DELIVERANCE FROM DEMONS AND DISEASES:

Freedom From Persistent Problems And Incurable Diseases

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1

A Brief Introduction To Demons

1.    A Revelation of Demons

2.    The Origin of Demons

3.    Names of Lucifer

4.    Satan's Ability to Deceive

Chapter 2

Satan Attacks Job

1.    The Case of Job

2.    Job's Final Trial

3.    Why Did Job Have to Suffer?

4.    An Examination of Job's Fear

5.    Some Reasons God Allowed Satan to Attack Job

6.    Is Your Suffering Proof that You are a Modern Day Job?

Chapter 3

Activities and Operations of Demons

1.    What Jesus Said About Demons

2.    A Biblical Understanding of Demons

3.    The Faulty Concept of Demon Possession

4.    What It Means to Have a Demon

5.    Delivered from a Spirit of Pain

6.    What Demons Do

7.    The Crippled Lady Bent Over for Eighteen Years

8.    The Man with the Mute Spirit

9.    The Man with the Blind and Mute Spirit

10.    Demons and Diseases

11.    Demons and Sickness: Where There is Sickness, There is Often a Demon

12.    Satan Attacks Our Minds and Emotions

13.    The Possibility of Demonic Involvement in Your Affairs

14.    The Man with the Spirit of Lust

Chapter 4

Who Can Have A Demon?

1.    Demons and Christians

2.    Objections to the Belief that Christians Can Have Demons

3.    Casting Demons Out of Sinners

4.    Deliverance is the Children's Bread

5.    Satan Shows Up at the Oddest of Places

6.    Satan Goes to Church

7.    Forced Demonic Manifestations

8.    More Drama in the Synagogues

Chapter 5

Scriptural Proof That Christians Can Have Demons

1.    The Crippled Woman of Faith

2.    A Present Day Daughter of Abraham Instantly Healed of Scoliosis

3.    Judas Iscariot and the Demon of Greed

4.    Ananias and Sapphira and the Spirit of Lying

5.    Timothy and the Spirit of Fear

6.    The Apostle Paul and the Messenger of Satan

7.    The Corinthians and the Receiving of Another Spirit

Chapter 6

How Demons Enter People

1.    Demons Enter Through Sin

2.    Sexual Sin

3.    Demons Enter Through Trauma

4.    Spiritual Sins

5.    False Doctrines

6.    Witchcraft

7.    Yoga

8.    Demons Can Enter When We Accept Negative Words

9.    Demons Can Enter Through Rejection

10.    Demons Can Enter Through Inheritance

11.    Demons Can Enter Through Environment

Chapter 7

Casting Demons Out of People

1.    What May Happen Just Prior to the Command for the Demon to Leave

2.    What to Expect After the Command is Given

Chapter 8

Benefits of Serving Jesus Christ

1.    The Obstacle of Willful and Deliberate Unbelief

2.    You Must Rid Yourself of All Deliberate Unbelief

Chapter 9

Examples of God’s Willingness to Heal the Sick

1.    The Man with Leprosy

2.    Hezekiah, the Dying King

3.    Do You Have a Fighting Heart?

4.    The Divine Delay

5.    The Purported Difference Between Healings and Miracles

6.    The Working of Miracles, and Healing

7.    Instantaneous, Progressive, Delayed, and Denied Healings

Chapter 10

The Mystery of Denied Healings

1.    The Person Praying for the Sick or Demonized Person

2.    The Minister's Lack of Power

3.    Ignorance Concerning the Will of God in Healing

4.    Lack of Understanding of Faith for Healing

5.    Faith for Healing

6.    Secrets of Great Faith

7.    The Miracle of the Raising of Lazarus from the Dead

8.    The Story of the Needy Man Who Would Not Take No for an Answer

9.    Are You Seeking God Or Healing?

Chapter 11

The Persistent Prayer of Faith

1.    Faith Always Works

2.    The Real Prayer of Faith

3.    The Example of Elijah the Prophet

4.    The Prayer of Faith Prays for the Same Thing Repeatedly

5.    The Example of Jesus

6.    Jesus Prays for the Blind Man Twice

7.    The Parable of the Persistent Widow

8.    A Final Example of Persistent Prayer

Chapter 12

Receive Your Healing

Books to Help You on Your Journey Towards Healing and Deliverance

A Final Word of Encouragement

About the Author

Introduction

You can be healed of incurable sicknesses, diseases, and tormenting conditions through the ministry of casting out demons. This ministry is one of the most powerful ministries of the Holy Spirit. It's also one of the most feared, misunderstood, and neglected ministries of God. Yet through it people are instantly freed from sicknesses. Even shameful, destructive bondages are destroyed.

Many have approached me in total desperation. They had tried everything: prayer, fasting, crying, counseling, self-denial, repentance, Bible study, and church attendance. None of these Christian disciplines helped. But when I spoke directly to the problem, as though it was a demon, and commanded it to leave, amazing things happened—and continue to happen. The power of God drove demons and sicknesses from their bodies, and freed their minds from all kinds of torments.

If you have read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in the Bible, you know that by our standards Jesus Christ is somewhere between odd and totally crazy. Sane people don't curse trees, and tell them to stop growing. Neither do they command storms to stop raging. Nor do they speak to lifeless corpses. But Jesus did all of these things and more.

What were the results of such odd behavior (according to us) in our Lord? Well, the tree withered from the roots and died. The storm immediately ceased. And the dead were raised to life again. One fellow, Lazarus, was raised back to life after being dead for four days. You can criticize Jesus' behavior, but you can't criticize His results.

Unfortunately, our concept of Him has changed, but He hasn't changed. “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8) The only difference is that Jesus Christ now performs His mighty miracles through His church. Incurable diseases are healed through the prayers and commands of simple Christians. Deaf and mute people both hear and speak. Even cripples are healed.

What a joy to see desperate people delivered by the power of the only true God, and Savior of the world, Jesus Christ. He is not dead; He is alive! Whatever He has done for others, He can and will do for you. He desires to show you that nothing is impossible for those who trust in the Lord.

My purpose for sharing my experiences with you is to usher you into the presence of the healing Christ. This small book is filled with large healing truths that will help you understand how to effectively seek God for healing.

For instance, many of our afflictions appear to be natural and explainable. There's nothing odd about them. Allergies, phobias, arthritis, cancer, and migraine headaches can all be explained naturally. The same can be said of asthma, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, deafness, muteness, blindness, and other diseases and problems. These conditions can all be explained through natural means.

The purpose of this book, however, is to show you that many of our afflictions are caused by demons. I also want you to see that God's primary way of dealing with demons is to use His servants to cast them out of people. That is why I jumped right into demonology in the very first chapter.

H.A. Maxwell White, the author of “Demons and Deliverance,” said in his book (published by Whitaker House), "If we first cast out demons, we would frequently have no need to pray for the sick; deliverance from the demon would bring all the healing needed.”

Through happy experience, I have found his assessment to be absolutely true. Many of you will be instantly helped or totally healed once you deal with your situation as a demon instead of just a sickness, disease, or mental problem. Nonetheless, whether your problem is directly caused by a demon, or whether you suffer purely from a natural problem, Jesus Christ can give you a miracle. Prepare to be healed!

Chapter 1

A Brief Introduction to Demons

There is no way to discuss supernatural healing from God without discussing the supernatural beings the Bible calls demons. Much of what most people (in the western hemisphere) know about demons is limited to what they see on television or movies. Demons are depicted as evil invisible spirit beings that prey upon humans. Hollywood has shown us that they haunt houses and inhabit people.

They also have shown us that demons are invisible spirits that hate God and people. Yet we must go to the Bible for authoritative and comprehensive information regarding demons. There are two ways in which the Bible discusses demons. The first way is by direct reference. In this manner, the Bible simply reveals a demon's activity or presence by calling it by name. The second way is by indirect reference or symbolism. This method is God's artistic way of instructing us of our enemy. We will review both methods.

A Revelation of Demons

A very basic strategy of success in war is to know one's enemy. Without exception, a general would never take his army against another army without first preparing the soldiers. Foundational to that preparation would be a study of the strengths and weaknesses of the enemy. Failure to study the enemy would virtually guarantee defeat—even if the opposing army were inferior.

We see this truth played out before us daily. The Christian church has all the resources of heaven at its disposal. Yet we suffer defeat after humiliating defeat at the hands of an enemy who is infinitely inferior. A very large part of the reason for this tragedy is that we are ignorant of our enemies. We don't know who they are. We don't know how many they are. We don't know their location. We don't know their weapons. We don't know their strategies. We don't know their weaknesses. We don't know the necessities to win against this enemy. Perhaps the most pathetic gap in our knowledge is that most of us don't even know there are enemies.

This is because although the average Christian verbally honors the Bible as the word of God, as a general rule they do not study the Bible very much. Most Christians get their spiritual nourishment through second-hand sources: Sermons, radio, opinions, books—anything but the Bible itself.

It is extremely safe to say that most Christians have not read the entire Bible. Nor do they ever intend to do so. They are perfectly content to let others do their thinking for them. And when it comes to demons, it seems that most Christians would rather not hear about them. This atmosphere of ignorance and unbelief regarding demons reigns in the church.

Yet the Bible speaks more about demons than angels. This should come as no surprise. Angels are not a threat to us; demons are. Should we be more concerned with the activities of our friends or our enemies? Before you give a nice, sanctified, too religious and simplistic an answer, I'll rephrase the question.

If credible information came to you that ten police officers lived in your neighborhood, and ten psychopathic murderers lived in your neighborhood, which group would concern you more? Honestly you have to admit that we're certainly not going to lose any sleep over the police. The thought, however, of having ten murderers loose in my neighborhood would certainly concern me.

We need to hear about demons because they are the murderers in our neighborhoods. If we ignore them, they will not go away. They will not leave us alone just because we pretend they don't exist. If we are ignorant, they will destroy us. If we are passive, they will destroy us. If we are fearful, they will destroy us. If we don't recognize them, they will destroy us.

The Origin of Demons

The Bible doesn't spend a great deal of time talking about the origin of demons. Its focus on demons is primarily in their present activities in the human realm. Yet, it does reveal some fascinating details. There are two passages of scriptures that speak of the origin of demons. Both are double-reference scriptures. That means they refer to two or more people or things at once. Or they may speak of a human and a spirit simultaneously. The context of the scriptures and the consistency with which the interpretation fits harmoniously with the rest of the Bible determines whether they are double-reference scriptures. These types of scriptures are also known as prophetic scriptures.

Our first passage is Isaiah 14:12-15:

"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.”

The second passage is Ezekiel 28:11-17:

"Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou was upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.”

The above references reveal:

1.    There is a special demon named Lucifer.

2.    Lucifer was created.

3.    Lucifer once inhabited heaven.

4.    Lucifer once was perfect in wisdom and beauty.

5.    Lucifer once occupied a very high position in heaven.

6.    Lucifer was deceived by his exalted position, beauty, and wisdom. He came to believe that he deserved to be worshipped as God.

7.    Lucifer's deception led him to sin.

8.    Lucifer has been condemned and is eternally doomed.

Now, I’ll add a couple of other scriptures to complement the above:

"And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth.. .Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! For the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” (Revelation 12:7-9, 12)

If you read Revelation 12, you can be overwhelmed with imagery that has baffled the best theologians. To make our case, we don't need to unravel that which has bewildered greater minds than ours. It's sufficient for us to see that this passage clearly reveals other interesting facts about our enemies.

1.    The chief demon is now known as the dragon, the serpent, the devil, and Satan. (There are other names, as well.)

2.    He was able to persuade other spirits to join him in his attempt to be like God.

3.    He and his host were kicked out of heaven.

4.    Satan is now on Earth.

5.    Satan and his spirits are called angels. (Other scriptures also call them demons.)

6.    Satan deceives the whole world.

The above information is enough to give us a good picture of our enemy. Lucifer was a spiritual being created by almighty God. He was trusted with great beauty, wisdom, honor, power, and talent. Over the course of time, however, he grew restless of his possessions and wondered at the possibility of gaining more.

Apparently, the only thing that was withheld from him was the very throne of God. Lucifer decided he must have this also. So he treacherously planted seeds of rebellion in the hearts of many angels. Some rejected his lies; others received them. At the perfect time, Lucifer and his army made their move. They found out all too late why God is known as Almighty. Lucifer and his cohorts were cast down to Earth. They have victimized and destroyed people ever since their great fall from heaven.

Names of Lucifer

Names in the Bible often hold significant meaning. God changed Abram's name to Abraham because he was to become "a father of many nations.” Abraham means “father of many nations.” God changed Abraham's wife's name from Sarai to Sarah. The name change signified that she was to become a "mother of many nations.”

God changed Lucifer's name when he got kicked out of heaven. Actually, he took the name Lucifer, which meant "light-bearer,” and gave him several other names that describe his fallen condition. Some of the names are dragon, serpent, devil, and Satan. And there are other names:

1.    Father of lies (John 8:44).

2.    Angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14).

3.    Prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2).

4.    Spirit that works in the children of disobedience (Ephesians 2:2).

5.    Wicked one (Matthew 13:19).

6.    The thief (John 10:10).

These names reveal a great deal about Satan's character. He is a one-of-a-kind brilliant liar. What kind of persuasive skills did it require for Satan to talk angels in heaven into rebelling against their Creator? Dictators come to power by magnifying the weaknesses of the present government. They convince the population that they could do a better job if they only had the power. Promises of prosperity are made. Revolutionary reforms are presented. The oppressed masses rise up as a great social tidal wave and the dictator rides their simplistic hopes to absolute power.

But here we speak not of a third-world country in Africa, where the conditions seem to always be ripe for a revolution. Nor do we speak of Central or Southern America, which have histories of frequent revolutions. We speak of heaven, the home of God. There was no oppression or hunger or economic chaos. There was nothing to reform. So what did Satan use to win the allegiance of God's angels?

Satan's Ability to Deceive

Since there was no oppression in heaven, Satan had to create the illusion of oppression. He then offered himself as the answer to the oppression. How could this be done in heaven? The answer could be a book of its own. We'll not presently delve too deeply into this subject. But it's relevant to our goal of obtaining healing to understand that Satan's power to deceive goes far beyond any descriptive word we know. It's astonishing, incredible, amazing, extraordinary, and more.

In his first recorded interaction with humanity, we see Satan's masterful deception at work as he deceives Eve in the Garden of Eden. God had already commanded Adam and Eve to not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

"Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die. For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.”

Satan's first successful campaign of lies occurred in heaven--God's paradise. His second successful campaign of lies occurred in the Garden of Eden--man's paradise. No doubt the same strategy was used in both. He usually follows the same strategy he used in the Garden of Eden.

How Satan Deceived Eve in the Garden of Eden

First, in Eden Satan spoke through a serpent. Since Eve was not alarmed at the snake's presence, we can safely assume that he wasn't considered a threat. Thus we see that Satan comes to us through that which is acceptable to us. Had he announced himself to Eve as God's enemy, she would have instantly rejected him.

We see the effectiveness of this strategy today. Does Satan offer sexual sin with the explanation that no homosexual or fornicator shall go to heaven? Does he tell them that God places sexual sin in a special category with special punishments? Does Satan tell them that their sexual sin will result in a sexually transmitted disease? Does he tell them that unwanted pregnancies ended through abortion is murder? Does he tell them that sexual sin opens the door to all kinds of demons? No, he offers them the pleasures of the physical body.

And what about alcohol? Does he offer the first drink with an explanation that the first drink is the first step to becoming an alcoholic? Does he tell them that hundreds of millions of others through the ages have become alcoholics? Does he tell them that all alcoholics—without exception— were once responsible, self-disciplined drinkers who drank in moderation?

No, he offers them a drink with the promise of a harmless high. Or he tells them that only weak Christians are offended at alcohol use. He offers them a cup of sin disguised as liberty and stirs it with a straw of pride.

Second, once Satan saw that his appearance was acceptable to Eve, he boldly told her that if she ate of the tree, she would not die. In fact, said Satan, not only would she not die, but her eyes would be opened, and she would become as a god, knowing good and evil. Eve accepted Satan's word and bit the fruit. The question begs to be answered: Why would a perfect human in a perfect environment sin against God?

I have purposefully said with many words what I could have said with few. The intent is to graphically impress upon you Satan's amazing ability to deceive. It's also to strongly show you the life-threatening danger of believing anyone's word more than God's word. Eve sinned against God and her own soul because she placed someone's word above God's word. It's as simple as that.

What does this have to do with getting healed? Everything. Know that as much as you desire to be healed, Satan desires you to be sick. He may even desire your destruction more than you desire deliverance. He will use every weapon at his disposal, and his primary weapon is deception. You have seen how he operates. You have seen how he appears to you. He appears in a way in which you will accept him.

For some, this means he will speak through a spouse or relative. To others, he will speak through a friend or minister. Still others will hear thoughts. No matter what appearance Satan chooses to appear to you, his intent is always the same. He desires to steal the word of God out of your heart. But you can shut down his brilliant arguments by believing God's word above all else. When you believe God above all else, you will be able to say with the psalmist, "I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.” (Psalms 34:4)

Chapter 2

Satan Attacks Job

The Bible is very clear concerning the activities and operations of Satan and his vast army of demons. They have but one goal—to destroy as much of God's creation as they can before their own destruction. Since humanity is the greatest creation of God, and since we are created in God's own image, Satan has placed us at the top of his hit list. He hates us almost as much as he hates God. But he can't directly assault God. He can only hurt God by hurting us. This is where all of his efforts are directed. Peter tells us plainly that this is the case:

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)

Whether we like it or not or admit it or not, we are in a warfare. This warfare is with an invisible enemy whose only goal in life is to destroy us. The picture God gives us is a hungry lion, walking about, looking for someone to destroy.

The Case of Job

The book of Job reveals him as one of the greatest men of the Old Testament. He had abundant qualities of love, mercy, gratitude, and unselfishness. He faithfully prayed for his family, gave to the poor, and helped the widows and fatherless. He was the perfect example of a servant of God. For His faithfulness, God blessed Job with abundant riches and a great name. One day the angels of God presented themselves before God. For some reason, Satan appeared also. The conversation between God and Satan is fascinating:

"Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth [hates] evil? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought [nothing]? Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord.” (Job 1:6-12)

This conversation is the greatest and most direct Old Testament proof that Satan is evil beyond reason. It also firmly establishes him as our enemy. When asked by God from where he had come, Satan truthfully answered that he had been going around the world. When you couple that scripture with 1 Peter 5:8 above, we graphically see how Satan prowls the earth in search of someone to victimize. Often he is able to do considerable damage despite the victim's goodness. A brief study of Satan's attack upon Job will reveal some activities and operations of Satan and his demons.

First, from God's own mouth we find that there was none like Job in all the earth. He was a perfect and righteous man that feared God and hated evil. God also said that Job's trial was ‘"without cause.” (Job 2:3) This is the man who was singled out by Satan for attack. This proves that trials are not necessarily proof that the victim is at fault.

Second, Satan is not all-powerful. He is a limited being. He can only do what he is allowed to do—either by God or by humans. In this case, God gave Satan permission to attack Job. God gave permission because Satan needed permission. An all-powerful devil would not have needed permission.

Third, the methods Satan used to attack this righteous servant of God in his first assault were not obviously supernatural. Each attack appeared as normal, everyday occurrences:

"And there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house: And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them: And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house: And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.” (Job 1:13-19)

As a seeker of healing, it is critical that you understand the full significance of what is revealed in Job. Satan attacked this righteous and blameless man not because he was bad, but because he was good. The tools Satan used were crime and weather.

•    First, the Sabeans robbed him of property and killed some of his servants.

•    Then lightning fell from heaven and destroyed some of his property.

•    Next, the Chaldeans robbed him of property and killed some of his servants.

•    Finally, a tornado-like wind hit his children's home and killed many of them.

Had this happened to someone in our day, we would declare this man to be the most unlucky man in the world.

Yet luck had nothing to do with this series of tragedies. The appearance of the events seemed to be common, explainable tragedies. But the Bible clearly shows that behind these seemingly natural events was the supernatural influence of Satan. He directly caused two groups of bandits, a tornado, and a lightning bolt to hurt Job. What shall we do with this information? Shall we treat it as interesting trivia to be forgotten? Or will we allow it to give us insight into the affairs of God and people?

Job’s Final Trial

Job's trial was not limited to simply losing his property and family. Once Satan saw that his plan to pressure Job into cursing God had not worked, he sought permission of God to do even more damage. The conversation between God and Satan follows:

"Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord. And the Lord said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth [hates] evil? And still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movest me against him, to destroy him without cause. And Satan answered the Lord, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life. So went Satan from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his feet unto his crown.” (Job 2:1-7)

It is conclusive from the above that Satan caused the boils. According to Job 2:11-12, his disease was so bad that it made him literally unrecognizable to his friends. And later in Job 7:5, 13-14, he states that "my flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and become loathsome.. .When I say, my bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint; Then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions.”

The picture we have here is one of pure agony. This poor man had been unmercifully hit with a series of unimaginable tragedies that wiped out his enormous wealth and killed many of his children. And while his gaping emotional wounds were still raw with shock and bewilderment, Satan hit him with a repulsive disease that bred worms. His suffering was so great that he wished for death. When death did not come to mercifully end his misery, he tried to escape the pain by going to sleep. Yet, even there Satan tormented him. Terrifying dreams and nightmares interrupted his sleep.

Our point in recounting this event is to show you that Satan can and does attack people. It's to reveal some of the ways in which he does so. You've seen that he is able to use people, weather, and disease. For the purposes of this book, I'll deal only with the tool of disease.

Why Did Job Have to Suffer?

Generally it is believed by most serious students of God's word that Job's entire trial lasted about 9 - 12 months. That is a very long time to be in such a terrible trial. The reasons given for his trial by various Christian factions are varied. I know of at least two that I consider totally unsupported by the Bible. We'll discuss these two reasons because what you believe about Job and his trials could help or hinder your search for healing.

The first reason is one usually held by traditional denominational Christians. It is assumed that Job suffered because God in His mysterious wisdom simply decided that it should be done. The reasoning goes that God is sovereign over His creation. Thus He can do whatever He desires. If in His mysterious wisdom He saw a need to afflict Job, then so be it.

This is a position that appears to be motivated by humility and unquestioned submission to the will of God. But upon closer observation, it's seen to be a religious safety net to those who are ignorant of Satan's abilities and activities. Whenever an unexplainable tragedy hits, God is automatically assumed to be the author. The pastor puts on his best I-feel-your-pain face and explains how God is somehow using the tragedy to teach us a lesson. We normally are not told what this lesson is. Stunned and devastated by the loss, we desperately try to hold on to the unlikely possibility that God is behind the attack.

Some are better able to believe this than others. Those who do, have the ability to shut down their thought processes to such a degree that they can believe something even if it's unsupportable or ridiculous. They tenaciously cling to this belief because they are desperate to make sense of the tragedy. No Christian is eager to believe that a horrible tragedy in his or her life is without benefit.

Yet some minds won't shut down simply because tragedy strikes. They were keen and thoughtful before the tragedy, and they are the same during and after the tragedy. These Christians won't bite the first religious worm they see on a hook just because they are hungry for an answer. They have a hard time believing that a brutal rape, a killer cancer, or a dreadful accident is God's way of saying I love you.

The story of Job clearly shows us that God didn't put disasters upon him. It shows God as the author of good things and Satan as the author of bad things. God brought blessings upon Job; Satan brought calamities upon Job. Could God have prevented Satan from harming Job? Yes. Satan admitted as much when he said, "Hast thou not made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side?” Had there not been a hedge of protection around Job, Satan would not have needed to ask permission to hurt him. So the question is not could God have protected him, but why did He choose to not protect him?

We discussed the traditional denomination position that says God caused the calamities for a mysterious but wise reason. Now we shall examine the Charismatic/Full Gospel explanation. This is the belief that God allowed Satan to strike Job because Job had broken down the hedge of protection. It is said that Job broke down the hedge by harboring fear in his heart. Having cast demons out of many people, I can say that certain types of fear can open the door to Satan. However, having read the book of Job, I can also say that it doesn't appear that Job opened the door to Satan's attack. And it doesn't appear that his fear was of the fleshly sort that results from not believing God.

The Charismatic/Full Gospel explanation that Job opened the door to Satan's attack is also a religious safety net. Folks in our circle have a desperate need to believe they are always in control of their situations. They have a desperate need to believe they can absolutely control what happens to them by using the right spiritual formulas. This takes the uncertainty out of serving God. When tragedy strikes, they are able to assert with God-like certainty that it occurred because you did this, none of this, too little of that, or too much of the other. Everything good or bad, they contend, has a direct linkage to our actions.

Recently I learned a new word—specious. It means to appear good while lacking merit. That's what this doctrine is; it's specious. There is much truth to certain elements of this doctrine. Yet, the dogmatic application of its inflexible rules to every situation has turned it into a doctrine of pride and presumption. For instance, according to some, financial adversity, sickness and disease, and other trials can always be linked to our action or inaction.

There is no place for the sovereignty of God—except for good—in the minds of many Charismatic/Full Gospel people. Neither is God capable of doing anything that could be considered negative. This is ignorance and immaturity on a rampage. Life is not always so simple. Every event doesn't fit neatly within the boundaries of our favorite religious doctrines. It's wiser to buy a larger pair of shoes than to stubbornly cram our feet into a smaller pair that doesn't fit. If we force ill-fitting doctrines upon situations larger than our understanding or experience, we will only injure ourselves and the cause of Christ.

When we blame Job's fear for his situation, we reveal huge gaps in our understanding of life in general and God in particular. It is true that Job had fear, but we need to understand that not all fear is bad.

An Examination of Job’s Fear

After Job's great calamities had come upon him, he uttered these words:

"For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come upon me.” (Job 3:25)

This scripture is the main reason why many accuse Job of bringing his calamities upon himself. But we don't realize that when we do so, we join those accusers who visited Job in his misery. We won't examine their accusations in great detail. It's sufficient to say that very much of the entire book of Job is filled with the accusations of Job's three friends.

I refer to them as his Charismatic/Full Gospel friends. (I don't mean to be insulting, but this, unfortunately, is the attitude of many of us so-called Full Gospel types.) They believed that Job brought evil upon himself. Yet in the last chapter of Job, God justifies him and condemns his three friends.

".the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath.” (Job 42:7)

This is a rebuke against everyone who presumptuously blames the victim. The last thing a person dying with cancer needs to hear is, "If you had stood in faith, this never would have happened.” Whether this is true or not is irrelevant. There is a time, a place, and a way to say everything. And sometimes it is the wiser part to say nothing. But if we are to speak, the Bible tells us to speak the truth in love. It also tells us that if we see a brother in error, we are to meekly restore him. Job's friends didn't come to console him, but to judge him. And this is the same haughty spirit that works in the hearts of many of those who blame Job's trials on his fear.

I stated earlier that not all fear is bad. There are hundreds of scriptures that command us to fear God. Just to quote one, Jesus commanded us to fear God:

"And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28).

Job's fear was not a fear of material loss. According to Job 1:1, his fear was the kind you and I are commanded to have.

"There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed [hated] evil.”

His fear was the fear of the Lord. It was the kind of fear that is the beginning of wisdom. Does this kind of fear put us at risk of Satan gaining an advantage? It's a ridiculous question unworthy of serious consideration. But, you say, his fear was of something coming upon him. Yes, you are correct. But we know from his attitude and words during his trial that the something he was afraid of was not the loss of things, people, or health. It was the loss of God's favor. There is a world of difference in the two.

Jesus had this same concern as He got closer to fulfilling His mission as the sacrifice for our sins. He was to literally become sin for us that we may become the righteousness of God in Christ. This prospect of being separated from His Father's fellowship—even for a little while—brought great distress upon Him. He prayed fervently that God would remove this requirement. Finally, after a few hours of agonizing prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, He received heavenly encouragement to go to the cross.

The apostle Paul commanded the Philippians to have this godly fear.

".work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” (Philippians 2:12)

So you see, there is nothing shameful or dishonorable about fearing God. There is nothing wrong with fearing God's hand of discipline. Neither is there anything wrong with being concerned that one does not offend God. Job had a great fear of offending God. This is part of the reason for his great success at pleasing God. When sudden calamity struck him in such an obviously supernatural way, he was absolutely sure that God had withdrawn His blessing from him. Why else would two separate groups of bandits, a tornado, and lightning strike him in one day? And why else would a disease of boils erupt all over his body so severely that even his close friends could not recognize him? This obviously was God, and he had obviously angered God in some way.

Some Reasons God Allowed Satan to Attack Job

Job believed his protective hedge had been lowered because he had angered God. Yet there is nothing in the Bible to suggest this. In contrast, we could very easily offer that he was attacked because it's the nature of war. In war no one is immune; everyone is attacked. Joseph was attacked. King David was attacked. Jeremiah was attacked. Daniel was attacked. Peter was attacked. Paul was attacked. Jesus was attacked. And to sum it up, "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” (2 Timothy 3:12) This means you and I will be attacked.

Nonetheless, in light of the entire Bible, it appears that Job's attack did involve more than simply being one of many who are attacked. His assault was permitted for several reasons.

First, Satan presented himself to God as did the other angels.Yet, it was God who issued the challenge to Satan regarding Job's righteousness and faithfulness. The Lord had chosen Job to graphically prove several truths.

Second, one of those truths was to show in story form that God is good and Satan is evil. This seems elementary. Yet the strong tendency of people to blame God for all the evil in world, while blaming Satan for nothing evil, proves that it was needful for God to do such a thing.

Third, the book of Job is one of the oldest in the Bible. Up to that point there was very little that was popularly known about Satan and his evil abilities to affect the material world. This written confrontation provided spiritual understanding to saints for ages to come.

Fourth, it graphically establishes God as sovereign. The Lord stated and demonstrated conclusively that Job was perfect, righteous, feared God, and hated evil. He even went so far as to declare him to be the most perfect, righteous, and faithful man in the entire world. And when he allowed Satan to attack him, God was sure to say that the attack was "without cause.” (Job 2:3) Yet God still chose to allow the attack.

Then near the very end of the trial, God appeared to Job and said many things. But He never once gave him a reason for his suffering. This is not insensitivity; it's divinity. It's God exercising His right as God to do what He pleases without getting permission or granting explanations.

Fifth, God allowed Job to be attacked because Job was an Old Testament type of Jesus. This means that his life was used prophetically to point to Jesus who was to come. There are at least three similarities that Job and Jesus shared. They both were blameless. They both suffered without cause. And they both were restored after their afflictions.

Sixth, God wanted to show Job and us how to respond to Satan's most vicious attacks.

Is Your Suffering Proof That You Are A Modern Day Job?

Ironically, many people fight their healing by trying to find a reason for God to not heal them. It doesn't make sense, but they do it anyway. One of their main arguments for rejecting divine healing is that they are suffering as Job suffered. However, we jump to this conclusion far too quickly. If one were to ask a suffering saint that held such a view to quote three scriptures that promised divine healing, it probably could not be done. And if one were to ask that same sufferer why Job suffered, he couldn't offer any explanation, except to say that God was trying to teach Job something.

It is extremely popular among some Christians to believe God put those trials on Job to teach him something. But it's critical for us to understand that the Bible doesn't actually say this. As we proved earlier, it was actually Satan that directly caused the calamities. Did Job learn something from his experience? Of course, he did. Yet nowhere does the Bible state that this was the purpose of his trials. God Himself stated that the purpose of the trials was "to destroy him without cause.”

So when a Christian justifies his weak faith in God for healing by saying God put the disease upon him to teach him something, he reveals that he knows very little about the character of God.

Is the sick one a modern day Job? Well, let's see. We'll ask a few questions to determine the similarities between Job and the person who claims to be a modern day Job. Is he perfect and blameless? Does he fear God, and hate evil? Would God say of him and his devotion, There is none like him in all the earth?

Furthermore, would God trust him above everyone else in the world to prove to Satan, the angels of God, and all humanity, that people will faithfully serve God even in the midst of horribly tormenting circumstances?

And, last, does he know Job was healed? So to be a modern day Job, one must not forget that Job was healed.

However, there is a more compelling reason why we aren't modern day Jobs. The fact that God chose a man of whom He could say, "There is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that fears God, and hates evil,” proves that Job represented all of humanity in his fight against Satan. When Job proved faithful, he won a victory not only for himself, but for all humanity. Therefore, it is unnecessary for God to repeatedly make the same point.

Nonetheless, God did choose to make that same point, once and for all, at a much later date. This time he chose Jesus to represent humanity. When Jesus resisted Satan's temptations and lived without sin, He qualified Himself as the sacrifice for our sins. He became everything to us. "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” (1 Cor. 1:30) This means we no longer look to ourselves, but unto Jesus. So when Satan accuses us of weakness and failure, we answer not with our own strength and accomplishments. Instead, we remind him that Christ has become our righteousness.

Therefore, when Satan accuses us before God, the Lord answers the accusation by recounting the accomplishments of Christ on our behalf. The matter of our righteousness is settled before heaven once and for all. We are not modern day Jobs; Jesus is the modern day Job.

Yet if we feel we must identify our difficulties with Job's difficulties, it should be noted that God didn't leave Job in that condition forever. So to claim to be a modern day Job, and to subsequently plan to not be healed, is inconsistent with the story of Job.

Finally, there are examples in the Bible of God putting diseases on His enemies, and even on presumptuous or persistently sinful Christians. But there are no examples of God putting diseases on His obedient servants. Quite the opposite, the Bible consistently reveals Satan as the destroyer and God as the healer.

"How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth, who went about doing good, and healing all who were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him.” (Acts 10:38)

Chapter 3

Activities and Operations of Demons

We have seen how Satan attacked Job with crime, accidents, and disease. Now we will examine his activities and operations in greater detail. The New Testament is rich with information about our enemy's activities. It treats the subject of demonology as a reality. This is contrary to the belief of skeptics who believe demons exist only in the minds of mentally ill or uneducated religious people. But Jesus had much to say about Satan and demons. His speech concerning these evil spiritual beings is such that to deny their existence is to call Jesus a liar. There is simply no way one can believe in the existence of a real God and not believe in the existence of a real Satan.

What Jesus Said About Demons

Jesus gives us some fascinating information about Satan in the book of Luke.

"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 11:2426)

This passage reveals to us that demons can live inside of people. When they find internal access to a person, they are able to exercise greater power over the victim. Therefore, it is a very high priority for demons to find a way to not only influence us from the outside, but to dominate and control us from the inside. That is what the above scriptures are all about.

If the demon is cast out, he seeks to re-enter someone else. If he is unsuccessful, he returns to his old victim. When he finds that the freed prisoner's life isn't filled with Christ, he gets other spirits more wicked than himself, and they re-enter the victim. He is in worse shape now than before. It's important to note that the spirit that was cast out thinks of the victim as "his” house. This reveals that demons have possessive natures. Therefore, no one should be surprised if an evicted demon seeks reentry at a later date. In light of this, anyone who is freed by the power of God must be diligent to not practice sin. They must especially stay away from the particular sin or action that caused them to become demonized. Furthermore, negligence of God will once again usher the former victim into the direction of demonic bondage.

A Biblical Understanding of Demon Possession

The concept of absolute demon possession is the idea of Satan gaining such control over a person that the victim no longer has any control left. This represents an extreme minority of those who are troubled by demons—probably around 1 - 2 percent. These would obviously include many in insane asylums who are no longer in control of their minds. Perhaps we could also include mass murderers. Why else would someone find satisfaction in killing people?

These are the more obvious cases of demonic activity. It doesn't take a lot of discernment to see that a person walking down the street having an animated conversation with himself is mentally disturbed. He could have a chemical imbalance that causes him to see and hear things that aren't there. He could be full of tormenting devils. Perhaps he has both problems.

In the case of mass murderers, the thought of someone getting pleasure from killing someone is so repulsive and unnatural that we can easily see that demons may be involved. We'd certainly be naturally inclined to believe in the strong possibility of a demonic presence.

But what about the other 98% - 99% of those who are troubled by demons. I’ve found that most people with demonic problems aren't possessed in the absolute sense. They are simply troubled or defeated in a particular area of their lives. The trouble may be exaggerated, but it certainly wouldn't qualify them as being absolutely possessed with a devil. I have conducted many small healing and deliverance meetings, and I have never come across an absolutely possessed person. To the contrary, everyone I've dealt with—minus three people—were quite functional. That is, you could not tell by looking at or speaking to them that anything was wrong.

