* Demonic Fear
I was counseling with a friend of mine one day and he told me
an amazing story. He came from a very dysfunctional upbringing
and lived in a lot of sin as an adult before getting born again.
One day, he told me, that his father took him hunting. While they
were out in the woods, and totally alone, my friend told me that
he was walking near his dad with his shotgun and suddenly, out of
the clear blue sky, he felt the coldest and most fearful thought
he had ever experienced. He believe his father was going to
literally kill him with his shotgun while they were out hunting.
He was only 12 years old at the time. I asked him why he thought
this but the only reason he could come up with was that he knew
his father hated him. There was, in fact, another reason he felt
this fear at the time.
A client recently told me that an acquaintance of his no
longer can take a shower unless the shower curtain or door is
clear. Why? He watched a horror movie that frightened him so
severely, he cannot shower without the fear rising up within him
unless he can see out of the shower stall.
Remember when Jaws, the shark story, came out? Many
Christians thought it to be a harmless movie. It wasn't. Many
Christians admit to an abnormal fear they began having after
watching that movie.
A man I know, who has been in Christian counseling for many
years and deals with demonic influence in the lives of Christians,
told me this story.
A man came to him once with horrible fear. He could not, he
admitted, sleep at night without his light burning brightly. The
darkness frightened him more than he could describe and he was an
adult. Further more, he was a roofer, by trade, and had
developed the fear of heights. Also, he had something else that,
you could say, bothered him just a little bit. He had thoughts of
killing his pastor while he sat in church and listened to the
sermon. Try telling that one to your doctor and see where you end
up.
Furthermore, as the counseling sessions progressed, this
fearful man asked the counselor if he would mind removing a glass
of water which the counselor had sitting on his desk within
reaching distance of the man. My friend said he would but asked
the man in his office why he wanted him to remove the glass. The
man confessed that he had the feeling that he wanted to take the
glass, break it, and kill my counselor friend with the broken
shards. The glass was removed from sight.
As the counseling sessions progressed, come to find out, the
Christian man we are talking about went to see the Exorcist when
it first came out. Prayer was conducted, once the original source
of the fear was located, and he instantly no longer wanted to kill
his pastor and he discovered he no longer needed the light on in
his room at night just to fall to sleep. One day, while working
on a roof, something crossed his mind. He stood straight up,
walked right over to the peak of the roof, the highest point, and
on the very edge, looked straight down to the ground. Laughing to
himself, he returned to his work because his fear of heights was
totally gone.
Thinking about knives, for me, made he feel fearful. Something I
could feel made me wonder if I would, or could, use a sharp knife
to harm myself. I always ignored these thoughts, which, by the
way, did not come to the surface all the time. I still had no
idea where these thoughts originated. I didn't want to hurt
myself nor anybody else. Yet, the knife, in my hand, sometimes
made me wonder.
You will be very happy to know I never killed anybody and
that I never even harmed myself with a knife. In fact, now, when
I get a knife out of my pocket for something as simple as opening
a sealed box, I test myself by briefly concentrating on the knife.
What do you know? No sinister thoughts ever come to mind. Why?
Because the unclean spirit, sometimes called demons, can't speak
to me any longer because their right to do so was taken from them
when I was healed. "Oh, really?" Yes, really. "And why not?"
Because I have been healed in areas that have denied them access.
"Well, what if it ever happens again? Have you ever thought about
that?" No, I have not thought about that but if it does happen
again, I know exactly what to do to discover the source and origin
of the lie. The last thing a demon wants is for you to be healed
of any emotional woundedness. Why? Because it is the only way
they have at working at deceiving people and keeping them
guessing and off balance spiritually.
* The Nature Of Demons
Demons, unclean spirits, devils, or however you want to
address them, have no bodies of their own. They are fallen
angels. This isn't a Sunday school lesson so I'm not going to
quote chapter and verse to prove everything I am saying.
Regardless, when the fallen angels were cast out of Heaven, along
with Satan, they discovered they had no glory of their own left.
Those angels who belong to God do have glory and some even shine
with brilliant light. The light, however, comes from God. So
those angels who were kicked out of Heaven lost that glory and
they have no physical bodies. If they did, they would be able to
walk right up to you in a physical body, and while trying to carry
on a conversation with you, get you to sin. Since they cannot do
this, being bodiless and all, they are limited to one area of
exposure. That's in your mind and emotions. Demons do have
feelings but they are always negative, or evil feelings, and they
can put those feelings upon you and fool you into thinking those
feelings are truly your own. If you are thinking that is a
pretty dirty trick, you would be right but demons never play fair
and they never tell the truth unless they are forced to do so.
How can they be forced to tell the truth? That comes later. For
now, it is important you know how they behave.
* Hearing Demonic Voices
Demons normally start out by implanting a single thought into
your thinking stream. It is so quick and easy, you normally think
it is your own thought. For example, "I'm not a very good
Christian. If I were, this wouldn't bother me like it does."
That seems harmless enough and you normally quickly agree with
such a thought that has been plugged into your consciousness.
After all, according to the Bible, you are nothing. At least that
is what the pastor said last Sunday in his sermon concerning
humility, so it must be true.
