PURPOSE OF
DELIVERANCE
The purpose of salvation and deliverance is to bring
honor to God among the heathen. In the Old Testament,
God became very upset about the shame Israel brought
upon His name through their disobedience and sins.
For Israel's uncleanness, shedding innocent blood and
worshipping idols, God scattered them among the
heathen and dispersed them into many nations. For they
had profaned His holy name (Ezk. 36:17-21). When we do
these things, we also profane His name. See also Rom.
1:16-24.
As Christians, we must be very careful not to profane
God's name. For profaning His name, we will be
punished. Demons have a right to enter you if you
persist in disobedience.
Our desire and duty is to honor God's name. Read I
Tim. 6 and Titus 2 for directions on how to honor God.
Maintaining your deliverance is important to other
Christians. It brings honor to God and encouragement
to others. We overcome Satan first by God's provision,
the Blood of the Lamb; secondly by our testimony, not
just our words but our lives; and thirdly by not
loving our lives to the death (Rev. 12:11).
This is why it is so important for you and me to keep
getting and maintaining our deliverance until it is
complete, and we are established and settled.
BACKGROUND
I have an Indian-English-German-French
background. There are curses on each of these people.
Indians worshipped devils. Some English and Europeans
were Druids who worshipped Satan.
In innocence, my father participated in some occult
practices - wart removal and water witching. From my
father came curses of Masons and Indians.
Physical problems came as a result of curses on Indian
worship: inactive thyroid, female disorders and heart
disease.
My mother was a paranoid schizophrenic with an
Indian-English background. Her emotional illness
caused me to need a lot of deliverance from emotional
problems.
The following testimony will help you understand how
the soul (mind, will and emotions) works. It will also
show you how Satan attacks the physical body with
demons through curses.
MAIN TESTIMONY ABOUT DELIVERANCE
In July of 1975 I came into deliverance. Do
you know it is truly possible to have peace in your
mind? For most of my life, I was your average
daughter, wife, mother and woman. In my mind there was
never any real peace, only a sort of make-believe
peace. I was not particularly moody, not often angry
and not often depressed.
Life for me after I married was a continual move - new
places - new people - new houses, all of which I
enjoyed. Our homes were among the best and most
beautiful around. Decorating them was a lot of joy for
me. Taking my children to new places and introducing
them to new experiences was exciting. We toured all of
the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The greatest fun was
watching the children enjoy all the new and unusual
things we came across. Life was very exciting.
On May 22, 1973 we were devastated. Our son died from
an accident at play.
Now all of these lovely homes, beautiful furniture,
exciting places, fun people and fun times seemed like
trash. At this time we came to know the love of Jesus
and the power of God. Never would we be the same
again.
After five months passed, we returned south from
Minneapolis. In Baton Rouge at the Full Gospel
Business Men meetings, we heard about divine healing
and the Baptism in the Holy Spirit; I needed both. In
time I was healed of my allergies, bad back, etc. and
got the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.
Gene and I went to meetings, testified and prayed for
people, and saw miracles of healing and Baptisms. For
about six months things went fine but as time passed,
some attitudes and hurts began to show up and I was
very unhappy, moody, and depressed.
I spent hours telling Gene how badly he had treated
me. I came to believe he had done things that he had
not. If you look at my previous statement, you'll see
I enjoyed moving. One time when I was ill, I didn't
want to move. The rest of the time I enjoyed it. So, I
let myself come to believe that he moved just to hurt
me and to make life bad for me. I accused him of
shutting Marie and me out of his life since Byron
died. Gene never knew what to expect when he got home
-- maybe a frying pan on the noodle. No amount of
Bible reading, prayer or fasting helped for more than
a week or two at the most.
I was trying to help Marie who was going through all
kinds of adjustments to her brother's death but only
made matters worse. She also became full of resentment
and hurt, and was bitter and angry.
Gene, Marie and I fasted, prayed and talked. I was
fasting and praying that God would fix Gene up. I was
so blind I was sure that I was perfect - well almost.
