By force

Dear friends

I am not the only one who has ever been violated, I know….
And although I would say that mine has been unique and extensive in a way, the spiritual attacks I have been exposed to are not the only ones I have encountered – and I am sure many of you have even encountered worse cases or incidents of physical violence than I ever had to go through – but what I wanted to talk about today is something we may all need to look at a little closer:

In a way, all violence is coming from the enemy, from some demonic force, be it directly or be it via a (most likely possessed) human being, and all of them are aimed at offending the kingdom of heaven.

This may or may not make it easier for us to deal with the consequences, but it is my hope and my prayer that shedding some light on the mechanism and the way the kingdom of darkness operates might help some of us to heal and/or to be delivered.

Take physical rape for example.
When someone gets violated – what do you believe this will do to a person?

These things leave scars!
These things hurt!
And these things always have consequences – the ones we take, to protect ourselves, to prevent this from happening again – adequate and effective or not, we still take them – and then spiritual ones.
Always.

And what do we think – if we try (and that’s all we can do) to feel what someone who was raped must have been feeling?
What would we have done?
How would we have reacted?

I am assuming all of us would have activated some sort of protection mechanism… would have guarded our heart more, become more careful about whom to trust, not only in terms of where we would go, but also who we can and cannot speak about to regarding these secret things… and then, what would this have led to….?
A greater distance between ourselves and friends, relatives, future or current partners, less intimacy because of inner walls, less satisfaction in our relationships and thus even more and even higher walls…
How would it have changed our outlook on life, on relationships, on how we navigate through and perceive the world?
How would we have reacted towards anything and anyone which can remind us of this experience, the abuse, the betrayal?

What would we have done to address this, where would we have gone, who would we have asked for help and what do we believe would have happened if these things had stayed unaddressed in us, perhaps for many years?

What about GOD?

How will it affect our relationship with GOD if HE will allow these things to happen to us?

What will we feel about HIM if HE not only doesn’t protect us from these things happening to us, but also then doesn’t heal us instantly or as quick as we would like HIM to, but also even allows the dire consequences of these things to happen to us as well – I am talking about evil spirits entering us…. demonic forces gaining influence over us…. worsening our condition…. the spirit of strife, of conflict, of violence, hatred, the spirit of lust, the spirit of sexual immorality, letting us be defiled, violated even more, mainly through our own thoughts, self-battering thoughts, shame, guilt…. it’s literally a vicious cycle…. we blame ourselves, get frustrated that we weren’t able to defend ourselves, and then feel powerless, worthless, and even more so if we are unable to process this and overcome it.
If we don’t find a way to heal this, it can blow up in our face – or in someone else’s face – anytime anything happens which can trigger the memories of this experience – we are a walking time bomb and we will most likely develop many unhealthy coping mechanisms to feel adequate, loved, empowered, able and worthy – coping mechanisms, aka sin, which will then make us feel even more unworthy and inadequate…we will not be able to break this cycle if we fail to address this in a way that can heal us and that can truly let us put it behind us.

Not only do these violent acts hurt us directly, physically, emotionally and practically as they are burdens we carry around with us and which we keep burdening others with, everyone who will come close to us!

They also hinder our walk with GOD.

Disturb our peace of CHRIST.

And this is actually what they are meant to do.

Make us suffer, make us angry at GOD or frustrated with HIM, distract us from reaching our godly goals, from fulfilling our godly purpose.

As long as we are busy dealing with pain and defilement and demons and all sorts of emotions / with our flesh, we can’t fully concentrate on GOD and on what HE would have us do with our lives and where HE would have us go.

We might even start going to therapy INSTEAD of going to GOD, instead of fighting this through with HIM and instead of getting help from the only one who can truly help us: JESUS.

Friends, I have said it before, and I know many of you will not agree with me, but I highly doubt the effectiveness of therapy!
And I am saying this with a background of being a trained therapist with many years of experience and not only have I not seen true and permanent healing in any clients – only superficial (mine or those of my friends or teachers), only temporary relief of symptoms which came back after a while and mostly worse – and I will still say it again here and now:

The only remedy against emotional wounds and damages of any sort, emotional scars, trauma, depression, suicidal thoughts, destructive behavioral patterns, addictions, compulsions, disorders – the only cure for all these that I know is deliverance through JESUS CHRIST.