One lady was worshipping God in an animated, but not unnatural or look-at-me kind of way. She was simply showing her love for God through dance. One of my team members at the time, Cynthia, discerned through the Spirit that the lady needed deliverance. Here is my journal entry: “I went to her and began to pray and test for demons. There were many! Although she is a nice-looking lady, the spirit—one of them—was able to attach itself to her belief that she was ugly. Others were attached to a sexual abuse ordeal as a child. For two hours we cast out many spirits. However, I felt that she still needed more ministry. She made a very sad statement to me. She asked through much sobbing, Why did it take so long?”

There are at least three reasons why it took so long for her to find deliverance.

First, the church, generally, has rejected the power of God through ignorance or unbelief. We have substituted the power of God with education, effort, charisma, and extremely low expectations.

Second, she didn't look to be in need. Had she been dressed like a homeless hag and was seen talking to herself, someone would have discerned (smile) that she had a problem. But the problem is most people with demonic problems do not look like people who would have problems with demons.

And, third, she was a Christian. The church is so woefully and embarrassingly ignorant in this area that it does not believe Christians can have demons. We'll discuss this later.

This lady wasn't demon possessed in the traditional sense. She was simply victimized by demons in certain areas of her life. Although she was attractive, Satan had convinced her that she was physically ugly. (Satan attacks many women this way.) Perhaps this doesn't seem like a big deal. But to the woman who is constantly harassed by cruel thoughts that make fun of her appearance, it's a big deal. If she isn't able to resist such thoughts, Satan will eventually be able to establish in her mind a stronghold of rejection. Her entire thought process will be polluted with low self-esteem and irrational fear. Her true self will be submerged under layers of demonic lies and expectations of bad things.

A person so affected would not normally be considered demon possessed. The only scenario I can think of where such a person could possibly be considered possessed (although I believe the word to be extremely exaggerated), is if the person listened to Satan's lies to such a degree that the personality is severely affected in a consistently and noticeable way. At this point, the victim's mental state is obviously irrational, and perhaps even delusional. But, generally, people with these types of tormenting demons usually are quite functional. That's one good reason why we need to consider dropping the word "possessed” from our vocabulary. There are more accurate terms we can use.

The Faulty Concept of Demon Possession

To say a person is demon possessed is to create a concept that is not biblical. The word translated "possessed” is the Greek word daimonizoma. This is a very bad translation. It mistakenly gives the idea of total control. It would have been much more accurate to consistently translate daimonizoma as "to have a demon.” So instead of saying a person is demon possessed, we should say the person has a demon. Other words we could use are afflicted, tormented, harassed, or demonized.

Fortunately, there are several excellent full-length books on deliverance that do a fine job of correcting this discrepancy.

Although the unfortunate use of the word "possession” is frequent, there are other places in the Bible where there are better translations.

"And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit...” (Mark 1:23).

"For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit..."(Mark 7:25).

"And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb [mute; speech impediment] spirit...” (Mark 9:17).

"And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity [sickness; crippling] eighteen years...” (Luke 13:11).

It's extremely important for us to understand the difference between having a demon and being possessed of a demon. Having a demon is a biblical concept; possession by a demon is a concept created by a bad translation of a couple of key words. This is no small matter. Satan is terrified of the ministry of casting out demons. It's the one ministry that graphically shows the world his true nature. It's the one ministry that graphically shows the world how completely defeated he really is.

He, therefore, uses this mistranslation to prejudice Christians—especially leaders—against this powerful ministry. He does so by seducing them into believing that the only candidates for this ministry of power are those who are totally controlled by Satan. And, of course, the logical conclusion to this reasoning is if you are totally controlled by Satan, you certainly can't belong to God. How could a person be possessed of God and possessed of the devil at the same time? The obvious answer is we can belong to only one master at a time.

The devil has succeeded at getting many to equate having a demon with being possessed of a demon. This means, of course, as the rationale goes, that they aren't Christians. No wonder Christians reject this doctrine. What Christian would submit to deliverance ministry, if by doing so it's seen as a confession of having never been saved? So multitudes of Christians who have demons don't get help because they don't understand what it means to have a demon.

What It Means to Have a Demon

A person who has a demon is simply a person whose spiritual, mental, or physical self has been accessed by a demon. Satan now inflicts greater damage from the inside than he could've done from the outside. Below you'll see how a natural or bad situation is worsened when a demon finds access.

Before Demonic Access

After Demonic Access

Has doubts of God and spiritual matters that can be erased by Bible study, prayer, fellowship, and other Christian disciplines.

Doubts grow larger no matter what the person does. It becomes impossible or nearly impossible to believe the Bible.

Can pray, worship, and read the Bible with natural, moderate resistance from the flesh.

Attempts to pray, worship, and read the Bible causes a rush of evil thoughts, pain, sleepiness, or shaking of a body part. Often the demon laughs in the person’s mind.

Has natural fears common to humanity.

Fears become tormenting or controlling.

Rejection is naturally unwanted, but not allowed to control life.

Rejection controls decisions, responses, and personality. Person can’t give or receive love; can’t trust; expects the worse; gets offended very easily.

Emotions sometimes causes problems.

Emotions sometimes are out of control. Has bad problems with anger, rage, hatred, sorrow, self-pity, jealousy, unforgiveness, hopelessness, depression, possessiveness, control, pride, frustration, guilt, etc.

Mild mental weaknesses common to humanity.

Serious mental problems such as severe indecision, forgetfulness, confusion, nervousness, indifference, compromise, etc. May hear voices.

Has sin problems common to humanity.

Slave to certain sins. Sexual bondage very common.

Has allergy, pain, sickness, or disease.

Condition aggravated or caused by demon.

It's important to notice that the above table can apply to Christians and non-Christians. Look at the "After Demonic Access” column. Honestly, don't we all know Christians like this? Can we truthfully accuse every Christian with such problems as hypocrites or carnal? Can we accuse the pastor, who has consistently proven his love for Christ, of not loving Christ simply because he has never found victory over pornography? Or control? Or anger?

If we will be brutally honest, we'd have to admit that we may be listed in this column. It's not a shame to admit this. Unless we have successfully hidden our weakness or sin, others already know about it anyway. We may as well stop living a lie and receive our deliverance. Let me tell you about mine.

Delivered from a Demon of Pain

About a year after I repented of my sins and believed the gospel, something happened to me that many Christians believe can't happen to a servant of God. I was asleep when I suddenly awakened in the very early hours of the morning. I tried to open my eyes and arise, but could not. I knew this was Satan. I rebuked the demon in the name of Jesus and tried to arise. However, I still could not do so. I must admit, for a moment I was afraid. What do you do when you have used the name of Jesus, and Satan doesn't listen?

Anger replaced my fear. I told the devil that I would not fear him. Then a surprising thing happened. Although my eyes were still closed, I could somehow see the entire room. There was nothing out of the ordinary. Then I felt something push me deeply into my mattress. My body literally was pushed several inches into the mattress. Next I definitely felt something push against my head until it literally entered. I then fell asleep.

When I awakened in the morning, I put my feet on the floor and stood up. An excruciating pain shot through my head. It was all-consuming and paralyzing. I knew what this was. Unfortunately, these ferocious headaches had been part of my life since about nine years of age. They would come upon me suddenly and beat me down with pain that is impossible to describe. Only someone who has been afflicted with such pain can truly understand. It felt as though someone was inside of my skull with a jackhammer banging every nerve.

Yet this was the first time I could recall having felt a force literally enter my head. The thought came to mind that I should stay home from church. I stubbornly resisted the thought and determined to go to church. I attended church and tried to sit through the Sunday school teaching. The pain became unbearable. Even the softest movement exploded tiny bombs of pain in my head. I tried to inconspicuously leave the room. My passing out on the floor in front of everyone spoiled that plan.

As I lay on the floor in agonizing pain, wondering what had happened, Minister Edley rebuked the devil several times. He confidently commanded the demon of infirmity to leave me. I must admit that I felt nothing—except pain. I managed to get back to my feet and walk the long block to the main sanctuary. My steps were slow, short, and deliberate. Each step produced an explosion of sharp pain in my head. However, Minister Edleys commands of faith had broken the devil's hold on me. For once that headache subsided, it was the second to the last time I received a headache of that sort. That actual final headache, I am sure, was Satan's attempt to steal my healing. That episode was in 1980. I have been migraine-free for over twenty years. Praise God!

As I stated above, only those who suffer these types of migraine headaches understand the misery they cause. In my case, the healing came directly through casting out a demon. It was not an immediate healing; the pain left very gradually. But once the residue of pain left, my freedom began.

There are no doubt tens of millions of people who suffer with migraine headaches. Many of them are suffering a direct attack of a spirit of sickness and don't know it. Unfortunately, because the ministry of casting out demons has been largely neglected or rejected by the church, most of them will never be healed as I was.

For those who deny that Christians can have demons, my own experience is proof enough for me that we certainly can. I was a believer in Christ. He was my Lord and Savior. I had repented of my sins and turned to Jesus for salvation. I was trusting in nothing but the blood of Jesus to wash away my sins. My change of heart and behavior was radical and permanent. I can truly say that if I was not a true Christian when that demon of sickness entered me that early Sunday morning in 1980, then I certainly am not a Christian now. For none of my fundamental beliefs about Jesus Christ has changed one bit. I still believe Jesus Christ to be the only true God and Savior of the world. I still believe that nothing but His blood washes me clean from my sins. I still believe that He is the eternal Creator, and that He was born of a virgin and lived a sinless life. I still believe that he died on the cross to pay for the sins of the world. And I still believe that He rose from the dead, and is alive forevermore. Did I miss something?

We'll shortly establish from the scriptures and real life experiences that Christians can have demons. But we will first examine in more detail what demons do.

What Demons Do

Demons do a great deal of evil. But I will limit our discussion to their activities in the area of sickness, disease, emotional problems, and spiritual oppression. The Bible graphically shows us that Satan, through his demons, is intimately involved in the affairs of people. Paul said in Ephesians 6:12 that “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. ”

Unfortunately, however, most Christians don't understand the significance of these words. They think the apostle was speaking figuratively. He was not. He meant exactly what he said. We are literally at war with invisible enemies. And among their most lethal weapons are sickness, disease, and mental problems. The Bible gives us many examples of demons directly causing disease. We will now examine some of these cases.

The Crippled Lady Bent Over for Eighteen Years

This first account is my favorite. It details perfectly many facts of healing and deliverance.

"And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day. The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day.” (Luke 13:10-16)

There is no way to get around the plain words of our wonderful Savior. This poor woman had been afflicted with a crippling disease. The effect of this disease was that it bent her over. She could not stand up straight. There were no doubt medical names for various diseases that could cause this kind of thing. The woman may have been given all kinds of medical reasons for her condition. However, the cause of it was a demon of sickness. Once the demon was made to leave, the woman was instantly healed.

I don't believe that every crippling disease is necessarily directly caused by a demon. Yet the possibility is so great that I would not hesitate to treat the condition as a direct attack of Satan. Every person with a crippling disease should seriously consider the strong possibility that a demon of sickness has attacked them.

The Man with the Mute Spirit

Another poor fellow had somehow been attacked by a demon that took away his speech.

"As they went out, behold, they brought to him a dumb [mute] man possessed with a devil [demon]. And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake.” (Matthew 9:32, 33)

We're not told how long this man had been unable to speak. He may have been born mute. Perhaps he awakened one day to find to his horror that he could no longer speak. Or he may have gradually lost his voice. Whatever the case, this man's condition was directly caused by a demon. But when the demon was cast out, the condition caused by the demon was instantly healed.

The Man with the Blind and Mute Spirit

This example is one of a man who was afflicted with two conditions. He could neither see nor speak.

"Then was brought unto him one possessed [afflicted; oppressed] with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw.” (Matthew 12:22)

Can demons cause people to go blind? According to this scripture, they can. There are other examples of demons causing sickness, but we will review them later. For now we will look at several places where demons and diseases are very closely linked.

Demons and Diseases

Demons and diseases are like fire and smoke. You can have smoke without fire and fire without smoke. But it's always reasonable to assume that where there is one, there will the other be also. There are several places in the Bible that give us reason to suspect demonic activity wherever there is a disease. Furthermore, personal experience proves this point.

I recall praying for a man with a respiratory problem. He had gotten pneumonia and even after recovering from it, could not breathe properly. His lungs were weak and congested. After a couple of minutes of commanding the demon of sickness to come out, one came into manifestation. He moved around and tenaciously tried to hold his ground.

Of course, his was a lost cause. The power of God forced the demon from the torso area up to the neck. A very large bulge appeared in the man's neck. The demon tried to choke him in a desperate attempt to stay in. The man's face turned red and his watery eyes bulged. I also remember that the veins in his head swelled as the demon attacked. Finally, there was a cork-like pressure that shot the demon out of his victim. The man took a few breaths and happily declared that he was healed.

In this case, the demon didn't cause the sickness; he aggravated it. When the man caught pneumonia, it opened a door for a demon of sickness to lodge in his lungs. So we see that Satan can cause a disease or take advantage of one that already exists.

Demons and Sickness: Where There is Sickness, There is Often A Demon

The Bible is full of examples of demons and sicknesses accompanying one another. We will look at a few of these examples, and I will offer observations.

I.

"And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers [different] diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy, and he healed them.” (Matthew 4:23, 24)

This passage mentions that Jesus was healing all manner of sickness and disease among the people. And of these sick and diseased people, some—probably very many—had demons of sickness.

II.

"When the even [evening] was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick.” (Matthew 8:16)

Notice here that the clear emphasis is on those afflicted with demons. Jesus cast out the spirits of those who were brought to him. And as it so often happens when demons are cast out, the diseases left with the demons. Therefore, we see the natural transition from “...and he cast out the spirits...” to “and healed all that were sick. ”

III.

"And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water. And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.” (Matthew 17:14, 15, 18)

Compare this passage with its counterpart in Mark 9. You'll find that this little boy had epilepsy or something similar. Tragically, he also was

deaf and mute. When he was brought to Jesus, the Lord didn't prescribe medication or therapy. He cast out the demon. The result was astounding. “And the child was cured from that very hour. ”

IV.

"And he [Jesus] ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils.” (Mark 3:15)

Whenever Jesus sent forth his disciples to preach, he always gave them power and authority over sicknesses and diseases and demons. One may experience limited success praying for the sick without casting out devils. However, if this approach is taken, one will be unable to help multitudes of sick and tormented people who would respond favorable to the ministry of casting out demons. Many miracles are waiting to happen for the person who will change his prayer from asking God, to commanding Satan.

V.

"And he came down with them, and stood in the plain, and the company of his disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Judaea and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases; And they that were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed. (Luke 6:17,18)

Here, again, the Bible treats demons and diseases virtually the same. Crowds of people came to Jesus to be healed of diseases. Some may have known that their diseases had a spiritual cause. However, since human nature is the same no matter what the century, I am convinced that most of these people had no idea that their problem was more demonic than physical. No doubt there were people with asthma, arthritis, scoliosis, migraines, cancers, pains, and all kinds of weird diseases. There were some who were crippled, blind, deaf, and mute. To their great surprise, Jesus treated many of their conditions as demons. And, surprisingly again, demons came out of the sufferers, and they were miraculously and dramatically healed.

VI.

".And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils..” (Luke 8:2)

This is one of my favorites. I love this scripture because it shows God's great love and care for women. This group of women had experienced God's healing power. One of them, Mary, had been delivered of seven evil spirits. The Bible doesn't disclose what specific problems these demons had caused. However, it does tell us these women were “healed of evil spirits and infirmities.” Evil spirits and sickness. There they are again; like inseparable lovers.

VII.

"And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.” (Acts 19:11, 12)

This is another very clear connection between demons and diseases. The subject in these verses is "the sick.” Yet the Bible doesn't simply say that the sick people were healed. It tells us from what they had been healed—demons! “And the evil spirits went out of them.” Had these people been like most present day North American or European Christians, they would have been deeply offended had someone offered the idea that their diseases may have been linked to a demon. Christians in South America, Africa, and other places with a greater knowledge of supernatural religion have no problem whatsoever with the concept of demons. They know they are a reality. When tragedy strikes, whether it is barrenness, disease, or mental torment, demons are suspected.

Satan Attacks Our Mind and Emotions

I have spoken of Satan's attack upon our physical body. But he is not limited to physical sickness and disease. He also attacks our minds and emotions. Many of the conditions we consider natural are really supernatural. The person with uncontrollable anger doesn't consider the possibility that a demon of anger is involved. People tormented by fear, depression, or lust fight their conditions in ignorance. Multitudes of Christians fight daily losing battles against forces that don't respond to their prayers, fastings, Bible studies, or other Christian disciplines. Still, they are simply told to "trust God,” "Let go, and let God,” "Keep your eyes on Him,” "Pray more,” "Fast more,” "Go to church more,” "Give more.”

Of course, it's good to trust God and do these other things. But would we tell a person who had just been run over by a car to "Let go, and let God?” Would we tell a person trapped in a burning building to "Go to church more?” Proverbs 25:11 says, "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.”

Often we are like the well-meaning, but ineffective doctor who prescribes a wonderful medicine for the wrong condition. There is nothing wrong with the medicine. It's just that it's inappropriate for this condition. Only a quack would offer a one-medicine-fits-all prescription. In the same way we should not be quick to automatically assume that the victim doesn't pray or fast or give enough. Of course, the person may be deficient in these or other areas. But the key word is may.

The Possibility of Demonic Involvement in Your Affairs

Now among all of the other possibilities that may cause mental or emotional weaknesses, I offer the possibility that demons are well able to cause any condition or behavior that could otherwise be rationally explained. For instance, fear could be simply a natural uncomfortable feeling of uncertainty or apprehension. Or it could be a literal demon of fear. Another example could be the person who is very easily offended and finds it difficult to love or receive love. Maybe her problem is purely psychological. But my experience (and the experience of others with greater

deliverance ministries than mine) convinces me that there is a great possibility that a demon of rejection is involved.

And maybe the arthritis, deafness, or cancer is more than merely a disease or physical condition. Maybe it's a demon of sickness. I know this sounds ridiculous to some people. However, if you want to be brutally honest, we must admit (without the slightest hint of irreverence) that much of the entire Bible is absolutely ridiculous to the natural mind. I will list ten totally ridiculous things that God expects us to believe. If you can believe them, then you should have no difficulty believing what the Bible and experience says about demons. If you do not believe them, you have a far more serious problem than getting rid of a sickness, disease, or demon. Your problem is you are full of unbelief and perhaps even rebellion.

Review the following ridiculous biblical concepts or stories:

1.    Adam and Eve. Is this story not ridiculous to the natural mind? The entire universe created in six days? A man created from the dust, and a woman created from his rib? A tree of knowledge of good and evil? A tree of life? A talking snake? Uh, huh. (Genesis 1 - 3)

2.    Noah and the Flood. Uh, oh. Here's one that makes every Christian look like an idiot. Once upon a time long, long ago the Creator appeared to a man and told him that he was going to send rain upon the earth for forty days and nights. The whole earth would be destroyed by a flood. But he saved the man and his family by instructing him to build a ship. He was further instructed to gather remnants of all the animals in world. The floods came. The sinners were destroyed. But Noah and his family were spared to repopulate the earth. (Genesis 6 - 9)

3.    Moses and Pharoah. Do you really believe that ancient Egypt once enslaved the Hebrews? And that God raised up a Hebrew slave as their deliverer? Do you believe God spoke to Moses through a burning bush that was never consumed? That Moses split the Red Sea with a stick and led millions of people across it? Do you believe that God led these people through the wilderness for forty years? Do you believe God supernaturally provided food and water for so many people for so many years? (Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy)

4.    Joshua. Do you believe Joshua literally made the Earth to slow on its axis so he and his army could successfully conclude a military battle? Think of the magnitude of this miracle. Would God do such a thing for a man? (Joshua 10)

5.    Samson. Do you believe there was literally a man named Samson, whose birth was foretold by the appearance of an angel? Do you believe this man had supernatural physical strength to kill lions with his bare hands? That he could single-handedly kill one thousand of the enemy with only a jawbone of an animal? Do you believe he lost his power when he got a haircut? Happens every day, right? (Judges 13 - 16)

6.    Balaam and the Talking Donkey. There are people locked up in insane asylums for believing that animals can talk. In this story we find a rebellious prophet of God literally having a conversation with a donkey. Had the Bible merely recorded that Balaam spoke to the donkey, we could attribute it to something akin to someone speaking to a pet. That's no big deal; many people do that. But in this story it says the donkey literally spoke to the prophet. Okayyyy. (Numbers 22)

7.    David and Goliath. How many of us grew up on the story of David and Goliath? Little David, the teenager, fights a giant and prevails. How did he do it? With a bow and arrow? A spear or sword? No. He faced a literal giant, with nothing more than a stick and a slingshot. Little David ran towards the armor-protected giant and threw a rock. Wouldn't you know it? The rock met its mark and sank deeply into the giant's forehead. The giant fell down dead and the rest is history. You don't find this hard to believe? (1 Samuel 17)

8.    Elijah and the Chariot of Fire. The prophet Elijah is one of the most fascinating figures in the Bible. He is credited with supernaturally calling fire down from heaven on three occasions. He is purported to have raised the dead, started and stopped famines by his commands, made an ax head to swim, and, finally, to have gone to heaven in a chariot of fire. The Bible also records that years after Elijah's death a dead man was thrown upon the prophet's bones and miraculously came to life. Do you believe this stuff?

9.    Jesus, the Son of God. Here are the greatest and most brain-stretching stories of all time. To save humanity from the fate of eternal damnation for sinning against righteousness, God came to earth to pay the eternal price for our sins. The eternal Word, the Creator of all that is, came to earth as a babe born of a virgin. He lived a sinless life, and at the appointed time He began a public ministry that changed the course of history. He loved the unlovable and cured the incurable. Multitudes were miraculously healed of diseases and demonic torments. He even raised dead people back to life.

One such fellow, Lazarus, is said to have been raised to life after having been dead for four days. It's said that to satisfy the claims of divine justice on our behalf, He offered Himself as the sacrifice for our sins. He did this by allowing Himself to be brutally murdered through the horrible death of public crucifixion. After His death, it is reported that He was placed in a donated tomb. Roman guards were posted around the cave-tomb to prevent His disciples from stealing the body and later claiming that He had risen from the grave, as He had foretold. After three days an angel appeared, and the glory of the angel's appearance caused the keepers of the grave to faint with terror. Something similar also happened to the Roman guards. Lo, and behold, a little while later this same Jesus which had been publicly murdered appears to His disciples! He hangs out with them for several weeks and instructs them of the kingdom of God and their mission.

After forty days, in full view of His disciples, Jesus is said to have floated up to heaven. While gazing upon this wonderful event, two angels are said to have appeared out of nowhere and spoke these words, “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. ”

The Bible is full of incredible stories, but the stories relating to Jesus are the hardest to believe. Do you believe them? (Matthew 27, 28, Mark 15, 16, Luke 23, 24, John 19 - 21, Acts 1)

10.    Judgment Day. This is the scariest story of the entire Bible. It's the story of the final day of judgment of unforgiven sinners. This is spoken of many places in the Bible. But the most graphic depiction is given to us in Revelation 20:11 -15: “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. ”

What kind of story is this? Is this something that we're supposed to actually believe? A literal day of judgment? People judged for their sins and thrown into a literal lake of fire to be tormented forever?

I could very easily fill another one hundred pages of absolutely incredible stories that Christians believe. Honestly, though, maybe we don't believe them. Perhaps we have in a very vague kind of way accepted Christ as Savior without consciously understanding the full implication of such an action. Do we understand that to accept Christ is to accept the Bible? Do we understand that to accept the Bible as the word of God is to profess to the world that we believe in the reality of angels and demons? But the question must be asked: Do we really believe in this stuff?

Although this is the inevitable conclusion of our profession, I know that many Christians (sometimes it seems like almost all of them) don't consciously believe all of the Bible. Most Christians don't think about the miraculous, except when it is kept at a safe distance. Perhaps in a Sunday school lesson, or as part of a sermon that treats the wild Bible story as history rather than as an example to inspire us to believe for similar miracles.

How much of the Bible do you really believe? Do you believe in the Bible's account of Jesus and angels? Well, do you believe in the Bible's account of Satan and demons? How can you believe in Jesus and angels and not believe in Satan and demons? The same Bible that teaches us of God's activities, teaches us of Satan's activities. If there is no devil, there is no Jesus. If demons are nonexistent, then so are angels. From Genesis to Revelation we are taught that there is a literal devil. Will we now use our eraser of unbelief to rid ourselves of the embarrassing biblical doctrine of demonology?

Whether we like it or not, Satan is real. He is as involved in our lives as is the Holy Spirit. To some this will sound like blasphemy. To others it will sound like finally!. For too long the church has treated the subject of demons as a hands-off subject. The world is filled with preachers, some with international ministries, who have absolutely no idea how to deal with demons, except to ignore them. Sadly, though, those in our pews who suffer through our powerless sermons and services can't ignore the pain and tragedies inflicted upon them by demons.

What right do we have to deny through our unbelief the power of deliverance ministry to God's suffering children? What right do we have to present to the world a Jesus that has stopped healing the sick and casting out demons? What right do we have to convince saints struggling with demon powers, and being victimized and humiliated by them in secret sin failures, that their failures are due to insufficient prayer, fasting, or resolve? When it is so apparent from scripture and experience that many of God's precious saints suffer these moral defeats and physical sicknesses because of the demons we say don't exist, it's imperative that we repent of our unbelief and do things God's way.

If Jesus Christ was persecuted by Satan from birth—King Herod massacred all babies two-years old and under in a vain attempt to kill Jesus— to death, who are we to think that Satan will leave us alone? In light of Jesus' own struggles with Satan, is it not wrong to assume that we will have similar struggles with Satan? Seeing how Jesus dealt with demon powers, how should we deal with them? When Satan approached Jesus, He commanded Satan to leave. When Satan approaches us, why do we do everything except command him to leave? When Jesus saw the lady bowed over with the crippling disease (Luke 13:10-16), He didn't ignore her or try to convince her that it was God's will for her to be crippled. He healed her of the demon.

What would have happened had that same woman entered our typical church service? Since her crippling disease prevented her from sitting, she would have to stand to the side. Many Christians' hearts would be touched at such a pathetic sight. But the church program would be adhered to without deviation. There would be a worship service, an offering, administrative announcements, a sermon, maybe an altar call, and dismissal. The crippled woman would turn around and hobble out the door. And the church would think, “Oh, that poor woman!”

But is that to be the response of the church? Of course not. Yet in an atmosphere of ignorance and extreme unbelief, there can be no other response. Certainly a pastor and church that doesn't believe in demons aren't going to cast out the demon of sickness. So what do we do? We ignore the problem or declare the problem to be the will of God. The biblical approach is to consider the possibility that a demon may be involved and act appropriately. This means cast it out or have it cast out!

The Man with the Spirit of Lust

I once gave a short exhortation at a church in Stone Mountain, Georgia. At the end of the mini-sermon, just before the church fellowship meal, an elderly guy approached me and asked me to pray for him.

"What do you want me to pray for?”

He stammered for a while in guilt and said, "I'm called to the ministry as an evangelist. But I can't go.”

"Why can't you go?”

Tears came to his eyes. "I can't go because I’m bound by lust. I’ve been prayed for before, but nothing happened. I don't know what to do; I've tried everything.”

I looked at him and smiled. "You're going to be set free today.”

A look of surprise came to his face. "Really? Today?”

"Yes. Give me your hand.” I calmly, but firmly said, "In Jesus' name, spirit of lust come out of him.” I commanded like this for a few minutes and asked him, "Is anything happening? Do you hear or feel anything?”

This time he appeared frightened that this was going to be another of those times he went for prayer and nothing happened. "No, no.” His voice was shaky with desperation.

I smiled and gave a little chuckle. "Don't worry. You're going to be set free today. Sometimes it takes a little persistence. Let's pray again.”

He closed his eyes. By this time Pastor Chris had come and stood by. I put my mouth close to the troubled man's ear. "Out! in the name of Jesus.”

"It's gone! It's gone! I felt it leave!” The man broke out in exuberant praise and tears. "I'm free! Thank you. thank you. I'm free..”

This story could have had a far different ending had I not believed in what the Bible says about demons. I could have taken the path of least resistance and told the man what thousands of preachers would have told him. I could have told him to pray more, to fast more, or to really cry out to God. I could have told him to memorize certain Bible scriptures. I could have told him to “Just keep trusting God,” or “Let go and let God.” I could have asked him what many Christians would have asked him: “Are you really saved?”

But, really now, how many sinners do you know who are in church, in tears, asking for prayer to be set free from lust so they can preach the gospel? Sounds like any sinners you know? Neither was this man a sinner (in the traditional sense). He was simply a child of God who loved the Lord with his whole heart, and had never learned how to be set free from this terrible demon of lust.

There are multitudes of dear saints, preachers included, who are totally bound by demon power. They are trapped by sin; yet they are ignorant of demon power. They feel guilty for being enslaved by a sin they despise. They fear they will be rejected by the church should their problem ever become known. So they suffer in silence and put on their best religious faces. Yet all the while they are tormented inside.

This is why we must not be led by outward appearances. Just because a person appears to have everything together does not mean he or she has everything together. Literal suicide may be only days or moments away.

In light of this I urge you to consider that if you have a sin, a mental problem, a condition, or a sickness that doesn't respond to prayer, fasting, and the sort, you should consider the possibility that Satan has directly attacked you (remember Job). If the idea of you having a demon is repulsive, I solemnly warn you to humble yourself. What makes you think you are any different from the rest of us?

If you submit yourself to God for His deliverance in His way, you will be delivered. Conversely, if you let pride or fear talk you out of accepting all that God has for you, you will probably never be set free. Choose this day what you will have: Life or death, health or sickness, peace or torment.

Chapter 4

Who Can Have A Demon?

The subject of who can have a demon is probably the most controversial topic of demonology. It needn't be; the scriptures are very clear. Anyone can have a demon. Sinners can have demons on account of their functional ownership by Satan. I say functional ownership to be exact and precise in my definition.

Although Satan is lord and father to those who have not genuinely repented of their sins, and have submitted to the lordship of Jesus Christ, he does not literally own them. Even in their sinful condition, sinners are ultimately responsible to God. He owns heaven, earth, and hell, and all the inhabitants thereof. Satan's ownership of sinners is limited to the context of God's sovereignty. His rulership is limited to acting within the framework of God's plan for humanity. God ultimately has total control over life and death and everything in-between.

However, he allows humanity to choose life or death, blessing or cursing. These decisions determine to a great extent Satan's boundaries. If people, families, churches, companies, cities, states, or nations choose life and blessing, Satan's actions are tremendously limited. If they choose death and cursing, Satan is given god-like powers over them.

A scripture that concisely says this is Romans 6:16: “Knowye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are, to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” That word servant literally means slave. The person who chooses wrongly becomes Satan's slave. Since the great majority of people choose death and cursing rather than life and blessing, the Bible calls Satan:

•    The prince of this world. (John 16:11)

•    The god of this world. (2 Corinthians 4:4)

•    The prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. (Ephesians 2:2)

•    That old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world. (Revelation 12:9)

Those who choose sin over righteousness automatically choose Satan as their lord and god. Many sinners would be shocked and offended by this statement. But it's true nonetheless. It's a very basic doctrine of the Bible that there are only two spiritual families in existence. There is God's family and Satan's family. One can belong to only one at a time. To choose one is to reject the other.

Jesus was most emphatic when He said, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other.”(Matthew 6:24) He also said, “He that is not with me, is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth.” (Luke 12:23)

The apostle John was even more blunt. He said, “In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.” (1 John 3:10)

There we have it, plain and simple. There's nothing to figure out. Children of God do what is right, and love people. Satan's children are identified by their lifestyle of disobedience to God, and lack of love (unless it benefits them).

Satan controls those who don't live for Christ. Virtually everything they do is in direct support of Satan's kingdom. Sinners live solely for themselves and their interests. Even the good they do is based upon their desires (unless influenced by God). As Romans 3:14-18 states so descriptively:

"Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed innocent blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace they have not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Sinners do not see themselves as God sees them. They see themselves as basically good people, especially if they are moral or religious. They may even see themselves as God-fearing or as Christians. But God sees them as they truly are. He sees them as totally depraved and utterly wicked. He sees them as murderous rebels totally absorbed in themselves; as people who lie when it's convenient; as people who hate when done wrongly (or rightly); as people who willingly destroy their bodies through drugs and alcohol; as people who commit adultery; as people who commit whatever sexual sin their bodies crave; as people who steal; as people who speak evil of those who do right; as people who serve false gods; as people who deliberately hurt others; as people who love pleasures more than God; as people who dishonor their parents; as people who kill their babies through abortion; as manipulators of the gullible; as exploiters of the weak and poor; as people with filthy mouths; as people who despise authority; as people who justify the ungodly; as people who are ungrateful; as people who are full of pride; as people who break agreements; as people who are selfish.

It's unrealistic to suppose that sinners, whom the scriptures refer to as “children of the devil” can be anything other than influenced, controlled, or full of demons. How can one live totally for the devil, and have one's mind filled with his thoughts, and have one's actions controlled by him, and not be filled with demons? I know of no possible way to be a slave of Satan and not be simultaneously demonized. Sinners are demonized to one extent or another due to their service and allegiance to Satan.

Ephesians 2:1-2 supports this observation: “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins. Wherein in time past ye walked according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit [Satan] that now worketh in the children of disobedience. ”

Demons and Christians

Generally Christians have no problem believing sinners can be invaded by demons. Controversy only arises when one says that Christians can have demons. Nothing can start a holy war quicker than perhaps the subject of tongues or women preachers. Many have declared themselves experts on a subject they have very little, if any, actual hands-on experience or even exposure. Of course, I firmly believe that Christians can have demons.

Yet I must admit that I did not always believe this. Even though I had been invaded by a spirit of pain after salvation, and subsequently was delivered when Minister Edley cast the demon out, I managed to not think about the theological implications of that episode. I happily accepted the freedom of being delivered from that demon of sickness, but I even more happily refused to think any further on it, lest I be forced to a reluctant conclusion. Two incidences (besides my own post-salvation deliverance) pushed me closer to the truth.

The Case of the Church Girl with the Secret Love Life

The first one occurred very early after I became a Christian. I assisted in a deliverance of a woman in the church I attended. It all began when on a Sunday morning, Emily arose to give her testimony. Part of her testimony was that sometime during the week she had passed out in the restroom at home. The moment she spoke, the Spirit of God said to me, “Son, the devil tried to kill her.” I looked at her and wondered what I should do. I was soon to find out.

While several members prayed at the altar, she began to pray in tongues. However, there was something about her tongues that wasn't right. Soon a demon manifested. She thrashed about while we all went hoarse commanding the demon to come out. This went on for hours. I have to admit that the demon whipped our butts. It was ridiculous.

Several of us men tussled with the little woman and tried unsuccessfully to hold her down. I had an arm. Another brother had an arm. Other guys held her legs. Each of us strained with all our might as she lifted us all. (I don't put up with that kind of foolishness any more. Now I rely on the authority of the Word of God, and upon His wisdom to control demons. My philosophy is if I have to physically wrestle with someone to get a demon out, either I'm not anointed to deal with this demon, or there is a legal right for the demon to be there. In this case, it is more profitable to speak to the person rather than the demon.)

The spirit inside was a spirit of lust. When we commanded the demon to tell us how he gained entry, he said in a very high pitch voice, “I made her fall in love with me.” We knew this to be true because God had supernaturally revealed this sister's sin to us in a previous prayer meeting. Some brothers and I had been praying for a while, when Brother Williams began to prophesy.

In the prophecy, my friend, Melvin, was directed to immediately go to Emily's home. We were surprised to say the least. He did as was told and walked up on a sin in progress. According to Melvin, Emily opened the door and was shocked to see him. Her hair was messed up, and she stood naked behind the door. A love song played in the background. And her not-too-filled-with-the-Spirit guy was anxious to get his ministry on.

Melvin was shocked. He had wanted to marry this woman. He had no idea that she was sinning like this. We were all in the choir and spent a lot of time together. There was absolutely nothing in her demeanor to let us know of her activities. She was like Ananias and Sapphira. Who would have guessed?