After a year or so, I was sitting reading Psalm 91. I
had always loved it but suddenly like a bucket of ice
water it hit me. The Psalm was not true for me. I had
no peace, and was always angry and moody. I (when you
are persuaded by the Devil to look on others as the
problem) was even beginning to wonder if God was just
being bad to me.
I sat on the couch and began to pray: "God if you
don't help me tonight I am going out of church, and
into the world for good". I told God that Gene is
worse off than me; he's all of my problems. God just
stopped talking so I started praying again the same
prayer. God said again, "Get Gene to pray deliverance
for you". I asked about having our pastors do my
deliverance. God didn't answer; it was like he pulled
down a shade or veil. Being one of determination I
started out again "God I must have help tonight; if I
don't get it, I flat quit. He said, "Get Gene to pray
deliverance for you". God was not harsh, neither was
he condemning. He seemed to be pleased that I had
finally asked for help and really meant it.
I called Gene; he didn't seem particularly impressed.
He also suggested the same people and the same
excuses. But the best one was "I don't know what
deliverance is; I don't know how to do that".
After some discussion, we decided to go to the bedroom
and get in the middle of the bed. We were sitting
facing each other, Gene starts praying, and my mind
starts wandering. He prayed a while in tongues and
started saying strange things such as, "You come out
of my wife in the name of Jesus". One thing I remember
well was that at the beginning when each demon was
named, I had a thought, "I don't have that".
As he called out Rejection, its hurts and kindred
spirits, I was being shown by the Holy Spirit how
these spirits had gained entrance into me, and how
they had checked and bound me in all attempts to be
myself. Rejection kept me just short of my goals in
life. Mostly it kept me from doing what God said to do
due to a fear that the other person would disagree or
reject me and my idea. I always worked better and
succeeded best in those things that I did alone.
Next came Bitterness; I never even considered myself
bitter. But as he called out demons under this ruler,
I saw hate, violence and anger. I had much trouble
with temper. Not that I was always violent, on the
contrary I was seldom angry to the observer. When I
did get angry or lose my temper, my husband and
children usually found some other more suitable place
to be.
At the naming of Rebellion, I thought I surely don't
have this spirit. As he called it out again, I balled
up my fist, drew back to back-hand him, and was
consumed with a fit of coughing and mucus.
As this was going on, I was shown how there is only
one real rebellion, and it is pointed toward God. Even
if we say, "My husband just does not accept God's way
so I am going to---". In the end when it's traced
back, it is rebellion to God for God gave directions
about how to live with an unsaved mate. If it is
against circumstances, God says, "This is the will of
God in Christ Jesus concerning you. In whatever
circumstances, I am therewith to be content".
One of my rebellions was against circumstances. I had
always had such lovely homes with rooms to spare, so
that Gene always had an office, and I always had a
sewing and craft room. When we came here, Gene bought
a three bedroom house with only two baths. His reason
was that I couldn't set up Byron's bedroom; I became
bitter. I said, "Yes, but you still have your office;
I don't have a room. You always get what you want."
And I became more rebellious.
When I first moved here I didn't hate this house but
little by little it crept up on me. At first it was
just the things packed together. Then it grew until I
hated the house twenty-four hours a day. Then my
ingratitude reached other branches of my life. My
wheels were the wheels of a camper truck. I didn't
like the truck anymore. Next came Gene, and then
living in this bug-infested hot climate with people
who can't speak good English. Next the ungrateful
person begins to blame others even if he sees it's as
much his fault as the other persons. He lies to
himself until in his eyes, at least, the other person
is entirely at fault.
God showed me my attitude in light of His attitude
letting me know that He could take even this house
away; that He had provided it and I was ungrateful for
His provision. Oh my, this really was sobering me up.
After these three main ruler demons were cast out, I
gave up if he called a demon out. I just agreed and
became free of it.
I had a habit of getting my work done as fast as I
could because I didn't like being in the house alone.
So, I roved all over this town looking for plants and
cloth to work on the house, but I never worked on it.
I did a lot of visiting with other Christian women
which is not necessary. Since neither Gene nor I knew
anything about this turn of events, I asked God to
teach me so I wouldn't go backwards. I rather liked
the changes in my mind and attitude.
