INNER HEALING THROUGH ‘The Four-Doors Method’
by Pastor Bernardo Stamateas
Translated by: Maria Angela Rascovsky Nancy Lynch
All rights reserved. No part of this material covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means without express written consent of the Pastor Bernardo Stamateas [email protected] www.PresenciaDeDios.com
1 CONTENTS
Introduction...... 1
Chapter 1...... 2 The Four-Doors Method and Inner Healing...... 2
Chapter 2...... 5 Inner Healing and Pastoral Counseling: Are They Synonyms? ...... 5
Chapter 3...... 13 How, Where and When to Minister through this Method?. . .13
Chapter 4...... 17 Restraining The Enemy from Invading Our Lives...... 17
Chapter 5...... 20 Shutting the Door to the Occult...... 20
Chapter 6...... 35 Shutting the Door to Heredity...... 35
Chapter 7...... 40 Shutting the Door to Sin...... 40
Chapter 8...... 51 Shutting the Door to Wounds...... 51
Chapter 9...... 64 Ministering Inner Healing through“The Four-Doors Method” ...... 64
Chapter 10...... 3 Living in Holiness...... 3
Note: All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version.
2 Introduction
We’d like to thank the Lord for letting us introduce the Manual on The Four-Doors Method, which we have been using by the immense grace of the Holy Spirit in the last five years to bless our congregation and others throughout our continent. In a very special time of spiritual renewal, the Lord changed our lives, touched our hearts and poured out His mercy on us for those living in darkness, enslaved by Satan, oppressed and in anguish for wounds and memories that don’t let them experience the abundant life that Christ can give us. The Word of God urged us in our spirits: “You will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show favor to her; the appointed time has come (…) The Lord looked down from his sanctuary on high, from heaven he viewed the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death” (Psalm 102:13,19-20). We have seen the powerful hand of the Lord healing, setting free and restoring thousands of lives. We have joyfully seen the mighty work of God and we know that we can take authority in His name to perform the Great Commission for the glory and honor of His name. Jesus’ ministry basically consisted of bringing the Kingdom of God to the earth, teaching His Lordship over our lives and restoring our communion with the Father by forgiving our sins. Moreover, it also entailed healing any and all sickness and pain so that we can live the abundant life full of joy and peace that our hearts long for. Jesus Himself went to the temple and said, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19). We notice as well in the Gospels that the Lord gave His authority and anointing to those He had called to minister in His name. This is what this book is about. It deals with how to live the Kingdom of God, which is justice, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit, and how to share it with others. We fervently hope that on reading these pages you will listen to the Holy Spirit’s voice that speaks to you to heal all pain and to challenge you to be totally dependent on the Lord. It is also our desire that by His grace you will live in victory using the spiritual weapons that God has given you. Christian life will be a real adventure if: we are willing to receive everything the Lord has prepared for us; we leave aside any structure and prejudice that limit us; and we give liberty to the Holy Spirit so that He can model our lives as clay, renew our understanding and lead us to the truth. We pray that this will be a reality in our lives every day. One of the secrets that the Lord has recently revealed to us is that we can’t keep what we receive, simply because it doesn’t belong to us. He wants to make us channels of His blessing, useful tools in His hands. The spiritual principle says that we should give to keep on receiving new things from the Lord. The possibility of providing you with this material is a proof of it. We wish to share it with you and say to the Lord, “Thank you, Lord, for your great love and wonderful work on our lives healing and setting us free by your almighty power.”
3 Chapter 1 The Four-Doors Method and Inner Healing
What does the clay pot symbolize? How does the Holy Spirit work on us through inner healing? Who can be inner-healed? What is the purpose of inner healing? What does a door represent or symbolize? What is the idea implied in shutting the door to the devil?
……………………………………………………………………………………………
Inner healing arose in my ministry as a need. I would treat people with very serious emotional problems that were not on the list of personality, behavioral or emotional disorders I had learned in college. As a psychologist, I had frequently sent some of my patients to a psychiatrist or suggested them a special institution to treat their disorders. As a pastor, I had always considered the spiritual aspect in every human disorder, but I couldn’t understand why if someone was already a Christian and made into a new person, some conflicts were still unsolved and affecting that person after several pastoral counseling sessions. The truth is that scientific knowledge seemed to be useless, and my experience as a pastor and my relationship with the Holy Spirit were not enough to work things out. The answer came to my life through a vision. After fifteen years as a pastor, the Lord started speaking to me in a way He hadn’t done before. One afternoon I was praying with all my heart and all of a sudden the Holy Spirit showed me a cracked clay pot that was being filled with water, but the water filtered through the cracks. When I asked the Lord what the meaning of that vision was, the Spirit clearly told me that my life was like that cracked pot. God, in His immense love, poured His blessing, His power and His glory over me, but they immediately filtered through the cracks of my life. So I asked the Lord what the cracks represented. He said, “Your sins, your wounds, your heredity and your bondage to the occult…” It was as if my mind was suddenly illuminated. Now I could clearly understand the meaning of Jeremiah 18:6: “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand…” and I knew that my life and ministry would be totally different from then on. Then I saw the cracked clay pot again, but this time there was a hand covering and fixing each crack. I could also see water being poured in, but this time the water remained and even overflowed. Through this vision, the Lord
4 showed me that the Holy Spirit was restoring the cracks in my life. Praise the Lord for that! We may say that the expression “inner healing” is in fashion and even overused by pastors nowadays; however, it clearly and properly reflects the work of God through His Holy Spirit. From the moment we decide to follow Christ, His redeeming work at the cross in the Calvary changes our present. We become His children and start a new life in Him. Eternal life provides us with a new vision of our being and with a glorious future in heaven. But what about our past deeds and the bad experiences we suffered in silence? How do we heal grudges, betrayals, quarrels? These and other questions led us to think about the real condition of Christians today, who are bound by unspeakable sins, occult practices before turning to Christ, deep wounds still open in their hearts, inherited practices and habits restraining their spiritual lives. All of this we concluded with the Holy Spirit’s help. This is how The Four-Doors Method appeared as another tool for the people of God. This method focuses on the four key aspects in a person’s life. Making specific questions about concrete topics, we find out the spiritual relationship between situations lived in the past and their negative influence at present, causing a Christian to get away from God. When we began ministering, we were a group of eight or nine people under the guidance of the Holy Spirit making certain questions to the person to be ministered to. Soon after we realized that the topics were always the same, so we simply repeated the questions. Besides, some people didn’t want to speak in front of the group, so that we decided that ministry was going to be held by one or two leaders, depending on the complexity of the case, and an intercessor. Some people consider that ministering inner healing is to pray during or after the service. Others think that inner healing is closely related to casting out demons. However, The Four-Doors Method that we use in the Ministry “Presencia de Dios” (Presence of God) and in the Pastoral Counseling Institute is intended to help people to experience the Lordship of Jesus Christ in their lives. We believe inner healing is the work of the Holy Spirit in those children of God who are willing to submit every area of their lives to Him to be healed, cleaned and freed from every spiritual, physical and emotional bondage, so as they can live and experience the abundant life He wants to give them. Nowadays, there exist many methods to minister inner healing and countless books on deliverance, all being used by God and bearing precious fruit. As regards The Four-Doors Method, it has successfully been used for over five years in our ministry, and we have had the opportunity of seeing how the Holy Spirit has powerfully changed many Christian lives and gotten them closer to the glory of the Father. We have taken the illustration of the door to represent those areas in a Christian that need inner healing because: - A door is a passage to communicate with the outer world. - A door is a way in, but also a way out.
5 - A door has two positions: open and closed. We have considered four areas the following way: The door to the occult: We look into people’s spiritual past and their active or passive participation in practices such as spiritualism, parapsychology, magic, umbanda, quackery, witchcraft, etc. The door to heredity: We inquire into: the family spirits that people inherited without knowing and that are troubling their spiritual life; precepts they have unconsciously obeyed since they were children; covenants and promises their parents or grandparents did and bound their lives. The door to sin: We go into people’s practices against God’s will, which they have done willfully or not, such as adultery, fornication, envy, hatred, robbery, etc. The door to wounds: We look into traumatic memories from childhood, wounds inflicted by past experiences that are still aching.
Chapter 2 Inner Healing and Pastoral Counseling: Are They Synonyms?
6 What is the difference between Inner Healing and Pastoral Counseling? Are they opposed to each other? How does anointing affect our lives? What were the main characteristics of Jesus’ ministry? What is the meaning of the expression “being seated in the heavenly realms”?
……………………………………………………………………………………………
Inner healing and pastoral counseling are two different ways in which the Holy Spirit works through pastors, counselors or ministration teams. Let’s make some points clear so as to avoid confusion. Pastoral counseling is a biblical sound approach —guided by the Holy Spirit— to the human being’s psycho-spiritual conflicts in order to modify every ill behavioral trait. Inner healing implies the work of the Holy Spirit on the four “doors” (developed in chapter 1) healing, cleaning, and setting people free from any spiritual bondage so that they can fully live the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Pastoral Counseling Inner Healing Similarities: Work of the Holy Spirit Healing Lordship of Christ Sanctification Differences: No time limit Time limit Open approach Focused approach Individually or in group Individually Need based on specific topics The person as a whole Pastor/Counselor Team
As regards similarities, both processes are guided by the Holy Spirit. They both bring about healing and sanctification, and their main objective is to enhance the Lordship of Jesus Christ in those receiving ministry. We believe that inner healing doesn’t aim at looking for demons, though it’s true that there may be demoniac manifestations while ministering. In fact inner healing aims at living the Lordship of Christ fully and in all respects.
As regards differences, let’s look briefly into them. Counseling may take a long period of time. The counselor will decide the frequency as well as the duration of the meetings according to the problem posed by each person. The inner healing session may take two to five hours depending on each personal history. When counseling there’s no precise method to follow and the person expresses his needs freely. During the inner healing session, we use The Four- Doors Method. We take the history of the person receiving ministry and even
7 ask specific question about certain topics. Regarding this point, it is very important that the minister shouldn’t hesitate when questioning, as a specific question is frequently expected to be set free from heavy inner burdens. Pastoral counseling may be provided individually or in group, which means that we can interview a family, a couple or just one person. When ministering we assist one person at a time. Finally, counseling is carried out by the pastor or counselor while inner healing is ministered by the respective team. Once the person has been ministered to, you may occasionally notice that there is still an inner conflict; the ministry performed in certain areas is valid in any case. But, if necessary the person should go to pastoral counseling.
Biblical Basis of Inner Healing 1- End-of-times church’s characteristics:
The people of God returning to and taking a serious commitment with Christ. Prophet Joel said, “Even now, declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning” (Joel 2:12). What is the meaning of returning? Is it the same as “being born again”? Returning means to open our lives to the work of the Holy Spirit, to stop limiting God, to stop telling Him how He has to move and act. Returning is to put our two ears, our mouth, our eyes and our heart under the Holy Spirit’s guidance. A Christian is someone that has stopped limiting the Lord and lives under the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
Christians living with anointing. We mean by anointing our awareness in mind, body and spirit of God’s marvelous presence. His presence is in every Christian, but His anointing isn’t. For a Christian to experience anointing, he must submit his life to Christ’s absolute and unconditional authority and walk in the Spirit. Some Christians simply worship the Lord, but some other Christians worship the Lord with anointing. Some Christians just minister inner healing and some other Christians minister inner healing with the anointing of God. Anointing makes all the difference.
There is only one spiritual principle to live the anointing of Christ resurrected: “hunger for God”. This principle is not only for the pastor or minister of inner healing but also for every Christian that is willing to obey God. Anointing increasing as God’s people are hungry and long for His presence.
8 Read Psalm 84:1-12. This is an example of someone truly hungry for God; hungry for His presence, His company, His authority, for receiving more from Him. Verse 2 says, “My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.” In these words there is fire, yearning. God’s anointing is not meant for those who are indifferent and passive, who are comfortably waiting for the Lord to do something. Psalm 16:2 says, “ I said to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.’ ” David had understood by revelation of the Holy Spirit that he had to live after God’s own heart, that everything good came from His presence. When we start living under God’s anointing, we discover that out of that most holy place there’s nothing else that can be good. Then we yearn to live 24 hours a day in that place near God. And we experience His presence in such a way that all our being is shaken. Being hungry for God means to stop limiting God and be prepared to everything. Psalm 84:4 says, “Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you.” Again, being hungry for God is to yearn to live with Him. It is important to point out that the psalmist doesn’t use the word “visit”, but the word “dwell”. Unfortunately, we have understood anointing as a synonym of “visitation of the Spirit.” The psalmist is very clear: hunger for God means to yearn to live where He is, in the most holy place, to live in God’s intimate presence. How many Christians say, “I can’t read the Bible. I fall asleep. It is very difficult for me to pray even for just ten minutes!” They make great efforts, read many books, look for anointed pastors to pray for them, ask God to change them, but nothing happens. This is because they lack for anointing. The time we meet God and decide to live with Him, there is no more lukewarmness, no more effort, no more good books to read about how to pray. Now we spontaneously want to pray, as our hunger for God has allowed a new and refreshing encounter with our Lord. The hungrier we are for God, the higher our anointing will be. Our spiritual level is determined by our hunger for God. Little hunger equals to little presence of the Lord. The powerful light of Christ’s look revealing our sins and misery. When the light of Christ is turned on, we can clearly see our own wrongdoing. In the Gospels, one of the disciples used to say: “Lord, go away from me…”
As we start experiencing God’s anointing, we face our worst enemy: ourselves. “Lord, no longer me, but Christ in me…” This is our first feeling when we are in His presence. We want to put our flesh, our human desires, our pride to
9 death. When we are with Christ, in the secret of Jehovah, we can clearly see our sins and the condition of our heart. Ask the Lord for a sensitive heart to listen to his Spirit. “God, Holy Spirit, be my teacher”. “Be my potter”(Jeremiah 18:1-6). The potter would never throw clay away. He works with it. Let the Lord work on you. Stop being insensitive to the Lord. Be like clay in His hands. The power of God coming onto us as never before. One of the promises in times of anointing is that there will be power of God. Psalm 84:7 says, “They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.” To walk from strength to strength means to have power in prayer, intercession, and ministration. Power to conquer and preach. This power arises when we see God face to face in His holy mountain, in His private place. Nobody can steal our anointing from us. But we can lose it when we leave God. Somebody once said: “If God seems to be distant, guess who has moved?”
2- Jesus Christ’s ministry: Mathew 4:23-24, “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon- possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed and he healed them.” Mathew 8:16, “When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick.” Mark 16:17, “And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons…” Luke 11:14, “Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke and the crowd was amazed.”
These together with other passages from the Bible show us the great scope of Jesus’ ministry, which not only consisted in teaching, preaching and making disciples, but also healing the sick and casting out demons. Jesus healed physical illnesses and set free those bound by demons. Healing was included in the Christian mission of deliverance. Jesus’ great commission involves the following promises: Mark 16:18, “They will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”
10 John 14:12, “Anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these…”
3- Our authority in Christ: Philippians 2:5-11 says, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but make himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death —even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” In Mathew 28:18 we read, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” The question is: Who gave Jesus authority? And why? Jesus was not killed. He gave His life. Some people think that He was killed by the Romans; some others, by the devil. Still others think He was killed by sin. All of these assumptions are incorrect. He didn’t come to be killed, but to die. He said, “I have authority to lay my life down and authority to take it up again” (John 10:18). One day God told Jesus, “I need you to go to the cross to die.” And Jesus obeyed and said, “Father, if this is your will, I’ll do it.” The word of God describes that when Jesus was on the cross the soldiers tore his beard off, put a crown of thorns on His head, spat on Him, and made fun of Him. They thought they were killing Jesus, but this was not so. He came to give His life of His own accord to harvest authority and power. On that cross, Jesus looked up to the sky and said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). This should be your attitude. Whenever you get hurt or spat, when things don’t come out the way you expected you should take Jesus Christ’s attitude.
