Table of Contents

Title Page
Copyright Page
Preface
1.Unwanted Guests
2.Spiritual Debt Collectors
3.The Authority of the Believer
4.Demonic Portals: Emotions and Thoughts
5.Demonic Portals: Curses and Soul Ties
6.Healing the Wounded Soul
7.The Power of the Spoken Word
8.The Law of Attraction
9.Breaking Ungodly Soul Ties and Attachments
10.Renouncing Evil Covenants and Oaths
11.The Power of the Blood
12.The Mind: Our Spiritual Battleground
13.Exposing Hidden Enemies
14.Walking in Total Freedom
About the Author
Welcome to Our House!
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Overcoming Familiar Spirits:

Deliverance from Unseen Demonic Enemies and Spiritual Debt

Kynan Bridges Ministries, Inc.

P.O. Box 159 • Ruskin, FL 33575
www.kynanbridges.com
[email protected]

ISBN: 978-1-64123-797-0 • eBook ISBN: 978-1-64123-798-7

© 2022 by Kynan Bridges

Whitaker House
1030 Hunt Valley Circle • New Kensington, PA 15068
www.whitakerhouse.com

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022931479

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or
by any means, electronic or mechanical—including photocopying,
recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system—
without permission in writing from the publisher. Please direct your
inquiries to [email protected].
This book has been digitally produced in a standard specification in
order to ensure its availability.
 Preface

Overcoming Familiar Spirits: Deliverance from Unseen Demonic

Enemies and Spiritual Debt has been one of the most challenging
books I have ever written—and it may be the most controversial. In
this book, I discuss the shocking truth about demonic entities called
familiar spirits. I specifically deal with how we can become free of
familiar spirits by understanding spiritual debt, breaking unhealthy
soul ties and agreements, and releasing demonic liens.
You likely know something about evil spirits and unhealthy soul
ties, but you may be unfamiliar with the term demonic liens. In the
natural world, a lien is a legal hold or claim against someone’s
property until a debt is paid. The Lord has shown me that many
believers are trapped by spiritual debt and ensnared by demonic
liens, and this is why they are continually being hindered in their lives
and unable to fulfill God’s purposes for them. They are being
oppressed in their marriages, their finances, their ministries, and
other areas.
The purpose of this book is to finally identify the culprit of so many
common and constant struggles that believers, out of ignorance of
spiritual truths, have conformed to, thus giving the enemy access.
When people have had their minds and bodies bombarded by
familiar spirits, they often feel discouraged and beyond hope. They
think God disapproves of them and can never use them. Yet the Lord
God Jehovah loves us and wants to break the demonic liens in our
lives so we can experience freedom and abundant life. God desires
that we confront these demonic forces and reestablish our place of
spiritual authority in any areas where familiar spirits have taken
residence. He wants us to exercise dominion on the earth and have
victory over the enemy’s schemes.
Now understand this: I speak from personal experience. There
were things in my life that were giving the devil legal access to me,
and I did not even realize it. At the beginning, I was not even aware
that familiar spirits existed or how to combat them, and that is why
the same demons kept showing up through different people and
circumstances, time and time again, with the same temptations, the
same difficulties, the same obstacles, the same troubling dreams,
the same issues, over and over again.
When I began to understand the nature of familiar spirits, I still
needed additional revelation and insight. While I was consulting the
Lord concerning this topic, I asked Him why certain things in my own
life continued to perpetually afflict me. I am filled with the Holy Spirit,
I am anointed by the Spirit, and I pray in tongues. So, why were
there areas where oppression seemed to be continually present and
particular sins were a recurring problem? The revelation of
deliverance that I received and that I present in this book has been
life-changing not only for me but for many other believers with whom
I have shared these truths.
Even writing this book required much soul-searching and
repentance on my part so that I could clearly articulate, from a pure
and sincere place, God’s heart of love to give us the freedom and
deliverance we need. Through this process, I was able to identify
places in my mind and emotions that required deeper levels of
healing and deliverance, and God gave me the grace to overcome in
these areas. My prayer is that you will be impacted by the liberating
presence and power of God in the same way. I also pray that you will
come to receive the revelation that the source of our freedom begins
and ends in Jesus Christ and the Word of God.
In Overcoming Familiar Spirits, I discuss both my experiences and
others’ experiences in dealing with familiar spirits, and what the
access points of so many of these demonic entities are. I also show
the scriptural basis for how we can take back our spiritual authority
over the enemy. In these pages, you will find real-life stories,
anecdotes, and biblical examples to help you discern and have
victory over familiar spirits.
God is saying that it is time for us to be released from all spiritual
debt. It is time to be set free from all demonic liens on our bloodlines,
our minds, our emotions, our bodies, our finances, our marriages,
our other relationships, and our destinies, in Jesus’s name! As you
discover how to receive this freedom and put into practice
Overcoming Familiar Spirits, may your life never be the same again.
 1
Unwanted Guests

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against

principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of
this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
—Ephesians 6:12

