As a church that has ministered deliverance to adults for years, we are often asked about children and deliverance.  The questions generally are:

• Can children be demonized?
• If parents break generational curses, are the children set free from the effects?
• Should you minister deliverance to children and, if so, how?
• What should you do if your child tells you that he/she is seeing something scary in their room?

These are legitimate questions that books on deliverance rarely deal with, so I thought I would take a couple of blogs to respond to these.   By the way, there seems to have been a definite increase in demonic activity in the last year, at least in our area, and children are being affected as well.   As many in America pursue sin and perversion and as many of our national leaders do the same, the spiritual gates have been opened wide for the demonic to be active in our nation. Because of that, we can expect demonization of individuals and demonic manifestations to be heightened.  The enemy always pursues the most vulnerable, so we can also expect children to be targeted as well as adults.  

The first question is whether or not children can be demonized.  I guess we ask that because we assume that God would protect children because he cares for them in a special way (Matt.18:10) or because they are innocent and Satan should have no legal right to afflict them.  In Mark 9, a man came to Jesus whose son had been tormented by demons manifesting as seizures.  The text says, “When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the boy’s father, ‘How long has he been like this?’ ‘From childhood,’ he answered. ‘It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us’” (Mk.9:20-22). Clearly, children can be afflicted by demons. 

Demons can attach themselves to children as a consequence of generational sin, curses, or trauma. The trauma of abuse, the loss of a parent or sibling, a severe injury or illness, etc. can easily open a child up to a spirit of rejection and/or fear.  Spirits of trauma can also attach to physical or emotional wounds and hinder their healing.  

Curses spoken over the child by those who have spiritual authority over them (typically parents) can also give the enemy a legal right to afflict a child. This can happen in unplanned pregnancies where a parent might say that he or she wishes the child would miscarry or “never be born” or that this child would bring them nothing but pain and sorrow, etc.  Words like that can open the door to spirits of rejection, infirmity, death, or an orphan spirit. 

Generational spirits of fear, anger, infirmity, lying, rejection, stupor, etc. can also be passed down to a child. We have seen these show up and manifest as learning disabilities, feelings of self-hatred from an early age, cutting, extreme anger, obsessiveness, chronic lying, etc. even in young children.  Of course, all these conditions can be physiological and not demonic, but in our experience, many have a demonic componnt.

I always feel a need to remind anyone reading this that demonization is not possession. Demonization means that demons are afflicting an individual in one part of their life while the rest is fairly functional. One part can impact the other parts, but typically the person is out of control in only one or two areas and not all of the time.  The most effective demons are those that mimic physiological or psychological conditions that exist in the natural realm.  They do so without manifesting in such extreme ways that we might suddenly wonder if something beyond the natural was occurring.

We also need to remember that demonization does not nullify salvation.  Demonization effects our ability to mature spiritually or develop fruits of the Spirit, but does not affect our salvation. Sometimes, believers want to deny demonization because they think it means they belong to Satan and are, therefore, lost. Deliverance is about sanctification rather than salvation.  

So, how do we know if a child’s “issues” come from the natural realm or are a manifestation of the spiritual realm?  Sometimes, it is hard to know.  However, if everything has been tried that should help, but has not brought any lasting healing or freedom, demonic activity could be indicated.  If you see something in the child’s eye’s that seems unnatural when an issue is manifesting, it is likely demonic. If a child tells you that something or someone is telling them to hate, hurt, or be afraid, that could be demonic.  If a child has been abused or traumatized, then be sensitive to the possibility of demonization.  Before anything else, ask the Holy Spirit to show you if something demonic is in play.  If you know someone who has a strong gift of discernment, ask that person for their impressions.

Our general rule is that if we are unsure, minister deliverance. Cover the base.   If something manifests or something changes, then demons were involved. If not, keep seeking answers in the natural realm.  Next week, I will talk about appropriate deliverance for children and how to equip them appropriately for spiritual warfare.

The holidays are wonderful times of love and laughter for many families as they gather around a warm Thanksgiving table or around a brilliant Christmas tree.  For many others, the holidays are darker because their family get-togethers resurrect old emotional wounds inflicted by some family member in their past or because they know that before the day is over, “that person” will say something hurtful to them again.  

I’m officiating a wedding this week and, in that ceremony, I will take a moment to talk about the power of our spoken words.  The familiar proverb (Prov. 18:21) declares that “the tongue has the power of life or death.”   Never is that more true than in marriages and in families.  

