I. Introduction

Good day to all! Today, I will be sharing a new discovery with you. Actually, it is not that new. If each sermon contains a mere one to five percent of new insight, that would be remarkable! If you examine academic papers, they usually build upon existing knowledge with only a one or two percent innovation, and that is considered a very good paper. Some of us have pursued doctoral or master's degrees, and writing papers involves summarizing others' work and then elevating it slightly.

The topic I will be addressing today is God Will Surely Deliver You from the Hands of Your Enemies. How did the Chinese Mingding Destiny come about? It was because we often observed that God did not deliver us from the hands of our enemies. In churches, we rarely heard testimonies, and when we did, they were usually about how God provided a good doctor who then cured them. It was unclear whether it was God who healed or the doctor. After discussing the effectiveness of the medication for so long, were we testifying to the power of the drug or the power of God? It was perplexing. I felt that this was inadequate, so I began to establish a church. Later, I realized that I had taken a significant detour. Now, I finally see the glory of God: He will surely deliver us from the hands of our enemies, the demons!

In essence, this is a sermon about casting out demons, although the term casting out demons is not explicitly used. Nonetheless, it is a crucial piece of work on the subject. Why? Because we need to clarify several fundamental concepts. First: the legitimate work of demons is to curse. What is a curse? A curse is the result of disobeying God's word. When people disobey God's word, the demons gain legal ground. You might say, I believe in Jesus. However, if you believe in Jesus but disobey God's word, the effect is the same – disobedience is a curse. Everyone must understand that the Bible is written for believers; non-believers need not read it. Blessing and curse are the two most fundamental concepts in a person's life.

What happens after being cursed? Demons arrive, and they are quite obedient. If a demon says, I don't want to go, God will hold a meeting to ask who wants to go. Some demons will volunteer, and God will dispatch one of them. So that is how it works. Am I mistaken, or are you misunderstanding? Many people see God as Santa Claus, believing that He would not do such a thing, but the Bible often describes such scenarios. Therefore, we understand today that when we disobey God, He sends a demon, or a demon volunteers to come, and then we suffer. After suffering, God extends grace to us because people who believe in Jesus have their sins washed away and their curses removed. The curse is transferred to Jesus.

Some people are born unlucky because their father or mother disobeyed God, and the curse extends to the third or fourth generation. If their grandparents disobeyed God, they too experience some curses. What about great-grandparents? The same applies. That is why some churches constantly attempt to break ancestral curses, but they cannot be broken. How can you break them? The way to break the curse is to love God. If a person does not love God, they are cursed! Forget about ancestral curses; the curses you bring upon yourself are enough to overwhelm you.

Therefore, blessing and curse are closely related to loving God. Every time I tell you to love God, some ask, I don't know how to love God. Then you will slowly experience curses, slowly decline. Eventually, you will become constipated, unable to urinate, unable to eat. If you continue, you will leak feces, leak urine, your legs will wobble, your back will ache, and your mind will be confused. What is the problem? That is the problem. When people do not love God, they are cursed. When I tell you to love God, it is not as if I am forcing you to join a gang of bandits. It is simply foolish not to. Those who love God will receive His covenantal love and mercy for a thousand generations!

You must understand that God and demons are not opposites. The Holy Spirit and evil spirits may sound like opposites, but they are not. Evil spirits are actually one of God's most wonderful creations. Not only are evil spirits so, but humans are also one of God's most wondrous creations, and the world is filled with stories. Humans and demons are opposites. How are they opposed? When people live out the image of God versus living out the image of demons, these two things are opposites. When people live out the image of God, they are naturally opposed to demons. When people live out the image of demons, they naturally become one with demons.

Demons are all invited by humans. Some people trouble me a great deal. You ask me to cast out demons for you. Today I cast out the demons, but tomorrow you invite them back. The day after, you need me to cast them out again. It is exhausting, easily taking up two or three hours. I feel wronged, and the demons feel wronged. Only you do not feel wronged. Why? Because you invited the demons. Then you come to me, and I lead you in prayer, troubling me. The demons come and feel wronged, saying, Look how evil he is! He invited me, and then you beat me up. He has nothing better to do than to have me fight demons. Today I beat up a demon, tomorrow I beat up a demon, and after a while, I beat up a demon again. What is this all about? Interesting.