People all over the world—including many dedicated Christians—

are struggling in cyclical patterns of defeat. They are silently crying
out, “Why do I keep going through this issue time and time again?”
They spend a large portion of their lives struggling with various sins,
difficulties, and types of spiritual bondage. It might be continual
conflict in their marriage, a prolonged inability to conceive, incessant
financial difficulties, a sense of being mired in the past, or any one of
a number of other issues. They constantly live with frustration, worry,
anger, or a sense of hopelessness, thinking there is no way out.
They may even feel that some type of evil manifestation is
oppressing them.
Over the years, as a pastor, teacher, and counselor, I have come
across many such individuals, and their burdens have become my
burden. I began to ask the Lord why these cyclical patterns were
occurring, and He faithfully shared answers with me as I grew
spiritually in my own personal experiences, studied God’s Word, and
ministered to His people.
Through all my questions and seeking, I came to the realization
that millions of people are being tormented by demonic powers
called “familiar spirits” that hide behind the mental and emotional
framework of their victims. These spirits operate inconspicuously
within the fabric of people’s mindsets, thoughts, and emotions to a
degree that they are undetected by their “hosts.”
In my book Kingdom Authority, I shared a story I heard about a
family who bought a house in the suburbs. After living there for
several years, they made a shocking discovery. The two sons of the
family were playing, and one of the brothers accidentally bumped
against a built-in bookcase, which opened to reveal a secret
passageway that led to a spiral staircase. The young men got a
flashlight and went down the stairs to investigate. To their surprise,
they found a living space within the walls of the house. There were
cups, napkins, and utensils that seemed to have been recently used.
This discovery was absolutely terrifying for the boys. Unbeknownst
to them, people had been living in the family home out of sight as
they and their parents had gone about their daily lives. Can you
imagine finding out that strangers have been living in your home
without your knowledge?
I don’t know whether this is a true story, but it serves as a perfect
illustration of the insidious nature of familiar spirits. Just like the
secret guests who were living within the walls of the family home,
familiar spirits occupy “rooms” in people’s lives, usually without their
conscious consent. In coming chapters, I will describe in more detail
how this process occurs. These spirits cause people to have
diminished spiritual vision and prevent them from fulfilling their full
destinies. Familiar spirits are frequently behind people’s inability to
marry, conceive children, or attain lasting success; they are also the
culprits behind premature death. This book will expose the demonic
agenda and nature of familiar spirits and equip you with the tools to
enjoy lasting freedom in Christ.

WHAT ARE FAMILIAR SPIRITS?

First, what exactly are familiar spirits? When the Bible mentions
someone who “consulted familiar spirits,” it typically indicates a
person who attempted to speak with a deceased individual, or to an
evil spiritual entity that emulated or impersonated an individual who
was dead:

The term is generally used to refer to the spirit of a dead

person which professed mediums claimed they could summon
for consultation (Deut. 18:11). The word “familiar” has in this
phrase the sense of the Latin familiaris, belonging to one’s
family, and hence ready to serve one as a servant. Such a spirit
 was thought to be able to reveal the future (Isa. 8:19; 1 Sam.
28:7).1

In the ancient world, people would often consult individuals with

familiar spirits in order to commune with the dead. This ungodly
practice is called necromancy. However, the “dead” they were
communing with were not actually deceased persons but rather evil
spirits or demons.
In the Old Testament, the Israelites were warned against
consorting with familiar spirits and those who dealt with the realm of
darkness:

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

Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after
wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.
(Leviticus 19:31)

Throughout the New Testament, the existence and activity of

“unclean spirits” is recorded. (See, for example, Matthew 10:1; Mark
1:23–27; Luke 9:37–42.) Many of these unclean spirits are familiar
spirits, too, called by a different name. It is important to understand
that the name of a spirit is associated with its behavior or function.
Thus, an unclean spirit defiles or contaminates the person it attacks,
possesses, or oppresses. Whether familiar spirits enter people’s
lives through necromancy or other avenues that we will discuss in
this book, they always have a nefarious assignment, as evidenced
by the pain and havoc they produce in the lives of their victims.

WHY ARE THEY CALLED “FAMILIAR” SPIRITS?

These evil spirits are called “familiar” because they are attached to
specific individuals, families, bloodlines, or places. The Bible makes
reference to generational curses or generational iniquity and the
presence of sinful patterns in people’s lives. For example, even
though David was forgiven by God for his sins of adultery and
murder, a number of his children, including Amnon and Solomon, fell
into sexual perversion. (See, for example, 2 Samuel 13:1–20; 1
Kings 11:1–11.)
The reason why familiar spirits have so much insight into family
members, and the reason why some people struggle with the same
type of affliction over and over again, is that the spirits have been
assigned to that particular family line and are instructed to watch its
members. A familiar spirit has an attachment to a particular area or
areas of a person’s life. They are acquainted with that person’s
mindsets and patterns of living. Unless these spirits are forced to
leave by the authority and power of God, they are able to attack
family bloodlines for generations.

THE ORIGIN OF UNCLEAN SPIRITS

Unclean spirits, or demons, originate from the kingdom of
darkness—the kingdom of that age-old foe the devil. Scripture
describes the devil as ancient. (See Revelation 20:2.) He is ancient
because he has been around since before the beginning of the
human race. Certain theologians and other students of the Bible
believe there were fallen angels on earth before Adam and Eve were
created. (See, for example, Isaiah 14:12–14; Ezekiel 28:15–19;
Revelation 12:9.) Regardless of your theological position on the
origin of demons and when they first arrived on earth, it is important
to understand, without equivocation, that familiar spirits are demons
on assignment from Satan to hinder and attack human beings.
These spirits are very real—and they are very evil. Think of them as
invisible entities who have a mind, a will, and emotions, and who are
able to inhabit, influence, and even torment their human hosts. They
are able to inflict people with sickness and disease. They are able to
cause confusion, depression, and despair.
Imagine you owned a property that was in the process of being
developed into apartments. Then, random vagrants moved onto that
property and began to live there. Now imagine that these “tenants”
begin to wreak havoc and destruction, tearing down walls, destroying
equipment, and defecating on everything. You would probably do
everything in your power to confront and stop such appalling,
unwanted activity. This analogy perfectly describes the nature of
demonic spirits: they are insidious, nefarious, and destructive
vagrants looking for someone to destroy, just as their leader the devil
does. (See, for example, 1 Peter 5:8.) The influence of these
demonic forces must be broken. We must allow them no place in our
lives! We need to learn how to recognize the enemy’s evil schemes.
To do so, we have to know how familiar spirits operate.

