Kony video creator possessed by the devil?

If you read this blog or have been on the Internet in the past couple of weeks, you've probably seen or heard of the Kony 2012 video—the viral film about Joseph Kony that has been watched more than 80 million times on YouTube in less than two weeks.

Now, get ready for this:

Last Thursday, March 15th, a bizarre turn of events involving Jason Russell, the creator of that video, took place in San Diego, California.

Russell was seen—and filmed by passersby—running through the street naked ranting about the devil.

The co-founder of Invisible Children, the charity behind the video, was taken to a psychiatric ward after suffering a meltdown in public. TMZ released video footage (watch below) of Russell hitting the pavement with his fists, swearing to himself and shouting. The L.A. Times has also reported on the story.

My heart and prayers go out to Russell and his family at this time. But I also feel compelled to make a point here.

I warned in my earlier blog post that bringing Kony to justice was by no means the end of the problem. I pointed out that the real problem is spiritual, since Kony has been reported to be a "channel" for evil spirits who use him to give orders, control, and carry out the activities of the Lord's Resistance Army, his militia group.

If that is true and Kony truly is used by demons (it wouldn't be too hard to imagine, would it?), could Jason Russell have bitten more than he could chew?

Having done missionary work in Africa for several years myself, including work at our church in Uganda, I can tell you firsthand how people who are deeply involved with evil spirits respond when they are attacked: they do witchcraft on them. Okay, laugh if you want, but what I am telling you is a fact, and you don't have to believe it to be true.

Russell's family and charity have released a statement saying that his behavior was due to "exhaustion, dehydration and malnutrition" caused by the "emotional toll" he's been under since the video came out. His family has also said that he's NEVER had any drugs or alcohol problem—so the idea that he was under the influence doesn't explain his behavior.

I'm not qualified to speak on Russell's medical or mental condition, but watching the video below and knowing what I know as I mentioned above, I have at least to ask the question:
Could Jason Russell be suffering the spiritual backlash of what he started but is not spiritually prepared to finish?


P.S. I would love to offer deliverance prayers of protection for Russell via our Los Angeles office. Perhaps if you share this link with everyone you know who cares, it could come to his or his family's attention and they might get in touch. God bless.

What happened to “Amen, thank God”?

Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Back when I was new to the faith, I learned that when I’m wronged, humiliated, ignored, misunderstood, judged, despised, passed over by a trickster, the target of gossip and malicious comments, given dirty looks, rebuked, disciplined, mocked, called this and that—my response should simply be “Amen, thank God. Let’s move on.” I mean, trust in God as the Righteous Judge, have the humility to learn whatever lessons from the situation, and move on.

Nowadays, however, it is frustrating to see the reaction of many who call themselves people faith. They say: This is not over. Who does he think he is? Look what they did to me! She is going to pay for this! I’ll never forget this, revenge is patient… That’s not fair, I did nothing wrong! I can only take so much, now there’ll be payback… and things like that.

The attitude is often one of rebellion, self-defense, justification, bitterness, spare-no-words—always coupled with the victim seeking someone to empathize with his or her pain. If there's any prayer about it (that’s a big "if", because they often forget the most important response is to pray), it’s usually a prayer marked by hurt and revenge, which, of course, God does not hear.

The old "Amen, thank God," is full of meaning and significance. "Amen" means "so be it", "let it be done this way," "let it be" or "so be it." That is, I will not fight any of this. I will not defend myself before others, lest I make them my judges.

"Thank God" includes my recognition that everything that God allows is good for me. If He allowed the injustice, the slander, the rebuke etc. to happen to me, it’s because I can make good use of it. God is not evil. People can be evil, but not God. So I give thanks to Him, and ask for strength and wisdom to learn the lesson.

Amen, thank God.

There is a sentence that has become increasingly rare in Christian circles.


P.S. In anticipation of those comments from people who read but hardly understand, I clarify that there is a big difference between "defending oneself " and "fighting deception." I’ve argued above against defending ourselves from injustice, slander etc. for our own sake. Fighting deception, on the other hand, is to expose demonic lies that run loose and corrupt the innocent, naïve souls. It is the duty of every Christian to fight all deception, lies, and bad characters that corrupt the pure faith and our Lord’s name. That, however, should never be done for personal benefit, but for the benefit of people who have been or could be deceived.

The Law of Inertia and your problems

Inertia, a basic law of physics, explains that all bodies are "lazy" and do not want to change their state of motion: if they are moving, they want to keep moving; if they are still, they do not want to move. The principle of inertia can be seen in the movement of a bus. When the bus "pulls" from a stationary point, the passengers tend to move back. Likewise, when the bus brakes while in motion, passengers move forward, tending to continue at the speed they were. Inertia refers to the resistance a body offers to any change in its state of rest or motion.