Later, I understood that Paul rarely discusses casting out demons in his epistles because the Gospels of Matthew, Luke, John, and Mark address it in a very simple manner. Everyone must understand that casting out demons is not a sophisticated discipline. Jesus called those disciples, and those disciples were actually quite poor, and they remained so. Why? Even when Jesus was about to be crucified, they were still arguing about who was the greatest, who would be the left prime minister, and who would be the right prime minister. There was a pair of brothers, one wanting to be on Jesus' left and the other on His right. They even brought their mother to plead with Jesus, saying, Let my sons be the left and right prime ministers when You establish Your kingdom. They were focused on this.

However, Jesus probably trained them for two or three months, a very short period, and then sent them out to cast out demons. Later, Jesus appointed seventy-two disciples, also with brief training. Jesus' training was simple, not very profound. They did not need to bring luggage, money, or clothes. They would go to a house, and if the family welcomed them, they would enter. If they did not welcome them, they would shake the dust off their feet. I think to myself, what kind of training is this? Modern churches make demon-casting training very complex. Why does the Apostle Paul not discuss casting out demons? The Apostle Paul speaks of loving God with all your heart. If you love God with all your heart, He will surely deliver you from the hands of your enemies, the demons! It is that simple.

The founding of the Chinese Mingding Destiny also inherits this approach: love God with all your heart. A pastor came to me and asked, Is your Chinese Mingding Destiny a grace theology? I replied, What do you think? He said, The Chinese Mingding Destiny does not seem like a grace theology. The price is not something that ordinary people can pay. What price? To love God with all your heart. The Chinese Mingding Destiny speaks of loving God with all your heart, paying the price, and laying down your life for God! Once you lay down your life for God, what is there to discuss? Nothing. Therefore, I often say that loving God is like being deeply in love – you want to see Him every day. That is the goal of the Chinese Mingding Destiny: to train people to love God with all their heart.

If you want to be a victorious disciple and enter the Promised Land, you must emulate Joshua and Caleb, who had hearts devoted to loving God. Devotion is a very important quality. Actually, when I was preparing the sermon today, I considered including devotion in the title, but then I thought that since this is a demon-casting series, I should not include it. But in fact, it is still about devotion. Initially, people do not know how to love God. They are born and driven by demons every day, crushed to the ground. That is how life is. People suffer a great deal in this world, and later they understand. They are driven into the church by demons. After entering the church, they discover that God is good, joyful, and happy. This is the work of God, the grace of God.

Are there people who are not like this? God says, Follow Me. And they follow. There are such people, but their numbers are too few. Few people come to me and say, Teacher, I am very happy. They always come saying, Teacher, I am suffering. I find my profession quite interesting – people come to share their suffering, rarely sharing their happiness. When they are happy, they secretly enjoy it, eating Din Tai Fung dumplings by themselves, not inviting me. Some time ago, someone insisted on taking me to eat Din Tai Fung dumplings, wanting to make up for the oversight. They forgot about me when they were happy, but they remembered me when they were suffering. They forgot about me when eating Din Tai Fung dumplings but remembered me when they were suffering, when their bellies were as swollen as dumplings. My work is quite interesting.

I tell you, your minds are definitely full of dirty thoughts, thinking askew, thinking about everything except loving God with all your heart. When things inside a person scatter, it is called lack of devotion. However, God is a jealous God. You cannot love both God and Ashtaroth. You cannot love both God and your wife. Some people are not that they do not love God, but they love their wives more. Can God be pleased with such a thing? Loving God without devotion is deadly; you will definitely suffer! God is a jealous God. Loving God without devotion is definitely useless and will definitely cause suffering. You will definitely be harassed by demons, crushed to the ground. This is what I mean by being negligent and deserving a beating, not victorious! So how can you be victorious and receive salvation? You must love God with all your heart, and He will surely deliver you from the hands of your enemies, the demons! So what must you do? Turn back to God.

Some people are foolish. I don't know where their brains are located, maybe in their buttocks. To what extent are they foolish? They suffer and then love God. After loving God, they receive salvation. God releases them from illnesses and various sufferings, and they feel better. Then, when they feel better, they are qualified to love the world again, and they invite the demons back. Then they suffer again. Suffering and then feeling better, feeling better and then suffering again, back and forth, sometimes devoted and sometimes not. What kind of brain is this? When I was young, I had a habit of being devoted. Whatever I did, I was devoted. Once you believe in the Lord, you will discover that I have a set of principles: be a Christian and be a resounding Christian; be an engineer and be a resounding engineer; be a pastor and be a resounding pastor! That is me. So this issue is crucial!