MASTERS OF DISGUISE
One of the enemy’s profound weapons is darkness and secrecy.
The devil loves to operate in anonymity and disguise. In fact, this is
the source of his influence.

And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel

of light. (2 Corinthians 11:14)

The enemy of our souls masquerades as an angel of light. Why?

Because he and his demons are more effective when they are
pretending to be someone or something other than what they really
are. For instance, demons try to infiltrate the belief systems of their
victims. A large part of the enemy’s agenda is to rail accusations
against believers. (See Revelation 12:10.) And because their goal is
to remain unnoticed and undetected, they mask their suggestions
and promptings as the thoughts and suggestions of those they are
trying to influence. If they can get people to believe that the
erroneous thoughts they are thinking actually come from their own
minds, then those people will be more prone to accept the false
ideas. If they can convince people that what is oppressing them is
actually a part of themselves or is normal, then they can keep those
people in a cycle of guilt, shame, and defeat. Such a cycle leads to
frustration, discouragement, and even hopelessness and despair.
The worst case of demonic oppression is when an individual is
unaware that they are being demonically attacked. But what if some
people realized that the depression they have been battling is rooted
in demonic activity? What if a couple considering divorce knew that
they were harboring a marriage-breaking spirit? What if certain
people struggling with fear understood that an evil spirit was
attempting to terrorize them? Such knowledge would change the
way they approached the challenges in their lives; they would
recognize that they were not wrestling against other human beings
or themselves but against unseen powers of darkness that need to
be spiritually removed.

RULERS OF THE DARKNESS

The apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:12,

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against

principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness
of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Under divine inspiration, Paul used this very interesting and

powerful term: “rulers of the darkness….” The first portion of this
phrase, “rulers,” is translated from the Greek word kosmokratōr,
which means “lord of the world,” or “prince of this age.” Jesus
referred to Satan as “the prince of this world” (John 12:31; 14:30;
16:11).
The second part of the above phrase from Ephesians 6:12 is
“darkness,” which is translated from the Greek word skotos. One of
the literal meanings of skotos is “darkened eyesight or blindness,”
and one of its figurative meanings is “ignorance respecting divine
things.” This says to me that the prince of this age is the ruler over
the realm of ignorance. He has legal jurisdiction to operate in areas
of people’s lives—including the lives of believers—where they are
ignorant of spiritual truths. The Bible puts it this way:

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because you

have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you shall be
no priest to me: seeing you have forgotten the law of your God,
I will also forget your children. (Hosea 4:6)

Multitudes of Christians all over the world have experienced the

devastating effects of spiritual ignorance. Contrary to popular
opinion, what you do not know can actually hurt you. Since the
enemy of our souls rules in the realm of darkness, the more
ignorance we walk in, the more powerful and fortified our adversary
can become. In contrast, the more truth we walk in, the more light we
walk in, the weaker our enemy’s influence in our lives becomes.
The first time I experienced demonic oppression, I was completely
ignorant of the enemy’s devices. I knew almost nothing about the
devil, and I definitely did not understand spiritual warfare. Even
though I loved God and had a desire to know and serve Him, my life
was being bombarded with demonic harassment in a particular area
of my life, and I was oblivious to the truth that these spiritual attacks
did not have to continue. After many months of satanic attacks
against my mind and body, I finally began to understand that I could
be free of the oppression, and I stood up to resist the enemy. The
Bible says, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil,
and he will flee from you” (James 4:7), and that is exactly what I did!
When I submitted to God’s Word in that area of my life, I was able to
resist the enemy—and he fled!
Yes, the enemy of our souls dwells in darkness and hides behind
veils of secrecy. Yet the moment we receive revelation about his
destructive works, bring our sin or ignorance to God, repent of it, and
stand upon the deliverance Jesus has provided for us, we break the
enemy’s power in our lives. Remember, before we can resist the
devil, we must submit to God. How do we submit to Him? By willingly
yielding ourselves to the truth of His Word. God’s truth always
exposes the enemy’s lies.
I will never forget a story I heard about an actress who visited a
medium and asked to consult with a deceased actor. After this
consultation, the actress began to have visitations from the late actor
in her bedroom. He would literally appear in her room at night and
speak to her, giving her advice on what to do to advance her career.
He would even relay to her the people she should connect with in
order to reach her acting goals. As she heeded the advice, she
became a very successful actress.
But, one day, she decided to veer away from the counsel of this
deceased actor. Then everything changed. Instead of giving her
advice, he threatened to destroy her. When that happened, she
realized she was not dealing with the late actor at all but with an evil
spirit. This demon began to torment her and even afflict her with
infirmity. She finally cried out to God and surrendered her life to
Jesus. Once she repented and turned to the Lord, she was delivered
from the power of that familiar spirit.
Similar scenarios have happened time and time again. I heard
another story of a woman who claimed to receive direction from her
deceased child, saying that the child told her what to do every day.
This woman began to experience confusion, lack, and great calamity
in her life. Why was this happening? Because she was actually
getting advice from a demonic spirit. I assure you, demons will never
lead you to a good place!
Years ago, a young woman told me that her children were being
tormented by ghosts in her house. The children would literally see
poltergeists—apparitions or spirits—moving in and out of the walls of
their home. Finally, this woman got a hold of my teaching on spiritual
warfare and was able to minister deliverance to her children. Both
she and her children were totally set free by the power of God.
Hallelujah!
Many people around the world see entities in their rooms at night
or hear voices. As much as we would like to think that such
occurrences are simply the products of the active imaginations of a
few frightened children, the reality is that there are legitimate
accounts of people who have encountered familiar spirits in this way.
How could people from various parts of the world, who speak
different languages and have had different upbringings, see exactly
the same things?
These experiences are not from God but are caused by demonic
spirits. The spirits may impersonate people’s deceased loved ones.
They may visit individuals in dreams and visions, ultimately seeking
to gain access to their lives and/or the lives of their family members.

