This blog is a bit long, but if you minister deliverance or need deliverance, please read it all. In my last blog, I discussed the need to spend adequate time discovering what has given a demonic spirit access to a person before ministering deliverance. Many people who minister deliverance just cut to the chase and begin immediately to drive out a spirit without discovering where the “open door” is that allowed the spirit to take up residence in the first place. Many spirits are hard to dislodge because they still have a legal right to afflict the person. Until that legal right is resolved, the spirit may stay or, if driven out, will simply return at a later date because the door is still open. Deliverance is about authority. If you do not remove the enemy’s authority to afflict a person, deliverance becomes a power struggle and that is when things can get weird.

There are five typical categories of things that give demonic spirits a right to afflict or oppress a believer. You need to consider each of these before ministering deliverance. Before exploring each of these categories, I want to affirm that the demonization of a believer is not a salvation issue. If a believer has a demon, he still belongs to Jesus. He or she is still saved unless they are driven to unbelief and rejection of Jesus by demonic influence. Demonization is typically a sanctification issue of continuing to grow and uproot the sin in our lives. Demonization simply means that the enemy is trespassing on property that belongs to Jesus and it is our responsibility to clear the property.

The first category is sustained and unrepented sin in the life of a believer. These sins can range from sexual sin (pornography, adultery, fornication, sexual fantasies, cohabitation, etc.) to drunkenness, gossip, theft, pride, anger, unforgiveness, judgments, anti-semitism, occult involvement, unbelief, and so forth. Sometimes the individual is aware of the sin but finds pleasure in it so they don’t truly want to give it up. These are often “secret sins.” Sometimes, the individual doesn’t recognize that what they are doing is sin or he/she rationalizes and excuses the sin so that repentance never comes. Anything in our lives that is out of alignment and remains out of alignment with the Father’s will can give the enemy a legal right to afflict the individual. It is crucial that we take an inventory of these kinds of behaviors and attitudes because if they continue without confession and repentance, deliverance will have little effect for the individual or, at least, the effect will be short lived. The danger here is that the demon will return and bring others with him.

Secondly, generational sins can come down through bloodlines in the form of a curse that demons may have a continuing g right to enforce. Remember the sins of the fathers are passed down to the children to the third and fourth generation (Ex.20). The unconfessed and unrepented sins of our ancestors gave Satan a legal right to enforce a curse against them but that curse can be an unfortunate inheritance unless dealt with by the blood of Christ as we renounce the sins of our fathers and repent on their behalf. Spending time exploring patterns of sin, dysfunction, and calamities in family lines can give real clues to generational sins that need to be dealt with before deliverance.

Even cultural history may need to be explored if ancestors were involved in false religion, idolatry, human sacrifice, genocide, or hatred of the Jews. [God declared, “Those who bless Abraham I will bless and those who curse Abraham, I will curse” (Gen. 12:3).] We have also discovered that massive amounts of demonization occurs in blood lines where ancestors were involved in Freemasonry and even Mormonism. Some cultures have a great deal of witchcraft woven into the very fabric of society so that may need to be renounced as well. Where there has been witchcraft or Satanism, family lines were often dedicated to Satan and that dedication must also be broken to set people free.

A third area has been mentioned but is prevalent enough that I want to highlight it. Unforgiveness and judging others are wide-open doors for the enemy. In several texts, Jesus was clear that if we do not forgive those who sin against us, our Heavenly Father will not forgive our sins against him. Many believers have been wounded by others, and have not forgiven them. Sometimes they are operating under the assumption that the offending party must ask for forgiveness before we have to extend it or that somehow, the offending party must have acted in some way so that they now “deserve” to be forgiven. That misconception needs to be clarified and biblical forgiveness needs to be extended or the enemy has total; access because our other sins stand unforgiven.

A close cousin to unforgiveness is judgments. Jesus said “judge not or you will be judged and with what judgment we judge, we shall be judged.” This judgment its not pointing out another’s sin out of concern for their soul, but is a judgment of moral superiority on our part and a judgment of their hearts so that we always see that person in negative ways. We always see them as less than ourselves because we have judged them. Those two areas need to be explored in length to see if they are open doors inviting the enemy in.

The fourth category is soul ties or covenants made with others (individuals or organizations) in the context of sin that can also be open doors. Paul warns us in 2 Corinthians 6 not to be yoked together with unbelievers who, by nature, belong to Satan. Those sinful relationships need be explored, renounced and severed before deliverance. Somehow, those covenants, spoken or implied, give demons continued access to believers.

The fifth category is word curses spoken over us…especially by those who have authority over us. That could be a parent, a spiritual leader, a spouse, or ourselves. When others or ourselves speak negative things over us, those words can function as curses which the enemy can use against us. There can also be curses assigned to us through witchcraft which seems to be increasing exponentially in our culture. Most of us are familiar with the scripture that says, “Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest” (Prov. 26:2). In other words, if there is no cause there is no curse. However, Satan is diligent in finding a cause in our lives when witchcraft is directed at us. Curses also need to be nullified and dealt with through the blood of Christ before deliverance is ministered.

As you can see, there is a lot to explore in order to close doors that have allowed the enemy to come in and to take away a demon’s legal right to remain or return. What I have mentioned is not everything but it suggests that sin has to be dealt with by the blood of Christ through confession, renunciation and repentance. in order to close spiritual doors. Trauma is another door through which the enemy can enter, and that also should be considered. I would suggest that if you don’t know how to deal with these issues in a person’s life, you may not be ready to m minister deliverance. Find some training. We and others can provide that.

