“I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”- Jesus, John 10:9-10
Every Hero is always met by a villain, a hijacker who wants to ruin or destroy everything the Hero does. A hijacking is defined as “taking control of or using something that doesn’t belong to you for your own advantage”. Satan is a hijacker; the father of lies and the thief who seeks to steal and kill and destroy. In any situation where God has put his anointing on someone, or a season, the enemy will try every trick he knows to hijack it and use it for his evil purposes.
We see this all throughout the Bible, but even the twentieth century alone is littered with stories of how God called men and women to special purposes, only to have them walk away or get hijacked. This is most obvious in the music industry’s relationship to the church.
According to revival historian and songwriter Ray Hughes, the devil works particularly hard to destroy singers and musicians. In his book Sound of Heaven, Symphony of Earth, he wrote:
Musicians have a common thread directly linked to the creative nature of God. Lucifer, in his jealousy, has tried to sow such calamities, confusion, and deception into every creative person. Satan, the fallen chief musician, steals, kills and destroys by using the very thing that gives us an audience with God—music.
As the former worship leader of heaven, the hijacker has a hatred and envy toward worshipping musicians and singers. Out of his jealousy he does his best to hijack the anointing that God puts on these musicians’ lives. Ask just about any pastor or worship leader and they will tell you that the area of worship and music is a spiritual battleground. Whether the struggle is over traditions or appearances, there is a constant warring in the supernatural of the sound God wants released through His church.
Over the last seventy years alone, God has sent singer after singer to release a new sound into the culture. Marvin Gaye, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash are just a handful of examples of extraordinary God-given talent that was sent to release a sound. However, the hijacker used legalism and tradition to convince the church to reject their anointings. Rejection pushed some away from the church, and in other cases, the hijacker managed to tempt and steal those new sounds by getting those singers to walk away from God and His call on their lives. Either way, when Satan can get the church to reject an anointed son or daughter, or whether he can get them to reject God, the hijacker wants to silence the sound.
Many sons and daughters in modern times are still having their anointings hijacked. Madonna, Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus, and Jessica Simpson are just a few examples. They grew up in the faith and either due to rejection from the church or intense temptation, the devil hijacked their anointing and twisted it to use for his own evil purposes.
Satan has robbed the church over and over, especially in the area of worship, of beautiful new sounds that God intended to use for the glory of Jesus. Why do we (the church) harm ourselves by rejecting anointings in this way? Because collectively we struggle when a sound, anointing, or gift someone has is “different.”
My friend Damon Thompson is an excellent example of a “different” kind of evangelist. He is younger than most pastors where he preaches, he has tattoos and used to have long hair. Even his choice of jeans and sandals, or sometime bare feet at Abba’s House, can be considered “different.” However, he preaches with power and boldness. When he shares the gospel, hundreds repent and give their lives to Jesus and follow with baptism. He is plundering hell and populating heaven through his witness for God. And despite all of that, you wouldn’t believe how many religious people have criticized and rejected him based on appearance alone.
Church, my heart is for us to never again miss a sound that the Hero sends for us, His people. Whether it’s in the form of singer/songwriters, musicians, evangelists, preachers, etc., my hope is we will learn to resist the hijacker and go with God.
Our King of Kings obliterates tradition with His newness. He ignores the normal and does the abnormal. He skips the natural and pours out the supernatural. He empowers people with new sounds and new anointings, then sets them free to fly. He covers us with the blood of Jesus, washes us clean, and gives us a new start. He doesn’t care if something is new or different. He sends us people with those new gifts so they can impact the world for His Glory.
Is “different” always easy to embrace? No. Is every “different” thing sent by God? No. But the Hero within us empowers us with discernment and ability to recognize the anointing and embrace it. Anytime we choose to go with God, we win and the hijacker loses.
When I was originally studying and writing about our Hero within, I had no idea what 2020 would hold for the church globally. This year has been an incredibly “different” year for ministry. Whether it was having to move to live streaming, seeking wisdom for how to both continue ministry and honor authority, or literally being moved into a different sound- the entire year has been “different.”
More and more people are moving out of their traditions and comfort zones to share the gospel, write songs, and share their God-given gifts with the world. Let’s not let the losses of the past rob us of our hope for the future.
If we want the story of our generation to end well, we should start embracing new anointings now. We need to allow the Hero within each son and daughter to empower them to do their thing in the Kingdom of God. We serve a God who is obsessed with the newness of life and I believe it is time for the body of Christ to get on board with God’s strategy. We must stop rejecting people, or seasons, because they look or sound different. We must stop rejecting the anointing just because the son or daughter carrying that anointing shows us how human they are.
If Jesus is being exalted and souls are being saved, then we must recognize what God is doing and learn to flow with it!
Want to hear more? Watch Pastor Ronnie’s message on “Who Hijacked Your Hero.”