Yet in retrospect I can say that there were clues that something was wrong with her spiritual life. Like many Christian sisters, she was young and single. And like many Christian sisters, she spent a good deal of her time talking about her desire for a man. Of course, there is nothing wrong with desiring a mate. But I recall trying to politely get her to see that she was becoming obsessed with her desire. She had allowed a good desire to turn into idolatry. When does a good desire turn into idolatry? When it gets between you and God, even in the slightest way.

Many Christian women struggle with the same obsession. The older they get, the stronger their desire to marry. Some signs that a Christian woman may have crossed the razor thin line from a healthy desire to marry to a idolatrous desire to marry are listed in the following bullets:

•    The woman speaks incessantly of her desire.

•    The woman continually fantasizes of meeting or being with a man.

•    The woman claims a specific man as her future husband. Usually this is disaster.

•    The woman lowers her (reasonable, godly) standards in her quest for a spouse.

•    The woman refers to Christ as her literal lover. Any spirit that physically satisfies a person's sexual needs is not God; it's Satan.

In reference to the last bullet statement, God's ways of dealing with your sexual needs are through marriage or self-control. It's not through masturbation or sexual contact with demons. If a Christian woman seeks to satisfy her sexual needs through masturbation or mystical lovers, she will come under terrible demonic bondage. In the case of having sexual contact with demons, if she should allow this, she will definitely (sooner or later—more sooner than later) experience tormenting and humiliating demonic rapes.

The question is not whether a Christian woman who falls into sexual sin can become demonized. The question really is can anyone, male or female, save or unsaved, commit sexual sin and not become demonized?

Who would tell a Christian guilty of idolatry, “Don’t worry—this cant lead to demonization?”

And who would tell a Christian guilty of sexual sin, “Don’t worry—this cant lead to a sexually transmitted disease? Only unsaved people get those nasty diseases. God protects His people. ”

Do we really believe that Christians are protected from the devil when we sin against God? In the example above, Emily certainly wasn't protected. And neither was my theology concerning Christians getting demons.

The Case of the Pretty British Lady with Three Demons

This other episode occurred at a small home group meeting in Lincolnshire, England. I had gone there with my friend and mentor, Missionary Ginger Powers. She had very frequently cast devils out of Christians. I thought this was ridiculous and unscriptural.

Of course, she had been around the world preaching the gospel more times than I had brushed my teeth. She had also seen more miracles and deliverances than I had ever seen, but that was beside the point. I knew that Christians couldn't have demons. I just knew it.

Well, wouldn't you know it? At the little meeting where the great Eric Hill had just spoken, Missionary Powers called me over. "Brother, come here and help me cast the devil out of this lady?”

Oh, no. I thought. Here we go again. I looked at the lady. She was a pretty British lady. She had a pretty British accent. She wore pretty little clothes. This lady doesn’t have a devil. I thought, There’s no way this lady can have a devil. I would know whether she had a demon or not. Didn’t I just give a great little Holy Ghost message?

"Okay,” I answered, with embarrassment.

The woman was lying on a sofa.

Missionary Powers began her usual look-at-me, what-is-your-name-demon? routine. And as usual, I smugly sat there barely able to hide my total disgust with this ridiculous little circus.

"What is your name? Who are you? Come out!” Missionary Powers was riding her own wave now. She knew she was on to something. I wondered whether she was on something. I felt like an absolute fool. Whoever heard of Christians having demons? Hhugghhh!!

"Faaanntasy,” the demon answered.

"Who else?” Missionary Powers demanded.

By this time I was like, Good grief. She found another one. How does she do this? I thought this pretty little lady, with the pretty little accent, wearing the pretty little clothes, was a Christian. Bottom line is there were demons in that woman—that Christian woman. There were at least three; all relating to sex.

Of course, the easiest way to dismiss this is to question the lady's salvation experience. But I must remember that a demon of sickness was cast out of me after I was already a Christian. Will I question my own salvation? Having cast demons out of many Christians over the past ten years,

I am totally convinced that genuine Christians can and do have demons. Either this is true or I have no idea what is a Christian. It must not have anything to do with Jesus Christ, grace, repentance, faith, or forgiveness.

Objections to the Belief that Christians Can Have Demons

Generally, the church isn't very knowledgeable of demonology. Most churches have absolutely no idea about this critical subject. This is not to be mean. I'm merely stating the obvious. Much of the misinformation concerning Christians and demons is the result of preachers with no understanding of demonology teaching and making presumptuous statements on the subject. It is a disservice to teach from a position of ignorance, fear, or bias. This, however, is what we have witnessed. Christians are told that Satan can't touch them because—

The preacher then goes on to unskilfully use the Bible and faulty logic to convince Christians that the only people who can have demons are sinners. I will address the more common reasons Christians are said to be immune to demons.

Myth 1 . Christians can't have demons because the Holy Spirit and Satan can't inhabit the same place at the same time. The Holy Spirit can't live in an unclean vessel.

Truth. How can the Holy Spirit and a demon live in the same place? How can the Holy Spirit live in an unclean vessel? This is easy to answer.

First, the Holy Spirit is everywhere. As Psalms 139:7, 8 says, Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, thou art there.” If Satan could not exist in the same place as the Holy Spirit, he would have to cease to exist, since the Holy Spirit is everywhere.

Second, we see two graphic examples of Satan and Jesus being in the same place at the same time. In Job 1:6-12, we see Job and God in the same place. And in Matthew 4:1-11, we see Satan and Jesus both in the wilderness.

Third, our spirit has been saved, but our flesh has not. The blood of Christ has purchased it, but it is obvious that it has not yet been perfected. As the scriptures state, there is an appointed day when “this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” However, that glorious day has not yet come. Until it gets here, we are stuck with a body that must be crucified, and a mind that must be renewed. This continuous purifying action on our part (with the help of the Holy Spirit) is because our mind and body is sinful.

As to whether or not the Holy Spirit can live in an unclean vessel, if He can't, then he lives neither in you nor me. The blood of Jesus doesn't prevent us from sinning. Nor does it keep us from getting spiritually dirty. It only cleanses us once we have confessed our sins and have asked forgiveness. That we yet get spiritually dirty is clearly seen in 2 Corinthians 7:1: “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”

In light of this scripture, do you believe God leaves you every time you commit a sin? If so, how do you come back to Him? Is it by your own power?

Fortunately, God takes great pleasure in inhabiting weak, imperfect, fragile, and even sinful vessels (this is not to be confused with Him taking pleasure in the sin of the vessel; He does not). If He did not, no one would ever be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Myth 2. Only bad people get demons.

Truth. Bad people do get demons. But good people also get demons. We must be careful to not fall into the simplistic trap of saying bad things only happen to bad people. Are good people ever raped or murdered? Do good people get cancer? Do good people have terrible accidents?

When Pilate murdered some Galilaeans, and mingled their blood with the sacrifice, and when a tower fell upon eighteen people in the city of Siloam, and killed them, Jesus didn't say, "You see! That's what happens to you when you're wicked!”

Instead He said, “Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered these things? I tell you, Nay: but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. ” (Luke 13:1-5)

Myth 3. There's no need to cast demons out of Christians. They leave automatically when we are saved.

Truth. Try as you may, but you can't find any scripture that says this. I will concede that some demons do apparently leave automatically upon salvation. However, if a sinner has a demon of sickness that is causing cancer, arthritis, blindness, deafness, or whatever, are we saying that when that person gets saved, the demon of sickness will automatically leave?

This certainly has not been the experience of the church. The exception to this statement is that this does often occur when healing ministers preach a dual salvation-healing gospel. Jesus Christ does then verify His word with salvations and healings. However, since the vast majority of preachers preach a salvation-only gospel, Jesus normally saves the sinner's spirit, and leaves his physical body alone. ‘Ye have not because ye ask not.”(James 4:2)

Myth 4. The ministry of casting out demons ceased when the last apostle died.

Truth. This objection is extremely weak. Of course, the implication is if casting out demons ceased when the last apostle died, then the entire present day ministry of casting out demons is fatally discredited. Yet we will see that casting out demons was never limited to the apostles.

I.

"After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come. Therefore he said unto them...heal the sick that are therein...And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.” (Luke 10:1, 2, 9, 17)

Here is an example of seventy no-name disciples being appointed by Jesus to go preach. As usual God equipped his preachers with authority and power to prove their message to rational minds, just as He does today. What authority and power was this? It was authority and power over sicknesses, diseases, and demons. Did it work for these non-apostles? Yes. So much so that Jesus had to deflate their euphoric victory with an emphasis on the foundation of salvation. “Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.”(Luke 10:20) But let this point not be lost: He did say that the demons were subject unto these non-apostles.

II.

"And John [an apostle] answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us. But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is on our part.” (Mark 9:38-40)

It appears that some unknown disciple, who was nowhere near the inner circle of big shots, started casting out demons. He didn't ask anyone's permission; he just did it. Apparently he had some success, because the apostles—jealous that some unapproved nobody was muscling in on their turf—shut down his ministry. Jesus corrected the apostles, and told them to get out of this unknown miracle-worker's business.

III.

"Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed.” (Acts 8:5-7)

Philip had been a deacon in the Jerusalem church. Now he was an evangelist. Nowhere does it say he was an apostle. Despite this, he went down to Samaria and preached up a Holy Ghost storm! Demons were dramatically cast out, and many people were healed of palsies and crippling diseases. All of this from a guy who was not an apostle.

Casting Demons Out of Sinners

The simple fact that this discussion is even necessary shows just how far the church has fallen away from God. If Christians can't have demons, then naturally they can't have demons cast out of them. Well, that only leaves sinners. By default they would be the only people eligible to be freed from demons. And, yet, they are the very group of people who are absolutely not qualified to receive deliverance from demons.

Opponents of deliverance ministry are unaware of this fact. Christians, however, with experience in casting out demons know that deliverance from evil spirits is not an indiscriminant ministry. One is as limited in offering deliverance from demons as one would be offering deliverance from sin. Can one offer deliverance from sin without requiring submission to the Savior, Jesus Christ? Neither can one offer (permanent) deliverance from demons without requiring submission to the Deliverer, Jesus Christ.

However, even though deliverance from sin and demons require submission to Jesus Christ, there is a unique aspect of deliverance from demons that must be discussed.

Salvation can only be received by consciously repenting of one's sinful life, and fully embracing Jesus Christ as God and Savior. The scriptures are very plain on this point: “Repent ye, and believe the gospel,”(Mark 1:15) However, with deliverance one can be temporarily (very temporarily) freed of some demons without submitting to Jesus Christ.

The reason is salvation is the product of the sinner's repentance and embracing of Jesus Christ as God and Savior. Deliverance from demons is the product of a Christian commanding the demon to leave its victim. The difference is obvious. Christians do not have authority to command sin to leave its victim. Sin is not a person; it's an act and condition. It can neither go nor come, in a literally sense. Its arrival or departure is more precisely the mental or physical submission or resistance to a sinful temptation. Demons, however, though spirits, are actual beings. They literally come and go. So they can be made to leave a person. But what person can they be made to leave?

According to the opponents of deliverance ministry, demons can only be made to leave the ungodly. If this is so, by what authority and on what basis would one cast a demon out of a servant of Satan? How can one forcibly separate a servant of sin from his master of sin?

Even if a zealous Christian tore into a sinner's demonic stronghold with persistent commands of faith, and successfully evicted the demon, how long would it be before the demon returned? Literally, the demon could return only seconds after he is made to leave. Although the time span is not discussed in the eviction and return of this demon, Luke 11:24-26 vividly describes this all too common event.

"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 to 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 before.”

Christians also are approached by evicted demons seeking reentry. However, they have only to resist them in faith and they will leave. This is true even if the demons are determined. Sinners, though, have absolutely no legal right to make him leave them alone. Authority over Satan is exercised exclusively through the name of Jesus. The use of that name is reserved solely for Christians. Sinners who try to use the name of Jesus against Satan will suffer terribly. The only exception I can think of is if God, in His great mercy, answers a sinner's prayer for deliverance as a means of drawing that sinner to repentance. After all, the scripture does say, “Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance,” (Romans 2:4) If God chooses to make an exception to His own rule, that's His business. Yet it would be dangerously presumptuous for the defiant sinner to think an exception is the rule.

The story is told in the book of Acts of seven unsaved guys, who apparently had witnessed or heard of Paul casting out demons, and diseases subsequently being healed. They figured they would copy Paul's formula and make a bundle of money. People then, like now, were willing to pay for relief. Let's see what happened.

"Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye? And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.” (Acts 19: 13-17)

Obviously they found out the hard way that not everyone has use of the name of Jesus. Notice how the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. That means folks thought twice before using that precious name. As a general rule sinners can only use that special name to secure salvation. And as a general rule, Christians are powerless to use the name of Jesus to evict demons from people who reject our Lord.

Back in 1992, when I first started to aggressively cast out demons, I was willing to pray for just about anyone who had a demon. I quickly (not quickly enough!) found out that demons will laugh hysterically at the Christian who foolishly wastes precious time trying to evict demons from a rebellious sinner (or a rebellious Christian!).

Some friends and I placed an ad in the paper advertising our willingness to cast out demons. We received a call from a lady who desired our assistance in setting her sister free from insane demons. In our eagerness we went to their home and proceeded to cast out the demons.

Unfortunately, the demons cast us out. It happened like this. We took turns commanding Satan to leave, but nothing happened. Oh, we were able to rile up some demons. But the evil spirits thought it was a good show. In fact, one of the demons said, "We'll be here for the Super Bowl.” Super Bowl Sunday was the next day. Naturally we responded full of faith and defiantly told Satan that he would leave way before the Super Bowl. Who did he think he was dealing with—chumps? But after a few hours of getting absolutely nowhere, we admitted that we were in trouble. Why wouldn’t these devils obey us?

Finally, it was discovered that the woman was guilty of several abortions. That was it! That was the legal right Satan had to be there. All we had to do was show the woman the error of her way, and she would repent in sackcloth and ashes, right? Wrong!

She stubbornly refused to admit that her abortions were actually murders of innocent babies. When we explained to her sisters and mother that all she had to do was confess her abortions as sins of murder, we were shocked by the response. All of the women had had abortions, and none of them saw anything wrong with it! It was at this point that we saw the light. We had been wasting our time trying to deliver this lady from demons. The demons were not the problem; she was. We would have had better success casting pork out of a pig than setting that lady free.

We had no legal right to deliver her because she did not want the Deliverer, Jesus Christ. She was not willing to confess and forsake her sin. This disqualified her from deliverance ministry. And all who share her stubborn rebellion and pride are also disqualified from deliverance ministry.

To whom, then, does the powerful ministry of deliverance belong? It does not and cannot belong to the children of Satan. They are disqualified through their rejection of Jesus Christ and love of sin. That leaves the only other group that exists—the children of God.

Deliverance does not belong to the devil's crowd. It belongs to us. It is the children's bread.

Deliverance is the Children’s Bread

It's very odd indeed to say that only the ungodly can have demons cast out of them. What purpose would be served by casting demons out of haters of God? To alleviate the sufferings of the wicked through deliverance (if we could do such a thing) would be like spraying cologne on a person who hasn't bathed in weeks. No amount of cologne can remove the stench of physical filth. Likewise, no amount of deliverance prayer can remove the stench of spiritual filth. The sweet fragrance of deliverance from demons works only where the soap and water of repentance has done its thorough work of cleansing. Jesus did not come to spray cologne on stinking sinners. He came to wash them from the filth of sin.

Therefore, repentance from sin (if there is a sin connection) should always precede deliverance from demons. Having said this, who is better positioned to receive deliverance from demons? Is it the Children of God or children of Satan? Obviously not. Again, deliverance is the children's bread.

A desperate woman approached Jesus one day and begged Him to help her. Her daughter was at home tormented by a demon. Perhaps it was epilepsy or insanity or some other dreadful disease or mental condition.

"And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. But he an answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.” (Matthew 15:22-28)

Later we will discuss this passage more fully in the context of persistent faith in deliverance and healing. But for now we will focus on two statements Jesus made regarding His ministry of casting out demons. In reply to this woman's desperate plea for help, Jesus said that He was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and that deliverance from demons (which was the topic) was the children's bread.

In the eyes of the Jewish nation, Israel, the world was strictly divided up as Jew and Gentile. Jews were worshippers of the one true God, and everyone else were worshippers of false gods. In the limited mindset of Israel, she and she alone had the favor of God. Had she not been delivered from heathen Egypt with a mighty outstretched arm, by great miracles and demonstrations of God's awesome power? Did she not alone have the scriptures? Was not the coming messiah to be Jewish? Was not God's moral standard uniquely manifested through Israel?

When Jesus said that He was not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel, He was in effect saying that He was sent first to those who were supposedly His own. And when He told the woman that deliverance from demons was the children’s bread, He was saying that it would be inappropriate for God to first offer to sinners what He had not already given to His own children. But He was also stating matter-of-factly that His children needed deliverance from demons.

Now, how was it that Israel, land of the Ten Commandments, needed deliverance from demons?

Satan Shows Up at the Oddest of Places

Where do demons hang out? Crack houses? Whore houses? Prisons? Strip joints? General places of ill repute and moral filth? There are no doubt armies of evil spirits hanging around areas such as these. However, much to the surprise of many, demons are not limited to places popularly accepted as bad places. Nor are they limited to hanging around countries and cultures known for superstition. Demons are wherever there are people. The Bible consistently shows Satan's presence and activity wherever there are servants of God. The following brief summary of Satan's activity and presence among God's servants is not comprehensive. However, it is enough to establish the fact that we should not be surprised that demons are even among the most holy of people, and among the most religious of services. Satan shows up at the oddest of places. (Or should we consider it odd that he shows up?)

•    Heaven. We all know how Satan was kicked out of heaven. But have you ever considered how odd it appears that Satan was ever in heaven? Had a poll been taken of the angels, and the question was asked, "Can evil exist in a place like this?” They all, no doubt, would have answered “No.” (Isaiah 14:12-15; Ezekiel 28:12-19)

•    The Garden of Eden. Here's another odd place for Satan to hang around. Eden was paradise on earth. It was the home of Adam and Eve. There was nothing evil there. No crack houses, whore houses, prisons, or strip joints. There was no superstition or mystical cultures. Yet Satan pops up as though he belongs there. What could have possibly attracted him to a place such as paradise? (Genesis 3)

•    A Meeting Between God and the Sons of God. The reference to "sons” of God is not to be confused with the unique title of Jesus Christ as the Son of God. (1 John 4:9) Anyway, there was a day when God called a meeting with—I believe—the angels. Oddly enough Satan shows up as though he belongs there. Why did he want to attend? And why did God allow such an evil being access to this religious service? (Job 1)

•    Joshua, the High Priest; and Satan. The prophet, Zechariah, was allowed to see into the spirit realm. In this vision he saw the Lord's high priest standing before the angel of the Lord. Alarmingly, at the priest's right hand was Satan to resist him. The priest apparently was in prayer or performing some religious service when Satan appeared. Is nothing sacred? Neither the presence of the angel of the Lord, or of the Lord Himself, or the office of the high priest was enough to prevent access to Satan. (For God's own purposes, He allows Satan access to places we assume are off limits to him.) (Zechariah 3:1-2)

•    Jesus and Satan in the Wilderness. Just prior to Jesus' public ministry, He was sent by the Holy Ghost to the wilderness to pray and fast for forty days. While there Satan appeared to him with various temptations. We have accepted this account without understanding a key element of the confrontation. Satan went to Jesus. So even Jesus, the Son of God, was not off limits to Satan! (Matthew 4)

If Satan was granted access to heaven and the garden of Eden, both perfect places with no sin and corruption, on what basis do we assume he is automatically excluded from our activities? If he was allowed by God to show up at a meeting between the Almighty and his angels, which of our religious meetings can he not attend? If Satan can intrude upon a holy service being conducted by an angel of the Lord for the benefit of the high priest, on what premise do we trust that our little religious fence is too high for him to climb? If even our blessed Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, could be approached by Satan, who are we to think we are automatically off limits to the evil one? There is no such thing as automatic immunity from demons.

You may notice that none of those examples show demons living inside of Christians. That's right. None of the examples do. But then that wasn't the purpose of sharing those examples. The purpose of those examples is to show you that Satan shows up at places where our theology may forbid him. If we can honestly admit that Satan is allowed by God to coexist in His presence, then maybe we can find the courage to admit that if there is an opening, demons are allowed access to a Christian's body and mind. If this is not so, how can deliverance from demons be the children's bread?

Satan Goes to Church

We have already proven that Satan goes to perfect places and religious meetings. We have also proven that he can coexist in God's presence. Now we will look at the apparent oddity that much of Jesus' ministry of casting out demons was done in the synagogue. (From this point on I will refer to the synagogue as church.) This is not an oddity to me. For I understand the dynamics of spiritual warfare among the saints. Yet for some it is extremely unnerving to accept the fact that demons feel quite at home in most of our church services. This reluctance comes from the illusion that demons dwell only in extremely wicked people or in superstitious lands.

As long as we believe this masterful lie of Satan, he will continue to destroy God's precious people. People will continue to come to church to hear about a Jesus who healed the sick and the suffering in the first century, but for some convoluted reason no longer does such things. They'll continue to sit on the pews with their diseases and depressions and suicidal thoughts only to be offered empty religious rhetoric. How sad that Satan attends our services even when God does not!

Until Jesus came on the scene, Israel had church pretty much the way we do. Battered, bruised, and broken people entered the building wearing church smiles. They exchanged greetings and small talk to one another and sat down. The preacher talked about what God did a long time ago and what He was going to do in the future. Mercilessly absent was what He could do for the congregation that day. However, Israel's tradition of an irrelevant religion with an unreachable God was about to be interrupted by a storm of compassion. The invisible clouds of God's mercy hovered over the meeting.

A new young preacher came to the pulpit. He opened his mouth and spoke the same scriptures that the people had heard preached all their lives. But there was something electrifyingly different about the way in which this man spoke. He didn't speak of God as a historical figure. Neither did he present Him as an unreachable entity to be served from a distance.

He spoke of God as one would speak of a dear friend. His authority and confidence was refreshingly new. A rising tide of unexplainable expectancy filled the tired souls of many who were awed by the young preacher's talk of his friend, God. Suddenly in the spirit there was a clap of thunder, and a lightning bolt of God's love and power struck a man sitting in the front. Here's what happened that day:

"And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes. And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God? And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him. And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him. And immediately his fame spread abroad throughout all the region round about Galilee.” (Mark 1:22-28)

You better believe His fame spread abroad! The narrative is clear that these church people were not used to God actually doing anything among them. It was like the Almighty had stepped off of the pages of the holy scroll. The Capernaum community was ablaze with this startling miracle.

I once had something similar to occur in a church meeting, although not nearly as dramatic. During my message, my attention was drawn to my left. I looked at the people and began to strongly rebuke the spirit of fear. "Spirit of fear, in Jesus' name, come out! Come out! Come out!” A black lady with a wild hat jumped up and screamed: "You set me free! You set me free! Thank you, Jesus!” she said, over and over, while she glorified God with the dance. The people marveled at God's mighty power.

Concerning the miracle of deliverance that Jesus performed on the man in Mark 1, many would conclude that the man must have been especially bad. However, as Dr. Edward Murphy so insightfully offers in his book, The Handbook for Spiritual Warfare, this was probably a believer.

He says, "All of a sudden the demonized man was filled with fear. He could not continue looking at the eyes of Jesus. Jesus' eyes burned him. They seemed to glow with the white heat of God's holiness, making the man feel uncomfortable. What is happening to me?’ he thought. ‘I feel deep anger within me towards this Jesus. I don’t want to listen any more. His words are upsetting me. I feel anger, rage, fear, almost terror within me. Something inside of me is rising up in protest against Jesus and is taking over. I cant resist any longer. What is wrong with me?”

My experience in dealing with the demonized is that Dr. Murphy's estimate is probably correct. The lady in my meeting (the one with the wild hat) who was set free from a demon of fear probably was a Christian. That's probably why she was in church, and that's probably why when she was set free, she jumped up and screamed, "Thank you, Jesus!” Generally speaking, haters of God don't jump up and down unashamedly in church with tears in their eyes and scream "Thank you, Jesus!”

I don't recall speaking with that woman after the service. But her experience may have been similar to others whom I've ministered to. She probably felt a tangible force leave her body when I commanded the spirit of fear to leave.

The man in Jesus' service probably felt the sensations spoken of by Dr. Murphy: fear, anger, discomfort. What would have brought that on? In my case, I commanded the demon to leave. So it would have been understandable for the woman to feel a sensation. Since she had a spirit of fear, she probably felt a sudden gripping, terrifying fear. But since it all happened so quickly, the demon in her departed without a long manifestation.

In the case of Jesus, however, the demon in the man had time to sit and stew in the sauces of the Holy Spirit. Finally, the heat got too hot. He had to reveal his presence.

Forced Demonic Manifestations

Demons manifest for various reasons. The primary reason is it gives them pleasure. They also are able to more effectively further Satan's dark plans by manifesting themselves. Now when I say "manifest” themselves, I don't necessarily mean throwing a fit and bringing attention to themselves by rolling around on the ground and throwing up all over the place. That is a type of demonic manifestation. But that is the weakest type of demonic manifestation.

When Satan throws this kind of tantrum in the presence of a Christian experienced in deliverance ministry, it normally means the demon is on the way out. That's one reason why I am not afraid of these types of manifestations. Satan hopes that I will be intimidated by his huffing and puffing. But I know that when this is done in my presence, it is a sign of demonic weakness. I do not say this to glorify myself; I am nothing. This is simply the way these things work. Whenever the demon's presence is exposed, he is weakened.

The strongest type of demonic manifestation is the one that appears as natural, human behavior. Think of it this way: Who is more dangerous, the psychopathic killer who wears a red suit and announces to the world that he is a murderer, and that he'll be in your neighborhood tonight around nine o'clock? Or the psychopathic killer who looks and dresses and behaves like you, and tells you nothing of his evil deeds?

Of course, the silent criminal is the most dangerous criminal. When Satan is most silent, he is most dangerous. That's why Paul calls Satan and his demons the “rulers of the darkness of this world,” (Ephesians 6:12). It's also why he says we have been... delivered... from the power of darkness,” (Colossians 1:13)

Darkness is Satan's strength. Anyone who is ignorant of how Satan operates is no doubt dominated by him either totally or in part. Conversely, whosoever is dominated by Satan, and discovers this fact, is now positioned to be freed. Generally, a prisoner of Satan must know that he is bound to be delivered. That is why whenever I have a deliverance service, I spend a lot of time exposing Satan. Once the people understand how demons operate in the background, it is easy to set them free.

For instance, if a woman with a demonic stronghold of rejection comes to see that demons may have entered her at the point she was sexually molested, and are now operating within her mind to prevent her from giving or receiving love, she moves from darkness into light.

Similarly, she moves closer to her deliverance if she understand that her weakness, which may indeed appear as nothing more than a sin or weakness of the flesh, could be fueled by demonic activity. Yet her deliverance is dependent upon the light of God's word shining on her dark places.

For this reason demons take great pains to pretend they are not present. Who knows how many years that man in the Capernaum synagogue in Mark 1 had his demon before Jesus cast it out? It may have been years, and it probably was. I've run into many adults who became demonized as children. Don't be shocked at this statement. What group of people is most vulnerable? Is it not children?

I cast a demon out of one lady who had become demonized as a small child. Her grandparents had both sexually molested her. As a result, a demon of shame entered her. This spirit made it impossible for her to have sex with her husband. When I spoke with her, she had not had sex with him for at least three years. (Wow! I need to pray for your husband, I thought.) The spirit had falsely accused her day and night for forty years or so of being morally dirty. I recall telling the lady that to be delivered, she must forgive her grandparents. When she told me she couldn't do this, I told her that I would not pray for her. I turned from her and went to someone else. She cornered me and asked, "Are you just going to let this thing stay in me?”

"I sure am,” I answered.

She saw that I was serious and decided it would be better to forgive than to spend the rest of her life having a demonic voice inside of her mind tell her how filthy and unworthy she was. She forgave them and the demon was cast out. But the point is the demon entered her when she was only a small child. This is not fair, but neither is child pornography or babies born hooked on crack. They are physical injustices. Yet they happen.

Demonization of children is a spiritual injustice. It happens just as physical injustices happen to children. Like physical tragedies that happen to little children, the spiritual tragedy of child demonization is extremely common.

Why had this lady spent over forty years with demons inside of her? Why had that man in the synagogue remained demonized until Jesus came on the scene? The answer is in the scripture we looked at earlier. “And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority commands he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him.”(Mark 1:27)

Darkness rules where there is no light. If no one exposes the demon, he will do his work in the victim and grow stronger. Yet if someone who casts out demons comes on the scene, Satan gets nervous. He will normally try to stay in the background. But sometimes he is forced into a confrontation:

•    The Holy Spirit may suddenly force the demon to manifest in the presence of the deliverance minister. (This is an act of mercy on God's part to get the person some help.)

•    The power that is upon the minister or service may increase to such a degree that demons are forced into manifestation.

•    The word of God is preached so powerfully and insightfully that demons become nervous or angry and are provoked into manifestation.

•    The victim may become aware of the demon's presence in his or her life

It is important to note that not all preaching is sufficient enough to cause demons discomfort. A person with a demon can sit on the front row of nearly all of our Christian churches and not be bothered in the least. I don't say this haughtily or with any sense of superiority. I’m merely trying to show you why there aren't routine and noticeable manifestations of demons in our midst.

The word of God is powerful, but it must be handled skillfully to do its best work. For example, a message on tithes and offerings is not going to help someone who is being tormented with homosexual thoughts. And a message on faithfulness is not going to get rid of the demon of sickness.

People are freed from demons when their demons are aggressively confronted. They are freed when we discern their presence and activities. It's not enough to cast the devil out of a man who falls on the floor and slithers like a snake. How much discernment does it take to see that he is a victim of demon power? What we need are vast armies of Christians who know how to free the multitudes of victims who will never fall on the floor and slither like a snake. We need people who are not ashamed of Jesus and His ministry of casting out demons. These people will present the word of God with purpose and authority. These people will apply the light of God's word to the dark, private areas of our lives and set us free. They will not be ashamed to look a troubled child of God in the eye and say, "In Jesus name, come out!”

More Demonic Drama in the Synagogues

Okay, so you concede that Jesus had a rare encounter with a demon in a synagogue. Maybe it was just one of those fluke things that happen once in a lifetime. Perhaps the demonized man was a visiting witchdoctor from a heathen land. Yet the Bible is very clear that this was no rare encounter. It was the norm.

When I first saw how prevalent the ministry of casting out demons was in Jesus' ministry, I was absolutely shocked. I knew that although many countries of that day were religious, Israel, though not walking perfectly before God, was the moral standard of the world. I knew that Israel had a rich spiritual heritage, and that they alone were awaiting the messiah.

Yet everywhere Jesus went, he spent a great deal of time casting out demons. I wondered, Where in the world did all of these demons come from? Howcould a country as moral as first century Israel have so many demonized people? It simply did not make sense. I could more readily accept it if Jesus was ministering in a land filled with idol worship. But at that time, Israel was free of such gross sins. Her national sins, though many, were not of the type that shocked the conscience. Nor would they have equated to the sins of other people groups that had provoked the wrath of God.

They did not participate in human sacrifices, as had the Canaanites. They had not given themselves as a nation to the vile sin of homosexuality, as had the Sodomites. They had not followed the socially acceptable, but unbelievably cruel family planning practice of the Romans by literally throwing away their unwanted newborn babies.

It seemed to me that of all nations, Israel was the least likely to have so many demonized people. It was even more shocking to me that so many of these demonized people were synagogue (or church) people. It didn't make sense to me that so many people with demons would be in church. Why would they want to go to church? What would attract them to church? How would they get past the ushers? Wouldn't they look and act insanely? Where would they park all of their stolen shopping cart buggies? Wouldn't their incessant mumbling disturb the service? What about their smelly clothes?

My Limited Concept of What a Demonized Person Looked Like The fifth chapter of Mark illustrates exactly what was my sole concept of a demonized person.

"And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. And when he was come out of the ship, immediately

there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones. But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped, and cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high god? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not. For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many. And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country. And forth with Jesus gave them leave.” (Read the entire account; Mark 5:1-10)

Now that's my kind of demonized man! You don't have to guess whether there's a demon or not. You don't have to probe with searching questions: Tell me about your early family life...Have you ever had any significant trauma?. ..Have you ever dabbled with the occult?...Do you ever hear voices in your mind?...Was your pregnancy planned?

No, when a man

•    Lives in the graveyard....

•    Breaks the chains that bind him..

•    Runs around naked in public..

•    Is extremely depressed..

•    Deliberately hurts himself..

•    Cries night and day..

•    Knows things supernaturally without the aid of the Holy Spirit... that man has a demon.

That was my concept of having a demon. No wonder I had difficulty visualizing a ministry of casting out demons within the synagogue. There was no way the above man would have been allowed in a synagogue. Can you imagine what would have happened had that man showed up for service? I can assure you that he would not have been given a hug and a church bulletin. So how did so many demonized people get past the ushers? They got past the ushers (so to speak) because they did not look like that wild, naked man. What did they look like? you ask.

They looked exactly like you and I. They dressed well. They spoke coherently. They were polite. They were religious. They enjoyed church. They loved God. And they had demons.

The only difference between them and us is nothing. In a later chapter we will discuss in detail ways in which demons enter people. Once we do so, you will hopefully more readily accept not only the possibility that a normal, good, respectable, and genuine Christian can have a demon, but the probability that many such Christians have problems with demons. (Hope is rising in your heart, isn't it? You're almost there. Praise God!)

Casting demons out of genuine Christians, and doing so in church, is no more odd than praying for sick Christians in church. That is why the Bible says of Jesus, "And he preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and cast out devils." (Mark 1:39)

Chapter 5

Scriptural Proof That Christians Can Have Demons

Certainly we have covered enough ground by now to convince the honest skeptic that Christians can have demons. Nonetheless, I will try to use this chapter to erase any diehard lingering doubts.

It is often stated by critics of deliverance ministry that the Bible doesn’t say that Christians can have demons. Of course, we could always simplistically respond: “It doesn’t they say they can’t, either!” But what good would that do? When the welfare of so many of God’s precious people are at stake, a theological stalemate is not good enough. As Paul so succinctly stated, “The kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.”(1 Corinthians 4:20)

So, is there overwhelming biblical proof that Christians can have demons? Well, there certainly is biblical proof. But I doubt that it’s what critics would consider overwhelming. The reason is not that the proof isn’t sufficient. It’s just that if a person doesn’t want to believe a thing, that person will not believe it no matter what kind of proof you offer. It’s like trying to prove to an atheist that God exists. If that atheist does not desire truth, all of your arguments will fail, and not because they lack merit. But if that atheist is an honest seeker of truth, he will inevitably embrace it.

Having said this, I believe there is sufficient biblical proof to prove to honest seekers of truth that servants of God can have demons. The first proof I will give you is the lady crippled by a spirit of infirmity.

The Crippled Woman of Faith

In our earlier review of this passage of scripture, we emphasized the fact that a demon can cause a crippling disease. This time we will emphasize the woman’s relationship with God.

“And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day. The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?” (Luke 13:10-16)

It is critical to our study that you understand that when Jesus called the lady a “daughter of Abraham,” He was not speaking lightly. Jesus always used His words very purposefully. When Jesus called her a daughter of Abraham, He was calling her a true servant of God.

