Keys to Divine Healing

For the supernatural Christian, there's nothing more frustrating than seeing one person after another healed and then praying for someone who isn't. You release power. You exercise authority. You kick out a demon but the symptoms remain. It's natural to wonder what happened. What am I missing? What am I overlooking? The keys to divine healing continue to elude you.

I'd like to offer an analogy that may shed light on the real nature of the problem:

When a patient arrives in the Emergency Department, whether they have a gunshot wound or a fever, a systematic evaluation is done to determine what their problem is and what should be done about it. A doctor does a physical exam and obtains a history from the patient. Vital signs are obtained and diagnostic tests are done. An X-ray or CT scan is obtained. An ultrasound may be done and bloodwork is ordered. The physician gathers as much information as possible then arrives at a diagnosis and puts together a treatment plan based on their findings.

This is the standard approach to emergency medicine. When used properly, it's an effective way to diagnose and treat someone you know nothing about. It's effective because it's systematic. The interview, assessment, and tests are standardized. There's little variability from one patient to the next. Which means a doctor is less likely to overlook something, accidentally.

Because this is how I was trained as a paramedic, I use a similar approach for healing.

Increasing our effectiveness in healing and deliverance is a matter of developing a standardized approach. We begin by creating a list of tools that we know are effective and then making sure we're employing all of them. The list of tools would include such things as identity, faith, power, authority, and emotional healing. Standardization doesn't remove the Holy Spirit from the equation. Quite the opposite. One of the tools is revelation from God about the specific problem we're facing.

A few years ago, I created a list of keys to divine healing. I wrote a blog post on the 8 that I had come up with at the time. The list soon expanded to 12 and then to 15 items. Today, it stands at 18.

I recorded a message where I discuss the keys to divine healing that I use today. If you know what they are and how to operate in them, your effectiveness in healing will dramatically increase.

The message is available as an MP3 download on my website. If you'd like to check it out, click on this link.

Keys to Healing and Deliverance - Steve Harmon

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

 

My Friend’s Deliverance – Kazuko Onishi

This testimony was sent to me by my friend Kazuko Onishi. I’d like to introduce her to those who don’t know her. Kazuko lives near Kobe, Japan. She was the first person in the country to purchase my book Divine Healing Made Simple. We became friends on Facebook and she asked if she might translate my articles and parts of the book into Japanese for her friends as there is very little written on healing and deliverance in her language. I agreed and before long she was teaching her friends what she was learning, mostly from my writings and those of Bill Johnson and Randy Clark, which she is also translated for her friends. This is the message she sent me about her first deliverance session, which came unexpectedly while having dinner with friends:

Hi Joseph, (That’s what she calls me.)  

I don’t know if you are interested in my story but I want to share it with you. I had G4 summit meeting last Saturday.  Two months ago I received a FB friend request from a woman I’ll call Tina who lives in New Zealand. She was impressed by your “Power and Authority” in Japanese on my FB.  She asked me if she could talk with me about healing and deliverance when she comes back to Japan. She is from Osaka. So I asked her if I could invite Robert too. (Robert is a mutual friend of ours.)

She came back to have a wedding to a man I’ll call Dan whom she met in New Zealand. Dan, who used to be a Muslim is now a fervent Christian too. So Tina, Dan, Robert, and I met together in Kobe. We had a great time talking, praising God, sharing testimonies, and praying together at my favorite cafe (The coffee there tastes so good).  We were talking for three hours and more and then Robert had to leave.

Dan invited me to have dinner with them so we went to my favorite Chinese restaurant.  After eating, I asked Tina if could pray for her because at the café she had said she always had pain in her toes. I asked about her pain level and she said she had no pain then because there was God’s presence around us.  Whenever there’s presence of God, she has no pain but only stiffness.  So I prayed and commanded her stiff toes to be flexible.

“Strange to say,” she said, “the pain came back to my toes.”

So I laid my hand there and commanded the pain to leave in Jesus name.

“It’s very strange, but it moved to another part,” she said.

“Where?” I asked.

It moved to her right cheek, then to her right neck and lastly to her throat. I prayed each time when it moved.  We were convinced it was the evil spirit that caused her pain and I commanded it to come out and leave from her mouth.  It became smaller and smaller but it was still stuck inside her throat.  I felt something in her throat moving under my hand.  Her body twitched a few times. I switched praying in Japanese to tongues and then she exhaled something. Finally it came out from her mouth and she said she saw a snake leaving in her vision.

It is the first deliverance I’ve ever had.

I sent a mail to Robert about it yesterday and he said he could see the snake manifesting in her at the cafe but didn’t say anything. He asked the Lord to show him the way to deliver the snake from her that night. He says that deliverance from a snake means much to us.

Robert is a seer and I always wanted to be like him. But now I think God gives each of us a different gift. I think God gives me a gift of healing (Of course I know every believer can heal the sick in the name of Jesus. But mine seems to be stronger). Tina’s headache was instantly healed when I laid my hand and prayed at the Café (she said my hand was so hot). Dan’s running nose was completely healed when I laid my hand on his nose and prayed twice at the restaurant. I’m sure Coreen has some special gift too. (Coreen is a mutual friend of ours.)

Good night, Joseph!
Mimi

If you know anyone who might benefit from the material Kazuko is translating into Japanese, she can be found on Facebook, here.

Ian Clayton - Deliverance

Ian Clayton shares his experiences with delivering people from demons.

The Legacy of Adam

This is an ingenious way to deal with demons, courtesy of my friend Northwest Prophetic. The original post (with comments) can be found here. 


I had a revelation recently about how important it can be that we – Adam’s heirs – are inheritors of Adam’s calling, Adam’s authority.

One night, a group of prophetic intercessors had gathered together in our home, and were praying about a minor stronghold in our hometown. There was a high bridge downtown, a favorite among the despondent members of our community; it became known as “Suicide Bridge.” For years, it had been known by that name, and used for that purpose.

Recently, several of us had noticed that when we crossed that bridge, thoughts of suicide, temptation to jump, came upon us: we who were healthy, satisfied, happy individuals. These clearly were not our thoughts: they came from outside of us, from something associated with death, and associated with that location.

As we prayed together, we understood that there had been enough suicides, enough wrongful deaths in that place, that the enemy had capitalized on all the death, and assigned a demon to the bridge, to become a stronghold, whose responsibility, it seemed, was to maximize the enemy’s investment in the form of suicides from the bridge.

Most of the intercessors gathered together that night had learned that the “right way” to deal with things like this was to discern the name of the demon, and then to use that name, with the authority of the name of Jesus, to break the creature’s right to live there and to work there.

But we didn’t know the creature’s name.

As we were looking for the name, God spoke up: “You are heir to Adam.” Hunh? What? “You have inherited Adam’s authority to name living creatures.”

And the light went on!

We named the demon, “Bob,” and then we broke “Bob’s” authority and assignment in that place, and kicked him out. The “urge to jump” was gone the next morning, and within a week, the city “just happened” to raise all the railings on the bridge to eight feet high. There have been no more suicides that I know of off of that bridge. More importantly, there is no “urge” to end it all when passing by that place.