TERRITORIAL SPIRITS
 It is important to understand that principalities and demonic spirits
are territorial in nature. They are often called “territorial spirits.”
Demons are not omnipresent (they cannot be everywhere at the
same time); therefore, familiar spirits are assigned to various
countries, regions, states, parishes, cities, townships, and
communities. In my travels, I have found that particular countries or
cities are under the influence of certain demonic strongholds. This is
due to the fact that the people in authority in those places have come
into covenants and agreements with the demonic powers, which
grant them access to the cultures and the people.
A perfect biblical example of this reality may be seen in the
ministry of the apostle Paul:

And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel

possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her
masters much gain by soothsaying: the same followed Paul
and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the
Most High God, which show to us the way of salvation. And this
did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to
the spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come
out of her. And he came out the same hour. (Acts 16:16–18)

When Paul and his fellow worker Silas traveled to Thyatira, they
encountered a female slave with a “spirit of divination.” This was a
familiar spirit. The slave woman was possessed or otherwise under
the power of this spirit, which enabled her to predict the future. The
Greek word translated “divination” here is pythōn, from which we
derive the English word python.2 “In Greek mythology, [Python was]
the name of the Pythian serpent or dragon that dwelt in the region of
Pytho at the foot of Parnassus in Phocis, and was said to have
guarded the oracle at Delphi and been slain by Apollo.”3
The “spirit of divination” that Paul and Silas encountered was a
territorial, serpentine spirit that controlled people and gave them
false spiritual gifting. Paul and Silas did not encounter this spirit until
they came into its geographical territory. Then, when Paul confronted
and expelled the spirit, the entire region was affected economically
because the slave woman lost her ability to tell the future. The gain
that she had brought her masters through soothsaying was cut off.
Paul and Silas experienced severe backlash and persecution
because many people in the region were under the influence of this
python spirit.
Every time a demonic spirit is cast out or a demonic power is
broken, the effects of that demonic power are also broken. The
enemy does not want people to be truly set free because, once they
experience freedom, he loses his grip on them and the communities
they influence. This is why it is so important that we receive the
illumination of God’s Word in our lives. The Word of God is the light
that pierces the darkness and exposes Satan’s activities. Ultimately,
the slave woman was delivered and Paul and Silas were
supernaturally released from prison after being beaten and jailed for
disrupting the occult practices of the city. (See Acts 16:19–40.)

UNKNOWINGLY INVITING FAMILIAR SPIRITS

There are many ways we can unknowingly invite familiar spirits
into our lives. We may leave open a door to their influence due to
personal trauma, unforgiveness, bitterness, or false thinking. Then
we become trapped in a type of spiritual debt. This debt restricts us
from being fully free in Christ. That is why so many people feel like
they are fighting invisible battles with unseen forces that hinder
them.
Beloved, we must desire to live in the light and truth of our God,
the only living God, who is our Creator and to whom we belong as
Christian believers. We should desire to live out fully everything that
Jesus attained for us on the cross. We are seated in heavenly places
with Christ (see Ephesians 2:6), and we have victory over the lies of
Satan. Therefore, we must choose to expose the enemy in every
way he shows up in our lives and communities. We must come out
of our spiritual ignorance by becoming knowledgeable about God’s
Word and learning to break the demonic curses that Christ has
already paid in full for us to be released from.
 In the church, there has often been a strong focus on behavioral
modification but not enough emphasis on the truth that God wants us
to walk in total freedom. He wants us to be set free from guilt,
shame, condemnation, and the oppression of demonic spirits. You
may be thinking to yourself, “Is it really possible to walk in total
freedom? After all, everyone struggles with certain things. There is
no way we can be totally delivered on this side of eternity, right?”
Wrong! Yes, we must walk out the process of growing in
Christlikeness through the power of the Holy Spirit, and this is a
lifelong process. However, God does not want us to accept a lifestyle
of affliction and bondage as normal.
Do you know people—including yourself—who feel like
“something” is blocking them from moving forward in life?
Have you heard stories about people being attacked in their sleep
by something or someone?
Have you ever felt a disturbing presence in your room or seen
something that you cannot explain?
Whatever has been oppressing you and your loved ones must
loosen its hold on you right now, in the name of Jesus! Overcoming
Familiar Spirits will help to remove the veils concealing the familiar
spirits that have been attacking you from the shadows. It will lead
you into the manifestation of God’s divine, peaceful, abundant
purpose for your life.

