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Steps to Demonic Possession
Check Yourself. Don't Wreck Yourself
by
Pastor John Hamel
People
who cannot help themselves cannot help others.
All across America and around the world, God’s ministers stand in pulpits teaching God’s
children they should fear the devil. Many
are afraid to even speak Satan’s name. More and more Christian leaders
even deny Satan’s existence. Others
laugh and mock at Satan, leading their people into bondage.
The less a Pastor
accurately exposes Satan’s true nature, the more
Satan is able to control that congregation.
Christ’s disciples are in the Earth to set people free, not to
cooperate with their bondage through ignorance.
In this
lesson we will look at some of the steps Satan takes people through
in order to ultimately control and possess them.
Satan seldom possesses a person in one felled swoop. Human beings are
smart, so he moves in a little bit at a time, knowing exactly to where he is
taking them.
If
you recognize any of these steps occurring in your life, immediately resist, rebuke and
command Satan to loose you in those areas. (James 4:7) He
will do so.
These steps are suggestive and not
exhaustive. Although listed in the order in which they normally occur, Satan
does not bind himself to a set formula for oppressing, obsessing or
possessing human beings. He is unpredictable and deliberately
cruel. He can use one or all of these steps to bind human beings.
STEP
1. REGRESSION
Regression
means "to go backwards."
Satan frequently hits individuals with low blows to
send them backwards. He will
send someone to hurt you, offend you, lie to you or about you, etc., so you
will stop serving God, working in the Church, Pastoring, leading worship,
etc. If Satan can get you to
take even one step backwards, you are well on your way to his control.
God
built human beings to progress, not to regress.
He did not build human beings to quit on the plan of God or to hop
from Church to Church being led by a spirit of offense.
Others
regress when they hit forty, fifty or sixty years of age and they begin to
believe the lie that their mind is slipping.
They begin to believe and to confess, “I just had a senior
moment” when they forget something. The
more one does that, the more they will go into bondage to Satan’s lies.
If your mind begins to slip it is because you let
it, either through bad diet,
bad medication, wrong talking, unbelief or
fear.
Paul
said that in spite of the fact that the outward man perishes, the inward man
is renewed day to day. (2 Corinthians 4:16)
Your mind is not supposed to wrinkle like your body.
Your mind is to be renewed day by day on the Word of God no matter
how old you are. Some of the
world’s greatest minds have been eighty, ninety and a hundred years old.
The path of the righteous is to grow brighter and brighter, not
darker and darker. (Proverbs 4:18) God
expects you to produce until the day you die.
God’s perfect will is that you go out of this life with both
barrels blazing.
The
Christian must never allow the devil to convince them to go backwards
because they have been hurt or disappointed. They must never allow the
devil to convince them that their mind is supposed to get weaker as they get
older. God's will is that the mind of the Believer gets stronger as
they get older.
"For
God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and
cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of
love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and
self-control." (2 Timothy 1:7 AMP)
"But
we have the mind of Christ (the Messiah) and do hold the thoughts (feelings
and purposes) of His heart." (1 Corinthians 2:16 AMP)
STEP
2. REPRESSION
Repression
means “to squeeze, hold back or push down.”
When
one allow others to keep them from fulfilling God’s plan for their life,
they are cooperating with Satan, not God.
Allowing others to force their ideas, opinions, sexuality, etc., upon
you is to yield to Satan’s power. When
your parents, siblings, friends, even your Pastor, will not allow you to be
what God wants you to be, it is time for you to start seeking God about the
possibility of moving on. God
said you are not to place any false gods before Him.
Yes, everyone is to submit to a Pastor, but only as that Pastor is
submitting himself to the Word of God. When
a Pastor tries to tell you God’s will for you life, as opposed to
encouraging you to discover it for yourself, it is time to break off that
relationship.
"A
prudent man sees the evil and hides himself, but the simple pass on and are
punished [with suffering]." (Proverbs 27:12 AMP)
Even
Churches
that do not allow singing, music, shouting, praising or spontaneous worship
are submitting to a spirit of repression.
