Joe Kovalcik - The Devil in the Back Pew: Dealing With Dark Spirits in the Church

T HE D EVIL IN
THE B ACK P EW

T HE D EVIL IN
THE B ACK P EW

Dealing with Dark Spirits in the Church

Joe Kovalcik

2018 Joe Kovalcik

The Devil in the Back Pew

Dealing with Dark Spirits in the Church

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Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Elm Hill, an imprint of Thomas Nelson. Elm Hill and Thomas Nelson are registered trademarks of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc.

Cover design by Heather Kimura

Light In The Back Pew, LLC

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Website: lightinthebackpew.com

The quotation on pages 183 to 185 is taken from Derek Prince, Blessing or Curse: You Can Choose, 10th Anniversary Edition, pages 114 to 116. Chosen, a division of Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, MI, 2000. Used by permission.

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All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New King James Version. 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version. Public domain.

Scripture quotations marked MSG are from The Message. Copyright by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.Zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018958221

ISBN 978-1-400303090 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-400303106 (eBook)

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Ebook Instructions

In this ebook edition, please use your devices note-taking function to record your thoughts wherever you see the bracketed instructions [Your Notes] or [Your Response Here]. Use your devices highlighting function to record your response whenever you are asked to checkmark, circle, underline, or otherwise indicate your answer(s).

I dedicate this book to Patti
my best friend, my girlfriend, and my wife.

Surely the greatest earthly gift
the Lord has given me.

C ONTENTS

I t is my preference to ignore conventional rules of capitalization and use the lower case for satan, devil, lucifer, beelzebub, and related references to dark spirits, in both the body of the text as well as in headings. For quotations, I have bracketed [] the lower case first letter to continue the practice.

The designations satan, devil, lucifer, demon, enemy, enemy of your soul, power of darkness, unclean spirit, and dark spirit are used interchangeably to refer to those spirits which rebelled against God.

The examples and experiences described in the text are true occurrences, though nonrelevant details have sometimes been blurred to conceal an individuals identity.

The terms pray-er and prayee refer to the person praying and the person receiving prayer, respectively.

I would like to thank Bob Morton, Leslie Johns, and Patti Kovalcik for all their excellent feedback. Especially, I am grateful for the professional editing skills of Rhonda Crouse. Her assistance has been invaluable.

DISCLAIMER: Nothing in this book should be construed as a substitute or replacement for medical, legal, psychological, or psychiatric help provided by an accredited professional. Such expert counsel should be sought if there is possible need. Additionally, local or other laws may require the reporting of instances of violence, neglect, abuse, or other extreme behavior. The reader assumes full responsibility for compliance with applicable statutes.

Dealing with Darkness

T here is something distasteful about writing a book which gives so much attention to satan and the dark spiritual realm. The focus on the enemy, though, is 100% for the purposes of exposing his deceptive ways and bringing him under the lawful authority of the believer. I intend no regard, no respect, and certainly no admiration whatsoever for the one who wars against all that is good and Godly. My hope is that, by the Lords grace, this writing may play a small part in shining the light of the Savior on those places darkened by the prince of evil.

If you are a Christian believer, and you feel uncomfortable or troubled reading this book, I suggest you take that as a clear sign that you should be reading it. Assuredly, the enemy of your soul does not want you learning how to expose his work and to defeat him in your life.

For those who consider the topic strange, irrelevant, or even fantasy, this text offers much to refute that by way of Scripture, examples, and testimonies. However, at the onset, I raise a few questions for the doubter:

Do you believe in Jesus Christ?

[Your Response Here]

Do you believe He died and bodily rose again?

[Your Response Here]

Do you believe what He said about the enemy of your soul?

[Your Response Here]

As author C.S. Lewis stated, Jesus is either a liar and a lunatic, or He is Lord. There is no middle ground. Jesus claimed to be God; if He is not, He is to be ignored but if He is God, we deny Him at our peril! He told us about the ways of satan, and from His words and other Scriptures, we learn how to overcome this adversary and his cohorts.

Our worldly inclination about things of life might be: Show me, then Ill believe. But the Kingdom way is different. There is a Biblical principle about spiritual revelation which has to do with faith, obedience, and understanding. In the Old Testament account of the priests carrying the ark through the dry riverbed of the Jordan River, importantly, the river did not part until they stepped into the water! (Joshua 3:13). Likewise, in 2 Corinthians 3:1416, Paul states that those who refuse to believe in Christ have a veiled understanding of the Old Testament, but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Significantly, the order is not once I see, then Ill turn to Jesus. Its precisely the opposite. And the same with the priests at the Jordan: the river did not part before they stepped in, but afterward.

It may seem an absurdly simple truth, but we can only learn what we dont know. If there is a bias for or against a particular belief, we may limit our ability to learn and grow. Knowledge can be categorized in three ways: intellectual knowledge, heart knowledge, and spiritual knowledge. We are engaged in life, for the most part, on an intellectual level that is, with what we grasp and perceive with our minds. We pass the majority of our existence functioning in this manner. Beyond this is heart knowledge, the full expression of which we call