PRAYER OF RELEASE
Heavenly Father, I thank You for having a divine purpose for my
life and for providing me with lasting freedom through Jesus
Christ. I no longer want pain, confusion, chaos, or havoc
caused by the enemy to run my life. Because of Jesus’s
sacrifice, and in the power of the Spirit, I come against the
familiar spirits that are hiding unseen and undetected in my
mind and emotions. I rebuke any familiar spirits that have
operated in secrecy in my life. Any unclean spirit that is
attached to me, my home, or my bloodline must go! I declare
that I am no longer oppressed by these demons on
 assignment. I give these destructive spirits no place. All forms
of oppression that have infiltrated my belief system must loosen
their hold on me right now! I thank You, Father, that my spiritual
vision is restored. In Jesus’s name, amen!

INSIGHTS FOR OVERCOMING

1. What are familiar spirits, and what is their origin?

2. Why are they called “familiar” spirits?
3. In what ways do familiar spirits operate?
4. How can we unknowingly invite familiar spirits into our
lives?

ASK YOURSELF

1. In what areas of my life am I experiencing bondage to guilt,

shame, or defeat?
2. What aspects of my belief system (such as my faith in
God’s goodness and in the trustworthiness of His Word)
are being compromised by constant confusion or chaos?
3. Am I ready to be set free from spiritual oppression and
bondage?

1 Merrill C. Tenney, gen. ed., The Zondervan Pictorial Bible

Dictionary (Grand Rapids, MI: Regency Reference Library, 1983),
275.
2 Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, s.v. “python,”

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/python.
3 See Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, G4436,

https://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/kjv/puthon.html.
 2
Spiritual Debt Collectors

“And his lord was angry, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he
should pay all that was due to him.”
—Matthew 18:34

Has someone you know ever been threatened with legal action by
a debt collector because they owed money but were having a difficult
time paying it back? Have you ever personally had the
uncomfortable experience of being repeatedly called by a debt
collector over a certain outstanding bill?
A debt collector is a person or a company that regularly seeks to
collect money, on behalf of a third party, on debts that people owe,
usually when those debts are past due. The regulations that govern
the actions of debt collectors vary from state to state and from
country to country. In America, companies have the legal right to
collect a debt when a person breaches a contractual agreement and
becomes delinquent on an account or a financial obligation they had
previously agreed to pay. In many cases, debt collectors will
continue to pursue the debt until it is paid, discharged, or forgiven.

SPIRITUAL DEBT
Familiar spirits are like debt collectors because they pursue people
who are in breach of spiritual covenants or agreements and have
fallen into “spiritual debt.” They are empowered to do this because,
in one way or another, they have a legal claim to that debt in the
spiritual realm. In other words, familiar spirits seek to identify a
spiritual debt or legal breach, and then they execute their wicked
agendas against the ignorant souls who have—often unknowingly—
incurred these debts.
The English word debt comes from the Latin debitum, which
means “something owed.”1 “Debt” simply refers to an amount that is
past due or owed. In the natural world, when there is an outstanding
debt, it means that someone has failed to pay something they were
responsible for reimbursing. The person who owes is required to
discharge that debt when there are legal grounds to obligate them to
pay it.
Suppose a person goes to a loan shark to borrow money in order
to keep their house from foreclosing. Now consider the specific
terms that would be agreed upon between the loan shark and the
person needing the money. It would not be unreasonable to assume
that the borrower is in a desperate state and would probably not stop
to consider how unfavorable the terms would be when dealing with a
loan shark. The agreement would state certain consequences of a
failure to repay the loan, such as drawing on the money the borrower
had in their bank account, even if it was everything they had left. And
after all that, their house might still go into foreclosure. However,
sometimes the consequences might be even worse: a henchman
might be deployed by the loan shark to collect the money that is
owed, using physical force to “persuade” the borrower to repay the
debt by whatever means possible.
In the spiritual realm, many believers are seeing demonic attacks
and even bondage on their lives or the lives of their loved ones
because of oppressive “spiritual debt” they have incurred. When
people have, in one way or another, violated their covenant with God
and come into agreement with demonic powers, they can
unknowingly open themselves to such spiritual debt and,
consequently, to satanic debt collectors. Throughout this book, I
discuss different forms of spiritual debt and its causes,
demonstrating how to identify those debts and have them discharged
or released so you can live in freedom.

