Fighting Witchcraft
About this sermon
In “Fighting Witchcraft,” Pastor Dean Odle teaches that believers must actively resist spiritual attack rather than assume conversion automatically removes every conflict. He defines witchcraft broadly as occult practice, manipulative words, intimidation, rebellion, curses, and demonic pressure, then grounds resistance in Christ’s authority, submission to God, prayer, and awareness of Satan’s devices.
Chronological teaching outline
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Worship and prayer lead into the claim that Christian life takes place in an active spiritual war. Odle asks God for clarity and presents the sermon as practical preparation for resisting attacks directed at believers and their families.
Odle distinguishes Christ’s victory from the believer’s daily responsibility to resist the devil. Using Paul’s warning not to be ignorant of Satan’s devices, he argues that passive Christians can still be manipulated, intimidated, or overcome.
Satan’s original fall is traced to pride and rebellion rather than obvious outward vice. Odle connects effective spiritual authority with humility, submission to God, and respect for legitimate pastoral order.
Proverbs 18:21 introduces the power of words to bless, curse, discourage, or manipulate. Odle says occult practitioners intentionally use spoken curses, while Christians may unknowingly cooperate with the same destructive principle through repeated accusations.
Personal recollections about being told not to attend Bible college illustrate learning to obey God before seeking a ministry platform. Odle says hidden preparation and submission developed the authority later needed in deliverance encounters.
A ministry account shows believers identifying and commanding spirits to be silent in Jesus’ name. Odle compares spiritual authority to keys that must actually be used, stressing clear commands, faith, and dependence on Christ rather than human volume.
The sermon discusses astral projection and the “silver cord,” referencing occult testimony and Ecclesiastes. Odle interprets reported out-of-body attacks as demonic activity and warns against experimentation with practices that promise supernatural travel.
Odle recounts unusual nighttime experiences involving family members and apparent spiritual intrusion. He uses the stories to teach discernment, immediate prayer, and refusal to accept every supernatural appearance as a message from God.
A prophetic warning that every destination would become a war zone is applied to serious ministry. Odle says believers cannot choose the mission while avoiding conflict; they must keep fighting through prayer, holiness, and mutual support.
The conclusion contrasts a weak cultural image of Jesus with Christ as God Almighty in the flesh, possessing all authority. Confidence in who Jesus is becomes the basis for rejecting fear, resisting witchcraft, and protecting marriages and homes.
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- 0:00:00
Your voice, be clear. That's your voice, be clear. And I'll share. Go ahead and give him praise in this place.
- 0:03:32
Thank you, Jesus, Lord, we bless your name. We praise you. We exalt the mighty name of Jesus. We thank you, Lord, that you died on that cross for our sins. You rose the third day, Lord. You've given us, Lord, the holy scriptures, Lord, to lead us and guide us. You've put your spirit within us, to lead us and guide us into all truth. And I pray today, God, that everyone here, everyone watching and listening, those who will watch and listen, Lord, that you'll give them ears to hear and a heart to understand that today, Lord, they'll not only just hear the word, but they'll be doers of it. Practice the word of God and do what they're taught. Father, we pray this in Jesus' name. And everybody said, amen, amen. All right, you may be seated this morning. Welcome, everyone. Fire and Grace Church, summertime. I know we got some traveling and gone to California. Be praying for your brothers and sisters that are traveling out there. The world is a crazy place now. Real quick before we get into the message this morning. Have y'all seen this? Rachel Jerry, she is one of our graduates from the Fire and Grace School of Ministry. In fact, she was our valedictorian last year, and she's written a children's book, Let There Be, Biblical Cosmology of Creation for Little Ones. So, it's really good. So, you know, I know a lot of people ask, is there any books for kids about biblical cosmology? Well, here we get, there is one. So, it's on, what is it, Amazon? You can get it on Amazon. And we know she is a, she and her husband, they are a godly, anointed couple. So, it'll be good for your kids, grandkids, whatever, support her and what she has done. It's good stuff, amen? All right, First Peter chapter five, that's where we're going to, we got a lot to cover here. I've been not sure, gotten into a deep little rabbit hole yesterday, back on the CIA website for a while. I guess they're like, he's back again, digging into some FOIA documents on some things. But I don't know how much that will get into, but last week I talked about discerning of spirits and discerning wolves in sheep's clothing, infiltrators. That is an important thing. Again, we sing in that song at the end, Holy Spirit lead me, we need discernment because everybody that says they're a Christian's not. Jesus warned us there would be wolves in sheep's clothing. We were told by the apostle Paul that there would be false apostles, deceitful workers who would transform themselves into the apostles of Christ, and that they would be like the ministers of righteousness, but not exactly,