Like yesterday, someone came in suffering, so I prayed. The day before, someone came in suffering, so I prayed. The day before that, someone came in suffering, so I prayed. I tell you, it is all selfishness at its core. They even have a rationale for it, saying to me, Teacher, actually, you also suffer. I thought to myself, Indeed, I also suffer. But you suffer because you are selfish, and I suffer because I see your selfishness and suffer. These are not the same kind of suffering. I suffer, truly suffer. How can people be so foolish? How can they not know to love God with all their heart, how can they not know to turn back and serve God alone, so that He will surely deliver them from the hands of the demons? Some people say, Teacher, I cannot change. You cannot change? God can change you. Give you more beatings, and you will definitely change. God will surely deliver you from the hands of the demons!

Today, let us declare together: God will surely deliver me from the hands of the demons. God is the God who heals me, the God who saves me! In your heart, you must know that this is a treasure. How important is the word devotion! Because if you love God with all your heart, He will surely save us. Otherwise, you can try it and see. What is adultery? Lack of devotion is adultery. Lack of devotion, the mind wanders, seeing this woman as good and that woman as good, all are good. But you do not have the destiny of David. If you were King David, you could obtain them all because he had money and was a king. But you are not. Devotion and adultery are two opposite words: one is devotion, and the other is adultery.

Let us not even talk about loving God with all your heart. Let us just talk about studying with all your heart. Not many people can do it. People who do not study well are not devoted; their minds wander. You are not even qualified to love the world. If you cannot even study with devotion, how are you qualified to love the world? If you are not qualified to love the world, how can you be qualified to love God? I think I should first train you to be devoted. When it comes to training people to be devoted, it can be quite difficult. When you try to correct them, they often go astray. Like one of our sisters, her husband said, You did not do this right. And the sister replied, I did that other thing right, though. What kind of logic is that? Her husband was so angry that he kept hitting himself on the head. It is infuriating.

If you did not do this right, what is the correct response? The correct response is, I did not do this right. So what is the right way? Instead of saying, I did that other thing right, though. And then saying, Can you speak in a nicer tone? Why does your face look so bad? Oh, my goodness! If you did not do something right, how can your face look good? Looking angry and baring your teeth, our brother was so angry that he hit himself on the head. Fortunately, our brother is quite smart. He raised his fist, but before it reached his forehead, he slowed down and gently tapped it. It was not a hard hit. Smart.

Some people are even more interesting. I said, You did not do this right. What you wrote is useless. And they would bang their heads against the wall, for real. Later, I slowly realized that one was from Shandong and was really serious. The other was from Jiangsu and was smart. Banging their heads was not serious. Devotedly loving God is serious. If this is not done right, then what is the right way? Everyone, write down this sentence. I have said it countless times. Banging your head is useless. What does banging your head have to do with not doing something right? Nothing. Why bang your head? Because of a lack of devotion.

What are devoted people like? If they do not do something right, they correct it. If they are living in a way that is not right, then what is the right way to live? It is that simple. Some people say, What? You don't like anything I do? If you are not doing it right, why would I like it? If it is not done right, just change it. Why pull a face and twist your eyes? Miserable. Am I wrong? It is hard to build people up. If your mind is drifting, drifting east today and drifting west tomorrow, are you not like a piece of grass on a wall that blows which ever way the wind is blowing? If your mind is scattered and drifting, and you are not devoted to studying, it is difficult to do things right. If you cannot do it today and you cannot do it tomorrow, do you think you will not suffer? So why is it so difficult for me to make you feel better? Actually, feeling better depends on maintaining faith and persevering!

If you cannot grasp the key point, you will go off-topic. It is deadly! Therefore, later I trained the co-workers in the church to first be devoted when doing things. If you are not devoted to doing things, how can you be devoted to being a person? At best, you are a bipedal creature, not even a bipedal person. It is deadly, miserable! Therefore, my work is both miserable and joyful. I really cannot bear to watch people ruin themselves. I have been a devoted person since I was young. Everyone must understand that it is just destiny. If you ask me why I am like this, I really cannot explain it. Some people have not been devoted since they were young. When they are in school, they are not devoted to studying. When they are working, they are not devoted to working. When they believe in the Lord, they are not devoted to loving God. Oh, my goodness!

