Sid Roth - Binding the Strongman Over America
Did you know there is one demonic principality behind all abortions, divorce, pornography, addictions, and the violence? My guest wants to show you how to unmask and defeat this principality.
Sid Roth: John Benefiel, you say there is one spirit that is responsible for the worst moral decay I have seen in my lifetime, the chaos, going on in society. What is that principality?
John Benefiel: Sid, that principality the Bible talks about is Baal. Jesus talked about Baal. We say "Bale". "Bahl" is really the correct pronunciation.
Sid Roth: Right.
John Benefiel: But you know what that is. That one spirit is the one behind idolatry, immorality, broken covenants, innocent bloodshed, murder, poverty, sickness, disease, racism, all kinds of violence. That one spirit.
Sid Roth: You know, I hear a lot of people in the news talking about the causes of racism, but they're not looking at the invisible world that's pulling the strings.
John Benefiel: They're not aware, if they are aware, they're not telling it of what the real problem is. See, Ephesians 6:12 says, "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, and the rulers of the darkness of this world". People, Sid, are not our real problem. It's the unseen realm that Satan is the head of, and Baal is his executor. That's where the real problem is.
Sid Roth: Now something that you experienced that sounds pretty wild to me, you don't look like a guy that explores caves, but you found out about the origins of Baal worship in the United States. Explain that experience.
John Benefiel: Well, we had a prophesy in 1997 by Chuck Pierce, that we would have a Gideon anointing upon us. And we began to understand the first thing that God told Gideon to do was to tear down the Altar to Baal. Well, we heard about these caves in the western panhandle of Oklahoma, far out West, in which ancient Egyptians and Phoenicians came to this land 1500 B.C., 3500 years ago, and they left their markings in the rock, called petroglyphs, claiming the land for their god, Baal. So, this is how we began to see these ancient Egyptians came here and claimed the land. They brought that spirit of Baal to our land, even before the white man ever did.
Sid Roth: It's almost like they made a covenant with this Baal.
John Benefiel: They did. Exactly, Sid. That's exactly right. They made a covenant, and a blood covenant, with Baal, and they claimed this land. And there's a timeline in that cave that wherever the sun hits it at any particular day, it tells the sun worshippers, the Baal worshippers, what worship to do on that day to Baal.
Sid Roth: That is amazing.
John Benefiel: It is. It is.
Sid Roth: I've never heard that before.
John Benefiel: It's amazing.
Sid Roth: So, it begs the question, we know that this covenant was cut with this principality.
John Benefiel: Yeah.
Sid Roth: So, what's the solution? How do we get rid of this principality? We know the Bible says we can, but how?
John Benefiel: Well, in Matthew, Chapter 12, Jesus talked about this principality. And in Verse 24, He even named Baal as the ruler of the demons, it says Beelzebub, but that's just another name for Baal is the ruler of the demons. Then he said, you need to bind the strongman and plunder his house. Well, you can't bind the strongman if you don't know who the strongman is. And you sure can't bind him if you're married to him. If you make covenant with the... and ladies, I'm not talking about your husband. I'm talking about if you're aligned with this spirit called Baal. And most of the time, Sid, people are not even aware of this. They don't even realize that their family line had gotten involved. When you got involved in all these things we just talked about...
Sid Roth: When I just read in the Old Testament, I see the priest to Baal.
John Benefiel: With Jezebel.
Sid Roth: And I even saw my people, Jewish people, were succumbing to that.
John Benefiel: They did. Jezebel named herself that because Jezebel, Bel is another form of Baal, because she was a worshipper of Baal. And she and 450 prophets of Baal and Elijah faced them down. And when he did, then the fire fell, and then the people started yelling, "God is God. Adonai is God. The Lord is God".
Sid Roth: Do you believe that illnesses and pains and sicknesses...
John Benefiel: I do.
Sid Roth: ...are all, if we can get rid of Baal, we can get rid of... they'll have to go?