When we take the time to deal with these sin issues and curses, deliverance is much more effective, much less dramatic. and actually leaves the individual not only free but cleansed. Revelation 12:10 describes Satan as the “accuser of the brethren who accuses them day and night before our God.” This and other scriptures affirm that Satan is always appearing before the Father accusing believers so that he might gain a legal right to afflict them. Because God is just, if a cause exists, he must grant Satan the legal right he is asking for. But by his grace and the blood of Jesus, those issue can be submitted to the cross and dealt with so that Satan no longer has claim to the individual.

We should also remember that demons, like some troublesome renters, will not leave just because his right to stay in the house has been nullified. Even after removing his legal right to be there, some rebellious renters will still have to be forcibly evicted. But he can be evicted because he no longer has any right to stay. That is where deliverance comes in. Do the legal work first, and the eviction will be much smoother. It will also prevent the “troublesome renter” from returning. Take your time. Maybe even spend a whole session exploring these issues before scheduling another session for deliverance.

In my next blog, I will address some special circumstances that need a specific approach to nullify the claims of the enemy on an individual.

This past Sunday, I met with a small group of Christian writers at our church. We meet from time to time to encourage one another and share resources, new things we have learned about writing and publishing, and so forth. One of our group members, who is also a leader in our Freedom Ministry, was recounting a recent experience at a summer camp where there was a surprising amount of spiritual warfare…even among teens.

She said two things. First of all, she mourned the fact that very few Christians take spiritual warfare seriously and, secondly, if they do, they typically aren’t well equipped for the battle. I agree with her. I have been involved in spiritual warfare, deliverance, house cleansings, etc. for about 25 years. I have written on the subject, done seminars on the subject, and have helped other churches establish healthy, thriving freedom ministries. And yet, the number of churches actually ministering in this arena and training their members to do so remains a tiny fraction. This is true in spite of Paul’s famous affirmation that our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual principalities and powers, and in spite of the gospel records that a great deal of the ministry of Jesus was given to demolishing demonic strongholds and setting people free.

We should pay attention to the emphasis. We are told that Mary Magdalene was delivered from seven demons. The Gadarene had enough demons that they identified themselves as Legion. We are told that Satan actually entered into Judas. Paul drove out a spirit of divination in Ephesus. Dozens of people were healed of physical maladies through deliverance…including years of crippling back pain, blindness, deafness, muteness, seizures, and a host of other conditions. This emphasis is not accidental.

So…do most Christians read those accounts as fiction or novel stories to entertain us or as accounts that actually happened then but mysteriously happen no more? In fact, we are told that all scripture has been written for our learning and application. Whatever we see in the written word, has application for our lives today. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17). Numerous examples and teachings regarding demons is found in scripture, yet simply disregarded by most believers…at least in America. We gladly believe in the ministry of angels but seem to steer quickly away from the topic of demonization.

I do believer balance is needful in the world of spiritual warfare. Not every flat tire, every achy joint, every physical ailment, or every fight with our spouse is demonic. Jesus healed many physical ailments that simply came from living in a fallen world. However, whenever healing numerous people is mentioned, deliverance was usually part of the evening. We are also commanded in many contexts to crucify the flesh. Not all anger, selfishness, manipulation or lust is demonic. We have to resist our fallen nature. We must be careful not give the devil too much credit. However, we must also be careful not to assume that demonic involvement is rare or occurs only in third world countries because to do so disarms us. The church should take spiritual warfare much more seriously than it does, because we are leaving too many of the people God has entrusted to us in bondage and torment with spiritual conditions that drug therapy and conventional counseling can’t touch. When demons are involved, more is needed.

Secondly, our churches need to know how to do spiritual warfare in effective ways that aren’t always highly sensational or dramatic. To be sure, there can be drama, but not nearly as much as some believe. Deliverance does not require screaming and shouting or power confrontations that go on for hours. Deliverance is about authority and authority can be established quietly. When an FBI agent appears at your door, he simply announces himself and shows you his credentials. He doesn’t have to shout and scream and get in your face and there doesn’t have to be a dozen others agents doing the same. Authority can be established and deliverance done in “a decent and orderly manner,” just as Paul instructed the church in the exercise of prophecy and tongues (I Cor. 14:40).

We have seen deliverance done in ways that were more traumatizing than the demon. Perhaps, that is why many churches steer away from deliverance. Our experience is that demons that won’t come out in a few minutes, usually remain because something is giving them a legal right to stay. That right may be secret sin, a generational curse that needs to be submitted to the blood of Jesus, a half-hearted desire to get rid of the demon, witchcraft, soul ties that need to be broken, unforgiveness, etc. We find it is more fruitful to give more time to prayer and to interviewing the person we are ministering to than in shouting at demons. Once the legal right is taken away, the demon will usually exit in a reasonable amount of time and in a reasonably orderly way.

That is not to say that, on occasion, we don’t have drama but it is only about 10% of the time and usually because we have not discovered what is giving Satan legal access to that person. Training in spiritual warfare and deliverance should be done on a wide basis with balance, discernment, and a healthy and orderly approach to setting people free. It doesn’t have to be weird or crazy…although some seem to prefer it that way.

The first step in deliverance is removing legal ground from the enemy and more time should be given to that than to the actual deliverance. In order to help those who are new or lack training in this area, I will spend the next blog or two talking about removing this legal ground so when a spirit is cast out, it cannot return. Hopefully, this will be practical and helpful.

Blessings in Him.