I found Romans 12 contained my answer. In verse 2, I
am told to renew my mind and attitudes with God's
instructions. By doing this, I would prove for myself
what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of
God. In response to your obedience and surrender, God
will help you change bad attitudes and habits.
Attitudes submitted to God's word will follow with
actions of obedience.
In studying Eph. 5:25-32, I saw how my home was meant
to show Christ's relationship with the Church. To my
dismay, I saw it reflected my relationship with
Christ. It was not a relationship to bring others to
Christ.
I also saw how the Church is rebelling against Christ
just as in our family members were in rebellion.
The morning after this experience I came down the hall
to the kitchen and was greeted pleasantly by my
daughter. Now, this was a surprise because she was not
so pleasant at that time either. I noticed that she
began to change. I asked God about this often and
learned that my condition had put such a strain on her
that she was being broken under it. I didn't tell her
about my deliverance; I didn't know I should. She
became a very obedient and joyful person. I began to
enjoy Marie and not worry about her so much.
TESTIMONY ABOUT OVEREATING
The morning after the first deliverance took
place I prepared a nice breakfast for us. Sitting down
to read the Bible, I thought about getting something
to eat. In fact I said "I think I'll get me
something". This thought alarmed because I was now
approaching 180 pounds. I prayed asking God to show me
what this is. To my amazement something inside me said
"I said get me something to eat." I asked who are you?
It said "My name is I like to eat." I said that often.
After casting out the demon, "I Like To Eat", I told
God how I had tried dieting and I knew that was
hopeless. I was told obedience is better than
sacrifice, and I knew how to eat but was not doing it.
Plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, not much meat
and very little sweets is the basis of a proper diet.
Asked if I'd do what I was told, I assured God that I
would. He said that food can be divided into two
groups: God's and Devil's. Devil's food includes
sweets to excess, junk food, and liquids which are
mostly empty calories.
It's not bad manners not to eat sweets or any other
food when you know your body has not used up the last
meal. I was intelligent enough to know if I truly
needed food. Here are God's suggestions in summary:
1. Eat fruit and vegetables; include leafy greens.
2. Do not each much meat - three or four servings
weekly.
3. Don't eat unless you truly need to.
4. Don't let others stuff you.
5. Seldom eat sweets.
6. Almost never eat junk food.
7. Remember those whose God is their belly.
8. Cook all foods simply.
9. Use little fat and cut fat from meat.
TESTIMONY ABOUT DELIVERANCE FROM INDIAN CURSES
I had a heart condition which was unusual. It
never occurred with regularity nor under any specific
condition.
While taking a tread mill test, I experienced
tremendous pain in the chest, arms and neck. Having
been examined by a heart specialist, he told me that
my heart was good but he had written "death by heart
attack" on many people's certificates like myself.
These were people who didn't really have anything
wrong with their hearts.
A year or so after my dad's death I found my heart
acting up again. Sometimes one to five years would
elapse between seizures. I began to ask God to show me
why my brothers, dad, dad's brothers and his dad, all
had heart problems. He showed me Exodus 20 and Ezekiel
18. He told me to repent for my ancestors and myself
for the sin of idol worship in Lev. 26:40-41. The
curse of idol worship follows the blood line. I did
these things and have been free for over thirteen
years. I was only the second generation from this
Indian worship and also had curses from previous
generations.
TESTIMONY
ABOUT SCHIZOPHRENIA
Schizophrenia means split mind (schizein = to
split and phren = mind). I had a lifetime of mental
and emotional tension. I was unable to decide what to
do and see it through. I had many fears that something
bad was going to happen.
All of my life I had great fears of bad things
happening: fears of failing and fears of people. I was
often tense for weeks and I did not know why.
This is the earliest memory I have of going to school.
I was so afraid of all the people I could not go into
the school but hid behind the well house until my
brother came and took me into the first grade. I was
disoriented that day; strange feelings and fears
tormented me.