This does not mean that one should be free to interrupt a service at
will. It means one should be
free to submit to the Spirit of God within without fear of retribution when
the time is right.
God calls us to be faithful in Church attendance to get freer and
freer, not to become repressed.
Repression
happens in homes where parents are sinful, selfish, immoral or abusive.
It happens when one sibling is allowed to selfishly dominate the
whole nest. Some employers have
no authority in their own lives, so they repress employees with what little
power they have on the job. Some
Christian leaders put lids on their people expressing themselves, not
realizing they are submitting to a spirit of control and repression. This
can easily lead to further demonic influence.
STEP
3. SUPPRESSION
Suppression
is very close to repression. It
means “to keep from being known; to put down by force.”
When someone attempts to secretly force you to behave a certain way,
not allowing you to express your own ideas of right and wrong, get away from
them. Even the most popular
Preacher in the world is not to be submitted to if he suppresses his people.
Suppressors open the door to Satanic powers.
They are to be refused, rebuked and rejected.
The Bible says we are to go from the presence of a fool when they are
not walking in knowledge.
"Go
from the presence of a foolish and self-confident man, for you will not find
knowledge on his lips." (Proverbs 14:7 AMP)
The
Pastor of a very large Church in Atlanta, Georgia, paid out millions of
Gospel dollars to the families of young boys whom he had been suppressing
with homosexuality. Many of the Pastor's members fled to another
Church nearby. They were told publicly from the pulpit by the Pastor to whom
they fled for safety, "I don't want you here. That other Pastor is my
friend. Go back to him. He loved you and now it's time for you to love him
and forgive him. Don't come to this Church. We don't want you in this
Church."
Both
of those Pastors are guilty of suppressing God's people. When a Pastor
commits homosexual acts with the youth in his congregation, refusing to
repent and be restored, he must not be submitted to. When another
Pastor tells people to go back to that homosexual Pastor because "He's
my friend," he must not be submitted to either.
The
Bible calls both of these Pastors "fools" because they suppress
people into sin with fear and ungodly counsel. These
are the type of Pastors God promises to replace with real Pastors who govern
according to the Word of God and the love of God.
"Woe
be unto the Pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture! saith
the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel against the Pastors that feed My
people; ye have scattered My flock and driven them away and have not visited
them: Behold I will visit upon you the evil of your doings saith the Lord
... And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: And they
shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking saith the
Lord." (Jeremiah 23:1-4)
When
someone is suppressing you, pack your bags and head out.
God definitely has something better for you.
"A
prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on,
and are punished." (Proverbs 22:3)
If you stay where you
are being suppressed, you are leaving yourself wide open to the devil and you will
soon be taking the next step into
demonic possession.
STEP
4. DEPRESSION
Medical
science defines depression as "a mental state of altered mood
characterized by feelings of sadness, despair and
discouragement."
When
we allow others to suppress us into the sadness, despair and discouragement
of depression, Satan can now confidently
begin to take even bigger steps - giant steps. As
subtle and cunning as he can be, he takes bolder, more blatant steps with depressed
people.
Depression
is a curse of the Law and Christ has redeemed you from the curse of the Law.
(Galatians 3:13-14, 29)
If
you are living under a cloud, if you are sick on the inside, if your spirit
is broken and crushed and you live with sadness, despair and discouragement, you are dealing with depression.
Everyone deals with
depression over the course of their lives, but if it comes and stays longer than
a day or two, you are quite possibly dealing with demonic powers.
You need God’s help and you need it now.
You must rise up, open your mouth and
begin to say repeatedly, “Depression, you go from
me in Jesus’ Strong Name. I do not receive depression. The joy of the Lord
is my strength.” (Nehemiah 8;10)
If
you do not readily begin to see results, you just need a little help.
Contact the Pastor or a trusted spiritual friend and have them anoint you
with oil, praying over you and commanding the spirit of depression to leave.