We have just finished a string of funerals and are looking ahead to others soon unless the Father intervenes supernaturally. One was a freak automobile accident in which a woman was killed right in front of our church. One was a baby who lived only a few days after birth. Another died from cancer which had already reached stage four when diagnosed. Another was a very loved man in our church who had been dealing with health issues, who simply laid down for a nap and never woke up. These were all within two weeks of each other. We also have another dear friend who has just been diagnosed with stage four cancer and doctors are giving her about a year to live. This is life in a fallen world.

I have had my own share of pain in this life just as you have. We pray for protection. We pray for healing. Some are protected and others are not. Some are healed and others are not. We could go into a whole theological treatise on the subject of why some are and some aren’t, but that is never fully satisfying. I think the real question for us is how do we deal with pain and loss and even our disappointment with God when we are impacted by tragedy…including child abuse, birth defects, rape, divorce, and injustice.

Most of us, myself included, want to live in a bubble of protection as children of God in which we never lose, we never grieve, we never hurt. But Jesus said to those who follow him, “In this world you will have trouble.” Even on the pages of the New Testament, people were persecuted, arrested, martyred, beaten, shipwrecked, hungry and so forth. Jesus, the very Son of God, found himself as a political refugee in Egypt as a child and as an adult often found himself hiding from Jewish authorities who were trying to kill him. We are certainly promised peace and protection in scripture but it usually doesn’t look like we want it to. We want the absence of struggle and conflict. But most promises are fulfilled in the midst of struggle and conflict.

Think of David. He was anointed to be king of Israel years before he took the throne. In the meantime, he was falsely accused, hunted, betrayed, embattled, hungry at times, and always at risk of being discovered by King Saul. It was in the midst of these trials David declared the faithfulness of God, and in the midst of these trials when the Father prepared a table before him in the midst of his enemies (Ps. 23).. The promise is that God will see us through the trouble rather than preventing all trouble…though I am sure he does much of that as well for all of us. We will all have to navigate troubles in this life. I think there are three things we must do to navigate them well.

(1) Determine that God is good. Confirm that no matter what I experience, he loves me. Jesus died for me. He has given me his Spirit and written my name in heaven. He has been merciful to me and blessed me in so more ways than I can number. I need to settle that in my heart so that when tragedy comes, I do not accuse God of abandoning me. This is always the enemy’s ploy. He always accuses God of being uncaring, unreliable, and even cruel. He wants us to come into agreement with him. We cannot. We stand on the goodness of God.

(2) When loss or tragedy come, we may feel that we prayed God’s will with faith, but our prayer still wasn’t answered. We may be confused as our experience seems to contradict some biblical promises we have stood on. We may face a set of circumstances and outcomes we simply don’t understand. Our response will have to be a willingness to live with some level of mystery while we stand on our belief that no matter what, God is good and his purposes are perfect. There are things in the spiritual realm that we may be totally unaware of that Give Satan access to us and our family. There may be purposes of God that we cannot grasp that will be accomplished through hardships. We must believe that all things work together for good….even the hard things.

(3) We must use our own pain to bless others. Paul wrote, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows” (2 Cor. 1:3-5). Simply put, you will find God in the midst of troubles and if you hold onto him, he will bring you out and set you on your feet. You will learn invaluable truths in that process and will gain empathy for those coming along behind you. As Christ’s pain worked to bring good about in our lives, our pain will help others survive what we have survived.

Suffering can be endured if is has meaning. Meaningless suffering can destroy us. When we have faith that God will use our pain to minister to others, it gives our suffering meaning and redeems our pain and our loss. After forty years in ministry, I have learned the truth that our healing is only completed when we have used our tragedy, our loss, or our failure, to minister to others. When we have done that, our pain then counts for something, We may still not understand why it happened, but in our willingness to share God’s comfort with others, Satan is defeated. As they old idiom goes, we have snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. When we use what Satan meant for harm to do good, God completes our healing.

We will all suffer pain and loss in this world. God has not lied. The word of God tells us this is true but also that Jesus has overcome the world and we will as well, if we hold onto God in spite of our confusion and the mysteries we face. When we stand on the truths we do know, rather than being side-tracked by experiences we don’t understand and when we use our pain to bless others, healing comes and victory is ours. Ultimately, every promise we long for will be fulfilled when we stand beside Jesus in heaven. In the meantime, hold on to him when the storms come and you will see his goodness once again.

In his book, And David Perceived That He was King, Dale Mast makes a case I have long agreed with. Identity is the key to fulfilling our destiny. He states, “Whenever God visited a man in the scriptures, it was the end of one season and at the beginning of another one. Identity shifts are required for each new season.” The challenge is the time it takes to form a new or modified identity once it has been revealed.

Mast uses the example of David who was anointed king over Israel years before he became king. David had faith to face Goliath and to lead Israel into many battles, but we are told in 2 Samuel 5:12 that finally “David perceived that the Lord had established him king over Israel, and had exalted his kingdom for his people Israel’s sake.” The moment David actually comprehended he had been established as king was years after he was anointed to be king. Faith may have accepted the statement but it was years before David saw himself as God saw him. It was only then that David took on the identity of a king and felt secure in being God’s leader.

Each of us have a destiny that God is trying to reveal to us, but until we take on our identity in that role, we will never have confidence that God is going to do something extraordinary through us. If we harbor doubts about who God has made us, we will shrink back and not “risk” the new things or we will cover up our insecurities and manipulate situations to maintain our position.