The Jews had always been proud of their natural lineage as offspring of Abraham. It was to Abraham that the promise had been made, “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. "(Genesis 12:2-3)

God had also promised him, “As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name be any more called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee., .and I will be their God... This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.” (Genesis 17:4-8,10)

As far as the Jew was concerned, all one had to do to become an heir of Abraham was to be born into a Jewish family. The boy babies had to get circumcised on the eighth day, but one snip, snip, and that was over. However, the Jewish nation failed to realize that Abraham was the father of faith, and to become his heir one had to become a child of faith. They didn’t know that it was Abraham’s faith that had justified him before God, and not simply the cutting of his foreskin, or of the keeping of certain dietary and ceremonial laws. Indeed, after God had given him these great promises, it is written in Genesis 15:6: “And he believed in the Lord; and counted it to him for righteousness. ”

That was the critical key that was missing from the typical Jew’s understanding of salvation. They thought salvation was earned through natural birth and circumcision of the flesh, when in fact it was freely given through spiritual birth and circumcision of the heart. That is why Paul said in Romans 2:28-29: “For he is not a Jen/ which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew/ which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not on men, but of God. ”

It’s clear that the Lord deliberately distinguished between the true and false children of Abraham. One day while He was preaching to a group of Jews, many of them believed on Him. But certain others rejected Him. To those who believed, He said:

“If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31-32) The Jews who were Jews in flesh only, but not true offspring of Abraham, answered:

“We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, Isay unto you, Whosoever commiteth sin is the servant of sin... If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. I know that ye are Abraham’s seed [naturally]; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you. I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your [spiritual] father. They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham... Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. Jesus said unto them.. .Ye are of your father the devil....” (John 8:33-34, 36-39,41-42,44)

What a blessing for Jesus Christ to call her a daughter of Abraham! This was similar to when Jesus told seventy of His disciples, “...rejoice, because your names are witten in heaven.” (Luke 10:20) There simply is no way to wiggle out of this—the crippled woman was a true servant of God. Yet I know that some will try to escape the truth by saying, Yes, but that was before the cross. That sounds plausible, but it’s more shadow than substance. It doesn’t make a difference whether a servant of God is before or after the cross. He is still a servant of God.

I know the implication is that the Holy Spirit was upon His Old Testament saints, but His Holy Spirit is in His New Testament saints. (I won’t even try to complicate this by discussing the fact that John the Baptist, an Old Testament saint, was filled with the Holy Ghost even in his mother’s womb! Luke 1:15) Yet this is an irrelevant point for at least two reasons.

First, no one is saying that an evil spirit can gain access to a true Christian’s spirit.

And, second, even if that was our position, it could not be disproved simply by saying that the presence of the Holy Spirit within the New Testament saint’s spirit makes it impossible for an evil spirit to live there. I say this because I have already conclusively proven that Satan and God can and do coexist in the presence of one another.

A Present Day Daughter of Abraham Instantly Healed of a Spirit of Scoliosis

In November 2001, my lovely wife, Sonny, had a little get-together for women at our home. There were several women present, and Pastor Lee and I were the only guys. Lee and I sat in the living room and discussed demonology, while the women chatted in the kitchen. In our discussion I shared with Lee how prevalent was demonization. I explained to him that it was so prevalent, that if I discussed it with the women and prayed for them, demons would probably manifest and come out.

Pastor Lee was extremely interested. Were not these women Christians? None of them seemed odd or abnormally oppressed. Could I perhaps be overstating the problem of demons invading people? It would not be long before my words were dramatically confirmed.

Most of our company left and we felt that God wanted to do something for one of the remaining women. This left my wife and I; Pastor Lee and his wife, Bonnie; and Sharon We spoke with her at length and led her to salvation. She cried and rejoiced and cried and rejoiced some more. We then ministered deliverance to her, and as I had said earlier, many demons dramatically manifested and came out. She cried and rejoiced and cried and rejoiced some more. We then led her to the baptism in the Holy Ghost. By now she was almost literally floating in the overwhelming presence of God. But God wasn’t through with her yet.

On her way out the door (it was now after midnight) she mentioned that she had scoliosis. My spirit leapt within me! Scoliosis? I immediately thought of the woman with the spirit of sickness spoken of in Luke 13. I stopped her from leaving and shared Luke 13 with her. Sharon was very open. By this time our faith was sky high. Sharon explained to us that she had gotten scoliosis as a result of, or right after, having a car accident. We explained to her that demons often enter at the point of trauma, and that we were going to treat her scoliosis as a demon.

“In Jesus name, scoliosis, come out!” we commanded.

Immediately the spirit manifested and began to move inside of her. After several minutes of moving from the base of her spine to the back of her head, the demon finally left out of her mouth. No, there was no vomit spewed all over the place. Up to this point I have successfully prevented any such thing. However, the spirit was able to dramatically twist Sharon’s body and cause considerable pain before he left. This certainly is not unlike what frequently occurred in Jesus’ ministry when He cast out evil spirits. Read Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and you’ll see that even Jesus had very demonstrative episodes with demons, even after He had told them to be quiet!

Anyway, the point to this example is, What would have happened had I believed the error that Christians can’t have demons? Like so many of our church people, she would have bent sent home with the same oppression and sickness.

Judas Iscariot and the Demon of Greed

Everyone is aware that Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. Yet, few know that he was a genuine apostle at one time. Judas’ problem was that although selected by God to be an apostle, he never dealt with his greed. And that failure to lay his worldly ambition at the feet of Jesus caused his utter destruction. This should not surprise us. We have witnessed some of the most spectacular and humiliating moral falls of many of our church leaders. It always seem to be the same two culprits: money or sex.

Some would exclude Judas as a true apostle because of their belief in the doctrine of unconditional salvation. This is the belief that once a person truly comes to Christ, it is literally impossible to leave Christ. Supposedly, even if one does leave, Christ will never leave that person. Various scriptures are used to support this position. I totally reject this doctrine as a masterful tool of Satan that has helped populate hell with many millions of gullible people. Some once truly served Christ, but their love grew cold. They turned back to their former master—Satan.

Others were never truly converted. Instead they were convinced through this damnable doctrine of unconditional salvation that their rebellion against Christ was not a sign that they were yet children of the devil. They were told instead that they were of that great number of people who had supposedly received Christ as savior, but not yet Lord. To these the mist of darkness and everlasting punishment is reserved forever.

Yet despite the reluctance of some to accept the genuineness of Judas’ salvation and apostleship, the scriptures are clear. A person can be a genuine servant of God at one time, and later through gross carelessness or a divided heart, deliberately turn away from God to such a degree that it is not looked upon by God as a mistake or temporary lapse. It is instead seen as it is: apostasy. The conscious turning away from God back to Satan. This constitutes a spiritual divorce.

In the case of Judas, I am convinced that we are not looking at a total pretender. We are instead looking at an exaggerated picture of ourselves. Sure, God calls him a thief, even though he was also a disciple. But that is not unlike what the Spirit of Truth would say of you or I.

Of course, we would describe our faults much differently than how the Spirit of Truth would describe them. I may with great skill downplay how I infrequently have a problem with lust. The Spirit of Truth, however, would describe me as an adulterer. You may describe your problem with unforgiveness as something you’re trying to work through. The Spirit of Truth would call you a murderer for hating your brother. Some would say they sometimes eat too much. The Spirit of Truth would call them gluttons.

So it was with Judas; he was a thief. But the apostles James and John had been murderous racists (Luke 9:51-56). The apostle Peter had been a lying, cursing coward. He even denied Christ three times (Luke 22:54-61). And many years later we find that he still had a streak of cowardice and hypocrisy in him (Galatians 2:11-14). In fact, during their discipleship training by Christ, all of the apostles displayed incredible unbelief, cruel insensitivity to the hurting, and an ungodly desire to exalt themselves.

Yet of the Lord, the scriptures say this:

“The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger forever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.” (Psalm 103:8-14)

He hath not dealt with us according to our iniquities.

I absolutely love that verse. Thank you, Jesus! Where would we be if the God of perfection dealt with us according to our iniquities? Pastor, you wouldn’t be pastor. Deacon, you wouldn’t be deacon. Priest, you wouldn’t be priest. Rector, you wouldn’t be rector. Sunday school teacher, you wouldn’t be Sunday school teacher. Preacher, you wouldn’t be preacher. Saint, you wouldn’t be saved. Sinner, you wouldn’t be still alive.

What am I getting at? I’m trying hard to get you to see Judas the way God saw Judas, and the way God sees you. The reason for this is if you judge Judas more harshly than God judges you, you won’t understand how this true apostle was able to get a demon and fall from such an exalted height. And you consequently won’t see your own vulnerability to get a demon and have a similar fall.

I know that the scriptures say Jesus knew who would betray him. But that is not the same thing as saying Judas had no choice. Some think that if God speaks of a thing before it happens that He necessarily directly causes it with His irresistible power.

But is there any future event that God doesn’t foresee? Of course, He sees everything. He sees every murder, every rape, and every theft before they occur. He sees every horrifying descent into the flames of hell of every sinner who dies in rebellion to righteousness. Will we therefore accuse our God of these eviIs, of whom the scriptures say, “The Lord is... longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”(2 Peter 3:9)

When God chose the twelve to become His apostles, He knew their strengths and weaknesses. But here is something we must never forget: God is not intimidated by our weaknesses. He doesn’t choose us because we are strong, but because we are available—weaknesses and all. “... And God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty...That no flesh should glory in his presence.” (1 Corinthians 1:27,29)

Did He not choose Lucifer to serve Him in heaven? And did not Lucifer later fall through pride and become Satan? Did He not choose Adam and Eve to serve Him in the Garden of Eden? And did they not later fall through lust and idolatry (spousal worship is idolatry)? Did He not choose Saul to become king? And did he not later fall through presumptuous self-will? To king Saul, God said:

“Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the Lord hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on. And Samuel said, When thou was little in thine own sight, wast thou not made head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed thee king over Israel? And the Lord sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed. Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the Lord? And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalakites. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal. And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king." (1 Samuel 15:16-23)

This tragic story is what happened to Judas Iscariot. He was a good man, with a genuine love of God. Yet like the rest of us, he had areas in his life that were not disciplined and submitted to God. Since God doesn’t select us for service based upon our perfection, but rather upon His own unfathomable love and kindness and patience, He selected as an apostle a man with some good qualities and some bad qualities.

Unfortunately, one of the bad qualities was greed. The only way to overcome a weakness is to grow out of it. Therefore, God in His restorative mercy also selected Judas to be their treasurer. The Lord’s strategy was to force him to see his weakness for money. The hope was that Judas’ hidden sin would be forced to the surface of the apostle’s consciousness. Horrified by this revelation of his own sinfulness, he would run to Christ and confess this great weakness. God would forgive him and help him to overcome—just as He helped Peter overcome his weaknesses.

Perhaps instead of being known throughout eternity as the betrayer of Jesus Christ, he might have become known as a great apostle. This is possible because it was not necessary for Jesus to be betrayed by anyone in order to secure our salvation. It was His death and resurrection that saved us, and not the fact that He was betrayed by Judas. The betrayal was a tragedy that never had to happen.

Nonetheless, Judas failed the test. The Bible says that “Judas by transgression fell.”(Acts 1:25) That is so infinitely sad. Jesus had earlier in their ministry discreetly warned Judas of his weakness. “Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve.” (John 6:70-71)

Deep Character Flaws Sometimes Require More Than Private Repentance To God—

Sometimes They Require Confession To A Brother Or Sister In Christ Judas, like you and I, may have wept many tears in private over a tendency to keep committing the same sin. He may have desperately cried out to the invisible God, bypassing the visible Christ. We make this same mistake when we cry out to the invisible God, and fail to confess our faults to the visible Christ. The visible Christ is the imperfect Christian church. The imperfections of the visible body of Christ scares us out of confessing our sins. We tend instead to keep the sin a secret, and to privately try to work it out solely between God and us.

Unfortunately, it’s often difficult to find a Christian to help us with our secret sins. The consequences of not getting help, however, are fearful and often unfixable. Since Judas had never adequately dealt with this sin, his heart was fertile ground for a wicked seed-thought of betrayal to grow into an actual act of betrayal. We read of this germination process in John 13:2, “And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him.”

There it is! The poisonous thought of betrayal had been planted in Judas’ heart. Yet the mere presence of an evil thought doesn’t mean one has sinned. It’s not the presence of an evil thought, but the submission to an evil thought that is sin. The process of thoughts turning into sins is broken down in James 1:14-15: “But every man is tempted, when he is dram away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” Judas was lured away by his greed, but it was later that a demon (or Satan himself) entered him.

Satan’s classic one-two punch is to first plant the evil thought. Then if the door to the mind or body is opened by embracing the thought, a demon enters. As we study John 13, it appears that although Judas had apparently been a thief for a while, Jesus’ radical teachings on servanthood were pushing him to the crossroads of decision. Judas weighed Jesus’ words very carefully. He’s telling us to think as slaves! I havent risked my life following Him all these years to end up washing feet. And what about all this talk about suffering? Haven’t we suffered enough? Who’s preaching, Love thy neighbor, to those damned Romans? He sends us out to heal the sick and feed the poor, but what about us? I’ve got to do something to take care of myself!

This was the Last Supper. It was that final meal with the disciples before His betrayal. Jesus shared some final words with them, and said, “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me...When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. "(John 13:17-18,21)

There—it was finally out in the open. There was a traitor among the twelve! The question was, Who? Who was capable of such wickedness? Had Judas been any less of an apostle, had he exhibited any less power or righteousness, all eyes would have turned to him. But the Bible says they all began to inquire of the Lord of whom He spake. Judas was held in such high esteem by the other apostles that he wasn’t suspected. When Jesus whispered in John’s ear and strongly hinted that it was Judas, John refused to believe it. I must have heard Jesus wrong. There’s no way Judas is the traitor.

Yet he had heard correctly. For the 27 verse says, “And after the sop Satan entered him. "When Jesus told Judas to do his business quickly, no one put two and two together and identified Judas as the traitor. Truly, Judas was an outstanding apostle!

We end this study of Judas by noting something in the operation of demons. Satan was able to enter Judas because the apostle nurtured his own greed and embraced wicked thoughts. And once the evil deed was done, Satan left him. Judas then came back to his senses.

“Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he [Jesus] was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? See thou to that [Or, that’s your problem, chump.] And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.” (John 27:3-5)

This happens repeatedly in our day. An invading demon either introduces wicked thoughts, or he magnifies the force of the intended victim’s own evil thoughts. The result is that thoughts that may have been dismissed before by an act of the person’s will, now are empowered by a demon. The thoughts are now overwhelming and compelling. A satanic force literally bends the will of the person into submission. The following examples show how this happens.

In the first example, a man who is otherwise faithful to his wife, secretly indulges in pornographic material. After a period of secret voluntary submission to his lust, he now finds it impossible to think of anything else except sex and committing adultery. He finally commits the sin, and is horrified when his senses return.

In the next example, a suicidal teenager desperately wonders why he has had to fight homosexual thoughts all his life. He fights and fights and fights, but the thoughts are merciless. They won’t leave him alone. He tries to prove his masculinity by having sex with women. Yet, the homosexual thoughts continue. Finally, he yields and has sex with a male. He then comes to his senses and is horrified, or he is so tired of fighting that he accepts the lie that he was born a homosexual. Written on the dark caves of his tortured mind is the message: Better to yield to homosexuality than to lose my mind trying to fight it.

Judas was overcome with grief when he came to his senses. He wondered how he could have done such a wicked thing.

I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood.

The realization and weight of his sin crushed him. As it so often happens in cases like these, a demon of suicide soon convinced him to escape the shame and pain by killing himself. Therefore it is written of a man who was an apostle among apostles:

“Judas by transgression fell.”

Ananias and Sapphira and the Spirit of Lying

This is perhaps the most terrifying New Testament example of divine judgment coming upon Christians. We read:

“But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, and kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things. And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him. And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in. And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much. Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out. Then fell she down straitway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost.” (Acts 5:1-10)

First, let me state that there is no reason to believe that these people were not Christians. In our extremely sin tolerant culture, both in and out of the church, it is not popular to discuss divine judgment. But whether we discuss it or accept it is irrelevant. God judges the world, and He judges His children. Actually, according to the scripture judgment begins in the church before it reaches the world. “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?”(1 Peter 4:17-18)

Ananias and Sapphira found out by experience that God judges His people. The thing that provoked God’s wrath was the boldness of this couple’s sin. A mighty visitation of God had swept through Jerusalem. Multitudes of people had been delivered from sins and demons and diseases. The Spirit’s influence was so strong that it seems that the entire church, or at least a very large part of it, was caught up in sacrificial giving.

Some, such as Barnabas, gave large sums of money to the church. Ananias and his wife wanted to participate in all the hoopla, but not in the same way. They conspired together to sell a possession, give some of the money to the church, and pretend that they had given all of it. This was a very dumb move. Because whenever God’s power is mightily manifested in healing and deliverance, He also often manifests more immediate divine judgment upon those who are stumbling blocks to His work.

What caused these sinning Christians to commit such a bold and suicidal sin? The answer is that they came under the power of a demon spirit. Peter said to Ananias, “Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost?” The word for “filled” is the same word used elsewhere when speaking of Christians being filled with the Holy Spirit. What happens when Christians are filled with the Spirit? Does this mean the Holy Spirit is near them, upon them, or in them? It means He is in them. But it also has a more precise meaning. It means that He not only is in them, but that He is momentarily exercising a much greater degree of control over or through them than normal.

Like so many of us, Ananias and Sapphira sought to impress people. Unknown to them, their plan to make themselves look better than they were had been inspired by a demon. This demon had filled their hearts in the same way that the Holy Spirit had filled the hearts of those whom they wanted to impress. In their case, listening to a demon cost them their lives.

Timothy and the Spirit of Fear

This example may raise some eyebrows, but that’s okay. I only ask that you first of all remember that Bible characters were just as human as us. That means they were just as weak, just as inconsistent, just as fearful, just as frail, and just as sinful, as are we. It also means they were just as strong, just as consistent, just as courageous, and just as righteous, as are we. There was absolutely no difference. If we keep this in mind, we will not treat them as near gods and mar our understanding of the scriptures. This is why James said of the absolutely great prophet, Elijah, “Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are....’’He was no different than you and I. Timothy was no different than you and I.

When you read the two short books that Paul wrote to Timothy, it is obvious that Timothy was not Paul. Timothy was apparently mild-mannered and introverted. He was not naturally a mouthy or look-at-me type of person. Actually, he appears to be timid and fearful. These scriptures will show you why I feel this way:

“Let no man despise thy youth.. .Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.”

(1 Timothy4:12,14)

“Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed....” (2 Timothy 1:6-8)

This example is not as clear as the case of Judas or Ananias and Sapphira. Yet the circumstantial evidence is sufficient to build a case that this young preacher had a problem with a spirit of fear. The fact that he had considerable spiritual qualities is obvious. Paul would not have trusted him with so much authority had he not been an extremely devoted Christian. But despite his spiritual qualities, he also had a problem with fear.

This fear had been so strong that although the greatest of apostles had imparted to him some spiritual gift through the laying on of hands, he had neglected to use it. Paul encouraged him in the first letter to use the gift. However, since Timothy had failed to follow his advice, Paul used stronger language in his second letter. He told his young disciple: I’m telling you again, Timothy, stir up the gift of God. Don’t sit on what God has given you. God hasn’t given you a spirit of fear!

Having cast spirits of fear out of many people, it’s not difficult at all for me to understand how a man, preacher or otherwise, can have a spirit of fear. (I constantly battle various spirits of fear.) The scriptures give no clear evidence as to how Timothy received this spirit. But it does tell us in 2 Timothy 1:7 precisely what three problems this spirit of fear can cause:

•    The demon of fear can stop the flow of God’s power.

•    The demon of fear can make it difficult or impossible to love.

•    The demon of fear can distort judgment.

I’d also like to offer a theory about Timothy that may be right or wrong. Paul instructed Timothy in 1 Timothy 5:23 to “Drink no longer water [apparently the water was unhealthy], but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.” There may have been no spiritual connection whatsoever to his physical ailments and the spirit of fear. However, those experienced in deliverance ministry will tell you that the spirit of fear often causes physical ailments. Some of the more frequent problems are asthma, other respiratory problems, and pains. But, generally speaking, it appears that any demon can cause physical problems.

Tradition tells us that Timothy later became the primary leader of the church in Ephesus. It also tells us that he died as a brave martyr. If so, he obviously finally gained victory over the spirit of fear.

The Apostle Paul and the Messenger of Satan

Paul was the standard of all the apostles. Speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, he was able to say, “For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles,” and “For in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing.”(2 Corinthians 11:5; 12:11) This great leader wrote most of the New Testament. He was no ordinary apostle!

For that reason God did for him what He does for all His children: He orchestrated a particular difficulty toward Paul. This difficulty, whatever it was, would not permanently respond to commands of faith or intercession. This problem was so intense that he found relief only in direct proportion to his dependence on Christ. The purpose of this problem was to keep him from being destroyed by pride. It’s hard to think more highly of yourself than you should if you are constantly challenged beyond your natural limits.

Much speculation has been said about the identity of the problem. Some say it was sickness, and some say it was persecution. Theologically, both could be true. A demon can cause both sickness and persecution. However, the scripture tells us plainly that the problem was a demon. “There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. ”

The phrase “thorn in the flesh” can’t be automatically assumed to be a sickness. That phrase or a derivative of it is used other places in the Bible. In each case it is obvious that the phrase is used figuratively to mean something other than sickness. Its reference to thorns in a body part also clearly is not literal.

“But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell.” (Numbers 33:55)

“And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this? Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides..." (Judges 2:2-3)

Certainly we don’t interpret the above scriptures to mean that Israel’s foes would be literal thorns in their bodies. God was speaking figuratively, and so was Paul. According to the apostle, a messenger of Satan was sent to buffet him. The word translated for messenger is aggelos. It means angel. Or more functionally, it could refer to a demon, since demons work for Satan.

One thing is for sure: the scripture does not say that Paul was afflicted with a sickness to keep him humble. It says he was afflicted with a demon, who was sent with the express purpose of buffeting him. To buffet means to harass, oppress, punish, or torment. Of course, sickness has these effects. Yet it would be wrong to infer that the Bible says Paul was given a sickness. Especially since it plainly says he was given a messenger from Satan.

This insistence by some to say Paul was given a sickness is to discredit the healing ministry. It provides cover for critics to forsake the truth of divine healing. For if God gave Paul a sickness to keep him humble, then surely He does the same for and to us. This would explain why certain faithful Christians aren’t healed. But this method of twisting the word of God is wrong. It requires us to ignore the record of the gospels of the Lord Jesus Christ. One very questionable interpretation of a sole passage of scripture will never erase the record Jesus has given us of God our Healer. In a later chapter we will deal more fully with some objections to divine healing.

The Corinthians and the Receiving of Another Spirit

The Corinthian church had great strengths—and weaknesses. One of their weaknesses was that they were extremely susceptible to false teachers. Paul gave them a warning and rebuke that should be remembered by us.

“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.” (2 Corinthians 11:3-4)

One of the problems with this church was that if a preacher complicated the simple message of Christ with so-called deep revelations, it accepted him readily. Paul, in essence, warned that to accept a message is to accept the spirit behind the message. Proof of this is seen in God’s dealing with humanity.

When you accept the message of Jesus Christ, you automatically come into fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Conversely, when you accept the message of a false prophet, you automatically come into fellowship with a demon spirit. The type of demon spirit you receive from false teachers depends on the type of doctrine you receive.

Unfortunately, we see this spiritual law at work in many churches. Some churches have doctrines that promote greed and covetousness. Other churches have doctrines that make women second-class spiritual citizens. Still, others have various doctrines of unbelief. And, probably most damning, others have doctrines that justify general sin. Unknown to the congregations involved, when they accepted the doctrines, they automatically accepted the demons behind those doctrines.

Therefore, some Christians receive demons simply by being careless in their selection of a church. Isn’t that what Paul told this Christian church? They were in danger of receiving another spirit, said the apostle. What other spirit is there? He could have been speaking of only one— Satan.

Chapter 6

How Demons Enter People

Demons enter people in various ways. Some are more obvious than others. The most frequent ways are through general sin, trauma, false doctrine, acceptance of a lie, rejection, and inheritance. We will look at each of these in detail. Perhaps it will help you to determine whether you may need deliverance from evil spirits.

Demons Enter Through Sin

General sin is simply disobedience to God. However, although sin is sin, the severity and immediacy of God’s judgment upon it is often in direct relationship to the particular sin committed. We will view general sin, sexual sin, and spiritual sin.

General sins are the natural sins of the flesh. These are sins of the body and mind. Some of which are:

•    Overeating

•    Alcohol or drug abuse

•    Anger, hatred, or bitterness

•    Unforgiveness!!!

•    Gossip, slander, or criticism

•    Jealousy, worry, or greed

•    Lying, deception, or stealing

•    Other commons sins

Notice that I have put exclamation marks behind unforgiveness. Unforgiveness is one of the most common ways people open the door to a demon. It is also one of the greatest stumbling blocks to getting delivered or healed. Anyone who refuses to forgive curses himself and forfeits the blessings of God. God declared in no uncertain terms:

“And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought [grudge] against any: that your Father which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive you your trespasses.” (Mark 11:25-25)

Don’t deceive yourself! God will not make an exception for you. If you will not forgive, even for cruel and devastating sins committed against you, you will not be delivered and healed. As you decide to move closer to your deliverance by forgiving, it will be easier to do so if you understand that forgiveness is not trust. You are required to forgive; you are not required to trust. You must forgive your enemies, but it would probably be extremely foolish to trust them.

Another thing to remember is forgiving your enemy does not mean feeling good about your enemy. Nor does it mean you must stay in a relationship with them. For instance, a person is not required by God to stay with a spouse who is guilty of adultery.

However, if the decision is to forgive the adulterer, but to sever the marriage, the spouse sinned against should not do so immediately. The delay is to allow time to adequately recover from the shock, betrayal, and anger. As the scripture says, “For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.” This means undisciplined anger will distort your ability to judge in wisdom.

The wise thing to do in a situation where a spouse has been unfaithful is to wait patiently upon God for His clear direction. Marriage is too precious and holy to act rashly. And even though the scriptures plainly give us the right to divorce an unfaithful partner, as Christians we are bound to act in love, even under the most trying of times. Mature Christians are more concerned about pleasing God than in demanding their rights. After all, had God demanded His right, as it relates to our spiritual adultery against Him, we would all have been eternally divorced from Him, and cast into hell.

When God had every right to divorce us, He instead provided a means of mercy and restoration. Mercy rejoices against judgment. Therefore, we must always be willing to abandon our right to divorce, and to assume our responsibility to go another route, if God should so desire. This is a matter of conscience, and not something that can be dogmatically dictated from the pulpit. Each person must bear the consequences of his own decisions.

Now concerning a person in a physically abusive relationship, my advice is this: Leave while you still have your life! Don’t listen to ignorant, insensitive Christians who tell you to stay with a monster. Yeah, forgive the abuser. But do so at a distance.

Far too often abused Christian women are told to stay with physically abusive men. The women are given various demonically influenced distortions of scripture to convince them that they must stay and be beaten for the glory of God. This is not Christianity. It is Middle Eastern Islam disguised as Christianity.

My personal belief is that pastors that instruct women to stay with men who physically abuse them are abusers themselves. Although they may not ever lift their hands against a woman, they are infested with the same demons of hatred of women that infests so many hundreds of millions of men. Women must understand that any person who advises them to stay with a man who physically abuses them does not speak for God. He speaks out of his own ignorance and contempt for women.

Forgiveness Is Not A Feeling

Forgiveness is not a feeling; it’s a decision. When you forgive someone, you’re not saying they are right. You’re not even saying they should not be punished by civil authorities. You’re simply saying that you recognize that because you also sin against God and others, you have no right to hold a grudge against anyone. For this reason I determine to not hold a grudge against anyone... anyone—no matter what the offense. It will take God’s power to forgive like this, but He will help us.

Sexual Sin

Sexual sin is a higher degree of sin. It has its own special consequences. Many of the people I have cast demons out of were afflicted because of their own sexual sins. Some, however, became demonized as the result of someone committing sexual sins against them. First, we will examine natural sexual sins. Then we will examine unnatural sexual sins.

Natural sexual sins are those committed between two consenting people of the opposite sex outside of the boundaries of marriage. A natural sexual desire, though sinful, is one that does not violate the femininity, masculinity, or humanity of either party. When a man desires a woman, he flows with a natural desire. When a woman desires a man, she flows with a natural desire. They both are functioning in the capacity of their god-given sexual mandate.

A mandate is a rule for doing something. God’s rule as is evidenced in our conscience and in our bodies, is that men are made for women, and women are made for men. Therefore, sexual interaction between men and women is natural.

Yet even though it is natural, it is cursed if done outside of marriage. Sex is more than two bodies coming together. It is literally a mystical entering into of a mystical union and contract with the other person. For this reason, the apostle Paul was horrified that Christians were committing sexual sins. He wrote:

“Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot?

God forbid. What? Know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? For two, saith he, shall be one flesh. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.” (1 Corinthians 6:15-18)

There are two things mentioned that must be pointed out.

First, God said that the sexual sin joins the two. This joining makes the participants one. Although I don’t think I understand all that this involves, it does appear that this unholy joining allows a transference of evil spirits between the two. This means the evil spirits of one person can freely enter the other person. Those involved in deliverance ministry will attest to this.

Second, the person who commits sexual sin sins against his own body. We all know that the sexual sinner exposes himself to physical diseases. But what is not as well known is that he also exposes himself to spiritual diseases. These spiritual diseases are demons. Some of the most vile, wicked, and nasty demons are received through a man and a woman having sex without being married to one another.

Unfortunately, in our extremely morally lax church environment, many Christians (and so-called Christians) are fornicators and adulterers. Many of them sing in the choir, usher, and worship God with tears at church. But once they leave church, they become different people. They act as sinfully as any two whores in heat. Could this be one of the reasons for our long marriage engagements?

Shame on Christian women who act like whores to get or keep men not worth having! Shame on Christian men who so easily defile their Christian sisters! No wonder there is no lack of demonized people in the church! Those who do such things should not be surprised when they are invaded by demons of lust, adultery, pornography, masturbation, exhibitionism, homosexuality, or promiscuity. They also should not be surprised if they are awakened one night to find to their horror that a filthy demon is having sex with them. Sexual sin is dangerous and nothing to play with! And it is even more dangerous to indulge in unnatural sex sins.

Unnatural sexual sins are those that violate God’s prohibition against people of the same gender having sex with one another. It also includes those who have sex with family members or animals. All those who do such things bring upon themselves a terrible curse.

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold [suppress; fight against] the truth in unrighteousness...Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools...Wherefore God gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves...For this cause God gave them up to vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature. And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence [payment] of their error which was meet [appropriate].”

(Romans 1:18,22,24,26-27)

Sex between those of the same gender is a horrible twisting of God’s plan for humanity. The body itself testifies that sex is created for gender opposites. When a person partakes of the unnatural act of having sex with the same sex, they willingly submit themselves to incredibly powerful demons of confusion.

They will also completely lose the ability to perceive the truth and purity of Christ. These spirits overtime will seek to totally destroy the female’s femininity and the male’s masculinity. Those who give their sexual organs to the devil, to be used in a way that dishonors their gender, may in time find that they can no longer be sexually or emotionally aroused by the opposite sex.

To yield to homosexuality is to yield to spiritual and psychological poison. A homosexual can expect to be invaded by a host of wicked spirits. Yet if that homosexual desperately cries out to God, he or she will be set free.

However, in cases like this, deep repentance is necessary. Since homosexual spirits generally gain access through deep psychological wounds, the victim must come to the place of total forgiveness of those who have wronged him. Sometimes the victim may need to get rid of the offence he has against his own gender. This stronghold of perversion does not have a one-size-fits-all simplistic answer. But whatever the root cause, deliverance from homosexual orientation and homosexual demons is possible through Jesus Christ.

Finally, a short word about incest. In Leviticus 18, God lists many sexual relationships that are prohibited. These are sexual relationships between family members. Incestuous relationships are extremely evil in His eyes. Incest is a blatant and provocative violation of God’s boundaries. To have sex with a family member is to invite demons into your soul.

Incredibly much of incest has to do with older male relatives taking advantage of younger female relatives. I have spoken to and ministered to many women who have been victimized and humiliated in this way. It is a horrible sin! Many women have received demons in this way. And as many of my female readers know, the tremendous problems caused by such a violation do not automatically go away just because a person becomes a Christian. Often these poor women must have demons cast out of them. Only then are they freed from the various demons of sickness, fear, shame, and guilt.

Demons Enter Through Trauma

Demons are extremely opportunistic. They aggressively examine every area of our lives for the slightest opening. When one is found, they rush in as though they have a right to be there. Earlier I mentioned the deliverance of the woman who was healed of scoliosis. That particular devil entered her spine during or shortly after her car wreck. I’ve heard of people getting epileptic spirits because of head injuries. I’ve also mentioned that it is possible to get a demon when someone sins against us.

Some sins committed against us are traumatic. I cast demons out of a woman who had picked up several of them due to emotional trauma. Some of the things that had occurred in her life were: she had been sexually assaulted; she had been rejected by her mother; and she had been abused by her husband. I recall that the sexual assault opened the door to sexual demons. She was horrified when a demon of homosexuality surfaced. Embarrassed, she asked, “Where did he come from? I’ve never done that or even wanted to do it?”

I explained to her that when we are sexually victimized, often the demons that are in the perpetrator enter us. I know it’s not fair, but much in life is not fair. The crucifixion of Jesus wasn’t fair, but that didn’t prevent it from happening.

Here is a good place for me to add this: It is common for a person who has suffered a trauma to think or act out of character shortly thereafter. This is because the demon has rushed into the opening presented by the trauma. The demon will try to impose his own characteristics and desires on the victim. For instance, the girl who is sexually molested may find that she now has virtually no ability to say no to sexual advances. The boy who suffers the violence of an angry father, may find that he now is prone to fits of uncontrollable rage.

Therefore, when seeking deliverance, it is extremely profitable to carefully examine any significant traumas in your life. You may find that Satan entered at that point.

Spiritual Sins

Spiritual sins are those sins that have to do with direct idolatry. These are sins of false religion and witchcraft. In my opinion, they are the most damning. My reasons for saying this are many.

First, when one participates in false religion or witchcraft, one exposes himself to Satan in such a way that the demonization process is dramatically speeded up. A person may (I emphasize may) participate in a general sin for a considerable period of time without becoming severely demonized. Yet one who yields to false religion or witchcraft seems to go into immediate, accelerated bondage.

I would liken one in general sin to one who goes outdoors in extremely cold weather. He’s wearing short pants, a long sleeve shirt, and no shoes or socks. The person in false religion or witchcraft goes outdoors wearing nothing.

Second, spiritual sin is a magnet for demons of sickness and insanity. In the case of witchcraft, it is like taking crack cocaine. One time maybe all it takes to be invaded by fearsome powers of hell.

Third, spiritual sin provokes God’s wrath upon the sinner. Speaking of serving false gods, the Lord says, “Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting [judging] the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. "(Deuteronomy 5:9)

God sees participation in false religion and witchcraft as proof that you hate Him.

Fourth, spiritual sin quickly erases your natural moral standards. Natural moral standards are those that even sinners have. When one submits to the demons behind false religion, and especially witchcraft, even the natural moral standard is lowered. One now finds that he can do things that would formerly had caused him to throw up just thinking about it.

Fifth, spiritual sins attract incredibly strong demons of delusion and unbelief. A demon of lust or greed or anger may never aggressively work to directly overthrow the faith of a Christian. But the primary mission of the false religion and witchcraft demon is to destroy your belief that Jesus Christ is God.

False Religion

False religion is any religion that denies any of the foundational truths of the Bible. These include, but are not limited to, any of the following:

•    It denies the truth that Jesus Christ is eternal.

•    It denies the truth that Jesus Christ physically came to earth.

•    It denies the truth that Jesus Christ was physically born of a virgin.

•    It denies the truth that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life.

•    It denies the truth that humanity is inherently sinful.

•    It denies the truth that Jesus Christ died for our sins.

•    It denies the truth that Jesus Christ arose from the dead.

•    It denies the truth that salvation from sin and eternal damnation comes only through Jesus Christ.

•    It denies the truth that Jesus Christ hates sin more than He loves humanity.

•    It denies the truth that hell is a literal place of everlasting torment for sinners.

•    It denies the truth that Jesus Christ is Almighty God.

•    It denies the truth that the Bible is the only written communication we have from God.

Of course, this necessarily disqualifies every religion accept Christianity. I say this without malice, but also without reservation or qualification: Any person involved in a religion that denies any of the foundational biblical truths listed above has an extremely high risk of being demonized. There simply is no way around it. We are either submitted to the Bible and Jesus Christ, or we are submitted to a lie and Satan.

False Doctrines

Closely related to false religions are false doctrines. There are many false doctrines within the church. Some teach unconditional eternal security. Others teach that spiritual gifts have passed away. Others teach that women are spiritually inferior to men. For the purposes of this book, I will limit our discussion to those doctrines that border on false religion or those that cause people to go into false religion.