Later Jesus said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mathew 27:46). Every sin committed by every man and woman was laid on Jesus, and God turned His back on His Son. Jesus was made sin and God Father abandoned Him. Then Jesus looked up again and said, “It is finished” (John 19:30). He was taken by death for three days, and went to hell where Satan was together with all his demons. Let me take the liberty of saying this: Satan thought he had killed Jesus, but he didn’t know Jesus had given His life out of love. Then the devil gathered all his demons and said, “We need a sin to retain Jesus.” So he called the demon of theft to give his report, but he didn’t get anything to accuse Jesus. Then Satan called the demon of adultery, but he also failed in giving a report
11 against the Son of God. After that, the devil called the demon of hatred, which admitted that not even on the cross was Jesus persuaded to curse. Jesus was retained by death for three days, and finally He told Satan: “I am the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world as I came sinless and died sinless.” So death had to release Him. Then Jesus took the key of Hades where all the dead were made prisoners up to that moment. He unlocked the door and started calling all His prophets out, “Abraham, come out; Samuel, Isaiah, all of you come out…” He told them to come out for He had been given authority to lock and unlock the gates of Hades and death. Death had to release all those sinners as somebody sinless and blameless had absolute authority to unlock the Hades. After those three days, Jesus appeared to the women who had taken incense to worship Him in His grave. When Mary saw Jesus, she wanted to embrace Him, but He didn’t let her do so because He was hallowed with glory. The Bible then says that He was raised to heaven to the Father. There Jesus told His Father, “Father, I went to the cross and I died. I poured out my blood just the way you asked me to and I did that out of love. No sin was found in me.” God Father then answered, “Son, as you defeated the devil and there was no sin in you; as you gave your life and you did it out of love, today I give you the name above every name and I exalt you. I give you absolute power and authority. Come and sit at my right.” God Father gave His wonderful Son back everything as a reward. However, Jesus was uneasy. His Father asked Him, “What is going on with you, Son?” So Jesus replied, “I am in love. It was like love at first sight. I was on earth and I fell in love. Now I have a fiancé, the church, and I want to give her everything…” “Do you want to give her the authority I gave you, Son?” Jesus said, “Yes, please.” So the Father agreed, and asked Him what else He wanted to give the church. Jesus responded, “I want her to be seated by my side.” And the Father agreed to this as well. Therefore, Jesus started calling his church to sit to His right the way He was seated to His Father’s right. One day the Apostle Paul had this vision and declared that “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6).
That is your place, at Jesus’ right, where you have all power and authority and where the Lord is with you. Jesus went on telling His Father, “When I was on earth, I told my fiancé, ‘I am going to prepare a place for you so you may also be where I am … and I will never drive away whoever comes to me, nobody will snatch you from my side…’ ” All of a sudden, a prayer was heard, “Lord, we ask you…,” and Satan started to accuse the children of God, “Don’t give them anything. I know them pretty well.” God shut him up and asked Jesus what to do. So Jesus replied, “Yes, give them what they ask as I told them that everything they asked in my name they would receive.” God doesn’t listen to the devil anymore, but He consults His Son. And He assures us that we will receive anything if we accept His blood and serve Him.
12 Some people don’t understand where they are seated and feel lost as they have no idea what their place in heaven is. Dear brother and sister, you are seated with Jesus and you have received all authority over any illness, demon or problem because Jesus Himself has given you that power. Jesus didn’t die for you to stay here but to go and sit there in heaven with Him. Paul said that his citizenship was not on earth but in heaven with God. Paul understood his place in a spiritual level. Finally Jesus said, “Father, I’d like to ask you something else… that everything that you gave me I can give it to my fiancé.” And Paul appreciated these words when he declared that “we are heirs —heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17). God Father then decided that Jesus could give His church everything for He had lived without sin and died to form a wife to love Him and be faithful to Him and not to be indifferent to the great sacrifice that He had done for her. Jesus then announced, “I have put everything under her feet.” Do you know why the Lord did this? Because you are seated in heavenly places; because one day Jesus gave up all He had, became like man, took the nature of a servant and died. He was tempted, rejected and all the same, He declared on the cross, “It is done, it is finished.” Then He was raised to heaven to prepare a place for his wife, so that where He is, His wife can be too. Jesus stated in John 5:24, “Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life”
13 Chapter 3 How, Where and When to Minister through this Method?
14 Why do we say that there aren’t two identical ministrations? What should we tell the person being ministered to before praying? Why is it important to be careful when choosing a place to minister? Which gifts should a minister of inner healing desire? How can the ministry of inner healing turn into a curse? How should the ministered person’s commitment be so as to retain inner healing?
………………………………………………………………… …………………………
Some Hints for the Inner Healing Session It is worth mentioning that the method introduced in this book doesn’t entail a magic formula that can be applied to any situation. Remember that there will never be similar ministrations as lives and people are different. For this ministry to be successful, on the one hand, all inner healing team members should be under the Holy Spirit’s guidance and ask for the gift of discerning of spirits to receive spiritual light and wisdom. On the other hand, for this ministry to be effective, the person who needs to be healed should be sincere and willing to be ministered to. It is very important to agree on this from the start. This person ought to be informed that he (or she) is going to be asked very deep and specific questions about his life so that he can be divinely healed from all of his wounds. We should also tell him that everything that happens during the healing interview won’t be disclosed to others. Remember that this ministry will be a blessing if we are discreet; otherwise it may turn into a curse.
The Right Time and the Right Place We think it convenient for the healing sessions to be carried out on working days as it is impossible to use The Four-Doors Method during church services. We recommend choosing a place where we won’t be interrupted or interfere others’ activities, and where the person being ministered to will feel safe and comfortable to open his heart up to us (for instance, a classroom or an office in the temple).
The Efficient Team
15 Those people working in this ministry should have the following characteristics: They should have already been ministered to inner healing. Everyone needs to be healed by the Lord. We won’t be able to minister to others unless the Holy Spirit ministers to us first. They should be under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. As mentioned before, inner healing aims at enhancing the Lordship of Jesus Christ in those receiving ministry. Where there is the Lordship of Christ there is fruit of the Holy Spirit. And this has nothing to do with conceit, vanity, rivalry or any other human desire. They should submit to their pastor’s authority. God doesn’t like “Rambos” among His children. Jesus built up the Church to go on with His ministry. There are different kinds of responsibilities and roles within a church, so before ministering to someone we have to consult our church leader and be obedient to him. There should be a team leader. One member (maybe two) should lead the team so that the ministry is performed under control and in order. Remember that the devil always makes good use of chaos. First, the leader should take the person’s history and make the relevant questions. Then he will guide said person to renounce. The other team members should intercede during the course of the ministry. They should have the gifts of discerning of spirits, healing and deliverance. Gift of discerning of spirits: It is the ability given by God to certain members of the Body of Christ to ascertain if some behavior that seems to come from God may be in fact human, divine or demoniac. Gift of healing: It is the ability given by God to certain members of the Body of Christ to serve as human channels through which God by grace wants to heal illnesses and restore health beyond natural means. Gift of deliverance: It is the ability given by God to certain members of the Body of Christ to cast out demons.
16 If you feel God is calling you to serve Him in this ministry, we recommend that you start asking for these gifts RIGHT NOW. They shouldn’t consider this ministry more important than others. A church pursuing to fulfill God’s plan should keep a constant balance among all its ministries. Consequently, the ministry of inner healing should not take priority over others in church. We must keep on preaching, teaching the Bible, providing with shelter and food to the needy and enriching everyday our communion with the Lord and our brethren. They should be trustworthy not to speak about the healing sessions to others. One of the most terrible mistakes inner healing team members can make is to tell others about the sins confessed by the person they ministered to. This ministry is then turned into a curse. We must be trustworthy as regards the healing interview.
Posthealing Follow-up It is very much possible for the person who received ministry to experience some kind of oppression. So a team member should carry out a follow-up to pray, accompany this person and assess the process afterwards. We should tell this person that he was healed by the grace and power of the Lord, but he is now responsible of keeping every door closed and starting to live in victory. For this reason, he should: Submit to the Lord and resist the devil (James 4:7). Keep any and all doors closed. In case of demoniac oppression, rebuke in the name of Jesus. Attend a church and seek the Lord. Put on the full armor of God, that is to say, to walk in the Spirit every day.
Demonic Manifestations during a Church Service: What to Do Whenever there is a demoniac manifestation during a church service (whether worship, preaching of the Gospel, or even when someone is praying and rebuking evil sprits), it is important that the inner healing leader be near the demonized and whisper in his ear to bind the evil spirit in the name of Jesus and prohibit him to cause disturbances during the service.
17 We have some reasons to do this. First, the devil is all the time trying to take the glory. Second, he will try to scare those who aren’t mature enough to understand what is going on. And third, demoniac manifestations hurt the person physically as well as psychologically.
Then the procedure is as follows: (a) This person should immediately be taken to a room appointed for ministry. (b) The team leader takes authority (the rest just pray and intercede), and rebukes, binds and prohibits all evil spirit to speak and do any harm. He also orders the person to take control of his body and mind. (c) Once the person has taken control of his body, we explain to him what has happened and we invite him to receive Christ, to be set free and to renounce and close every open door. (d) We then take his personal history according to The Four-Doors Method and make him renounce to his open doors specifically (after this we rebuke the corresponding spirits). (e) In case of a demoniac manifestation, we cast out the demon (do not close your eyes when doing this) in the name of Jesus (sometimes it is important to know the spirit’s name, sometimes it isn’t, depending on the information we get from the Spirit). (f) When the person is set free we encourage him to worship the Lord.
Chapter 4 Restraining The Enemy from Invading Our Lives
What do we understand for “open doors”? Is it essential that the person being ministered to show symptoms of demonization? Why are the natural and supernatural elements interrelated? How should every open door be after ministry? What is the work of the Holy Spirit on the doors after confession and renunciation? What does the Lord do with the sins confessed?
18 What is the supernatural result in Christian people’s lives?
………………………………………………………………… …………………………
Identifying the Open Doors In fact, searching for symptoms in demon- possessed people is of little importance sometimes since there can be “asymptomatic” demonization. There are two reasons for this to happen: 1) the demon may be hidden, in which case the person to be ministered to will tell us that he is perfectly right; or 2) the demon may have come out of the person and is waiting for the ministry team to leave in order to go in again. We should pay very close attention to the doors the person we are going to minister to left open. These open doors (together with the symptoms the person has) will help us to determine whether the person is possessed or not. Evil sprits take control of different areas in people’s lives if they are given authority to do so. For example, let’s suppose there is someone living in sin because he deeply hates his mother for some reason. If this person doesn’t forgive his mother, he develops a sinful habit, which he is responsible for before God.
Hatred = SIN
This sin has left a door open so that the evil spirit can take control over that area. This sprit working on hatred we call it “spirit of hatred”. This spirit will exert pressure on the person to develop that hatred more deeply.
Hatred
Spirit of Hatred = MORE SIN
There are two elements coexisting in the person: one natural, human (the sin of hatred that should be confessed) and the other, supernatural or spiritual (the spirit that should be cast out):
Hatred natural (should be confessed)
19 Spirit of Hatred supernatural (should be cast out)
As we have already said, this person is responsible for his sin. Once he has confessed and renounced to it, we must close this door. So we rebuke the spirit of hatred (as it has no authority to stay for the “open door” has been closed):
Hatred Confession God’s forgiveness Spirit of Hatred Casting out Healing
Basically the four doors through which the demons bind or possess a person are:
SIN THE OCCULT HEREDITY WOUNDS
For the ministry to be effective, we should see which doors have been open in order to close them and cast out any and all evil spirit. For example, there can be:
Occult practices of quackery To renounce Spirit of quackery To cast out
As we have also mentioned, it is very important to verify that ministry is accurately performed. Among my first experiences in this ministry, I ministered to a sister, and after thirty minutes I naively thought that inner healing was concluded. However, I amazingly realized we would need three more days to minister to this sister as there was still a countless number of spirits inside her. The problem was that I hadn’t gone through the four doors of her personal history. Another experience is about a young woman who after being ministered to we noticed that she was still showing some symptoms of demonization. On our next interview with her, a spirit of death manifested, and this woman confessed some occult practices (this she had hidden and of course, she had never renounced to), a wish to kill herself, etc. Some times the evil spirits come out of the person as they know they are going to be cast out. They wait at the entrance (maybe at the church’s doorway or the
20 person’s place) and they go in immediately after ministry.
In case you have to minister to someone who has never received Jesus as his Lord and Savior, and who is not ready to do so, you’d rather not minister to him (as the consequences can be outrageous for the person). The same is applied for those not willing to close ALL their doors, for if there is one door left open, seven other spirits more wicked than the first one will slip through it and the final condition of those people will be worse than the first. For instance, some people are willing to renounce to everything EXCEPT to forgive someone; obviously, we should NEVER minister in this situation. Either you renounce to everything or you won’t be ministered to.
Sin The Occult Heredity Wounds
Door Door Door Door open closed closed Closed
Seven worse spirits
We have seen the terrible consequences people suffered for not being sincere and leaving some door open while being ministered to. Before ministry is performed, we should be clear about willingness and sincerity. And after ministering, we should insist that the person attend a church to encounter power and care and walk in holiness and seek the Lord fervently everyday. In case there are doors open and there is no spirit living in the person, you should consider the following: There may be no demonization (which means there may be some kind of bondage). The demon may have gone out to go in again (remember that if all doors are closed during the course of the ministry the demons won’t be able to go in again). The demon may be hidden (the reasons: no rebuking, wrong ministration). The demon may possess another member in the family.
21 Chapter 5 Shutting the Door to the Occult
Why does Paul emphasize the fact that we should wear the whole armor of God? What are the means used by the enemy to persecute the children of God? How can we effectively resist Satan? What do we mean when we say, “The Christian is in conflict multi-dimensionally”? What are the difference and similarities between Umbanda, Quimbanda and Spiritualism? What do evil ghosts need to express themselves? What is the difference between demonization and incorporation of spirits? Who can incorporate spirits and what is their purpose? What religious practices does Satan use to deceive the human being?
………………………………………………………………… …………………………
Christians Possessed by Demons, Is It Possible? For many years one of the most controversial topics has been whether a Christian may be
22 “possessed” by a demon. We should stick to the Bible (and our own experience) when looking into this topic. Although the Bible does not openly speak about any Christian possessed by a devil, it does not assert the contrary either. However, some texts as well as our practice help us to affirm that it is possible. One of the most frequent assertions is that if the Holy Spirit is dwelling in a Christian, the latter cannot possibly lodge an evil spirit as well. But there are three reasons that refute this assertion: 1. The Holy Spirit and other spirits can dwell in a person at the same time. Some people may think this is impossible. But isn’t God omnipresent? Doesn’t He fill the same earth the evil spirits do their work on? Don’t you think that dirt can cohabit with cleanness in the same house in different rooms? 2. The Holy Spirit dwells and fills the areas under His control whereas He does not reign over those that were not given to Him. We have always considered that if someone became a committed Christian the Holy Spirit would fill his whole life as a logical consequence and so there could be no place for an evil spirit. But what if I let the Lord take control of my finances but not my sexuality? It is that very area that the Holy Spirit is not controlling where the evil spirits are. That is why the apostle Paul says “and do not give the devil a foothold” (Ephesians 4:27).