If you study the life of King Saul, David’s predecessor, you will see that he never felt secure as king. He never believed that God had firmly established him in that role so he felt threatened at all times…even to the point of trying to murder those he thought wanted his throne. . He pushed ahead instead of waiting on the Lord when he thought his position or his success was in jeopardy. He fought battles for his own glory, built monuments to himself, and ended up a colossal failure.

When David perceived he was king, he comprehended that God had established him as king and no one could remove him until God made the decision to do so. With that heart knowledge, he was able to live out his destiny with confidence.

The question is how do we develop our identity. As children, we are born into the world with little idea of who we are. We develop a self-image based on what we are told about ourselves, how others react to us, and how we perform in given situations. If we are consistently told we are loved, capable, valuable, etc. and the actions of those closest to us agree with those words, we develop an identity of being a person who matters, who can accomplish great things, who anticipates that others will value us, etc. and will perform at higher levels because we believe we can.

If, on the other hand, we are told we don’t matter, that we are worthless and stupid and that no one will ever ove us, we develop a self-image or identity that anticipates failure and rejection and that lives up to those expectations. This dynamic is what sociologist have called the “looking glass self.” In other words, we look to others to find evidence of who we are and usually believe what we see about us in their reactions to us. It takes time for our initial identity to form and even more time to change our self-image if it needs reconstruction. But, the change is essential.

God changed Abram’s name to Abraham as he begin to build an identity in Abraham as a father of God’s chosen nation. That was difficult because for decades he and Sara could have no children. But God kept speaking and Abram kept listening and, finally, he saw who he was through God’s eyes. God had become his “looking glass”or his mirror.

We must take the same journey as God shifts our identity so we can fulfill our destiny. We must learn to hear God and allow him to be the mirror through which we perceive ourselves. We need to say what he says about us. We need to dream what he dreams about us. We need to see ourselves as sons and daughters in the house, greatly loved and valued by the Father. Our identity must come from Him and what he says about us rather than our performance. Peter did not initially live up to the name (Rocky) or identity Jesus gave him. If he had let his performance define him on the night Jesus was arrested, Peter would never had shown up to preach the first gospel sermon on Pentecost. If our identity depends on what we have been doing, we can never move beyond that. We must allow God to speak to our hearts and tell us who we are in his eyes and claim that by faith so that we can step into the next chapter of whatever God has for us.

I like what Mast says in regard to this. He writes, “Faith can peak in a moment, but identity requires a sustained vision. Identity must be held in place by thoughts we receive from Father God. Faith is more fruitful when it operates from our true identity.” I think we should all take moments to assess our identity and the source of that identity. Knowing and believing who we are in Christ is essential to growth, fruitfulness, security, and peace. It is essential to accepting our next assignment from the Father. Who or what is the mirror by which we see ourselves? We should know and make adjustments when needed.

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 1 John 2:15

In this text, John is not speaking of the people in the world for “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,” but the systems of the world that are controlled by Satan. These are the systems of philosophy, power, politics, media, etc. that war against the kingdom of God and draw men away from the Father.

The nature of the Kingdom of God is countercultural to the world. Paul draws the line when he says, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people. Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord” (2 Cor. 6:14-17). Paul asserts that there are ultimately only two kingdoms and only two people groups. You are either in the kingdom of God or the kingdom of darkness. The presence of the Holy Spirit within a person or the absence of the Spirit defines who you belong to. There is no middle ground.

On several occasions, Jesus himself observed that the world hated him and the same world would hate those who follow him. Now, more clearly than ever, lines are being drawn between the systems of the world and the Kingdom of God. People are choosing sides…many without even knowing it and the sides are at war. What people fail to realize is that spiritual forces are at work behind everything we see and hear in the natural realm and whoever you align with places you in their camp. Paul said the dividing line is Jesus.

The opposing values of each camp are becoming increasingly clear. What God calls good, the world calls evil. What the world parades as good, God clearly identifies as evil. This is not a new conflict. Isaiah warned, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter” (Isa.5:20).

American pop culture now celebrates abortion and condemns those who stand for life. Homosexuality has now hijacked the rainbow and is granted an entire month to parade and celebrate its perversions. Those who speak out against it are branded as haters and bigots. The world promotes premarital sex and cohabitation and views those who value virginity and sexual purity as strange and even deranged. The world tolerates religion as long as it is inclusive and compromising, To declare that Jesus is the only source of salvation is treated as offensive and ignorant. Accomplished scientists who would declare creationism to be true or, at least, a valid alternative to a godless universe are marginalized in their profession. University professors who would profess to be Christian will also be marginalized and discriminated against in most “leading universities” for their narrow-mindedness and bigotry.

The challenge for believers is to not be moved in their commitment to biblical truth and standards. When we hear the constant drum beat of tolerance for every lifestyle and are surrounded by so much sin that we are no longer shocked by it, incremental compromise is a very real temptation. However, To compromise on these and other important biblical truths and values out of a desire to fit in or be accepted by our culture is a form of denying Jesus. Just as Peter denied knowing Christ out of fear, we too can deny him out of our own fear of man, our own fear of rejection, or our desire to advance in the systems of the world. We may claim Jesus as Lord, but if we abandon his standards of righteousness and adopt out culture’s standards, then he is not truly our Lord.

We have quickly come to a time in which we must accept the fact that if we follow Jesus we will be rejected and even cursed by those who hate Jesus. I think we must decide ahead of time who we stand with without exception. We must accept that following Jesus may come with increasing costs.Some level of persecution is inevitable as our culture continues to reject Jesus and those who follow him. But Jesus said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Mt. 5:10-13). 

