By Stephen Piersall
Deliverance Ministry Consultant, Central NY
Doing a cleansing of a home is quite debatable amongst the different religious denominations. Given that, I will not write about this, saying this is the one and only way to do so. Just as a ghost (demon) hunting and investigations are different from one team to another the same goes for cleansing at a home. The bottom line is this procedure needs to honor God and God only has the power over the demonic. This subject will be the topic of my next few blogs, so stayed tuned. Now a word from our sponsor…"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoeverbelieveth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16.
I want to first thank some special people in my life and thank them for their support, training, and guidance along the way with my training and experience. First Jesus who died on the cross, is there for me 24/7 to forgive me of my sins, and brings blessings my way as He provides for all our needs. Rev. Mark Hunnemann, for all the mentoring he has provided me and guided me to get me to the point that I have been able to open my own local Deliverance Ministry here in Central NY. His book: Seeing Ghosts Through God's Eyes will show you the worldview and God’s view regarding if ghosts are demonic and so much more. As a result, my own Church with Pastor John Elmer, and some other churches in the area to be able to reach out and help individuals and families find Jesus and provide help to those with demonic issues in the local community. In fact, Saturday August 18th, our church and the Syracuse, New York VA will be providing aid to the Vets who are homeless, by providing clothing, food, and entertainment. Pastor Michael Griffin Sr., who helped me many years ago to walk the straight and narrow road of a Christian’s walk and his insight and guidance, and glad that I have him still in my life where I can hear his preaching on his church’s web page. He is Georgia’s number one proponent in the movement to stop abortions. Rev. Darrell Gene Motal, he is always right there with a quick response to any questions I have asked and help provide training and guidance for Deliverance Ministry. His book The Schoolmaster: Autobiography of a Demonologist will take you into his life when He was a small child and living with the supernatural in his own life.
From watching TV and movies, it looks quite exciting and personally rewarding. Far from the truth! The title that many use is “Demonologist”. Just from the name alone to an outsider I’m sure they would assume that you’re involved with demonic rituals. I don’t like the title myself, and what is scary is that there are so many self-imposed Demonologists and who can you trust and who is dangerous. Remember Satan is a master of disguises! Demonology is the study of Demons, nothing more and nothing less. You don’t need to be a “Demonologist” to rid evil spirits from a home, but what you DO need to be is a Christian. Anybody who is a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ has the authority necessary to drive out demon spirits. For Jesus said in Mark 16:15, 17
"And he said unto them, Go ye into the entire world, and preach the gospel to every creature... And these signs shall follow them that believe; in my name shall they cast out devils."
As Christians we know that God is omnipresent and Satan is not. Satan can only be in one place at a time. He uses his demons (ghosts) to do his evil deeds and they are everywhere seeking to destroy believer’s testimonies. There is strong evidence in the Bible that a Christian cannot be possessed. However, we can be what is commonly referred to as “demonic oppression”. So what extents can the demonic have on Christians? We read in Luke 4:2 where Satan tempted Jesus 3 times. The demons will tempt us to sin and make life difficult for us to obey and worship God accordingly. If as a Christian we continually sin willingly, we allow the demonic oppression to exist. If we do not focus on our daily walk with the Lord God, the demonic oppression can have a very strong influence on our thought’s, behavior, and spirituality. Confession and repentance of sin is the ONLY way to break the power of Satan’s influence. Take a personal inventory and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal what open sins you have in your life.
Why does it seem demons will obey some believers and not others? It is because we have authority through our faith in God. Jesus gave His disciples authority over ALL powers of the enemy (Luke 10:19), but when they reached a demon they couldn't cast out, He told them it was because of their unbelief, as we can see in Matthew 17:19-20:
"Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said why could not we cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief."
Jesus went on to say that some demons are so strong and stubborn, that prayer and fasting is required to drive them out Matthew 17:21:
"Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting."
Prayer and fasting builds up your faith like nothing else and sometimes it is crucial to drive out the stronger demons. The more faith you have, the more authority you will be able to put into effect against demonic spirits. It is important to understand that, as Christians, we already have eternal victory over Satan. But we can be delivered from their influence in our lives by using two weapons God has given us as part of our spiritual armor with which we battle against the powers of the spiritual forces of evil (Ephesians 6:12-17). You as a Christian will defend yourself with the shield of faith and use the Bible as your offensive weapon. Satan and his minions cannot prevail against these two. By holding up the shield of faith, we destroy the flaming spiritual arrows of lust, doubt, guilt, jealousy, profanity, pride, and all manner of temptations. By the offensive weapon of Truth, we overcome the evil one 1 John 2:14. Deliverance from sin, rescue from trials, and escape from the influence of a world in the control of the evil one, come only through Christ, the Son of God who has come and “has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. In addition, we are in him who is true--even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life” 1 John 5:19-20.
Next blog we will take this further.
