Emotional Healing: Fragments and Alters

This is an excerpt from my newest book Emotional Healing in 3 Easy Steps.

It’s been said that time heals all wounds, but the truth is that time doesn’t heal emotional wounds. Rather than being healed over time, emotional trauma can plague us our entire life. Emotional trauma creates a wound in our soul much like a flying piece of metal can cause a wound to our skin. Although our skin has a way to heal the wounds it receives, our soul doesn’t have the ability to heal itself.

Emotional trauma has the potential to affect the entire soul, but God designed a way to limit the damage of emotional trauma by allowing the soul to create what are known as fragments. A fragment is a part of the soul that contains the memories and emotions of a traumatic event. It’s like a part of our personality that’s been frozen in time. Fragments prevent the wounded parts of the soul from becoming the dominant influence over the core of the soul. In effect, the fragmenting of the soul compartmentalizes the wounds and minimizes the damage that can be done to the rest of the soul.

Fragments usually only have awareness of a single event or a string of repeated events and their related emotions. The fragment normally lies dormant in the soul until an event occurs that is reminiscent of the one that caused the fragment to be created. When one of these events happens, the fragment can be triggered and it may take control of the soul. When this happens, the person responds the way they would at the age they were when the fragment was created. If the fragment was formed as a toddler, the person may crawl on the floor or try to hide behind furniture. If the fragment was created as a teenager, the person may act like a rebellious 13-year-old. The emotions they display are not appropriate for the current situation. Instead, they are the emotions that were experienced at the time the fragment was created.

A soul fragment will assume control when they perceive there is a threat to the individual. The actions of a soul fragment are usually an overreaction to the situation because they have less understanding of what is normal and acceptable behavior when compared to the core of the personality. When the threat goes away the core of the soul regains control, the fragment once again becomes dormant.

I know a woman who has a terrible fear of going into basements. When I asked why she had this fear, she said it was because she had been molested by her uncles in a basement when she was a child. At the time she was molested, a part of her soul was wounded which created a fragment dominated by fear. Today, whenever she thinks about going into a basement, the fragment is triggered and she feels fear.

A similar but different part of the soul that is created by trauma is known as an alter. Like a fragment, an alter retains memories and emotions of specific events, but unlike fragments, alters can have unique personalities of their own that are distinctly different from the core of the personality. A person with many alters is usually diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder, or what was once called Multiple Personality Disorder. A severely traumatized person can have hundreds, or even thousands of alters.

When an alter is triggered by an event, the individual’s will and emotions come under the control of the alter. The person behaves in correspondence to the personality of the alter, while the core of the personality is rendered ineffective. The core personality sometimes feels like an observer to what is happening to them, instead of the participant. Some describe it as like having someone drive their car while they watch from the rear seat. Sometimes the core personality is completely unaware of what’s happening to them—a condition known as dissociation. When the event passes and the core assumes control again, it’s not unusual for them to have no idea what they said or did during the episode.

The goal of emotional healing is to heal the fragments and alters and to reintegrate them into the soul, preventing future episodes of painful emotions and dissociation.

For more information, check out my book Emotional Healing in 3 Easy Steps.

Are Miracles, Healing and Deliverance "Peripheral Issues?"

A common teaching in the church today is the idea that the working of miracles, healing the sick and casting out demons are "peripheral issues" that can distract our attention away from the "real issues" believers ought to focus on. Some would go as far as to say that anyone who spends too much time learning about them is deceived. But is this true?

The first thing Jesus did after choosing the twelve was to send them out with instructions to heal the sick, cast out demons, raise the dead and proclaim the kingdom of God (see Matt. 10: 7-9). And here's something to consider: This commission came before they had any real training in the miraculous. Their training was on the job—they learned as they went.

After the twelve returned, with reports of the great things they had seen, Jesus sent out the seventy into nearby villages, telling them, "Heal the sick that are there and tell them the kingdom of God has come near you." (See Luke 10:9.) The seventy were sent into these cities before Jesus visited the cities himself. They went to announce the arrival of the kingdom and the Messiah, through healing and the working of miracles.

To reinforce what he had already told them—before he ascended into heaven—he reiterated in the great commission what he wanted his disciples to do. You may have doubt as to whether the instructions he gave to the twelve and the seventy apply to you, but the the great commission is widely accepted as the instruction Jesus gave to believers of all ages. Mark's version of the great commission includes these instructions: “These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name …They will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16:17a,18b)

It seems like the issues Jesus wanted his disciples to focus on could not be any more clear. Rather than being peripheral issues, the working of miracles, healing the sick and casting out demons were intended to be central parts of the work he expected his disciples to do. And nothing has changed since then.

In Luke 10:19, Jesus said, "Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy." As one of his disciples, you have all the authority you need to heal the sick and work miracles.  The power you need is provided by the Spirit of God, who lives inside you. You simply need to learn how to release that power. Power is released when we exercise faith. When you're faced with a need, believe in your heart that the thing you desire will happen, do not doubt, and you will see the power of God manifest.