In the end, nobody can tell you what to do or where to go.
I can only tell you from my experience as a therapist trying to help others heal – and as someone who has also personally gone through a lot of “stuff” and has tried everything on the planet to get healed – until something much better happened: I got saved.
Even in the situations where I work with clients now in a more or less therapeutic setting, I myself believe that it is not the therapeutic interventions that are helping them, but the love of CHRIST that I have in me – and in many situations, we will speak about deliverance indirectly – they will tell me that something is compelling them to take drugs, that they are hearing voices, and when I ask them if they believe it is like a demon, almost all of them confirm this!

And I have discovered for myself that salvation and deliverance (where deliverance is in my understanding a small salvation every time and they both rely on the same method and principle, that we are freed from something/sin/defilement/inequity/bondage/ailment through CHRIST’s sacrifice for us and by HIS power, grace and mercy) is the only way to put an end to something negative which has been troubling us.

I have discovered this for myself and from observing others.

Including those I have met who are Christians and non Christians and those who have been treated by therapists, Christian ones and non Christian ones, and those who have received deliverance – including myself and others I have seen, spoken to and watched and studied online.

And this is the conclusion I have come to.

The more I learned and studied everyone I came across in my private life, in my job and also in church, the more I understood that the “first or original trauma” – whatever this is and normally it is something in our childhood – it is only the beginning and so many other things stem from this:
dysfunctional relationships which we form because of this, messed up behavioural patterns, resulting in more frustration and even greater difficulties to relate to others – the more frustrated and violated we got, the more difficult it becomes to trust and to build new relationships – it is literally a vicious cycle and it cannot be broken by human means.
We need to be redeemed from it.
Need to be made new.
Need to be delivered from it if we truly want to overcome it and want the consequences to go away for good.

That is my conviction and I do personally believe that we all need deliverance – at some point in our lives and to some degree – all of us, including myself – and I also believe that all situations where we become angry at someone else or where we blame someone else for our misery and where we are unable to take charge of our emotions and reactions – that all these are situations when we are manifesting, when our demons get the better of us, when we need deliverance.

I think it is a good thing.
Because with salvation comes a relationship with the only one who can deliver us: JESUS.
We have direct access to the only cure!
I think we can use our pains to take them to HIM and to let HIM take them away from us – because HE can and only HE can.

So in my understanding of suffering and wounds, deliverance is key and not only do we all need it, but we also need to learn how to get it – as a crucial skill which is in my understanding the only way to become free, to become healthy and to become able to healthily relate to others.

Deliverance is the key which opens the door to freedom in CHRIST.

After I have now made my point that all violence done to us spiritually and physically is intentional to separate us from GOD and to damage the kingdom of heaven, I will below outline some principles I find helpful with seeking and finding deliverance from GOD.

Let’s first look at the scriptures:

Matthew 11:12
¹² And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence,
and the violent take it by force.

John 10:10
¹⁰ The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

So here you have the basics.
I might turn this into a series (please let me know in the comments if you would like me to post more about it), but for now, I think it will be good for me to share the basics I have found most crucial and helpful:

#1 Everything that is not from GOD is from the devil

This is in my opinion an essential kingdom principle.
And one of the main methods the enemy uses is confusion, creating fake copies and diluting GOD’s goodness by adding ungodly elements to it (like poisening or “spiking” drinks and turning them into narcotics).
When we look at remedies, the same goes.
If it doesn’t come from GOD, it can most likely not help us.
Yes, that may seem radical.
But think about it.
Where in the bible are people taken to psychiatrists?
Have you even seen a doctor there?
I haven’t.
All I have seen there is when people could not be helped by doctors, then JESUS can help them.
When people are so mad that they are unable to live a normal life and live in the cemetery and don’t wash or clothe themselves, then JESUS can come and cast out legions of demons from them.
When women are bent over or bleeding for many years, all they need to do is touch JESUS and they will be healed.