Sometimes I think about my childhood. My parents liked to play mahjong. In winter, they would close the doors and windows tightly, and they would each have a pipe and smoke while playing mahjong. The house was small, and you would freeze to death if you went outside. I would get a small stool and do my homework in the corner. The people playing mahjong would look at me, but I would ignore them. They admired me, saying that I was remarkable. I would glance at them, thinking, Yes, I know! Nothing could affect me. We had a television at home early on, and when it was on, I barely watched it. Some people would look through the window at our television, but no good drama could affect me. I was devoted to doing my work; I wanted to understand my work. That is me. I have been a devoted person since I was young, and later, after believing in the Lord, I became a devoted lover of God.

If you are not devoted and scattered since you were young, you will live a difficult life and ruin yourself. Some people have been scattered since they were young, not being devoted to anything. Someone asks, Teacher, what should I do? It is easy. Send them to a Japanese prison camp for forced labor, and they will improve immediately. If they are not obedient, beat them. Are they not asking for a beating? If a child's physical body is too strong, then they need correction. Sometimes many people do not understand that sparing the rod spoils the child. Can you understand that? Look at the parents who spoil their children and raise them well. There aren't any. Some people are spoiled until they are over sixty and still expect their ninety-year-old mother to take care of them.

Today, you understand that people are spoiled from childhood. Today, if you beat them, you will make up for all the beatings they have been spared since childhood. If you cannot make it up, then slowly make it up yourself, banging yourself, either against the wall or against the ground, letting the wall beat you, letting the ground beat you. That works, which will release a lot. Some people suffer and change immediately; some people suffer and never change. Sometimes I really sigh, that is destiny! How difficult is it to be gentle and devoted in life? When they are gentle, they are gentle in being scattered. When they are devoted, they are devoted in playing, devoted in nonsense. Would that not ruin them? Actually, it does not matter what kind of person you are. What matters is what kind of person you want to be. See, are persevering despite repeated defeats and repeated defeats despite perseverance the same? The same four characters, but the meaning is different depending on the order.

Today, God wants to help you remove the garbage inside us, remove the things we value, so that these things can no longer affect our devoted love for God. From now on, God will release us and lead us into prosperous days. God will surely help you because He is the God who helps us. God will surely deliver us from the hands of the demons because Jesus Christ has died for us and died on the cross. God's promises will certainly be fulfilled. No matter how many God's promises are, they will not be abolished. In Jesus Christ, they will certainly be fulfilled in us! When you turn back, God will turn back to you. When you turn back to God, you will receive healing and deliverance from God! Have you suffered enough? If you have not suffered enough, congratulations, keep suffering. Suffering? Not yet to the extreme. Therefore, today our brothers and sisters begin to understand this logic.

II. Scripture

Then the people of Kiriath Jearim came and took up the ark of the Lord. They brought it to Abinadab’s house on the hill and consecrated Eleazar his son to guard the ark of the Lord. The ark remained in Kiriath Jearim a long time—twenty years in all. Then all the people of Israel turned back to the Lord. So Samuel said to all the Israelites, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” (1 Samuel 7:1-3)

III. Prayer

God, today Your people want to turn back to You. Today Your people want to remove the foreign gods inside us, remove the Ashtoreths inside us. God, today we turn back to You, we will devote ourselves to You, we will serve You alone. God, today is the day You release us, save us, and heal us. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!

IV. Scripture Background

What is the background of this scripture? The two wicked sons of old Eli took the ark to the battlefield, thinking that the ark represented God, believing that if they carried God's ark, they would be victorious. It is like putting a cross in your pocket or wearing a cross around your neck, thinking that you should be victorious wherever you go. It is not like that. You wear a cross around your neck, some wear one inch long, and some wear one foot long. If you are tall enough, you should wear one meter long, but no matter how long you wear it, it will not work. If you want it to work, you must devote yourself to God.

The Israelites carried the ark to the battlefield, but the Philistines took the ark away. Everyone was confused: Could it be that our God does not work? See, God is useless, He cannot even protect His own ark. Who said that? God can protect Himself; He does not need your help. God does not need your help too much. As a result, this ark was remarkable. At that time, this ark was placed in the temple of the Philistines, and everyone was happy, thinking that the God of the Israelites was nothing more than this, and they put the ark there. As a result, the next day they found that their own statue of Dagon had fallen. Later, they helped it up, and the next day it fell again. They were frightened. Then everyone did not think anything, and they had not yet awakened to the fact that this had something to do with God, had something to do with the ark. As a result, all the Philistines got hemorrhoids.