Hmm. That was interesting. I suspect we may be onto something.

Another time, we were involved in a wonderful and glorious session of healing and deliverance, in a wonderful, family-based environment. Most of the words of knowledge that directed our ministry came through pre-teenagers that night. Everything was going well, our friend was finding real freedom, until we came upon one demonic stronghold that would not let go.

After we fussed and fumed for a bit, God said it again. “You are heir to Adam.” We named the beastie “Squiggly” (as that was the dominant characteristic: he squirmed and slipped out of our “grasp” as we prayed). We assigned him the name, seriously: we took up the authority we’d inherited from Adam, we stripped it of whatever (unknown) name it had gone by, and we gave it a new name: its name was now Squiggly. Then we commanded it by that name, and the demon submitted quickly and left peacefully.

Based on our revelation, supported by our experience and by the Biblical description of Adam’s calling, I believe that we as heirs of Adam have the right to Adam’s commission: “Whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name.” If you can’t find the thing’s name, then give it a name, and use that name to get rid of it.

Finally, I observe that there is, in practical terms, a substantial difference between referring to a spirit, and naming a spirit. Talking about “that squiggly demon” is not at all the same thing as naming the thing “Squiggly,” assigning it the name, exercising Adam’s authority. If I am just talking about a spirit, a demon, then I am not exercising the authority I’ve inherited from Adam; I’m merely talking (to it, to God, about it…) as a man. But to name something is to both claim and exercise authority over it, authority that you actually have, authority that you’ve inherited. Step into the authority you’ve inherited from Adam: wield the authority you’ve been given.

I’m interested to hear if others have found this weapon, and what experiences they’ve had when wielding it.

Baptism, Deliverance and Visions of Two Children - Jesse Snow

My guest blogger today is Jesse Snow. This was posted on his Facebook page.

I was recently babysitting my friends' two daughters and as I was praying in tongues one of them asked me how I learned to speak in tongues. I said I didn't learn because it's not a skill it's a gift that anyone can receive for free. She asked me why I do it and I told her about how incredible it is. She asked me how she could do it to and I said "if you want it we can pray and Jesus will give it to you." 

Her little sister said she wanted in as well, so after going through some scriptures on the subject I prayed with them and they started speaking in tongues. When they did the older girl said she thought she was just producing the language with her mind, so I wrote some math problems down as well as the instructions "draw a picture of a butterfly" on a piece of paper. I had her start speaking in tongues and then handed her the paper to fill out. She spoke fluently in tongues while completing all of it. Then to confirm it even more I had her put headphones on and listen to music so that she couldn't hear herself, but she was still speaking fluently without hearing herself or producing it with her mind.

While she was listening to music I led the younger sister in this prayer: "Jesus, reveal yourself to me." Then I prayed in tongues over her for a couple minutes and asked her if she saw anything. She excitedly began describing a detailed vision where she was in a garden with Jesus. He put his hand on her head, hugged her and kissed her.

Then we prayed for her older sister the same way. She had a vision where there was a bright light outside her window. She went out her window to the light and saw a king with brown hair, a beard, and a white robe (aka Jesus). He hugged her and kissed her then took her hand and they started flying. He took her up to heaven where she saw lots of kids playing in a park and having lots of fun. She also said she picked an apple off a tree and it was the most delicious apple she had ever tasted. She then saw lots of seats and older people sitting on the seats, including her grandma and grandpa (who died before she was born).

She looked into Jesus' eyes and then went into them and was walking with Jesus next to an ocean that was really big, blue, beautiful, totally clear and smooth. I told her that what she saw was the sea of glass and that John wrote about in the Revelation (Rev.4:6, 15:2). She has since been to heaven a few more times, hugged her grandparents, and met angels.

By this time the girls were eager to pray and experience more of Jesus. I would lay hands on them and pray for them in tongues (anybody can do this by the way, its really easy w/ kids because they have much stronger vision in the spirit world than we do) and they would close their eyes and relax while Jesus took them into a vision. He never ran out of things to show them.

The problem was that each time the younger girl had a vision, it would start off well but then end badly. She would come out of the vision with a fright saying "Ah! That was scary!" The first time I thought she just misinterpreted the vision, but the next time it happened and she described what she was seeing I realized it was not something that Jesus would have shown her. She became afraid of praying anymore. So I said "We're going to pray and get rid of these bad guys that are trying to scare you okay?"

Now, I don't normally go around commanding demons to surface in 6-year-olds, but I realized that something was there abusing my little sister so I wanted to get rid of it. I commanded any poopheads (didn't use the words demons much, wanted to keep it playful and un-intimidating for the girls) present to manifest and she started hearing their voices loud and clear in her head.

Their were 11 demons in her. How does a 6-year-old manage to have 11 demons you ask? Its because the idea that only drug users, witches, and ppl involved in terrible sins can have demons is a myth. When you start doing deliverance you see how the enemy really works. I've cast demons out of people that were assigned to them at birth. Demons can often see the call of God on someone's life and attack them simply because they want to prevent you from fulfilling your destiny, even though you may be completely innocent and have done none of the things people think you have to do to get a demon. If you aren't spiritually equipped (and children usually aren't, but are very vulnerable) it will enter in and that's how people end up having demons their whole lives without even realizing it. Back to what happened..

The demon in charge started speaking up and the girl was speaking in a hissing voice to describe what she was hearing (it wasn't speaking through her directly, although that happens at times). It called itself morte ("death"). It said a lot of horrible things to the girl like, "We're going to kill you and celebrate your death," "no one's going to come to your funeral because nobody cares about you," "you're going to die because your parents don't love you," and "we are going to take Jesus off his throne and kill him." They even gave her a vision of putting fire on Jesus' butt and him running around frantically trying to put it out. They mocked, threatened, lied, and said all the typical stuff that poopheads usually say. Nothing that an innocent young child would come up with on their own. They also said, "Tell him to quit calling us poopheads!" and "He's stupid, quit listening to him".

The older sister (who is 11 yrs old) told her younger sister, "Just lift your hand up to them and use Jesus' magic and go (insert power-blasting noise here)." The only way they know how to call the power of God is "Jesus' magic" but hey, they already know how to use it better than most people with the right terminology.

So the younger girl went into her imagination (By the way grown ups, that means she began to engage the spirit world) and did in a vision what her sister told her to do. Then a big smile came on her face as she opened her eyes and said "They all went out of my head! They're gone!" and she actually saw Jesus show up in the room and start dancing and singing about how she was delivered. She said "He's right behind you dancing and singing" and she stood up and showed us how Jesus was dancing and sang the song he was singing.

After her little sister's deliverance, the older sister said, "You know, the only thing I'm afraid of is mirrors." "Why?" I asked. She then told me about nightmares she had for a while during which she came to sleep in her parents room because she was afraid (by the way-  parents, don't just brush off these things with your children. If you try to tell them the "monsters" aren't real it won't help them because that doesn't get rid of the attacks and the kids won't believe you anyway. Real or not, they scare the heck out of children, so you need to pray with kids and teach them how to use the power and authority of Jesus over the enemy).