I have very few memories from childhood below the age
of nine or ten years. Generally speaking I lived in
two worlds: home and away from home. I became very
good at forgetting everything bad (parents' fights and
my own troubles) that happened at home the minute I
walked out the door. I felt more freedom and ease away
from home. At high school and college I had trouble
with certain subjects like algebra and chemistry. They
had things too similar for me to distinguish between
them. Both of these subjects ended in frustration and
low grades for me.
In my marriage I had some problems accepting my
husband as one who would provide for me, take care of
me, and continue to love me. I was always expecting
the marriage to end badly.
After six years of marriage, we had a delightful son
and two years later we had a beautiful daughter.
Double-mindedness wears the person out, and frustrates
and confuses him. Deciding, then undeciding stagnates
a person. For example, my mom was here for a while;
she couldn't be content for desiring to go home. When
at home, she was pressed to stay somewhere else
besides her home. When away from home, great fears
filled her about the house. She was miserable and made
those around her miserable (James 1:5-8).
TESTIMONY ABOUT MAINTAINING DELIVERANCE
The scriptural basis for giving a testimony
is found in Rev. 12:11 where we overcome Satan by
three things: the blood of Jesus, our testimony, and
not loving our lives to the death. God told me that if
I was unwilling to tell about my deliverance, I would
lose it. And furthermore, if I was ashamed of Him and
His provisions, He would be ashamed of me in Heaven.
In James 4:7 we are told how to make the Devil flee.
We often quote part of the verse "resist the devil and
he will flee from you". This gives us a false sense of
security. The truth is you must first submit yourself
to God. This is not a careless submission but true
submission to God which requires us to read, study and
obey the Bible. As we submit this way to God and then
resist the Devil, he will indeed flee from us. God
does not require us to know all the Biblical
requirements before He will help us but we must be
making every effort to obey all that we have learned,
and be diligent about learning and applying more.
After all deliverance's, some decisions must be made
and never changed no matter how much pressure is
applied to you from whatever source to change or go
back to old sins. Here are some decisions which must
be made: 1. Study God's Word and accept His principles
as your own. 2. Discipline your life and accept
responsibility for your actions and thoughts in the
areas where you have been delivered. 3. Enter His
presence with thanksgiving for all with which He has
blessed you. 4. Joyfully obey God's direction even if
you have to force yourself in the beginning.
The day after I received my main deliverance, I had an
empty feeling and did not know what to do. My reaction
was to ask God continually for direction. We cannot do
what God directs if we never apply His Word to our
life. If we do not apply His Word to our thoughts and
actions we are not truly subject to God.
Therefore the Devil will not flee from us and we are
only fooling ourselves if we think the demons will
leave us alone. While we kid ourselves, the Devil and
his demons eat our dinner and by the time we face the
truth dinner is nearly over.
I learned that I didn't really know God's Word. I
didn't know how to use God's Word or how to use my
mind. I asked God to take my thoughts. He told me that
He wouldn't touch my thoughts with a ten foot pole;
that His thoughts were higher than mine and that I
must control my thoughts bring them into submission to
Jesus Christ (II Cor. 10:5).
I started marking everything that God said in the
Bible in red. I found there is much said about the
mind in Deuteronomy and throughout the Bible. Next I
was impressed to underline every verse in the New
Testament that told me something that I should do.
I soon realized that I really didn't know what I
should think with my mind. It occurred to me that my
mind is to be an instrument for my spirit's use and
not the other way around. The hands, feet, eyes, ears
and body obey, so why not make the mind obey? To make
the mind obey, I needed to know what to make it do.
I had to learn how to tell the difference between
God's and the Devil's thoughts. The battleground for
the Christian is primarily for his soul, not body or
spirit. The demons want to re-enter through your mind.
See Romans 6;16-18. Do you not know that if you
continually surrender yourselves to any one to do his
will, you are the slaves of him whom you obey, whether
it be to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience
which leads to righteousness - right doing and right
standing with God. But thank God, though you were once
slaves of sin you have become obedient with all your
heart to the standard of teaching in which you were
instructed and to which you were committed. And having
been set free from sin, you have become the servants
of righteousness - of conformity to the divine will in
thought, purpose and action.
