By Bode Ayodele
Spiritual warfare is an integral part of our walk as Christians.
In this message we shall examine an aspect of spiritual warfare of great importance to both the camp of the body of Christ and that of the enemy alike.
We are looking at a message titled "One man Riot Squad."
Let us examine the key words: "One", here refers to an individual, "Man" connotes that we are referring to human beings while "Riot" talks about creating a chaotic or warlike atmosphere. "Squad" on its part, connotes an army or team of soldiers.
Thus, the phrase "One Man Riot Squad" refers to an individual who fights a battle usually fought by many.
A good example is what we see featured in the numerous films that flood the
market.
Popular western films such as Sylvester Stallion’s ‘Rambo’ and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ‘Robocop’ readily come to mind.
These films portray hero-like figures taking upon themselves to confront and overcome the opponents’ army.
In Rambo Stallion, almost single-handed-eliminates a country to rescue prisoners of war (POW’s). In Robocop a half-human, half out of space make believe robot engages in battle with the view of killing a clone with destructive powers on an evil assignment against the world.
Although these are mere films, in the spiritual realm One Man Riot Squads (OMRS) actually do exist. In the spiritual sense OMRS could be divided into two categories: Divine and Satanic.
Divine OMRS are individuals who will go to any length to fight with the kingdom of darkness in order to promote the kingdom of God.
On the other hand, Satanic OMRS are demonic personalities that do everything they can to suppress and oppress anything that is related to the word of God. In modern day parlance such personalities are those that seek to destroy as many who profess the name of Jesus.
An example of a satanic OMRS in the bible is Goliath. The bible refers to him as a ’Philistine champion.’ We read of the story in the book of 1 Samuel:
I Samuel 17:4:
And there went out a champion from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.
Being a champion meant that Goliath had never lost a battle. Indeed, he was a terror to the children of Israel!
The latter is seen clearly in I Samuel 17: 24 where the bible states:
And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were exceedingly afraid.
Another example of a satanic OMRS in the bible was Herod.
According to Matthew 2:16 the bible states: Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked by the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all its borders, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.
Here was a man of authority who in anger, sought to wipe out the children of an entire generation because of an individual.
He felt that the only way to ensure he eliminated Jesus was by killing all the children within His age bracket!
Before we proceed further please let us take the following prayer points:
Every "One Man Riot Squad" of the enemy on assignment against my destiny die in the name of Jesus.
I locate and strike the "One Man Riot Squad" of my enemy’s camp in the name of Jesus.
Reading further in the Acts of Apostles Herod once again lives up to this evil role:
Acts 12 1-3:
Now about that time, Herod the king stretched forth his hands to afflict certain of the church.
(2)And he killed James the brother of John with the sword (3) And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.)
Here Herod took it upon himself to kill the disciples of Jesus.
Yet again, another example of a Satanic OMRS is Jezebel.
The bible explains that she went about killing the prophets of God. (I Kings 19:2).
I Kings 19:14 states that the altars of God were thrown down in Israel during the reign of Ahab and his wife, Jezebel. It is obvious that Jezebel was the person behind such evil acts.
On the other hand we also have divine OMRS throughout the scriptures.
In the Old Testament we have the example of Prophet Elijah.
I King 18:40 explains how Elijah saw to the destruction of 450 prophets of Baal.
1 Kings 18:40
(40) And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there.
In Elisa’s case he ordered two bears to slay 42 satanic children who wanted to dry up his anointing II Kings 2: 23-24.
2 Kings 2:23-24
(23) And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.
(24) And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.
These children, under satanic inspiration, referred to the prophet as bald, which figuratively means ’non-productive. This insult was engineered by Satan to attack the ministry of Elisha and to make it fruitless. This is probably responsible for the Man of God’s aggressive response.
Gideon is another divine One Man Riot Squad, whom God selected to deliver the children of Israel out of the hand of the Midanites. (Judges 6: 14, 16)
We also read of the story of Samson, who was strengthened by God to destroy the Philistines.
(Judges 13:5).
For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.
However, of all the OMRS you can think of in the bible one of the best examples is that of the apostle Paul.
Paul, at different periods in his life played the role of an OMRS on both sides of the divide.
First of all he was a Satanic OMRS; Acts 9:1 -2 records:
Acts 9:1-2
And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest,
And desired from him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he should find any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
After his conversion experience Paul played the role of an OMRS for Jesus.
Acts 9:20 records:
And immediately he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.
Of course, the greatest divine OMRS of all while on earth was our Lord Jesus Christ.
Acts 10:38 states: That God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed by the devil; for God was with him.
We are told here that Jesus healed all that were oppressed of the devil. The word of God states in the book of Colossians:
Colossians 2:15
(15) And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
Likewise, we are told in the book of John:
John 10:10
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
From what we have read we can safely deduce the following about OMRS.
They are found in all camps of war.
They are not afraid of confronting the enemy alone.
They are champions for the side they belong to.
They are not afraid to confront or initiate challenges.
They continually instill fear in the opposing camp.
They are of great significance to the side they belong.
From the forgoing biblical examples we can also conclude that majority of victories in warfare are secured by a small but significant part of the army.