I am not inventing this, friends.

GOD has invented it.

And the enemy has invented hundreds of thousands of years of lies to divide us from this truth: JESUS CHRIST is the same yesterday, today and forever. And HE can heal us and deliver us – just like HE did when HE was here on the earth physically in the flesh.

Hebrews 13:8
⁸ Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

#2 The devil will do what he can to separate us from GOD and to instill doubt and fear in us

Look at the modern times we live in, friends.

How out of fashion has it become to go to your pastor for prayer and counselling when you are troubled?

And even the pastors themselves, they don’t seem to believe in it anymore to some degree or do not seem to know how to handle it, as many people in the churches would like to be councelled by their pastors and cannot get an appointment or cannot afford to pay for it and can thus not even ask them, as it is not offered to everybody and is not free either.

How many churches are offering deliverance?
In how many of the churches you have seen can you even mention the need for deliverance?
Or in how many churches is the concept of deliverance and the need for it even recognized, regardless if they are offering deliverance for those who need it or not?

Some of the small churches also struggle with the demand and the few people they have are overwhelmed or overworked and cannot accommodate all the needs of all the members of the congregation, which then again leads to frustration and strife in the church.

What does the bible say?

First of all, JESUS did the same things all the time during his ministry, wherever HE went:
HE preached, HE healed people and HE cast out devils.
We, who are HIS church and HIS disciples, do we want to improve on what GOD did?
Or do we want to neglect any of what HE thought would be the best thing to do when ministering to people?

So what should then the representatives of the church, the ones ordained by GOD do?

For me, the bible says to pastors that they must feed the sheep and tend to them.
It also says that if anyone is sick among us, he should go to the elders.
And then it says that people should not inquire of anyone else than of GOD.

For me, that makes it perfectly clear where GOD wants us to go for healing and for emotional and spiritual solutions.

This means for me that whatever it is we are troubled by, we should take it to our elders and pastors and it is their job to pray for us and to take care of our needs in this area.
Preaching once a week is not going to be enough to “feed” us – in my opinion.
So it is clear that there is so much more to it, to the office of a pastor.
And many churches serve their members in many more ways than providing a word from GOD once a week – in many churches can people access more teachings, bible studies, many churches even offer financial support for those in a crisis or in time of special need.

And then there is councelling and help with deliverance – offered in few churches and not always offered to an amount or degree that everyone’s needs will be met.
So this means for me that it is clear that our pastors are responsible and the ones we need to go to for spiritual and emotional help.
But it also means since they are often unable or unwilling to provide this support for us or for everyone, we also need to learn how to get our own deliverance directly from GOD.

Here is why I believe that pastoral councelling and deliverance is biblical and is the only biblical source for emotional healing – other than direct healing and deliverance from GOD – and that no other source should be consulted by us according to GOD’s will:

Ezekiel Chapter 34: 2-10
² Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe [be] to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks?
³ Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: [but] ye feed not the flock.
⁴ The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up [that which was] broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them.
⁵ And they were scattered, because [there is] no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered.
⁶ My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek [after them].
⁷ Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD;
⁸ [As] I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because [there was] no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock;
⁹ Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD;
¹⁰ Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I [am] against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them.

James 5:14
“Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:”

Isaiah 8:19
“And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?”

#3 Deliverance is an inside job

What do I mean by that?

Deliverance is complex.
And so are the reasons why we are troubled by evil spirits, why they are legally allowed to harass us and torment us.
Physical trauma is only one way they can enter us.
The others are so various and I will only mention a few and point towards some resources for further study.