DEMONIC LIENS
Another way to look at spiritual debt is through the concept of
liens. In general, a lien is defined as “a right to keep possession of
property belonging to another person until a debt owed by that
person is discharged.”2 A close friend of mine who is a very
successful attorney specializing in real estate law once advised me
regarding a potential real estate transaction I was involved in. As I
talked with him about a property we were in the process of
purchasing for our ministry, I told him that it was free and clear
according to the owner’s written declaration; in other words, there
was no mortgage on it. However, my savvy attorney friend told me to
do a title search before purchasing the property. He explained that
even though the property might be debt free, it could still have a lien
on it.
For instance, there is something called a mechanic’s lien, which is
a legal document that essentially reserves the right for people to file
a suit seeking unpaid compensation in relation to the property. Such
suits are usually filed by contractors, subcontractors, or suppliers
who never received payment for work they performed or materials
they provided. A mechanic’s lien can prohibit the transference of a
title from one party to another in the case of the potential sale or
donation of the property. Though this advice from my attorney friend
was insightful and helpful for the real estate transaction, it also
provided me with an even greater understanding of spiritual warfare,
particularly with regard to familiar spirits.
Just as there are liens in the natural world, there are liens in the
spiritual realm. God showed me that many believers are subject to
demonic liens, and this is why certain things that should be
happening in their lives cannot happen. This is why some women
have been praying for years about wanting a spouse, but they
cannot get married. This is why some couples have been praying for
children, but the wives are unable to conceive. This is why some
people’s lives and ministries cannot gain enough momentum to get
off the ground. A familiar spirit has infiltrated an area of their lives,
and it must be removed through spiritual force.
Thus, when spiritual liens against you and/or your bloodline go
unaddressed, this can create an opportunity for demonic spirits to
attach themselves to your life and destiny. But God desires for you to
be free of oppression and bondage in every area of your life. I don’t
know about you, but I want to live a debt-free life—not only materially
but also spiritually! The Bible says,
 The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the
lender. (Proverbs 22:7)

Whenever a person is in debt, they are enslaved to the one they

are indebted to. We are called to be the bondservants of Christ
alone, not the servants of the devil, sin, or our emotions. Jesus paid
our debt in full and released us from the curse and penalty of sin.
But, again, Satan, “the accuser of our brethren” (Revelation 12:10),
can place liens on the lives and destinies of God’s people when they
have, in some way, participated in iniquitous contracts and ungodly
covenants. Even though a person is born again, they can still be
afflicted by familiar spirits because they have unknowingly (and
sometimes knowingly) come into agreement with satanic powers.

DEMONIC ACCESS POINTS

What types of scenarios lead to our being oppressed by spiritual
debt collectors and demonic liens? They occur when we have open
doors or portals in our lives that leave us vulnerable. A “portal” may
be defined as “a doorway, gate, or other entrance, especially a large
and imposing one.”3 Simply put, portals are spiritual open doors that
give demons entrance. The enemy of our souls attempts to exploit
access points and “legal loopholes” that allow him to execute his
agenda in our lives.
I grew up in Georgia where the summers are very hot. In fact,
there were times when the heat felt unbearable to me. I particularly
remember the hot and humid summer nights, which typically
coincided with mosquito season. Honestly, when we stood outside, it
felt like we were being bitten by a horde of flesh-eating vampires. To
try to keep the mosquitoes away from us, we would slap our legs
and arms so often and so loudly that it sounded like a percussion
band! During that season, I would invariably hear the infamous shout
from my mother or grandmother, “Close the door! You are letting
bugs into the house!” At an early age, I learned the importance of
closing the doors to the house so as not to allow “unwanted guests”
inside. As simple as this analogy may seem, it teaches a very
powerful and important spiritual lesson: do not leave the doors to
your life open to demonic influence and oppression.
All demonic access points are the result of sin of some type. This
may be sin we initiate ourselves, or it may be sin others commit
against us that causes us to become susceptible to satanic
oppression because we subsequently fall into woundedness or
bitterness. There are other doors, including personal trauma and
ignorance, that may lead to demonic portals. In coming chapters, we
will be looking at various types of access points. However, since sin
—whether willful or inadvertent; whether of commission or omission
—is involved in most of the areas we will be discussing, in this
chapter, we will explore the specific relationship between “the law of
spiritual jurisdiction,” the impact of sin, and the influence of familiar
spirits.

SPIRITUAL JURISDICTION
If we don’t understand the legalities of the spiritual realm, we can
never successfully engage in spiritual warfare and overcome familiar
spirits. The spiritual realm is governed by spiritual laws and
protocols, and one of the first spiritual laws we must understand is
the law of jurisdiction. The word jurisdiction means “the official power
to make legal decisions and judgments,” “the extent of the power to
make legal decisions and judgments,” or “a system of law courts; a
judicature.” The word is derived etymologically from the combination
of two Latin words, jur (law) and dictio (saying).4
Human beings were given legal jurisdiction in the garden of Eden
before the fall of mankind:

And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, after Our
likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,
and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the
earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the
earth. (Genesis 1:26)

And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of
Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the LORD God commanded
 the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely
eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall
not eat of it: for in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely
die. (Genesis 2:15–17)

Even though human beings were given dominion by God, their

dominion had a jurisdiction: the parameters God had given them. As
long as they were living according to God’s will and purpose in the
garden of Eden, there was no creature on planet earth with more
power or authority. Contrary to popular belief, mankind did not evolve
through natural selection; we were specifically created and given
authority by our Creator. However, from the moment Adam and Eve
violated the law of jurisdiction by listening to the voice of the serpent
(the devil) and disobeying God’s direct instructions by eating from
the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, everything changed. When
they committed high treason against the King of the universe, they
allowed the enemy to strip them of their spiritual authority and rob
them of their intimacy with God. The moment they sinned, the spirit
of fear came into their lives, and they tried to run away from God’s
presence. (See Genesis 3:1–13.) The portal to demonic influence
had been opened.