As I've focused on the supernatural manifestations of the kingdom, rather than being drawn away from God, I've been drawn closer to him. I've learned so much about his ways and the incredible love he has for mankind and I believe the same can be true for you.

Related:

Power and Authority for Healing
Healing 101
Deliverance

Keys to Healing and Deliverance - Steve Harmon

Steve Harmon discusses the keys to successful physical healing, emotional healing and deliverance.

 

A Kingdom View of Economic Collapse

This is an excerpt from my latest book: A Kingdom View of Economic Collapse.

On June 30^th, 2015, after suffering years of financial trouble, Greece failed to make a required payment to the International Monetary Fund and entered into a default on its sovereign debt. In light of Greece's default and due to the proliferation of books predicting catastrophic judgments upon America (and the rest of the world) it seemed good to share what I’ve learned about economic collapse and how the kingdom of God responds to crisis.

You don’t need to look very far to find dire warnings of disaster being spoken by secular experts and religious leaders alike. Many financial experts have written books citing the reasons why they believe an economic collapse is quickly approaching. At the same time, many religious leaders have shared prophetic warnings that we’re entering a time a great difficulty; some even arguing that the end of the world is at hand.

While I believe (some) financial experts have given us an accurate assessment of the problems we face, what they lack is a divine perspective on the problem. What religious leaders usually lack is an understanding of how financial systems work. What is most concerning is that neither camp has put forth a clear plan to help us survive such a crisis, much less rebuild in its aftermath.

The approach financial advisers generally take is to sign you up for their investing programs. They warn you that your retirement savings are about to be wiped out and that if you pay them a fee, they’ll tell you where to invest your money. The main reason why many church leaders don’t offer a plan to survive or rebuild after a global crisis is that they don’t expect to be here. The popularity of the belief that the church will be taken into heaven in the rapture before a global crisis hits has prompted many theologians to abandon all thought of what the church’s responsibility might be in a post-crisis world. Their advice is to pray for sinners to repent and pray even harder for the return of Jesus. 

During the last century, hundreds of millions of believers have been certain they would see the return of Jesus during their lifetime. None of them have lived to see that day. At this moment, millions more are convinced that we’re living in the days just before His return, and indeed, we might be. But statistically speaking, the odds of that happening in anyone’s lifetime are extremely small.

After becoming a believer, I sat in a church pew and read my Bible. I learned all the reasons why the great tribulation was approaching, why the Antichrist was ready to be revealed, why the world was teetering on the brink of catastrophe, and most importantly, why we believers wouldn’t be around for all of that. Although I was told that God’s wrath was about to be poured out upon the earth, I was also assured that my King was going to appear and rescue me from it. During this time, I never witnessed a creative miracle, never saw anyone healed or set free of a demon, and although I learned a lot about the church, I learned virtually nothing about the kingdom of God.

Then one night I had a dream. In the dream, I met God, and He had a few things He wanted to share with me. He said He wanted me to heal the sick, cast out demons, raise the dead and proclaim His kingdom.

The nerve of Him.

If He weren’t the Almighty, I might have given Him a piece of my mind. He spoke not a word about waiting for the rapture, witnessing to sinners or handing out tracts, which were things my pastor told me were top priorities. Since that day, I’ve had hundreds (perhaps thousands) more dreams and the subject of our conversations hasn’t changed. Few, if any of them have portrayed the end of the world, the rise of a one-world government or world-ending disasters. Nearly all of them have to do with battling the kingdom of darkness, setting captives free, and using my time and energy to advance His kingdom.

I think we need to ask a few questions of those who predict catastrophic events:

If the coming events are believed to be because we’ve rebelled against God, what happens if we don’t repent?

And what if the coming events are not actually the result of God’s wrath, but instead, the natural outworking of our own poor choices?

What if a global crisis strikes and the church is not removed from the earth beforehand?

Is your pastor teaching you what to do if the church survives a global catastrophe, or are all your hopes pinned on Jesus rescuing you from it?

It’s certainly more pleasant to think that we won’t be here when things get ugly, but we have no guarantee of that. 

I don’t see any reason to fear the future. Whatever is coming, God can make us aware of it, and if He can make us aware of it, He can prepare us for it. I would encourage you to rest in the knowledge that God has a plan that He is working out in these events. If you're positioned in Him, and prepared mentally for the challenges that lie ahead, you may find all of this to be a liberating experience, and not a terrifying one.

My intent with this book is to examine the topic of economic collapse from various perspectives. The book can be divided roughly into four sections: The first is a primer on economics and finance. My goal with this section is to describe (in terms the average person can understand) how the financial systems of the world operate. In the second section, we’ll look at historic cases of economic collapse and the things that caused it. We’ll also identify which nations are at risk of experiencing economic collapse today. In the third section, I’ll share the dreams I’ve had that provide a prophetic overview of the days ahead and I’ll discuss what I believe to be God’s purpose for these events. In the last section, we'll look at how the  kingdom of God ought to respond to crisis.

This book is available only as an e-book. It can be found by clicking on this link or the image below.