Years ago, when I first became aware of that proverb, I thought of it as figurative language that was reminding us that we could hurt people with our words or encourage people with our words. That is certainly true, but I now take the proverb literally.  Our negative words cannot only sting a person’s heart and assault a person’s perception of their worth and value, but can also set things in motion in the spiritual realm to enforce the things we declare over others.  That is the nature of a curse and curses are very real.  

In Numbers 22-24, we encounter the story of Balaam.  In the story, Balak, the king of Moab, tries to hire Balaam to declare a curse over Israel. Israel had encamped on the borders of Moab and were so numerous that Moab was terrified of them.  Apparently, Balaam was well known and had a track record for cursing and blessing because Balak declared, “Now come and put a curse on these people, because they are too powerful for me. Perhaps, then I will be able to defeat them and drive then out of the land. For I know, that whoever you bless is blessed and whoever you curse is cursed.”  

Balak wanted Balaam to speak words over Israel that would invite or direct demonic forces to afflict Israel. Perhaps, spirits of fear would rob Israel of courage on the eve of battle.  Perhaps, spirits of infirmity would inflict some sickness on the people so that they could not fight or fight well. Perhaps, a spirit of confusion would cause them to choose battle plans that would be doomed to fail.  That is the nature of a curse.  Some words give demonic spirits permission to afflict, harass, or oppress someone.  That is especially true when one person has authority over another…such as a parent over a child. Words can also bring blessings. That is the nature of our prayers and words of good will we speak over others.

Before we write off the story of Balaam as an expression of superstition by Balak who “believed such nonsense,” we need to note that God himself took the curse very seriously.  If you read the story, God told Balaam that he must not curse those he had blessed.  Balaam, kept trying to find ways to declare the curse because he wanted the payoff from Balak.  God took the curse so seriously, that at one point, God sent an angel to kill him if he persisted in his efforts to declare the curse.  

All this is to say that our words have power to bless or curse those we speak them to.  Many families and even spouses have spoken curses over one another with their hurtful and accusing words and those words have invited the enemy to come and fulfill the words that were spoken over a family member…perhaps, for generations.

God directs his people to speak only blessings over others…even our enemies (Luke 6:38).  We need to speak positive things over ourselves as well. This is simply a reminder to speak positive words over others because most of us know the damage of negative words.  If you are with a family with a hurtful history during the holidays, this may be a challenge. However, speak life even over your enemies or hurtful family members, regardless of what they might say to you. When we speak, we are sowing seeds of life or death and we reap what we sow.  Curses come back to us, but so do blessings.  So, watch your words and be blessed in all you do.

Well…Thanksgiving will be upon us in just a few days. It is one of my favorite family holidays and is traditionally intended to be a day of thankfulness for the blessings that we enjoy.  Hopefully, that is not the only day we express thanks for the good things in our lives.  What I want to suggest in this blog is that Thanksgiving should not be merely a day, but a lifestyle. In fact, I think it is a very powerful form of spiritual warfare.

The apostle Paul told us that we should not be unaware of Satan’s schemes.  He should never be our main focus, but we do need to be wise in his ways.  Satan doesn’t seem to have many strategies, but only a few which are expressed in many ways.  The first encounter with him is recorded in Genesis where the “serpent” tempted Adam and Eve.  This strategy is a primary strategy that he uses over and over. Basically, he did what every successful salesperson does…he created a sense of discontentment  with their circumstance so that they began to feel a desire for something different or something more in their lives. 

Satan planted a seed of distrust in Adam and Eve when he said, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the Garden?’”  With that question, which was more of a statement, he implied that God had a stingy side that might be withholding good things from them.  He was hinting that he knew Yaweh was the kind of god that would surround people with abundance, but then refuse to share it with them. He knew there was only one tree from which they were not to eat, but his question suggested that there was something spectacular and good to be gained from that tree, that God did not want them to have.  

Suddenly, instead of being thankful for all that they did have – every tree in the Garden, including the Tree of Life – they suddenly felt a lack in their life and began to resent God for withholding the “one thing they really needed for happiness.” As soon as they accepted the premiss that God withholds good things from his people, they came into agreement with the enemy which gave him open access to their lives.  Within a few years, they were not only living outside the Garden,  scratching a living out of a hostile earth, but one son murdered the other.  

Satan loves to get us to define God by something he hasn’t done for us that we think is the key to our happiness, rather than defining him by all the things he has done for us. If God has answered ten thousand prayers for us, we are prone to only think about one prayer that has not yet been answered or was not answered in the way we wanted. We then begin to believe that God doesn’t hear our prayers or that he doesn’t care about us.  That view of God makes us very susceptible to the schemes of Satan.