"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: And the
prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if
he have committed sins they shall be forgiven him ... The effectual fervent
prayer of a righteous man availeth much." (James 5:14-16)
Satan
is on the constant prowl, looking to bring unnatural, extended depression to
homes, schools, businesses, Churches, communities, individuals and
relationships. He wants
Believers to stop building upward and to start falling downward.
When he can get them to do that, he can take control of the world.
Depression
can come from hundreds of sources.
It
can come through rejection, disappointment, financial pressure, loss of a
loved one, divorce, family feuds, etc.
Whatever its source, rebuke
it immediately with the words of your mouth. God is not a God
of depression.
Religion and
tradition demand long faces, sour attitudes, unbelief and depression. This
is not the Spirit of God and does not originate from His Kingdom. The
Bible says the
Kingdom
of
God
is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. (Romans 14:7)
The
Bible says that it is a merry heart, not a heavy heart, that doeth good like
a medicine. (Proverbs 17:22)
Every
problem has a solution no matter how impossible it may seem.
"There
has no temptation (test or trial) taken you but such as is common to man:
But God is faithful, Who will not suffer (allow) you to be tempted above
that ye are able; but will with the temptation (test or trial) make a way to
escape, that you may be able to bear it." (1 Corinthians
10:13)
If you
wrongly believe you have a
problem God cannot solve, you have opened the door to a siege of depression.
Get into God’s Word. Start
praising Him. Change the scenery
and the people around you if that is the cause of your depression. Get
help if necessary. God has someone to help you. Ask Him for
wisdom as to what you are to do and He will give it to you. (Proverbs 4:7;
James 1:5-8)
Long periods of staring off into space,
staying in bed with the shades drawn or feeling a sadness so deep
you cannot even cry is evidence of a spirit of depression.
Tell the devil, “Loose me in Jesus’ Strong Name” before you
find yourself going
into step number five.
STEP
5. OPPRESSION
Demonic
oppression is far, far greater than human depression.
This is where the devil will make major inroads into your life.
Satan grows bolder as you grow colder.
Oppression
means “to weigh someone down with something they cannot carry.”
Israel was oppressed by
Egypt, beaten down and crushed with a load that was too big for them.
They needed help that only God could give.
Their oppression was not too big for God and neither is yours.
God
anointed Jesus to set oppressed people free. (Acts
10:38
)
Disease is Satanic oppression.
(John 10:10) Rise up and shake
it off. Fear causes oppression.
Shake it off. If you worry about losing your mind,
you will lose your mind. If you worry about being rejected, you will
be rejected. God has not given you a weak
mind. God does not want you to be rejected. God has given you a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7)
God has given you favor with those around you. (Psalm
5:12)
Satan
causes family and friends, including Christian friends, even strangers, to attack us to bring us into
depression and oppression. We must not yield to
it. We must turn it around by
forgiving and praying for our oppressors, otherwise, Satan will gain
advantage through unforgiveness. (Matthew 5:44; Mark 11:25; Luke 17:3-4)
When
Satan comes to weigh you down, lying to you and telling you that you are
responsible for the destructive actions of family, friends or others within your
community, you must resist him. You
are not entirely responsible for the actions of others.
As a parent, you are responsible for the behavior of your young
children. You have a responsibility to train them in the way they should go.
But when your children
become adults, they make their own decisions for which you are not accountable. Possibly you have done your
best to raise good citizens and one of your children murdered someone.
That is not your fault.
If
everything a grown child does is the parent’s fault, then Adam’s
rebellion was God’s fault because God was his Father, and we know that is not true.
You are not built to carry your own burdens and you are forbidden to
attempt to carry the burdens of others.
"Casting
the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your
concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and
cares about you watchfully." (1 Peter 5:7 AMP)
"Do
not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and
in every thing, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with
thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God. And God's peace
shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation
through Christ." (Philippians 4:6-7 AMP)
Satan
tries to tell some people that their misfortunes and even the misfortunes of
others are punishment from God because they sinned.