How do we yield ourselves to anyone (God or Devil)? Is
it not in the mind? A human always plays with sinful
thoughts, then he acts it out. It is not by accident
we sin. A lot of people do not want to accept the
responsibility for their sinfulness and want to blame
it on someone else. The only trouble with this idea is
that God will not be fooled by it neither will your
enemy, the Devil.
Temptation - 1 Cor. 10:13 For no temptation - no trial
regarded as enticing to sin (no matter how it comes or
where it leads) - has overtaken you and lied hold on
you that is not common to man - that is no temptation
or trial has come to you that is beyond human
resistance and that is not adjusted and adapted and
and belonging to human experience, and such as man can
bear. But God is faithful to His Word and to His
compassionate nature and He (can be trusted)
not to let you be tempted and tried and assayed beyond
your ability and strength of resistance and power to
endure, but with the temptation He will (always)
provide a way out - the means to escape to a landing
plane - that you may be capable and strong and
powerful patiently to bear up under it.
This tells me
temptation in common to mankind, therefore it is
common for the Devil and the demons to use it. If they
tempt us, we have not sinned. We have sinned when we
enjoy and continue to invite the temptation, then
yield and obey. the temptation. It also shows we
weren't watchful for the escape route and we did not
take it.
Situations around
you will not necessarily change immediately now that
you have changed. Just as you practiced obedience to
the demons' words, now practice obedience to God's
Word.
This is my first
encounter with the Devil after I was delivered. Before
I was delivered, I would get very angry and depressed
when I cleaned house. At that time, we had
wall-to-wall furniture. The living room was really
badly cluttered. Each piece of furniture had to be
moved to vacuum around it. I was happy and didn't hate
this house anymore.
As I was vacuuming
the living room, I dropped a table on my toe and was
having trouble getting the vacuum nozzle under the
sofa. I raised up and let out a loud "I hate this---".
God quickly warned me that "life and death is in the
tongue, and they that love it will eat the fruit
thereof" (Prov. 18:21). God also told me at this time
that He had given it to my family. If I didn't have an
attitude of gratitude about the house and furniture,
He could easily remove them from me. I knew that I
must not complete the sentence or I would be back
where I started from. I repented and repeated until I
believed it, "I love this house and I thank God for
it".
Another of Satan's
tactics is to use gradualism on us. He will give us a
sin to look at and consider. He will cover it over
with pretty lies (pretty young people smoking, never
an old person dying of lung cancer). He will use
rejection to trap you; he will never tell the true
ending (where does illegal sex lead?). He knows that
the more we see it, hear it and consider it, the more
likely we are to give in to it. A good example of the
use of gradualism is Humanism. Forty years ago it was
very mildly given to people mainly by pastors and
teachers. People considered it and accepted it because
it was given by people they trusted. Not considering
what was the basic theory behind it (worship of self -
therefore idolatry), people allowed this theory to so
invade them that now we cannot recognize it for what
it is. Many of us say we are against it but we live by
it instead of the Bible.
We do not recognize
God's provisions for us. We think our life should have
no problems or privations. We are not grateful to God
for all. Deut. 28:47-48, Because you did not serve the
Lord your God with joyfulness of heart and mind in
gratitude for the abundance of all with which He had
blessed you, therefore you shall serve your enemies
whom the Lord shall send against you, in hunger and
thrust, in nakedness, and in want of all things; and
He will put a yoke of iron upon you neck, until He
hath destroyed you.
This verse presents
some interesting ideas 1. Are you having problems
because you are ungrateful to God? 2. Do you know
which problems are from God to help you learn to
endure to the end or which ones are brought on because
of being ungrateful? 3. Which ones have you invited by
yielding to temptations of the enemy? If you will know
the answer to these questions, you will have to seek
God. He has promised to give wisdom to all who ask for
it not wavering (James 1:4-8). If you ask God for
wisdom and He gives you wisdom, you must not waver
following His wisdom. For example: if you have been
one to look at dirty magazines, God's wisdom tells you
this will lead you to want to do what you see; then
you must stop it. You may need deliverance for the
demons you have let in plus you must change your
habits. No one can change your thought life by casting
out your demons. Casting out your demons is one of
God's escape routes.