23 We should think of the Holy Ghost dwelling in us in terms of areas and not in terms of us as a whole. The Holy Spirit will fill a person thoroughly if he has submitted all the areas of his life under His control. If an area is ruled by sin, the occult, etc., that very area will be under the domain of evil spirits. 3. The Bible has its own reasons. The Bible continuously urges us to “stand firm”, “be strong in the Lord.” The Christians should train themselves in destroying strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:4), resisting the devil (James 4:7) and fighting against principalities and powers (Ephesians 6:12). In Ephesians 6:11 we are warned to wear the whole armor of God to stand firm against the devil’s evil tricks. The Greek word for evil tricks is “metodeia,” which means a method or plan designed to deceive. Is it possible for a Christian to be demonized? Of course it is. A Christian can be demonized in those areas where he has opened a door to the enemy and has the same habits as Satan. The devil has a very special interest in the Christian people, in the body of Christ. He will do his utmost to destroy God’s church ministry. There are special principalities appointed to destroy Christ’s churches: principalities of denominationalism, sectarianism, coldness, etc. Can Satan possess a Christian? Yes, he can. Those who are not IN Christ, who do not walk in His Sprit, who are not COMPLETELY and permanently under the Holy Spirit’s guidance are doomed to fall into Satan’s clutches. For many years we were against the idea of a Christian being possessed by a demon. Nevertheless the Bible clearly warns us: - Not to fall into the devil’s trap (1 Timothy 3: 7). - Not to turn aside after Satan (1 Timothy 5:15). - Not to be devoured by Satan (1 Peter 5:8-9). - Not to let Satan enter our lives. When the Bible says that Satan entered someone’s life, it refers to voluntary sin as in the case of Judas (Luke 22:3; John 13.27) or Ananias (Acts 5:3). The Greek word for “to fill” (Acts 5:3) is “pleroo”(to fill up to the top), the same used in Ephesians 4:27.
The Flesh, the World and Satan We have always known that spiritual warfare against the Christian arises from three specific sources: the flesh, the world and Satan. In view of this, we used
24 to believe that they influenced separately in the Christian’s life as long as they were allowed to. This is not true. The fact is that the Christian is in conflict tridimentionally with: - The inner evil: the flesh - The social evil: the world - The supernatural evil: Satan
The three of them act together. The demons appear in sin, in the flesh; they are behind every temptation ready to take control of the Christians. Any of the three sources may prevail and call the other two. In most cases spiritual conflicts have their roots in the three sources altogether. Satan and his demons are at war with every Christian that wants to live in the Spirit. Everyone not belonging to the Kingdom of God belongs to the kingdom of darkness. There’s not such a thing as a third kingdom. Whether we like it or not, this is what the Bible says (Mathew 13:38; 1 John 3:10; 5:18- 20). Acts 26:17-18 reads, “I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.” ALL those who are not in the kingdom of the beloved Son of God are under the “ruler of the kingdom of the air” (Ephesians 2:2); they live in the kingdom of Satan (Colossians 1:12-14), bound by him (Acts 26:18). As they haven’t been born in the Sprit, they are: children of the devil (1 John 3:3-10); blind to the truth of the Gospel (2 Corinthians 4.3-4); under the devil’s power (1 John 5:19); his property (Mathew 12:22-29); enslaved under his control (1 John 5:19). The human being possesses a corrupted and stray nature that the New Testament calls the old nature, which he has inherited (Romans 5:12-19). This kind of nature doesn’t want to have anything to do with God. This is well illustrated by Paul when he speaks about “the natural man” and “the spiritual man”. This sinful nature is called “flesh” —which the Christian has to fight against while living on earth. Romans 8:7-8 says,
25 “ Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (KJV). This old nature wants to rule our lives, to despoil us of the mind of Christ and to fill us with sin again. The flesh cannot be “set free” or “mastered” or “adorned”; it must die. If it lives, it will draw evil spirits. These spirits reproduce and “feed” themselves and make their home in the flesh. This is their habitat, their environment, their place. That is why it is so important not to live in the flesh whose sole consequence is sin. The list in Galatians 5:19-21 shows us the results of living in the flesh. That is why Paul declares in Ephesians 4:27, “…and do not give the devil a foothold.”
When we sin we are giving the devil a chance to stay and control our life. Satan can do whatever he wants when a Christian DECIDES to live under his own old nature because he puts himself under the devil’s domain and authority. This explains why Christians who have lived in the flesh have committed formidable sins from the human point of view. In 2 Timothy 2:26 we read that those practicing sin have been caught by the devil and obey his will. We have to become dead to the flesh; we have to kill it, to crucify it. Galatians 2:20 reads, “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” Galatians 5:24 states, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.” Romans 6.11 declares, “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” 1 John 3:8,10,12; 5:18-19; 2:14 say, “ He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devils’ work (…) This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother (…) Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brohter. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous (…)
26 We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him. We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one (…) I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.”
We should do this everyday. When we willingly die to our flesh we renounce to its government and so we decide to live in the Spirit. That is, we decide to lead a life filled and ruled by the Holy Spirit, submitted to His absolute will and guidance. It is by confessing all our sins and rendering our lives to Jesus that we achieve a resounding victory. The wonderful text in Galatians 6:14 says, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
Temptations want to “activate” the flesh in our lives; we have to make the decision. The Christian knows his citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20). We are clearly commanded in 1 John 2:15, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” Jesus Himself reminds us in John 15:19, “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” The world is the way of thinking and living that disregards God and His Word. It is an organized system of living whose founder and prince is Satan himself. Demons as well as the flesh are comfortable in this system, as they belong to one another. This is clearly described in 1 John 5:19, “We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.” However, the New Testament gives us good news as regards this aspect. Any Christian walking in the Spirit can defeat the world; our faith makes this possible (1 John 5:4-5). We have been crucified to this world (Galatians 2:20; 6:14).
27 Satan promotes sin; he tempts man to sin (Genesis 3:1-6). He can cause illnesses (Acts 10:38). Satan and death became friends after the fall (Hebrews 2:14). The devil lays traps for the Christians so that they fall into them (1 Timothy 3:7). He gets into their minds to spur them into bad actions (John 13:2; Acts 5:3). John 13:27 is clear on this, “As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.” 2 Timothy 2:26; 3:3 says, “ … and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.” “ … without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good…” Hebrews 2:14 declares, “ Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death –that is, the devil.” The devil tries to steal the Word from those who believe. Luke 8:12 says, “Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.” Ephesians 6:11 reads, “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.”
Satan sends his false prophets to deceive (Mathew 13:38-39). He can sift us (Luke 22:31; 2 Corinthians 12:7). He tries to stop us (1 Thessalonians 2:18) and can even cause some difficulties to us (Revelations 2:10). Anyone receiving ministry needs to confess any and all sin and renounce to any bondage, and decide to live in holiness and walk daily under the Holy Spirit’s guidance.
The Evil Spirits: Their Mission Umbanda is a syncretism of African and Brazilian tribal mythology and Spiritualism. In Umbanda demons are worshipped, incorporated and thanked as true gods, true saints. The gods are called “orishas”. There are also lesser spirits which are called “caboclos”, “pretos velhos”, etc.
28 In Quimbanda the gods are called “exús”; they are served and worshipped (they are considered malign spirits). The spirits need bodies to express themselves and thus seize human beings’ senses and destroy them. According to spiritualists, the “medium” serves as an intermediary between the person consulting them and the spirits of the dead. As believed by them, mediumship can be either mental — when the medium can see or hear supernatural things; or physical —when the medium incorporates the spirits of the dead. Spiritualists also state that the incorporation of spirits may be total or partial. We know that totality is not possible as this would deny the image of God in the human being. One of the most frequent ways to attract followers – in Spiritualism as well as in Umbanda- is telling people that they should develop “their own gift of mediumship” because they were born mediums. They also encourage them to serve others with this gift. An evil spirit usually dwells in any part of a person’s body and hides there (trying to cause some illness, pain, etc.). It is interesting to know that when somebody suffers from some sort of disorder (in his mind or any part of his body) and consults a pai of the Umbanda cult (to be healed or set free from evil influences), the evil spirits agree to make a contract, by which the evil spirit oppressing that person agrees with the evil spirit controlling the pai to stop inflicting pain on that part of the body for a while and to move to another part to cause another pain (as we can see, in the demonic hierarchy a lesser spirit submits to a higher spirit). As a consequence, that person thinks his consultation to the medium was effective and in this way he is “hooked” by the Umbanda rite. Some people even seem to be healed; but a deeper analysis will show us that their final condition will be worse than their first. We know very well that the devil is always trying to imitate God; that is why he has founded his religions and rites seeking to copy the Bible’s teachings in order to make people worship him instead of God.
Umbanda, Quimbanda and Spiritualism as well as any other sect not only deceive as regards doctrine but also serve -directly or indirectly- the prince of this world, Satan. People who have been deceived by their lover, have lost their job, or are suffering from a disease turn to
29 a pai of Umbanda or a mae de los Santos to be healed or to find peace for their heart. First of all, they are cleaned from bad spirits so that they receive power from the good spirits or “orishas”. Then they are told that they were born mediums or that they have a special soul that they should develop to bless others. Like this and even without realizing, these people start serving the very demons from hell. Slowly the evil spirits begin to oppress them and even enter their bodies to increase their suffering. The deepest involvement in Umbanda occurs when people make a blood pact using animals like pigs, hens or goats, etc. Some people turn to Spiritualism in the hope of making contact with a deceased relative or friend. During the “seance” they are very happy because they think that their dead relative or friend is speaking to them through the medium. They don’t realize they are actually speaking with a deceiving spirit that dwells in the medium. Thus, very slowly people are outwitted with the devil’s doctrines. Some need to see signs of power to be convinced, so the demons try to foretell their clients’ future and many times they guess right (specially in connection with their clients’ past, as for the future, they just make assumptions).
Key Aspects to Detect a Case of Demonization The evil spirits listen to what we speak. So frequently when somebody consults a parapsychologist or a fortuneteller, any of them can guess past events in this person’s life, because the evil spirit living in the client immediately reveals these things to the fortuneteller who is then able to tell his client what he wants to know. Spiritualists invoke spirits of the dead. Anyway we certainly know that the dead cannot communicate directly with the living and that it is the evil spirits which pretend to be the dead. Umbandists invoke “orishas” and Quimbandists conjure “exus”. It doesn’t matter what these spirits are called; the Bible considers them demons. Anyone having an evil spirit will suffer from some pain in their bodies, in their minds, or in their spirits for the devil always takes an individual with the purpose of hurting, killing, or destroying him.
30 It is vital that we ask one by one the practices done in connection with the occult, no matter the motivation or the reason. People may even say they have turned to the occult “searching for God.” Remember that the devil doesn’t care about good intentions. We should write down all the practices so that the person receiving ministry can renounce to each and all of them.
Below we draw up some guidelines on this topic, which we have developed in another book. We should know: If the person took part actively or passively (was taken) in:
- Quackery: evil eye, indigestion, - Incantations, prayers, exorcisms toothache, burnings, warts, - Tarot shingles (herpes zoster) and - Processions others. - Promises to any saint - Astrology - Birthcharts - Astral voyages - Books on the occult - Divination (cartomancy, - Promises or pacts (confirmation, chiromancy) baptisms, etc.) - Graphology - Readings about or meetings with - Parapsychology UFOs - Parapsychological games and - Transcendental meditation practices (extrasensory - Incorporation of spirits perception, hypnosis, - Mind control clairvoyance) - Visualization - Black, white, red, yellow magic - Oriental philosophy - Contact with angels - Yoga - Summoning of spiritual forces - New Age medicine and - Spiritualism psychology - The Ouija Board - Past-life therapies
It is amazing how many different names and forms Satan has used throughout history. He has assumed countless disguises, but he always smells of wickedness. The “demoniac possession” takes different names depending on the religion Satan utilizes. We’ll exemplify this as follows:
Type of demonization: Religion supporting it: Invocation to: Mediumship Spiritualism “Spirits of the Dead”
31 Channeling New Age “Guide Spirits” Contact with angels New Age “Angels” “Being ridden by a Umbanda “Orishas”, “Exus”, etc. spirit” Abduction UFOlogy “Aliens” Astral Voyages Parapsychology “Guide Spirits”
If the person ever attended any sect:
- Jehovah’s Witnesses - Christian Science - Spiritualism - Freemasonry - Umbanda - New Apostolic Church - Macumba - Oriental Religions - Voodoo - Others - Mormons
If the person performed or was performed works connected with the occult: - Works on other people through photographs, clothes, offerings, etc. - Works at home (cleaning, family unity, etc.). - Works for others’ houses.
As we’ll see below, some cases serve us as examples of how the evil spirits work. 1. Consulting about any pain: There are a great deal of ways by which the evil spirits can possess people. Generally, the process starts with a severe pain, an illness, the death of a relative, bad luck or weird events taking place. Then those people having these troubles get to an Umbanda temple, where they are told they were born mediums and are encouraged to develop this gift. The evil spirits can cause tragedies in people’s lives. However, they can’t trespass people’s will. Whether directly or indirectly, actively or passively people must give demons legal authority so that they can dwell and oppress their lives. Still some deceiving spirits can cause illnesses that seem to be common in medicine.
32 We find one of these cases in the Bible: the deaf and dumb spirit. Without even thinking, anyone would send such person to the doctor’s instead of praying and rebuking any spirit of illness to cut any possible oppression. Bear in mind that not everyone suffering an illness has an evil spirit, but every evil spirit will always try to cause some kind of physical or mental illness (for example, making people commit suicide, making them dependent of amulets or talismans, oppressing them spiritually). 2. Taking active or passive participation in occult practices: Many people told us that they had attended one of these cults just out of curiosity or simply because they wanted to be cleansed or set free from any bad influence. That was enough for the spirits to go in their bodies.
It is well known that when the African people got to Brazil they were condemned and enslaved. Those who practiced Voodoo- an African religion- were condemned to death; that is why they looked for equivalent names to the Catholic patron saints. For example: “Ogun” represents Saint George, Virgin Mary is “Iemanya” and the Holy Trinity is “Sambi”, “Oxalá” and “Orixala.” There are also “exus” (lesser spirits) and “orishas” (higher spirits). The evil spirits like to be worshipped. In many cases they even make use of psychography (this consists in writing messages in a trance which are dictated by demons) to transmit their messages and even deceive the people chosen by God. Estela is a middle-aged woman, about thirty-five of age, married with children. She committed her life to Christ in one of our meetings and started to attend church. When taking her history during the ministry, we discovered she had tried to commit suicide as a child, she deeply hated her mother and grandmother, and she had had an abortion. She used to shout and be aggressive with children. Estela was afraid of everything. Then we found out that she had been involved in parapsychology and mainly in the Umbanda rite. Her mother had taken some of her clothes and photographs to several Umbanda ceremonies so that she could be set free from any bad influence. Estela witnessed incorporations of spirits, whose names she had forgotten.
