tell you that the prayer meetings are the lowest attended meetings at the Church. As a body, as individuals, the prayer closet is where we win the battle, gain strength for today, and glean revelation for tomorrow.

 

Corporate prayer can teach believers how to pray, what to pray for, and it provides opportunity for them to become people of prayer. Did Jesus not cry out when He cleansed the Temple “My Father’s House shall be an House of Prayer?” (Matthew 21:13, Mark 11:17, Luke 19:46) Corporate Prayer teaches believers how to then take what they are learning from the pulpit into the prayer closet so that they might come to know the Lord in a more personal way and ultimately restrain the evil within their own homes, their cities, states and the nation. The ripple effect of this practice is profound.

 

  • How do we get to a place where we can restrain evil?

 

  1. Repent for the sins within and then pray for the shaking to completely eradicate the sin and the compromise within so the Church can arise, pure, refined, and cause the evil of our day to retreat from our presence.

 

  1. We need to pray for faith. We can take all of this and glean prayer points to keep us busy for a long time. However, to effectively restrain evil, we need to have faith that we can.

 

Matthew 14:22-33 Jesus walks on the water and Peter’s leap of faith.

22 Then He directed the disciples to get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent away the crowds. 23 And after He had dismissed the multitudes, He went up into the hills by Himself to pray. When it was evening, He was still there alone.

24 But the boat was by this time out on the sea, many furlongs [a furlong is one-eighth of a mile] distant from the land, beaten and tossed by the waves, for the wind was against them. 25 And in the fourth watch [between 3:00—6:00 a.m.] of the night, Jesus came to them, walking on the sea.26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified and said, It is a ghost! And they screamed out with fright.27 But instantly He spoke to them, saying, Take courage! I Am! Stop being afraid!

28 And Peter answered Him, Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water. 29 He said, Come! So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water, and he came toward Jesus.30 But when he perceived and felt the strong wind, he was frightened, and as he began to sink, he cried out, Lord, save me [from death]!31 Instantly Jesus reached out His hand and caught and held him, saying to him, O you of little faith, why did you doubt?

32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.33 And those in the boat knelt and worshiped Him, saying, Truly You are the Son of God!

 

In this moment we see something that we must consider for our own lives as children of God: the need to believe we can walk in His footsteps! I can come up with half-a-dozen messages on this passage, but the most important message I can think of for the Church today is the need to boldly, and unapologetically step out of the boat to follow in Christ’s footsteps. Peter knew this was Jesus, that’s why he was willing to step out of the boat. And while at this moment, the storms pull his eyes off Jesus, a lesson that ultimately imprints on Peter the need to keep His eyes on the Lord—ALWAYS follow in His footsteps.

For just a moment, let’s pause and consider the faith it took for Peter to jump into the storm, into what seems impossible, and walk on the water. Would you? Faith is God-birthed within the believer. How is this birthed? How do we increase it? Through prayer and the Word. When we spend time in the Word of God, we receive a measure faith, revelation and understanding to assist us as we walk in His footsteps. The more time we spend in prayer, the more our faith expands, encompassing the revelation, driving it deeper into our spirit, until it becomes so much a part of us, we are capable of walking in His footsteps regardless of the storms that rage around us.  We come to a place where we actually see the revelation that whatever we bind on earth is bound in heaven, and whatever we loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. It is no longer words we read on the page of our Bible but it’s part of us, we believe it without a hesitation and because of our relationship with the Lord, we will only bind and loose what He would bind and loose if He were walking right in front of us with us following in His exact footsteps!

(Matthew 16:19)

“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind (declare to be improper and unlawful) on earth must be what is already bound in heaven; and whatever you loose (declare lawful) on earth must be what is already loosed in heaven.”

There’s power, “dunamis” power in the Word of God! We must come to a place where we function in that power and authority here on earth and this can only occur through an understanding of the Word of God and a prayer life.

The Church today has their eyes on the storms, their faith is in the storms! We don’t preach the Gospel because people might not respond to the alter call. We don’t preach the full council of the Word because people might get offended. We don’t pray for people because they might not get healed. We don’t address political mayhem because we might lose our 501©3!

Where is our faith?! In the storms!

It took time for Peter, but that 3rd crowing of the rooster sealed the deal for him. (Mark 14) And just like Peter, we have to come to a place of fearlessness in the face of evil and address it head on! Our children are at stake!  We must bind the enemy’s plans over their lives and loose God’s heavenly will into their lives!

  • Remember our Commissioning:

Two passages cover this beautifully:

Matthew 28:18-20 is the “Government of God”

18 Jesus approached and, [a]breaking the silence, said to them, All authority (all power of rule) in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.

19 Go then and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them [b]into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

20 Teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you [c]all the days ([d]perpetually, uniformly, and on every occasion), to the [very] close and consummation of the age. [e]Amen (so let it be).

Jesus commissioned them and by doing so, He gave them the keys to strengthen the Church and ultimately the Nations.

Jesus Commissioned them by:

  • Granting them His authority to rule in heaven and on earth (this releases the Government of God in the earth)

He instructed them to:

  • Make disciples of all the nations.
  • Teach them (nations) to observe everything Jesus commanded
  • Know that He is with us in this process, perpetually and on every occasion

 

 Mark 16:15-20 is for the “Family of God—the Church”

15 And He said to them, Go into all the world and preach and publish openly the good news (the Gospel) to every creature [of the whole [e]human race].

16 He who believes [who adheres to and trusts in and relies on the Gospel and Him Whom it sets forth] and is baptized will be saved [[f]from the penalty of eternal death]; but he who does not believe [who does not adhere to and trust in and rely on the Gospel and Him Whom it sets forth] will be condemned.