You say how powerful God is, sending out a spirit of hemorrhoids, which confused the Philistines. They thought that they had defeated the Israelites on the battlefield, and they had also taken the ark of their God, but it was useless. Everyone got hemorrhoids. This thing is quite interesting. If people cannot poop, it is a big deal. I ask you, if you cannot eat or you cannot poop, which is more serious? If you cannot eat, you can get an IV, but if you cannot poop, that is troublesome! Hemorrhoids made the Philistines miserable. God used a small hemorrhoid to make the Philistines miserable. The Philistines saw that everyone had hemorrhoids, and everyone had problems with their stools. Then they went to the neighbors and asked: Did your family get hemorrhoids? The answer: My family also got it, the toilet is all red. Confused, all the people in the neighborhood got hemorrhoids, and the hemorrhoids grew in the shape of large red dates, some like soybeans, some like peanuts, everyone grew one, and they often bled, which was really deadly, too disgusting!

God inflicts a minor boil, and the Philistines are dumbfounded. Once dumbfounded, they consult a fortune teller to understand what has befallen them. The divination reveals, Ah, they have offended the God of Israel! The God of Israel is the true God, truly formidable! Hasten to return the Ark. But how to return it? Carry it back? No. They devise a plan: If the Ark is placed on a cart pulled by oxen, and the oxen naturally head towards the Israelites, then this is authentic. If it veers off course, then it has nothing to do with this God. Consequently, they place golden mice and golden boils on the cart. The golden boils, crafted in the shape of boils from gold, are exceedingly repulsive to behold. The cart then returns, arriving at Kirjath Jearim, where they place the Ark in the house of Abinadab.

By that time, old Eli had died, and his sons had perished. Samuel then became the judge of Israel. Do you imagine the Israelites heeded Samuel’s words? Not at all. Samuel was merely ranting, and no one listened. Samuel's task was unenviable. In Eli’s time, no one listened; why would they listen now? As a result, twenty years elapsed. What did everyone do during those twenty years? They all believed that since the Philistines had captured the Ark, their gods must be powerful. The Philistine gods were the pagan deities Baal and Ashtaroth.

They considered the God of Israel ineffective, unable to protect them, as the Ark had been seized. Yet, the Philistines themselves deemed the God of Israel mighty, considering their own gods inferior. What is one to make of this? Both sides esteemed the other’s gods. However, the Philistines could not worship this God and continued to venerate their Ashtaroth. Consequently, the Israelites reasoned: Since our God and the Ark are inadequate, let us adopt some pagan deities, let us embrace Ashtaroth. Ashtaroth is also known as Asherah, and locally, Ashtaroth is referred to as the love goddess, with a strong emphasis on family. I suspect this is the origin of the pastors’ wives in Chinese churches. I cannot speak definitively, but I suspect there is a connection.

Why after twenty years? Because during these twenty years, everyone conducted a grand experiment: Were these pagan gods effective? They suffered for twenty years! They plant, but the Philistines harvest. They were constantly bullied, a wretched state! Then they burned incense before Ashtaroth and Baal, beseeching the pagan gods to help them resist the Philistines. The Philistines also venerated Ashtaroth and Baal, entreating them to oppress the Israelites. Whom do Ashtaroth and Baal heed? Surely the Philistines, who are their natives, their origin. So this is quite interesting, like the police now worshiping Guan Gong, beseeching him to apprehend the robbers; the underworld worshiping Guan Gong, entreating him to ensure a successful bank robbery. Whom does Guan Gong heed? It is unclear, quite intriguing.

They spent twenty years conducting a grand experiment, discovering that worshiping all the pagan gods was futile; suffering was the true outcome. The Philistines had boils; did the Israelites escape boils? No, they also had boils, possibly larger than those of the Philistines. After much to and fro, they were quite worn out, plagued by diseases and calamities, and constantly bullied, a painful existence! During this time, Samuel had been proclaiming for twenty years, “You must wholeheartedly return to God, wholeheartedly return to God!” Like my sermons, I preach every day, and some say, “Teacher, I know the next line after you say the first: wholeheartedly love God, I know!” The expression on their faces disgusts me, and must disgust God even more. What kind of mind is this?