33 Every time we take a history in which the person has been involved in the occult, we should ask what kind of cult that person got involved in (Umbanda, Quimbanda, Candomble, Spiritualism, etc.) and if he has witnessed or experienced any incorporation of spirits (if so, which “saint”, “orishas”, “guides” or “exus”). In one of those Umbanda rituals, Estela was cleansed of some negative energy. It is relevant to mention that one of her cousins is a pai and her mother and aunts have always been deeply involved in Umbanda and Quimbanda (she even made a blood pact). Estela remembered once having received a small bag with stones and soil, a twisted little hand with the fist closed and some herbs to drink (which she didn’t take because she was suspicious). Estela found it very difficult to attend church. We often encouraged her to come to church to study the Bible and pray. But she was inconstant and had great difficulties to do it. We discovered the reason for her behavior when we ministered inner healing to her and cast out her demons. We also learnt that her in-laws attended the Quimbanda temple too. All her husband’s family performed works in favor of health. Her paternal grandmother also used to go to Quimbanda meetings and do works with animals. Estela remembered her burying photographs and she frequently found works with blood, mate, oil, and tied dolls at home. At home Estela had two crucifixes, one with snails and another with soil brought from Israel. She received them from her mother and mother-in-law respectively. In this case the whole family was deeply involved in the occult.
Estela had never been ministered to. She didn’t know what inner healing or casting out demons was like because she had never been to a church. After taking her history, we began to minister to her. According to our statistics, we proved that eight out of ten people have touched a “terreiro”, have attended an Umbanda meeting or have performed a work. Among other symptoms, Estela manifested attempts to commit suicide, jealousy, frequent fears, irritability, some signs of violence against her family and sleepwalking. These characteristics together with occultist commitments should call our attention for they are clearly evidencing that evil spirits are working in that person. When we commenced to rebuke the spirits of Umbanda and we ordered them to get out of Estela, she started to cover her mouth, her face changed and she
34 bent her head to cover her ear. Then we rebuked the spirit again and she bent her head to the other side. As I got nearer her to go on rebuking, she covered her ears with both hands and she began to have arrhythmic convulsions. In all these cases we have observed that the evil spirit tries to cover or block the person’s ears and seizes his mind. That is, the evil spirit takes control of the person’s mind and so the person seems to lose consciousness. That is why it is important to verify that the person is not gone when we are rebuking. If he closes his eyes or if his head falls, it is useless to rebuke the spirit as he has seized the person’s mind. This is what happened to Estela. She seemed to lose consciousness. In order to continue with the ministry in such a case, we order in the name of Jesus any evil spirit that is seizing the person’s mind to release him, and we order the person to take control of his body and mind in the name of Jesus too. It is amazing to see that this happens automatically. The demon is likely to stop manifesting so violently when we start rebuking —as in the case of Estela. The person then looks at us and starts to say that he wants to leave, that he can’t stand any longer, that he doesn’t want to be there, that he is afraid of being hurt, etc. Then obviously we have to rebuke any spirit of fear and of deceit, since it is possible for the spirits to speak to us through the person. But let’s go back to Estela. She had her eyes open, several spirits had already gone out of her and she was looking ahead. I was sitting to her right asking her how she felt and telling her that Jesus loved her, that we were there to help her and that she was doing everything well. Then she turned her head towards me, stared at me and said, “I will destroy you.” The evil spirits will use any and all manners to frighten or confuse the person who receives ministry and the inner healing team as well. In the case of Estela a spirit of mockery also manifested. At a certain moment, we were rebuking and he started to laugh. He said that we were wasting our time and he was resolute not to leave Estela. The spirit of mockery always appears with the sole purpose of discrediting the casting out session. He tries to make people laugh and to ridicule the situation.
Immediately after that this same spirit started to cry and to say he didn’t want to leave Estela’s body as he liked being there. As we kept on rebuking and telling the
35 spirit he should leave Estela, she began to have stomachaches, then sore-fingers, or sore-toe. Finally, we prohibited him to cause any harm and ordered him to release Estela because he had no more authority or domain over her as Jesus Himself was casting him out. At that very moment Estela began to cry and shout because awful images were coming to her mind (later she told us these images corresponded to the sexual abuse she had experienced as a child). In Estela we clearly saw how she began making signals with her hands (this is the way in which the spirit being cast out calls other spirits for help). Immediately we bound the strong man and prohibited him to use violence and ordered him to leave Estela. 3. Being affected by works performed: The most frequent works we’ve seen are food worked and sacrificed to idols. These evil spirits make an excessive demand to their followers: their own lives. Nothing is more precious for the evil spirits as the human life. Remember the devil came to rob, kill and destroy. We should tell people that whenever they face any problem the first to appear with a “solution” will be Satan. But the price to pay is very high. His methods may seem to be very effective but the final condition will be worse than the one at the beginning. The demons will demand a wide variation of works with food, drinks, etc. Through these elements people give them legal authority to do their task even with more power. This way the evil spirits are strengthened (whether “pretos velhos” or “caboclos”, or “exus” or “orixas”). People who ask for this kind of works in Umbanda or Candomble must actively participate in many of them. The devil tries to confuse people and takes elements from the Bible to do his work. For example, he also uses the number seven (the number of perfection). This number is used in Umbanda to ask for seven candles, seven hens, to do seven works in seven days, etc. Umbandists use a wide variety of elements for their works: flowers, candles, animals. Quimbanda and Candomble followers prefer to use animal blood. In the book Adeka, which is used by the pais and mais, there are hundreds of recipes to perform these diabolic works. We have seen the consequences of eating food worked. When people take this they immediately incorporate evil sprits. Sometimes demons hide at the entrance of houses and churches, at the corners, etc. They stay there and wait for the right moment to get into
36 people’s heart. They use people’s body to express themselves and, as we have already said, to bring disgrace on people. Romina’s case is also interesting. Romina, 45, has a daughter of eight. She attends the church, is a faithful Christian and seeks God with all her heart. She was raised in a spiritualist environment; her mother and grandmother were active spiritualists. Romina used to have paranormal gifts that disappeared when she received Christ as her Lord and Savior.
When she was being ministered to, we rebuked the evil spirits in her and she began to dance with her hands as a ballerina. At that very moment I received discernment from the Lord to break all dancing she had made as a child in connection with Umbanda. We didn’t have that piece of information, but God revealed it to us. On breaking in the name of Jesus all work of dancing in Umbanda, we heard a tearing shout. Then the evil spirit commenced to tell us that he was not going to leave Romina, that he had lived in that body for many years and that he wanted to stay there. Romina told us that when she was two months old her grandmother stop giving her milk to replace it for mate. That rare custom called the attention of her whole family. Based on this information, we prayed and broke all black magic work her grandmother could have done with mate. There was another manifestation and another demon went out for the glory of God. At a certain moment a spirit of confusion started to disturb the team making the task more difficult to do. We asked her something and she gave us too many details (in order to confuse us) to such an extent that we had to postpone the ministry to clarify some points. This spirit also made us have different views as regards how to minister to her, which spirit we had to rebuke, etc. The spirit of confusion is horrible for he tries to cause disagreement within the team members. Based on the Bible, we know that in the end of times a principality of confusion, a spiritual Babel, will reign on earth and will cause what we are already seeing with our eyes, the beginning of the end. Recently a man who works in a graveyard told us he constantly finds a lot of works done on the graves, specially in a certain place which is full of candles, flower, dead animals, etc. Undoubtedly, Satan is alive and kicking on earth much more than we can imagine. It is amazing how
37 many Christian live as if the devil didn’t exist at all or as if he only attacked when the church is on campaign. 4. Being in close contact with people practicing Spiritualism or Umbanda There are people who have never attended any Umbanda or Spiritualism session, but all the same have suffered from demoniac oppression since they were born. This is so because anyone can inherit an evil spirit. We call these spirits “family spirits” because they dwelled in relatives (parents or grandparents) and then they went on oppressing their descendants for several generations (see item 5 to enlarge on this). 5. Having sexual relations with someone involved in the occult There was a woman who was deeply in love with a man who was not interested in her. So she went to see a pai to perform a work. The pai told her she had to have sex with him as a ritual. She agreed as she thought she would get the man she loved this way. What she didn’t take into account was that the evil spirit, in addition to give her her lover, would also be with her forever and would destroy both of them. No demon, no matter how “good” he seems to be, has something good. Demons have come to deceive, to betray and to lie.
There is no “orisha”, “caboclo”, “exu” nor any other demon that can resist an order in the name of Jesus. Every evil spirit submits to an order given in the name of Jesus because He took away any power and domain from principalities and powers. Praise the Lord! Bear this in mind: having sex with someone who was involved in the occult brings about a soul and spiritual bondage that has to be broken (apart from breaking any work and satanic pact made). We will never cease to emphasize how important it is for God that we lead a life controlled by the Holy Spirit; that we put to death our worldly desires, give up any sin and live in holiness. As long as we are filled with and walk in the Holy Spirit, we can be sure the enemy won’t do any harm to us. We are in this world to unmask the devil and all his evil ways (let them be Candomble, Umbanda, Quimbanda, quackery, esotericism, Spiritualism, etc.) to disturb and kill people.
How to Question Effectively as regards The Occult
38 Some people may not have any connection with the occult. Anyway it is important to make the following questions. - Have you ever consulted a parapsychologist, a witch or a quack? - Have you ever practiced Umbanda, Quimbanda, Candomble, black magic, white magic? - Have you ever done or been done a work? - Have you ever received a candle or another object? Have you ever been recommended a special bath, etc.? - Have you ever attended a school of Spiritualism? - Do you keep amulets, red ribbons, talismans, necklaces, etc? - Have you had repeated nightmares, such as death, graveyards, persecutions? - Have you ever played the Ouija board or a similar game? - Have you ever consulted a fortune-teller? Have you ever consulted a palmist? - Are you superstitious? Do you read your horoscope?
It is obvious that we’ll inquire more deeply when we get a positive answer. It is necessary to be precise as regards those matters in which the person has been in contact with the occult. Then we should ask: - Do you remember the quack’s name? - Do you remember what he (or she) did to you or to your home? - Did you drink anything like a special tea? - Did he tell you something about your future that happened later on?
Let’s make something clear: We will only minister to those people who have made a serious commitment with Christ. Otherwise the ministry can be counterproductive. Where there has been a very strong link with the occult, there is great demoniac bondage that will be very difficult to break if those receiving ministry are not seriously committed Christians.
39 Chapter 6 Shutting the Door to Heredity
Should we disregard our antecessors’ attitudes and practices? What should we do in relation to generational sins and spiritual heredity? What are the three aspects regarding heredity? How are generational spirits transmitted? What types of curses are there?
40 ………………………………………………………………… …………………………
What is heredity? The dictionary defines the word “heredity” as the transmission of certain characteristics and properties from parent to child; in a broader sense, from ancestor to descendant. When talking about heredity, there are three aspects to consider: biological, psychological and spiritual.
BIOLOGICAL ASPECT Morphological characteristics Temperament
PSYCHOLOGICAL Through learning (we learn from our ASPECT parents attitudes, ways of thinking, ways of reacting, etc.)
SPIRITUAL ASPECT Also through learning (though it goes beyond the psychological aspect)
The Bible emphasizes that the human being is a unity consisting of body, soul (psyche) and spirit. Hence we inherit physiological, psychological and spiritual traits. An example on the spiritual aspect: We have seen children and grandchildren repeating their parents’ and grandparents’ pattern of behaviour —rebel Christians, critical of their pastor, lacking submission to authority, etc. There are families that for years and years have lusted for power and destroyed pastors, ministries and churches. Exodus 34:6-7 says, “ … The Lord (…) punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.” Jesus Himself called the Pharisees “vipers”, referring to their generational sin. We may inherit: False images of God: sadistic, punishing, careless, magic God, etc. Structures: ways of expression, cultic patterns, idolatry of the temple (“this temple was built by my grandfather”). A kind of denominational fanaticism (“We, the Baptist, have the sound doctrine,” etc.).
41 Our ascendants’ sins may have given place to some spiritual evils to dwell in our family for generations. As ministers we should learn to perform a spiritual reading of the family we are ministering to. Examples:
The grandfather, a beater; the father, a beater; the son, a beater SPIRIT OF VIOLENCE
The grandfather, a suicidal; the father, a suicidal; the son, a suicidal SPIRIT OF DEATH
Our objective is to identify every generational sin in order to uncover and cast out the family spirits that have been working to destroy that family.
Hereditary Occult Practices Promises and pacts done at birth: objects, clothes, money, prayers, etc. Objects: grandfather’s medal, mother’s crucifix, etc. “ Gifts”: for instance, “My grandma was a fortuneteller, mother was also a fortuneteller, and I think I possess the same gift.”
Family Curses In general, a curse is an imprecation for harm, a wish expressed for worse. If uttered directly upon God, it is a blasphemy (Job 1:5, 11; 2:5, 9). It can be a wish expressed in front of God against another person. In the Old Testament a curse was considered to have an innate power to be fulfilled (Numbers 22-24). In the Scripture, a curse is certainly related to sin (Genesis 3) and disobedience (Proverbs 26:2) and is regularly used as opposite to “blessing”. Before going into the promised land the people of Israel was given the opportunity of obeying (and being blessed by God) or disobeying (and being consequently cursed by God).
A curse always activates forces that are beyond man’s control. Any word spoken seems to automatically activate the terrible power of evil and sin. Curse has been in the world since the beginning of times (Genesis 3). God has only one purpose —to bless the human being, while the tempter in opposition to God
42 drags the human being into his sin and puts him under curse. The devil was cursed by God forever (Genesis 3:14), and mankind suffered the consequence. So, instead of living near God, we are exiled far from His presence (Genesis 3:23). Instead of life there is death (Genesis 3:19). Delivery is painful, and the work of the land turns to be unpleasant and distressing.
There exist two types of curses: The occult curse: This is a curse uttered by someone who is involved in occult practices (a fortune-teller, an umbandist, a spiritualist; their “works” and “harms” are also curses). Curses are not broken by means of any “exorcism” (which is another curse) but by the power of Christ when praying. Curses can be put on oneself, a child, a parent, a family, a ministry, a church, or a city. The emotional curse: Proverbs 12:18 declares, “ Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.” As we have already said, a curse is a deep negative desire to harm someone. It is interesting to know that the word “curse” also means “to diminish” or “to insult”. For instance, disqualifying phrases, defeating expressions or even dirty language constitute CURSES.
How do We Minister Inner Healing? The person who receives ministry have to identify with his ancestors’ sins. Nehemiah 1:6 says, “…let your year be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel.” Ezra 9:6 reads, “…our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens.” These two prophets identified with their nation’s sins. Other examples: Jeremiah 16:10-13; Ezra 9:7 and Deuteronomy 9:20.
43 This person has to renounce to his family sin and -if committed- to his own sin. Whenever someone opens the door to an spirit, the latter will dwell there until that person dies and then he will try to find a direct descendant to stay in that house and family (to demonize or oppress all family members). These are spirits assigned by Satan to destroy not only a person but all his descendants as well.
As ministers, we must also ask about any inherited object in connection with the occult, such as:
Small illustrations of saints Objects or drawing with weird Crystals inscriptions Pyramids Objects received from witches, Talismans or amulets occultists or people belonging to Drums, bells(bought in a shop of sects religious images) Heavy metal music Chalices (to do magic) Strange posters Crucifixes Idols (Chinese, Indian or Latin Owls origin, etc.) Images New Age objects (greeting cards, Religious paintings music, statues, books, medicines, Candles etc.) Garlic (as an ornament against Aromatic herbs evil) Books on the occult Red ribbons Strange rings Rosaries
We have instructed people to burn every book, small illustration of saints, writ, cloth, photograph, image and object that they would have in connection with the devil’s cult, which did not bring glory to God. We have urged those people having some “gift” or paranormal ability to renounce to them in the name of Jesus, and we have gladly seen God setting them free from any skill given by the powers of darkness. If we cannot gather information on past generations’ practices, we must ask the Holy Spirit for discernment or a word of prophecy.