We must decide now that if we stand for Jesus and the word of God, we may well lose promotions, jobs, friends, positions, opportunities, and perhaps, even our freedom. We must count them as lost ahead of time but know that blessing will come to us as a promise of God. We may lose our reputation on earth, but our reputation in heaven is all that counts. We must be clear about where Jesus stands on the issues of the day and stand with him. By definition, the kingdom of God will always be countercultural until the Lord returns. Stand firm then and be blessed in these days of trouble.

One of the supernatural gifts of the Spirit is discernment. It is translated as “distinguishing between spirits” in the NIV. “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues” (1 Cor. 12:7-10).

The word means to distinguish, test, judge, or discern. The gift allows a person to sense whether a spirit is from the Lord or from the enemy. It allows a person to sense whether something is good or evil or even if some evil is operating in a predominately good person. It allows us to determine whether a word of knowledge, a prophecy, or a teaching is from the Holy Spirit, an unclean spirit, or the human spirit. Although some have a highly developed spiritual gift of discernment, we are all called to be discerning and to test things from the spiritual realm.

Paul wrote, “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil” (I Thess.5:19-22). In this context, he was instructing the church not to consider all prophecies as false but neither to consider them all from the Lord. Any time we feel as though we have heard from the Lord or had an experience from the Lord, we need to test what we have heard or experienced to discern whether it was, in fact, from God, the enemy, or our own well of thoughts and desires.

We are not to become cynical or jaded and suspect every word of knowledge, every interpretation of tongues, every prophecy, or every spiritual experience, as being from the enemy or from the imagination of man. However, we are to be wise and “test the spirits” as John instructs us, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (I Jn. 4:1). Wherever there is a genuine experience from God, the enemy will try to counterfeit that experience in some way that actually leads us away from God.

As we are certainly in the end times (how far in I don’t know), we are experiencing heightened spiritual activity on both sides of the conflict. Certainly, the church is moving in the gifts of the Spirit, perhaps, in the greatest numbers ever known. Prophetic words are abundant. Thousands of teachings about the Word and all kinds of spiritual matters are on the internet. Paranormal experiences are becoming mainstream, instead of fringe, in our culture. Demonic affliction and demonic presence in households seems to be growing. Numerous “freedom ministries” are being birthed around the world to teach the church how to engage in spiritual warfare. Within all of this, some is from God, some from the enemy, and some from our own imagination or desires.

Because of the time we are in, It is imperative that we pray for and practice discernment. Jesus told us that the Spirit would lead us into all truth. Discernment is simply truth about a spirit or experience. Before we chase a new teaching or a new approach to spiritual matters, we should pray for discernment. If something doesn’t feel right, we should pay attention to that feeling because it may be a prompting from the Spirit.

Paul told Timothy, “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” (1 Tim.4:1-2). Some deception will come through the church from men and women who are being influenced by demons. These individuals will be compelling, eloquent, and mostly biblical. Satan usually leads men astray by only introducing small amounts of error at a time that eventually take us far away from the truth. Speaking of such men, Paul warned, “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness” (2 Cor. 11:13-15).

I’m not trying to make us paranoid about every spiritual leader. The great majority will be sincere men and women serving God. But I am saying that we need to wait before allowing ourselves to embrace a new teaching, a new pastor, a new prophet that many are raving about. Jesus told us that we would have to judge men and prophets by their fruit. It takes time for fruit to appear and for that fruit to be examined. We will have to pray, see some long-term effects of a teaching or movement, compare their teachings to the Word, see if the teaching or movement is pointing us primarily to Jesus or to a man and new experiences.

Sometimes, we question a teaching, but then decide that the pastor or prophet must know much more Bible than we do so we credit what they are saying as being biblical and accept it. I often did that as a new believer only to discover later that what I had been taught did not really line up with the word of God. Paul called the Bereans noble because they searched the scriptures every day to test the teaching of the apostle. To preach an inaccuracy does not make a person a false teacher because we all continue to learn and receive understanding from the Spirit. If I teach the same things today that I did 30 years ago about every scripture or topic, then I have not been growing in the Lord.

However, when men begin to question essentials – the inspiration of scripture, the divinity or humanity of Christ, the reality of his resurrection, the power of the Holy Spirit, salvation by grace alone, and the clear moral teachings of scripture…I need to pay very close attention. God is unchanging and his standards of righteousness are unchanging, The gospel that the apostles preached is also unchanging, Culture does not get a vote.

We live in a day when discernment and the testing of spirits is more needful than ever. Please pray for the gift of distinguishing between spirits and equip yourself with biblical truth and understanding, Wisely test what you hear and the spiritual experiences people are pursuing. Some experiences take us right to God, while others take us in a different direction. May the Spirit lead us all into all truth and may we always ask for his leading on new and exciting things we encounter. Blessing IN Him.

Note: My website is now www.tomvermillion.org rather than tomvermillion.com.

Freemasonry has been around for centuries. Nearly every town in North America of any size has a Masonic Lodge.The same is true of Europe, Australia and New Zealand. To most people, the Masonic Lodge is a group of men who meet, perform crazy rituals for fun, and serve their communities. It’s like a post-college fraternity. It is amazing how many people who attend Free Indeed have fathers, grandfathers, great grandfathers, along with uncles, etc. who have been Masons and whose women have been part of Eastern Star…the female counterpart of Freemasonry.