John Benefiel: Yeah, I do. Of course, there is such a thing as germs, we know that kind of thing. But who's behind it all? It's not God, Jesus said...
Sid Roth: The prince of the germs.
John Benefiel: Yeah, he says, exactly. Exactly. Because Jesus said, "The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy". Well, God's not the thief. He's not the one who's killing and destroying. But Jesus said, "I came that they may have life, and that more abundantly". So but Sid, he also gave us authority in Luke 10:19, he said, "Behold, I give to you authority over all the power of the enemy," but if you don't know who the enemy is, and you don't know that you have authority, and then even if you do know that you have authority and you don't take that authority and you don't do something about it, then by default, the enemy runs roughshod over people.
Sid Roth: Okay. So, this country made a covenant with Baal. But there is a stronger covenant.
John Benefiel: Yes.
Sid Roth: Explain what a covenant is.
John Benefiel: Okay.
Sid Roth: And our covenant as believers in the Messiah.
John Benefiel: Okay. Well, a covenant, sometimes people say is an agreement or a contract, marriage, Christian marriage is a covenant, in which each side, the husband and the wife, make promises to each other. Well, we have a covenant with our God, in which God has made promises to us, and we make promises to God. But when we break those promises, we break that covenant, that's called "covenant breaking," and that gives Satan, that gives Baal the legal right to bring hardship, bad things, into our lives. So when we repent of those things, when we find out what God doesn't like, wickedness, when we find those things out and we confess them and repent of them, then God gives us the legal right to bind the enemy. So, we can do that, Sid, we've seen it done.
Sid Roth: And you have these, you've outlined in your book these...
John Benefiel: In the book, yeah.
Sid Roth: ...prophetic strategies to get rid of the enemy. But that's you. You know how to get rid of Baal from your life. What about the average believer?
John Benefiel: Average believer can do it just as well. It's not all that hard, Sid. It's really not. You know, in 2nd Chronicles 7:14, God said, "If my people", okay, so that's the people that are watching today, "if my people will do four things," then God said He'd do three things. "If my people will humble themselves and pray," and seek God's face, but then the fourth thing is, "and turn from their wicked ways".
Sid Roth: Repentance.
John Benefiel: That's repentance. But Sid, you can't turn from your wicked ways if you're not even aware of what wicked ways are. If you don't know what some of those wicked ways are. But that's what part of my book details, is idolatry and morality, innocent bloodshed, broken covenants, that most people don't even think about. But whenever we've recognized that we've sinned and we've committed wickedness, then we confess it to God, and we turn from it, then we take our authority over this principality called Baal, and bind that principality in the Name of Jesus. And God says, "I will hear from Heaven," okay, so he doesn't automatically hear, but "I'll hear you. I will forgive their sin," all of our sin, no matter what you've done, "And I will heal their land," Sid. And when He says heal the land, He means literally heal this land of all the problems that are involved. Now it's a warfare, Sid.
Sid Roth: By the way, when He says land, as you've explained, it's the land of the country you're from. But it's also the land that you are entrusted to, your family. So, it covers everything. That's such an amazing promise. Tell me briefly about this Baal divorce decree.
John Benefiel: The Baal divorce decree we learned about from teaching the Dutch Sheets, and Chuck Pierce made in early 2007, because Dutch taught on Baal, and it caused us to understand more what we were dealing with. And he said, what we need to do is divorce Baal and remarry the Lord. Well, as soon as he said that it's just like the lights went on. I called my attorney...
Sid Roth: Oh, you just removed the covenant that you were submitted to that was cut before you were even born.
John Benefiel: Yeah. It was influencing us before we were even born.
Sid Roth: Yeah.
John Benefiel: It was already in the land.
Sid Roth: Right.
John Benefiel: It was rooted in the land. And so, when he said we need to divorce Baal and remarry the Lord, I called my attorney friend, a Christian, and I said, "Jerry, draw something".
Sid Roth: You were serious!