How to Question Effectively as regards Heredity?
44 In this case, as ministers we should take into account all those hereditary aspects that may influence the person to be ministered to in a spiritual and emotional level. 1- We should ask if he met his grandparents, aunts, uncles and any other close relative, and what kind of relationship he had with them. 2- Then we should inquire as follows: - Who do you resemble physically? - What is your heredity psychologically speaking? - Who do you take after emotionally? - Do you notice any recurrent events in your family, such as illnesses, violent behavior, addictions and suicides? - Is there any generational record showing a certain spiritual heredity in your family? - Did your parents or grandparents ever practice some rituals or attend any sect? Were they devoted or dedicated to any saint? - What religion did your parents, grandparents and your relatives practice? - Were you brought up under this religion? - Do you keep any strange object like amulets or crucifixes, etc.? - Have you ever followed any tradition in accordance with your usual family practice? - Were your transmitted some kind of idolatry or religious behavior in church? - Were you offered to any saint when you were born? - What do you think your negative heredity to your children is? 3- In case of a strong occult heredity, we should question about the influence this relative has or has had in the life of the person being ministered to. There may be demoniac transmission through heredity.
Once we are sure about point 3, we ask specific questions (see Chapter 5, “The door to the occult”).
45 Chapter 7 Shutting the Door to Sin
What are the consequences of committing sin for a Christian? How does spiritual bondage affect the Christian’s life? Is a Christian able to break spiritual bondage in another Christian’s life? Why? Why should a Christian confess any and all hidden sin in his life? What are the most frequent attitudes towards sin? Why is it that we commit sin and offend God’s holiness when we can’t accept God’s forgiveness?
………………………………………………………………… …………………………
The Meaning of Sin Sin is not simply a conflict or a wrong action depending on culture. We cannot minimize it as Christ
46 died because of it. He poured out His blood to cleanse us from sin. Sin is any transgression against God’s holy nature because it is the enemy’s very essence. God allowed sin to enter His creation so that man could choose to sin or not. The basic element of committing sin is independence. Every time we sin we are telling God: “Lord, I manage the way I want. I am independent.” This is what Adam and Eve said, “We want to live according to our own rules. We won’t submit to anyone.” Coming to Christ implies to surrender our will and our emotions to Him and decide to live the way the Lord wants us to live, according to His rules. It is as Paul expresses it: TO RENOUNCE to the hidden nature of sin.
Some Aspects to Tell Those Who Have a Sinful Habit 1. Sin destroys our spiritual life. If there is a hidden sin in our life, which we haven’t confessed yet, God considers us liars (1 John 1:6). To walk in darkness is in fact to live in sin. We may deceive ourselves, our family, our church but we can’t deceive God. He looks deeply into our heart. In verse 10 John refers to those people who say one thing and do the opposite. 2. Sin makes us miss our communion with the brethren. If you meet people who are constantly arguing, causing trouble, who can’t get along with anybody in church, be careful! These people are in sin. Where there is sin, there is no communion. So people start developing strategies to hide their sin. 3. Sin doesn’t let us experience God’s love. As a consequence of sin, we feel far from God’s love (then we underestimate ourselves, we feel we are useless). Many people say, “I don ’t feel that God loves me or is interested in me.” If you feel this way, why don’t you ask yourself if there is a hidden sin in your life? When we agree to this world’s way of thinking, desires and pride, we are not able to experience God’s love. If you have a foot in both camps don’t be surprised if you don’t experience the love of God. The promise is that those loving God remain in Him.
47 4. Sin brings about spiritual bondage. 1 John 3:8-10 says, “ He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.” Whenever we commit a sin and let it sprout, it slowly starts taking hold of our lives. Sin asks for more sin. Just as in war, if the enemy takes possession of a place that previously belonged to the Lord, he will design a strategy to take possession of another place. When we sin and our sin remains unconfessed, we end up being spiritually bound. A long-harbored resentment, unforgiveness (even during childhood), etc., can be a spiritual bondage. This spiritual bondage puts us under the domain of sin and so our spiritual fruit, our habit of praying and our Christian joy are cut off. Herodotus narrates that Dario, King of Persia, was in pain because he had twisted his ankle and nobody could cure him. Then Democedes was taken in chains to Dario and he healed the king’s ankle. As a reward, Dario gave him golden shackles. Such is sin. No matter what its chains are made of. It enslaves us all the same.
List of Sins How easy our pastoral task would be if we just turned to the DETAILED list of sins in the New Testament instead of wondering what is sinful and what is not. Sometimes we just emphasize secondary aspects and miss the apostle’s point. We should bear in mind that in our pastoral task we will encounter many people suffering from illnesses that are the consequence of sins not confessed. As counselors we are not supposed to be “sin-chasers.” Should someone be in spiritual bondage, we’ll see it as clearly as daylight. Let’s have a look at a list in the New Testament and analyze them briefly. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 says,
48 “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, not abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” (KJV)
Fornication The word “pornia” refers to sexual immorality. God is the owner of our sexuality. That is why He wants us to live it in His honor. The Holy Spirit doesn’t fill us “from our head to our waist.” He must dwell in our whole being. God doesn’t accept premarital sex. He considers it sin. The apostle Paul advises Timothy to “flee” from fornication. Ninety per cent of the Christian couples have sex before getting married. Some years ago a couple used have sex after dating for eight months or one year. Nowadays, in general people start having sex after a month they have known each other. Some couples don’t have real sex (there’s no penetration) but they play highly erotic games. When counseling an unmarried couple, it is important to ask them if they have anything to confess. Should they say no, we ask them directly if they have sex. Once in one of our inner healing campaigns a couple asked me to pray for them. Their reason was “We can’t talk the way we used to.” First, I made them a few basic questions about their relationship and then, I asked if they had premarital sex. They just burst into tears and couldn’t answer my question. That was their moment to confess and renounce to that sinful habit.
Adultery or infidelity This sin entails one of the most devastating crises that a couple can face. Already in 1950, Kinsey, an American zoologist who directed a survey on sexual human behavior, said that 50% of the married men had been unfaithful. There are two types of infidelity: 1- The occasional one:
49 Due to tiredness, coldness or indifference within the couple, one or the two of them start looking for affection in somebody else. Many women told me that they just wanted to feel loved. Many men said that their wives were as cold as a fridge. Paul says that the husband has no power of his body. Neither does the wife of hers. He means that the penis, the vagina, the breast belong to both of them. In a Christian marriage there is no “private property”! They both belong to each other in love and respect. 2- The frequent or structural one: This happens when there is strong spiritual bondage. These people are chauvinists who pursue the other sex as a trophy. In addition to entailing a mental problem, it constitutes a sin as well, which must be confessed and abandoned. After that the fullness of the Holy Spirit should be looked for.
Idolatry Idolatry means worshipping something or someone that is not God and spending our time on it that belongs to God. Precisely, the temple of the goddess Aphrodite, goddess of love, was built in Corinth. Exodus 20:3 says, “You shall have no other gods before me.” “ Other gods” doesn’t only imply something in connection with religion. Our career, our family, our job, money, idling, pleasure can become an idol if we just live for them. Also, if a woman only devotes herself to a boyfriend and to getting married, as many matured women do, or if a man’s life only depends on his wife there is a spiritual bondage because “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Mathew 10:37).
Effeminates The Greek word refers to passive male prostitutes, while those “abusers” [homosexual offenders (NIV)] are active homosexuals. We don’t attack people; we expose sin. From 5 to 10% of the population in the US is homosexual. Such men as Alexander the Great, Plato, Da Vinci, Oscar Wilde were homosexual. Fourteen out of the first fifteen Roman Emperors were homosexual too. There
50 are countless examples, but we have already developed this topic in another book (see Perversiones Sexuales [Sexual Perversion], Clie 1996).
Theft, greed It involves stealing. To steal is to take someone else’s property without permission or not to honor a debt.
Revilement It refers to verbal abuse, to the use of contemptuous language (gossip, criticism, disqualification).
Drunkenness The Greek word is “mezos” which means, “to drink without control”. The Bible does not disapprove drinking alcohol but it does the fact of not taking control of it. Paul says that if something controls our lives this is sin to God’s eyes. Those people who drink alcohol excessively are trying to ease their pain. As they feel empty, they look for new sensations to get to a state of euphoria. From the medical point of view there exist: 1> Those who occasionally drink alcohol. 2> Those who drink when they feel bad (those saying, “I need a drink”). 3> Those who drink as they are frequently in trouble. 4> Compulsive drinkers. In some churches, there have been cases of ex- alcoholics who backslid in alcoholism for drinking the wine in the Lord’s supper. The apostle Paul lays down three principles that are worth mentioning here: 1 Corinthians 6:12, “ Everything is permissible for me —but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible for me —but I will not be mastered by anything.” 1 Corinthians 10:23, “ Everything is permissible —but not everything is constructive.”
There is another list of sins in Romans 1:18-2:6 (also taken from KJV). In this passage the apostle Paul
51 clearly refers to our condition in the eyes of God and also develops the concept of the wrath of God. In Romans 1:18 Paul says that the wrath of God is being revealed, and some Biblical comments consider it as God’s absolute abhorrence to sin. In the New Testament Paul speaks about God’s wrath thrice: Romans 1:18, Ephesians 5:6 and Colossians 3:6, and explains how it affects those disobeying Him. W. Barclay says: “ Breaching God’s law brings about pain and suffering on mankind. The wrath of God is the unavoidable punishment for sin.” These people, who are revealed God’s wrath, hold the truth (v. 18) since what may be known about God is plain to them. This is a natural revelation by which God has shown His greatness, so they are without excuse before Him (vv. 19-20). This way the sinners, instead of looking at God and following His rules, look at themselves and follow their own reasoning. Paul states that these people have no ability or desire to glorify or thank the Creator. As we will see further on, it is interesting to note they are not only unable to thank the Lord but also to thank other people (v. 21). Getting away from God always starts with some sort of reasoning (vv. 22-23); that is why our mind is the enemy’s only target. Needless to say that a preacher who avoids telling the truth about sin and uses this reasoning is an easy prey for Satan. The text then says that God “has given them up” (vv. 24, 26, 28). He let man choose his way of his own free will. He didn’t stop man from doing what he pleased. God goes on loving him but let him make a decision as the father with his lost son (Luke 15). The Bible says God gave them up to uncleanness (v. 24). This expression is closely related to sexual immorality (Galatians 5:19; Colossians 3:5). It means “desire” and refers to seeking perverse and immoral sexual satisfaction. In Paul’s time debauchery was an everyday practice as it was a time of luxury and unparalleled perversion. The apostle is very clear in verse 27 when referring to lesbianism and male homosexuality. In the following verses, Paul starts enumerating the characteristics of the man without God. They are:
52 . Unrighteousness: the opposite to justice; it refers to those seizing others’ rights. . Wickedness: it is the desire to do harm to others. The same word is used in reference to Satan (Ephesians 6:12,16). . Covetousness: word which involves other two: greed and avarice. It is the craving and deep desire to acquire and possess.
. Maliciousness: evil intention. It describes those deprived of the ability to do good. . Envy: desire not only to possess what others have but also a strong wish that they should lose their possessions. . Murder: very similar to the idea implied in the word envy. . Debate: disputes, arguments. . Deceit: to deceive is to use any trick to defraud others. . Malignity: the same as malice. . Whisperers and backbiters: this has to do with accusations and mean talking; it refers to those who are always the first to speak false in someone’s ear. . Haters of God: people not loving God at all. . Despiteful: people who feel pleasure in hurting or insulting others. . Proud: people full of arrogance. . Boasters: people full of conceit. . Inventors of evil things: people in the habit of looking for new evil to do. . Disobedient to parents: rebels. . Without understanding: foolish people; those that do not use their minds. . Covenantbreakers: people not keeping their word. . Without natural affection: people lacking the capacity of loving their family. . Implacable: pitiless, relentless people, who are happy when others behave like them.
According to verse 32: They know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death. They continue to do these very things.
53 They have pleasure in those who practice them. They approve and applaud who do such things.
According to Paul’s description we can infer that people without Christ undergo changes in relation to: Their sexuality - A mere genital impulse deprived of any sexuality. “Lusts” (v. 24), “vile affections” (v. 26). - Male and female homosexuality: “men with men” (v. 27). Their spirituality - Rejection to spiritual matters: “they glorified him not as God” (v. 21). - Idolatry: “changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made” (v. 23). - Spiritual falsification: “they changed the truth of God” (v. 25). - Hatred to God (v. 30). Their self-concept - Full of glory and honors: “boasters” (v. 30). - Proud (v.30). Their communication - False in their words: “deceit” (v. 29). - Gossips and quarrelsome: “gossips, backbiters” (v. 30). - Aggressive and disrespectful: “despiteful” (v.30). - False in their promises: “covenantbreakers” (v.31). Their authority - Disobedient to parents (v. 30). - Disobedient to God (v. 30). - Unable to start and raise a family: “without natural affection” (v. 31). Their impulsiveness - Unable to do good: “maliciousness” (v. 29). - Murderers: “murder” (v. 29). - Eager to harm others: “inventors of evil things” (v. 30).
54 - Unable to feel pity and forgiveness: “implacable” (v. 31). Their relationship to others - Subjection of others’ rights: “unrighteousness” (v. 29). - Desire to hurt: “wickedness” (v. 29). - Selfishness: “covetousness” (v. 29). - Fighters: “debate” (v. 29). - Seekers of evil: “inventors of evil things” (v. 30).
Different Attitudes towards Sin As ministers, we can observe different attitudes towards sin when counseling. 1. Concealment The act of pointing at others’ sin may be a way to conceal personal problems. How many people are constantly judging others while concealing their own sins for years! How many people get worried about how the church works but they privately indulge in sinful habits! 2. Transactions We judge the sexual sin in others, but what about our cheating others? We criticize those who steal, but what about our having premarital sex? The sinful transactions arise when we judge and reject what others do and disregard our own wrongdoing. Accusation many times entails self-confessions. 3. Unacceptance of God’s forgiveness: After confessing their sins, many people are unable to feel God’s forgiveness. Their past mistakes come to their minds once and again. On the other hand, we have noticed in pastoral counseling that some people have such a deep desire to be, act and feel like Christ that they are never satisfied with themselves. They just feel overwhelmed by the Christian challenge. So instead of feeling happy because they are “walking the way of glory”, they consider that there’s a long way to go yet and that there’s no point in going on. A clear text on this is Philippians 3:12-14, “Nor that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But
55 one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” The apostle provides us with three useful ideas to do pastoral counseling: 1- Leave the past behind. 2- Look at the present. 3- Conquer the future.
It is very important to show these people that Gods’ plan doesn’t imply perfection but progress. He twice says, “I have not obtained it” or “(nor) have already been made perfect.” We have a long way to go yet to get to be like Christ. Paul does not demand himself, or get paralyzed trying to be perfect.
Life is “progressive growth”. He who started the good work will be faithful to accomplish it to the end. It is good to show those being counseled that EVERY CHRISTIAN is willing to grow and has a long way to go. That is why Paul tells us “forget about the past”. In verse 13 the word “forget” means “to forget completely.” This expression was used in athletics when an athlete left his competitors behind. Our past cannot be changed: neither our pains, nor the mistakes we made. There are only two things in our past: great achievements and frustrations.