In her nightmares there was a mirror with a woman in it who wanted to kill her. The woman had long black hair, pale white skin, black lips and black blood running out of her mouth.

So we prayed. During deliverances the person will always feel, hear, or see demonic manifestations (or a combination of the 3). So far every time I've done a deliverance with a child they have had visions (as well as other manifestations). This girl saw a big demon holding a mirror in front of it with the same lady as in her nightmares. Behind the big demon were countless smaller demons. When the demon showed up I told the girl to do the same thing she told her little sister to do (use "Jesus' magic to kill it"). She had her eyes closed and her facial expression got very tense, after less than 10 seconds her face relaxed again and she opened her eyes, saying "I did it! I killed him!"

Kids are really good at thrashing devils. "Great! Now what about the woman in the mirror?" I asked. She said the woman was still there but wasn't in the mirror anymore (the demon shattered the mirror for some reason). I said "Okay now do the same thing." She closed her eyes again and her face got tense, but then she said "Its hard, can you help me?" so I said sure.

I asked the little sister to come help, so she laid hands on her big sis and prayed in tongues. I did the same thing. The older sister saw her sister and I appear next to her in her vision and she felt stronger, then she killed the evil lady and all the other smaller demons ran away. Deliverance! Even more fun with kids :)

A few minutes after this the little sister said "Ah! They all came back into my head again!" She got really upset and started crying. I said "Its okay, you're okay, we'll just do the same thing again and this time we're not going to let anything come back." I prayed for her and the demons manifested.. They told her, "The others were going to kill you, but they left so now we are going to kill you." More empty words, as usual. Her older sister instructed her again, "Just close the door and put up the sign, and do this (she crossed her arms in front of her chest and gave a defiant sigh *Humph!"). Her little sister came out of her vision, very happy and excited again, and said she did what her sister advised and they all ran away!

I taught them more about how to resist demons and not let them come back when they try to, then taught them to start seeing angels. By "taught" I mean I just prayed "Father open their eyes to see angels" (see 2 Kings 6:17) and told them "Close your eyes and look for the angels that are in this room." (They had already seen demonic spirits, so might as well see God's ministering spirits too!)

The older sister saw several angels including our personal guardian angels that looked like us (see Acts 12:15). One of the angels was brushing its teeth and I thought "That's kinda strange," but then Holy Spirit let me know it was a sign to the girls to speak life and not to speak evil, so I taught them for a bit about the power of their words.

An Extraordinary Miracle - Graham Cooke

This is just incredible.

Deliverance

This is an excerpt from my soon to be released book on healing and deliverance. 
This article was originally published as a Facebook note. The comments on it have been very insightful. If you'd like to read them and leave your own comment, you can find the note here.

Acknowledgments:

I'd like to thank my friends Tony Cossey, Tom Fischer, Cheryl Johnson-Fritz, Sherry Evans, Michael King, David McLain, Craig Adams, Matt Evans, Sue Wilke and everyone else who has taught, inspired and encouraged me to pursue a better understanding of this important subject.

In 2011, I asked God to teach me more about deliverance. I was in the midst of writing this book and I felt I didn't have much experience in deliverance to write from. I wanted to understand it better, so I would have some useful information to share. 

Be careful what you ask God for. He likes to give us things, and they seldom come wrapped in nice, neat packages. 

I'd like to take you back (briefly) to the beginning of my Christian life and show you the path I've taken to get to my present understanding of demons and deliverance.

After being saved, I lived a pretty ordinary life as an evangelical Christian. I was content to study my Bible, sit in my church pew on Sunday and occasionally witness to strangers about Jesus. To my knowledge, I’d never met anyone who was demon-possessed. I’m certain I’d never met a demon face to face. I couldn’t understand the preoccupation some people had with them.

Were these people deceived by an over-active imagination, or were demons really all around us?

And if they were, why couldn’t everyone see them?

If there was one thing I sincerely hoped had ceased with the passing of the early church, it was all this messy business about casting out demons. As with everything supernatural, at that point in my life, I was skeptical about the need for studying the behavior of demons, much less casting them out of people.

Most of the experiences we recognize as 'real' involve things that happen in the natural world. For those who confine their lives to the natural realm - angels and demons and their strange activities are seldom thought of. The happenings of that otherworldly place are mostly ignored.

The problem with demons is that most of us can’t see them and for most of us, seeing is believing. Our society has conditioned us to label anyone claiming to see things we don’t as suffering from hallucinations. And yet, isn't it interesting how often Jesus dealt with demons and those who were harassed by them?

Demons are disembodied spirits. They don't possess a physical body, as we do, but a spiritual one. They interact both in the spirit world and in the natural. But because they have no physical body, their ability to interact in the natural world is limited. Their movements are a bit like the wind. Just as you can see the wind’s effect, but not the wind itself, demons have an effect that can be seen and heard, but demons themselves, are invisible to the natural eye. The fact that a demon has no physical body compels them to attach to a physical body that is available for use in the physical world.

In 2009, I had a dream that revealed something about demons I didn't know. As I walked the hallways of a hospital, I looked into one patient room after another and saw a black presence in each room. I knew the presence was a demon of sickness. Although I don’t see demons like this while I’m awake, God revealed an important truth to me; sickness is perpetrated by demons and demons are more prevalent than I suspected.

The ability to sense the presence of demons is not available to most of us for a reason. That reason is illustrated in the following story, told by a friend who is a seer. A seer is someone who receives revelation from God in the form of visions and dreams. (See 1 Sam. 9:9)

My friend and his six year old granddaughter, who is also a seer, were riding in the car, when the girl saw an elderly woman hunched over, pushing a shopping cart. The girl noticed that the woman had many demons clinging to her, making it appear as if her hunched over condition was due to the weight of the demons. She asked if they could turn the car around and help the poor woman.

If we were able to see demons clinging to people everywhere we went, but had no power to do anything about them, it might drive us to the brink of insanity. This might surprise you, but if you could see into the spirit world, you would see spirit beings (both good and evil) literally everywhere you looked. But because God is merciful, He hides demonic activity from those who don’t need to see it. The ability to discern the presence of spirits is a gift from God given on a need to know basis. (1 Cor. 12:10) Most of us don’t need to know about demonic activity because we aren't engaged in warfare against them.

God has a calling for everyone. Each calling has different assignments. Some of those assignments may require us to battle demons. You are free to accept or reject the call of God on your life. That decision requires you to make a choice about whether you want to engage in this type of warfare or not. If the call involves battling demons, you’ll be given the ability to recognize their presence.

My introduction to the world of the demonic actually began many years ago, when out of curiosity, I started interviewing patients who reported hearing voices. For years, whenever I transported a patient with a mental health problem, particularly if they were diagnosed with schizophrenia or psychosis, I asked if they heard voices and what the voices told them. I would then ask if they knew who the voices were.

The answers surprised me at first, but about 80% said the voices belonged to demons. Many said that at some point the voice had revealed its identity. These people had no reason to lie about their experiences. The likelihood that all of them were wrong seemed unlikely. I had to consider the possibility that maybe I was wrong. After interviewing hundreds of patients, I began to understand that demons were more active than I realized.