Some were just initiates who never went far in Freemasonry or “the lodge,” while others were 32nd or 33rd degree Masons, the highest ranks in the organization. There are, of course, all kinds of conspiracy theories related to secret societies headed by Masons that are dominating the world. Most people give little credence to those stories. However, by design the Freemasons are a fraternity hidden in secrecy. If you ask a mason, he will probably tell you that the lodge is a Christian organization formed to serve people in need and to do good works. He may even believe that.

In the past few decades, some serious research has been done that exposes the secrets of Freemasonry. Many have been revealed by those who left the lodge after climbing to its highest ranks. If you are considering joining the Freemasons or have had relatives who were involved, you may want to pay attention to some of the following concerns that are well documented in many places.

First of all, Freemasonry is a secret society. Those who join, swear allegiance to the lodge and take blood oaths to never divulge its secrets. Jesus warned us about taking oaths and those who operated in the dark… in secrecy. Satan works in the dark. In the end, Jesus promised that those things that were hidden in darkness will be brought into the light. When accused by the Pharisees, Jesus declared that he had taught openly in the temple and the synagogues. He did not operate in secret.

Secondly, true secrets and “meanings” of the lodge are only revealed as men climb higher in rank and earn the right to this secret knowledge. In many cases, Christian language is used and scripture is quoted, but the meaning of those terms is different from the biblical meanings and that understanding is not released until you have climbed higher in the organization and taken more oaths. Those who initially join and swear allegiance to the organization are not aware of all the things they are agreeing to. It is like signing a contract when you have only been allowed to read the first page of thirty.

In addition, though the lodge declares that is it Christian, it gives equal standing to all religions and declare that we all worship the same God. Their God as revealed in the writings of the lodge is not the God of the Bible and Jesus is not recognized as the only way to salvation. In some masonic writings, the lodge itself is offered as a source of salvation.

As members rise higher in the ranks, they must take additional oaths and swear allegiance to spirits that are not the Holy Spirit. They are required to swear allegiance to a spirit that is demonic and dedicate themselves and their descendants to serve this “god” in perpetuity. Of even greater concern is they take oaths that invoke curse on themselves and their descendants if they ever divulge the secrets of the lodge or fail to serve it. In many cases, membership is motivated by a desire for power and wealth. Freemasons are well connected and put members of the lodge ahead of serving or helping anyone else. A desire for power and wealth is not what Jesus called us to.

They take an oath that if they ever divulge the secrets or fail to serve the lodge, their throat should be slit, their tongue should be torn out and their body should be buried in the rough sands of the sea until the tide engulfs them. The allegiance they give to the lodge establishes a covenant of dedication between them and the spirits behind the lodge. The curses they invoked are passed down to their descendants because by their oath, they have given Satan a legal right to fulfill thew curses.If their descendants are not serving the lodge, the curses can be activated.

In many cases, the descendants of freemasons experience these curses as poor health, premature death, emotional distress, business failure, and so forth. These conditions are not usually remedied by medicine or psychology because they are initiated and maintained by demons. There is much more, but these things should be enough to sound the alarm.

For those under a curse because of having been dedicated to the Freemasons and, thus, to these spirits, these curses must be repented of and renounced on behalf of a person’s bloodline in the name of Jesus. They must renounce all dedications, covenants and agreements with the spirits of Freemasonry, and the curses must be nullified by the blood of Jesus. Then the demons enforcing these curse must be commanded to leave.

These are serious matters in the spiritual realm and there is more to be said, but I wanted to alert anyone connected to Freemasonry of the spiritual dangers that they face. If you have that history and have seen patterns of illness and death, mental illness and failure, you may want to seek help in breaking the curses that may have come down to you. We can help and other Christian ministries can as well. Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth, and by his name you can be set free from the bondage that can occur through Freemasonry. If you need help you can contact us at Mid-Cities Community Church in Midland, Texas.

Blessings in Him!

In the first century, rabbis (teacher or master) held a significant place in the life of the Jewish people. A rabbi had studied at the feet of another Rabbi and was schooled in all the matters of the Law and the Prophets. He was both a teacher and a judge who ruled in many matters pertaining to the Law of Moses..typically in the community where he lived. All Jewish men went to school in their local synagogue and were often taught by a rabbi. After learning the basics of the Law, those who showed interest and acumen in spiritual matters could approach a rabbi and ask to become one of his disciples or students. After some consideration, he would accept them or reject them. Of course, there was greater standing in being schooled by more prominent rabbis who were known for their academic prowess and wisdom. These disciples would spend their days with the rabbi to not only study but to see how he lived. When a rabbi thought a student was ready, he could ordain him to also be a rabbi. Because the life of Israel revolved around the Law, rabbis were essential for life and faith.

Jesus was also called Rabbi. However, he differed from others rabbis in a few important ways. First of all, he had not been a disciple of another rabbi. On several occasions in the gospels, someone asked where and from whom Jesus had gained all his knowledge and wisdom about the scriptures. Of course, he had been schooled by the ultimate rabbi…the Holy Spirit. Jesus told his followers, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (Jn.`4:26). In addition to Jesus, we also have the Holy Spirit as our rabbi.

A second difference was his approach to disciples. Ordinarily, the students applied to the rabbi to enter his school. Jesus, on the other hand, sought out his disciples (especially the twelve) and asked them to “Follow me!” Later he reminded them, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last (Jn. 15:16). We too are called to follow. ““No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day” (Jn.6:44). God seeks us out and extends the invitation to come and follow. Of course, we can say yes or no to the invitation.