How to Question Effectively as regards Sin? This area seems to be very well-known by any Christian. However, we need to make these questions as many of these sins still prevail in the Christian people. - Are you arrogant? - Do you hate someone? - Are you jealous? Do you envy someone? - Are you selfish? - Have you ever wished someone dead? - Have you ever tried to commit suicide? - Have you ever undergone an abortion? - Have you ever raped or molested someone? - Have you had sex with someone of your own sex, with animals or with a close relative?
56 - Did you have sex before getting married? - Have you slept with prostitutes? - Have you used pornography? - Have you ever robbed? - Do you have a grudge against someone? - Do you think you have attitudes of manipulation? Are you intolerant or violent? - Do you easily start criticizing people? Do you judge others? - Do you consider yourself selfish? Are you whimsical? - Have you ever had troubles with other members in church or with the pastor?
There may be a great number of other questions. But the Bible is our best manual to guide us to effectively shut this door. Last, it should be pointed out that any answer given by those who receive ministry may have direct relation with this door.
Chapter 8 Shutting the Door to Wounds
What is the origin of fears, anguishes, guilt and low self-esteem in an adult? How do parents influence in the formation of their children’s personality? What are the three basic components of a “wound” in inner healing or a “trauma” in psychology? How do we defend ourselves against our traumas? Why do we say that abuse affects everyone (involved)? How many kinds of rejection are there? What are the symptoms of inferiority and false guilt?
………………………………………………………………… …………………………
57 Wounds: What We Need to Know In this last chapter in connection with the doors, we will refer to our need to be ministered to inner healing in our emotions. Everyone has suffered rejection, abuse or disdain in one way or another. Perhaps, our parents were not able or didn’t know how to love us the way we needed to when we were kids. Then throughout the years we were overcome by frustration, deceit and lack of understanding. These kind of situations from our past leave deep wounds in our heart. And if we don’t find a way out to heal these wounds, our present life will be conditioned by them preventing us from having sane relationships and making us distrustful and embittered. Our long experience in pastoral counseling have shown us that many emotional and spiritual disturbances in adults —such as fears, anguishes, feelings of guilt, low self-esteem, etc., have their origin in traumatic experiences during childhood. We know that the relationship mother-child is the most important and basic one to secure a child’s future healthy development. During this period the child’s personality is shaped. So if his good experiences are much more than his bad experiences then he will develop a strong personality. The kind of relationship everyone has with his parents may or may not bring about security, understanding, mercy and tolerance towards others and oneself. In other words, our parents can be the agents of illness or health.
What Is Personality? We will develop the concept of personality so as to have a better idea of our emotions and the relationship we, consciously or unconsciously, have with them. When we speak about “the individual” we refer to the human being as a WHOLE organically, psychologically and spiritually speaking. The human being is a unique and undividable unit.
When dealing with the concept of personality we also refer to the wholeness of the human being but we stress the social and psychological aspects studied through his behavior. Personality can be defined from different points of view: biologically, philosophically, psychologically, etc. However in every aspect we can mention three main characteristics that compose the general concept of personality:
58 - Totality: this means that personality consists of a number of processes, a group of elements. - Individuality: that is, each personality possesses its distinctive characteristics despite its similarities with other personalities. - Continuity: it implies that the type of structure continues without essential change during a life span.
There are certain principles that characterize every individual’s personality. They are:
- Principle of Totality: An individual’s personality entails his totality, that is, his biological, psychological, sociological and spiritual aspects which constitute the individual’s reality. - Principle of Individuality: Each personality is unique. Every individual has something that characterizes him. - Principle of historicity: The personality is a fixed static structure. However, it is dynamic and characterizes each person. - Principle of Dialectic man-world Interaction: There exists a dynamic relationship that enriches an individual’s personality and that is closely related to the world.
We think that the principles above are fundamental to better understand the concept of personality. We’d like to clarify also the words as follows:
- Build: it refers to the individual’s biological aspect, to his hereditary physical characteristics. - Temperament: it expresses the affective- instinctual aspects of a person. Some authors consider the temperament has a hereditary origin. - Character: it has to do with the habitual ways and attitudes of an individual. Character means “to engrave” (we engrave our experiences throughout our life). It is the way in which the individual interrelates with the outer world and himself.
What Is a Wound or a Trauma?
59 Why do we use the word “wound” in inner healing? Because it is closely related to “trauma”. What is “trauma” then? A “trauma” is an experience in an individual’s life whose three characteristics are: 1. It is very intense. 2. The individual is unable to respond properly to it (in the case of a child this is even worse). 3. It produces disordered feelings or behavior in the individual. Etymologically the Greek word “trauma” means “wound” and interestingly enough, the latter is derived from the term “to pierce”. In a way when we speak about “trauma” we refer to an experience that fractures our inner self. In any and all traumatic experience the individual tries —though unsuccessfully— to find a way-out. In the field of psychology this is called “defense mechanism”.
Defense Mechanisms When referring to the word “defense” we speak about those processes or behaviors that a person unconsciously uses to balance his personality. Every mechanism developed below is used by the individual during his life’s different stages. A mechanism of defense is found in the field of the psychopathology. Using them constantly produces an impoverishment of the individual’s emotional and spiritual life. It is very difficult to find these defenses in their “purest form” as they come out together with other defensive behaviors. Let’s develop the main ones.
Repression: The essence of this mechanism is to keep from consciousness wishes or impulses that produce anguish. Repression works making a memory, an image or an idea that seems threatening for the individual be banished from consciousness. The visible consequence of repression is oblivion. At the risk of remembering and suffering, it is better to forget. Displacement: What is repressed can be expressed through displacement. It is a mechanism by which the individual redirects emotions or impulses from their original object to a more acceptable substitute. This is the defense mechanism when facing phobias par excellence. For instance, an unconscious fear to one’s father can be displaced to a phobic fear to an animal.
60 Regression: This unconscious process entails a return to earlier patterns of reacting or thinking (from childhood). Many times when an individual can’t face certain situations, he “regresses” to primitive behaviors. The intensity of the regression shows if this behavior is normal or pathological.
Reaction Formation: By means of this defense mechanism exaggerated and rigid behaviors are exhibited that oppose to repressed behaviors. For example, the extremely neat and tidy woman worried about cleanness is, in fact, hiding some kind of dirt and disorder tendency. This way the individual avoids encountering his real feelings. Isolation: In this mechanism the affect is detached from sexual or aggressive impulse. So the person can retell an episode in his life without any emotional involvement. He can accept the facts but not the feelings related to that experience. Suppression: This behavior tries to exclude from consciousness the effect caused by previous behaviors. Projection: This defense mechanism consists in attributing to exterior reality those aspects or qualities the individual possesses but does not admit having. When a person attributes rage, guilt, etc. —feelings that he himself harbors— to somebody else, he attains an inner “quietness”; otherwise he would feel anguish. Projective identification: The individual lives others’ behaviors and characteristics, which can be good or bad, as if they were his own. Other people’s traits are now part of his self. This identification can be partial or total as, for example, the woman who cries watching a soap opera. Turning against the self: This mechanism entails a special from of displacement, where the person becomes his own substitute target. For instance, aggression against a paternal figure can be directed to the self, in which case the individual feels an impulse of self-aggression and his feeling of guilt diminishes. Denial: The process by which the person denies certain aspects of his self. Rationalization: By means of this mechanism the individual attempts to provide plausible reasons to explain or accept certain behaviors and to avoid making contact with his repressed impulse Sublimation: This is the only successful defense mechanism. It is the logical and active
61 adaptation to the rules of the environment. The instinctual impulse is displaced by a socially accepted value.
Specific Situations that Leave Deep Wounds 1. Abuse 1 Timothy 4:1-3 says, “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry…”
2 Timothy 3:1-5 declares, “ … There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God —having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.” 2 Timothy 4:3-4 asserts, “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” Titus 1:10-11 affirms, “ For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers (…) They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not teach —and that for the sake of dishonest gain.” The devil has developed in the last few years a strategy aimed at destroying people’s lives. The spirit of mistreatment or abuse tries to start operating on children or teenagers so that when they are grown-ups their hearts are full of negative feelings and emotions. The above mentioned verses from the Scripture warn us about the kind of people that the enemy uses to carry out his wicked plan, which progressively and systematically tries to destroy our lives. Abuse is such a painful and deep experience in our spirit that many people take years to get over it. Some who have been abused or mistreated are bound to the
62 past, to the old wound that is still bleeding because the devil has unleashed this wicked spirit with all his might.
Physical abuse: There are children who have been repeatedly beaten and mistreated physically with belts, sticks, etc., who have been raised up under the law of violence. As grown-ups, they are full of hate and unable to receive or give love, as they just can’t overcome their painful experiences. Most of them even follow the same violent behavior pattern. What they lived, it’s still vivid in their minds; it’s as if that mistreatment had happened just a moment ago. - Verbal violence: Many people have been victims of harsh words, insults, unfavorable comparisons made by their parents, which deeply affected their lives. For example, “He is intelligent, but you are stupid”; “he is a hard working boy but she is lazy”. I remember an eight- year-old boy who liked ballet. When his father saw him dancing, he said: “Stop doing that! Don’t be sissy!” That moment the boy felt a sharp pang of indescribable sorrow. Today he is a young Christian, and also a dancer, fighting against homosexuality.
- Emotional mistreatment: Who can emotionally maltreat another person? Parents, friends, spouses who are bossy and domineering. “Don’t dress like that…put this on instead.” “I don’t like that way of yours…” “Keep your mouth shut. You are always talking nonsense.” There are people who have grown listening to this kind of comments and they still have to be healed from them.
Emotional abuse: There’s emotional abuse when other people deceive or lie to us. We trusted our partner, pastor, wife, husband, but they betrayed us. Their lives were a lie and that lie has hurt us emotionally. Another way of emotional abuse is through disqualification. There are many ways to disqualify someone: a mocking laugh, an ironic look are ways of saying the other person he is useless. Some people have been abused by controllers who made them think they were at their disposal or that they were their slaves. For example, for many years the woman in church was supposed to support her husband in his ministry without having the possibility to develop a ministry herself.
63 The emotional abuse happens when another person systematically lowers our self-esteem, criticizes us, discourages us, and destroys our identity. When we’ve been emotionally abused we are unable to trust others again because we are afraid of being abused again.
Spiritual Abuse : This kind of abuse is worse than the emotional or even the physical one. When we trust a pastor, a servant of the Lord, a brother or sister in the Christian faith, and that person gets advantage of that to hurt us, our pain and disappointment are so deep that we end up generalizing, “All pastors are alike… All churches are alike...They are all thieves...” Many people have been hurt like this and now they wander from one church to another and can’t find a permanent congregation to attend and serve the Lord. The Bible narrates what happened when Jesus celebrated the Passover with His disciples: “ While they were reclining at the table eating, he said, ‘I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me —one who is eating with me. (…) one who dips bread into the bowl with me” (Mark 14:18-20). The disciples couldn’t understand at all why Judas, who had ministered with them and cast out demons and performed miracles, was in fact a traitor. But they hadn’t realized Judas was a false apostle. When we are spiritually abused we are put a veil on our mind so that we don’t realize we’re being abused.
The abuser appears like a lamb, but in fact it is a predatory wolf ready to attack. His victims are people who have something valuable to him that he wants to steal or destroy. The abuser doesn’t see these people as children of the King, but as useful objects for his own purpose. This kind of people seek the anointed ones to learn what anointing is about, to gain their trust and make use of their money for their own benefit. These abusers are used by Satan as false pastors, prophets or teachers.
Sexual abuse: Statistics show that one out of four girls and one out of ten boys will be sexually abused before getting the age of twelve. Ninety nine per cent of sexual abuses are
64 committed first by the father or stepfather; second, by a grandfather; and last, by an uncle. Sexual abuse takes place in all the strata of society. It’s not true that rape/sexual abuse only occurs in low class families or in shanty towns. And contrary to what people think, rape is a panned act and it generally occurs at home. When a child is robbed of trust, innocence and sexuality, he grows and ends up putting the blame on himself. He thinks, “I deserved it… I caused it to happen. I must have done something to deserve it…” When these abused children grow up, they may become prostitutes or homosexuals. In the case of abused girls, they may turn into obese women so as not to be sexually attractive and avoid being raped again; or on the contrary, they may become hypersexual. Most people who have been victims of sexual abuse are unwilling to share their painful experience because they are afraid of being rejected, of not being understood and loved. Many of them are still suffering these wounds that haven’t been healed yet.
2. Rejection Somebody has said about rejection: “It is the absence or the perception of the absence of meaningful love. In other words, the absence of unconditional acceptance.” Its direct consequence is self-rejection and low self- esteem. For example, a poor self-image brings about not only rejection of other people but also self-rejection. Rejection develops in a vicious circle and gives the demons the opportunity to manifest and oppress the person. A never-ending struggle to be accepted is a very clear symptom of the rejection cycle.
There exist two types of rejection:
a) Open rejection: It is an obvious attitude conveying a message: “The child is not loved.” That is telling the child that: - He was not wanted. - He’d rather not be born. - A child of the opposite sex was desired.
65 We have lately ministered to hundreds of people who as children had been told things like: - I don’t know why I brought you into the world… - You, fool. You are a good for nothing… - You should learn from your brother… - He is a good example… - You will always be miserable…
b) Covered rejection: It is a very subtle type, which doesn’t frequently reflect the parents’ intentions. Examples: - A parent’s death. - Parent’s divorce. - Overprotection prevents a child from naturally developing. (“My parents were wonderful. They loved me so much that they did everything for me.”) - Parents making differences among their own children.
In general, small children who just receive negative messages may become victims of: - Fear to failure: so they don’t attempt to do anything they like. They often feel frustrated, bored and unsatisfied. - Indecision: they fail to arrive at a decision. - Perfectionism: they feel that everything must be perfect to the extreme; as a consequence they don’t do anything and feel depressed. Or if attempting to do something, they feel guilty if they don’t get to perfection. - Show-off attitudes: they have polluted motivations. They have to be perfect because they want to call others’ attention. That way they can feel important and loved. - Reserved personality or liars: in a way they are saying “As I don’t like the way I am and I can’t stand being imperfect I won’t show my real personality. I will show myself different from what I really am.”
Some symptoms characterizing rejection: - Feelings of indignity, guilt, under-valuation, depression. - Inability to express one’s feelings. - Emotional isolation. Perfectionism. Fears.
66 - Autocondemnation. Worries and doubts. - Wrong images of God (indifferent God, etc.).
3. Inferiority Our self-image is not based on what we think of ourselves but of what others think of us. Proverbs 23:7 says, “…for he is the kind of man who is always thinking about the cost.” The way we see ourselves is very important, as it will reflect the way we relate to others. If we consider ourselves rubbish, our relationships will be that way too. “ Love your neighbor as yourself” is a commandment that is very clear. It doesn’t say, “love more” but love others as you love yourself. Everybody can occasionally feel some kind of inferiority; however some people are real victims of this feeling. They use to wear masks to hide their true feelings: 1. They are always trying to call others’ attention: For instance, those who are touched by the Holy Spirit and drop “dramatically” to the ground. Those who during worship can’t help shouting. Those who dress like pop stars so that people look at them. Those who must show they know about the topic being dealt with and are always giving their opinion. 2. They have a arrogant attitude: Proverbs 11:2, “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.” Proverbs 13:10, “ Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is found in those who take advice.” Proverbs 15:25, “ The Lord tears down the proud man’s house…” Proverbs 29:23, “A man’s pride brings him low…”
When someone has constant problems or fights with others, when he prefers to be alone and has inner conflicts, then that person is showing signs of inferiority. Some other symptoms of incompetence and lack of skill
67 are: chauvinism, false modesty, spirit of masochism and spirit of gossip.