My Experiences

I’d like to share a few personal stories about my interactions with demons.

One day on my drive home from work, I had an open eyed vision. Most of the visions I have are with my eyes closed, but this vision was different. I saw into the spirit with my eyes wide open, while I was driving my car. In the vision, I saw myself responding to a call at Tacoma General Hospital to transport a young woman who was demon - possessed. She was in the emergency department in room number 4. I transported her to St. Joseph’s mental health unit.

The next day at work, I responded to a call to Tacoma General Hospital to transport a young woman to St Joseph’s mental health unit. She was in room 4 in the emergency department. She had no history of mental illness and was being treated for what the doctor called “acute psychosis’. According to her mother, she experienced a sudden change in behavior. For some reason she became obsessed with telling everyone about God, angels, demons, Satan, the approaching judgment, and the torment of hell. Her ‘witnessing’ about these things was random and had no continuity of thought. The only recent change that might have contributed to her behavior was that she admitted that her boyfriend had convinced her to smoke marijuana for the first time.

This poor woman had come under the control of a spirit of religion. Evil spirits have specialties, which we’ll discuss shortly. I have to assume that her experimentation with marijuana was the thing that opened the door for the evil spirit to come into her life, since no other explanation was available and the timing of the two events seemed too precise to be a coincidence.

I transported another woman who suffered the same symptoms. This woman was a middle aged Christian. We were called to her church to transport her for a mental health evaluation after she suddenly began ranting about God, Satan, angels, demons, the coming judgment and the torment of hell. Once again, her statements were completely random and without continuity of thought. This time I recognized that she was under the influence of a religious spirit, so I attempted to cast it out of her. The more I commanded the spirit to leave, the louder her witnessing became. The yelling became so loud that it concerned my EMT partner and since I was making no progress I gave up.

I've prayed with my son frequently for healing of aches and pains, particularly during the swimming season. One day he came home with a partial separation of the AC joint in his shoulder, which caused a lot of pain. We prayed and it was healed. Weeks later he told me about a pain he had in the middle of his back. I commanded it to leave and he immediately felt better. But the following day it returned. I was curious, so before commanding it to leave, I closed my eyes to see if God would reveal anything and sure enough, I saw my son standing before me with a black creature about 12 inches in diameter attached to the middle of his back. The pain was caused by a demon. I commanded the demon to leave and after it did, I commanded the pain to leave. It left and didn't return.

While working in Tacoma, my EMT partner was healed at least a dozen times in the two years we worked together. He has size 14 shoes and loves to run. I guess that’s not a great combination, unless you’re a newbie to healing who needs practice. In the two years we worked together, he was healed of headaches, neck pain, back pain, knee pain, a nasty injury to his hand and numerous other injuries. One day he was complaining of knee pain that was bad enough to make him walk with a limp. I began to command the knee to be healed as usual, but nothing happened. After 4 or 5 tries, it wouldn't budge. That surprised me, since knee pain usually responds quickly to this approach. Then it dawned on me…I didn't command the spirit of pain to leave.

When I take the time to ask God to show me what we're up against, He frequently shows me some kind of demon. Because I saw demons so often, I developed a routine of commanding a spirit of pain or sickness to leave. But this time, I didn't. So I commanded the spirit of pain to leave. Next I commanded his knee to be healed. He felt heat all around his knee and in a few minutes it was healed.

One day I transported a young woman from a fitness club who was hysterical. It took a lot of reassuring to get her calm enough to tell us what her problem was. My partner and I put her in the ambulance and did an extensive interview.

We learned that for the past year, she'd been hearing voices in her head. There were at least two different voices, possibly more. The voice that she heard most often was a male voice that continually threatened her. The threats involved killing her sister.  The second voice sounded exactly like her sister. Often while the male voice was threatening to kill her sister, she heard the second voice screaming in terror as if her sister was being killed. The main voice that she heard also performed sex acts on her. I referred her to a friend who had a deliverance ministry, since I knew virtually nothing about deliverance at the time.

On a recent trip to Australia, a group of us were praying with people for various conditions. I was praying with a woman who wanted to be healed of diabetes. Shortly after I began praying, she reported pain that she didn't have before. I've learned that when pain manifests suddenly, it's a good indication that there is a spirit that needs to be removed. The pain was in her back, near her left shoulder blade. I commanded the spirit to leave and the pain moved higher in her back, near the top of her shoulder. I explained to the group what was happening and a few of them joined us in prayer. We commanded the spirit to leave. It moved to her other shoulder and the pain became worse. We continued commanding the spirit to leave and eventually, it departed. This same woman had just prayed for someone else who had received a remarkable healing of back pain and muscle damage to her leg. And all the while, she had a demon herself and didn't know it.

When praying with someone, if they suddenly experience pain they didn't have before, or if a present sensation of pain moves to another part of the body or becomes worse, it's a sure sign that an evil spirit is at work.

Why does this happen?

Because the spirit is attempting to frighten its host. The spirit wants to create enough fear in the mind of its host that they will ask us to stop praying with them, thinking we're only making things worse. My advice in these cases is to tell them there is a spirit present and the increased pain is a tactic it's using to frighten them. Ask if you may continue and reassure them the pain will eventually leave.

Soon enough, my education about demons would become personal. One evening I was praying for my wife to be healed of neck pain, which was so severe it left her in tears at bedtime. I’d been praying over her for months, to no avail. That night I did something foolish, which you should never do. In desperation, I asked God to put her afflictions on me, if it would take away her pain. I went to sleep and had a dream. In the dream I was looking for something I couldn't find. This is a classic dream that God gives to people who are searching for answers.

I awoke from the dream and a few seconds later I felt something like a net being spread over me. Seconds later, I realized that I couldn’t move my arms or legs. All I could do was roll a bit from side to side. As this was happening, I also became aware that my voice was being taken away from me. I tried to speak but no words came out. All I could do was mumble incomprehensibly. I was aware that what had gripped me in this paralysis was a demon. As my voice left, I tried to say, “Get out, in the name of Jesus”, but I could only mumble. My rolling back and forth woke up my wife, who heard me mumbling. She immediately knew it was a demon that had overpowered me and began praying in tongues. She then commanded the demon to leave. A few seconds later my voice returned and the paralysis left. We later learned that this particular demon is called the 'shrike' demon. The big mistake I made was in asking God to put my wife's afflictions on me. In doing so, I gave the enemy permission to attack me and the shrike spirit was happy to pay me a visit, since I had opened a door. Never ask God to give you the afflictions of someone else. Never make deals with the enemy and never under any circumstances invite sickness or affliction into your life.

All of these stories are merely to illustrate one thing; demons are real and the more you become involved with them, the more they become involved with you. I never suspected how often or how savagely they can attack us. They can and do attack Christians. They come in many different varieties and they can do different things. Many of us have been taught that the only way a demon can interact with a human is for it to “possess” our body and assume control over us. Demonic possession has been popularized in movies and books, but the truth about demons and how they interact is far subtler.