That is not true. God is not a punitive God. Sometimes we cause
things to happen to ourselves through the Laws of Sowing and Reaping but
this does not mean that God is punishing us. (Galatians 6:7-8) Even
if you are responsible for something having gone wrong, God can bring good
out of it through your repentance. (Genesis 50:20; 1 John 1:9)
Ask
God to give you wisdom in a situation like that and He will. (James 1:5-8)
He loves you as much as He loves Jesus. (John 17:23)
STEP
6. OBSESSION
Obsession
defined: "Compulsive preoccupation with a fixed idea or an unwanted
feeling or emotion, often accompanied by symptoms of anxiety."
When
something has gotten a hold of you and you cannot shake it, when you are so
caught up with one thing that it is all you think about and talk about day
and night, you are dealing with obsession.
Obsession
can be good or bad, because there
are two kinds of obsession. There is positive obsession and negative
obsession.
The
positive kind of obsession is when Jesus gets a hold of you and you become
obsessed with His Word and His plan and His purpose for your life.
You become obsessed with finding your place in His Body. You are now obsessed with
the Spirit of God. Human
beings were created for this kind of obsession.
This type of positive obsession desires to see other people saved,
set free and
growing in knowledge of God’s will for their lives.
The
negative kind of obsession is as defined above. The negative kind of
obsession is when the human personality is being
progressively destroyed. Satan
obsesses people with jealousy, hatred, unforgiveness, deviant sex and any
number of things that force people to perform compulsively and in an unreasonable manner.
All
of the steps we have studied, regression, repression, suppression,
depression and oppression can be shaken off somewhat easily by
the Born-Again Believer by making
right decisions and using the Name of Jesus.
However, when it comes to demonic obsession, it is very possible that
you will need the help of either a Minister of the Gospel or a layperson who
is completely grounded in the Believer's authority. This is because Satan and demon
powers have taken control of your mind and you are unable to exercise
mastery over your free-will any longer.
If
you will lie even when it is greatly profitable for you to tell the truth,
you need help. Most likely you are being oppressed and obsessed by a lying
spirit. (1 Kings 22:22-23) If moral sins
have overwhelmed you to where you are blinded to what you are doing, you
need help. If you will do
whatever is necessary to have your own way, or to even cover up known wrongdoing,
you need outside help immediately. If
you have become so full of hatred for others that you believe everyone hates
you as well, you need the kind of help that only Christ’s established Ministers can
give.
If
you have submitted yourself to hypnosis, if you consult mediums and New
Age channelers, if you are dependent upon daily horoscope, booze,
unnatural sex, drugs, pornography, etc., you have stopped exercising mastery
over your God-given free-will. You have
opened your soul up to Satan, becoming his slave and you need the type of deliverance that only Jesus can give. You
are in bondage to spirits of obsession.
It
is possible for a human being to be Born Again
and even filled with the Holy Spirit and still be in bondage to obsessing spirits.
STEP
7. DEMONIC POSSESSION
Possession
defined: "To enter into and to control firmly. The act of taking
someone or something into control; a domination by someone such as an evil
spirit, a passion or an idea."
Demonic
possession is when one is under absolute jurisdiction of Satan or his
subservient demons. When one is
possessed they are occupied, dominated, controlled and ruled by unnatural
outside forces in their spirit, their soul and their body.
When
one is possessed, evil spirits have entered into them and control them
firmly.
The Apostle Paul said that all unsaved human beings are under Satanic
possession to one degree or another.
"Wherein
in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to
the prince of the power of the air (Satan) the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation
(manner of life) in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the
desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of
wrath, even as others." (Ephesians 2:2-3)
Many
unsaved people are much more severely possessed than others.
Personally, I believe that Christians can submit themselves to any of
these primary steps included in this study with the exception of step number
seven, demonic possession.
According
to what the Holy Spirit revealed to the Apostle Paul, when a human being is Born-Again
they are supernaturally translated out of the Kingdom
of Satan
into the
Kingdom
of God.