John Benefiel: I was serious. I said, "We're going to do this. Draw us up a legal divorce decree". And Jerry had heard it too, and he said, "I'm already on it". So, he did. He wrote up a divorce decree. Well, we know a little, I had not gone through a divorce, thank the Lord, but I know enough about divorce that you petition the court, you petition a judge to say, "Get me free from my covenant partner. I want to be free from who I've been married to". And that is what we're saying in the divorce decree. It's a prayer to God saying, "Lord, we repent of our sins. Would you grant to us freedom, grant us a divorce from this principality that has been causing havoc in our lives, in our bloodline, and in our nation"? And in the decree, we give God's answers, not only the prayer, God did this for us, but God comes back and says, "Divorce granted. You are free. Now you're free to remarry Jesus as your Husband".
Sid Roth: How important is this in the spirit world to do this divorce...
John Benefiel: Well, everything, you know this, Sid, everything in the spirit realm works legally by covenant. And you know what we have in our Bible, we call the New Testament and the Old Testament, "testament" is just a transliteration of the word "testamentum," which means covenant, Old Covenant, New Covenant. And they are blood covenants that Jesus, when He shed His blood on the cross, He made the way open for every one of us who will accept Him to come in covenant with Him, for Him to be our Lord, our Savior, our Husband, the One who provides for us, the One who heals us, the One who looks after us. And when we're legally free, that God says, "You're freed from the spirit of Baal," which the Baal divorce decree does, then we're free to remarry the Lord, Jesus. And we're also free then to take our authority with this Writ of Assistance and bind the strongman, bind Baal, and plunder his house. Take back from him everything he's stolen from us in our bloodlines, that includes our family members, that includes souls, that includes our government, that includes our economy, that includes our health, that includes our prosperity, our happiness, our joy. I'll tell you; things turn around when you take authority over your real enemy.
Sid Roth: Would you like to learn how to divorce Baal from your life? Be right back.
Sid Roth: Give me some examples of victories people have had when they have legally divorced this Baal.
John Benefiel: Lots and lots of examples. For communities and areas, for example, I've been invited to go and teach them. I remember in San Antonio, for an example, it was so bad that the trees were dying, the drought, because the enemy, Baal, causes a drought and famine. And when I taught them then together, there was about 250 people there, we divorced Baal and we declared the Baal divorce decree. And even though there was no rain forecast at all in the long-term forecast, remember, the trees are dying because it's so dry, the next day it starts raining. And it rained over 10 inches in the next few days. Give you another personal example. A man in our church, one of our elders in the church, started an investment management corporation. And he incorporated "The Baal Divorce Decree," and "The Writ of Assistance," in his business. We went over there and prayed over his business with him in this. And Sid, in about a year and a half, he started with zero under management, he now has over $1.2 billion under management. God has blessed him and continues to bless him. And he unashamedly lets people know that he is a Christian, that he loves the Lord, Jesus, and they keep coming to him. Because God wants to prosper us, Sid. He wants to prosper His people. And it is the enemy, it is Baal that is behind, that's stopping the wealth transfer to God's people.
Sid Roth: You know something that I read about in the newspaper? The whole United States read about this in the newspaper. And it had to do with your prayers, and the Washington Monument.
John Benefiel: Yeah. We went to Washington, D.C. We stood at the Lincoln Memorial, and we declared the "Baal Divorce Decree". We had had at least two people from all 50 states there at that time. We declared "The Baal Divorce Decree" and the "Writ of Assistance" on July the 4th, 2011. Fifty days later, fifty jubilee, okay, fifty days later, an earthquake that never happens in Washington, D.C., shook Washington D.C., cracked the Washington Monument, which is a Phallic symbol, symbol of worship to Baal. It also cracked the House of the Temple, which is the side of free masonry, where they kneel to receive the 33rd degree, and they're told in the 33rd degree, not 32nd, but 33rd, that Lucifer is the good god, and our God is the evil God. Also cracked in the Gargoyles off the National Cathedral, which is not Christian. God was saying, "Divorce granted to our nation".