Demonic "Possession"

Contrary to popular belief, demons rarely take complete control of an individual. The English Bible descriptions of people being "demon-possessed" are a mistranslation. The term “demon-possessed” isn't found in the Greek text of the New Testament. Instead, three other terms are used. Some passages say ‘to have a demon’. Others say, ‘to be in a demon’. The most common term is ‘demonized.’ These terms mean essentially the same thing and are used interchangeably in the account of the man with the demon named ‘Legion’ (see Matthew 8:28-34; Mk. 5:1-20; Lk. 8:26-39). None of these terms indicates total ownership or control of an individual. They simply mean the person is in some way affected by a demon.

All of the examples from the Bible involving demonic attack describe people harassed in some way but not completely overpowered or controlled. The single exception is the case of ‘Legion’. This is because it takes many demons to completely possess a human. Demons have limited abilities and one demon alone can only attack its host in a particular area. A single demon, acting alone cannot take complete control of a human.

In the account of the boy with seizures that the disciples couldn't cure, Jesus made an interesting comment about the nature of demons. When the disciples were not able to heal the boy they asked why:

“Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.  However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” (Mt. 17:19-21)

Jesus said the kind of demon they encountered did not come out except by prayer and fasting, implying that there are different types of demons. Some teachers dispute this, saying that when Jesus said 'this kind' He wasn't referring to 'kinds' of demons, but rather the 'kind' of unbelief the disciples had.

The word that is translated kind in this verse is the Greek word γένος (genos) from which we get the English word ‘genealogy’. This word describes differentiation between related varieties of living beings – specifically between families, races, tribes or nations. It is unreasonable to think He was describing different families or races of unbelief. He must have meant that there are different families or races of demons and the one they encountered was somehow different.

If you’re curious to know how this demon was different from others, consider this: Mark’s account mentions that the demon caused the boy to be deaf and mute. Matthew notes that it caused him to have seizures. Both accounts mention only one spirit. This is the only spirit mentioned in the Bible that caused more than one type of physical affliction. It was indeed a different type of spirit. (Compare Mt. 17:15 and Mk. 9:25) 

Demons Specialize

God’s creativity is seen in all of nature. No two snowflakes are identical, and no two people are exactly alike. The same is true for demons. They are unique and they all have certain weaknesses, strengths and abilities. Each demon is a specialist in one or more areas, bringing its own brand of affliction to man. This differentiation or specialization is what Jesus was referring to. Some demons specialize in physical affliction, as with the woman who had been crippled by a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years (Lk. 13:11), or the deaf and dumb spirit that also caused seizures, which we just mentioned.

Some demons specialize in emotional trauma, like the spirit that terrorized King Saul with what might be diagnosed today as anxiety attacks. (1Sam. 18:10)

Some specialize in divination, as was the case with the spirit Paul cast from the woman who followed him for many days. (Acts 16:17-18)

James and John became influenced by a spirit of murder, when they suggested they should call down fire from heaven to destroy the Samaritan city that did not receive Jesus. Hearing their idea, Jesus rebuked them, saying, “You do not know what spirit you are of.” (See Lk. 9:54-55) The Lord told them they had become influenced by an evil spirit, which planted this foolish idea in the minds.

When we look at the words Jesus used when referring to the way the spirit influenced them, the phrase that is translated 'are of' is the Greek word ἐστέ, (este) which could better be translated ‘belong to’. The phrase ‘belong to’ carries the connotation that one thing has taken possession of another. Jesus said His disciples ‘belonged to’ (or were possessed by) this demon, even if it was only momentarily.

Another example of demonic influence of a disciple of Jesus is found in the sixteenth chapter of Matthew. Jesus asked the disciples, “Whom do men say that I am?” Peter confessed that He was the Messiah – the Son of God. Jesus commended him saying that His Father had revealed this truth to him. (Mt. 16:16) Later, Jesus began to teach that He would be handed over to the Jews, killed and raised on the third day. Peter rebuked Him, saying these things could never happen. Jesus said: “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” (Mt. 16:22-23)

Why did Jesus refer to Peter as Satan? Because Peter, like James and John had briefly come under the influence of an evil spirit, allowing the enemy to plant thoughts in his mind. Jesus was speaking to the evil spirit behind Peter’s words. If you don’t believe that disciples of Jesus can have demons, here are examples of three disciples who did and they were the three that Jesus trusted most.

As we've seen with other accounts of demonic attack, the evil spirits did not exert complete control over them, but only influenced them in its area of specialty. Each of these people remained in control of their mental faculties, apart from the demon’s area of specialization. Though Saul suffered anxiety, he had no physical ailments. The woman, who was physically crippled by a demon, had no mental or emotional infirmity. Peter, James and John did not manifest demonic activity or physical illness, neither did the woman with the spirit of divination. Each still retained their own identity and did not exhibit signs of complete control by the evil spirit.

The man with ‘Legion’ was a different story. He had lost control of both his mind and body. He was unable to dress himself and couldn't control his own actions, even when put in chains. He could not refrain from self-mutilation (Mk. 5:5). He wandered into isolation, and refused the company of family and friends. When he was asked his name, he couldn't recall it. He took on the identity of the demons that had overpowered him, taking the name ‘Legion’.

As to whether believers can be possessed or harassed by demons, as we've just seen, even Peter, James and John were subject to demonic influence. Jesus himself was attacked and harassed a number of times by Satan. It is unbiblical to believe that anyone is immune from demonic attack. The issue isn't whether a Christian can be influenced or possessed, but rather to what degree can we and how does it happen?

Demonic Access

Paul warned believers in Ephesus not to allow Satan to use their anger against them:

 “Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold...” (Eph. 4:26-27 NIV).

In this verse the word for foothold is the Greek word τόπος (topos) from which we derive the word ‘topography’. This word can describe either a place of occupancy or an opportunity to carry out an action. It is a semi-permanent stronghold in a person’s life that serves as a home for evil spirits, which gives them an opportunity to exert influence over us. Interestingly, Paul’s point that anger provides a foothold for the enemy is demonstrated in the case of James and John. The demon that influenced them was able to do so because they became angry at the Samaritans. Their anger was the foothold the enemy needed to gain influence over them.

Demonic Homes

Let’s look at what Jesus taught about how demons operate. In Luke chapter 11, He explained the behavior of demons after casting a mute spirit from a man. Some who witnessed it had accused Him of casting out demons by the power of Satan. He refuted their reasoning and revealed the truth about how He overpowered the evil spirit and cast it out:

“When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace.  But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils…When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell.” (Lk. 11:22-23, 24-26)

Jesus likened an evil spirit to a strongman who is armored and keeps his home. (Note that demons see our bodies as their homes.) He went on to say that when one who is stronger comes, he removes the demon’s armor, evicts him from the place that he calls home and divides his goods. The ‘goods’ he spoke of are the areas of the person's life that are held in bondage by the demon’s specialization. This might be a physical illness or emotional affliction. He said that once removed, the demon may return to its home later if it remains intact.

There is a widely taught doctrine concerning this passage that needs to be de-bunked. I was taught that when a person is delivered from a demon, they need to be filled with the Holy Spirit immediately, because if they aren't, the demon will return. This sounds logical, and the idea of demons returning is certainly illustrated in this passage, but if you look closely, there is no suggestion that the presence of the Holy Spirit prevents demons from returning. The Holy Spirit isn't mentioned anywhere in this passage.