"Giving
thanks unto the Father ... Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness,
and hath translated us into the Kingdom of His dear Son: In Whom we have
redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins."
(Colossians 1:12-14)
The
Born-Again human being is not only translated from the Kingdom of darkness
into the Kingdom of Light but their
spirit becomes one with the Spirit of God.
In other words, the prince of the power of the air has been cast out of
their human spirit and they have become positively possessed by the Spirit
of God.
"But
the person who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him... Do you
not know that your body is the Temple (the very sanctuary) of the Holy
Spirit Who lives within you, Whom you have received [as a Gift] from God?
You are not your own." (1 Corinthians 6:17-19 Amplified Bible)
The
Born-Again Christian is supernaturally translated into the Kingdom of Light,
supernaturally and positively possessed by the Spirit of God, becoming a New Creation in Christ and the
Righteousness of God. (2
Corinthians 5:17, 21)
They are
now possessed by the Spirit of God within and cannot at the same time be
possessed of Satan.
If
you are not Born-Again, but you believe that you or even a loved one is
being controlled in thought, word or deed by demon powers possessing you or
them, there
is hope for you in Jesus.
“As
they went out, behold they brought to Jesus a dumb man possessed with a
devil. And when Jesus cast the
devil out, the dumb man spoke and the multitudes marveled saying, It was
never so seen in
Israel.” (Mark 9:32-33)
Not
all dumbness, deafness, blindness, insanity or sickness is caused by demons, but much
of it is, particularly when one does not belong to God’s family through
Jesus Christ.
If you feel you
are possessed with evil spirits causing you to do things against your will,
Jesus wants to help you to get your free-will back.
Find a Church in your area that believes in the reality of Satan and
demon powers. Find a
Pentecostal, Charismatic or Full Gospel Pastor or Believer who understands
their authority in Christ. Ask
them to pray for you. Ask them
to cast the possessing spirit out of you.
Jesus said all who believe can cast out evil spirits. (Mark 16:15-20)
Many
deny that people in
America
need this kind of help, insisting that evil spirits are only in
underdeveloped nations of the world. I
heard one Minister say, “There are no evil spirits in America.” I thought to myself, “Is
there anywhere in the Bible that says demon barriers have been built around
the
United States
to where demons cannot enter?” Of
course not. Satan was calling this man's bluff.
America has as many demon problems as any country in the
world, if not more. To deny that Americans need this type of help is to deny God’s
Word. It is to deny reality and
to take step number one, regression. You
are going backwards when you allow Satan to convince you that neither he nor
his demons come to
America, especially the American Church.
To
believe there are no demons in America or even that there are no demons at
all is to actually do Satan a great favor. He is calling
your bluff and he thinks you are too dumb to realize it.
PRAYER
OF SALVATION & DELIVERANCE
Jesus
said, "Except a man be born again he cannot see (enter) the Kingdom of
God." (John 3:3)
Do
not let the term "Born-Again" confuse
you. It simply means the following.
The
first time you were born, you entered into the natural world through the
natural door of your Mother's womb. The second time you are born, or
Born-Again, you enter into the Kingdom of God through the supernatural door
of Jesus Christ. This is why Jesus referred to Himself as "The
Door." (John 10:7,9)
One
can never be free of any demonic harassment or interference until they are
first Born-Again by making Christ their Lord and Savior. This
is the only way to be delivered from the Kingdom of Darkness and to be
delivered into the Kingdom of God.
It is a
very simple thing to do.
The
Bible says, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved." (Romans 10:13)
Do
it right now.
Simply
say, “Jesus, You’re
my one and only choice. I ask You to save me. Satan, I
reject your oppression, obsession and possession. I confess Christ as my
Lord and Savior. From here on in I'm walking with Jesus.
"God,
that makes You my Father now. Therefore,
if I need further help, I ask You to direct me to it, as any good Father
would do, in Jesus' Strong Name.”
Be Blessed ... John and Barbara Hamel
How
to Be Born Again (Receive Christ as Your Savior)
How
to Receive The Holy Spirit & Power
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