Jesse Duplantis - Keep your foot on the devils neck

Keep Your Foot On The Devil's Neck

y grandfather was a giant of a man with a great Msense of humor. He was a fisherman who lived in Venice, Louisiana, and lived a very hard life. He was huge, weighing in at about 280 pounds. He also wore a size 15 ring on his big calloused hands. I called him "Pawpaw," and during my early childhood, there was no one who I looked up to more than him.

Pawpaw loved to eat oranges, and one of my earliest childhood memories is of me sitting in the palm of his giant hand and being lifted high into the air to pick oranges from a tree. Pawpaw was rough around the edges and had a hard time showing emotion in front of anyone, but when we were alone, he often told me that he loved me. "Just don't tell nobody, boy," he'd whisper, "cause we're men!"

My grandfather told me many stories from his life, but I especially liked the fact that he went to school only one day in his entire life. "I didn't like it,"

he said, "so I quit!" I found out later that the real reason he didn't get an education was because his mother abandoned him when he was five years old on the boat docks of New Orleans, Louisiana. She dropped him off, and for days, he wandered on those docks alone until a fisherman noticed him and figured out what had happened. That fisherman decided to take him in, and he gave him a job on his boat.

Since people seemed to have had a more relaxed view of child laws back then, my grandfather was raised working alongside different crews of roughneck Cajun fisherman. He spent his whole life pulling in shrimp nets and learning what it meant to work hard. He grew into a very robust man who had a very unusual sense of humor.

When I was five years old, his unusual sense of humor taught me a lesson that I'll never forget!

Murder in the Chicken Coop!

We were headed out to the chicken coop on a Sunday afternoon when Pawpaw got that crazy gleam in his eye. "Boy," he said, "We're going to eat a chicken today! Your Grandma is gonna fry up some chicken, boy, and put it with some gravy."

"Whoa! Yeah!" I said, because I liked the sound of that.

I didn't realize that if Pawpaw wanted fried chicken for dinner on Sunday he didn't go to the store to get the bird...he took a hatchet out into his backyard and did what had to be done. So, I was very unsuspecting when he wanted me to follow him into the chicken coop. "Come on, Jesse," he said, "I want to show you something."

Now, my grandfather had the meanest bunch of chickens in the world. They were demon-possessed, every one of them, and I hated them because every time I got close to them, one of them would jump up and spur me. They'd hiss and squawk and try to attack me with the pointed things around their toes. It was serious! So, I didn't mind walking out in the backyard, but I was a little hesitant to actually go inside the coop.

"I don't want them to bite me, Pawpaw," I said.

"Just stay behind me, boy," he said as he opened the gate.

"Now, Jesse," he said, "Go and shoo that chicken into the corner."

I said, "No, he's going to bite me. I don't want to."

"Come on, son," he reasoned, "You are part of my life! You got strength in your body! Now, get over there and shoo that chicken!"

It really wasn't an option, and besides, I didn't want to disappoint my grandpa so I swallowed my fear and started shooing. "Shoo...shoo... shoo," I said as I ran toward them and tried to corner them. I was so excited when, by some miracle of God, I got one of those mean birds cornered!

"Catch him," my grandpa urged.

"Oh, no! I ain't putting my hand on the chicken!"

I said, "You just told me to shoo him in the corner. I shooed him in the corner."

My grandpa smiled at me and walked over to grab the chicken. I could see the look in that chicken's eyes change. It was as if that chicken knew exactly what was about to happen and was crying out to God saying, "God forgive me. Today, I will meet you face to face...with a Cajun chewing on my leg as I go to Heaven!" Suddenly, Pawpaw caught that chicken and whispered to me, "I'm going to show you something, son."

"What you gonna do, Pawpaw?" I asked.

"Watch this," he said as he laid the chicken down on the ground. In one quick motion, he raised his little hatchet, looked at me with a smile and swung down...right into the grass. The chicken had pulled his head back!

"Pawpaw, you missed the chicken!" I said. He said, "Isn't that something."

I winced and said, "I'd pull my head in too."

He looked at me, smiled again and laid the bird back down. Again, he picked up the hatchet and said,

"Watch, Jesse!" Foom! He swung down and the chicken moved its head again!

I said, "Pawpaw you missed him."

"No, I'm going to get his head now," he said, and he did something that I'll never forget. As my giant grandfather held the chicken's body to the ground, he swung his big foot around and put it right on that chicken's head! I heard the chicken squawk,

"Ahwooo" and that's the last word that chicken ever said foom ! The hatchet swung down and Pawpaw didn't miss.

I was shocked! But, I was even more shocked when Pawpaw looked at me with crazy eyes and a big grin...and threw the headless chicken right at me!

Fear hit me like a lightening rod, and I took off running! Oddly enough, that headless bird started running after me!

Now, I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, but everywhere I ran, that chicken ran. I was hollering, and he was following me with his wings fluttering and blood spurting out of his neck. I'd run to the left, and the headless chicken would run left! I'd run to the right, and he'd run right!

He couldn't see but he could follow, and I kept screaming my fool-head off until finally, I hit the fence and started trying to climb.

When I looked around, I saw my grandpa laughing hard, and I heard his voice hollering, "Jesse, that chicken is dead!"

"He doesn't know he's dead!!" I hollered back,

"Look at him!" That chicken was still flapping its wings and running towards me when it suddenly stopped and fell down dead. After seeing this, I became very brave! Pumped full of adrenaline, I jumped down from the fence, walked right over to that dead chicken and kicked it as hard as I could.

Grandpa was right behind me and said, "Jesse, as soon as I cut that chicken's head off, he was dead. But you thought he was still alive, and you were scared because of what you saw."

His words were seared into my mind that day, and they taught me a valuable lesson that I'd like to share with you today.

Don't Be Intimidated! Recognize the enemy's fear tactics and put your foot down in faith!

The devil has been destroyed! Jesus bruised his head and cut off his power when He went to the cross at Calvary. Yet, many Christians today think that satan still has power because of what they see. But, it is just satan running around the earth like that dead chicken, flapping his wings at the Church and trying to invoke fear into the heart of anybody who'll accept it. He's defeated! He just doesn't want to accept it!

Everyday I encounter well-meaning Christians who call out to God to save them from a demon who has long since been defeated. It's time for the body of Christ to recognize what the blood of Jesus has done and stop running from his attacks in fear. It's time for us to realize that every attack from the enemy is an attack on the blood of Jesus. It's a form of rebellion from a defiant demon that is skilled in using the power of fear to intimidate Christians into giving up on their blood-bought rights.

That's why we should obey 1 Peter 5:8, " Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:" Notice, it didn't say that he was a lion; it just says he's acting like a roaring lion. In other words, he's a loudmouth. Also, notice that the Bible says that he is seeking for anybody "whom he may devour." Can he devour you? Only if you believe his lie and accept his fear! It's time to put your foot down in faith and refuse to be manipulated by his fear tactics.