Being filled with the Holy Spirit is always our goal. But many Christians who are filled with the Holy Spirit are in need of deliverance and that need often follows them to their grave. In the last year alone, I've prayed with hundreds of Christians for various problems and most of them had an evil spirit of one kind or another had to be removed before their healing could be completed.

In the passage we discussed above, Paul said that anger provided a foothold for the enemy. Anger is a sin that must be dealt with if we are to remain free of demonic influence. But it isn't the only one. Others are rebellion, unforgiveness, bitterness, lust, pride, greed, and the list goes on. Each of these attitudes can allow a place for the enemy to gain a foothold and for a demon to influence us if it specializes in that area.

I had sought healing for chronic neck pain for a long time. I would receive prayer and the pain would leave temporarily, only to return. One day, a woman praying for me asked if I had anger toward anyone. God showed me in a vision, a person I had been angry with for a long time. I knew that I needed to let go of the anger I had toward them. When I released the anger to God, the pain in my neck immediately left and never returned.

The anger I held onto served as a foothold for the enemy. When someone would pray with me for healing, the spirit of pain would leave, only to return because it still had a ‘home’ in my life through anger. The solution came when I realized that even though I didn't value this person very highly, God did. That truth destroyed the foothold of the enemy. I no longer had a right to be angry and I forgave him and repented of the anger. This destroyed the evil spirit’s ‘home’. When the spirit tried to come back it had no place to return to.

Now let’s look at a more in depth problem. Some strongholds are rooted in emotional damage that happens when we are children. Pornography and lust are known to be rooted in a lack of love. If a person grows up feeling unloved, there's a good chance they’ll turn to pornography or lust to fulfill the need that was never met by their parents or family. An unmet need to be loved can create a bondage to pornography, which serves as a demonic home that attracts demons specializing in lust, pornography, and perversion. Knowing they have a home, demons take up residence here. First we must address the root cause, which in this case is a lack of love.

In order to remove the demon’s home, the individual must understand how much they are loved and accepted by their heavenly Father. The awareness of God’s love destroys the unmet need for love and acceptance. This paves the way for them to renounce and repent of their bondage to lust or pornography. Once this is done, the spirit of lust or pornography can be safely removed since its home has been destroyed.

Most root causes can be dealt with in this manner. The process is to identify the root cause, which is often something the person did not receive at a crucial point in their life. Once the deficiency is found, replace what is missing with the truth from God’s heart about that issue. Assist them in embracing God’s truth on the matter, repenting of any attitudes that stemmed from the root cause, then remove any evil spirits that operate in that area of specialty.

Let’s look at one more passage where Jesus dealt with demonic oppression:

“Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up. But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.” And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God." (Lk. 13:10-13)

In this passage there are two things we should note. First, the woman was bound by a spirit of infirmity, which afflicted her physical body, causing her to be bent over. Jesus discerned the spirit’s presence and exercised authority over it. In this case, He didn't confront the demon. He simply said, "You are set free from your infirmity” and the demon left. After the woman was freed from the demon, He laid His hands on her and healed her deformed body. We can see that she still needed physical healing after the spirit left because she was still bent over. We should not assume that healing has occurred because we've cast a spirit out. After the spirit is removed, the person may still require physical healing.

Demonic Manifestation

I don't have much experience with demons manifesting in bizarre ways. But I tend to keep things low - key when I deal with them and maybe that's why they don't put on a show. Evil spirits seem to come into our lives secretly and without a lot of fanfare, but sometimes when leaving, they try to go out with a bang. I think it's wise to give them as little opportunity as possible to draw attention to themselves when being removed.

When I'm praying with people, even when removing demons, I speak in a very quiet tone of voice. This may be due to the fact that instead of churches, I do most of my ministry in hospitals and nursing homes. In these settings, I can't very well go around yelling at the top of my lungs, commanding demons to leave. I don't think it's necessary to yell and scream at them. If the demons try to rant and rave, tell them to be quiet.

I've heard people teach that you need to know a demon's name before you can make it leave. That hasn't been my experience and I haven't found this taught anywhere in the Bible. I do try to discern their area of specialty (pain, sickness, fear, lust, ect.) but I'm not certain you even need this information to make them go away. When you discern their presence command them to leave. It may not be a bad idea to assume a demon is present and tell it to leave, even if you don't discern one is present. For me, commanding demons to leave has almost become a kind of protocol.

Dealing with demons was just another task that Jesus gave the disciples. Along with healing the sick, raising the dead and proclaiming the kingdom of God, they frequently cast out demons. In most of the passages we've studied so far, deliverance was as commonly mentioned as healing the sick. In several places, healing did not take place until a demon was first evicted. It's no different today. Many people cannot be healed without deliverance. In order to walk in the fullness of God’s commission we must become competent in delivering people from demonic oppression.

Access To The Kingdom

This story is part of a series written in September of 2012 during our trip to Australia to teach on healing.

The meeting at Access Church in Darra this morning was simply wonderful. The weather was mild (it’s spring in Australia) and the magnolia trees are in full bloom.

Darra is a small town outside of Brisbane that was devastated by flooding two years ago. It’s not an affluent community, so the flooding robbed what little possessions people had, leaving them struggling just to survive.

My wife and I shared our testimonies of how we came to know Jesus and how we came to walk in the power of the kingdom of God. Testimonies are nice, but we were anxious to see people healed and set free, so we asked if anyone in the room had any pain.

A man named Greg said he had neck pain, so we prayed with him. He felt the warmth of the Holy Spirit touch his neck and eventually, the pain began to subside. We prayed for his wife to be healed of diabetes and internal problems. The glory of God touched her powerfully and brought her peace and joy.

After seeing the Holy Spirit work in this couple, more people began to ask for prayer. One woman with pain in her head, neck and shoulders felt the warmth of God’s power as He removed all of her pain. Another woman felt the fire of God warming the upper part of her body as he healed her.

Several people with heart problems received God’s healing touch including an 8 year old boy named Malachi, who had back pain and a heart murmur. We had our host pray with Malachi. He had only seen one healing miracle in his life, which was the healing of a relative 20 years ago. I had him lay hands on Malachi and he said he felt a wave of power go through his body and out his arm into the boy’s back. A few seconds later the boy’s back pain was gone.

One woman asked for healing of a painful knee condition. I laid my hand on her knee and shared a few healing testimonies. I didn’t make any commands, but the power of the spoken testimony brought complete healing to her knee.

Another woman, who is a nurse, asked for healing of diabetes. As we prayed with her, she began to feel pain in her left shoulder blade. The Lord showed me a vision of her weeping and it seemed like the pain in her back was connected to it. When sudden pain manifests during healing, it’s usually due to an evil spirit manifesting. We commanded the spirit to leave, and the pain moved to her right shoulder blade. Pain that moves around is a confirmation that an evil spirit is at work. We calmly commanded it to leave and a few minutes later the pain was completely gone.