Now, other stressful events begin to occur. Your boss gets
mad at work. You lose your job and the bills start coming due and
you can't pay because you don't have a job. Quite simply, the
thought of, "I'm not a very good Christian. If I were, this
wouldn't bother me like it does," now seems really true. For some
reason, you begin to search around for other conformational events
which prove this thought and you find a bunch. Your dad used to
always say you'd never amount to anything. Your mom even said
once that she wished you'd never been born. That's similar to
what you are thinking. What about Philippians 4:19? "But my God
shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by
Christ Jesus." Well, that promise doesn't seem to be working so
maybe your original thought was true: "I'm not a very good
Christian. If I were, this wouldn't bother me like it does."
Going out to the mail box a few days later, you have a single
letter. Tearing it open, you read that you are being turned over
to a collection agency for nonpayment of some bill. Your eyes
cloud over and you feel raw cold freezing fear which you have
never felt before. Your heart pounds so hard, you can't breathe.
You hardly make it back to the house and you literally fall
forward on to your hands and knees upon entering the front door.
"You're having a heart attack," you think. At least you think it
is but somehow the thought seems to have body to it; whatever in
the world that means. You literally crawl on your hands and knees
into your kitchen and pull yourself up by holding on to the edge
of the sink. You fumble for a glass and finding it, you manage,
barely, to get the water turned on. the cool drink seems to slow
things down and you breathe deeply a few times. Your heart slows
down a little. You wonder what happened to you. Could you be
having a heart attack? That's within the realm of reason at your
age but somehow you aren't really convinced of that yet. You
suddenly think, "I'm not going to make it. I'm going to lose
everything." Reaching for a kitchen chair, you collapse into the
chair; dropping the glass of water to the floor. It's a plastic
glass, fortunately, and it bounces around for awhile; spilling
water everywhere. You stare down at your table. It is long and
flat and narrow and cold to the touch. Suddenly, your mind thinks
of a morgue and you can see yourself naked and laid out on top of
the table in some hospital some place, your cold stiff body
covered with a white sheet, after having a heart attack. You
scream but don't even notice. Somehow, you drag the phone off the
counter and after several attempts, you get a friend on the phone.
They come right over and take you to the emergency room.
the EKG shows your heart is fine, other than a heart beat of
135, but after describing the other events to the nurse, she has a
mental health care giver come to talk with you. You are
prescribed some pills you have never heard of before, and can't
even spell, but promise to take them just as instructed.
Furthermore, you go to see your doctor the next day and he
confirms you are having Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, something
you have never even heard of, but he recommends a good
psychologist for you to see.
Soon you are in the office of the psychologist and still your
mind seems foggy. Your insurance hasn't run out yet so it is
paying for this visit so that is one less thing you have to worry
about.
* Fractured Spirituality
Over the years, I thought the measure of spirituality in a
Christians life was somehow based on how many things you could
conquer and no longer had to worry about. The problem was, about
the time I turned 50 years of age, I discovered I had tons of
things to worry about that I couldn't do anything about and I
freaked out. I began not eating and I went for five days without
sleeping. I was so dizzy and my mind so foggy, thinking was the
hardest thing I could do and when I did think, I somehow only
thought of how nothing was going to work out for me. I wanted to
die. When I saw one of my knives, I hid it lest I be tempted to
use one on myself some day. Just touching the knife flooded my
mind with horrible frightening thoughts. The vocal suggestions in
my mind turned to something real and alive and authentic.
* Free from Demonic Thoughts
About this time, some people say, "Oh, sure. I'm born again.
Nothing has ever happened liked that to me or anybody else I
know." I trust that is true but I will bet my last dollar, if I
was a wagering Baptist, that you have simply never recognized it
for what it was. That's ok; you don't have to believe in demons.
For those who even remotely thing such a thing may have occurred
in your life, there is a remedy. No, it is not joining the best
and biggest church in town, No, it isn't going to Bible college
or seminary. No, it isn't memorizing 10,000 Bible verses. No, it
isn't reading your Bible every day for thirty minutes. No, it
isn't water baptism. No, it isn't being raised by a Christian mom
and dad. No, it isn't being sinless in your every day life. No,
it isn't how much money you put in the offering plate. No, it
isn't who your pastor is. No, it isn't if you play on the worship
team or sing in the choir. No, it isn't the part you have
memorized in the Christmas play. No, it isn't even if you are a
pastor, missionary, evangelist, prophet, apostle, Sunday school
teacher, youth pastor, Christian counselor, Seminary professor,
usher, elder or deacon in the church or on the board. Demons
aren't particular and will talk to anybody and everybody who will
listen, including you. So, now, what?
Of course, the Word of God is our first defense against
demonic intrusion. Having good prayer partners always creates a
good line of defense as well. Prayer partners only work well,
however, if they understand the nature of spiritual warfare and
know how to deal with demonic manifestations. Even then, it isn't
what they are doing that works, it is what the True Lord Jesus
Christ does in a prayer session.
By far the most successful defense is intercessory prayer
which is conducted in such a way that implanted lies of the Enemy
are located by the Holy Spirit and the truth of the Lord Jesus
Christ brings His truth right into the event.
If you wish to ask more questions about this, or if you would
like to begin a regimen and regular prayer sessions to get at the
root of the things that bother you, call Safe Place Fellowship.
First read all the articles and booklets on the site because many
of your questions will be answered. Otherwise, if you don't want
to take the time to do that, just pick up the phone and dial the
number below. When you hear the voice mail message come on, leave
me your name and number and the best time to call, and I will call
you back as soon as possible.
Phil Scovell
Safe Place Fellowship
Denver, Colorado - Mountain Time Zone
Phone: 303-507-5175
www.SafePlaceFellowship.com
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