- 0:06:33
and their end would be according to their works. And I guess if I had to title this today, I'm gonna title this Fighting Witchcraft. But it's really fighting the devil. But I wanna read this to you. We're gonna look through 1 Peter 5 today, and starting at verse one. He said, the elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed, feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind, neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. Likewise ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder, yea all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility, for God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time. Casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil is as a roaring lying walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist, somebody say resist. Means to fight against. Somebody say fight against. Whom resist, speaking of Satan, resist him, fight against him, oppose him steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. But the God of all grace, who has called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that you have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. Now, as I read this, there are principles in the kingdom of God that if you're going to overcome the devil, you gotta understand these principles, all right? And how I'm gonna talk, I'm gonna talk to you how to oppose and how to fight him today, but you have to have some things in order. First, let's put up James four, verse seven and eight. I want you to look that up. You can turn to it. Go ahead, James four, seven and eight. There's conditions here, but just hold your spot on first Peter five. We're gonna come back to that, all right? Because the fight is real, amen? Now, Paul said it's a good fight. Now, what's a good fight? A good fight's a fight you win, not when you lose. I've had some fights in my life, real fights, and it was more, I'd say it was better to win. I fought five guys one night, I lost.
- 0:09:33
That was unpleasant, okay? A visit to the emergency room that evening, but two of them went with me. So a good fight is a fight you win. But hear me what I'm gonna tell you right now. If you don't know how to fight and if you become passive in this spiritual war that we're in with Satan, you will lose. Just because you're a born again Christian does not mean you automatically overcome the devil. You have to actively fight and resist and you have to know how to do it. This is why the Bible says in Second Corinthians chapter two is say we're not ignorant to his devices. Hosea 4-6, what? My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge. So it's really up to us to learn how to fight, all right? Now, here's what these principles I'm gonna give you first before I get into some things about how you resist. It says submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. Now, let's pause right here for a second. If you don't have the submit yourselves therefore to God first, you will not be able to resist the devil. You might try, but if you're not truly submitted to God, meaning you're submitted to obey his word and you're submitted to the principles of his word and you are truly trying to walk with him according to his word, according to the scriptures, you can just forget what I'm saying because if you go after the devil and you're not truly submitted to God and obedient Christian, he's going to whip your tail. He's going to tear you apart. This is not a game. We don't play with, you know, it's like little children playing with a gun or a sword or a knife. We just, you don't play with it. You learn to do what is right and then you can be trusted, right? Now submitting to God, then he says, resist the devil. Again, here's that resist and he will flee from you. That means to, again, fight against, to oppose. It's something you have to do. And see, this has been the big error in the body of Christ for decades. They have taught basically once you get saved that the devil can't touch you. I remember the old Pentecostals, can't cross the bloodline. And I'm like, they're getting beat to death. That all sounds fine and dandy. You don't get to sit there and do nothing. Just because you're a Christian, you're born again, yes, the blood of Jesus has washed your sins away. And yes, there is a degree of protection, but there is a war that we're in and passivity will not win. I tell people all the time, if you get in the ring with the devil
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