About 15 people received healing and deliverance this morning. Nearly all of them felt the tangible presence of God. We shared with the group a little about dreams and helped a few people interpret the dreams they’d had. We made a lot of new friends. We’re looking forward to speaking at Access later this week and teaching more about the kingdom of God.

David Hogan - Muslim Woman Healed & Delivered

I'm at a loss for words to introduce this speaker and his message. David Hogan shares a testimony at Bethel Church.

Fasten your seat belt and hang on.

Removing Demonic Homes - To Bring Lasting Freedom

This message was originally published here by More Than Conquerors Deliverance Ministry.

The Mobile Intensive Prayer Unit does not accept donations. This is a labor of love and God meets our needs without accepting donations at the present time.

Tony and Sheryl Cossey, who operate More Than Conquerors Ministry would greatly benefit from your financial support. They did not ask me to post this message or request. I'm doing it because I see both the fruit of their ministry and their need.

If you feel led to make a donation to their ministry, I know they would be blessed.

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Tony & Sheryl Cossey
c/o MTC Deliverance Ministry
PO Box 7778
Springdale, AR 72766

What exactly is a demonic home? A demonic home is a fleshly environment by which gives it access and ability to live in a person. This is not a physical home, but a spiritual home. A root of bitterness for example, will create an environment or place in that person's life by which demonic spirits can enter and dwell among. God's Word tells us not to give Satan a foothold or as the KJV says, "a place to the devil."

Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil. (Eph. 4:26-27)

If we go about casting out demons, but fail to remove the "place" that we've given to the devil (or his demons), then they still have a home within us. Jesus described a demon as a strongman who is armored and keeps his home, but by removing his armor (and take away his home), we can spoil his goods (the area of the person's life that was once held in bondage). Jesus went on to tell us that demons like to return to their homes:

When a strong man armed keepeth his palace [or home], his goods are in peace: But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.... When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith,I will return unto my house whence I came out. And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.
(Luke 11:21-22, 24-26)

Demons cannot just come back and reenter a person without having a home there. That is why it is so important that we minister to the whole person, and figure out what is the root to their bondage, then minister to the root so that the demon has no home to return to.

While there are definitely spirits of lust, anger, and so forth, there are also fleshly homes that are created by which they dwell. A spirit of bitterness cannot enter and dwell by itself, it must have a fleshly 'hook' or 'home' by which it dwells.

Examples of Demonic Homes
Please understand that these are only examples, and not every case is the same. Some bondages may be different than the examples below even though the same demons may be at work. These examples are only here to give you an idea of how demon homes work.

Lust and Pornography
Pornography and lust are known to be rooted in a lack of love. If a person grows up not feeling loved, then there's a good chance they will turn to pornography or lust to fulfill that need which was never met by their parents or family. Let's say that we're about to cast out a demon of lust in somebody; let's first look at the flow of bondage here:

An unmet need to be loved and appreciated CREATED a fleshly bondage to pornography WHICH IS a demonic home THAT CONTAINS a nest of demons (lust, pornography, perversion, etc.).

First we need to minister to the root cause to the fleshly problem, then we need to clean up the fleshly problem itself (which is the demonic house), and then cast out the demons. The person must come to learn how they are loved, accepted, and appreciated by their heavenly Father. Then they need to repent and renounce their bondage to pornography, lust, and so forth. Then it is time to begin casting out the demons that have been holding the person in bondage.

Rejection
Next, let's take a young man by the name Joe. Joe has been rejected as a child by his peers, and today has a terrible bondage to rejection, thus making it difficult to create meaningful relationships with others. Joe feels all alone, and even when others aren't rejecting him, he perceives even a simple "no" as a form of rejection. Joe has difficulty receiving correction because he perceives it as an attack on him personally. As a result of feeling rejected, Joe naturally fell into a bondage to rebellion, which set him up for further rejection. Those are just a few of the things that Joe struggles with. We could go about casting out the demon of rejection, or we could minister to the root of Joe's problem. With Joe's situation, the flow of bondage looks something like this:

A deep wound that was created when others rejected him CREATED a fleshly bondage where Joe felt worthless and worthy to be rejected WHICH BUILT a stronghold of self-hate, self-rejection, and so forth WHICH WAS a demonic homeTHAT CONTAINED a nest of demons (rejection, rebellion, self-hate, etc.).

A similar flow of bondage may look something like this:

A deep wound that was created when others rejected him CREATED a fleshly need to be accepted and a stronghold of rejection (or a way of perceiving yourself as rejected) WHICH WAS a demonic home THAT CONTAINED the demons of rebellion, rejection, and so forth.

Bitterness
Let's take a woman by the name Susan who was molested by her father when she was a young girl. Ever since then, she's had a terrible time feeling clean inside, and establishing genuine and meaningful relationships. Such a bondage plays havoc with marriages all the time, as it makes it very difficult for the wife to truly bond and enjoy physical and emotional intimacy with her husband. We could start out by casting out the demons which entered in through the molestation, OR, we could minister to her in such a way that brings true and lasting freedom. Susan's flow of bondage might look something like this:

A deep wound and feeling "used" that was created because of the molestationCREATED a feeling of unforgiveness and hatred towards her father (and often men in general) WHICH IS a demonic home THAT CONTAINS spirits of hate, anger, resentment, and so forth.

Our first step is to deal with the wound, and let Susan know that she had a right to hate and be angry with her father for the terrible thing which was done to her. It is a right that God gives us, but He also asks us to yield that right to Him. God's Word tells us to let God avenge wrath (see Romans 12:19), for when we give Him that right, He says that He will repay. Much of the problem with unforgiveness is that we don't really believe that God will bring justice to that situation. Susan must realize that although her father is off of her hook, he's still accountable to God for his actions. Susan has also lost sight of what Jesus has done for her, and what a steep and terrible price that Jesus paid for her own sins. Dealing with the unforgiveness root will tear down the demon house, so that when the demons are cast out, they have nowhere to return to.

Exceptions
Sometimes you cast out demons first, depending on what the Holy Spirit leads. There are valid situations where it is best to get rid of the demonic factor first so that you can more clearly deal with the root issues. Sometimes demons must be cast out before the person can freely receive healing to their damaged emotions. However, use caution when going after the demons up front, as the they love to return when their fleshly house still exists. This is why I generally like to take the safe route (laid out in this teaching) as a default method, unless the Holy Spirit prompts me otherwise. However, be prepared for the Holy Spirit to lead otherwise, because there are times when I believe it is necessary.

In any case, when you're finished with the deliverance process, then both the root should be cleaned up as well as the demons cast out. Whatever steps are taken to get there may vary, but that should always be our goal when ministering deliverance and inner healing.

Understanding Bondage
Whenever you find yourself casting out the same demons from the same person over and over again, then there's a good chance there is a demonic home which the demon keeps returning to. I like how Charles Kraft describes demons as rats which feed off of garbage in our barn. We can keep on casting the rats out, but unless we clean up the garbage by which they are feeding, then they will keep coming back. Balanced deliverance ministry is typically focused on cleaning up the garbage even more than casting out the demons, because it is the key to ministering true and lasting freedom. I'm not saying that casting out the demons isn't important (it is VERY important!), but if we keep on casting out the same demons and they keep coming back, what good are we doing?