17 And these attesting signs will accompany those who believe: in My name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new languages;

18 They will pick up serpents; and [even] if they drink anything deadly, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will get well.

19 So then the Lord Jesus, after He had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and He sat down at the right hand of God.

20 And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord kept working with them and confirming the message by the attesting signs and miracles that closely accompanied [it]. Amen (so be it).

Jesus commissioned them and by doing so, He gave them the keys to strengthen the Church and ultimately the Nations.

Jesus Commissioned them to:

  • Teach people OPENLY to observe (do) all that you’ve seen Him do as they walked with Him
  • Drive out demons
  • Cast off fear, do not worry about serpents or poisons, but trust in Him (naysayers, legislatures, IRS)
  • Trust that He will attest these things with signs and wonders
  • This was and is to be done until the very closure and consummation of the age (still applicable today)

The Lord was with them—and will be with us—everywhere we go. We have to believe this, embrace it, and walk in it!

In conclusion:

The Church is shaking, it’s being purified. Why? The hour of our visitation is here! We need to be willing to embrace what God is doing! The Awakening was released January 29, 2023, Revival has broken out in pockets throughout the country. Mostly in schools. Why not the Church? What is the Lord waiting for? Is it possible, He’s trying to refine it first?

In the midst of all of this, darkness is trying to rise up and thwart God’s plan for our nation, the Church and our children.

We—the Church – the Ecclesia – must arise and restrain that evil. The enemy is after our children, are we shielding them? Are we making every effort in the natural sense as well as the spiritual realm to restrain the evil from consuming them before God gets ahold of them?

In the natural we do this with our vote. We have 90-100 million professing charismatic Christians in the nation. 40-50 million say they are staying home in the 2024 Presidential election. 15 million of them are not even registered to vote. That 40 million can make all the difference in the nation. Ted Cruz won his district by 125K votes. This election can turn the tide. We can have a tidal wave of conservative legislatures stepping into office throughout the nation in 2025. Imagine 40 million conservative Christians voting for pro-life, pro-family bills and against anti-life, anti-family legislation that are currently on our ballots! That would transform our nation and go a long way to restrain evil in the natural realm!

The Church has a lack of understanding and believes the lie that there should be a separation of Church and State. And to some degree, there should be. What separation? The State cannot dictate what religion you follow. Our Founding Fathers, when they penned the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution, granted freedom of Religion for a reason. Later upon request, Jefferson sent a letter to clarify a question that clergy member had on whether or not they intended to keep the Church out of politics. Jefferson responded to that letter stressing the importance of the Church’s role as the primary influence in the nation. Their intent was not to restrict this in any way but to ensure the government did not influence or dictate a specific religion over the people. We’ve seen what’s happened under Godless leaders throughout the nations- Communism inevitably takes over.

When they penned our Founding Documents, there were those still adhering to the Church of England, there were Protestants, Puritans, Baptists, Mennonites and so on. They’d congregated in groups within the 13 Colonies. Each wanted their religion to be THE religion and there came a point when the fight became so heated, the unity of the nation was at stake. There were wise men in their midst who stood up in a bold move to remind the people where they fled from, the religious oppression they suffered under certain rulers, and the risks should they dictate a state religion if men came into power who would demand a faith contrary to the Word of God. In a bold move, they called for a time of prayer. When it was over, the case was made to grant the freedom of religion (which is what the Lord Himself grants) to protect the Christian’s right to worship God freely in this land. However, our responsibility to stay engaged in the political realm was not to be diminished. The rest is history.

It’s time we, as the Church, the Ecclesia, stand our ground and restrain evil in our prayer closet, in the pulpit, and in the public square once again! Stop banking on the Lord’s return to take us out of here and start occupying until He does.

Back in the days of yore, I managed a restaurant. On my day off I’d run over and just drop by. See if they needed anything. I have to tell you, there’s nothing like seeing people scramble to their posts when the boss enters on the scene. Let us not be found scrambling when He returns.  

Finally, why do we need to embrace the commission to restrain evil?

In case you had any doubt, I felt it important to include these two critical issues:

First, last week Mom shared a series of visions she had in which she was shown that America was sent into DEF CON 1 as missiles were being fired at us from China or Russia. In three of those visions, President Trump was the President and thank the Lord that He was, he was in the White House on his knees in prayer.

What opened the door for such an attack? The very issues I shared the last two weeks. Bloodletting. Abortion, Human trafficking, the LGTBQ+ agenda, all of these atrocities against the innocent. We must return to our purpose here on this earth. It isn’t for wealth or power, it’s for the Kingdom of Heaven, and we have a responsibility to occupy it, putting all we have into that occupational stand. He’s given us the keys of the Kingdom for such a time as this.

Secondly, we are facing communism right now. We have a Marxist running for President and a communist running for VP. Marxism, brought into the nation via Cultural Marxism, and Communism are both anti-God, anti-liberty, anti-Church, Anti-American, anti-family, anti-truth, anti-happiness. They consume everything in their path.

They must bring America down to bring the nations down. However, there is a catch, the one thing standing in their way is the Church… they must bring the Church down to bring America down. That is why, in the communist manifesto, they’ve targeted the Church, the family, and the children.

We must restrain this evil. Not only through prayer but with the presence of God within us, it must be so pronounced, that evil flees from our presence like the roaches I shared from last week fled the presence of the light.

Now, consider the vision I shared last week and summarized earlier, when I saw the refining work of the Church that the Lord was doing in this hour completed, the Church rose in such power and authority that as it moved, darkness fled. It had no other choice.

This is our calling my friends, and as intercessors, we must pray the Church through, we must pray the nation through, we must bind and loose in accordance with what God tells us to bind and loose, and then, together, we will be the restrainer of evil in the land!

Blessings & love,

Ricci Johnson-Wilson