Our foundational scripture is:

“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils. Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron. Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving. For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.” (1 Timothy 4:1-5)

A person is not a Christian simply because she says she is a Christian. The foundation must be true for the structure to be true. As Jesus said in Matthew 7:15, 18: “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves… A good tree [doctrine] cannot bring forth evil fruit [beliefs, behavior].”

How do we know what doctrine is evil? It’s very simple. Evil doctrines produce evil beliefs and behaviors. Paul’s warning to Timothy above was that there are certain doctrines that can actually cause a person to depart from the faith. To depart from the faith means to stop believing those things which must be believed in order to keep salvation. And, of course, behavior follows belief. So anti-Christian behavior will naturally follow anti-Christian belief.

Paul told Timothy that behind these doctrines are seducing spirits. The job of seducing spirits is to deceive Christians. They do this by convincing Christians to believe anti-Christian doctrines.

Paul listed two false, antichrist doctrines, that were leading people away from Christ. First, demonized teachers were teaching that marriage was wrong. Second, some were teaching that eating meat was wrong. These simple beliefs are wrong, but not necessarily antichrist. What makes a doctrine antichrist is that it in some way adds to or subtracts from the work or person of Christ. Especially as it relates to salvation.

So if I say, “Whoaaaa, I don’t think marriage is for me. Anyone who wants to get married is crazy!” I’d be making a presumptuous, unbiblical statement. But it would not qualify as an antichrist statement. Yet if I take it a step further and exalt celibacy above marriage, and give it some kind of spiritual significance, I would be teaching an antichrist doctrine. This occurs the moment I give someone a reason to believe that God will look more favorably upon them if they stay single.

The same can be said about eating meat. I may decide for health reasons to not eat meat. That is perfectly acceptable. But if someone says eating meat will keep you from God, or that you can get closer to God by not eating meat, he teaches doctrines of demons.

Celibacy and vegetarianism are just two examples of personal choices taken to extremes and made mandatory requirements to please God. There are many others that have been pushed upon us by false teachers and seducing demons. One church believes you must join their church to be accepted by God. Another believes women must wear something on their head to please God. Another believes you must not eat meat, and you must live under the law of Moses, to please God. (To be honest, I sincerely don’t know how anyone would get saved in such a church.) Some other churches believe that wearing certain types of clothing makes one more acceptable to Christ.

Common demons among those who believe such doctrines are pride, arrogance, sectarianism, fear, error, antichrist, anger, witchcraft, and control. One who is submitted to a false doctrine, or one who formerly was submitted to a false doctrine, is probably demonized to some extent. This is especially true if that doctrine adds to or takes away from the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Witchcraft

My use of the word witchcraft includes all practices that involve supernatural knowledge or ability gained apart from God. It also includes any ungodly interactions with the spirit realm. This disqualifies much supernatural activity that is done in the name of Christ. We will examine the clear distinctions between witchcraft and activities of God.

God is supernatural, and He definitely does interact with His people. Therefore, it’s not unusual for Christians and God to communicate with one another. God speaks to us in different ways. He uses the Holy Spirit, the Bible, people, circumstances, thoughts, impressions, dreams, visions, angels, and His audible voice. Of these several ways, dreams, visions, angels, and His audible voice are the most infrequent ways He speaks to us. Whichever way He chooses to communicate with us, the message will always fit these criteria:

•    It will always recognize the sinfulness of humanity.

•    It will always recognize Jesus Christas the one true God and savior of the world.

•    It will always recognize that the blood of Jesus is the only thing that cleanses us from our sins.

•    It will always recognize the Bible as the only written communication we have from God.

We are commanded to judge every so-called word from God. The general standard we use to judge it is the above criteria. But what if miracles are performed in the name of Christ or God, and the message given does not fit the above standard? Should we accept a message as from God simply because it is accompanied by miracles or given to us supernaturally? No. The scriptures plainly tell us that Satan and his false teachers can also perform miracles.

Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and demanded that he release God’s people. To show that almighty God was with them, they used a stick to perform several outstanding miracles. Surprisingly, the demonized magicians of Pharaoh duplicated many of the miracles.

“...And Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his serpents, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did like manner with their enchantments. For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods.” (Exodus 7:10-12)

It’s no small miracle that the Egyptian magicians were able through enchantments to literally turn sticks into snakes in defiance of Moses and God. Of course, Aaron’s snake ate up their snakes, but that doesn’t change this fact: Satan’s ministers can also perform miracles.

For this reason, God gave us this command:

"If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proveth you [allows Satan to empower the false prophet to perform miracles], to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Deuteronomy 13:1-3)

Therefore, we are not to accept for a moment any person or doctrine that undermines our faith in Jesus Christ as the one true God and savior of the world. Dreams, visions, miracles, angels, phenomena, supernatural powers, or whatever else is used to steer us away from the Jesus of the New Testament, are to be rejected as tools of Satan.

Have You Ever Participated in Witchcraft?

Ask a hundred typical people whether they have ever participated in witchcraft and maybe a couple will say yes. Yet in the eyes of God many more have participated in witchcraft. It is my experience that many people are ignorantly guilty of this extremely dangerous sin.

In one of our meetings a lady came to my friend and partner in ministry, Larry, and asked for prayer. She first instructed Larry that she didn’t need deliverance from demons. She had brought a friend whom she felt needed to be set free from demons. But she only wanted general prayer for herself.

Larry listened to her instructions on how to pray and promptly commanded Satan to come out of her. As it so often happens, demons immediately manifested. She fell down and flopped all over the floor. What was this? How could a woman who was so sure she did not have demons flop all over the floor once demons were commanded to come out of her?

In her case, the answer was that she was guilty of witchcraft. Witchcraft? Yeah, witchcraft. But not the kind of witchcraft we see on television and movies. She wasn’t guilty of conjuring up demons or casting spells on people. That kind of obvious witchcraft is only practiced by a very small segment of society. Instead she was guilty of the kind of popularized, mainstream, and fashionable witchcraft that is practiced by tens of millions of Americans. Some of these cursed activities are fortune telling, astrology, and the horoscope.

The scripture listed below identifies many categories of forbidden interaction with demons:

“There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination to the Lord.” (Deuteronomy 18:10-12)

I’ll provide a brief summary on each forbidden practice listed above.

• Children Passing through the Fire. This was the ancient practice of child sacrifice. Children were literally burned alive to satisfy demons. (Can we liken this to our practice of sacrificing our children to murder through abortion? I think so.)

• Diviners. This is the practice of seeking or securing knowledge through supernatural means other than the Holy Spirit. It is sometimes done through tarot cards, palm reading, ouija boards, crystal balls, numerology, psychic hotlines, iridology (charting someone’s eyes), or some other means. The ways in which people seek knowledge through demons of divination are endless. It is idolatry.

• Observers of Times. Basically, this is astrology. It is the practice of looking to the stars and heavenly constellations for guidance. It is idolatry.

• Enchanters, Witches, and Charmers. There’s little distinction between these three. Enchanters and charmers may differ in methods, but they’re simply witches. Spiritual witchcraft is the using of supernatural powers to control people, things, or circumstances. It is idolatry.

• Consulter of Familiar Spirits. These are severely demonized people who have a partnership with demons. The spirits usually provide supernatural knowledge to the false teacher. Generally, the false teacher uses this info to impress gullible people, often getting paid in the process. These are people who would rather seek knowledge through Satan instead of God. It is idolatry.

• Wizards. These are glorified witches. They like to use physical artifacts or tools of some sort to empower their witchcraft. It is idolatry.

• Necromancers. These are people who supposedly speak to the dead. Actually, they work with demons who impersonate the dead. It is idolatry.

I ended most paragraphs with the sentence: It is idolatry. I did this because there is only one way to gain supernatural power from Satan. And that is to worship him. Some of his more enlightened and sophisticated victims would gasp at the thought of doing something so obviously evil and culturally backward.

Nonetheless, the process is nonnegotiable. This is true whether it is ignorant heathen in distant lands who physically bow before ugly statues, or whether it is wise and expensively dressed sophisticates in air-conditioned rooms that spiritually bow before the American gods of materialism, greed, and selfishness. The currency used to purchase power from Satan is our spirits, our souls, and our bodies. We want to believe that we’re simply tapping into some mystical inner power of the human mind or spirit. But what we’re really tapping into is the world of evil spirits.

Speaking of Americanized idolatry, this is a good place to look at one of Satan’s most polished presentations of spiritual death he has offered.

YOGA

Yoga is like chocolate laced with deadly poison. It looks harmless and it tastes good. However, it is a door to supernatural contact with demons. American yoga presents itself as a nonreligious way to relax and get in touch with one’s inner self. Yet its victims commonly do not know that yoga is the child of Hinduism. Yoga and Hinduism can’t be separated.

Hinduism is a multi-faceted religion comprised of hundreds of sects. Although the differences in the sects can be extreme, they all have one thing in common: Their belief systems are in direct and irreconcilable contradiction to Christian salvation. The main differences worth mentioning are that we believe Jesus Christ is almighty God, and that He died for our sins. We believe that He arose from the dead on the third day, and that He is the only way to God the Father and heaven. Hindus totally reject these beliefs.

Since yoga was created by Hindu teachers, with Hindu philosophical and religious foundations, it would be extremely foolish to assume that one could practice yoga apart from practicing Hinduism. One need only to do a casual study of yoga to see that yoga is simply another sect of Hinduism. Therefore, the practitioner of yoga is a practitioner of Hinduism, and is subject to the same demons that invade traditional Hindus. Biblically speaking, yoga is witchcraft and idolatry.

Demons Can Enter When We Accept Negative Words

The power of the spoken word can be limitless. Spoken under the inspiration of God, it is empowered by God to perform His desires. Yet words spoken under the inspiration of Satan, whether directly or indirectly, can become supernaturally empowered by demons to perform the will of Satan.

The power of the spoken word has been taught by some in such a way as to give the idea that the spoken word has supernatural power within itself to do a thing. However, this is not the case. Spoken words remain limited to the natural realm unless energized by God or Satan. If a word of blessing is spoken, and God does not energize that word, it falls to the ground and bears no supernatural fruit. Yet if God does energize that word, it takes on the power of God. Thus, the powers of heaven work to bring that word to pass.

We see this principle at work in the life of the great prophet, Samuel.

“And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground.” (1 Samuel 3:19)

He could have prophesied all day and night, but if God had chosen to not energize Samuel’s words, nothing supernatural would have happened. But Samuel’s words were honored because they were birthed from a close walk with God.

This principle works in reverse, as well. Spoken words that are evil, unless empowered by Satan, remain in the natural realm. This means they are limited to causing only natural evil. Of course, a lot of evil can be done even without supernatural help from Satan. But when Satan does energize an evil word, its potential for evil is immensely magnified. When evil words are energized by Satan, they become supernatural curses.

Curses aren’t always the type normally identified with witches and warlocks. Some curses appear as nothing more than negative statements. But a supernatural curse is the child of witchcraft. Witchcraft is ungodly control.

Many people have come under the power of witchcraft by evil words spoken over them. This is often done by someone in authority over them. But any evil words spoken over us by anyone can take on the power of witchcraft. This is done when we accept the words as truth.

For instance, a wife with a verbally abusive husband may be told by him, “I don’t know why you’d even want to go back to school. You’ve never been good at school. You’ll only fall flat on your face.” If she accepts these words as truth, a demon will probably energize the words and make them come to pass.

Or a teacher may tell a student, “You don’t have an analytical mind. You’ll never be good at math and science. Do yourself a favor and forget about becoming a doctor. You’ll thank me later.” If the student accepts these words as truth, a demon will constantly remind the student that she isn’t cut out to be a doctor.

Some of the curses spoken over us may sound like these listed below:

•    You’re just like (someone seen in a negative way).

•    You’re fat!

•    You’re stupid!

•    You’ll never (amount to anything...succeed...etc.).

•    You’re not (mechanically...musically...academically...linguistically...etc.) inclined.

•    You’ll never get married.

•    You’re clumsy.

In short, any negative word spoken over you can be energized by demons if you accept the Words as truth.

We also need to add to this that evil words spoken by you over yourself can also become energized by Satan. A perfect example of this is when the Jews who had encouraged the crucifixion of Jesus said, “His blood be on us, and on our children.”(Matthew 27:25) The Jews are perhaps the most persecuted and despised people in the entire world. Although much of that has to do with the larger context of their past disobedience to God, and their present rejection of Jesus Christas God, it certainly appears that their self-curse has been energized by Satan.

When we speak evil of ourselves, we give Satan permission to bring that statement to pass. If a woman says, “I hate my___,” she gives demons permission to attack her in that area. Don’t do Satan’s dirty work. Speak only good things about yourself. If there is something negative that you must speak, do so to God in prayer. There it will be covered by the laws that govern confession. Your speech will be accepted, and you will be protected. (Read the Psalms. You can be totally honest in prayer, and Satan can’t touch you.)

Demons Can Enter Through Rejection

It is extremely common for demons to enter through rejection. It is probably as common as the spirit of fear. We are not created or equipped for rejection. It is unnatural. Something terrible happens to our soul when we are rejected. The acid of hell eats away at us until our perceptions and responses are influenced, and maybe even totally controlled, by a demon. How does a demon use rejection against us? He does so by entering the open door provided by our response to the rejection.

If our security is in Christ, and if we know that our acceptance is final in Him, and if we allow this knowledge to protect us from the rejection of the world, Satan will not have anything to work with. But if we respond to rejection with fear, anger, unforgiveness, or in some other negative way, Satan will attack us in that area of ungodly response. It is our ungodly response to rejection that opens the door to Satan, and not the rejection itself. Jesus was rejected, but He did not let it poison His soul.

In the case of little children and babies in the womb, Satan often finds an opening that was provided by rejection. If a child is not wanted by the mother, it will probably be born demonized with spirits of rejection, fear, timidity, or some like spirit. The child will grow up not knowing why it has these problems. Often while we are casting demons out of adults, the Lord will mercifully give them visions of their childhood. Sometimes He lets them see when they were in the womb. Many times Satan’s power has been broken as the victim sees for the first time how they came under his control.

It seems unbelievable that a child can be born with a demon. But it has been my experience that many adults were either born with demons, or became demonized shortly thereafter. If this seems incredible to you, what do you think of children being born with AIDS, cerebral palsy, or addicted to crack? What do you think about precious little children being kidnapped, raped, and murdered? What do you think about babies being beaten or starved to death by their parents, of all people?

Does your theology allow you to admit that these terrible and unfair things happen to defenseless children? If not, you’re in a world of unreality. If so, then you must logically assume that since natural tragedy can happen to unborn and born children, spiritual tragedy can happen to them also.

For children, it is not their deliberate response to rejection that causes them to become demonized. What causes them to become demonized is their inherent vulnerability to negative emotions. Negative emotions are magnified in the little minds or babies and children. If someone screams at us, we may get mad and scream back. We may even hold it in and simmer. But when a child suffers this kind of treatment, he may be terrified, if for only a moment. If a child is told, “I hate you!” that child’s security may be so shattered that she never recovers.

Oh, the terrible power of rejection! Always, always, always, speak and act kindly. And never, never, never, respond to rejection in an ungodly way. This way the spirit of rejection will never be able to harm us, or cause us to harm others.

Demons Can Enter Through Inheritance

We’ve already mentioned that it is possible to be born demonized. Now we will follow up by saying that rejection is not the only door that can cause someone to be born demonized. There are demons that attach themselves to families. These are usually witchcraft or sickness demons.

A child born to a parent with a spirit of witchcraft may find later in life that she has similar demonic powers. Similarly, a demon of cancer or miscarriage or deafness may harass a family line for generations. You will notice an unusual number of people in that family with the same disease or condition. These are demons of inheritance.

Demons Can Enter Through Environment

Another extremely common way in which demons invade our lives is through our environments. It is easy and natural to become what you are constantly exposed to. A child born to alcoholics may find that although he hates what alcohol has done to his family, he still finds himself strangely drawn to the cursed liquid. What has happened?

What has happened is the child lives in an atmosphere where that particular spirit is allowed to manifest virtually at will. Unless one is incredibly strong, he will most likely fall victim to the same spirit—even though he hates the effects of the spirit. Or if there is another sinful act, attitude, belief, or behavior, that greatly and consistently manifests itself in that home, the person’s natural and spiritual resistance can be weakened to such a degree that demons may find access. This is a type of involuntary environmental demonic invasion. I say involuntary because the person just happens to be raised in this atmosphere.

Voluntary environmental demonic invasion happens when we deliberately go to places of strong demonic concentration. Have you ever noticed how differently people behave when they go to a nightclub? Ordinarily tame, and perhaps even modest people, change into different people. It’s as though the environment paralyzes their consciences and draws upon their sexual instincts. How many fornications and adulteries just happened simply because someone was overwhelmed by the strong concentration of demon spirits that hang around such places.

This is like the man who subscribes to Playboy magazine for the great articles. Yeah, right. He tells himself he is not going to lust. But he opens the pages and surprise, surprise, surprise. There are two of the most beautiful bare breasts in the world saying “Howdy, partner!” He is overcome of lust, and sins. This happened because he deliberately put himself in a place where there is a strong concentration of demon power. This is a sure recipe for defeat. (Remember Samson.)

Environment is very important. If you are in a place where there is a strong concentration of demon power, get away from it as soon as possible. If this is impractical, or if God has called you to serve in such a place, cry out to Him for strength. He will protect you.

Chapter 7

Casting Demons Out of People

The ministry of casting out demons is a present day ministry of the Holy Spirit. It is God working through His people to bring deliverance to hurting people. Casting out demons, or as it is commonly called, deliverance, is nothing more than a Christian making a demon leave a person through the power of the Holy Spirit. This is done in the same way Jesus made demons leave people. It is done through a verbal command of faith.

Repeatedly we see Jesus making demons leave by issuing verbal commands to the invading spirits. The below scripture is an excellent summary of Jesus’ deliverance ministry:

“When the even [evening] was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick.” (Matthew 8:17)

(Notice again the close relationship of demons and sickness.) Jesus dealt with demons in a very matter-of-fact, routine way. There was no religious ceremony, no mystical chants, no use of top secret religious formulas. He simply commanded the demons to come out of their victims. With rare exception, this was His primary way of making demons leave people.

This is also the way in which we are to make demons leave people. Several places in the gospels we read that Jesus commanded the disciples to cast out demons. They apparently understood this to mean that they were to follow His example in casting out demons through the use of verbal commands.

A clear example of this is given in Luke 10:17, when some disciples returned from an evangelistic trip: “And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. “Obviously, the use of Jesus’ name to make demons leave signify they used verbal commands.

Another clear example is Acts 16:18: ...But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus to come out of her....” Here Paul cast out a demon by commanding it to come out of a girl.

Thus, we see conclusively that the routine way to cast out a demon is to simply command it to come out. But then what?

What May Happen Just Prior to the Command for the Demon to Leave

Satan is no fool. He knows he is no match for the power of God. Therefore, he will try everything he can to keep you from deliverance ministry. This may be done through distractions. He may use phone calls or visits from people. Or he may use some urgent need to keep you from deliverance ministry. Don’t be surprised if he tries to make you sick to keep you away. Headaches and pains are two of his favorite tools.

Also be aware that demons often manifest their functional nature in their victims when they are in the presence of a Christian who is skilled in deliverance ministry. For instance, if I teach a powerful, insightful message that exposes the way Satan does business, he may manifest himself. The way in which he manifests himself may very well be expressed as the function of the demon.

A demon of anger may cause the person to be filled with anger at the speaker. A demon of confusion may cause the person to become disoriented. Similarly, a demon of fear or pride may cause the person to exhibit those characteristics. Whatever is the spirit’s predominant nature, that is probably the way in which it will manifest itself when it is disturbed by anointed ministry. Yet demons may manifest in ways other than their normal expression. For instance, a spirit of fear may become so agitated at a particular sermon that it causes a pain or some other discomfort. This is God’s clue to the minister that deeper ministry is needed.

What to Expect After the Command is Given

Fortunately, the Bible has many examples of what happens when demons are commanded to leave people. In Jesus’ ministry we are given very graphic accounts of what happens when demons are challenged. Since many of the several biblical accounts list similar responses, I will list only those that introduce new material.

•    Demons may scream through the victim. (Mark 1:26)

•    Demons may throw the victim to the ground. (Mark 3:11)

•    Demons may speak through the victim. (Mark 5:6-12)

•    Demons may resist your commands. (Mark 9:17-18; Luke 8:27-29)

I have witnessed all of the above and more. Sometimes in my meetings I have noticed that most of those delivered manifested screaming demons. Other times the predominant demonic manifestation has been great spontaneous coughing. And at other times the people simply feel something leave their bodies. Still there are other manifestations.

When the command is given for the demon to come out, you may find that it simply leaves. I have seen this happen many times. You may or may not feel the demon exit your body. If you do, you probably will sense its departure in one of several ways:

(1) You feel something leave a body part;

(2) The demon leaves through screams;

(3) The demon leaves through yawns;

(4) The demon leaves through tears;

(5) The demon leaves through coughs;

(6) The demon leaves through vomit or spit. (This last one I routinely forbid. I think Satan uses it to scare others away from seeking or ministering deliverance.)

Another occurrence that happens when demons are commanded to come out is they may manifest themselves to the victim more strongly than they ever have before. The person may hear internal voices. These voices may threaten the victim.

Some people feel nauseous, or they may get a sudden headache. Sometimes people feel unexplainably terrified. But actually it is explainable. Demons are terrified of the power of God. When they get in the presence of someone who flows in deliverance ministry, they often panic in fear. The victim feels the demon’s fear. As it is written, “...the devils also believe, and tremble.” (James 2:19)

Ultimately, demons don’t want to be cast out. Therefore, they do everything they can to convince the victim that the problem is not demonic. If this doesn’t work, and the demon is directly challenged through deliverance ministry, it will pretend to not be there. The demon hopes that the deliverance minister will get discouraged or impatient and stop the challenge. If this occurs, the demon wins.

However, if the minister—every Christian is a minister—presses the challenge, the demon may desperately defy the deliverance minister in the hope that he can outlast the minister’s faith, love, and patience. Faith that he actually can cast out this demon; love enough to care to press on to victory; and patience to persist in the face of Satan’s defiance.

Often I have been in intense battles with demons that desperately and arrogantly refused to leave their victims. Of course, since I knew that Satan is defeated, and that Christians have authority over him, and since I have learned much about this ministry, these antics didn’t stop me. Whenever I run up across a stubborn devil, I realize two things.

First, I know that the demon must leave. And, second, I know that the demon’s defiance is being empowered by some undisclosed fact. This second point is extremely important. The following example will show you what I mean.

At a Friday night deliverance service in Atlanta, we ran across an incredibly defiant and arrogant demon. I was busy casting demons out of others, when I noticed that Cynthia, a team member, was being challenged by a demon. The demonized woman began to curse. She lifted both of her arms and curled her hands as though she was going to claw Cynthia. But there’s probably not a devil in two hells more tenacious than Cynthia. Without flinching, Cynthia pointed at the demonized lady and firmly said, “You can’t harm me, Satan. Now sit down!”

The demonized woman sat down and I got into the act. There was no way I was going to let Cynthia have all the fun. So we both ministered to the deeply troubled woman. However, after two hours of this demon laughing in our faces and mocking us in front of the congregation, we had made no progress.

“Come out, in Jesus’ name!”

Laughter from the demon. “You can’t cast me out. This bit— is mine! She wants me!” More laughter.

The congregation is shocked.

Cynthia and I aren’t shocked. We know that he has to leave at our command. But we don’t know what else to do to make him do so. We had tried everything.

“Lady, this devil says you want him. Can you think of anything else that you haven’t already repented of?

The demons began to sexually assault her right in front of us. She tried to stop the invisible rapists. This was my second time seeing a person assaulted by something invisible, so it wasn’t a complete shock to me. Still, it’s not everyday that a lady is raped in front of a church group by the invisible man. It kind of unnerves you, if you know what I mean.

Finally, this craziness stopped, and the lady was able to talk to us. We had already spoken to her at great length about her fascination with the singer, Prince. We told her in no uncertain terms that it was dead wrong for her to listen to his filthy music. We told her that his sexually explicit lyrics were unholy and demonic, and that this was the last thing in the world that a lonely, young Christian woman should listening to.

A light went on in her head. She told us that the demonic rapes began after she started listening to Prince’s music and fantasizing about making love to him.

What stumped us was that even after she repented of this, the demon refused to leave. In fact, he seemed even more emboldened to stay. I think he actually said something like, “Now what are you going to do?” Occasionally Cynthia and I looked at one another. Our game faces said, “You’re coming out, devil!” But we both knew that we were thinking, “What in the world is going on here? Why won’t this devil leave? What else is there?”

It was around midnight. I was hungry. I was tired. I was humiliated. I didn’t know what else to do. Yet there was o-o-o-o-o-ne thing more.

Lord, please tell us what this demon is holding onto? Please give us a word of knowledge, so that we can break this devil’s power over this lady?

Ask her how she feels about Prince, the Holy Spirit replied.

Ask her about Prince? I repeated mentally, surprised, wondering whether I had really heard from God. We’ve already spent two hours talking to her about how she feels about Prince. We know how she feels about Prince. She has already repented about that.

God didn’t repeat Himself.

Reluctantly, and with very little enthusiasm in my voice, I said to the lady, “How do you feel about Prince?” Hearing myself ask her this question after we had already spent two hours interrogating this woman about her and Prince made me feel like a fool.

“How do I feel about Prince?” She was as surprised to hear the question again as I was embarrassed to ask it again. “I already told you how I feel about Prince.”

Good grief, I thought. My fleshly pride was in overdrive.

Then suddenly she said, “Oh! I pray for him.”

It’s hard to explain what happens when one knows one has heard from God. The best way I can describe it is suddenly a rush of information flooded my mind. In a flash I completely understood exactly what was giving Satan the legal right to resist our commands.

“Lady, that’s it! That’s what Satan is holding onto!”

“What? What?”

I read to her two scriptures.

“The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire; thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the Lord. Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing.” (Deuteronomy 7:25-26)

What I am about to share with you is extremely important. In deliverance ministry, it is indispensable information. In this woman’s case, Satan had concocted an absolutely brilliant plan. On one hand, he had her listening to Prince’s music, and fantasizing about making love to him. On the other hand, he had her praying for Prince’s salvation. So she was linked to him irreligiously and religiously. On his behalf, she was doing something sinful and holy.

Here is the revelation: God adamantly demands that all our ties to false gods be totally severed. God will settle for nothing but a complete divorce. And He prefers a nasty, confrontational, and bitter divorce, filled with hatred and animosity. This is what is meant by “ thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it.... ”

This woman’s tie to Prince was in her prayers. However, she didn’t understand how praying for someone could be sinful. She used certain soul winning scriptures to justify her prayers. But the Lord gave me wisdom. I shared with her how God had ordered the prophet Samuel to stop praying for King Saul in 1 Samuel 16:1. I also shared with her 1 John 5:16, where John says we are not to pray for those who have committed a sin unto death.

Finally, I emphasized and reemphasized to her that she was violating God’s explicit command to “not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein.” Praying for Prince was her way of holding onto her idol. She couldn’t do it in an obviously sinful way. Therefore, the only way left was an obviously righteous way. Fortunately for us (and our bellies and our sleepy eyelids), she understood how she was violating God’s commands to burn our idols.

“Now, ask God to forgive you for praying for your idol,” I instructed.

She did so.

“Devil, your power has been broken. Come out, in Jesus’ name!”

Almost immediately, the lady let out a loud, long scream, and was set totally free.

As I stated above, this is an incredibly important thing to remember when you are seeking deliverance from evil spirits: God absolutely demands that all ties to false gods be broken. If you are coming out of fornication or adultery, you are forbidden to continue dating your partner in sin. Nor can you continue to send cards or emails or anything else. Break the ties!

If you came from a background of false religion or witchcraft, you must utterly hate your former beliefs and practices. If you hold the slightest regard or sentimental value on that which God hates, you will open the door for Satan to re-enter your life. You can’t escape the darkness of hell by purchasing a flashlight. You must leave the premises!

If you are coming out of sexual and psychological perversion, such as homosexuality, bestiality, incest, pedophilia, or the like, have you totally (and I mean totally) rejected the supporting philosophy and reasons that led you to commit such wickedness. Do you see it as wickedness? As perversion? As sick? Or have you simply resolved to not actively participate in this type of sexual conduct? Refusing to act out sexual perversion is not the same thing as repentance from sexual perversion. False repentance in this area will do nothing but produce a frustrated Christian who never fully realizes victory. You must hate your idol of sexual perversion!

In closing, if it has been conclusively determined that you are demonized, and you or someone else has skillfully ministered deliverance, and the demon refuses to leave, prayerfully check yourself. Are you still holding on to some forbidden belief, practice, relationship or artifact (i.e., jewelry, clothing, book, memory, etc.)? No amount of shouting at the devil will ever take the place of true repentance.

Chapter 8

Benefits of Serving Jesus Christ

There is a passage of scripture in the Bible that perfectly expresses the exceeding riches of God’s goodness toward us. It is Psalms 103:1-4:

“Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction...”

This is the passionate praise of God from a man who was totally overwhelmed by the goodness of God. This is the spontaneous explosion of joy from one who intimately knew God. Who is this wonderful person who forgives all our sins and heals all our diseases? It is none other than Jesus Christ—our great and mighty God, our best friend, and Lover of our soul. It is the Lord our defender. He reaches down from the heavens and washes us clean from our sins in His own blood. He is the one who accepts us when we are rejected. He is the one who knows all our secret sins, and yet is willing to love us—and is willing to accept us as His own ...if v\e repent.

Jesus Christ is the one who extends His mercy to the most morally filthy of us. To the woman caught in the very act of adultery, and facing a civil punishment of death for her sin, Jesus rescued her, and said, “Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man accused the?” She answered, “No man, Lord.” “Jesus answered, “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.”~

This wonderful message of God’s love, and His willingness to forgive every sin, is echoed from virtually every Christian church in the world. But, surprisingly, the church has all but forgotten the second half of God’s great promise: “Who healeth all thy diseases.”

Yet God’s promise to heal all our diseases is as valid today as His promise to forgive every sin. If He has stopped healing, how do we know He hasn’t also stopped forgiving? The truth is God has neither stopped forgiving or healing. He does them both wherever people meet the conditions. So, then, why silence on the part of the church? The church’s silence is the result of ignorance and unbelief.

First, a sad and surprising fact is that most Christians are ignorant of the power of God. They simply don’t know that God desires for all to be healed of their diseases. This incredible ignorance is maintained even in the face of overwhelming Bible evidence that God heals every sickness, disease, and torment. How is it that people who claim to know God and believe the Bible can be so totally ignorant of such a fundamental Bible truth? The answer is that most Christians—ministers included--do not depend on the Bible to interpret their experiences. They do the exact opposite. They interpret the Bible by their experiences.

This means that when confronted by a disease, most Christians’ faith that God will heal them is limited to what their experience tell them. And what is that experience? Honestly, it is that trust in God for healing is like playing the lottery. For every one that is actually miraculously healed, thousands are not. This kind of experience does not help faith. It instead pushes us toward our own limited remedies. We are then forced to live in a land far beneath the realm of God and miracles.

In this land, cancer, diabetes, AIDS, cerebral palsy, spinal meningitis, paralysis, blindness, deafness, multiple sclerosis, and other so-called incurable afflictions reign as ruthless kings. The pressing need, then, is to escape this land of limitations where the doctor’s diagnosis is final. This escape is no easy task, but it has been done by others and it can be done by you.

The first thing you must do is understand that ignorance of the miraculous does not mean the miraculous does not exist. Sure, we can all recount stories of how we know someone who believed God and was not healed. But what exactly does this mean? If you knew one hundred or one thousand people who believed God and were not healed, what would that mean? It would mean only that you know many people who were not healed. It would not mean that God doesn’t heal the sick. It would not mean that God doesn’t desire to heal all the sick. It would not mean that you can’t be healed.

Of course, we can’t reasonably expect our faith to not be negatively affected by the knowledge of so many failures. It’s not wrong to ask the question, “If God is almighty, and He desires everyone to be healed, why are there so few miraculous healings through prayer? Failure to ask this legitimate question, or to criticize someone for asking it, is to behave as false religions which discourage or prohibit one to use one’s mind. So I’ll address this issue.

If in our logic we conclude that since everyone is not healed, God does not want everyone healed, we fall into the trap of allowing our experience to determine what part of God’s word is true. We also apply a logic upon physical healing that we wouldn’t dare apply to spiritual healing. If we did apply this logic in the same way, we would have to conclude that since God is almighty, and He desires all to be saved, then everyone should be saved. If they aren’t saved, as the logic goes, it’s because He either can’t save them or the day of salvation is over.

Is it right to say that the day of salvation is gone simply because everyone is not saved? Is it right to say God’s will must be that some go to hell since the vast majority of people go to hell instead of heaven? Why else would they go to hell? An almighty God who desires people to go to heaven would make them go to heaven, wouldn’t He? If He did not, wouldn’t we have to doubt His power to save? But since we declare God to be almighty, we can’t simultaneously doubt His power. Therefore, we conclude that it is neither God’s lack of power or desire that damns people to everlasting punishment.

What we are left with is a contradiction between the scriptural ideal of universal salvation and the sad reality that most people are going to hell. How can salvation be made available for everyone by an all-powerful God, and yet most people are not and will not be saved? The following scriptures plainly show God’s desire for everyone to be saved. They also show that most still go on to eternal damnation.

“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 2:9)

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” (John 3:16,17)

“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Matthew 7:13,14)

“For many are called, but few chosen.” (Matthew 22:14)

So now that we see there is a direct contradiction between God’s will for all to be saved, and the reality that despite His will all are not saved, how will this affect our faith for spiritual healing? If we are true to our method of interpreting the Bible by our experience, we must declare without reservation that spiritual healing is either not for today, or it’s only for some people.

Yet should a minister boldly and consistently preach this, the church—myself included—will declare that doctrine false. We may even declare the minister to be a false teacher. So why do we so quickly use faulty logic to answer the contradiction listed below?:

•    God’s desires everyone to be healed.

•    Yet everyone is not healed.

We do so because we are ignorant of God. We don’t know Him.

Now when I say we are ignorant of God, I do not mean that we are not Christians. The kind of ignorance of which I speak is that seen exhibited by Philip, an apostle of Jesus. After spending three years with Jesus day and night, and receiving one-on-one instruction from Him, Philip asked the Lord a question that prompted Jesus to ask Philip whether he really knew Him:

“Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?” (John 14:8, 9a)

Jesus was surprised and dismayed at Philip’s question because it showed that Philip had not yet understood that God looks and acts exactly like Jesus. To ask to see the Father is the same as saying the Father is different (in character and essence) from Jesus. If this is so, we still don’t know God, and many of Jesus’ words are puzzles which can never be understood.

For if Jesus spent so much time teaching us in so many ways and with so many words that He and the Father are one, and yet the obvious meaning of these words are in actuality a mystery, we are yet ignorant of the Father. If this is true, most of the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are absolutely useless. We are then left with no picture of God the Father, except the Old Testament.

However, the truth of the matter is that what Jesus said about Himself and the Father agreeing in every way is not a mystery; it is an obvious truth. One need not wonder about such obvious truths. The need is simply to accept these truths. Philip made the mistake of making mysterious the obvious. This is a mistake we often make.

For instance, after reading Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, how could anyone claim to not know God’s will in healing—unless he doesn’t understand that Jesus meant what He said about He and His Father being one? And how could anyone ever claim to not know that the Father is always against disease and always for healing? One can only do this if one doesn’t know Jesus came to give us a perfect picture of God. Here are a few scriptures that plainly tell us Jesus came to represent God:

“I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” (John 5:30)

“Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son also.” (John 5:19)

“Then said they [unbelieving Jews] unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.” (John 8:19)

Since it is exceedingly obvious in the Bible that Jesus was an enemy of sicknesses, diseases, and demons, it should also be obvious that God the Father was an enemy of the same. To say otherwise is to say that Jesus the Son and God the Father worked against one another. But we know that Jesus did not work against his Father, and we know that his Father did not work against him. As the scripture says so clearly, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit worked together to heal the sick and cast out devils:

“How God [the Father] anointed Jesus [the Son] of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost [the Holy Spirit] and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.” (Acts 10:38)

Here we see the Trinity of God working together to heal the sick. Anyone who honestly studies the word of God will have to agree that God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit hate sickness, disease, and Satan. Nowhere in the Bible are sickness, disease, and demonic affliction treated as blessings. Yet for all the overwhelming Bible evidence that God sees sickness and disease as a curse, many stubbornly refuse to admit this. These people have regressed beyond ignorance to unbelief.

