Pastor and author Dan McCollum flows in the supernatural, and he wants to help others do the same. But the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10b), and he has put forth lies to prevent believers from walking in the fullness of the Spirit.
One of these lies, McCollum says on the Prophetic Company podcast on the Charisma Podcast Network, is vilification. What does that mean? “It’s to attack the reputation of a person or a thing with strong and abusive criticism in the context of the supernatural. It means to attribute something to Satan, to self or to evil, which is actually coming from God,” he says.
McCollum recalls an “extraordinary service” that he led many years ago as a youth pastor and worship leader. “I was invited to one of the largest churches in a Midwestern state to speak to a youth conference. There were about 400 youth there. And the moment I stepped up to speak, I said, ‘You’re not going to believe what happens tonight.’
“The two front two rows were totally slain in the spirit,” McCollum says. “They just fell out. And I was shocked. I wasn’t trying to do that I didn’t do that. Holy Spirit did that. And all of a sudden, a spirit of intercession fell on the rest of the young people in the room, and every single one of them was saved, baptized in the Holy Spirit [and] began to speak in tongues, to prophesy, to cry out in intercession. It was one of the greatest meetings that I’d ever been in.”
But the next night, McCollum says, “We were in a general session with the whole church, about 4000 people, and they were getting ready to introduce me as the speaker. I was excited. I was expecting great things based upon what the Lord did the night before.
“And when the pastor of the church got up to introduce me, he said, ‘I want to apologize to our congregation. Last night, our youth had a service, and many things happened that we don’t endorse. We want to publicly say, “We do not endorse this man. And we will only have safe speakers from now on,” and he denounced me right from the pulpit instead of introducing me, with no warning, with no conversation.
“I was so shocked,” McCollum says. “I was like, ‘What did I do? I didn’t even preach; I didn’t teach. Just the Holy Spirit moved, and they just objected with how it happened and vilified me in that situation.”
Heartbroken, he returned to his church, afraid to move in the supernatural lest he mishandle the situation or do something to hurt or confuse others. But one day, a visiting speaker who had no idea of McCollum’s background gave him a prophetic word that changed his life. “He said, ‘Dano. the power of your anointing will increase in direct proportion to your ability to endure persecution.’ Oh my goodness; when he said that, not knowing my situation, not knowing what I’d gone through, I knew it was a word from the Lord.”
To hear more from McCollum on how you can step out in the supernatural and live “above normal,” listen to the entire podcast here. {eoa}