In other words: everything resists change.

Because of the law of inertia, if we want to move an object, we must apply a greater force to it than the resistance it offers. If we want to stop a moving object, we have to meet it with more resistance than the force and speed it exerts.

That means: change requires greater force than the resistance that opposes it.

It is no different in life. Everything you want to change in your life offers you resistance. If you want to change your financial life, your marriage, your health, your business, your performance, your spiritual life, whatever — you will meet resistance. Therefore, change can only happen when you exert more strength than the resistance.

If things have not yet changed for you, it’s because you have not applied enough strength to overcome the inertia of your situation.

That’s a law, and there is no escaping it. The best you can do is to gather the strength necessary to overcome the inertia of your problems.

What do you stand for – and against? | Live in London

It's that simple

Forgive the expletives on the video, but I just had to share it with you.

The funny bits aside, what does this video teach you?

Success comes from doing the simple, uncomplicated things.

We don't have more people succeeding not because they can't, but because they think it takes more than they have.

You have all you need to succeed, right now. Just go ahead and keep it simple.

I feel...

... sad.

... weak.

... angry.

... depressed.

... embarrassed.

... hurt.

... betrayed.

... lost.

... despised.

... ignored.

... shy.

... discouraged.

... lonely.

... confused.

... revolted.

Yeah, so?

What really matters is not how you feel, but what you're going to do about the situation.

Be practical.

Kony 2012

Find 30 minutes and watch this video without interruption or distraction. Use headphones, if you can.

First of all, congratulations to Jason Russel and the team behind this — the people who care.

I won't restate the points that are well made in the video, but would like to draw your attention to a few, unspoken points:

• Jason's initiative proves my point from yesterday's post
• This video is a wonderful example of how one camera and a brain can start a revolution and create change
• Although I fully support the cause (here am I doing my bit to make Joseph Kony famous), for us with spiritual discernment, we know that there is an even worse invisible enemy than Kony. If that enemy is not made visible — mark my words — other Joseph Konys will continue to spring up after him. Kony is just a puppet. Yes, he must be stopped. But the world cannot be under the illusion that doing away with Kony will rid the world of evil. The bigger question everyone must ask is, What's driving Kony and why does he do what he does? Of course I'm talking about Satan, the devil. Sorry (not) if I offend you or sound too medieval for you. If you don't see that now, one day you will. I just hope it won't be too late. By the way, here are documents by the NY Times that report Kony as being regularly possessed by spirits.
• This video proves that you — yes, even you — can create change. Technology today makes it possible for anyone to impact the world, if they want to.
• Indignation, righteous anger, a revolted spirit have nothing to do with feeling, but with doing. Jason did not simply "feel sorry" for the Invisible Children — he did and has been doing something for them for the past 9 years. So please don't say you're angry or revolted about anything. Show it.

I want to thank Sulma for sharing this video with me.

One day of righteous anger

You can achieve more in one day of righteous anger than in one year of passivity.

Spiritual diarrhea

Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. 1 Cor 15:33

I am amazed at how many people, including those who claim to be of the faith, engage in evil company. It seems that they have no sense of what is good or evil.

• They have their ears open to gossip
• They like to always “stay informed" about other people’s lives
• They pass along harmful or useless information they hear 
• Their ears become a toilet to collect the verbal feces their "friend"—who happens to be having a bad episode of spiritual diarrhea—spews out (small detail: they don’t rebuke or teach their friend, who is spiritually ill. They simply collect his or her feces).
• They criticize and judge others without knowing even 10% of the real story
• They love rumors and conspiracy theories
• They spend one hour on the phone entertaining useless conversations about other people but don’t spend even a minute praying for them

At the beginning of my faith, I learned that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. (Matthew 12:36)

Since then, I’ve always had this fear in my heart of talking nonsense. I think those who know God have this sensitivity.

Many have become corrupt, spiritually and mentally rotten, because they haven’t been careful to avoid evil conversations.

It would be better for them to lose both their speech and hearing.

I don’t know what’s best

Sometimes you will not know which decision is best. Option A looks as good or as bad as option B. That’s when you will wish you had the power to predict the future. (Fortune-tellers and psychics profit from this desire and restlessness people have about their future.) But you don’t have that power. So what to do?

Find out all you can about your options. Ask. Investigate. Suppose. Consider the worst-case scenario. Consider delaying the decision (sometimes doing nothing is option C).

However, do reach a point where you finally make the decision. Make up your mind. Even if you’re not 100% sure your chosen decision is the best, you can be 200% sure that being paralyzed by doubt is the worst option. So, decide and don’t look back. Put all your strength into your chosen decision.

That’s how you will get out the anguish of not knowing what is best.