A lifestyle of thanksgiving is a very effective way to push back against the lies of the enemy.  We need a lifestyle of thanking God for every blessing we encounter…large or small.  If it blesses us, thank God for it.  Thank him for Jesus, your salvation, his grace, his patience, his Spirit, but also a beautiful morning, a parking spot, hot water, an old car that still gets you where you need to go, an amusing squirrel, friends, purpose, a job, health, four inflated tires in the morning, etc.  These are things we don’t always pray for, but they are gifts from God none the less and we should thank him for each of those as we go through our day.  

When we recognize and verbalize the abundance of small blessings from God that make up our lives, it creates a belief in us that God is, indeed, good and faithful.  

When we have that view of God, it is much more difficult for the enemy to suggest to us that God may not have our best interests at heart after all, and is keeping from us the very thing that would give us happiness.  Remember, Satan is the ultimate salesman and he has been selling lies for thousands of years.  He is always highlighting what we don’t have and convincing us that there is something or someone out there that would make our life complete and worth living, if God were not standing in our way.  

Paul believed that God would always give us what we needed for life, love, joy and peace. He stated in his letter to the church at Philippi, “for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (Phil.4:11-13).

Paul believed that God is a good father who always gives us what we need in every season and, in his wisdom, sometimes says “no” to what we want.  A lifestyle of thanksgiving helps us walk in the same contentment because it keeps is focused on what we have, rather than what we don’t have.

So,  this Thanksgiving, give thanks for all the big things, but all the small things as well….then keep it up for the next twelve months.  You will find that a heart of thanksgiving slams the door on Satan in many, many ways. 

The Political Spirit

I have lived longer than most of the people who might be reading this blog.  I am a Baby Boomer who remembers the cold war and daily threats of nuclear annihilation.  I remember the Cuban Missile Crisis, the assassination of JFK, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and all the wars that have followed.  I remember the Black panthers, skin heads, civil rights marches, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and a number of other traumatic events for this nation.  I remember all that and the controversy each one stirred, but I have never seen a more divided America than now.

I think there are a number of reasons for our current division.  Social media and 150 television stations in every market make it possible for a person to never see any point of view that differs from their own except as presented by those who want to vilify and demonize all those who hold an opposing view.

The idea that there is an objective truth out there that needs to be presented so that people can consider the facts, has long been tossed out the window.  “Truth” is now a subjective opinion based on who can make the loudest and most impassioned accusations against their opponents.  Civil debates in search of truth are no longer possible because we believe we must hate and destroy anyone who holds a different view.  And now, regardless of your affiliation, who will believe that any election was honestly won and not stolen?  Certainly, Satan is alive and well on planet earth.

This is the political spirit that works to divide people, nations, and even churches. I had an article cross my desk recently that wanted to make the case that, for many, the church has recently become a mere extension of their political party and that Jesus is now cast as either a Democrat or a Republican.  The article suggested that the politics of hate is now infiltrating the church so that any who do not agree with a person’s politics is judged as un-Christian and as a person who should be shunned, disciplined, and distrusted.  

I have to agree that we are trending that way in many churches.  It is the spirit of politics and division and it is a winning strategy for the enemy. One interesting point made in the article was that the church typically has only an hour or so a week to disciple it’s members, while media has hundreds of hours each week to disciple those who listen to their “doctrines.”

The question is how the church should respond to this creeping reality.  For brevity’s sake, let me just bullet point some truths that I think we need to consider as followers of Jesus.

• Our primary citizenship is in heaven and our primary source of values and action must be the Word of God.  Jesus is neither Democrat nor Republican nor even an American. He is the king of the kingdom that must always be the source of our identity and values.  If my membership in either party carries more weight with me than my identity in heaven, something needs to be adjusted.  

• God hates division among his people, so we must make every effort to be unified.  There are times to draw lines in the sand, but biblically, those lines are drawn around the doctrines that define who Jesus is and what he has done or about immoral living. They are not drawn around political perspectives.

• We do not have to be in agreement with each other about everything in order to love one another and live in unity.  The idea that if we disagree about political or even religious perspectives, we are enemies is absurd.  None of us totally agree with any person in our life about everything.  Besides that, even if someone were our enemy, we must still love then or fail as followers of Jesus.

• We should be involved in the political process since we are salt and light in the world and must be an influence for righteousness whenever we can.  One temptation in this discussion might be to simply withdraw from politics and neither serve nor vote.  But to do so simply hands America over to Satan without a fight.  We are to disciple nations which means that we are to redeem both culture and government by our involvement and influence.  We must be an influence or a leaven for righteousness in every way possible.  In America, voting and serving in political offices are ways to be salt and light.