This is why I highly encourage every deliverance minister to take the time to study and learn the roots of the popular spiritual bondages. Make it your mission to understand what brings on various bondages to lust and pornography, anger problems, and so forth. Yes, there are demons involved in most of these situations, but there are also fleshly roots that we need to minister to, so that when we cast out the demons, they do not return. It is vital for deliverance ministers to take the time to learn and understand the bondages that are plaguing many people today so that we can effectively minister genuine and lasting freedom.

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Quadriplegic Healed

This is a healing testimony from Eunice Bennett. The original story can be found on her website, here.

Hello Everyone- I am trying to write as soon as I arrived since the event that had happened in the Philippines is still very much fresh to my memory. I have promised in my last e-mail to give a detailed story of the events that were covered. This will be the first of the many.

This is a story of young lady who has been demonized and the result of the demonic oppression is the paralysis of her hands and legs. She is a quadriplegic. This lady does not own a wheelchair. It was agonizing to see on how she was carried entering the church building. Her patience was well worth it.

The morning session started with Al Bender, one of our speakers in our team. The realm of the spirit was prepared because of the heavy evangelistic message. After the first session was over, I was listening to the Holy Spirit on how He wants the second session to be conducted. One thing that He showed to me was the ground needs to be consecrated and to be declared as a holy ground. I requested for a bottle of oil to be bought as I will anoint the grounds and consecrate it as holy for the Lord. After I stepped into the platform, I poured out a bottle of oil at the altar. The Holy Spirit told me to declare boldly in front of them, that the fire needs oil if you want to see it explode. So the oil that was poured out was not only to consecrate the grounds for Him but to add more fire to what they already have. Then, I invited anyone who is ready to meet God at the altar to come. Everyone started to run at the altar. God was there. A few started to fall even though no one is laying hands on them. God is doing the work. Then that altar was filled with sick and demonically oppressed people.

I saw this young lady who was brought by her friends positioned right in front of the pulpit. They pushed the chair in front of me so she can be seen right away. I asked our team assistants who interviewed the lady earlier on what is wrong with her. RJ, one of the team assistants told me that she has been in a situation like that for 5 years because of a demonic oppression. She is a quadriplegic. She has a hard time moving her hands and legs and could not walk. The devil has so oppressed her and she was not helped at all by the medical world. I led her to confess about Jesus Christ and to repent of her sins. I made her declare that she belongs to Jesus! I made her repeat that line several times. There were moments that she could not say the word because of the oppression of the enemy. But I stayed with her and patiently give her an instruction on what to do. After we were done, I anointed her hands and started to move it back and forth. I did the same thing on her legs. After her hands start to move, I told her to stand up in the name of Jesus!

The following is captured at the video. I was giving instructions in English in some parts and in dialect most of the time, so I can be mostly understood by everyone in that congregation . See on how she made it! From a full blown quadriplegic to a walking person in just a few minutes.

Watch the video below.

Deliverance of a Porn Star

On this day, America celebrates freedom and independence. This is the testimony of a woman who is celebrating her freedom from the nightmare her life had become. Shelly tells how she was touched by the heart of the Father and delivered from a life of sex, drugs and being used by people around her. The Lord is a Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom

Delivered From Witchcraft

This is the testimony of a woman who thought she had found her true identity in witchcraft. After a failed attempt to kill herself, her new roommates helped her find what she was looking for.

Rescued from Satanism

This is the testimony of a man set free from demonic possession and Satanism.

Alcohol & Demons

It's been a slow stretch on the MIPU. My shift starts at 7am. My first call yesterday came at 3:30. I've been doing a lot of praying in my spare time- mostly asking for the Holy Spirit to bring revival and that my friends and patients would be healed. I'm going to discuss demons (briefly) in this post. It's something most of us deal with almost daily whether we know it or not. There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding about demons and spirits. I'm studying them now and learning all I can. I'll post more on the subject in the near future.

My first patient yesterday was a man with a life-long alcohol problem. We transferred him from one facility to another. As we arrived at the destination, I asked if I could pray for him. He smiled and said, "sure you can pray for me." I took his hand and closed my eyes and prayed. It was primarily for strength and victory against the enemy. It was short and to the point. I didn't see anything in the spirit.

Our second (and last) patient was having suicidal thoughts. She was just released from a treatment center the previous day for the same thing. Sounded like she's been dealing with it for a long time. Our patient was taking her meds, a long list of them, and she was still suffering continual feelings of worthlessness. This is all too common in emergency medicine; the revolving door of mental health care where patients are bounced from one place to the next and never get better. I won't rant too much, except to say that it ticks me off how much money is spent on mental health treatment and how little impact is made.

I drove. My partner was in back. The transport was exactly one mile. After we arrived, I went in the back of the rig and asked the patient a few questions about her plan. I asked if the thought it would really all be over when she died. She knew it wouldn't. We talked briefly about the spirit being an eternal being that continues on after the body dies. I told her if she thought it was bad now - it could be a lot worse in eternity. She nodded in agreement; she knew what I meant. As we walked to the ER waiting room I asked if she heard voices. I used to be afraid to discuss this with patients. Trust me- they don't mind talking about it. It's a daily reality for many people. The voices they hear are just as real as your relatives.

She said, "yeah, I hear them all the time". Next question... Do you know who the voices are? "Yeah, they're demons". I asked if she wanted them gone. "Yeah, that would be great." I told her I had a little experience in helping people get rid of demons and asked if I could pray for her. She said yes. In the entry to the waiting room, I took her hand and commanded the demons to leave her in the name of Jesus. I spoke to them and told them she was off limits and cancelled their assignment. When I was done, she thanked me and we walked to the registration desk. I told her God loved her and that he had a great plan for her life. I didn't lead her in the sinner's prayer, I just encouraged her with some good news about God and his kingdom. That is what Jesus told his disciples to do.

There are a multitude of questions we could ask: How do you know the voices were really demons? If they were, how do you know they left? If they left, won't they just come back? On and on the questions go. I'm in a position of limited knowledge, and I kinda like it. I feel it's my part to do what Jesus said - cast out demons, heal the sick, (one day) raise the dead and tell people about the kingdom of God. (Mat. 10:8) What happens after I do this isn't my problem, except that I'll pray for her continued deliverance.

The question is not why we should trust God to deliver people from demons, but why we should continue believing Haldol, Seroquel and Resperdal are going to do it, when they haven't in the past. It's a world- view battle. And if you work in healthcare, you're involved, like it or not. We can't expect psychiatrists to accept the idea that demons exist. If they do - they might have to admit they aren't the experts in human behavior they claim to be. If demons and spirits are behind all this bizarre behavior, and the bible is right, instead of prescribing pills, they should be casting out demons too. Not a likely scenario. Our patients know that demons are real. Jesus said they are real. If He was wrong, we have bigger problems than anyone. If we're honest, we'll admit they are too. It's time for us to say, 'the emperor has no clothes.' (see post here for an explanation of this reference)