The Obstacle of Willful and Deliberate Unbelief

There is an unbelief that results from simply not having knowledge. Unanswered questions breed unbelief. If one doesn’t know enough about a thing, one can not have strong faith concerning that thing. The idea of blind faith may be an ingredient of cults and false religions, but it has no place in our relationship with Jesus Christ. Blind faith requires a person to believe in the unprovable. This means one must go against common sense and one’s own conscience. The conscience is that part of us that says, / can’t quite put my finger on it, but there’s something wrong here. And there is something definitely wrong with telling a person to have faith in something without giving proof adequate enough to satisfy the intelligent questions of an honest conscience.

Yet to have blind faith means one must suspend critical judgment. When we suspend critical judgment, we stop asking hard questions. However, our God has never told us to blindly accept what we’re told-even in regards to healing. In 1 Thessalonians 5:23, we are specifically told to “prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” This is a command of God for us to prove what we’re told. The only way to do this is to ask questions. If what we’re told can’t stand the test of honest scrutiny, it’s false and should be rejected.

Unfortunately, many have rejected the doctrine that it is always God’s will to heal the sick and suffering. They do not reject this doctrine because they don’t have adequate knowledge. They reject it because it threatens their pet doctrines or their lifestyle or both. There is no clearer example than the Pharisees.

The Pharisees were a group of religious teachers who absolutely hated Jesus Christ. They accused him of being a liar and false prophet. They accused him of being a servant of Satan. They accused him of being ignorant. They accused him of many things. Yet despite the fierce accusations, his enemies knew that he was totally innocent of the charges. The thing that compelled them to continue the accusations was the condition of their hearts. Their hearts were in an advanced stage of evilness.

Of course, all have sinned, and fall short of the moral perfection of God. So, in that context all hearts are evil. Nonetheless, it is sufficient to say without much explanation that there are varying degrees of human evil. The kind of evil heart of which I speak is a condition limited to those who have progressed in their rebellion. The Pharisees rejected Christ because He threatened their way of life. They had built their reputations, careers, and fortunes on a religious system of oppressive legalism and religious pride. Since Jesus Christ hates legalism and sinful pride, it was inevitable that there would be a clash.

Of course, Christ’s enemies couldn’t admit that they hated Him because He was good and they were evil. They needed an acceptable excuse to reject Him. The excuse would allow them to appear to be religious defenders of the truth from an irreligious false prophet. They chose the lie that Jesus was distorting the holy scriptures. In reality, however, it was the Pharisees who twisted the scriptures for their own evil intentions. Jesus emphatically and consistently exposed the Pharisees as evil manipulators of God’s word.

There is an example I will summarize to give you conclusive proof that there is an unbelief that is cold, calculating, and criminal. This is the type of unbelief that deliberately rejects the truth even in the face of overwhelming proof.

First, Lazarus, a very close friend of Jesus became ill. Jesus was told of the emergency and was asked to quickly go to Lazarus that He may heal him. Jesus chose instead to wait two days before going to His friend. By the time he arrived, Lazarus had been dead and buried in a cave for four days. This didn’t stop Jesus. We pick up the story as Jesus speaks to Lazarus’ sister in the eleventh chapter of the book of John:

“Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha, saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

The sister answered that she believed Jesus was Christ, the Son of God. By this time, Lazarus’ other sister, Mary, fell at Jesus’ feet and said the same thing that her sister had spoken to Jesus. “Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.”

“Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, Take ye away the stone.

Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days. Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God? Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.”

With the exception of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, this resurrection of Lazarus is the greatest New Testament proof that Jesus Christ is the savior of the world. A miracle of this magnitude should convince even the most skeptical critic, shouldn’t it?

“Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him. But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, and told them what things Jesus had done. Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? For this man doeth many miracles. If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation...Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death.”

Isn’t this the clearest example of an unbelief that is defiant to the extreme? In them is the proverb fulfilled: Don’t confuse me with the facts; I’ve already made up my mind. There were certain Jews and Pharisees that had already made up their minds. It made no difference whether Jesus walked on water, healed diseases, cast out devils, supernaturally multiplied food, or stopped a raging storm simply by commanding it to do so—He simply could not be God. So when the Pharisees received word that Jesus had performed this sensational miracle of raising a man from the dead after having been dead for four days, they hardened their hearts even more.

The ability of some people to willfully harden their hearts is almost unbelievable. They possess a determined stubbornness that defy common sense and rational thought. It’s as though once they decide upon a direction, they literally can’t change course. The truth, however, is that these people are not incapable of changing course. Their problem is that they have consciously or subconsciously counted the cost of believing the truth and have decided the price to be too high.

For instance, if the Pharisees admitted that Jesus Christ was God, they would have to admit that His teachings were true. If His teachings were true, theirs were necessarily false. What would this mean to their reputations and careers as religious teachers? They would lose both. (At least as far as man is concerned.) This was asking too much.

The only options left to people who are challenged with the truth is (1) to accept the truth and its consequences, (2) to reject the truth even though they know and admit it to be truth, (3) or to reject the truth while they convince themselves and others that the truth is a lie.

Option one would have required the Pharisees to raise the white flag of surrender. This would have required an admission of error and guilt. Everyone would have known that the Pharisees had abused the scriptures and misled the nation. The results would have ranged from public humiliation to death by stoning. Option one was out of the question.

Option two would have been very difficult on the conscience. No one wants to spend much time fighting his own accusing, guilt-filled thoughts.

Option three was the only logical choice for people to whom options one and two were out of the question. This choice served a couple of purposes. People of this sort usually desire or need a platform of legitimacy to do evil. This is normally to secure a favorable public image or to justify their actions or both. They need to feel that their actions are just. Therefore, they will use every strange and illogical argument available to justify their rejection of Christ and His teachings.

The Pharisees responded to the news of Lazarus’ resurrection by conspiring together to kill Jesus for raising him from the dead. This reveals to us the awesome power of unbelief. Unbelief has power to blind us to the truth. The kind of unbelief the Pharisees displayed was not due to a lack of knowledge. When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, it proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that He had power over death. Who else but Almighty God could speak to a four-day old, rotting, stinking corpse, and raise it from the dead by speaking three words (Lazarus, come forth!)?

The unbelieving Pharisees disbelieved Jesus because they didn’t want to believe Him. They had other interests that they considered more important than God’s interests. This practice of placing things above God blinded them to God’s truth. They brought upon themselves a delusional reality where right was wrong and wrong was right. This fearful condition is spoken of by God in Mathew 13:12-15:

“For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at anytime they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.”

The above passage speaks of the ability to perceive God and to receive from Him. Those with the ability to see and hear God, receive more ability to see and hear God. Those without the ability to see and hear God, lose even the little ability they seem to have. This seems unfair. Shouldn’t those without ability receive more ability? How could God hold accountable those whom He has withheld the ability to see or hear Him?

Our questions are answered in the above scriptures. Here God plainly states that the reason those who have, receive more, and those who have not, lose what little they have, is based solely upon their own deliberate actions. Their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed.

Everyone is given by God the ability to see and hear Him. However, since God always speaks of purity, righteousness, holiness, faith, forgiveness, goodness, and the like, many are offended and push His influence out of their hearts. When this occurs, spiritual atrophy systematically destroys their ability to see or hear God. Little by little they lose the power to believe even that which is obviously true. They become spiritual idiots.

You Must Rid Yourself of All Deliberate Unbelief

Whether your unbelief is due to a lack of knowledge or due to self-imposed hardness of heart, you must get rid of it if you are to be healed. God absolutely hates unbelief and has tied all of His specific blessings to your faith in Him and His words. If your faith is due to ignorance, you simply must get into the Bible and see what God says about healing.

Read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in the Bible and let the Holy Spirit melt away your doubt, fear, and unbelief. Read other good books on divine healing and deliverance from demons. There are good ones and not so good ones. If you read enough of them, you’ll find that thousands have received miraculous healings from all kinds of incurable diseases and torments. You’ll find that there literally is no such thing as an incurable disease or a demon that can’t be made to leave.

If your unbelief is due to your spiritual pride, fear of man, love of sin, or some other wicked motive or vice, I have but one word to say to you: Repent! Turn from your idolatrous agenda and humble yourself before almighty God. This means laying down what is important to you and picking up what is important to Christ. You must determine that you will believe God’s word no matter who it offends. It may mean that you have to lay your church, denomination, or education on God’s altar to be burned by the purifying fire of His truth.

This is not a general word of encouragement. I say this knowing fully well that the biggest obstacle to supernatural healing in America is its preachers. There are exceptions, but for the most part ministers generally do not believe most of the Bible. They believe just enough to claim salvation from sin and eternal damnation. Yet promises or themes of God that conflict with their doubts are locked in the basement of unbelief.

Christians who will be healed from incurable diseases and delivered from tormenting demons must press past the unbelief of their preachers. This is not meant to insult preachers. It’s simply the truth. The typical Christian church is usually pastored by a good, but unbelieving man. This man loves God, but does not believe in the doctrine of divine healing and deliverance. This is not to say that he does not believe in the possibility of divine healing and deliverance.

The difference is that those who accept the doctrine of divine healing and deliverance believe that God desires all to be healed and delivered. They believe that God always honors faith. When they pray, they actually expect God to perform a miracle in direct response to their prayer.

In contrast, those who do not accept the doctrine of divine healing and deliverance, but accept the possibility of it, believe that God is almighty and can and sometimes do heal people. They believe that God sometimes answers prayers for healing. Yet they do not believe that healing is for everyone. They have absolutely no idea why some are healed and others aren’t.

Therefore, their faith for healing and miracles is incredibly weak and ineffective. When they pray for healing, they expect God to say no. Even before they offer the prayer, they mentally rehearse how they’re going to explain why the person wasn’t healed. These types of preachers try to hide their weak faith in God by criticizing those with strong faith in God. They also try to hide their weak faith by explaining away the promises of God. Unfortunately, those under their spiritual care are needlessly ravaged and destroyed by diseases and demons. This is the grossest kind of cowardly, self-serving, criminal negligence.

If you attend this kind of church and you are afflicted with an incurable disease, you most likely will be told that God put the disease upon you for some mysterious but wise reason. You have a choice. You can accept what the preacher says, and suffer with your disease until you die. Or you can believe what the Bible says about diseases and demons. If you believe the Bible, it will be necessary for you to leave your church and join a church that believes all of God’s word.

Chapter 9

Examples of God’s Willingness to Heal the Sick

The Bible is full of examples of God’s willingness to heal sick and terminally ill people. Absolutely no one is too far gone for God. No one is excluded from His mercy. It is a foregone conclusion among the entire Church that God’s mercy is extended to all. The scriptures below are extremely clear.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

“For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly... But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6, 8)

“For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:12-13)

“The Lord is... not willing that any should perish..." (2 Peter3:9)

My hope is that as we look at each of these examples of God’s healing mercy, your faith in God’s willingness to heal you will rise. God is no respecter of persons. Whatever He has done for anyone else, He will do for you. Even as you read this book, our loving God is watching you for the slightest opportunity to heal you. Yes, He could just zap you with healing right now. And He does often heal people in such a way as to give the untrained eye reason to believe that His healings are haphazard, indiscriminant, and beyond our control to duplicate. Yet our review of these biblical examples of people who were miraculously healed by God, will give you enough knowledge to duplicate their blessing.

The Man with Leprosy

“And there came a leper to him, beseeching [begging] him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean. And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed.” (Mark 1:40-42)

Leprosy is an exceptionally vile and vicious disease. Although today it is medically curable, it was not curable in the first century when Jesus healed lepers by His mighty power. I once saw a special on television about lepers in India. If I did not have a strong stomach, I would have vomited. It is impossible to adequately describe what I saw. There were people who had been so savagely attacked by this cruel disease that their hideous appearances reflected a bad horror movie. They were severely disfigured, and nasty open sores dripped pus from their wretched bodies. The pathetic look in their eyes was of total hopelessness.

Our example shows a poor, incurable leper calling out to God for healing. He knows God can heal him, but he doesn’t know whether He desires to heal him. Therefore, he says, “If thou wit, thou canst make me clean.” This poor man represents many of us who know that God can heal us. We just don’t know whether He desires to heal us.

This dilemma is caused primarily because of the church’s incredible and irrational unbelief in God’s willingness to heal. We have the entirety of the Bible, and nearly two thousand years of Christian experience, and still we persist in unbelief. As far back as Exodus 15:26, God made a declaration to His people that should have settled for all time His position on healing.

“...If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians [at that time, enemies of God], for I am the Lord that healeth thee.”

Unfortunately, this nearly 3700-year old promise of healing has been reduced by unbelieving ministers to an irrelevant statement made to and limited to Jews. This faulty reasoning directly contradicts scriptures such as this one:

“For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek [non-Jew]: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.” (Romans 10:12)

The leper had also become a victim of institutionalized unbelief. He had fallen prey to following blind religious leaders. Even a superficial reading of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, will prove conclusively that the religious leadership in Israel was extremely disconnected from God. They could have no more led a leper to the healing God of Exodus 15:26 than an elephant could have flown. Sadly, the leper was left to himself.

There is a psychological dynamic that works within those who are afflicted with incurable diseases. Inevitably we search for the reason why we were afflicted. In this search, Satan is faithful to keep our eyes off God and onto natural wisdom. If we do happen to fix our attention on God, the devil does all he can to distort our perception of Him and His desire to heal us.

There are two favorite methods Satan uses to discourage us from believing God to heal us. First, he uses false doctrine. There are too many to deal with all of them in such a small book. It is sufficient to say that you may effectively identify and reject them by following one rule. That rule is to totally discard any doctrine from any person—and I mean any person—who gives you reason to believe God does not want to heal you. I am not speaking of being healed by dying and going to heaven. I am speaking of being physically healed in this present life. Grab onto the Jesus of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and don’t let anyone take Him from you through unbelief or false doctrine.

Second, Satan uses our sense of unworthiness. Why would God want to heal us? Who are we? What have we done to deserve such a thing? Aren’t we sinners? Don’t we blow it day and night? Yes, yes, and a thousand more confessions of yes. We are bad beyond our comprehension. Yet we are also good beyond our comprehension.

The badness of our humanity requires no long explanation or clarification. From the Garden of Eden until now, we have proven that human flesh is evil. However, that is not the end of the story. God has not abandoned us to ourselves. His plan of redemption is sweepingly thorough and all-encompassing.

When we repent from our sins, and accept Jesus Christ as almighty God and savior, a grand and gracious thing takes place. God literally washes us from our sins in His own blood that was shed on the cross. He then adopts us into His family as dear children. We are, therefore, no longer simply outsiders trying to please a perfect God through works. We are insiders who have pleased God through faith. Our faith in God is counted as righteousness.

When Satan attempts to steal your confidence in God for healing by accusing you of being unworthy, remember that healing is not granted based upon your own worthiness. Healing is an act of divine mercy. Nonetheless, if Satan’s accusation is based upon a truth that you are currently living in sin, repent. If you have not asked for forgiveness for a past sin, ask. If you need to make restitution to someone, do so. This is consistent with the following scriptures:

“Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.”

(Matthew 5:23-24)

“And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.”

(1 John 3:22)

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

“The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.” (Psalm 103:8)

The leper in Mark 1 had to battle with his own sense of unworthiness. He knew that Jesus could heal him. But he also knew that Jesus was without sin, and that he, himself, was a man under the bondage of sin. On what grounds could he approach this righteous miracle-worker for a cure? He had no idea. But he desperately decided to try anyway. What was Jesus’ answer? “And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean. "(Mark 1:41)

Jesus answered this man’s question in the same manner He will answer your request for healing, if you give Him an opportunity.

/ will. I will. I will.

Remember what the scriptures say about the character of Christ. “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8) And, “For I am the Lord, I change not. "(Malachi 3:6)

What a shock it must have been for that leper to hear those words: 7 will; be thou clean.” His disease was extremely infectious. Jewish law forbade such individuals to enter the city. Anyone who touched a leper would be declared unclean and ostracized from the community. So it must have shocked the leper when Jesus reached out His hand and touched his diseased body! This is one of the most graphic and powerful illustrations of God’s love for the sick and suffering in the entire Bible.

In other places in the Bible (Matthew 8:5-13; 15:22-28) Jesus healed people simply by speaking a word. He could have healed the leper the same way. Yet despite every reason to the contrary, Jesus deliberately chose to heal the man through His physical touch. Is it beginning to dawn on you that God has a passionate love for sick people?

Hezekiah, the Dying King

“In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live. Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the Lord, saying, I beseech [beg] thee, O Lord, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore. And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying, Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord.” (2 Kings 20:1-5)

This is an extremely powerful example of God’s willingness to heal. In the story we find that one of God’s greatest prophets has been sent by God to deliver an ominous message to the sick king. “Thou shalt die!” The words crushed Hezekiah like a collapsing building. “Die? Oh, God, I’m only 39 years old.” If he was expecting any hope from the great prophet, Isaiah, he was terribly disappointed. The message was final. “Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live!”

Certainly, it is a devastating blow to hear a doctor tell you that you have a terminal disease, and that you have but a few days to live. But what can be worse than hearing God give you these words? To what or to whom can you turn when God declares you good as dead? Alternative medicine, a special diet, the church’s prayer list (which often is nothing more than a dress rehearsal for the obituary)? Hezekiah did what we must do when we are faced with a terminal illness. He turned his face to the wall.

The phrase, “turned his face to the wall,” means that he turned away from everything. He knew that no one could help him but God. Therefore, he turned to God. But wait. Hasn’t God already made known His will? Doesn’t He want Hezekiah to die? The prophet did say, “Thus saith the Lord....” didn’t he? So why would Hezekiah pray to God for something that was clearly not the will of God?

Maybe Hezekiah understood that a thing is not necessarily the will of God simply because God discusses it or has foreknowledge of it. God talks about hell, and He knows who is going. Yet that doesn’t mean it’s His desire that anyone goes to hell. Or maybe Hezekiah just got desperate. Desperate people don’t stop to rationally analyze all the reasons why they must fail. They instead bypass their minds and operate on sheer instinct. Either way Hezekiah wasn’t going to a premature grave without a fight.

Do You Have A Fighting Heart?

Here is where so many people miss it. The doctor tells them that they have some dreadful, incurable disease. She says they will die in a given period. Fear grips their soul and paralyzes their will. They accept the doctor’s word as final. They see themselves dying with the disease. I’m going to die, they tell themselves. And they do.

But there are others who hear the same doctor’s report and refuse to believe the report. Now, I am not saying they refuse the accuracy of the report. Nor am I saying they pretend like the disease isn’t there. What I am saying is they know that “the things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”(Luke 18:27)

I have a friend, Gail, who was diagnosed with Lupus. When she heard the news, she didn’t prepare to die. She prepared to be healed! And how did she do this? She did it by obeying Proverbs 4:20-22.

“My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.”

This means she flooded herself with the promises of God. She stayed in the word of God day and night. She memorized scriptures. She searched her heart. She cried out for mercy. She resisted Satan’s attempt to get her to focus on death. She focused on life. She believed God could and would overrule the doctor’s report.

You ask, “How long did she do this?”

Until the disease left her body.

“How long did it take?”

That’s irrelevant. Keep this in your mind, and never, never let it go: When you are seeking God to be healed, break your clock and throw away your calendar. This is not a sprint; it’s a marathon. You don’t know how long the battle will last. You must determine to fight until you are healed.

Until you are healed!

Until you are healed!

Until you are healed!

Do not make the mistake of looking at the clock or calendar. You cry out to God and exercise faith, and God will take care of the clock and calendar.

Hezekiah’s Prayer

Hezekiah’s desperate prayer is summarized as this:

“I beseech thee, O Lord, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.” (2 Kings 20:3)

So much in so few words! When all hope was taken away, Hezekiah prayed like a man without hope. He prayed like a man with nothing else and no one else but God. Even if God wants me dead, thought the dying king, I’ll desperately grasp for His mercy.

At the center of Hezekiah’s cry for mercy was his testimony that he had served God with a perfect heart. Does this mean that Hezekiah was saying that he deserved to be healed because of his own perfection? No. For even though Hezekiah was indeed an outstanding servant of God, he fully understood that he was a sinner.

What Hezekiah spoke of was a relationship of an imperfect man who was in love with a perfect God. He related to God as one who had his sins covered by God’s mercy. King David wrote of this in Psalms 32:1-2, 5:

“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth [credits] not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile...I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.”

David committed terrible sins. Some of these were so grievous that they caused the deaths of many people. On one occasion he committed adultery with the wife of one of his most faithful soldiers. When he found that she was pregnant with his child, he had the husband murdered. This unleashed a whirlwind of judgment upon his country. Many people died as a direct result of David’s sin of adultery.

On another occasion David sinned against God, and it caused divine judgment that killed seventy thousand of his citizens. Yet the book of Psalms is filled with statements from David that would lead the casual reader to assume that David was not only self-righteous, but ridiculously self-righteous.

However, David was not self-righteous, and neither was Hezekiah. Hezekiah, like David, was guilty of sin. But similar to David, although he didn’t hide his sins and weaknesses, he did deliberately refuse to focus on them. He chose instead to repent and focus on God’s goodness. What’s the sense in wallowing in the mud of condemnation once you have confessed and forsaken your sin?

It would be an insult to God for you to walk around with your head hung in everlasting shame after He has forgiven you. Divine forgiveness includes restoration. Hezekiah’s prayer for healing was strong in the knowledge that once we have confessed and forsaken our sins, God doesn’t hold our past against us.

The Divine Delay

God graciously answered Hezekiah’s prayer! “I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee.’’ Then God added something that we must never forget. “On the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord. ”

As you may have already discovered, all healings are not instantaneous. God told Hezekiah that his healing would be complete in three days. This may have meant that healing power would progressively flow into his body until his healing manifested three days later. Or it may have meant that he would remain sick until the third day, when he would suddenly be healed. In any event, it took three days.

There are various doctrines regarding instantaneous and progressive healings. Certainly, I don’t pretend to know every nuance of divine healing. Yet God has not left us ignorant. There are at least four kinds of healings in the Bible.

The Purported Difference Between Healings and Miracles

Before I discuss the various categories of healings, I need to address a particular doctrine of healing. There is a doctrine that classifies instant healings as miracles and gradual healings as simply healings. To address this issue is no mere splitting of theological hairs. What we believe about this doctrine can affect our ability to receive or minister healing ministry.

This doctrine holds that diseases cured through healings and diseases cured through miracles are different. The significance of such a difference, if there was such a difference, is that our level of expectation is negatively affected. Since expectancy is an element of faith, we can’t ignore such a topic.

In an effort to explain why there are so few instant miracles in some of our ministries, we have said that simple healings and miracles of healing are different. It is posited that the great evangelistic promise in Mark 16:18 speaks of gradual recoveries: “They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. "Since this promise was given to all the church, all the church can lay hands on the sick and believe God for gradual healings.

There’s only one thing wrong with that interpretation: There is no mention of a time element in the promise. All such attempts to attach a prolonged time period to the word recover are not biblical but self-serving.

This doctrine serves the purpose of lowering the expectation of Christians who are seeking healing. This being done, the pressure is off of the minister to get the person immediately healed. If he prays and nothing happens, he can always say it’s a gradual healing. This gets the minister off of the performance hook. But the minister should have never been on the performance hook.

Yet I admit that many ministers do feel fleshly pressure to perform. This comes from ignorance or arrogance. They make sweeping statements that are neither supported by the Word of God nor the Spirit of God. Then to save face, the minister tells the people they are healed. This is done without any physical evidence or clear word from the Spirit that the healing has begun. It is usually presumptuous for the minister to do this.

To support this doctrine of gradual healing, certain examples of New Testament healings are used to establish the element of elapsed time between the prayer and the healing. Those healings which occur immediately are named miracles. Those which supposedly occur later are named healings. Yet when I study these same scriptures, I am baffled as to how anyone could establish a time line beyond an hour or so for any New Testament healing. (The case of Epaphroditus (Philippians 2:25-27) being the exception.) I am also surprised that anyone could not see that the gospels use the words healings and miracles interchangeably.

We will look at only a few scriptures. But it is enough to show conclusively that there is no substantive difference in a healing and a miracle, as they pertain to the curing of diseases or casting out of demons.

The Working of Miracles, and Healing

“And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us. But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me.” (Mark 9:38-39)

In the above scripture, Jesus called the casting out of demons the working of miracles. Yet in the scripture below, Luke spoke of certain women being healed of evil spirits.

“And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils.” (Luke 8:2) The scripture listed below builds our case.

“There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed everyone.” (Acts 5:16)

Here was a multitude, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people with all kinds of sicknesses, diseases, and demons. Does the Bible differentiate and say some were healed, others were delivered, and the rest received miracles? No. It says simply that “they were healed every one.”

We will not spend any more time on the subject of the interchangeability of the words healing and miracle in the gospels. An honest heart is no more convinced with a multitude of scriptures than it is with a few. Likewise, the critic is the same. However, the subject of gradual healings will be explored further as we examine the four kinds of healings.

Instantaneous, Progressive, Delayed, and Denied Healings

Naturally, instant healing and deliverance is our first choice. In the gospels, it is the norm rather than the exception. In many ministries, it is the exception rather than the norm. Presently we will deal with the topic of instant answers.

Jesus Christ is our great pattern on healing ministry. Read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and you will see that Jesus never turned down anyone who came to Him for healing. You will notice that His healings a/ways occurred immediately or almost immediately. The examples below prove beyond a reasonable doubt that immediate healing is the biblical norm.

Instant Healings

•    Multitudes are immediately healed of diseases and evil spirits. (Matthew 4:23-25)

•    A leper was immediately healed. (Matthew 8:2-3)

•    A man’s servant was immediately healed of a disease. (Matthew 8:5-13)

•    Peter’s mother was immediately healed of a fever. (Matthew 8:14-15)

•    Two insane men are immediately delivered. (Matthew 8:28-34)

•    A diseased, bedridden man was immediately healed. (Matthew 9:2-8)

•    A woman with an incurable bleeding condition was immediately healed. (Matthew 9:20-22) You see that the phrase “from that hour"’means immediately.

•    Two blind men are immediately healed. (Matthew 9:27-31)

•    A mute man was immediately healed when the devil was cast out. (Matthew 9:32-33)

•    A man with a withered hand was immediately healed. (Matthew 12:9-13)

•    Great multitudes are immediately healed. (Matthew 12:15)

•    A blind, mute was immediately healed when the demon is cast out. (Matthew 12:22-23)

•    Crowds of diseased people are immediately healed. (Matthew 14:35-36)

•    A lady’s demonized daughter was immediately healed. (Matthew 15:22-28)

•    Multitudes of lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others were immediately healed. (Matthew 15:30-31)

•    A demonized child with an epileptic-type demon was immediately healed. (Matthew 17:14-18)

•    Great multitudes are immediately healed. (Matthew 19:1-2)

•    Two more blind men are immediately healed. (Matthew 20:30-34)

•    The blind and lame were immediately healed. (Matthew21:14)

These are excerpts only from Matthew. There are three other gospels that we didn’t even use! What if we included the gospels of Mark, Luke, and John? You would only see more of the same. People being immediately healed as they came to Jesus.

You may say, “Yeah, but that was Jesus. The average Christian can’t expect to have those kinds of results.”

My answer to that is first of all doctrinal. Jesus said that we should expect exactly the same results He had. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works [miracles] that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.” (John 14:12-14)

Jesus said above that the reason we would be able to do these miraculous works is because He has returned to His Father. What’s the significance of this? It’s that He went back to send us the Holy Spirit. This would make available to us the same power that allowed Jesus to heal the sick and cast out devils. This is seen in Acts 1:8; “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. ”

The disciples took Jesus at his word and performed miracles just as He has instructed us. Of course, the apostles did so, but not all were apostles. Remember, there were seventy others that went out and healed the sick and cast out demons. (Luke 10:1-11, 17-21) There was also an unnamed nobody who cast out demons in the name of Jesus. (Mark 9:38-39)

Two very good examples are Stephen and Philip. These men were not apostles, and yet they had incredibly powerful healing ministries.

“And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.” (Acts 6:8)

“Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed.” (Acts 8:5-7)

Surely, by now we will admit that instant healing and deliverance was the norm for Jesus and His followers. Guess what? It should still be the norm for His present day followers.

Whenever I minister to someone, I labor to believe God for an instant miracle. It would make no sense to me whatsoever to look a tormented woman in the eye and say, “Let’s believe God that these demons leave you sometime in the future.” Nor do I see the biblical precedent for looking at a person crippled with arthritis, and saying, “You know(God has only given us the ministry of gradual healing. Maybe one day your healing will come.”

No, when I pray, I expect something miraculous to instantly happen. I have seen many miracles happen. So many that my faith is stronger now than when Ifirst began praying for people. However....

Not everyone I pray for is instantly healed or delivered.

Why?

Gradual Healings and Delayed Healings

That there is such a thing as gradual healings is scriptural. In our study of Hezekiah, we saw that God told him he would be healed in three days. And in Luke 17:12-14, we witness a gradual healing. Although the healing appears to have taken only a very short time before it manifested.

“And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.”

Another gradual healing occurred in 2 Kings 5:1-16. (You may read it at your leisure.) In this story, a man is healed of leprosy only after he follows the prophet’s instructions to dip seven times in the river Jordan. Obviously there was a short time span between the first and last dip in the river.

How do we reconcile the biblical norm of instant healings and deliverances with the knowledge that there is such a thing as a gradual healing? Or even a delayed healing?

First, let me clarify gradual healings and delayed healings. A gradual healing is one in which the healing power of God begins an immediate but incomplete work when prayer is offered or very shortly thereafter. The person may or may not feel the healing power enter his body. If it is a case of deliverance from a demon, she may not feel the devil’s power totally leave her at the time of prayer. She may only feel partial relief.

Nonetheless, in a short period of time (usually) the person is healed or delivered. This is gradual healing.

Recall that my deliverance from the spirit of pain that gave me migraine headaches was a gradual healing. It took place over a matter of days.

A delayed healing is one in which there is no noticeable change when prayer is offered. This is perhaps the most challenging kind of healing. People don’t immediately know whether all is well between them and God when absolutely nothing happens after they receive prayer. Have I offended God? Am I asking in faith? Do I need to make restitution to someone? Am I under a curse? Am I praying with knowledge? Has the gradual healing started, and I just donl know it yet? Is Satan fighting my healing? Is God trying my faith? Is this a delayed healing that will suddenly just appear one day? Is this a denied request for healing that will never manifest?

What is the answer when prayer has produced no noticeable change? I absolutely do not recommend that people simply continue to believe they will eventually be delivered. Why? It’s because if the problem is not lack of faith, continuing to believe may not get them any closer to their healing.

It’s like entrepreneurs who continually fail. They double their efforts and fail more. They increase determination, they work even harder, they fail again. Yet they refuse to give up. They try without success until they finally die of old age. Sadly, their dream never comes true.

What was the problem? Faith? Not at all. If that was it, they would have given up long ago. Patience? No, they waited long enough, didn’t they? My advice is if you keep banging your head against a brick wall, the odds are that your head will fail long before the wall fails. The entrepreneurs may have had better success had they continued in faith and patience, but increased in knowledge and perhaps changed methods.

Hopefully, without being simplistic, let us examine some of the more common hindrances to healing and deliverance.

Chapter 10

The Mystery of Denied Healings

We’re dealing with gradual, delayed, and apparently denied healings as one bunch. This is because they often look strikingly similar. It is also because they generally are governed by the same or similar spiritual rules. What helps one may help the other.

Since I am not the Lord, but only an imperfect servant of the Lord, I can only give you that which I understand, and that which I think I understand. But as long as you have a Bible and the Holy Spirit, you are not limited to what I tell you. Do as the Bible instructs. Search for God’s wisdom as you would search for hidden gold. Your healing and God’s wisdom are one and the same. This way you will not fall into the popular trap of reducing Jesus Christ, the Healer, into a method or formula of healing. What do you profit if you gain a healing or deliverance, but get no closer to God? Listen to this before we look at the more popular reasons people do not get healed or delivered.

“My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.” (Proverbs 2:1-6)

The Person Praying for the Sick or Demonized Person

Often the greatest hindrance to receiving healing is in the person doing the praying. We don’t often hear this from those who pray for us, but it’s true. The explanations they normally give us are straight off of the assembly line:

•    We don’t have faith.

•    We’re in sin.

•    We aren’t tithing.

•    We aren’t doing something.

The bottom line is if we didn’t get healed, it’s our fault. And I emphasize the word fault. We go to the healing meeting for a miracle, and if we’re not healed ignorant, self-serving, insensitive ministers damn rather than deliver. As I stated earlier, this across-the-board, one-size-fits-all explanation is primarily to protect the reputations of those doing the praying. It certainly doesn’t minister grace and compassion to those unfortunate enough to suffer through this kind of shallow, uncaring, and ungodly ministry.

When you look at Jesus’ ministry, you don’t see anyone—anyone—going to Him for healing and departing not healed. And you definitely don’t ever—not one time—see Jesus criticize or blame a victim for having weak faith. I have carefully studied the many times Jesus ministered healing and deliverance to multitudes. Without exception, we don’t see anyone walking away unhealed, while Jesus gives the explanation that it was the victim’s fault.

Surprisingly and refreshingly, we are given an example in Matthew 17:14-21 and Mark 9: 14 - 29 of Jesus criticizing someone at a healing meeting. What makes this surprising and refreshing is that Jesus gave all his criticism to the ministers conducting the meeting. He clearly held the healing ministers to a much higher standard than those seeking healing. And so should we.

The closest we come to blame being placed on victims is in Matthew 13:58. Here it says, “And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.” In this case, He couldn’t do many miracles because the folks in His own hometown rejected Him. They didn’t believe His message. It’s worth remembering that Jesus didn’t criticize them for not having faith for healing. The Holy Spirit instead commented about how they had rejected Jesus. (Matthew 13:53-57)

There is a huge difference in criticizing a person for rejecting Christ, and criticizing a person for not having faith to be healed. A person who rejects Christ is worthy of criticism. A person who fails to receive healing, however, should be lovingly and patiently helped to understand the doctrines and methods of healing. Even more critical is that the person be shown how to contact Christ.

Evangelist David Alsobrook, in his book, Jesus Christ M.D.: The Healing Ministry of Jesus Christ, points out that many ministers don’t have enough love to correctly minister healing. He tells of a friend of his who was abused by a so-called faith teacher for supposedly not having enough faith. “’If you only had enough faith, you would not be in this mess,’ a [faith teacher] told one of my friends who asked him to pray for her healing of arthritis. Needless to say, she was not helped by his unkind and public retort to his request. Thankfully, she was able to forgive him and receive healing a few months later through another evangelist who had so much compassion for the sick that he openly wept as he prayed for her healing”

That’s healing ministry!

The Minister’s Lack of Power

God has promised that we can do the same miracles He did. However, there are strings attached to this promise. Our effectiveness in healing and deliverance ministry is in direct proportion to our obedience to and intimacy with Christ, our ability to hear His voice, our experience in ministry, our initiative, our understanding of faith and patience, our love of the people to whom we minister, our level of humility, and other things.

Unless God moves sovereignly in mercy, when people ask me to pray for them, they will not receive beyond my relationship with God. Nor will they receive beyond my experience, understanding, and gifts. This is because the Almighty’s expression through us is usually limited by us. Or in other words, in large measure we determine how much the Holy Ghost does through us. (Read Matthew 17:14-21)

This is why Paul said, “Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.”(Colossians 1:29) The Holy Spirit was able to flow so freely in Paul in mighty power because there was very little there blocking the flow. Paul had completely sold out to God and His work.

This is unlike us, or specifically, me. God so often has to fight through so much junk in my life that I am constantly amazed that He uses me at all.

Over the years I have made considerable progress in some areas. But in other areas I have repeatedly blown it. Now because God is extremely merciful, kind, and patient, He forgives and restores me, and uses me as far as He can to set others free. But this type of partnership with God is far below His standard of unbroken fellowship with those to whom He shares His ministry.