Most feelings of self-rejection have their roots in early childhood. For instance, - Rejection from parents to children. - Frequent punishment making the child believe he is a bad child. - Cutting remarks like: “You can’t do anything well,” “You are a loser,” “You are a complete disaster.” - Negative comparisons with his brothers or sisters. - Labels, jokes, or harsh words.
4. False guilt False guilt comes over us when we don’t fulfill the precepts others have imposed on us and when we feel as if we were breaching some kind of law or regulation. Feelings of guilt have their roots in the emotions and as said before, they are closely related to childhood. (a) “Musts” or high aims imposed by our parents or teachers that now lead us to self- demand: - “You must dress like this.” - “You must be a good student.” - “You must save up.” - “You must eat with your mouth closed.” 1. Indifference, silence or lack of affection. 2. Accusations and authoritative environment: Our parents put the blame of bad situations on us or made us responsible for others’ feelings. Our mistakes were not tolerated and so we grew up in a very rigid atmosphere.
Some symptoms of guilt: Self-punishment: Those people who deprive themselves of better things. For instance, they could sleep in better conditions but they don’t do it. They could sit down to eat but they do it standing. They even have accidents they have caused on themselves, or they practice risking sports. Feeling of failure when succeeding: People who get depressed when everything is OK. When they are blessed they immediately think it may be the
68 enemy’s trick. They abandon someone who loves them or a ministry when they are being successful, etc.
Complaints: Those saying, “This is very difficult”. They only allow themselves to enjoy something if they have suffered to get it first. Masochism: They need others’ punishment to work. When they suffer they feel motivated. Inability to enjoy life: They stress the negative aspects of their success in life. Hard criticism on those enjoying life: They are conservative and can’t stand those who like dancing, jumping, clapping in church. They say, “How am I supposed to have fun when there are hundreds of people suffering out there?”
False guilt is a negative feeling that prevents us from being happy and carrying on. Remember the apostle Paul when he said in 2 Corinthians 3:17, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”
How do We Minister Inner Healing? Psalm 27:10 says, “ Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me.” Jeremiah 30:16-17, “But all who devour you will be devoured; all your enemies will go into exile. Those who plunder you will be plundered; all who make spoil of you I will despoil. But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds, because you are called an outcast, Zion for whom no one cares.” The following steps should be taken: 1- To renounce to any feeling of false guilt, low self-esteem, inferiority, abandonment, and rejection that adverse circumstances might have caused in our childhood or adulthood. 2- To forgive all those who have hurt us. From the human point of view, anyone may have the right to feel hate, or resentment towards those who have abandoned or rejected him: However, it is important to say that those feeling are against God’s will. 3- To cast out in the Name of Jesus any and all evil spirit.
69 4- To recognize that through Jesus’ blood we are now in Christ seated with Him in heavenly places.
How to Question Effectively as regards Wounds? 1) You first should ask the person’s name and age; how long he has been a Christian; spouse’s, children’s, parents’, brothers’, sisters’, grandparents’ names. 2) Then you should ask what his relationship with his parents, brothers, sisters was like; what kind of environment he lived in; and how his parents got on during his first ten years of life. 3) Finally you ask the following specific questions: - Do you remember any traumatic event during your childhood? - Did you suffer from abandonment, rejection, lack of affection? - What do you think your relationship with your parents was like? - Do you think you were overprotected? - Do you know if your parents wanted to abort you? - Do you know if your parents were expecting a child of the opposite sex? - Do you feel you were a wanted child? - Were you punished with violence? - Were you insulted, disqualified or rejected? - Do you harbor any grudge against any of your parents? - What do you think your parents’ marriage was like? - Have you been sexually abused or molested? - Do you feel animosity towards your abuser/s? - Did that abuse cause any further problem in you as an adult? - Have you sexually abused or molested someone? - Did any of your relatives pass away? - Did you use pornography? - How often did you masturbate? Do you still have this habit?
70 - What do you think the consequences of your childhood are for your present life?
4) We need to relate the past and the present; that is why we ask how childhood has affected the person’s present life. We have to go deep just in those aspects that really show a negative connection between past and present.
Chapter 9 Ministering Inner Healing through “The Four-Doors Method”
Why is it essential to be covered with the blood of Jesus? What is the aim of taking the person’s history and what do we do with it after ministry? Why is it forbidden to talk to the evil spirits? What do we do if there is a demonic manifestation while ministering? What are the signals in the person that show us that demons have been cast out? What are the characteristics of the various prayers in the inner healing session?
………………………………………………………………… …………………………
Key Points for the Inner Healing Session 1. Before the inner healing session. Before ministry is performed, the evil spirits perceive what will happen and so they do everything possible for people not to be ministered to. I remember the case of a young sister in our church who went camping with us. One morning she got up very early and expressed she wanted to go back home. She felt uneasy and distressed and begged some brothers to take her out of that place. Without understanding what was going on with her, we tried to convince her to stay (we prayed for her), but she insisted. She felt even worse as time went by. All of a sudden, the spiritual warfare team decided to hold a meeting that night to pray and she was invited to join them. It was then that she was delivered from an evil spirit. The evil spirits know -spiritually- when they are approached by people who are well trained to minister to
71 the demonized. So they start feeling uneasy and they transmit this uneasiness to the person they dwell in. Many people said that before being ministered to they had had headaches, faints, backaches, stomachaches, etc. These spirits even put notions in their minds, such us “When they invite you to pray, don’t do it,” “It’s a waste of time” and things like that (we’ve been told this by people who later received ministry). Many pastors have also told us that when they started to rebuke in public in church, a lot of brothers and sisters began to feel uneasy, anguished and sad. They couldn’t understand why their pastor rebuked or attacked or bound the devil. But their attitude had nothing to do with intellectual matters (the fact that they didn’t understand) but with spiritual ones (which they didn’t know anything about). We have noticed two different attitudes as regards this point. On the one hand, there are Christians who can’t really grasp intellectually or spiritually the meaning of casting out demons. Despite this, they pray to God that His will be revealed in their lives and His light be shed on their minds. On the other hand, there are Christians who -as a demon manifests- automatically start to criticize the person who is rebuking and to express resentment. This attitude clearly shows that these people are controlled, without realizing, by evil spirits who use them to stop spiritual warfare. 2. We cover ourselves with the blood of Christ. When commencing the inner healing session, it is of the utmost importance to cover with the blood of Christ each team member (name by name) and the person being ministered to. We also do so with their families and properties. As an example, this is how we pray in our church: “Lord, in the name of Jesus, we want to cover with your blood Pedro’s life, his wife and children. Father, we ask your angels to be surrounding his house and belongings. We ask you to also cover each relative of his with your blood…” (and we go on praying for each one present there). This is fundamental because the evil spirits will try to take revenge on our families and even our belongings. Once we had to minister to a girl who had been involved in Umbanda. During the course of the ministry, she suddenly started crying and shouting as she said the demon was showing her how her house was
72 burning. Then the evil spirit told her he was going to attack her boyfriend and parents. Finally he added he was going to hurt a member of the inner healing team that night. That is the reason why it is important not only to cover the people involved with the blood of Christ but also not to be afraid of anything. Some time ago a pastor told me that he conducted a ministry successfully but that he had forgotten to cover his family with the blood of Christ. When the session ended he felt really uneasy though he didn’t know why. When he arrived home he rushed to his baby’s room. He found it laying face down and it had vomited. The almighty God protected the baby and nothing serious happened. The evil spirits will try to take revenge on anyone who seeks “setting the captive free.” 3. We take the history and pray. Then we take the history and find out if the person and/or his family have been involved in the occult. We go on to ask about the doors to sin, heredity and wounds respectively. Remember to take down every answer and tell the person you do this to pray specifically and in order. We also informed him that once the ministry is finished we will tear those notes up as a symbol that everything has been broken and that the session is over.
After taking notes of each door we start praying. We also explain the person that sometimes we are going to pray and some other times we will ask him to repeat after us. Show the person there is nothing to worry about as you will guide him. We inquire if he is willing to renounce to EVERYTHING that has been taken down IN A LOUD VOICE. To renounce means to tell the Lord -and the devil as well- that everything we lived so far in connection with each door belongs to the past, that we will break any spiritual bondage formed as a consequence of our wrong practices. We will also ask the person to tell us as soon as he feels some kind of strange sensation (voices, pains) so that we can pray for this too. Then we guide him to renounce in a loud voice. Remember to deal with one point at a time. After that we rebuke the corresponding evil spirit. We have met people who can’t say the renounce prayer. In that case we have to rebuke any and all evil
73 spirit (oppressing and preventing the person from talking) and we order that spirit to release the person and let him pray. After this renounce prayer, the minister should rebuke and cast out every demon (whatever it may be). If, when rebuking the spirit of Umbanda, the person manifests that means that said spirit is inside that person. We must cast it out immediately in the name of Jesus. There exist some witty spirits –deceiving spirits- that don’t manifest as easily as others do (they subtly hide themselves). Anyway, we must persist in rebuking in the name of Jesus till they manifest.
The Inner Healing Session: What to Expect It is impossible to tell what exactly happens in inner healing sessions as the Lord manifests in many different ways. You won’t find two identical sessions but we’d like to share our most frequent experiences on the matter. It may or may not be necessary to know the name of the spirits. Here we need God’s discernment to see whether it is necessary to know the spirits’ name or not. It is possible for the evil spirits to reveal their names when being asked to, but most of the times they don’t reveal it. The evil sprits not only try to cause fear and confusion but also to insult us. When we were ministering to Romina (see chapter 5 for complete testimony), I ordered the evil spirit to tell me his name. He turned round Romina’s head, who stared at me and insulted me. I insisted and he went on insulting me for five more minutes. This is another scheme used by the evil spirits to disturb the inner healing session. On another occasion, when the evil spirit was ordered to say his name he replied, “Get out of here. I don’t know who you are. You are nobody and you will do nothing to me.” That is why we should ask God for discernment. If we don’t know the spirit’s name, either we cast it out calling it “evil spirit”; or we observe his manifestation and name it accordingly.
Spirit of Mockery. Frequently a spirit of mockery will appear during the ministry (to discredit the session and make the team laugh).
74 Many spirits tell us defiantly they won’t go out and even threaten to destroy us or the person being ministered to. Norma’s case was interesting. When rebuking the spirit of adultery, a spirit of mockery manifested. He laughed at us and told us he wouldn’t go out. The spirit of mockery not only appears to laugh at us but also to make the ministration team laugh. This happened once to us. The spirit of mockery started to laugh and it was such a catching laugh that we couldn’t help laughing as well until we realized that the spirit’s purpose was to cause distraction and to discredit the inner healing session. Spirits of Fear and Deceit. No demon can cause any harm to us unless we have a door open to let him in. We must not minister to anyone if we are not spiritually prepared for that which means to be living in holiness and in communion with God. The evil sprits possess two big things: their mouth (to insult and inspire fear) and memory (to remind us of our past sins). In addition, it is important not to talk with the demons, unless the Holy Spirit shows us to do it with a specific purpose. Once we were ministering to a woman called Josefa, and an evil spirit started to tell her –at a remarkable speed- that somebody was burning her house. She desperately asked me to pray and cover her house with the blood of Christ. Before I could finish praying, that spirit showed her the way he was going to hurt her boyfriend. As I prayed for her boyfriend, the same spirit threatened to hurt her family, and so on. The spirit of deceit appears to cause fear. In Josefa’s case she shouted as she was frightened to see in her mind how the spirit was going to kill her family. Bad memories are brought back to instill fear into those being ministered to. The evil sprits usually bring back sad memories to arouse fear (for example: images of abuse, abandonment, rejection, etc.) so as to anguish and disturb those being ministered to. Spirit of Confusion. Another interesting case was about a Christian girl that used to cry in every church service. She was deeply sad and in anguish. She used to come to the front, some pastor prayed for her and instantly she started to cry.
75 When we started rebuking the spirit of Umbanda, it immediately caused a deep pain in her stomach. In this case, as we have already said, the sprits dwelling in her would constantly block her mind and take it away.
When the session begins, the first thing we have to do — if the Holy Spirit shows us to do so— is to cast out all the spirits of confusion and sleep because the demons will try to wear the person out for a start. We have noticed that many people feel deeply tired in their bodies and minds at the beginning of the ministry. That is why we insist in rebuking and binding any and all spirit of sleep and confusion so that the session can be successfully carried out. Another reason for rebuking this spirit from the very beginning is that the devil will also try to cause confusion in the inner healing team.
Spirit of Sleep. Some minutes after the session has commenced, many people express being terribly tired. Even the team has occasionally felt sleepy almost at the beginning of the ministry. That is why it is important to bind any spirit of sleep from the start. We also suggest that the session shouldn’t last for more than three hours. Physical and mental tiredness can be counterproductive In case we have to postpone the session we cover the person with the blood of Christ and on the next day we start where we stopped the day before. Spirit of Seduction. Obviously this spirit is aimed at destroying by all means any attempt of ministering. No matter what this spirit’s schemes are; victory is ours in the name of Jesus. When we were ministering to Estela (see chapter five for complete testimony), she stared at me and, in a very soft and sensual voice, asked me to stay with her because she needed me as I was —according to her— the only one who could help her. So I rebuked the spirit of seduction, who manifested and started to shout and to insult me. In another case, after ministering to a young woman one member of the inner healing team told me that he had sensed a spirit of seduction whispering to his ear to kiss the woman and touch her breasts. In addition, the woman told us that she had also heard a voice telling her to kiss this guy and let him touch her breasts.
76 That is why it is essential that the inner healing team be in holiness, in total dependence of God seeking Him with all their hearts. The person’s mind is seized. Another scheme the devil uses is to seize the person’s mind. We have noticed this many times at the beginning of an inner healing session. When we start to rebuke evil spirits the person being ministered to closes his eyes and let his head fall as if fainting. In this case, we should: a) ask the Lord to send His angels to bring the person’s mind back; b) ask the Holy Spirit to rescue it; or c) rebuke any and all spirit of theft that could have seized the person’s mind, and ask the Lord to bring it back.
Another option is to order the person (calling him by his name) in the name of Jesus to take control of his body and mind and to open his eyes. Some people told us that the demon had taken them to graveyards or to disgusting places (where there were snakes or corpses). Others said they had been taken to dark places where they hadn’t any notion of time and space. The enemy applies these schemes for the purpose of destroying the ministry of inner healing. The evil spirits will always try to abort any attempt to help those in need and bound by the devil. In many cases we have seen people getting surprised when becoming aware of their strange sensations and their demoniac manifestation (this is so because they are never fully unconscious; so they realize something is controlling them, which they cannot fight against).