Little Samuel, growing into middle-aged Samuel, proclaimed for twenty years! Finally, the Israelites contemplated: “Ah, what Samuel says makes sense.” Just as when I preach, you feel that what I say makes some sense. Consequently, the Israelites inclined towards God. Samuel was remarkable! Imagine, for twenty years, no one listened to Samuel's meetings and sermons. What were they doing? They were all worshiping Ashtaroth. Samuel was indeed miserable, but Samuel was also full of faith, a faith that persevered for twenty years, impressive! After preaching for twenty years without anyone listening, the Israelites finally said: “Ah, yes, why don’t we try the God of Jehovah? We have tried everything else, and it doesn’t work. These twenty years have been filled with suffering, with many deaths. Finally, their hearts inclined towards God.”

The prophet continually spoke, what did he say? You deserve it! Samuel was remarkable, his faith persevering for over twenty years, praying for the Israelites, proclaiming the word of God. Finally, the Israelites awakened. So what must the prophet say? The prophet must often say unpleasant things, unpleasant things like: You haven’t done right, you will suffer, you deserve to suffer! This is the prophet. And he must persist in saying: One day you will turn back to God, one day we will see the glory of God, see the church of God established! This is Samuel. The Israelites were nagged by Samuel for twenty years, nagged until they knew the first sentence, and knew the next.

Why did they suddenly awaken after twenty years? Because significant events occurred during these twenty years, but the Bible is too lazy to record their sins. What significant events occurred? Suppose that the officials, clan leaders, and leaders of each tribe of Israel suddenly encountered calamities in their homes. What would happen, I ask you? Everyone would hold a meeting, discussing what had happened. Samuel was not even present at the scene. Some would say: “Perhaps what Samuel said is right,” and they would plan to give it a try.

A meeting was held among the Israelites, like the Zunyi Conference, which re-established Chairman Mao’s leadership, a similar logic. Samuel’s words were very simple: God will surely save you. Have you suffered enough? If you have suffered enough, you must turn back to God, you must remove the pagan gods from among you, remove Ashtaroth from among you. Samuel was remarkable! Everyone was drunk, only Samuel was sober! This is the background of this passage.

V. Have You Suffered Enough?

If you have not suffered enough, my words are nonsense. If you have suffered enough, you must listen to what I say. Only when people have suffered enough can they awaken and know that God is the God who saves us. Why is God effective? Why ineffective? God is effective only when people have suffered enough, when they are filled with iniquity. In my ministry, sometimes I truly do not wish for everyone to suffer enough. If you realize early that you have suffered enough, then I will rejoice with you, joyfully welcoming the day of God's salvation. Do not continue down that path; even if you have a thousand or ten thousand reasons, you cannot prevent the suffering; reasons are useless.

So today, we must often ask ourselves, have we suffered enough? Our pastors must also gradually begin to understand, and your service must be directed in this way, like Samuel, saying every day, have you suffered enough? If you have suffered enough, God will become our salvation. You must turn back to God, you must remove the pagan gods from among you. Are you willing to turn to God? Even trying is fine. So today, our brothers and sisters must gradually examine themselves. You need only a few things: If you are not blessed in your finances, it is certainly because your heart has turned away from God. If you have many diseases in your body, it is certainly because your heart has turned away from God. Your heart is filled with pagan gods, filled with money, work, family, and life, with living a small life, that's all.

I tell you, living a small life is very corrupting. Cancer comes from living a small life; high blood pressure comes from living a small life; wobbly legs and wobbly backs come from living a small life. Some say, “Then how should we live?” We live God’s life, because living God’s life does not bring suffering. Why do people suffer? Because they only believe in the silver and gold they see with their eyes. But I tell you, if you are with God and you truly have this heart, God can lead you to live prosperously even if everything collapses. Your prosperous life has nothing to do with your business, your enterprise, or your work, only with God.

Of course, the Philistines worship Ashtaroth quite well, but if you are a Philistine, then be a good Philistine. Why? If you are a Christian but still want to worship the Philistine gods, aren't you asking for trouble? Isn't that adultery? That leads to national ruin and family destruction, it’s terrible! So, you have suffered enough because we are God’s chosen people, and we cannot commit spiritual adultery.

VI. Is Your Heart Willing to Lean Towards God?

What does it mean to lean towards God? It means you have not yet returned to God, but you are inclining in that direction. The Israelites leaned towards God, what does that mean? It means they wanted to conduct an experiment. Are you willing to conduct an experiment today, to wholeheartedly love God? You say: I will give myself six months to wholeheartedly love God; I will give myself three months to wholeheartedly love God; I will give myself one month to wholeheartedly love God, to see if it works? Today, you may begin a great experiment, an experiment to wholeheartedly love God, to see if it works.