Therefore, when someone comes to me for healing or deliverance, the odds of her receiving is based on very large measure upon whether God is pleased with me. It also has a great deal to do with whether God feels He can trust me with the success of that particular healing. Pride is a great destroyer of God’s mighty warriors. For this reason, God may delay the healing to save me. He may also accomplish it in a not so spectacular way. Another possibility is He may wait to do it through someone who is not as prone to pride as I am. These reasons and others may necessarily affect the timing of the healing.

Ministers should be more honest about their own shortcomings and limitations. We must take much more responsibility for the ratio of people who are not healed in our meetings. This does not rule out the sovereignty of God. Nor does it lessen the responsibility of the one who seeks healing. But it does help us to not be so quick to heap condemnation on the sick for not having what we consider to be faith for healing. It also helps ministers to not be so performance-oriented (in the flesh). We absolutely must get away from the pressure of, How will I look if this person isn’t healed? Who cares how we look! It’s not about us anyway—right?

Ignorance Concerning the Will of God in Healing

We have already spoken much concerning the will of God in healing. However, it is crucial that you understand that the odds are against you being healed by God if you’re not convinced that He wants you healed. Ignorance is a great obstacle to healing. But ignorance is easily dispelled with the entrance of knowledge. Read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John until you see clearly that Jesus Christ is your present day Healer.

Lack of Understanding of Faith for Healing

We have addressed our tendency to immediately assume that the sick person lacks faith if he isn’t healed. Since I have addressed this issue of premature and rash judgment, I can now address the legitimate issue of weak or misdirected faith.

We can in no way escape the fact that God is a faith God. This means that all our interactions with Him are done through faith. As the scripture states, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. "(Hebrews 11:6)

The Bible is filled with examples of what God considers faith. In the gospels, we see that some of Jesus’ greatest miracles of healing were done in direct response to the faith of those seeking miracles. We will look at just a few.

Faith for Healing

Faith for Healing: The Desperate Blind Men

Our first example is the two blind men who successfully appealed to God for healing:

“And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou son of David, have mercy on us. And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. Then touched he theireyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you. And their eyes were opened....” (Matthew 9:27-30)

These two blind men obviously had faith, for Jesus linked their healing directly to their faith. God’s explanation is easy to understand. If you have faith to be healed, you will be healed; if you do not have faith to be healed, you will not be healed.

How exciting! And, yet, how terrifying! If I have faith, I get what I desire. But if I don’t have faith, I get nothing. Miracles for those who believe, and gravestones for those who do not believe. This sounds so cold and heartless to some Christians. How can a God of love let someone die with a terrible disease just because the person doesn’t have faith?

Let me answer that question with a question: How could a God of love allow people to die and go to hell simply because they don’t have faith for salvation?

The answer lies in the fact that God has made faith available to us. If a person doesn’t have faith, it is because that person hasn’t done what it takes to get faith. This problem could be fixed by spending much time in the Bible and in prayer. If the person doesn’t have time to read the Bible and cry out to God, you have to wonder whether that person really desires to be healed (or saved).

That sounds crazy, doesn’t it? Can we imagine anyone with cancer not desiring to be healed by God? On the surface, the answer is no. However, in reality there are multitudes that do not want to be healed by God. I’ll explain.

God’s healing power has strings attached. This is the reason why you can’t walk into a hospital and indiscriminately heal everyone. What kinds of strings are attached? The same kinds that are attached for deliverance from eternal punishment in hell. One must come to Jesus, believe in Jesus, and obey Jesus.

For most people, this is too much. This is why I said that some people don’t want to be healed by God. They want to be healed, but with no strings attached. Yet God expects a return on His investment. He expects a return of a holy life and a grateful heart. This is why He says, “Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?” (Romans 2:4)

Do we despise the goodness of God? We do if we receive His goodness, and give Him nothing in return. And we do so foolishly and dangerously if we don’t understand that God’s gifts are given to lead us to repentance. The desired effect is that once we see how good God has been to us, even though we don’t deserve His goodness, we would humble ourselves and accept His lordship and seek forgiveness. I’ve learned the hard way that it is almost always a waste of time to try to lead someone to Jesus the Healer, if they reject Him as Jesus the Lord. Back to the blind men.

There were several things that the blind men did that contributed to them being healed by God. You will need to do the same.

First, they followed Him. When they heard of Jesus, they followed Him. How do two blind men follow anyone? It must have been an awkward challenge. This shows their diligence. They were willing to put forth effort. They had to leave their present place to get to Jesus’ place. You may have to leave your place to get to where the healing gospel is preached with power and expectancy. For some people this means finding another church. What sense does it make to stay in a place that teaches that God no longer performs miracles for His children? Don’t let your church relationships

Actually, it’s not a bad idea to go anywhere and everywhere a gospel healing meeting is taking place. If you do this, chances are God will sooner or later lead you to someone who will successfully lead you to healing. And don’t be discouraged by those who will criticize you for aggressively pursuing healing wherever it may be found. Badly informed Christians may tell you that it’s wrong to go all over the place looking for healing. “You ought to seek God for yourself!” they’ll tell you. However, when they need a doctor, lawyer, mechanic, or hairdresser, they’ll crisscross the globe in search of the right one. You should at least be free to do the same when you’re in need of a miracle!

Second, they cried. This means they lifted up their voices. They knew this was their chance to be healed. Perhaps they would never get another chance. This realization caused them to dump their dignity, and desperately cry out to God. Some people are too dignified to cry out to God in desperation. This type of person may find that healing is delayed until they get desperate enough to cry aloud to God.

Third, they recognized Jesus as Lord. This is the most important element of successful prayer. If you do not recognize Jesus Christ as Lord— meaning God—you have no basis to expect healing.

Fourth, they believed He was able to perform such a miracle. Generally, most people readily agree that God is able to perform miracles. They just don’t believe that He will.

Fifth, they asked God to heal them. Surprisingly, here is where many people fail the test. They don’t ask God to heal them. James 4:2 says, “... yet ye have not because ye ask not.” And, if they do ask God to heal them, they tack on that faith-killing phrase on the end: if it be thy will. If you must put that on the end of your prayer for healing, your first order of business is to go back to the starting line and find out what is God’s will in healing. Faith will not work in an atmosphere of uncertainty on this point.

Sixth, they expected a miracle to happen. This is a huge obstacle for many people. They ask God to heal them, but they don’t really expect anything miraculous to happen. Many healings are stopped right at this point because the sufferers do nothing to show they expect their situations to get any better.

Once you pray or are prayed for, you must act on your faith. Failure to do so can kill your prayers. We’ll develop this point later. Presently we’ll look at an immensely important second example of healing.

Faith for Healing: The Desperate Mother

This second example highlights the persistence of faith. Read it over and over. Sooner, rather than later, you will run into a problem that doesn’t respond to prayer as quickly as you would like. You will need to know what to do.

“And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. But he answered and said, / am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master’s table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.” (Matthew 15:22-28)

To get her prayers answered, this woman did the same things that the blind men had done. However, her situation required an added element: persistence. Persistence is the refusal to take no for an answer. Why some prayers require persistence and some do not is often a mystery. What is not a mystery is that most prayers absolutely do not contain persistency. We pray for a thing and give up if the answer is delayed. It must not have been God’s will, we say. But in many cases, this is merely an excuse to give up because our prayers have no staying power.

The woman had a terrible situation. Her daughter was “grievously vexed” with a devil. Vexed means tormented. What type of torment isn’t disclosed; it could’ve been anything. The mother had heard that people with incurable diseases were being healed by Jesus. This inspired her faith. Maybe He will heal my daughter. She approached him and cried out for help. What was Jesus” response? He responded four ways. His response to you will typically be one of these.

Indiscriminant Healings and Miracles Usually Don’t Serve God’s Purposes Well

First, “He answered her not a word”. If you examine healings in the four gospels, you will notice that Jesus’ response to this woman appears as an oddity. At first glance, it seems that the norm was for Jesus to eagerly heal whomever came to Him. And it is true that He was eager to heal the sick. But a careful study will show that His healings were not indiscriminate. Think about it. Jesus didn’t have to heal one person at a time, or even one multitude at a time. He could have spoken a single word and healed everyone in Jerusalem, or Israel, or even the entire world. But He did not. Why?

Jesus did not and does not heal the sick in such a wholesale manner because it is counterproductive to do so. The purpose of the revealing of Jesus Christ into the world, and the purpose of His manifest mercy in our lives, is to secure our love and obedience. Would an unexplained miracle of healing bring a sinner any closer to loving or obeying Jesus Christ? The answer is no.

Indeed, it would probably have the opposite effect. Hindus would thank their gods; Muslims would praise Allah; Naturalists would thank their herbs and diet; Buddhists would honor their chants; New-Agers would thank their realities; Christian Science disciples would extol their nonexistence; and atheist would trumpet their evolution. And after having experienced such wonderful miracles of healing, at their appointed times, they would all die and go to hell.

There really is not a great deal of difference in a well sinner and a sick sinner. Their primary problem is not physical or mental sickness. Their primary problem is the spiritual sickness of sin—rebellion against God, and hatred of Jesus Christ. It is this primary problem that is God’s number one priority. Therefore, He almost always demonstrates His healing power in such a way that sinners know that God is the reason for the healing. The hope is that healed sinners would be so overwhelmed by God’s love that they would turn from sin and follow Jesus.

What about sick or tormented Christians? Would we not honor God for His indiscriminate mercy? Well, some would and some would not. Surprisingly, it is extremely difficult to get Christians in America to truly love Jesus Christ in such a way that one can easily see from our lifestyles that we love Him. Our illegitimate love of the world and its sinful distractions does much to corrupt our faith. This corruption weakens our gratitude towards God.

There may be some exceptions. But, generally, a sudden and unexplained miracle of healing would not turn a lukewarm, backslidden, worldly Christian into an on-fire saint of God. Like the non-Christians I spoke of above, this type of healing would only further establish the lukewarm saints in their sins.

We tend to devalue that which comes to us too easily. Therefore, God often deliberately acts slowly in response to our prayers. This often takes the appearance of divine silence. He appears uninterested despite our most desperate cries. What does this do? It brings out the worst or best in us.

Christians who grow bitter at God’s silence are either false Christians or weak Christians. They are ignorant of God’s ways. They don’t know that God has promised to test the faith of His saints. Therefore, they respond negatively to God’s silence. Instead of persisting in prayer for the answer, they judge God as unfaithful. This disqualifies them from receiving the promise. The delay exposes this evil tendency

Christians who cry their hearts out to God, and receive nothing but echoes of their own desperation, and yet judge God faithful, will surely receive the promise. However, it is absolutely crucial to understand that from the time they pray to the time they receive, they may face the darkest days of their lives.

What is the purpose of this? It is this: God is trying to form Christ in us. He is using the trial to do more than simply give us healing. He is trying to give us the Healer. This was the road the Canaanite woman was traveling. God had more in store for her than a mere healing. He wanted to give her Himself. Unfortunately, the process normally takes a long time.

Don’t Let False Doctrine Steal Your Miracle

Second, “He answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel”. What was the purpose of this response from Christ? This was a theological statement designed to see whether her faith for healing was stronger than the obstacle of religion. It was true that Jesus’ physical itinerary was limited to Israel. But what did that have to do with this woman’s desperate cry for help? It’s not like He she was in Rome asking Him to leave Israel and come to her. They were face to face. So why the theology?

This is an important point that deals with the availability of Christ. If you ponder Jesus’ words to the woman, you will see that He was guiding her faith to a place where it would challenge the doctrine that Jesus is not available to heal some people. In plain language, Jesus said, “The ministry of healing and deliverance is limited to Israel. "That statement, of course, was true. His ministry was limited to Israel.

Yet it was also true that although He was geographically limited to physical Israel, one’s faith could qualify one as a spiritual Israelite even though one’s citizenship was of another natural country. The woman’s success would depend on her ability to spiritually understand what Jesus had just spoken to her. Did she understand that Jesus was speaking more of spiritual Israel than He was speaking of natural Israel? Apparently so, because she pressed the issue even more by worshipping Him.

Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.

Goodness! What would it take to make this woman go away? The Lord tested her faith with silence, and still she came. He then used the lethal, faith-killing weapon of a religious reason to give up hope. This almost always works. Still she wouldn’t go away. Instead she worshipped Him.

She didn’t know it, but she was awfully close to getting her prayer answered. Of course, judging God’s actions, there was no way she could have known that she was close to victory. That is where many people miss it. Faith worships God in the face of troubles. It shows God that your love for Him is real and is not dependent upon circumstances. If you’re withholding your worship until you see the answer, you may not ever see the answer!

Some Prayers are Answered Only After an Extremely Intense and Long Trial of Faith

Third, “he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs. "The woman’s test of faith is almost over, but it doesn’t appear so. Actually, it looks worse now than when she endured the test of silence and the test of faith-killing theology. God’s answer was designed to turn up the heat on the remaining depths of her faith. He told her that His healing power was available only to His children, and that she was a dog!

It appears that God was determined to discourage this woman and destroy her faith. Yet as we will shortly see, all of His actions actually were designed to encourage the woman, and to strengthen her faith. But He had an even greater plan in mind than simply strengthening her faith. He was trying to increase her faith.

God’s ways are often different from ours. Had we wanted to strengthen her faith, we would have dropped her a few hints. We might have smiled at her. We might have given her a set of instructions and promised to heal her daughter once she fulfilled the instructions. Each of these methods might have temporarily strengthened her faith. But God was trying to do more than temporarily strengthen her faith. He was trying to permanently increase her faith.

A temporary strengthening of faith occurs when one receives an external sign that his prayer either is being answered or will be answered. God often mercifully grants external signs to help us believe Him. The story of king Hezekiah is a good example. (2 Kings 20) Hezekiah had been afflicted with an incurable disease, and was told by none other than the great prophet, Isaiah, that he would die of the disease. Hezekiah listened in horror at the prophet’s words. He then did something that every person with an incurable disease should do: he shut out the world and the church and mightily cried out to God.

Shortly thereafter the Lord sent that same prophet to the king to tell him that his prayers had been heard, and that God would lengthen his days by fifteen years. It’s time to celebrate! Right? Hezekiah didn’t think so. Instead he asked God for a sign that he would actually be healed. This certainly wasn’t the best response. Nonetheless, God mercifully gave him a unique sign to strengthen his faith.

Many examples in the Bible give us hope that God often has mercy upon us in our unbelief (Judges 6; Mark 9:14-27). Yet God’s usual way of interacting with us is by faith—faith without external props, helps, or signs. “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6)

The Lord was trying to permanently increase this woman’s faith by roasting her faith in the fire of divine silence, by shaking her confidence with an earthquake of merciless religion, and by ripping away her hope with a tornado of faith-killing doctrine. This sounds like God is the enemy of our faith, doesn’t it?

Yet He is not the enemy of our faith, but the author and finisher of our faith. Faith comes from God. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17) And also, “...God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” (Romans 12:3) This apparent contradiction of God as the author and destroyer of our faith really is no contradiction at all. It is true that a surface reading of many biblical passages may lead one to conclude that God doesn’t want our faith to succeed.

It seems that He is unreasonable, and that He sets us up to fail, only to later—gleefully?—criticize our lack of faith. But God only criticizes faulty faith. Some faith appears as the real thing, but is an imposter. The kind of faith that excites God is the faith that says simply, “I believe God’s word no matter what may happen to me or around me. I believe it with or without any signs. I thank you, Lord, for the answer to my prayer even before I see it!”

The kind of faith that God criticizes is the kind that says, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” Barring a sovereign act of God’s mercy, this person has absolutely no hope of receiving a miracle from God.

Jesus tested the lady’s faith to determine whether it possessed any impurities. After a blistering examination of her faith, she finally heard the words she had been waiting for. (Not surprisingly, these kinds of tests often feel like Satanic attacks.)

The Reward of Holding On to Your Faith

Fourth, “Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. ”

What a remarkable turnaround! The lady went from being called a dog by God to being commended by God, and being granted her heart’s desire. Since many of us are somewhere between divine silence and being called a dog by God, so to speak, we definitely need to explore this some more.

Secrets of Great Faith

This passage is called secrets of great faith because God’s obvious truths concerning faith are still hidden to many of us. We grope in the dark as though we have no Bible and no precedent for believing God. Yet the Bible is literally filled with examples of people just like us who received incredible answers to prayer. The biblical example of the lady above who went from being ignored by God, to being rejected by God, to being insulted by God, to being commended by God is the greatest biblical example of persistent, overcoming prayer. There are other examples of people persevering in prayer and receiving outstanding miracles. But this woman is the only one who had such an encounter with God. For this reason, we will build upon what has already been said.

There are only two places in the gospels where Jesus commended people for having great faith. This woman of whom we speak is one of them. Of the two, her faith is the only one that was so aggressively tested by God. This puts her in a category all by herself. If you are facing an absolutely impossible situation, and it seems that even God is against you, you absolutely must study this woman’s example. After all, the Bible says, “That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” (Hebrews 6:12)

It often helps to hold onto the promises of God in a trial if we understand the reasons and ways in which He tests our faith. We will first examine God’s reasons for testing our faith.

Much can be said of this topic, but the bottom line is that God has saved us for a purpose. That purpose is that we become conformed to the image of Christ. Every one of our prayers should lead us to that goal. For every one of God’s answers to our requests lead to that goal. The following scripture records God’s plan for us.

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” (Romans 8:28-29)

What does this have to do with faith for healing? It is this: These scriptures are so intertwined with healing that failure to connect your purpose with your healing may doom you to never receive healing.

The above scriptures tell us that to those who love God, He uses everything to change us into the likeness of His Son. This is comprehensive and all-encompassing. All roads lead to us becoming more like Jesus. The connection between our healing and our ultimate purpose of being conformed into the image of Christ is that God will use this occasion—your emergency or crisis—as an opportunity to help you become more like Jesus. This means that despite your pain, suffering, or disability God’s greatest priority is not that you be physically or mentally healed. It’s that you become like Christ.

Oh, He definitely yearns to restore your health and to rid you of demonic torment. Nothing I say in this portion should be interpreted in such a way as to weaken your faith in His great desire to reveal Himself to you as Healer. But as the scripture states so clearly: “And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where there worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched... And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.” (Mark 9:43-44,47)

These scriptures show that God places nothing above the worth of your eternal soul. He goes so far in this passage as to say if He had to choose one or the other, your physical well-being or your soul’s salvation, He would not hesitate to choose your soul’s salvation. The graphic examples are those of a person chopping off a limb or ripping out an offending eye to enter heaven. This is gory, bloody, and painful beyond imagination. It is not meant to be taken literally, but figuratively. In reality, mutilation of the body does absolutely nothing to get a person closer to God. The Lord simply wants us to mentally see His priority for our lives. It is not that we be healthy; it is that we enter heaven. This means when we approach God for healing, the primary thing on His mind is whether we have totally submitted to His lordship.

Therefore, our priorities may not initially match God’s priorities when we first pray. Our primary concern is our pain and suffering. God’s primary concern is that we are conformed to the image of His dear Son. We would rather first deal with the pain and suffering, and deal with spiritual growth later. He would rather first deal with our spiritual growth; then our pain and suffering. We compartmentalize our prayers. That is, we separate our prayers from other areas of our lives. But He hears and answers every prayer in response to our entire person.

That last statement is the sum of the major point I’m trying to communicate to you. Do you want great faith? Or at least enough faith to get your prayers answered? Keep this in mind: God is merciful and kind, and can be touched with the feelings of our pains and weaknesses. His great heart often compels Him to bless us far beyond our faith and devotion. Therefore, even those who seem to have deficient faith and raggedy lives may receive the most outstanding answers to prayer. This confounds and irritates small-minded and small-hearted Christians who have in brilliant delusion reduced God’s infinite ways to a few legalistic formulas.

Yet I must balance this observation of God’s love and mercy with another observation. God is holy, pure, righteous, and eternity-minded. Never will He allow His great love for you to interfere with His plan to bring you into total agreement with His character and His purposes. This means that your temporary problem (all earthly problems are temporary) will always be dealt with by God in a manner that is consistent with His priorities.

For this reason, even though God’s infinite heart of compassion may press Him to act immediately, He often deliberately takes a slower route. A quick look at the miracle of Lazarus will demonstrate this.

The Miracle of the Raising of Lazarus from the Dead

One of the greatest miracles of the New Testament is the miracle of the raising of Lazarus from the dead. The entire story is in John 11:1 -46. But we’ll only cite a few of the pertinent scriptures.

“Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister, Martha. (It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.) Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified thereby. Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. When he had heard therefore that he was sick he abode two days still in the same place where he was. Then after that saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judea again [where Lazarus was].”

(John 11:1-7)

You see that Lazarus died before Jesus arrived. Jesus performed his greatest miracle by raising him back to life after Lazarus had been dead for four days. I want to call attention not to the miracle, but to what led up to the miracle.

First, the scriptures point out that Jesus really loved this family. It was well known that Jesus had a special friendship with Lazarus. That’s why the Bible records that Mary and Martha urgently sent Jesus word that “he whom thou lovest is sick.”

Second, when Jesus was told of the urgency of the problem, He deliberately waited two days before He went to see Lazarus. This added two days of waiting to those who had prayed for His arrival. In a crisis such as this, two days delay can seem to be a lot longer.

Third, prior to Jesus’ departure to Judea, He revealed to His disciples that the affliction of Lazarus was actually for the glory of God. The glory was not in the sickness or affliction itself. It was in the healing and resurrection of Lazarus. This display of power would be the greatest physical proof (besides His own resurrection) that He was the Son of God.

It must be emphasized here that although Jesus loved Lazarus, His primary purpose was to bring God the greatest glory. For this reason, He delayed His arrival by two days so that His friend would die. As much as our fleshly minds cringe at that thought, it is obvious that God would get more glory from raising a man from the dead than He would from healing a man of a sickness. Jesus needed an occasion to show that He was the Resurrection. Lazarus provided that occasion.

Of course, Lazarus’ sisters had no knowledge of why Jesus did not come when they needed Him. Both sisters commented to Jesus upon His arrival that had He been there, their brother would not have died. I can’t prove it conclusively, but if these women were anything like us, I think there were veiled accusations in their comment. Why did You not come when we called? You’ve healed others. Why did you not heal our brother? How can you love us and ignore us at the same time? Why would You treat Your servants like this? You’ve shown more compassion to people who were far less deserving than our brother!

Yet the sisters did not know that God’s delay did not mean their brother had been forgotten. And His apparently late arrival really was not a late arrival at all. He was right on time! But—but—but—He was on time according to His schedule; not Mary’s or Martha’s. When we pray, He will show up on His schedule and not ours.

This is not an excuse to weaken in faith and ascribe every bad thing that happens to us as the mysterious will of God. Nor is it a reason to not expect an instantaneous healing when we pray. It is instead encouragement to understand that a delay does not necessarily mean that God doesn’t want to heal us. His delay in blessing Lazarus did not mean He did not want or plan to heal him. The delay simply meant that God’s answer involved much more than simply restoring a man’s health. God wanted to use the occasion to establish the kingdom of God. This point is what we will develop in the following two examples.

The Story of the Needy Man Who Would Not Take No for an Answer

Jesus believed in persistent prayer. He believed in the type of prayer that absolutely refuses to be denied. He believed in this type of prayer because He understood God, He understood the devil, and He understood the flesh. He understood that God sees the big picture, and that He fulfills His promises in ways that most perfectly furthers His kingdom. This often takes time.

He understood that the devil is allowed to fight against our prayers for the purpose of perfecting our faith, and to give God opportunities to graphically show us His own character, wisdom, and power. This often takes time.

He understood that our flesh fights against God and His answers, and must be subdued and brought into obedience to the will of God. He understood that our personal crises force us to go to the One who alone can assure this victory. This often takes time.

God gave us a parable that graphically illustrates the importance of persisting in prayer while all of these things are being worked out:

“And he [Jesus] said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him. And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I [Jesus] say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity [persistence] he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” (Luke 11:5-10)

The above story reveals how critical it is to persist in prayer until the answer arrives. Here we see that a man needs provision for an unexpected visitor that arrives at his home at midnight. He goes to his friend and asks for help. The friend looks at the clock and decides that his friend must be crazy. There is no way he getting out of bed to help him. But the man persists in his requests for bread. After a long while of trying unsuccessfully to ignore the loud banging on the door, the man inside correctly concludes that there is only one way he is ever going to get back to sleep. That way is to get up and give this man what he wants!

Notice that the request should have been answered based upon relationship. These men were friends. But the relationship wasn’t strong enough to support such a request. Here is where Jesus reveals the secret power of persistent prayer. He says, “Though he wll not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. ”

The Lord follows up this statement with a promise so great that only a relatively few in Christian history have ever boldly laid claim to it. Jesus said, “For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. "(Matthew 7:8)

Those who have believed and acted upon these promises until they have come to pass have been declared rare heroes, specially handpicked by the Lord to accomplish great things. But God gives us no reason to believe that His promises are only for those so-called special people selected by God. Besides, God is not a respecter of persons. Trusting in God is not a gamble. It is as sure as the character of God, which does not change.

But, understandably, great all-inclusive promises such as these (the “whosoever” type) conflict with our personal experiences. We may wonder: If everyone who asks receives, and if everyone who seeks finds, and if to everyone who knocks the door is opened, why have I not received my answer? Why do I still have cancer? Why do I still have multiple sclerosis? Why am I still barren? Why am I still deaf? Why am I still blind? Why is my body still wracked with pain and crippled with arthritis? Why do my prayers for healing bounce off the ceiling?

We can go even further in our questioning: If this promise is to be taken literally, why is my child still retarded? Why did my mother die with ovarian cancer? Why am I still sexually impotent? Why do I still have panic attacks? Why? Why? Why?

It would be spiritually criminal and cold-hearted to give you a one-size-fits-all answer to such heart-wrenching questions. Yet I can say without reservation that Jesus Christ is the answer for every disease and affliction. This does not mean that your attempt to be healed, or your attempt to get a loved one healed, will be easy. Actually, the story we’re presently examining tells you in no uncertain terms that you may have an exceptionally difficult time getting your prayer answered.

Sure, the incredible promise is that everyone who asks receives. But this promise was qualified by an equally incredible task. That task is to ask, seek, and knock until the answer comes.

Until the answer comes!

Until the answer comes!

Until the answer comes!

The man in the story didn’t receive the answer because he was in need. He didn’t receive the answer because he had an emergency. He didn’t receive the answer because he was the man’s friend. As Jesus said, he received it “because of his importunity.”

The man was persistent; he wouldn’t give up. When every doctor said no, his faith said yes.

When Satan assaulted the man’s mind with wicked thoughts of accusation against God, his faith declared, “God can’t lie!”

When the devil said, “Look at your body. There’s no change. You’re still sick!”

The man’s faith said, “The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise me up!”

When the devil said, “It has been a long time. How long will you continue this ridiculous charade?”

The man’s faith answered, “If need be, I will die testifying of His faithfulness!”

There comes a time in your praying when the most important thing for you is to “trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5) This means that you must be more convinced of God’s desire to heal you than you are shaken by the fact that it is taking a long time for God to show up. How do you know what battles are being fought in your behalf? How do you know that God’s healing power has not already been released in your body? Is it not possible that God is driving out this disease “little by little” (Deuteronomy 7:22) as He did the enemies of Israel?

Of course, to be honest it is also very possible that despite all your previous prayers of fervent desperation that perhaps nothing has yet happened. Perhaps not one ounce of healing power (so to speak) has been released in your behalf. What does this mean? It means you have not yet prayed enough! It means that if you stop praying now, you will probably never get your prayer answered. That’s a heavy-duty statement, but it is true. Hebrews 10:35-39 makes it plain:

“Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.”

This passage deals primarily with the issue of a Christian turning his back on his faith due to persecution. However, the principles here can be used for one turning his back on his faith in God as Healer. It could very well be that you have done all there is to do to receive your healing, and that all there is now is to wait for “he that shall come.”

If you have not done all there is to do, however, it would be a terrible mistake, maybe even a fatal mistake, to stop praying for the miracle. But what’s a desperate person to do? Does God expect us to pray forever? Does He not know that heartbreaking prayer is hard, lonely work? Does He not know that every moment of desperate prayer seems like a minute? That every minute seems like an hour? Does He not know that while you are waiting on Him, you are in terrible pain? Does He really expect you to simply keep believing Him? Even when there is no earthly reason to think that He will answer your prayer?

My desperate friend, the man in the story Jesus used as an example of persistent faith kept asking, seeking, and knocking until the answer came. This is not easy, and God never said it would be. Again, He actually gives us every reason to believe that we should not be surprised when our faith is severely tested. It is foolish to expect nothing but easy times when God has said, “Fight the good fight of faith.” (1 Timothy 6:12) Paul added to this by saying, “...we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.” (Acts 14:22)

So the question is not whether God will heal you, but whether you have the will to seek God until He heals you. Notice that I did not say, “seek healing until God heals you.” I said, “seek God until He heals you.” This is no play on words. It can mean the difference in life and death.

Are You Seeking God Or Healing?

Often I read things critical of people who seek healing from God. The position is offered that it’s shameful to go to God for healing. It supposedly shows that we love Him only for what we can get out of Him. I think this is an extreme case of twisted and hypocritical reasoning. Why is it good for me to go to the doctor for a cure, but wrong for me to go directly to God for a cure? Why is it okay for me to ask God to guide the doctor’s hands, but wrong for me to ask God to take away the disease?

It’s not wrong to ask God to heal your disease. In this context, there’s only a problem if you desire an attribute of God, and don’t desire God Himself. In plain speech: If you don’t want to know or serve God, yet you want Him to heal you, there’s a problem. The problem is that God’s heart burns with a passion for you to know Him. He wants your knowledge of Him to create a love for Him so great in your heart, that it becomes nearly impossible for you to not serve Him.

This primary concern of God may cause Him to withhold healing until He sees that there is acceptable progression in your search for Him, as opposed to you simply seeking healing. A person who is more interested in getting healed than in getting to know God is one who unwittingly fights against his healing. He may be the great delay.

People in this category are often nonchalant about the things of God. They have no great passion for worship, evangelism, prayer, giving, fasting, church, or holiness. Oh, they may love a particular facet of Christianity. But in one sentence: They have no great desire to know God. They do not daily fall at His feet in adoration. Their hearts rarely cry out desperately for more of Jesus. On what grounds do such people expect anything from God? Is it not religious insanity to treat God with contempt or disregard when things are well, and then expect Him to heal us when things go badly? To this group of people God says, “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13)

It would do you well to search your heart during this time of waiting on your healing. You may find that your love and desire for the person of Christ is deficient. This would be an excellent time to adjust your priorities. The adjustment may include anything that stands between you and Jesus Christ. This could mean turning from sin or making restitution.

A word of caution: Don’t let your self-examination turn into an occasion for Satan to beat you down into everlasting condemnation. Repentance leads you to God. Self-condemnation without repentance leads you away from God.

If your self-examination reveals that you desire anything more than Christ, or that you need to get right with God in a certain area, simply repent. Tell God you are sorry. Do whatever it takes to make things right. Make Him number one. Once that is done, aggressively seek to be healed by God. Pray and search until you are healed. Healing is a benefit of serving God. (Psalms 103:3) Don’t be ashamed of your inheritance. Unashamedly and tenaciously grasp what is yours for the glory of God.

Chapter 11

The Persistent Prayer of Faith

There is an incredible promise of healing in the book of James. It reads:

“Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.” (James 5:14-20)

The promise of which I speak is “the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up.” This is a clear and perversion-proof scripture that promises us that God will answer our prayer of faith with supernatural healing. Will He answer every time for every one? Yes! The promises of God for healing are not sometimes and maybe. How could we possibly offer a prayer of faith to a God who answers prayers sometimes but not always?

The problem with this promise, or rather the problem we have with this promise, is that it definitely doesn’t agree with our experience. We believe we and others have prayed in faith for healing and have received nothing. We won’t admit it, but we believe it is a beautiful but totally unattainable promise. It gets our hopes up high only to slam us against the jagged rocks of sharp reality. We can’t explain it; we only know that it is one of those many troubling scriptures that promise an unattainable benefit. We know from experience that this promise doesn’t work! And when it does work, it works by rules so arbitrary and mysterious that no one can reasonably believe healing will occur when we pray.

Faith Always Works

Here is where I must part company. Faith always works. Or I should more accurately state: Faith in Jesus Christ always works. Search the entire Bible for the person who trusted in God and was disappointed. There is no such record. Every person who had faith in God was blessed. Where in the gospels do we find a record of even one person who had faith in Christ for healing and was not healed? Every prayer of faith was answered with a miracle of healing or deliverance. The prayer of faith has lost none of its power. It is still the road to miracles.

My explanation for why there is a huge discrepancy between the promise of healing through the prayer of faith, and our failure to receive healing through the prayer of faith, is that we have rarely offered the prayer of faith. What we call faith, and what God calls faith, are often two different things. We think if we pray with tears, agony, desperation, and many heart-felt words, we pray in faith. We think that if we pray for a thing more than once, we are praying in faith. We think if we pray for a thing only once, we are praying in faith. We think if we tack on “In the name of Jesus!” we are praying in faith. We think if we pray loudly, we are praying in faith.

The above elements can certainly be a part of the prayer of faith—at least initially. The tricky thing is that a prayer may begin in such a way, but it doesn’t become a prayer of faith (for healing) until the one praying knows that God hears the petition. The petition may be desperate and agonizing; it may be fiery and loud; or it may be low-key and inaudible. But there is one thing that every prayer of faith has—it knows beyond a doubt (1) that God has heard and has answered the prayer; (2) or that God presently hears and is answering the prayer (3) or that God has heard and will answer the prayer.

This is not the typical prayer that is offered for healing in our churches. Our typical prayer for healing has many loopholes and question marks. Usually, the people praying have no confidence that God will actually heal them. The prayer really is nothing more than a recitation of our pain, misery, questions, bitterness, hopelessness, and a bunch of other things.

Ministers who publicly pray for sick people usually are careful to not do or say anything to make sick people expect to be healed that very moment. This is to prevent people from being crushed when nothing happens. It’s also to prevent the minister from looking foolish. I think this latter reason is one of the biggest hindrances to the healing ministry. Christians, and especially ministers, don’t want to look foolish in the eyes of the world. We have apparently forgotten that “we are fools for Christ’s sake.” (1 Corinthians 4:10) We have also apparently forgotten that “God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.” (1 Corinthians 1:27)

We have become skillful at playing it and praying it safe. We pray in such a way as to protect our reputations, while simultaneously appearing before men as true ministers of Christ. This will never qualify as the prayer of faith. The prayer of faith does not care what people think. The prayer of faith does not plan to fail. The prayer of faith does not wonder whether God really heard the prayer. The prayer of faith does not tack an “if it be thy will” on the end of a prayer for healing. The prayer of faith does not brag of the hopelessness of the situation.

The prayer of faith is a request of God that is sure of His love and willingness and eagerness to heal the sick. The prayer of faith knows that “the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.” (Psalms34:15) The prayer of faith believes that “the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.” (2 Chronicles 16:9) The prayer of faith is convinced that “and all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” (Matthew 21:22)

The prayer of faith believes that when the Bible says, “The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up,” it means what it says. The prayer of faith does not look for reasons to not believe God. It remembers all the reasons it should believe God. God loves us. God can’t lie. God is faithful. Check the gospels. Jesus Christ never turned away one single sick person without healing that person. Think of that: Not one!

But we still have this great divide between the promise that “the prayer of faith shall [always] save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up,” and the reality that most of the people who pray in faith for healing don’t get healed. What about this obvious contradiction?

The Real Prayer of Faith

There is certainly a contradiction in James 5:14-20 and what we have experienced. But the contradiction is not in the promise and reality. The contradiction is that we have modified the prayer of faith to accommodate our lack of faith and perseverance. We then offer that prayer as the prayer of faith, and when nothing happens, we say, “See, I told you. The prayer of faith is a hit and miss kind of thing—more miss than hit.” But this is like following a cake recipe and using water in the place of eggs, and then wondering why the cake doesn’t taste good. “See, I told you. That recipe stinks!”

It’s not the recipe. It’s the changes we made to the recipe. Water in the place of eggs won’t work in a cake. And nervousness and double mindedness in the place of faith and perseverance won’t work in a healing. We shouldn’t blame the prayer of faith for our lack of faith. The real prayer of faith will get you in contact with God. And once you’ve contacted God, absolutely anything can happen. No disease or demon can resist His mighty power. “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?” (Jeremiah 32:27)

The Example of Elijah the Prophet

The easiest way to understand the prayer of faith is to see it in action. In our passage, James uses Elijah as an example of one who had mastered the prayer of faith. It would do us well to carefully examine the specific example the apostle used to show us what God considers the prayer of faith.

