As a powerful preacher of God’s Word, Jonathan Cahn is certainly no stranger to spiritual warfare. He encounters it almost everywhere he goes as an anointed sower of the gospel of Christ
And just as he fought the powers of darkness on the island of Cuba years ago during the Communist regime of Fidel Castro, Cahn is encouraging believers to grab their spiritual armor and fight the enemy that is trying not only to destroy their country but their individual lives as well.
Years ago, when he visited Cuba, he was faced with a task so daunting that many men of God would simply refuse to take it on. God had given him the duty to help take down the intense spiritual darkness that had prevailed over Cuba for decades.
On his way to the city of San German, Cahn was well aware of the witchcraft he would be faced with. Before speaking at a church that night, he sought the Lord for a Scripture. He opened his Bible to a section where Jesus’ disciples were sent out with the gospel into dark places.
Prior to his sermon, the pastor of the church took Cahn to a room and told him that he needed to know that the city, San German, was filled with spiritual strongholds. It is a central place in Cuba known for two the greatest festivals of Santeria.
“People come from all over. It’s like an orgy all night and animal sacrifices—the occult,” Cahn says. “Then he tells me in the city of San German that there is a sorcerer and that he is a very powerful man that he uses the phrase that he has got great power and he works miracles. People come from all over the island to have an audience with him. They wait for days to get an audience with him because this is his strategic area. He has plans to raise up more occultists throughout Cuba. It’s as if he controls the city. … By the occult, he keeps people out as if there is a spiritual wall to keep the gospel out.
“As soon as we tried to go to San German, we were blocked at every part. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities. We were just trying our best to get there, to use our own abilities, which is not wrong but we could not fight against spiritual things that way. But God was bigger. God wanted something greater. He even used that hindrance.
“We had now stepped into the center of a spiritual war that had been raging in Cuba for years. Believers were praying for a breaking of this and the pastor is now explaining this as I take out my Bible an show him the Scripture God gave me in the van and it was this Scripture about a man named Simon who had practiced sorcery in the city … he boasted of being great and they called it the great power of God. But because there was a sorcerer in this city, I said, this is the reason why I came here. It is time for this darkness to end. God wants to end the darkness.”
Just then, a huge gust of wind blew through the opening of the church and everyone was “overwhelmed,” Cahn said.
“My translator was overwhelmed and he turns to them and says ‘this day the curse is broken,'” Cahn shares. “We went downstairs and I was speaking to the believers gathered from all over the city. I spoke to them and I charged them to be strong. I told them they are not the one on the defeated side by that they are victorious in God. They The are the ones with the power. You cannot live on the defense any more. You must live o the offense. The gates of Hell will not prevail.
“We, myself and the believers of San German, began praying and interceding together. As far as I know, it was the first time that it ever happened this way in Cuba, together in one accord, one spirit, praying … against the curse on this city.”
In his book, “The Josiah Manifesto,” Cahn says Castro had taken a strong interest in this celebration. “He had taken a strong interest in us—even in me,” he wrote. “He had been watching the events on Cuban television. At one point in our journey, it came back to us that he had inquired, ‘What is this Jewish man doing with the Christians?’ And still another time, we were informed that he had asked, ‘Who is this bearded man who is causing all the ruckus?'”
On the final day of the celebration, Castro arrived. Cahn was there as well, and “he came there with a shofar, but was not led to sound it,” Cahn wrote. “I was led instead to hold it up for the entire event as the biblical symbol of freedom, hope, liberation and the power of God. It was to be lifted up so that all of the Revolution Square and all who watched on television throughout the island would see the sign of the Jubilee.”
Castro invited Cahn to the Presidential Palace where Cahn was led to give Castro the shofar. But that wasn’t all that was given to the Cuban President. He also presented, to a member of Castro’s cabinet, a Bible in Spanish that years earlier Castro had outlawed its printing and distribution. He also presented him with a letter that he wrote, “I cannot give the details of what was in the message except to say it was a prophetic word—connected to the Jubilee and concerned freedom and lifting the curse.
“The shofar I gave him in the Presidential Palace was not just a gift, but a sign—a prophetic sign. Its meaning and mystery would be manifested in the years to come. It was the sign of the rise and fall of Fidel Castro.”
That was spiritual warfare at its most intense, for sure. But for you, the believer, it is an every day battle just to stay alive.
“If you’re a child of God, you’re in a spiritual war,” Cahn says. “You’re in a fight. You are on the side of light. The darkness wars against you. There the battle of sin that’s your first battle. Then there’s spiritual warfare, whether you know it or not. t’s a good fight, the fight of faith and of light is a good fight. You are actually guaranteed to win if you fight, but remember what you fight is not earthly, it is spiritual. You must fight in the spirit, in prayer, in faith.
“So God actually used what the enemy used for evil or to try to stop God, He actually used it to do something greater that will happen in your life. That says a lot if you’re seeking to do the will of God. Even if you get resistance and setbacks and defeats, God will always use it to give you greater victory if you keep going. Don’t ever judge your situation by the way it looks, the way it feels the way it seems. It doesn’t matter. It’s always greater in God.” {eoa}
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Shawn A. Akers is the online editor at Charisma Media.
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