Demons can come because of ancestoral transgressions, curses, spells, hexes, vodoo, santeria, obea, witchcraft, yoga, tantra, manifesting, satanism, New Age, horoscopes, fortune tellers, mediums, psychics, ouija boards, tarot cards, crystals, shamanism, reiki, drugs, alcohol, smoking cigarettes, overeating, pornography, masturbation, sleeping around, cheating, watching horror or vampire movies, listening to satanic music, aka rap, hip hop, funk, r & b, soul, rock, metal, death metal, drill, gambling, crime, stealing, lying, dedications, invitations, involvement, idols, idolatry, divination, eating cursed food or wearing cursed clothes, buying cursed objects or receiving them as a gift and having them in your house, cursed jewellery, cursed fake hair, being layed hands on by an agent of satan (some of them work in the health system or in the alternative healing industry), through dreams, by going to a fake church or belonging to a cult, actions aka sin, sacrifices, initiation, rejection, association with someone involved in the occult, freemasonry – just to name a few!

This should give you a slight idea that you have work to do when you have the impression you might be suffering from demonic oppression.

It might help you to read my article about what to do if demons haunt you or to visit my page about deliverance here on this site.

But the point I want to make is this.

Nobody can gather and process this knowledge for you.

And the fact that you are in this situation means that GOD has allowed it.
This means at the same time that HE wants you to overcome it.
If not, HE would have allowed them to kill you and would not have brought this to your attention that your problem is spiritual.
If you are reading this right now, it means that you are ready not only to learn about deliverance, but also to get it for yourself!

#4 GOD is our deliverer

Yes, you can seek help from a deliverance minister.

You can ask people to pray for you.

I am also offering prayers.

But I will ask you to do your homework before I will pray for you.

And you should – regardless if you are going to come across someone who will pray for you without you familiarising yourself with these topics or not – for your own sake.

No deliverance minister is going to be there with you at night or with you in the next situation when the next attack or incidence or violence might strike.

GOD on the other hand is always there!

You can call on HIM any time and HE will always help you fight and be victorious.
But there are some things you need to learn – the least will be to learn some scriptures and know them by heart, some warfare scriptures.
This could be your starting point.
I have an article about it which can help you:
I have some recommendations for scriptures which can help you fight the enemy (in my example I used them to quit smoking, which is also a spiritual battle) and how I used them you can read about it here.

#5 Only GOD can fix what man has broken

Think about it more practically to understand the principle… suppose your washing machine broke down.

Would you be able to fix it?

Me, I wouldn’t.

And if you would, you might be able to restore it to the state it was before it broke down…. yes?

But you would never be able to make it new again.

You would need to buy a new one to have a new washing machine.

If an engineer, preferably the one who has invented and designed this type of machine, came, do you think he could repair it and restore it better than you?
Or better than me?
In my case, it will be very obvious as I know nothing about washing machines, only how to operate them.

But I am sure you know what I mean.

Humans can only know how to operate humans, they cannot truly know how to fix them as they did not make them.

Every level of “repair” you can receive from another human can only – and this is the very best case scenario!!! – restore the status quo before the incident / accident / damage /violence.
No more.
And often times much worse.
As when it comes to the human psyche and our emotions, our spirit, our soul, our bodies, our mind, every practitioner has his own issues and problems. There is nobody on earth who doesn’t. And as soon as we are exposing ourselves to them and their expertise, we are already on our way to error!
Not only because we are disobeying GOD’s council and turn to men instead of going to our GOD, but also because they cannot know better than HE does – nobody can, literally no “body”.
GOD is omniscient and HE is a spirit.
We are spirit beings living in a body.
When you are broken, why go to someone who also has a spirit if you can go to someone who made you and who IS THE SPIRIT, the HOLY SPIRIT???

This is very personal, but I am sure many of you can relate.

Only when GOD takes away pain, like a broken heart, is it truly gone and healed and there is peace.

Years of therapy cannot do that.

It’s GOD’s grace and HIS mercy which can heal us and deliver us from this pain.

In my opinion and in my world, this goes for everything else as well….

What do you think, my friend?
Has GOD delivered you from some troubles before?
Have you tried other / worldly methods? And if you have, have they worked for you?

I hope and pray that this will inspire, heal, encourage and bless you.
And that THE LORD will bless you abundantly in all areas of your life. That HE will keep you and shine HIS face upon you and bring you peace. In JESUS’ name I pray. AMEN.