First, notice in verses 15, 16, 19, and 20 that God shows the too-often close relationship between sin and sickness. Is all sickness directly linked to sin in our lives? Of course not. However, sin is so commonly linked with sickness that it would be foolish to not carefully examine ourselves for any sin prior to approaching God for healing.

A couple of scriptures come to mind. “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.”(Psalm 66:18) And the other reads, “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” (Isaiah 59:1-2)

God absolutely hates sin. We must take seriously the corrections of the Holy Spirit. If we have knowingly violated the written word of God, or have ignored the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit, God may very well withhold His blessing until we repent. The proper thing to do is to confess and forsake our sins.

The improper thing to do is to go on a safari looking for some reason that a holy, pure, righteous God must deny our request. If we look long enough, we will find some sin or weakness in our lives. I am not speaking of your overall condition of imperfection. If God withheld healing and miracles from us until we reached absolute perfection, none of us would ever be healed.

What I am encouraging you to repent of are specific sins that have not yet been confessed and forsaken. If there is any doubt, ask the Lord whether you have offended Him. If He does not show you anything, approach Him boldly for your healing. If He does show you something, get right with God. Then boldly request your healing.

Elijah had evidently dealt with any known sin in his life. It was this transparency before God that gave him his confidence. “And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. ”(1 John 3:22)

Second, James makes an insightful statement. He says that “the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” The Amplified Bible gives a wonderful translation of that statement. It says, “The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available—dynamic in its working. ”

Here is identified the unique thing about the prayer of faith that separates it from regular prayer. It is earnest prayer. That is, as the Amplified Bible so aptly describes it, it is an emotion-filled prayer that is continued. It is not continued prayer to satisfy a self-imposed requirement of righteousness or duty. It is continued prayer because of that which has caused it to be emotion-filled—the situation, the emergency, the crisis.

The prayer of faith persists in continuance because—listen up—it has no choice. The continued prayer is the natural response to the agonizing emotion that demands relief. The situation is so severe that the heart’s attention is involuntarily fixed on a solution. There is no human remedy. Therefore, prayer is the only answer. It is this only-hope solution of God that adds fire to the prayer. The fire of this type of persistent prayer can’t be smothered with fatigue, distraction, or hopelessness. This type of prayer, the prayer of faith, can’t afford to get tired, distracted, or weighed down with hopelessness. It must press in to the answer, and it must do so now!

Third, the prayer of faith often slays its enemy with the first command. To the many who receive their healing or deliverance with a single prayer, command, or act of faith, I say, “Glory to God, and God bless you!” But for the many who are not healed on the first try, you need to know what to do after that initial resistance to the prayer of faith.

James tells us to look at the example of Elijah when he prayed for rain. The story is taken from 1 Kings 18 (read it). The prophet, Elijah, had told the wicked king Ahab that Israel would have no rain except by the prophet’s command. This held true for three and one-half years. At the end of that period, the prophet publicly confronted the king and spoke these words: “Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain.” (vs. 41)

This was no idle statement. He was speaking as God’s sole public representative to a hostile government. He could not afford to give a bad prophecy at such a critical time and in such a public forum. Amazing words. At his command, the three and one-half year drought would suddenly end—and that very day! There was no room for error! What would the prophet do to ensure success? He would offer the prayer of faith.

“So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees, and said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times. And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man’s man...And it came to pass in the meanwhile, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain.” (1 Kings 19:41 ^5)

What was it about this prayer that excited God so much? It was the fact that Elijah would not take no for an answer. Elijah had boldly declared that rain would come. He had done this before he saw the rain. That is an element of real faith. It sees the answer before the answer is discernible to the natural senses. But he did more than make a declaration of faith. Many people do that, but they don’t follow up with that which is necessary to make the declaration come true.

Elijah sent his servant to look for the visible answer. This seems elementary, but it is not. Many people pray for a thing and then fail to look for it to come. This proves that they never really expected the prayer to be answered. It is absolutely critical to look for the answer to the prayer after the prayer is offered.

Next, when the apprentice prophet came back with the negative news that there was no sign of rain, Elijah did not lose faith. He didn’t get nervous and say, “I knew it! Let’s go home and forget about this. It must not be God’s will for it to rain today.” No, when he saw that apparently his request would not be answered with a short prayer of faith, he dug in for the long term. He knew that not all things are attained with a short prayer of faith. Therefore, he graduated to the long prayer of faith. “Go again,” he told his helper.

Each time the helper returned with bad news—the disease is getting worse; you’re getting weaker; the x-rays are bad—Elijah sent him back out again to look for the answer, the physical manifestation of the answered prayer. And what was Elijah doing while the helper was coming and going? He was praying his heart out!

But hadn’t he already prayed? Yes, but since the answer had not actually arrived yet, it was correct and wise to continue praying. You ask, How can this be? I thought that I could pray for a thing only once. Is this not true.”

I’m glad you asked.

The Prayer of Faith Prays for the Same Thing Over and Over and Over and Over and Over and....

Before you continue, go back and reread the parable of the man in Luke 11. This man would not take no for an answer. Jesus explicitly emphasized that the sole thing about the man’s prayer that caused it to be answered was importunity. Importunity is persistence. Despite the man’s pressing need, the prayer would have failed had he not persisted in prayer. And let this fact not be lost through twisting or ignoring the scriptures: The man prayed for the same thing over and over and over and over until he literally received what he was praying for. We will develop this point further.

There is a teaching in the church that if you pray for a thing more than once, you are in unbelief. The rationale is that if you pray in faith the first time, there is no need to pray again. This sounds good and right, but it is absolutely bad and wrong. There are so many places in the Bible that prove this is a false doctrine that my challenge is to limit what examples I shall use. These examples will show you that you absolutely must pray with persistence.

The Example of Jesus

Jesus Christ is our great example. If our favorite teacher teaches a doctrine that contradicts the example of Jesus, well, uuhhh, I think you know what to do with that teaching. Put it in the toilet and flush.

An example that perfectly illustrates the legitimacy of persistent prayer is given to us in Matthew 26:36-44 and Mark 14:32-42. These are the accounts of how Jesus prayed just prior to being apprehended in Gethsemane by His enemies. We’ll use Matthew’s narrative.

“Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy. And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.”

Look at the last four words: Saying—the—same—words. Let it roll around in your soul and sink deeply into your spirit: Saying—the—same— words. How can this be? Was it not Jesus who told us that we are not to use vain repetitions when we pray? Yes, it was. But let’s look at His words in context to get the correct meaning. “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. "(Matthew 6:7-8)

Notice that Jesus’ instructions were to not pray as the heathen pray. And how did they pray? He discloses two things they did wrong. First, they used vain repetitions. A vain repetition is a prayer that does not come from the heart. It is a prayer that is based upon a formula, creed, or tradition. An example would be if a person flipped through a catalogue of prayers and chose one to offer to a deity. Sickness? No problem. Prayer number 32 should take care of that. Need a job? Hhmmm, let me see. Aha, prayer 19.

This is an extreme example, but the principle is right on target. God requires genuine communication. Template prayers mean nothing to God. If you want to see excellent examples of genuine, heart-felt prayers, read the Psalms. There you will see prayers full of genuine emotion. Pattern your prayers after them. Don’t pray them word-for-word. But do copy the sincerity, honesty, and range of emotion.

The second mistake the heathen made in their praying was they thought the repetition of these template prayers would assure an answer. They attached a mystical power to the number of times the prayer was offered. This is witchcraft. The power is not in the number of times a prayer is offered or in the method in which a prayer is offered. The power is in the God who answers the prayer.

Jesus warned us to not place our faith in the process of prayer. Instead He revealed that our faith should be in the Person to whom we pray, and in particular His relationship to us as Father. This is communicated when He said, “Be ye not therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. "(Matthew 6:8)

The differences between the persistent prayers of Jesus in Gethsemane, and the vain repetitions of the heathens’ prayers, are many. First, Jesus did pray more than once for the same thing, saying the same words. However, unlike the heathen who offered second-hand prayers to their deity, Jesus offered prayers that came from His own heart.

Second, Jesus prayed for the same thing, using the same words, not because He felt He was not being heard, but—and don’t miss this— because He knew He was being heard. The truth of the matter is that many people who pray for a thing once and don’t pray for it again, do so because they don’t believe their prayers are actually being heard. They stop praying for their item of interest because either their faith in God or their desire for the item is weak. Since Jesus knew that God was actually listening to His prayers, this encouraged Him to keep praying.

Third, desire—this is a missing ingredient in much of our praying. Go back and read Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Study every case of the individuals who approached Jesus for healing. You will see a common thread of desire in those who were healed. This desire is not the kind that weakly asks to be healed. It is the kind that desperately desires to be healed. Strong desire gives birth to faith. It is a natural process. Their desire for healing would not let them take no for an answer. God called this faith.

Jesus prayed more than once for the same thing because He had an incredibly strong desire to receive that for which He was praying.

Fourth, Jesus prayed several times for the same thing because what He was praying for did not arrive the first time He prayed. This is where so many people fail in their praying. They listen to the testimonies of some who swear that they prayed once and received all their hearts’ desire.

Unfortunately, these testimonies are then accepted as the only way to pray. So people stop praying too soon and never receive the answer.

The problem is that we have often failed to understand a single truth. This truth is that it is not unbelief to persistently pray for something that we have already received by faith. Why is this so? It is because the very meaning of receiving by faith means we have not yet received it as a physical reality. This is clearly seen in the very scripture that many people use to justify acting as though a future blessing is a literal, present possession. “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." (Mark 11:24)

Notice that this scripture clearly omits any particular number of times to pray for a thing. To limit it to one prayer is obviously an addition to the scripture. Also, notice that this verse clearly makes a difference in “believing you receive them” and “you shall have them.” Obviously if you shall have them (in the future), you don’t have them (in the present). A thing can’t be future tense and present tense at the same time. Tomorrow is not today. To treat tomorrow as today is foolish. If taken to an extreme, it is insane.

If a person believes what the Bible says about God, and His great desire to heal the sick, and if that person is convinced that God will answer his prayer for healing, and offers that prayer, he is on good, safe ground. Yet if that person does this, and then literally behaves as though the answer has been received, that person may hurt himself.

For instance, a person with diabetes may pray for healing and receive it by faith. This means the person believes God has answered his prayer. This is good if the person has a proper understanding of what it means to receive healing by faith. This person understands the difference in a spiritual fact and a natural fact. He understands that if the healing doesn’t immediately or shortly manifest, he must act in wisdom and not presumption.

Wisdom would continue to take medication until the literal arrival of the healing. Wisdom would understand that since the healing has not physically arrived yet, it can’t be physically enjoyed yet. Presumption would throw away the medication before the literal arrival of the healing. Presumption would seek to enjoy the healing before there is an actual manifestation of the healing.

Jesus did not make this mistake in Gethsemane. He could have prayed one time for strength to go to the cross. When the strength did not come, He could have tried to ignore the natural truth that He had not yet been sufficiently strengthened. He would then have faced His most challenging and crucial test...and failed. Why? Because a blessing that is on the way is not the same as a blessing that has arrived. Similarly, a healing that is on the way is not the same as a healing that has arrived.

Therefore, Jesus continued to pray until He felt in His mind and heart a literal infusion of mental and spiritual strength to finish the job of purchasing salvation through His death on the cross.

Jesus Prays for the Blind Man Twice

There is a scripture in Mark that totally destroys the unscriptural belief that it is wrong to pray for something more than once. It reads:

“And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought. And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking. After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.” (Mark 8:22-25)

Unless one is totally without integrity, there is nothing that one can do except admit that Jesus laid hands on this man more than once. It is hard for some of us to accept the fact that the blindness didn’t leave the man the first time Jesus laid hands on him. But that is exactly what happened. And guess what? This type of resistance to the will of God has not gone away. If Jesus Christ, the Almighty God and Creator of all that is, could meet such stiff resistance (in His earthly ministry), what makes us think that we will not meet the same resistance?

Apparently Jesus’ first attempt at healing the man did bring some relief. He went from total blindness to at least seeing men as trees walking. That’s a partial healing. A partial healing is better than no healing. But it’s still not a total healing. Jesus could have blamed the man for this failure and left him in this condition. Instead Jesus again laid hands on the man and he was totally healed.

Unfortunately, had this been a present day healing meeting, the odds are that the man would have been scolded for having a lack of faith or hiding some secret sin. However, I believe that although lack of faith and secret sins are legitimate obstacles to healing, they are not our greatest obstacles to healing. As I stated earlier, often our greatest obstacles in healing and deliverance meetings are the ministers conducting the meetings.

Recall the story of the demonized boy in Mark 9:14-29. The father of the boy brought him to the apostles for healing. They tried to heal the boy, but could not. Jesus came on the scene and scolded the apostles (not the father or the boy) for their lack of faith, prayer, and fasting. I believe He is still rebuking us ministers for our lack of faith, prayer, and fasting. Nonetheless, in the meanwhile desperate people are needlessly suffering from our lack of spirituality.

The blind man Jesus ministered to wasn’t scolded and sent home. He was prayed for again and healed. This healing wasn’t the result of some great amount of faith on the man’s part. Actually it appears to me that the blind man didn’t have great faith. I say this for a couple of reasons.

First, unlike other blind people who aggressively cried out to Jesus for healing, there is no record of this man even asking to be healed. He was brought to Jesus by others. In my own ministry I have found that it is usually difficult to help people who don’t show initiative or desperation.

Second, Jesus took the blind man out of town, then spit on the man’s eyes and laid his hands on him. Next He asked the man if he saw anything. What we see here is Jesus going out of His way to help this man’s faith. Obviously Jesus genuinely cared for this man. We also must have the kind of love that will compel us to go out of our way to bring healing and deliverance to people.

This kind of love sees nothing wrong with praying for people more than once for the same thing. Certainly if Jesus Christ prays for the same thing more than once, we should do the same. For if we do not, many of our prayers will never be answered—no matter how critical or desperate our need may be.

The Parable of the Persistent Widow

My final example of the overwhelming power of persistent prayer is in Luke 18. This story is much like the one in Luke 11:5-10. You should read both of them often to gain strength while you await the literal arrival of your healing (if you don’t get an immediate healing).

“And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?”

(Luke 18:1-8)

The message of this parable is unmistakable: We must persist in our prayers until the answer comes. Jesus begins by saying that His reason for teaching this parable is that we will learn “always to pray, and not to faint." In the story, a widow in a society that is contemptuous to women has a desperate need. She has suffered an injustice and goes to the law for a remedy. But the judge is a wicked man who cares for neither God nor man. He refuses to hear her case. Yet the woman does not easily give up hope. She persistently presses the judge for a remedy. He ignores her for a period of time. But finally the woman’s persistence wears down the unjust judge and he does what is right.

Jesus uses the story to graphically teach us to hold on in prayer until the answer comes. He even encourages us to ready our minds for a long battle. During the waiting period, it will seem as though God has forsaken you. But this is a lie! There can be any number of reasons why your answer hasn’t literally arrived yet:

•    It may be God testing your faith.

•    It may be God working patience in you.

•    It may be God orchestrating the most strategic time and place for your healing.

•    It may be God trying to get your attention.

•    It may be God forcing you to learn how to reach Him on your own.

•    It may be Satan resisting your prayers.

•    It may be a demon and not simply a sickness.

•    It may be a sickness and not simply a demon.

•    It may be a combination of a sickness and a demon.

•    It may be sin in your life.

•    It may be that you haven’t been prayed for by the right person.

•    It may be that you need to make restitution to someone before healing will come.

•    It may be—and the list could go on.

The point is that if there is a delay to your healing, there could be one or more reasons why this is so. But despite what the reason for the delay, persistence in prayer can win the victory. For God’s promise in the parable is: “And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?”

It may have already been a long, hard battle. But don’t give up on your miracle. You must believe that the Jesus of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John is your Jesus.

Pray again.

A Final Example of Persistent Prayer

The Lord has been so extremely gracious to allow such a weakling like me (sorry, my faith-confession buddies) to partake in His healing and deliverance ministry. Whenever I am privileged to witness God’s mighty power set someone free of a life-long bondage or sickness, I am utterly amazed. What grace and mercy that God should use my feeble efforts as a tool to demonstrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and to show supernatural compassion to His people!

I see a common thread as I look back over the many times I or a team member has successfully ministered God’s mighty power in healing and deliverance. There is a consistent pattern of persistent prayer. Although we have had some truly instantaneous miracles occur, it seems that the great majority of our miracles have come as a direct result of persistence.

One such miracle was the healing of a badly crippled woman. Many years ago, some friends and I went to a gospel meeting where there was a large number of sick people present. They were afflicted with all kinds of terrible diseases and conditions. I was very disappointed that aggressive prayers of faith weren’t offered for the sick. As we were leaving the stadium I noticed a terribly crippled old woman walking with two other people. My heart went out to her. I said to my friend, Missionary Powers, “God doesn’t want her like that.” Missionary Powers agreed and we continued to walk by. We got in the car and lowered our head to pray before driving off. As someone led us in prayer, I couldn’t get my mind off of the old crippled woman. I felt that a golden opportunity to see God’s mighty power displayed was slipping by me. My heart pounded against my chest. While the others prayed, I got out of the car and approached the car that the old lady had entered. I had my bottle of olive oil in my hand. I gently tapped on the car window.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

The three people in the car looked at me.

“Can I pray for you? God wants to heal you. Can I pray for you?”

There was an old blind man in the back seat and two old women in the front. The lady that wasn’t crippled answered. “Would you pray for her? Would you pray for her?” There was excitement in her voice.

“Yes.. .yes,” I answered.

Both women quickly got out of the car. Since we were in the stadium parking lot and the meeting had just ended, hundreds of people were going to their cars. The crippled woman stood before me awaiting prayer. I was excited at the possibility of witnessing a genuine miracle—and through my hands! I was also terrified at the equally possible scenario of making an absolute fool of myself in front of all these people! I dabbed the old crippled woman with a little oil on the forehead.

“In the name of Jesus, be healed! Now walk in Jesus’ name!”

I sounded really authoritative, and I imagine I must’ve looked like a real professional miracle-worker. Without hesitation, the old woman obeyed me to the letter. She took several steps. Clearly, she wasn’t healed. My heart sank.

I anointed her again with the oil, and laid hands once more and told her to walk. God knows I am not lying. When that lady obeyed my commands and walked, she looked worse after prayer than before prayer!

“Oh no! What’s going on?” I thought. “Oh, God! How did I get myself into this mess? Oh, Jesus.... ”

“Walk in the name of Jesus!”

Again she hobbled up and down the parking lot. Each time she looked worse. Outwardly I was trying to appear unmoved. These people didn’t know that I wasn’t a professional miracle-worker. And I sure wasn’t going to let them know I was on the verge of running into the street and throwing myself in front of a bus! But after a few more times of greasing down that poor old woman’s forehead and watching her hobble across the parking lot, apparently getting worse and worse, I was hoping that I would wake up from this nightmare of humiliation.

Mercifully my mentor, Missionary Powers, and my other friends came to help me pray. We all laid hands on her. I specifically recall that Missionary Powers laid her hands on the lady’s hips and told her to bend down in Jesus’ name. We had our hands on the woman’s shoulders. The woman very slowly bent down. She very slowly raised herself up. Again she slowly bent down. Her eyes were wide as she slowly raised up again.

Finally, she threw a Holy Ghost fit! That old woman jumped up and down several times and took off running. The last I saw of her she was jumping up and down and screaming, “Glory to God! Glory to God!” It looked just like it must have looked in Acts chapter three, when the lame man was healed. It was absolutely incredible.

One thing that has never left me is that the lady wasn’t healed on the first, second, or third prayer of faith. Heck, she wasn’t even healed on the fourth or fifth prayer of faith. It may have been on prayer seven or eight that she was healed. Had we stopped one prayer too soon, that lady would not have been healed.

Pray again!

Chapter 12

Receive Your Healing

Now let’s briefly go over some of the main points we have covered in this book.

Chapter One: Satan and his evil spirits are real beings.

Their greatest weapon is deception. The most graphic biblical example we have of Satan’s ability to deceive is when he deceived angels out of heaven, and the first humans, Adam and Eve, out of Paradise, the Garden of Eden.

Truth: If it is possible for him to deceive perfect beings in perfect environments out of their inheritance, it is possible for him to deceive us out of our healing or deliverance—if we allow him to do so through our unbelief of God’s word.

Chapter Two: Satan attacked the prophet, Job, through crime, weather, and sickness. Job did nothing wrong to deserve this attack. God allowed such an attack to prove Job’s faithfulness, to show Satan’s unprovoked badness, to perfect Job’s faith, to reveal to us how to trust God, and to show God’s sovereignty.

Truth: Bad things happen to good people. Sickness, disease, and mental torments can come upon people who have done nothing to deserve them.

Chapter Three: Evil spirits, or demons, can enter people. Both sinners and saints can be so afflicted.

If a Christian is demonized, it does not necessarily mean that he has done, or is doing something immoral. Sometimes people are demonized through inheritance, curses, activities done in ignorance, sins committed against him, or other ways.

Demons can cause all kinds of spiritual, mental, and physical problems.

Truth: One should always entertain the possibility that one’s problems maybe the result of a demonic attack.

Chapter Four: Christians most definitely can have demons.

Although I have cast demons out of many people, to my knowledge I have not yet cast a demon out of a sinner. Generally, if sinners are not willing to submit to the lordship of Jesus Christ, there is no scriptural basis to cast demons out of them.

It is a myth that God and Satan can’t exist in the same place.

It is a myth that only bad people get demons.

It is a myth that demons leave automatically upon salvation.

It is a myth that the ministry of casting out demons ceased when the last apostle died.

Truth: Deliverance from demons is part of our inheritance as children of God.

Chapter Five: Jesus healed a true servant of God of a demon that caused her to be physically crippled.

My friends and I cast a demon of scoliosis out of a new convert after she had already come to Christ and was filled with the Holy Ghost. She was healed on the spot as soon as the demon left her spine.

Judas Iscariot had a demon of greed.

Ananias and Sapphira had demons of lying.

Timothy had a spirit of fear.

Paul had a demon of persecution.

The Corinthians had a spirit of error.

Truth: Many Christians are afflicted by demons.

Chapter Six: Demons enter people many ways. The most common ways are through our personal sins or sins committed against us. Some of the more common of these are sexual sins, unforgiveness, and false religion or witchcraft. Rejection and fear are also common ways demons enter.

Truth: Demons can enter through personal sin and sins committed against us. They can also enter through rejection or fear.

Chapter Seven: The ministry of casting out demons is nothing more than a Christian forcing a demon to leave a person. This is primarily done by a verbal command that is empowered by the Holy Spirit. Once the command is given, the demon will either immediately leave or put up a fight. If he puts up a fight, that is to be expected. What else do we expect a demon to do?

Truth: Casting out demons is a routine matter. If you do not let him talk you out of your deliverance, he absolutely must leave.

Chapter Eight: Healing and deliverance is a benefit of serving Jesus Christ.

Truth: Don’t let ignorance, unbelief, or peer pressure rob you of your inheritance.

Chapter Nine: The Bible is full of examples of God healing the sick and demonized.

Some believe that gradual healings should be the norm and instant healings the exception. But the Bible teaches that instant miracles should be the norm and gradual healings should be the exception. Jesus is our example.

Truth: We must interpret our experience by the Bible and not interpret the Bible by our experience.

Chapter Ten: There are various reasons why some healings and deliverances take longer to arrive than they should. There could be obstacles within the person who needs the miracle. There could be obstacles within the minister praying for the person.

Also, God sometimes sovereignly chooses to delay the answer to test our faith.

Truth: We should search our hearts, believe the Bible, and don’t let anyone or anything talk us out of our healing.

Chapter Eleven: There are short prayers of faith and long prayers of faith.

Often a short prayer of faith is sufficient to get the miracle. But often only a long prayer of faith will work. We must be skilled in both short and long prayers of faith. If our situation requires a long prayer of faith, we must aggressively pursue our healing until it literally appears, or until we hear the unmistakable voice of God telling us that we have prayed enough.

We must be careful that the voice we hear is not laziness, or the extreme Charismatic false doctrine of one-prayer-is-enough.

Truth: Expect an instant miracle, but if the healing or deliverance doesn’t noticeably begin to manifest within a few days, pray until it does.

Finally, there is no amount of reading that will take the place of action. You must do something with your new information. If you are physically sick, ask Jesus Christ to heal you and then speak to the sickness. Curse it in the name of the Lord! Demand it to leave your body. If you are crippled in anyway, try to move your afflicted limb. Whatever it was that you could not do before you prayed and cursed the affliction, try to do it now in the name of Jesus. Often the last thing that stands between us and our healing is our failure to try to do what was formerly impossible.

The disease’s or demon’s grip will be weakened as you continue to curse the affliction, try to do the impossible, and praise God for the answer. This last point is absolutely critical. You must praise and worship God for the answer before you see it. For the scripture says, “Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. "(John 20:29)

If you have done all you know to do, and all we have discussed in this book, and still you have not received your deliverance or healing, there is only thing left to do:

Pray Again!

Books That Can Help You On Your Journey Towards Healing And Deliverance

1.    Whyte, H.A. Maxwell. Demons & Deliverance. Whitaker House; ISBN: 0-88368-216-8.

2.    Prince, Derek. They Shall Expel Demons: What You Need To Know About Demons—Your Invisible Enemies. Chosen Books; ISBN: 0 8007-9260-2.

3.    Kraft, Charles H. Defeating Dark Angels: Breaking Demonic Oppression in the Believer’s Life. Servant Publications; ISBN: 0-89283-773 X.

4.    Subritzky, Bill. Demons Defeated, Sovereign World LTD; ISBN: 1-85240-001-3.

5.    Parish, Norman. Christians Can Possess Demons but They Cannot Be Possessed By Them! Impact Christian Books; ISBN: 0-89228 140-5.

6.    Banks, Bill. Deliverance for Children & Teens. Impact Christian Books. ISBN: 0-89228-034-4.

7.    Banks, Bill. Songs of Deliverance. Impact Christian Books. ISBN: 0-89228-031-X.

8.    Banks, Bill. Alive Again! Impact Christian Books. ISBN: 0-89228-048-4.

9.    Banks, Bill. Abortion’s Aftermath. Impact Christian Books. ISBN: 0-89228-057-3.

10.    Banks, Bill. Deliverance from Fat & Eating Disorders, Impact Christian Books. ISBN: 0-89228-032-8.

11.    Banks, Bill. Deliverance from Childlessness. Impact Books. ISBN: 0-89228-0379.

12.    Basham, Don. Deliver Us From Evil. Chosen Books. ISBN: 0-8007-9069-3.

13.    Basham, Don. Can A Christian A Demon? Impact Books. ISBN: Impact Books.

14.    Hammond, Frank & Ida Mae. Pigs In The Parlor. Impact Books.

15.    MacNutt, Francis. Deliverance from Evil Spirits. Chosen Books. ISBN: 0-8007-9232-7.

16.    Sandford, John & Mark. Deliverance and Inner Healing. Chosen Books. ISBN: 0-8007-9206-8.

17.    Anderson, Neil T. The Bondage Breaker. Harvest House Publishers. ISBN: 0-89081-787-1.

18.    Anderson, Neil T. Released from Bondage. Thomas Nelson Publishers. ISBN: 0-8407-4388-3.

19.    Murphy, Ed. The Handbook for Spiritual Warfare. Thomas Nelson Publishers. ISBN: 0-8407769-50.

20.    Sumrall, Lester. Alien Entities: Beings from Beyond. Harrison House. 0-89274-320-4.

21.    Prince, Derek. Blessing or Curse: You Can Choose.

22.    Lindsay, Gordon & Freda. Christ, The Great Physician. Christ for the Nations.

23.    Blue, Ken. Authority to Heal. Intervarsity Press. ISBN: 0-8308-1700-X.

24.    Bosworth, F.F. Christ the Healer. Fleming H. Revell. ISBN: 0-8007-5124-8.

25.    Hayes, Norvel. Divine Healing: God’s Recipe for Life & Health. Harrison House. ISBN: 0-89274-921-0.

26.    Osteen, Dodie. Healed of Cancer. John Osteen Publication. ISBN: 0-912631-33-3.

27.    Hunter, Charles & Frances. Impossible Miracles. Hunter Books. ISBN: 0-917726-05-7.

28.    Hunter, Charles & Frances. His Power Through You. Hunter Books. ISBN: 0-917726-74-X.

29.    Hunter, Charles & Frances. How-to Heal the Sick. Hunter Books. ISBN: 0-917726-40-5.

30.    Hunter, Charles & Frances. I Don’t Follow Signs and Wonders.. .They Follow Me. Hunter Books. ISBN: 0-917726-92-8.

31.    Dunkerley, Don. Healing Evangelism: Strengthen Your Witnessing with Effective Prayer for the Sick. Chosen Books. ISBN: 0-8007-9227-0.

32.    Chavda, Mahesh. The Hidden Power of the Believer’s Touch: The Healing Anointing of Every Believer. Destiny Image Publishers. ISBN: 0-7684-1974-3.

33.    Dearing, Norma. The Healing Touch: A Guide to Healing Prayer for Yourself and Those You Love. Chosen Books. ISBN: 0-8007-9302-1.

34.    Price, Charles S. The Real Faith for Healing. Bridge-Logos Publishers. ISBN: 0-88270-739-6.

35.    Alsobrook, David. Jesus Christ, M.D.: The Healing Ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. Impact Christian Books. ISBN: 0-89228-146-4.

36.    McCrossan, T.J. Bodily Healing and the Atonement. Faith Library Publications. ISBN: 0-89276-505-4.

37.    Dallas, Joe. Desires in Conflict: Answering the Struggle for Sexual Identity. Harvest House Publishers. ISBN: 0-89081-897-5.

38.    Davies, Bob. & Rentzel, Lori. Coming Out of Homosexuality: New Freedom for Men and Women. Intervarsity Press. ISBN: 0-8308-1653-4.

39.    Saia, Michael R. Counseling the Homosexual: A Compassionate and Biblical Guide for Pastors and Counselors as well as Non-Professionals and Families. Bethany House Publishers. ISBN: 0-87123-989-2.

40.    Riley, Mona & Sargent, Brad. Unwanted Harvest. Broadmanand Holman Publishers. ISBN: 0-8054-6156-6.

41.    Payne, Leanne. The Broken Image: Restoring Personal Wholeness through Healing Prayer. Baker Books. ISBN: 0-8010-5334-X.

42.    Comiskey, Andrew. Pursuing Sexual Wholeness: How Jesus Heals the Homosexual. Creation House. ISBN: 0-88419-259-8.

43.    Bergner, Mario. Setting Love in Order: Hope and Healing for the Homosexual. Baker Books. ISBN: 0-8010-5186-X.

About the Author and Ministry of Power Evangelism Ministries

Eric and his lovely wife, Sonny, reside in Atlanta, Georgia. They have a small house church. In this small and intimate setting, they often see people delivered from evil spirits.

Additionally, they both write books. Eric has written What Preachers Never Tell You About Tithes & Offerings: The End of Clergy Manipulation & Extortion. He has also written two novels: Bones of Fire and Confessions of a False Prophet, which are both scheduled for publication as e-books in June 2011. Sonny’s first novel, Walking in Love, is scheduled for release as an e-book in 2011.

A Final Word of Encouragement

Now a word of encouragement to those seeking healing and deliverance, and for pastors who would like us to come and share with their people. As it is with pastors and teachers, so it is with healers and miracle-workers. There are good ones and bad ones. Some are kind and sensitive, and some are unkind and insensitive. Some are humble and yet bold in faith, and some mistake brash arrogance for faith.

Our desire is to minister boldly in miracle-working faith, but to do so in an attitude of deep brokenness and humility. Therefore, we are careful to maintain the dignity of those seeking help. This is done by passionately, yet lovingly, presenting the truth as we understand it.

There are differences of gifts, administrations, and operations of those gifts. In our ministry, the miracles usually come as a result of an in-depth presentation of Jesus Christ as Lord, Healer, and Deliverer. Generally, presentation of the word of God significantly weakens Satan’s strongholds in the audience. Once this is done, our team members will pray for people. Ideally, there will be several prayer lines. This helps in several ways.

First, it takes the focus off of me. Some people give too much credit to the principal speaker. God should get the glory for His miracles, and not the broken vessels He so graciously and mercifully uses.

Second, for whatever reason, there are some people who will probably never get healed through my prayers. That’s okay. God is not limited to me. He has others. It may be that one of those others will be used by God to bring healing.

Third, this allows us to pray for more people.

Finally, we especially encourage pastors to contact us for personal and confidential ministry. God knows what goes on behind closed doors. He knows what struggles and bondages you have. Don’t allow the devil to isolate you in your weakness. We would like to help you. You may reach us at P. O. Box4921, Atlanta, Georgia, 30302 ehill111@comcast.

God bless you!

1 2 Corinthians 5:21

2 I believe the term “sons of God” refers to angels.

3 We Charismatics have an exceptionally hard time embracing this truth. It’s very hard on our flesh.

4 Kraft, Charles H. Defeating Dark Angels: Breaking Demonic Oppression in the Believer’s Life. Michigan: Servant Publications, 1992; Prince, Derek. They Shall Expel Demons. Michigan. Chosen Books, 1998. MacNutt, Francis. Deliverance from Evil Spirits: A Practical Manual. Michigan. Chosen Books, 1995; Basham, Don W. Can A Christian Have A Demon? Missouri. Impact Books, 1991.

5 Matthew 10:1-8; Luke 9:1-6; 10:1-9, 17

6 However, if a person is exceptionally endowed with certain gifts and administrations of the Holy Spirit, outstanding physical miracles can consistently occur without an obvious casting out of demons. The demons are still cast out, but they are done so in a way that is not spectacular. An example of this is seen when Jesus was asked by a lady in Matthew 15:22-28 to heal her daughter, who was “grievously vexed with a devil.” Jesus could have gone to the home and gave a command to the demon, and after thrashing the girl about for a while, the demon could have come out screaming. This was a consistent pattern in Jesus’ ministry. However, this time he chose to cast the devil out simply by speaking a word to the mother on behalf of the daughter. This is a level of ministry, faith, and power that is rarely seen.

7 Acts 5

8 Not her real name.

9 John 8:1-11

Table of Contents

Introduction

A Brief Introduction To Demons

1. A Revelation of Demons

2. The Origin of Demons

3. Names of Lucifer

4. Satan's Ability to Deceive

Satan Attacks Job

1. The Case of Job

2. Job's Final Trial

3. Why Did Job Have to Suffer?

4. An Examination of Job's Fear

5. Some Reasons God Allowed Satan to Attack Job

6. Is Your Suffering Proof that You are a Modern Day Job?

Activities and Operations of Demons

1. What Jesus Said About Demons

2. A Biblical Understanding of Demons

3. The Faulty Concept of Demon Possession

4. What It Means to Have a Demon

5. Delivered from a Spirit of Pain

6. What Demons Do

7. The Crippled Lady Bent Over for Eighteen Years

8. The Man with the Mute Spirit

9. The Man with the Blind and Mute Spirit

10. Demons and Diseases

11. Demons and Sickness: Where There is Sickness, There is Often a Demon

12. Satan Attacks Our Minds and Emotions

13. The Possibility of Demonic Involvement in Your Affairs

14. The Man with the Spirit of Lust

Who Can Have A Demon?

1. Demons and Christians

2. Objections to the Belief that Christians Can Have Demons

3. Casting Demons Out of Sinners

4. Deliverance is the Children's Bread

5. Satan Shows Up at the Oddest of Places

6. Satan Goes to Church

7. Forced Demonic Manifestations

8. More Drama in the Synagogues

Scriptural Proof That Christians Can Have Demons

1. The Crippled Woman of Faith

2. A Present Day Daughter of Abraham Instantly Healed of Scoliosis

3. Judas Iscariot and the Demon of Greed

4. Ananias and Sapphira and the Spirit of Lying

5. Timothy and the Spirit of Fear

6. The Apostle Paul and the Messenger of Satan

7. The Corinthians and the Receiving of Another Spirit

How Demons Enter People

1. Demons Enter Through Sin

2. Sexual Sin

3. Demons Enter Through Trauma

4. Spiritual Sins