A Testimony of Deliverance

I offer this testimony of what appears to me to clearly be an episode of deliverance from evil spirits as an encouragement to those who suffer physical and emotional torment.  I realize that this may seem to be a lot of foolishness to many people, but I am simply reporting what I saw and heard and did.  You may also want to read my Asthma Story as another example of this phenomenon.

Years ago my wife and I hosted a home Bible meeting for Bible study, fellowship and prayer.  At that time we lived a block away from the University, so Christian students would frequently attend our meetings.

During that time I had been attending a local church, and the pastor of that church had been teaching about his deliverance ministry.  One aspect of his teaching was that evil spirits often hide in a person, masquerading as part of that person's personality.  As a result it is often necessary to expose the presence of evil spirits by binding their power to do harm or to resist, and by commanding them to manifest themselves to show that they are present.  As a young Christian it seemed reasonable to me, so that is what we taught and practiced.

One day I received a phone call from a young woman who had attended our home meetings.  She explained that she was in the local hospital, and needed to have some help with some errands.  I asked her if she wanted someone to visit her, and she said, "Sure!"  So I went to the hospital, and arrived just as her local pastor was leaving her room.  I went into her room, and met  our friend and her mother, who was also visiting her from out of town.  Our friend was lying in the hospital bed, unable even to raise herself to a sitting position.

I asked her what had happened, and she inform me that she had passed out 'due to hypoglycemia', had fallen backwards, and had fractured her skull.  She had been in the hospital for two weeks, but was not getting any better.  Both she and her mother were born-again Christians, so I asked her if she wanted prayer.  She said, "Yes", and I then asked her if she wanted me to check her for spirits.  Having been to our home meetings and having heard our teaching about spiritual warfare, she knew what I meant by that, having seen our practice of that ministry.

So I prayed out loud, asking Jesus for wisdom to effectively minister to her in that situation.  Her mother and I lightly laid our hands on her head for healing in Jesus' Name, and asked her if she felt anything happening.  She indicated that she felt nothing.  I then quietly said, "I take authority over any spirit that is not from God that is affecting her in any way, and I bind you and command you to manifest yourself in Jesus' Name."  Immediately she groaned, and said that she had a sharp pain right under her heart.  I had a sense that it was a spirit of infirmity, so I said, "Spirit of infirmity, I cast you out in Jesus' Name."  She immediately coughed several times, and the pain was gone.  She told me to continue.

So again I said, "I take authority over any spirit that is not from God that is affecting her in any way, and I bind you and command you to manifest yourself in Jesus' Name."   Immediately she said that she felt a muscle cramp in her right thigh which her doctor had told her was a common reaction to one of the medications he had prescribed for her.  Her mother was on that side of the bed, so I asked her mother to lay a hand on her daughter's leg where the pain was.  To all of our surprise the cramp moved right down to her lower leg!  Again I had a sense that it was a spirit of infirmity, so I repeated the commands I had made earlier, and again she coughed several times and the cramp disappeared!  She told me to continue.

This time, after commanding any spirits not of God to manifest themselves, her right arm, which had an IV and was on a support board raised up into the air and started to twist. The girl cried out in pain, and I asked her what was happening.  She told me that something was trying to twist her arm off!  Again I cast out a sprit of infirmity, and her arm dropped back to the arm support on her bed.  I asked her if we were done.  She told me to continue.

This time when I commanded any spirits that were not of God to manifest themselves, she grimaced as if in pain.  I asked her what she was experiencing, and she said that it felt as if a lead plate was on her head.  This sounded to me to be a spirit of heaviness as mentioned in Isaiah 61:3, so I commanded the spirit of  heaviness to come out of her.  Again she coughed several times, smiled, and told me that we were done!!  She was discharged from the hospital two days later.

This young woman apparently moved out of town shortly after that, and I never saw her again.  But several months later a friend of hers told me the rest of the story.  The friend said, "I don't know anything about hypoglycemia, but I do know that the episode of her falling and fracturing her skull happened at a local bar."  It's nice to know the rest of the story!

I hope that this testimony will encourage you, dear reader, to consider the possibility that physical ailments may be caused by spirits as God reveals through the Bible, and may be cured by exercise of the spiritual authority of a believer in Christ.

I realize that this may appear to be laughable foolishness to many, and contrary to church doctrine in many churches.  During the time that the event I described above happened, I had been challenged by a certain Christian scholar to show in the Bible where a Christian could be demonized, and he would submit to such a spiritual deliverance evaluation.  Eventually I came across the following passage, but never had a chance to show it to him or to see if he was serious about submitting to deliverance evaluation:

2 Cor 11:1-4  I would that you were bearing with me a little in foolishness; but indeed bear with me.   For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy. For I have espoused you to one Man, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I fear lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, so your thoughts should be corrupted from the simplicity due to Christ. For if, indeed, the one coming proclaims another Jesus, whom we have not proclaimed, or if you receive another spirit, which you did not receive, or another gospel, which you never accepted, you might well endure these .

In this passage of the apostle Paul's second letter to the Christians in Corinth, Paul makes mention that some of them apparently had "received another spirit" other than the Holy Spirit which he and his companions were telling them about and praying that they receive.  The Greek verb translated 'receive' is the same in both passages concerning 'other spirits' and the Holy Spirit.

So, my conclusion from this passage is that it is certainly possible, but certainly not preferable, for a Christian or anyone else to be indwelt by another spirit other than the Holy Spirit, and that it is not a good thing in God's sight.  It is also my conclusion that this episode in my life and the life of this young woman was a real example of the deliverance ministry which Jesus Himself practiced and which He said His disciples would practice.

Luke_7:21  And in the same hour He [Jesus] cured many of infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits. And He gave sight to many who were blind.

Luke_8:2  and also certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities; Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven demons,

Luke_10:20 Yet do not rejoice in this, that the evil spirits are subject to you, rather rejoice because your names are written in Heaven.

Acts_19:12  so that even handkerchiefs or aprons from his [Paul's] skin being brought onto the sick, the diseases were released, and the evil spirits went out of them.

Acts_19:13  And certain from the strolling Jews, exorcists, undertook to name the name of the Lord Jesus over those having evil spirits, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.

Mar 16:15-18  And He [Jesus] said to them, Go into all the world, proclaim the gospel to all the creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned. And miraculous signs will follow to those believing these things: in My name they will cast out demons; they will speak new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will be well.

I strongly believe that God is in the process of restoring aspects of His Kingdom which have been lost by the carnal church.  I have heard a lot of doctrine proclaimed and taught, but I have heard precious little of what people have seen and heard - which is true 'testimony'.

When God has restored these lost truths I believe that we will no longer be a 'church' but we will be a true 'ekklesia' - a called-out holy body of Christ like we are supposed to be!