To deliverance must
be added by the deliveree, discipline of mind and
action.
The best attack
against habit, and the attempts of demons to trick you
and get back in that I found was 1. to tell them to
leave in Jesus' name once and 2. immediately take
control of your mind. I would do it this way: I would
tell them Jesus has given me authority over you (Luke
10:19, Matt. 28:18-20), therefore I command you to
leave me now. If I did not sense they were gone, I
would say, "Since you are still here, I would like to
read to you about what Jesus Christ has done for me."
I would open the Bible to Matt. 26-28, Mark 14-16,
Luke 22-24 and John 17-21 and read it aloud to them.
Of course they did not want to hear of God's love and
provision for me. The pressure they had placed on me
and their thoughts were long gone but I would read on
and bless myself in God's Word. Some times the
pressure from the demons trying to get back in was
strong enough that I would have to walk and read very
loudly to them. I will still do this if I come under
attack; it always works. After a time, you will be
able to tell them the facts without reading it to
them.
My next attack was
sent through people. When asked why I looked so much
better and was losing weight, I would answer
truthfully and say "I was delivered of demons and no,
I was not dieting". If three people were present, you
would get three distinct reactions. One would leave
pronto, one would regard you as if you were
radioactive, and one would grab your arm and want to
know more.
Then you'd hear
whispers - she had demons! They only talk about
demons; do they worship them? They are fanatical; they
believe there is a demon under every bush!
Next I was tempted
to go back to some of my old habits of retaliation,
etc. I must crucify the flesh - God said that
vengeance belongs to Him (Rom. 12:19). I must not
habitually sin or else I become the demon's house in
that area again (I John 3:8-9).
Mental suggestions
by the Devil must be put down. He will suggest a what
if, could be or maybe. If this happens, what will you
do (fear and more fear)?
Unless you have
facts to base your knowledge on, don't let the Devil
play you along.
One of his tactics
was to attack me about Marie: what if Marie can't
adjust to her brother's death? Before deliverance, I
would cringe in fear and worry.
After deliverance, I
learned to tell Satan that Marie can do all things
through Christ who strengthens her; I can too!
You don't have to be
perfect to give a word of encouragement, share an
experience, help someone or even cast out a demon. If
God demanded perfection, nothing would ever get done.
I'm over fifty years old and I have yet to meet a
perfect person.
You must have a
total commitment to Jesus Christ. Rely totally on Him
and His Word. Do these things and you will continue to
get free and stay free. Don't be double minded:
deciding and undeciding.
I found a verse to
put my temptations in prospective (Heb. 12:4). Begin
reading at verse one which contains instruction on
keeping pure. It suggests we strip off and throw aside
every encumbrance and sin which so readily (deftly and
cleverly) clings to and entangles us, and let us run
with patient endurance and steady and active
persistence the appointed course of the race set
before us.
Looking away (from
all that will distract) to Jesus, Who is the Leader
and the source of our faith (giving the first
incentive for our belief) and is also its Finisher,
(bringing it to maturity and perfection). He, for the
joy (of obtaining the prize) that was set before Him
endured the cross, despising and ignoring the
shame,and is now seated at the right hand of the
throne of God.
Just think of Him
who endured from sinners such grievous opposition and
bitter hostility against - reckon up and consider it
all in comparison with your trials - so that you may
not grow weary or exhausted, losing heart and relaxing
and fainting in your minds. You have not yet struggled
and fought agonizing against sin, nor have you yet
resisted and withstood to the point of pouring out
your (own) blood.
If we are able with
every temptation to resist to the shedding of our
blood maybe, then we might have an acceptable excuse
for failing to resist the Devil and him having to
flee.
God will not make
you over; He will work with you and help you. See Mark
16:20. A miracle is taking place as you go obeying The
Word in the areas you have received instruction and
deliverance.
A study of Matt.
Chapter 5 will help anyone see just where they are
missing it with their attitudes. It will inspire you
to clear your mind of a lot of incorrect ideas and to
broaden your understanding of the truth.