Spirit of Violence. In other cases when we start to rebuke evil spirits, the person who receives ministry automatically covers his ears. After binding every spirit and order them to get out of the person, the spirit tries to make the person hit his head against the wall, or hit someone else. This happened once we rebuked a spirit of marijuana who started to use excessive violence (we were six people in the team and were not able to hold the demonized). In a moment we finally took control of the situation and could bind the principality of marijuana, which had already hurt that person deeply. Notice that when you bind a spirit of aggression or violence in the name of Jesus and order him to keep
77 silent, the spirit shuts his mouth. Remember this: don’t talk with demons and don’t let them speak to you either (as the only big thing a demon has is a mouth to insult us and to remind us of our past and forgiven sins). Based on our experience, the strongest evil spirits are those of violence and of fear. Once when we rebuked a spirit of violence in a five-feet-tall girl she started to bark like a dog and to hit her head against the floor and one of the walls. We were five in the team and we couldn’t stop her until we bound the spirit of violence. Undoubtedly every evil spirit, when losing power, will try to destroy the person receiving ministry or the team, apart from causing confusion and making fun of the ministry to discredit it. This spirit will also try to call other spirits to help him —using the person’s hands and feet (we will develop this in the next item). Certain evil spirits like to show off violently barking, shouting. We have to forbid them to do this. We have to bind any and all manifestation of violence and shouts, and order the spirits in the name of Jesus to get out quietly.
Calling other spirits to help them. Almost all the spirits will send signals to other spirits using the person’s hands and feet. We are to stop this. (a) Their most frequent signals, which we have systematically seen, are rotation of hands, twisting of fingers, signals with the index finger as if calling someone, etc. (b) The evil spirits gain strength through water. Mathew 12:43 says, “When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it.” Beyond taking the text literally, we believe that the evil spirits need wet places to have greater power. We have noticed that as they lose power they use the person being ministered to to ask for water. Do not give this person water because this will be in favor of the demons The reasons for doing this are not very clear to us, but we know it is this way.
How to Know the Spirits Were Cast Out? As regards manifestations of deliverance in those people receiving ministry, we have seen evil spirits getting out of the nose and the mouth through shouts, burps, retches, blows and even cries. Revolting smells are also frequently perceived during the sessions. Let’s see some of these manifestations in detail.
78 Blowing: On one occasion, we were ministering to a woman and as we rebuked the evil spirits she blew each time a demon left her. In another case, a spirit of torment went out of a woman -she expelled it through her mouth- and at that very moment a cat that was somewhere in the temple far form us meowed so violently and loudly that a brother who was at the door got scared. When this woman stop exhaling, the cat meowed again. We understood then that every evil spirit that had left the woman had entered the cat. This should not surprise us since umbandists and black magic practitioners can incorporate spirits in animals. Other spirits can be expelled through phlegm, spits, defecation, urine, cough and even deep breaths, depending on their level of wickedness. There are a great number of ways for an evil spirit to leave a person. In the case of Romina (see chapter five for a complete testimony) she blew uninterruptedly for about fifteen minutes while dozens of evil spirits were going out of her. Other people feel as if two hands were squeezing their heads and when spiritual bondage is broken, they feel as if the squeezing ceases. The Lord is the one to reveal us if an evil spirit has really gone out. Shouts: Another manifestation is by shouting. If possible we have to order that evil spirit to get out without hurting the person’s throat.
Physical sensations: Once when we were ministering to a woman and God revealed to us there was a work of witchcraft. We were praying and breaking said work, when the woman made a very powerful exclamation without knowing why she had done so. Of course, the spirits had been cast out and the work of witchcraft had been broken. Some people feel as if an electrical current comes and goes in their bodies. These kinds of sensations are felt specially when a work of witchcraft is broken. Cough: When a woman called Marta moved to the front during a service so that we could pray for her, the Lord revealed to us we had to break any and all work of
79 witchcraft that had been performed against her life. At the very moment we declare that any work of witchcraft was broken in the name of Jesus, she started to cough heavily. Then she told us that she felt something had happened. Obviously the work of witchcraft had been broken. Retches, cries, burps: The evil spirits that were oppressing Estela (see chapter five for complete testimony) came out through retches, cries, spits and burps. Although the manifestations of deliverance vary from person to person, they all feel as if something comes out of their bodies. On the next day, Estela commented to us that she had never slept so peacefully. She had been healed. Undoubtedly the healing power of the Lord goes on acting in those lives willing to renounce to any and all occult practices, to repent from committing sins, to be healed from deep wounds, and to seek more from Him. Praise the Lord for that. Strange noises: When an evil spirit comes out of a person, strange things can happen in the place. Once a member of the church heard that someone was throwing up in the toilet. In fact nobody was there. The opening and closing of doors as well as other strange noises were also heard. Of course the evil spirits were trying to cause fear or trouble. Heat: Another interesting case is Marisol’s. She got to our church recommended by a brother from another church. At that moment, she was living with a thirty-year-old man that was involved in Umbanda. Marisol told us that when she was in bed she began to shake and sweat (without any reason). She also heard voices, saw lights and felt an intense heat. On one occasion, she saw a human-like shadow having sex with her boyfriend. She could hear his deep breathing and see his underwear flapping. She could also see there was no erection but after some minutes she did hear him shout as when finishing the sexual act.
Her boyfriend regularly read a book about the occult which contained stories about a spirit called “bagual” that was introduced in the book as a “guide” to help the reader.
80 Marisol also told us she could see animals and people having sex in the reflection of her TV set. She frequently felt cold and also felt winds blowing inside her bedroom. On some occasions she even heard the evil spirits telling one another, “Kill her.” From time to time she felt sexually motivated and she also felt a hand touching and even masturbating her. Once she said her guardian angel (a white angel) appeared to her. She asked him to go into her and the angel penetrated her and filled her with light. In connection with works of witchcraft she found in her house, she mentioned knotted handkerchiefs, buttons, woman’s hair in her bed, garter belts, worn underwear and one of her t-shirts stained with hen blood. Marisol went on telling us that a Brazilian girl friend of hers had lent her a book in which Marisol saw a photograph of the same objects she had found in her house. She wondered if someone would have taken them away to take a picture of them and to do some witchcraft work. By the way, her Brazilian friend was involved in Candomblé. Marisol had also practiced past-life regression and discovered she had been a Franciscan monk in her past life. She had also played a game similar to the Ouija board, but she had been so impressed that she never played it again. She had also made astral voyages and consulted a quack several times. The most significant thing Marisol told us was about her nanny, who used to play a zither. Every time this woman played it the doors of the house opened. Once Marisol asked her nanny why that happened and the woman answered that the angels were coming into to listen to the music (in the evening this woman used to play music in an evangelical church). One time when Marisol was a teenager, she got up in the morning and found every piece of furniture in different places (which surprised the whole family). Paradoxically, the former owner of that house had set up a shop called “The Exorcist.” Her mother dreamt on one occasion of a man who told her he was going to kill her daughters. One day, when visiting a friend of hers, Marisol’s mother saw a photograph of the man in the dream. She asked who that man in the photograph was and her friend replied he was the previous owner of her house who had hanged himself. Marisol was ministered to inner healing for about four hours. The spirit of “bagual”, the spirit of Saint George, “exus” and spirits of Spiritualism and of death manifested. We also explained to her that that white
81 guardian angel she had seen was a demon who had appeared to her as an angel of light. When we rebuked this angel there were also manifestations and healing.
As a child Marisol was able to heal people through the heat her hands generated. At a certain moment of the inner healing session, as we rebuked we could feel an intense heat in her hands, but not in her arms. Marisol told us she felt the sprits went out of her body through her side, hands, legs and back producing heat and a deep pain in her stomach or her face. Now Marisol has been set free, has committed her life to Christ and is praying for her boyfriend to know the love of the Lord as well. Peace and calmness: Alejandra had just married when she came to the church to receive ministry. She told us that when she was a small girl she lived in a very big house with many dogs. Every time a dog died it was buried in the back garden of the house and a cross was put on top. She had also seen eight relatives of hers die there. When she was born her mother baptized her at the Basilica de la Virgen de Luján1 and promised to make Alejandra take Communion there and to pray over Ceferino Namuncura’s2 grave. Later on Alejandra, seeking peace in her heart, started reading books about numerology, reincarnation, the occult, pyramids, cartomancy, etc. She saw how her mother incorporated (supposingly) the spirit of her grandfather and he spoke and moved through her mother. Alejandra used to have invisible friends as a child who she played with. When she was eight years old she was deeply frightened by a black shadow approaching her. As a consequence, she began to suffer from absences and gaps in her mind. Alejandra showed a wide range of symptoms: deep-rooted hatred towards her father, guilt for his demands, rejection, introversion, fear and a very low self-esteem. She had even tried to commit suicide three times (at the age of 14, 15 and 16). During the inner healing session, which lasted for three or four hours, she renounced to all those practices.
1 Virgen de Luján is the patroness of Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. —Translator’s Note 2 Son of an Araucanian cacique, Ceferino Namuncura was taken to Rome, where he met Pope Pio X. He wanted to become a Catholic priest to evangelize his people. He died one year after at the age of 19. From then he is venerated as a “saint”, mainly in the south of Argentina. He is still under the process of canonization. —Translator’s Note 82 However, when we finished she left the room in silence and with a serious expression on her face. After the ministry we will be able to assess if a person has or hasn’t been set free. This person should leave the place joyfully, perhaps with swollen eyes because of crying, with a harsh voice, with his throat dry, but with a very deep joy in his heart as he has been set free. This was not Alejandra’s case. We asked her if there was anything else she wanted to tell us to renounce to, but she said she didn’t. On the following day her husband called us for help because Alejandra was suffering from tachycardia, choking and a deep oppression.
When we met at church to continue the inner healing session, she remembered she had always admired Van Gogh greatly (she was a painter and a sculptress). She was so obsessed with him that she had read all his biographies, analyzed his works of art and painted them and painted his portrait. She imagined herself speaking to him, being him. She had even painted herself with him and produced a big sculpture of his face. Her identification with Van Gogh was not from the artistic but from the platonic point of view (she told us she felt attracted by him). This meant a tremendous human bondage. An important aspect about Van Gogh’s life is that he was despised and rejected and this led him to commit suicide. Alejandra’s deep identification with him was causing most of the symptoms she showed. After we broke this bondage and she renounced to any sort of human identification, we suggested her to identify with Christ. As we ministered to her we could see that something was cut in her and left her, and she was made a new person. We mention this case because sometimes the evil spirits don’t dwell in a person, but they form negative identifications -as in Alejandra’s case- to destroy that person’s life. That is why we are called not only to cast out evil spirits but also to break any oppression, demoniac identification and any emotional stronghold lifted against the knowledge of the Lord.
Steps to Follow in the Inner Healing Prayer 1. To settle accounts with God The inner healing minister leads 2. To renounce specifically 3. To cast out any evil spirit in the name of Jesus The inner healing minister prays
83 4. To ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit
Steps 1and 2 are guided by the inner healing minister while the person receiving ministry repeats with sincere heart. Steps 3 and 4 correspond to the inner healing minister, who takes authority in the name of Jesus to rebuke and cut any bondage.
The following is a suggested inner healing prayer. 1. To fix accounts with God: “Holy Father, I come before you to give you my life. I ask for your forgiveness for living in disobedience to your will. I recognize you today as my unique Savior and I thank you for the healing I will have in your Name.”
2. To renounce specifically: “In the presence of my brothers and sisters as witnesses and in your holy presence, I renounce to the hatred I felt for my mother when she said that I was useless and that she didn’t’ know why she had given birth to me… I renounce to the feeling of rejection and I ask the Holy Spirit to cut any bondage these feelings brought to my emotional and spiritual life… I renounce to every spiritualistic session I attended and I ask the Holy Spirit to cut any emotional, physical and spiritual bondage on my life and my family.”
3. To cast out any evil spirit in the Name of Jesus: “With the authority given to me by the Word of God I go against any evil spirit of hatred, I bind it and cast it out of my brother’s life in the Name of Jesus. I order you in the Name if Jesus to release this life; and now I unbind the unconditional love of God over my brother’s life and I declare that the Lord will never abandon him and that his goodness and love will follow him all the days of his life.”
4. To ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit: “Lord, I praise and bless your Name for the wonderful work you did in my brother and I ask you now to fill him with your presence. I ask your Holy Spirit to seal every door he has closed to the enemy and that the fullness of your life be manifested in him for the glory and honor of your Name. Amen.”
84 Chapter 10 Living in Holiness
God’s love is greater than any sin. Holiness does not imply to be honest, righteous and to do good. Criticism and logical reasoning frequently reveal hidden sins. Holiness is to live and do what God is expecting us to do. Unless we crucify our flesh everyday, we won’t be able to live in holiness. Our living and reflecting the fullness of the Holy Spirit proves we are living in holiness.
………………………………………………………………… …………………………
Living in Holiness We can hide, carry, forget or justify the sins we have committed. We can also decide to confess them to the Lord. But confession is not enough. The Lord wants us to renounce, repent and stay away from our sins as well. That is why Proverbs 28:13 says,
85 “He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.” It is important to point out to the person we are counseling that he can cry in front of the Lord, confess his sins, express them and recognize them. But we should also add that this is half the task because he should also leave them behind. We should also suggest him to share this with a trustful brother or sister. Confession must be done naming each sin in a loud voice and to Christ. Jesus said to the woman in adultery: “Go now and leave your life of sin.” “I confess my sin, I recognize it, because the Lord is faithful and fair to forgive me. But I repent and stay away from it.” This is to renounce. To do this in front of a spiritual brother shows a sincere attitude of abandonment. Whenever we say that God is not willing to forgive us, we are committing sin. It is as if we were saying, “Look, Lord, your Son died on the cross but his power is not enough to forgive me. Your Son poured his blood, but what I did is so awful that His sacrifice is not enough.” This kind of thought comes from the devil. Be careful! Countless people are unable to accept God’ forgiveness by grace, and by Jesus’ great, prefect and complete work in the cross on our behalf. God’s love is always bigger than any sin we may have committed. However He won’t use and bless you if you lead a sinful life you haven’t renounced to. Many of the psychological, theological and ecclesiastical arguments are, in fact, masks to hide sin. Sometime ago there was a man in our church who constantly complained about the way we worshipped, clapped and sang songs. He said “it was a real mess”. He pointed out with “authority” that his ancestors had taught him that “the quietness of the word” was the most important aspect. According to him, this new way of worshipping disturbed people and was anti-biblical. This same person used to run a video club in which he had pornographic videos for renting! Whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. The devil has tried to minimize sin. He says to the couple, “If you love each other, live your love freely.” He says to the grocer, “It’s OK if you give some grammes short.” He says to the Christian, “Stand up for your rights in church. Fight for them.” The Corinthians were a nice church. They were gifted, well-off and poor people, who celebrated many
86 meetings but their lives did not undergo any change at all because of their sins. When a church or a Christian leads a sinful life and goes on living in sin, he is automatically separated from the unity of the body. Flesh must be crucified. We are not living in holiness if we have a sinful habit. Right and wrong about holiness. Holiness does NOT mean: - To be righteous or honest. - Not to say dirty words or not to commit terrible sins. - To have a great knowledge about the Scripture. - To pray the accurate and correct words. - To have high principles of morality. Anyone can do all these things and still be far from being holy.
Holiness DOES mean: - To live and do what God wants the way He wants us to. - To live and do what Jesus did. Somebody who is seeking to live in holiness should ask himself: “What I am about to do, would Jesus do it?” “What I am thinking, would it be in Jesus’ mind?” Where the flesh hasn’t been crucified there is no holiness. Holiness entails first to crucify the flesh living in us. To be holy means to live under the control of the Holy Spirit. It is a way of living, not because I am honest, but because my life is ruled and directed by the Holy Spirit. Holiness is to reflect the fullness of the Holy Spirit. It’s a life which is twenty four hours a day in the presence of the living God, leading the kind of life He wants me to live.
Exodus 19:6 says, “You will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.” Deuteronomy 7:6 declares, “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the
87 peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.” A holy life is an abundant life, which not only tries to stay away from sin but also to reflect Jesus’ character.
88