If you have suffered enough and then begin to lean towards God, I tell you, it is difficult to experience God’s grace. Back then, I was in a situation where calling to heaven brought no response, and calling to earth brought no help. I had terrible luck, even drinking cold water would hurt my teeth. God led me into a church that cast out demons, and there weren't many demon-casting churches in those days. I walked into a demon-casting church myself and experienced God. Why? Because I was driven in by demons. When I looked at this world, everything looked like air pollution at 500 points, hazy and foggy.

Many things were black and white, have you seen black and white photos? My heart was covered by that smog, which was really uncomfortable. When I came out of the church, I suddenly found that the sky was very blue, the clouds were very white, the grass on the roadside was very green, and the flowers on the roadside were very bright. I said, Oh, this place is so beautiful! It really is a garden city! I always thought it was hazy. Wow, it's so amazing! What did I experience the first time I went to church? I just came to seek God, to see if this God was the God who would save me. And it was true.

I tell you, the grace that God gave me exceeded my expectations. The first day I went to church, I came out changed. I felt this was amazing! Do you know what they led me to do the first day I went to church? They put me in a small room and led me to pray in tongues. I didn't know how; I didn't know that stuff. I struggled from morning until after 3 pm, my stomach rumbling with hunger. I thought I'd better learn a couple of phrases. My first prayer in tongues was learned. After I learned it, they were overjoyed. They said, He finally got tongues! I thought to myself, What? I learned it.

When I came out, I suddenly found that this thing was really amazing! From then on, I didn't really like praying in tongues because I had been forced once. Two years later, I finished reading the entire Bible and realized that praying in tongues was very important. That's how a scholar is, he makes everything clear. If you listen to my explanation of praying in tongues, it's all explained clearly. So what theme do I want to highlight? Our hearts lean towards God. Samuel said, If you want to lean towards God, to give this God a try, to see if it works, you will know if He is the God who saves us. Samuel said, Remove the pagan gods and Ashtaroth.

Then Samuel said to all the house of Israel, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” (1 Samuel 7:3)

VII. Remove the Pagan Gods and Ashtaroth

If you want to test this God, you must do this. How to do it? Remove the pagan gods. If you are still worshiping pagan gods and then leaning towards God, this experiment cannot be done. First, you must obey; you must first remove the pagan gods because the God Jehovah is a jealous God. Samuel was amazing. Why was he amazing? He said to remove these pagan gods and Ashtaroth because this Ashtaroth has become prominent among the pagan gods. The god Ashtaroth is like the goddess of love in Greek mythology. It is said that Ashtaroth is Baal's sister and also Baal's wife. Baal is a sun god, also called Lord, that's the relationship.

The concept that Ashtaroth conveys is living a small life. Ashtaroth is named the goddess of love, but it's not the same thing as the goddess of love I'm talking about. She pursues beautiful love, but ends up destroying herself. That's Ashtaroth. The demon behind unrequited love is called Ashtaroth; the demon behind being cuckolded in marriage is called Ashtaroth. So now there are many interesting phenomena: the pastor manages the church, and the pastor's wife manages the pastor. These things seem to be related to Ashtaroth. So remove the pagan gods and Ashtaroth. Why? Because this Ashtaroth particularly angers God. If you look closely, if a church places great emphasis on family, what will happen? You will find that Ashtaroth-dominated things are all these.

A pastor's relative got cancer, and we followed this pastor to minister to him. After ministering to him, he died. I booked a flight to see him and met this pastor. This pastor was very moved because I ministered to this child, and he decided to do what I do. I shared our Chinese Mingding Destiny Theology with him, and he began to promote my stuff in the church. Many people in the church needed to be delivered. But his wife and children disagreed. His wife advocated that the church should establish family altars. As a result, the pastor did not continue to promote it; he had to listen to his wife. Wife happy, life happy is a very famous English phrase.

This stuff is very penetrating. How powerful is the evil spirit behind this? The evil spirit behind this is called Ashtaroth, or Asherah. It is tragic when people encounter these things. Ashtaroth is the same in the church today. Throughout history, the logic of Baal and Ashtaroth has been very rampant and popular. The Israelites once welcomed it. The Israelites' hearts wandered, and they did not wholeheartedly love God. They started doing Baal and Ashtaroth stuff, and they had suffered enough. If someone listens to my recording online and suddenly wakes up, knowing that this thing is powerful, and thinks about if they have suffered enough, they will lean towards God and remove the pagan gods and Ashtaroth.