This likens to Pareto’s 80/20 principle.
This principle sates that 80 percent of accomplishment is achieved by 20 percent of the people.
The bible reveals in Psalm 74:5 that a man is made famous according as he lifted up axes upon thick trees.
Here the bible likens obstacles in the camp of the enemy to trees that are cut down.
In other words the more trees (giant opponents) that one can up root (deal with), the more famous one becomes.
David, another divine OMRS in the bible, gained promotion by locating and striking dead the OMRS in the camp of the enemy.
We will note that after Goliath was killed the battle was won. The war was over.
All this happened just with the death of an individual. - This shows how, in spiritual warfare, an individual could be significant to the camp he belongs.
The book of Samuel sates:
(1Sa 17:51) Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled.
(52) And the men of Israel and of Judah arose, and shouted, and pursued the Philistines, until thou come to the valley, and to the gates of Ekron. And the wounded of the Philistines fell down by the way to Shaaraim, even unto Gath, and unto Ekron.
After slaying Goliath, David went ahead to slay many of his kind as seen in 1 Chronicles 18.
(1Ch 18:1-6) Now after this it came to pass, that David smote the Philistines, and subdued them, and took Gath and her towns out of the hand of the Philistines.
(2) And he smote Moab; and the Moabites became David’s servants, and brought gifts.
(3) And David smote Hadarezer king of Zobah unto Hamath, as he went to establish his dominion by the river Euphrates.
(4) And David took from him a thousand chariots, and seven thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen: David also houghed all the chariot horses, but reserved of them an hundred chariots.
(5) And when the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadarezer king of Zobah, David slew of the Syrians two and twenty thousand men.
(6) Then David put garrisons in Syria Damascus; and the Syrians became David’s servants, and brought gifts. Thus the LORD preserved David whithersoever he went.
Contemporary examples also exist.
Numerous great men of God today are playing the important role of divine OMRS.
They are OMRS for God, destroying a vast part of Satan’s Kingdom through their ministries.
It is for such reason that these individuals equally become subjects of satanic attack. This is why we need to pray constantly for those God is using to advance His kingdom.
Remember what the words of our Lord Jesus in the book of Matthew:
Matthew 26:31
(31) Then saith Jesus unto them, all ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.
There was this story of a church whose Pastor died under strange circumstances. A lot of members were so disappointed and hurt by this incident, they stopped going to church.
Brethren, we need to pray for our spiritual leaders in the church of God.
Aside warfare, this principle is applicable in other aspects of spiritual warfare. For example we have financial OMRS, those individuals who use their finances to support the cause of the side they belong to.
Musicians on both side of the divide also fall into this category,
In most cases all we need to do to win the war is to identify and strike the OMRS in the opponents’ side.
Note, when Herod sought to wipe of the entire generation of Jesus, he did not do it himself.
He sent out his soldiers to execute the order. Capturing or killing the soldiers would not have stopped the carnage. The man responsible for the killing- was Herod.
Likewise, a lot of wickedness today is engineered by individuals, who, in most cases, work behind the scene.
Witches, Warlocks, Witch Doctors, Herbalists, producers of pornographic material such as Playboy etc are all playing the role of OMRS, being used by Satan to corrupt the hearts of men.
We need to pray fervently that such individual will repent and turn over their lives to God. If they refuse to yield to God’s call we should pray that they are put out of business; that their evil empires continually crumble until they yield their lives to God.
Please pause to take these prayer points:
Lord Jesus, strike dead the one man riot squad in the camp of my enemies that refuse to repent.
Oh Lord run the evil empires of the enemy used to perpetuate evil in the land to the ground.
Do you find these prayers strange? Don’t you realize that a lot of our children are being lead astray as a result of the acts of these few, but evil-hearted individuals?
Remember the evil influence of Hitler on the world?
Although he was just an individual if he was allowed to have his way he would have changed and influenced the entire course of history.
On the other hand, we should seek to be the person God will use to pray such people to repentance -or out of town!
If you want to make an impact in the Kingdom of God you need to become an OMRS for God.
Remember what the bible states in the book of Joshua:
Joshua 23:10
(10) One man of you shall chase a thousand: for the LORD your God, he it is that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you.
The enemy gets scared when he realises that you are not afraid to confront his camp no matter it numerical strength.
If you want to overcome your enemy, go for the OMRS in his camp.
Do not go for the messenger; go for the one who sent the message.
Today, the Lord is seeking fearless Christians whom he can use to destroy the Kingdom of darkness. Will you make yourself available?
Please, take the following prayer points:
Oh Lord, make me a one man riot squad in your army.
I locate and destroy the one man riot squad in the camp of my enemy in the name of Jesus.
Every champion in my enemy’s camp dies by fire in the name of Jesus.
Strongman of my father’s house, my life is not your candidate, die and release me in the name of Jesus
Strongman of my mother’s house, my life is not your candidate, die and release me in the name of Jesus
Postscript: Repent and believe. Remember hell is real, heaven is real. No matter how long we spend here on earth it cannot be compared to the time we shall spend in eternity. Hebrews 12:14 states: Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.
