Hopalong Cassidy or Hop-along Cassidy is a fictional cowboy hero created in 1904 by the author Clarence E. Mulford, who wrote a series of short stories and novels based on the character. In his early writings, Mulford portrayed the character as rude, dangerous, and rough-talking. He had a wooden leg which caused him to walk with a little “hop”, hence the nickname. The character was played by movie actor William Boyd starting in 1935. The Cassidy character in films was adapted from Mulford’s books and transformed into a clean-cut, sarsaparilla-drinking hero. Sixty-six popular films appeared, only a few of which were loosely based on Mulford’s stories.
As portrayed on the screen, white-haired Bill “Hopalong” Cassidy was usually clad strikingly in black (including his hat, an exception to the Western film stereotype that only villains wore black hats). He was reserved and well spoken, with a sense of fair play. He was often called upon to intercede when dishonest characters took advantage of honest citizens. “Hoppy” and his white horse, Topper, traveled through the West. Hopalong Cassidy’s original and most famous sidekick was portrayed by George “Gabby” Hayes, whose name in the series was “Windy.”
Saturday night (3/27/20), through a series of what I believe to be supernatural coincidences, God spoke a word to me about Hopalong Cassidy and the Church during this season of spiritual warfare with the coronavirus and the other kinds of assaults that are going to be released by the enemy in the years to come. The Lord told me that He wanted the Church to carry the spirit of “Hopalong Cassidy” in this battle and in the bizarre battles to come. Above I listed some of the information about Hopalong Cassidy from Wikipedia because many of you reading this have never heard of him. He and Gene Autry were the two most famous cowboys in early film history and his 66 films were replayed on NBC to be the first cowboy series in television history. He was immensely famous and popular among children. An example of how popular he was: his image was featured on the first lunchbox to bear an image and 600,000 were sold in the first year they were made available. In 1950 more than 100 companies manufactured $70 million of Hopalong Cassidy products of various kinds. That was a lot of money in 1950! It would be equivalent to almost $800 million today. That gives you an idea of how famous he was. On the inside sleeve of the famous album “American Pie” by Don McLean, was a poem he wrote about Hopalong Cassidy. The Christmas song “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas” includes a reference to Hopalong boots as a holiday gift desired by children.
The original character of Hopalong Cassidy written about in the books by Clarence Mulford was rough, crude, and rude. When they began to make the movies, his character was redeemed and he became known for purity, honesty, and kindness. He was always faithful and true. In the movie version of Hopalong Cassidy, he walked with a limp because he had been shot in the leg and he was the only Western hero who is dressed in all black. He was pure but he was dangerous to the bad guys, and the all black outfit exemplified that he meant serious business when bringing justice to those who are suffering injustice. Something else unusual about him was that he had white hair and the white hair was prominently exposed under his black cowboy hat. He wore two white pearl handled pistols, he rode a white horse, and he had a faithful sidekick named Windy.
As Christians, we are all redeemed characters in Christ and are now in union with His pure and fierce heart. Too often the Church sees the enemy as this fierce warrior from whom we are under assault but the truth is in Christ we are the fierce warriors called to assault the gates of hell and push them back. The wisdom and the schemes the enemy that are being released on the earth today can only prevail if the Church doesn’t know her identity in Christ and isn’t purposed to carry out His assignment to bring justice to victory with a great ferocity. We are the good guys but we are dressed in black because we are called to intimidate the evil one instead of being intimidated by him, no matter how fierce the storm blows. Our sidekick is Windy, the Holy Spirit, who makes our union with Christ a functional reality, and the wind of the spirit that comes forth from us by the Holy Spirit is much stronger than the weak breeze of the enemy. Greater is He that is in us, than He that is in the world. Jesus is the source of all peace but He is not a spiritual pacifist; Matthew 10:34 NASB “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.”
The world needs a hero to step up dressed to intimidate the enemy and pushing back. The gates of hell cannot prevail against the Church, but if the Church does nothing, they can prevail against the world. We are in Christ and therefore in union with him and His assignment, which is to bring good news to the afflicted; to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners; to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God. Matthew 12:20 says that Jesus came to bring justice to victory, and that is still His assignment. He is carrying out that assignment through His body which is the Church.