If you think about it, emphasizing family, one husband and one wife, and one lifetime all sound good, but they are very corrupting. Remember, living a small life angers God. If people live a small life all day long, you will not be able to serve this God because this God is a jealous God. He does not like living a small life.

Living a small life is not murder or arson, but it angers God! Samuel gave them the requirement: You must remove the pagan gods and Ashtaroth, wholeheartedly return to God, and serve Him only.

VIII. Wholeheartedly Return to God, Serve Him Only

God is the God who saves us, but the experiment should be done this way, examining God is examined in this way, wholeheartedly return to God, even if you give yourself a month, six months, or a year, you will not lose anything. If you wholeheartedly return to God and serve Him only, I tell you that two things will happen: physical health and financial blessing, you will definitely experience God. Sometimes I am very moved. Some people I personally ministered to, after ministering to them, they experienced great financial turnaround and great physical liberation, and then chose to continue to wholeheartedly love the world. Is it strange? Very strange! Will the disaster they experienced come again? Maybe that cycle hasn't finished yet! Do you know? Some people don't necessarily have to suffer enough; they are gone before they have suffered enough. This is deadly!

Wholeheartedly return to God, serve Him only. Our God is a jealous God. If you trust Him, you must be wholehearted, not being wholehearted does not work. If you look closely at Christians today, are there many truly outstanding Christians who wholeheartedly love God? It's a bit difficult. It's a bit disheartening to say, there are too few. But today I hope that brothers and sisters know that not being wholehearted does not work. Give yourself a year to wholeheartedly love God. After the turnaround, when you are qualified to love the world, go and do those things, and you will have experienced God.

What is Chinese Mingding Destiny Theology? It is a theology of serving God only. I live for God, I am born for God, I die for God, and other things are not important. You can shed tears, you can sweat, you can bleed, but you cannot not wholeheartedly love God, not wholeheartedly return to God, not serve God only. Nothing can deprive us of our right to serve God only. Why do we often see that the church is not effective? Today, many churches cannot cast out demons. Many churches only introduce you to doctors and do not introduce you to Jesus because their science is very developed, but their theology is very backward.

What a感慨! In today's generation, we must imitate Samuel. Even if it is twenty years, another twenty years, we will still insist on wholeheartedly returning to God, wholeheartedly loving God. We must firmly sing this tune for twenty years! I hope that in the future, many Christians will awaken and know that God will surely save us from the enemy, know that God is the God who saves us, the God who heals us, and the God who prospers us. Amen!

IX. Conclusion

God will surely save us, God will surely save us from the hand of the devil, God will also surely save us from the hand of the enemy, God will surely save us from the hand of the Philistines. From then on, you will see God's glory manifested greater among us. This is our God. Constantly know God, constantly be aware of God, constantly know God's word, and know how the truth of God speaks, no longer speak your own principles. If you speak, speak only the word of God. If you say a lot, you must ask yourself, is that the word of God? In the future, I don’t need to ask you; you ask yourself if that is the word of God. This, that, saying a lot, you say this, I say that, your face, your tone, your actions, seeing you are very desperate, forget about a lot of this garbage. Just get into the heart of God.

Today, I tell you, the God I know is a God who keeps His covenant and shows loving kindness, a faithful God, proven again and again. I also hope that brothers and sisters will experience such a God, Amen! We will sing a hymn and prepare to collect today's offerings. If you do not understand the meaning of offering, please do not offer because God does not love money, God loves you, and God wants to pour out His blessings on you. You must know that offering is a great grace. Giving back to God what comes from God is a great grace, making God a treasure.

At this time, raise your hands with me: God, I just want to wholeheartedly love You. Today I will turn back to You. Today I will remove the pagan gods inside me, and remove these Ashtaroths inside me. God, I only value You. I no longer live a small life. I want to become a person with destiny. I want to wholeheartedly love You.

I live by every word You speak. God, today I turn back, today let me begin to experience You, please pour out Your grace and blessings on me. God, save me from the hands of the enemy, I want to wholeheartedly return to you, serve You only, You are the God who saves me, Your promises will not be abandoned, You will surely keep Your covenant and show loving kindness to me to a thousand generations. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for the kingdom, and the power, and the glory are Yours, forever. Amen!

May God bless everyone!