I think they greatest lesson we learn from the rabbis is that disciples did not simply want to know everything the rabbi knew, but they wanted to know how he lived. They wanted to imitate his lifestyle as well as knowing the Torah. During his public ministry, the twelve apostles and a number of other disciples followed Jesus daily. The twelve went with him wherever and whenever he went. Again the idea was not just to hear him teach and take notes, but also to see how he lived, how he prayed, how he treated people who were poor and how he treated people who were rich. They wanted to experience him, not just know what he knew.

Too often, as believers we simply want more knowledge of the scriptures…which is a good thing…but incomplete. What we need to do is experience Jesus by living as he lived. That doesn’t necessarily mean we give up our jobs and wander from town to town teaching and healing, although that is a profound option. After all, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father” (Jn. 14:11-13).

I think what I need to keep learning from Jesus were his priorities that I see him live out in the gospels – extended alone time with the Father; making disciples of those the Father gave to him by sharing his life with them; sharing the good news of the kingdom of God as he met people along the way; always putting the Father’s agenda ahead of his own; being kind to broken people by extending heaven’s grace to them; confronting religion and pointing people to relationship; putting the needs of others ahead of his own; being more people-oriented than task-oriented; drawing close to a few while not forgetting the masses; dispensing the love of God through healing and deliverance; and always speaking the truth in love.

There is much more, but my point is that I love to talk about Jesus, but what I need is to live out Jesus. That is the role of a disciple who has been joined to a rabbi. Sometimes I can learn that by spending time with another disciple who has duplicated the life of Jesus much more than myself. Sometimes I need to spend more time at the feet of Rabbi Holy Spirit. I know for sure, I need to spend more alone time with the Father.
Where ever you are in your walk with Rabbi Jesus, I hope you will give more thought to learning how he lived as much as learning what he taught. I believe that is where we will find the “abundant life” we all want.

Blessings in Him today.

I ran across this quote that I thought was worth reposting today.

“If not dealt with through repentance and cleansing of generational blood , we walk around with generational voices , traumas, and inequities screaming in our DNA . They demand that we bend towards their command. They want us to pay rent to their altars . We walk around believing that what we consider as truth, is absolute truth! Lies masquerade as truth behind culture, tradition and whatever has been passed down through our ancestral lines. Repentance is an act of cutting  deep in ourselves until we see our own prejudices. 
It’s being willing to change our minds about certain races , tribes, people , nationalities and what we’ve considered as truth . Until we see what’s at work within us , we will never see a desperation for repentance no matter what it costs us. 

Bloodline Repentance sets me free from generational giants who had held my family in bondage , who have influenced the way I see things , the way I do life and the way I subconsciously operate. It sets me free from demonic cycles . Understand this my friend , we are deep beings (spirit , soul and body- and there are untouched layers within these layers. Never miss an opportunity of dealing with a layer of who you are through repentance.” Nonhlanhla Maseko-Gcabashe

I don’t know the author of the above quote, but the longer I minister in spiritual warfare, the more I believe we must pay attention to generational curses assigned to our bloodlines. Remember the principle that the sins of the fathers shall be passed down to the third and fourth generations (Ex. 20:5). As generations continue the sin that established that curse, the curse keeps being pushed forward and will remain until the blood of Christ breaks the curse through our confession and repentance on behalf of our bloodlines.

If you read through Daniel and Nehemiah, when praying for the nation of Israel, they confessed not only their own sins but also the sins and wickedness of their fathers as they plead for God’s mercy. We represent our own bloodlines and may need to confess, repent, and renounce any sins we are aware of that have been passed down through the generations. Sometimes we can identify that sin because we struggle with something we have also seen in our family line such as sexual sin, greed, fear, bitterness, violence, witchcraft, etc.

We may have also seen the consequences of that sin in multiple divorces, addictions, broken identities, poverty, suicides, violence, and generations of depression. What the author of the quote I began with did not clearly point out is that the voices screaming from our DNA are demonic. Not only do sins need to be confessed and renounced, but demons need to be dismissed. Sometimes parents forget that though they have broken a generational curse, demons can still be attached to them and their children until they are commanded to leave. Breaking the curse takes away the legal right of the demonic to remain, but they will still remain until forced to leave.

The challenge with generational curses is that many of us don’t know much about our family lines. It would not hurt to find out what we can…the good, the bad, and the ugly. We may also know if we have bloodlines that go back to ancestors who worshipped false gods, practiced human sacrifice, or that persecuted Jews. If so, we may need to repent of those things in the name of Jesus. We may also want to spend a season asking the Holy Spirit to reveal anything in our bloodlines that the enemy can use against us so that we can submit those things to the cross as well.

In the book of Revelation we are told, “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down” (Rev. 12:10).  Satan constantly appears before God accusing us of sin so that he might gain legal access to afflict us. Much of what he uses to gain that legal right is generational. If we can confess and renounces specific sins of our fathers, we should. But if not, we can follow the example of the prophets who simply confessed the wickedness and rebellion of their forefathers. If you have not spent anytime with the Lord dealing with these generational sins and curses, I encourage you to do so. They are very real and a real source of access to the enemy.

Blessings in Him.