White horses in Scripture always speak about victory, and the victorious one who rides it. Revelation 6:2, “I looked, and behold a white horse and he who sat on it had above; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.” Revelation 19:11, “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse and he who sat on it is called faithful and true, and in righteousness he judges and wages war.” Revelation 19:14, “And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, and white and clean, were following him on white horses.”
Jesus rides the white horse with the crown of victory on His head, and He goes out conquering and to conquer. At the cross He conquered the enemy and all of His works, but through His Church He continues to ride forth victoriously enforcing the victory that He won at Calvary 2000 years ago. In union with us who are seated in the heavenly places in Christ, He continues to go forth waging war judging the powers of darkness. We are in union with the purity of Jesus, we have become the righteousness of God in Christ, and therefore in Him we have authority to enforce the victory of Christ and push back the gates of hell.
It is true that we all walk with a limp because the fall, and the enemy will continually try to paralyze the Church through accusation reminding us of our weakness, but we have to remember who we are in Christ and that in our weakness His strength is made perfect. All of this is because of the victory of the blood of Christ (His death burial and resurrection) which bought our forgiveness and accomplished our new creation. From that place under the blood of Jesus, we are called to ride on enforcing the victory of Christ. The name of Hopalong Cassidy’s horse was “topper,” and the dictionary says that the word “topper” means “something that culminates the situation; a clincher – a person or thing that tops.” It’s a slang word in the urban dictionary that means “A person who always has a better story.” The white horse that Jesus rides is His perfect finished work accomplished 2000 years ago at Calvary. There man’s sins were forgiven, every curse was broken, the new creation was birthed, and the enemy was totally disarmed according to Colossians 2.
We are in Christ riding the white horse of His victory against this demonic scheme called coronavirus, and the victory of Christ is always a better and bigger story than any story the enemy can try to tell. You have to understand, that whenever the devil or the demonic release something against you personally, or against the world like a pandemic, He is trying to tell His story over you, or over the earth, but the story of Jesus and His victory accomplished 2000 years ago is the great story that dominates all of human history. The enemy doesn’t believe that we believe that, and therefore the trespasser will continue to take territory, telling His story, if we passively don’t ride against him with both guns blazing.
The two guns that Hopalong Cassidy carried speak to us of the name and the blood of Jesus.
Revelation 12:9-11 NASB And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. [10] Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. [11] And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.
The word of our testimony and the name of Christ are the same thing. Our testimony is that we are in union with Christ and because we are one with him we carry His name, and of course in this day we are able to plead the blood of Jesus, which is His victory against all the works of the enemy. Like Hopalong Cassidy, we have to carry the heroic spirit of Jesus who did not love His life even unto death. We can’t engage in this battle in the name of Jesus pleading His blood against the coronavirus and expect victory if the enemy smells fear on us. Fear opens the door for the enemy to paralyze us. We are to, of course, honor all the rules that have been laid out for us by our civil authority, but not in the spirit of fear. It is the blood of Jesus that will win the day. The enemy has been defeated already, but His Church must rise up in prayer and plead the blood of Jesus, as those who are one with Christ and therefore one with His authority, until we see the enemy cower in retreat.
There were 66 movies about Hopalong Cassidy and it is time for the Church to travel down Route 66. Isaiah 66:1-2, “Thus says the Lord heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. Where then is a house you could build for me? And where is the place that I may rest? For My hand made all these things, that’s all these things came into being, declares the Lord. But to this 1 I will look, to him who is humble and contrite in spirit and he trembles at my word.”
Isaiah 66:6-8, “A voice of uproar from the city of voice from the temple, the voice of the Lord who is rendering recompense to His enemies. Before she travailed she brought forth, before her pain came she gave birth to a boy. Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can I land to be borne in one day? Can a nation be brought forth all at once? As soon as Zion travailed she also brought forth her sons.” Hebrews 12:22 – 23 says, “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem and to myriads of angels, to the Gen. assembly and the Church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven,…”
Now is the time for the Church surrendered to her union with Christ and His will over her life to, in faith, travail and pleading the blood of Jesus, as the Zion of God, until we see nations brought forth from the clutches of the enemy, in this battle with this plague.
The Lord says that the spirit of Hopalong Cassidy is on His Church. She is to ride forth in the victory of Christ by the wind of the Holy Spirit and in the name of Jesus, as heavenly heroes, fearlessly plead the blood of Christ and watch the power of the blood push back the gates of hell.