• We must vote based on biblical values of righteousness, not party lines. The question for believers should not be which party do I subscribe to but which values line up with God and which values will I vote for? It’s not always an easy decision because I may feel that some parts of a political platform may line up with biblical values while others don’t. So, prayer and the Holy Spirit may need to direct our votes or involvement.

• We must equip our people to operate in this charged political environment as followers of Jesus rather than as followers of political parties or personalities. The church needs to talk about abortion, same sex marriage, gay rights, racism, and even economics and teach our people biblical perspectives on each.  We need to do the hard work of thoughtfulness. We need to teach our people how to disagree and still treat others with love and respect.  We need to teach our people who they truly are in Christ and remind them of their mission.

As believers in America. We need to be aware that this political spirit is operating and will split and divide churches if allowed to operate there.  We must make sure that we don’t become contributors to division and choose to love those who disagree with us.  We should also encourage our leaders to proactively equip us as disciples of Jesus to navigate the rapids of social media, political divisions, and even persecution because the next four years of politics in America promise to be white water… the likes of which we have never seen.

If you minister in deliverance on any kind of regular basis, you will minister to people who are manifesting some kind of demonic spirit that will not come out when it should be coming out.  At some point,  you will have to search for something that is continuing to give that spirit a right to hold on to the individual to whom you are ministering.  Sometimes we miss the “something” because we are making assumptions about the person that we have not confirmed. For instance, we may assume they are saved because they attend church when they have never actually entered in to a covenant relationship with Jesus.  They may not believe that Jesus is more powerful than demons.  They may have a sin or a sinful relationship that they are not truly willing to give up.  Perhaps, there is still unforgiveness toward another or a judgment towards another person they have not renounced.  Maybe they have placed a judgment on God.

In spiritual warfare, one primary principle is that we must never come into agreement with Satan. If we agree with him, we empower him in our lives, give him influence, and give him a legal right to operate in our lives and family.   The principle is first seen in Genesis 3 in the Garden of Eden.  Satan, in the form of a serpent, engaged Adam and Eve in a dialogue about God and his commandments.  If you read the text, by way of a question, the serpent hinted that God was unfairly withholding good things from Adam and Eve. Satan was questioning God’s character.  The question hinted that God might be selfish, withholding, egocentric, and did not have their best interests in mind after all. 

As the dialogue continued, it is clear that Adam and Eve began to buy into the serpent’s view of God.  They judged God by choosing to distrust his command and his motives.  As a result, they ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and lost their place in Eden. Of course, their view of God suggested by Satan was a lie, but their agreement was enough for Satan to claim the authority on the earth that had once belonged to Adam.

When ministering deliverance to broken people, it is not unusual for those individuals to feel as if God has betrayed them or abandoned them at some time in their past.  Perhaps, they feel that God didn’t protect them or someone they loved when they were wounded, abused, or even died in some tragic incident.  They feel that God allowed some loss he could have prevented or that he was unfair in something he did.  When they hold that view of God, they have judged him and come into agreement with Satan and that agreement gives the enemy legal access to them.

You may want to explore their past hurts and see what their view of God is regarding those hurts.  If we doubt God’s goodness or righteousness, we will be a fertile field for the lies of the enemy to take root. Those conversations are not always easy but we need to be prepared for them.  Asking Jesus to speak to them about those hurts can be a powerful way to uproot the lies of the enemy.  Some conversation about the nature of free will may also be in order. Sometimes the individual has been only vaguely aware of the view he or she has been holding about God and once they recognize it are very willing to renounce the judgment they have placed on the Creator, which removes the demon’s legal right to continue to afflict the individual.

Even in our own lives, we can begin to questions God’s goodness or fairness without recognizing where that will lead.  If we are to navigate life and the troubles that Jesus told us we would face, we need to be anchored in a belief that, no matter what, God is good and he is good toward us.  If he is not…why pray?  If he is not…how can we have faith?  But he is good and all his judgments and actions are righteous.  All my experiences must be interpreted through that lens.  I may have to live with some mystery, but I cannot move off of those convictions or Satan will surely lead me away.  

Whenever we are ministering to hurting people, it is a good idea to explore their view of God and, if needed, to gently lead them back to the truth about who God is and his love for that person.  Remind them of the good things that God has done for them and help them understand that we live in a world where bad things can happen to good people.  It is the nature and risk of free will.  God has not promised to keep all trouble from us, but he has promised to walk with us in those troubles and see us to the other side. Be blessed today and stand on the truth that God is good…all the time.