Sid Roth: When we follow the principles that you outline in your book, especially they're all biblical, "Binding the Strongman," wealth is one thing we can expect.
John Benefiel: It is.
Sid Roth: What are some of the other things we can expect?
John Benefiel: Well, they say about wealth, in Proverbs 13:22 says, "A good man leaves an inheritance to his children," his children, and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just. That's wealth transfer. The first wealth transfer that I'm thinking about in the Bible was, when God brought his people out of Egyptian bondage, his people were in Egyptian bondage, the Egyptians were Baal worshippers. And they were exercising racism and slavery over God's people. And when God brought them out, He brought them all out healed. It says they were all healed, and they were all loaded down with silver and gold, the Egyptians transferred their silver and gold to God's people. Well, you can also see governments change. You can see territories change. You can see bloodlines healed. You can see marriages healed. Anything good that God promises can spring to action once you get the source of the problem out of the way. And the source of the problem is Baal, the principalities.
Sid Roth: Can you pray a mini version of the Baal divorce for us?
John Benefiel: I can.
Sid Roth: Right now. And I'm going to repeat it after him, and I want you to, also.
John Benefiel: All right. All right, I want you to say this out loud after me. "Father, I come to you in the Name of Jesus. And I confess my sins, and the sins of my bloodline, my family. And I repent of them. I ask that you grant to me and my family a divorce from Baal. I want to be cut off from Baal now and always so that I am free to marry Jesus as my Husband and my Savior. I thank You, Father that You grant to me now this decree of divorce which I sign and now I remarry Jesus as my Lord and my Savior. Amen".
Sid Roth: But I feel something lighter as a result of that.
John Benefiel: Yeah.
Sid Roth: How about you? I'm telling you; God did something very special for you. I can't wait for you to get the full divorce decree and physically sign it in your own handwriting. Are people coming back and saying, what a difference it makes in their life?
John Benefiel: Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. All over the place. Sid, I wouldn't be able to lead a prayer network that I have a leader in a network in all 50 states and 112 nations if we weren't getting results, tangible, measurable results. The network wouldn't be growing like it is right now, because people see, when you take the authority that God has offered to us, and you bind the one that's causing the problems, then you go free, and the blessings of God can flood into your life again.
Sid Roth: And guess what, because you prayed that prayer, I believe I can pray, and John can pray for your healing right now.
John Benefiel: Yeah.
Sid Roth: But before that, I want you to say a prayer to have your own experiential knowledge with God. Repeat out loud the words I'm speaking: "Dear God, I'm a sinner. And I'm so sorry. I believe the blood of Jesus washes away my sins. And I'm clean. And now that I'm clean I ask Jesus to live inside of me and be my Lord and Savior. Amen".
John Benefiel: Amen.
Sid Roth: Now I pray in Jesus Name, the people with arthritic fingers, if you will move your fingers right now, you'll see that that pain is gone. I pray for those with hip problems and back problems, and I also pray for the person with a tennis elbow. That you're free in Jesus Name. John, are you getting any words?
John Benefiel: Yeah, there are people with ulcers right now being healed. People right now that have had... oh my goodness, people that have cancerous tumors, that those tumors are shrinking right now. You speak to those tumors, and you tell them to dry up and leave your body, because you have authority over that thing that caused it.
Sid Roth: John, you, and I both know there are people filled with fear watching us right now. Give them one word of encouragement.
John Benefiel: I just want to tell you, shake off the fear and discouragement. That's not from God. I mean literally, just shake yourself and say, "Get out of my life! I'm not going to put up with fear and discouragement and despondency and worry, not anymore! Because I'm free in Jesus Name. I bind the strongman, and I command the strongman to get out of my life and out of my family, and out of my community, in Jesus Name"!
Sid Roth: That strongman has no chance with John here!