Our God is a covenant God. He loves to enter into committed relationships in which both parties are true to their promises as a way of deepening and protecting that relationship. He wants us to be the same. When he enters into a covenant with us, our status changes. Sometimes even our name changes. By the blood of Christ, we are transferred from the dominion of darkness into the kingdom of light…the kingdom of the Son he loves (Col. 11:13). Not only are we suddenly citizens of heaven, but also sons and daughters of the King. Not only does our position change, but our very nature changes. We are new creations. God deposits his Holy Spirit within us as a seal of the covenant through which we have been joined to the Maker of Heaven and Earth. His Spirit then changes our nature and enables us to communicate with God, understand his word, and receive power to extend the kingdom of God on earth. The day we entered into a covenant with God, things changed for us not only on earth but also in heaven.

Covenants made on earth can have implications for us in the spiritual realm. Marriage is one of those. Speaking of the marriage covenant, Jesus said, “What God has joined together, let no man separate.” Notice that God joins the couple together. He is involved in the covenant as a witness and a supporter of the promises made in that covenant. God joins the two in a spiritual bond. There is a record of that marriage on the books in heaven. For believers, marriage is much more than a civil contract. It is a spiritual covenant that goes far beyond what the courts of men might say. I have counseled many, many believers who were going though divorce. Typically, the person I counseled did not desire the divorce. But even when there had been adultery or abuse, the divorce was extremely painful.

We often act as if marriage is simply two people who, like two sheets of paper, were stapled at the corner when they said “I do.” When separated, we expect a little tearing to occur, but why all the pain? When God joins us, he doesn’t staple us, but glues or bonds us together so that we become one. When you separate two sheets of paper glued together, there is an infinite amount of tearing and pain. That is because something happens in the spiritual realm that is far more significant than a courthouse record in the natural realm.

This “covenant effect” goes beyond marriage. In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul says, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.’ ‘Therefore come out from them and be separate,’ says the Lord. ‘Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.’ ‘I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty'” (2 Cor. 6:14-18).

The word translated as “yoked” is better translated “unequally yoked.” It means to tie or yoke two things together that are different, mismatched, or wrongly matched. The idea would be not to yoke a horse and an ox together….two animals with different natures because they would constantly pull against each other rather than with each other. The Old Testament makes it clear that God’s people were not to marry outside of their faith. They were not to enter into treaties with pagan kings and they were definitely not to worship other gods in addition to Yaweh.

In this text, Paul is using the language of the Old Testament for believers living under the New Covenant. We often apply this section only to marriage, but marriage it is not mentioned in the context of being yoked together. That does not mean that this passage does not apply to marriage but that it does not apply only to marriage. It applies to all kinds of covenants, contracts, promises, and other binding or influential agreements. These are relationships that tie us together in some way that obligates us to another person or organization.

Paul’s admonition is not a suggestion or a statement of “best practices.” The verb tenses are in the imperative mode which denotes a command. Here is the reason. We belong to God and his Holy Spirit lives in us. We are citizens of the Kingdom of God and are his children. We are set apart from the world in a covenant with God. Because of his Spirit, we have a different nature, different values, different goals, and a different God from the rest of mankind.

Those who are not in Christ and who do not have the Holy Spirit within them are under the dominion of darkness…whether they know it or not. They may be active members or passive members of that dominion, but they belong to that kingdom all the same. There is no neutral ground in the spiritual realm. They live under Satan’s authority. If you enter into a promise, a contract, or a covenant with those who are in the kingdom of darkness, you create an association with the one they serve. Through them, he can begin to have significant influence in your life. That is why God says to be separate.

Jesus said that we are to be “in the world but not of the world.” We must maintain a separate identity from the world at all times. We must remember who we belong to and who we serve. We must remember that we are holy and the divine presence lives in us. If possible, it would be best to always work for and with believers. There are times when we cannot. Daniel served Nebuchadnezzar but never compromised his faith. In fact, his faith made him stand out as a man of excellence and integrity. Even if we work for a company that is not owned and operated by believers, we must represent the Kingdom of God there. We cannot come into agreement with policies or practices that violate the mandates of our faith.

There are times we must even be physically separate from the world. If individuals or organizations actively and openly oppose the righteous standards of the kingdom, we must not be part of that at any level. When we apply the standards of 2 Corinthians 6 to marriage, we cannot marry an unbeliever. The primary reason for that is who we are, who we represent, and the holiness we are to walk in as hosts of the Holy Spirit. Secondly, it takes an exceptional believer to rub shoulders with unbelievers day after day and not compromise our faith. If you put a good apple in a barrel with rotten apples, it will soon rot. If you put a rotten apple in a barrel with good apples, it does not become good, but will negatively affect the good apples it touches.

The point is that we are to be careful about our associations, our covenants, and our careers. It is not just about money and upward mobility. We are to remember at all times who we are and not find ourselves unequally yoked with the world. So how can we navigate these waters in our world? The key is that we are not to come into agreement with the ways of the world or be legally tied to those who would cause us to compromise our faith by that agreement. First off all, we should always ask God to connect us with other believers for friendships, business matters, jobs, finances, and, without exception, for marriage. We should always seek to know where those with whom we are about to enter an agreement stand spiritually and ethically. They should also know where we stand in terms of “ground rules” for relationships and business practices and they must know that we will not compromise.

In addition, we must stay anchored to our spiritual family so that their influence always exceeds the influence of unbelievers in our lives. Our primary goal when interacting with unbelievers should always be to represent our Father and to be leaven for righteousness in those relationships. If we find ourselves loosing ground spiritually, we may need to find another job, another career, or another group to associate with. Satan will work through those relationship with unbelievers. Even Solomon became an idolater because of his relationships with foreign wives. Remember you are a child of God and the temple of the Holy Spirit set apart from the world by the blood of Christ. That knowledge should govern every relationship and every agreement we enter into.

Blessings