THE DOOR OF SIN

And the LORD God said to the serpent, Because you have done
this, you are cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of
the field; upon your belly shall you go, and dust shall you eat all
the days of your life: and I will put enmity between you and the
woman, and between your seed and her seed; it shall bruise
your head, and you shall bruise his heel. To the woman He
said, I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in
sorrow you shall bring forth children; and your desire shall be to
your husband, and he shall rule over you. And to Adam He
said, Because you have hearkened to the voice of your wife,
and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying,
You shall not eat of it: cursed is the ground for your sake; in
sorrow shall you eat of it all the days of your life; thorns also
and thistles shall it bring forth to you; and you shall eat the herb
 of the field; in the sweat of your face shall you eat bread, till you
return to the ground; for out of it were you taken: for dust you
are, and to dust shall you return. (Genesis 3:14–19)

Notice that as a result of their sin, a curse entered into the lives of
human beings and into the world in general. (See also Romans
5:12–14; 8:19–23.) But God had a plan of redemption already in
place! (See Genesis 3:15.) The Bible says that the Lamb, Jesus,
was slain before the foundation of the world. (See Revelation 13:8.)
Jesus had to enter the earth as a human being through the womb of
Mary. This gave Him legal grounds to operate in the earthly realm as
the Son of Man. The way God designed the earth, spirits need
bodies to legally operate in the world. Because God is a Spirit, He
required a physical body in order to redeem humanity; hence, the
incarnation of Christ. Thank God for His plan of redemption!
Why is all this important to understand? Jesus’s work of
redemption was not simply to save our souls from sin—as
momentous as that work was—but to reinstate our spiritual
jurisdiction. Because of what Jesus accomplished on the cross, we
have authority and jurisdiction over the enemy once more. In other
words, we have the official power to make legal decisions and
judgments based on spiritual realities and spiritual laws. Guess who
knows this? Satan does! This is why he works tirelessly to get us to
abdicate our authority again through sin and ignorance. Our enemy
understands well the legalities of the spiritual realm and the effects
of sin.

SIN THE TASKMASTER

Jesus stated, “Verily, verily, I say to you, Whosoever commits sin is
the servant of sin” (John 8:34). The word “servant” here comes from
the Greek word doulos, which literally means “slave,” “bond servant,”
or “bondman.” A bondman is an indentured servant who labors for a
certain period of time to pay off their master for contracted expenses,
such as travel to work in another region or country, and room and
board.5
 When we operate in sin, we violate spiritual laws and open our
lives to spiritual debt, and this debt, in turn, attracts demonic debt
collectors and can even result in spiritual slavery or servanthood.
The reality of our spiritual debt is central to the purpose of Jesus’s
sacrifice. His death on the cross in our place released the human
race from its debt to sin, a concept we will explore more fully later in
this chapter.
Jesus taught us that whoever commits sin is the servant or slave
of sin. This is a very powerful statement, but it is much more
complex than we often realize. Jesus was not just talking about
someone making a mistake and doing something wrong. He was
talking about someone engaging in deliberate, willful, continual sin.
The Greek word translated “commits” in John 8:34 is poieō, among
whose various meanings are “to make,” “to acquire,” “to constitute,”
“to carry out,” “to execute,” and “to perform.”
Willful, unrepentant sin is the most potent means of demonic
powers entering the lives of believers. In fact, it is a magnetic force
for familiar spirits. Willful sin is risky and dangerous for us because it
keeps us from having sustained victory in Christ. Therefore, when
we persist in unrepentant sin, we are opening the door to evil spirits.
Not only does unrepentant sin open the door, but, as I previously
mentioned, it also causes spiritual agreements to form, granting
demonic powers legal rights to withhold, delay, suppress, oppress,
hinder, or stop the free flow of our spiritual destinies.
Jesus is saying that if we enter into an agreement with sin, then sin
will become our slave master. For example, if you engage in an illicit
relationship with someone, whatever demonic oppression is upon
that person’s life has legal access to you. (See 1 Corinthians 6:16.)
Someone who enters into a sexual relationship outside of marriage
may suddenly start to feel depressed and suicidal, even though
these are not their own feelings. It is because a spirit of suicide is
attached to their sexual partner. Such a spiritual legal attachment
can be perpetuated for years. Until this legal claim is released, it can
follow people throughout their lives and even influence their children
and subsequent generations. The only way it can be lifted is through
revelation (understanding what is occurring in the spiritual realm),
repentance, and receiving the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on their
behalf.

Whosoever commits sin transgresses also the law: for sin is the
transgression of the law. (1 John 3:4)

Then when lust hath conceived, it brings forth sin: and sin,
when it is finished, brings forth death. (James 1:15)

The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

Because of Adam and Eve’s sin, Satan had the legal grounds to
collect the debt and ultimately administer death to mankind as a
spiritual consequence of their sin. This penalty of death began with
the first human beings but was applicable to the entire human race.
This is why there is sickness, poverty, oppression, and death in the
world today. But it was never God’s original design for mankind to be
afflicted with those consequences or any other kind of suffering.
Romans 5:8 says,

But God commends his love toward us, in that, while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Jesus died on the cross in our place to atone for our sins as the
only acceptable, substitutionary sacrifice and to remove the
sentence of condemnation that was against us. He released the debt
we owed through the efficacy of His blood. When we place our faith
and trust in Him and repent of our sins, we receive forgiveness and
are released from the debt.

“CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON”

He that digs a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaks a hedge, a
serpent shall bite him. (Ecclesiastes 10:8)

Let’s look at the principle of legal access a little more closely. As I

wrote earlier, some theologians believe demonic powers were
present in the earth before human beings fell into sin. However,
these demonic spirits did not have any legal rights to interfere with
humanity until Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge of
Good and Evil. There is no record that Adam or Eve committed any
additional rebellious acts against God after their fall in the garden of
Eden. Yet human beings lost their fellowship and communion with
the Creator from that point on. This loss of fellowship with God
became the basis of humankind’s spiritual depravity. By the time we
get to Cain and Abel in Genesis 4, mankind had become so
degenerate in just one generation that Cain murdered his brother.
Sin opened the door to the spirit of murder. As the Lord told Cain,

If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do

well, sin is couching [“lies” KJV, KJVER] at the door; its desire is
for you, but you must master it. (Genesis 4:7 RSV)

The word “couching” in the Revised Standard Version or “lies” in

the King James Version is translated from the Hebrew word rābas,
which means “to crouch (on all four legs folded, like a recumbent
animal); by implication to recline, repose, brood, lurk.”6 Sin was
crouching at the door of Cain’s life, looking for a way in. And it found
a legal entrance—envy. Cain’s envy toward his brother, Abel, led to
a spirit of jealousy, and this jealousy ultimately led to murder.
A profound spiritual law may be drawn from this passage of
Scripture. Spiritual forces work by the law of invitation, a concept we
will explore in more detail in later chapters. Despite His infinite power
and sovereignty, God has chosen not to move on the earth without
human invitation. You may be thinking, “But He is God—He can do
whatever He wants.” You are absolutely right! And He wants to
operate by invitation. He does not desire to force Himself upon us or
nullify the will He has given us. But God is not the only one desiring
an invitation to come into our lives. Demonic powers are also
governed by the spiritual law of invitation. Contrary to popular belief,
Satan cannot do whatever he wants or arbitrarily enter people’s lives
and circumstances. He can only go where he is invited or where
accommodation has been made for him. The enemy of our souls is
constantly looking for such an opening.
 Years ago, a movie was released called Crouching Tiger, Hidden
Dragon. Although it was a martial arts fantasy/action film, I believe
the title fits our discussion about familiar spirits. The accuser is like a
“crouching lion” and a “hidden dragon.” He is constantly lurking, out
of sight, at the door to our lives. This is why the apostle Paul wrote,

Neither give place to the devil. (Ephesians 4:27)

Again, the enemy can only go where he is invited or where an

accommodation of some sort has been made for him. The Bible
says, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a
roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter
5:8). This verse is another very interesting and profound statement.
First, let’s look at the word “adversary.” It is translated from the
Greek word antidikos, one of the meanings of which is “an opponent
in a suit of law.” Satan is an opponent who seeks legal claims
against the people of God. The devil is a professional litigant. He
“walks about” seeking spiritual damages from those who are not
vigilant and who are outside of the will and Word of God.
The phrase “walks about” is rendered from the Greek word
peripateō, among whose meanings is “to make due use of
opportunities.” The devil is an opportunist; he cannot go after
everyone or every situation, so he looks for opportunities that have
been left open for him to exploit. It is similar to a person who goes
around filing lawsuits every week. They look for a spill on the floor at
the grocery store or the next car accident. They lie in wait for an
opportunity to bring an accusation that will cause them to receive
recompense of some form. This is the nature of our enemy.
Satan knows that there is nothing he can do in your life without
your permission. And this is why Paul admonished us to give him no
place. We must be alert to the schemes and tactics of the wicked
one. Many people would suggest that the devil needs God’s
permission to do anything, but the reality is that he needs your
permission and agreement in order to carry out his diabolical plan in
your life.
CONFESSION AND CLEANSING
Sin is the atmosphere where demonic spirits thrive because it is
the same atmosphere in which the devil operates. Thus, when we
are engaged in willful sin against God, it sets spiritual consequences
in motion. That is why we must seek to live a lifestyle of holiness and
repentance. If you know that there are areas of blatant and willful sin
in your life, I encourage you to repent and turn away from those sins
now. Confess your sins to God and ask Him to deliver you and heal
you in those areas. Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to expose any area
of hidden or secret sin in your life before the light of God’s Word.
God is compassionate and eager to forgive if we come to Him with a
sincere heart of repentance. First John 1:9 tells us:

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our

sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The Greek word translated “confess” is homologeo, which means

“to say the same thing as another, i.e. to agree with, assent” or “to
admit or declare one’s self guilty of what one is accused of.” Once
we agree with God, we break the enemy’s power. We must admit
when we have missed the mark and turn to God in humility, faith,
and repentance.
The moment you confess your sin to God (and, in some cases,
confess your sin to those whom your actions have impacted) and
turn away from that sin, you receive supernatural cleansing from
guilt, shame, and condemnation—and the accuser is silenced. Let
me be clear: our sins are forgiven by the efficacious, atoning
sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. His blood was shed to cleanse us
from unrighteousness. It is by grace alone that we overcome the
power of sin. We can live above sin by relying on the grace of God
and the power of the Holy Spirit.

THE LAW BRINGS DEATH, BUT THE SPIRIT GIVES LIFE

First John 1:5 says, “This then is the message which we have
heard of Him, and declare to you, that God is light, and in Him is no
darkness at all.” To walk in darkness is to invite evil spirits. We must
guard our hearts and our souls against the sway of sin. To recognize
and receive God’s grace, we must first understand that the Old
Testament law was not given with the intent to bring life but to
function as a guide for living within the confines of what was
acceptable to God and to warn of the punishment for breaking that
law.

If you will not observe to do all the words of this law that are
written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and fearful
name, THE LORD YOUR GOD; then the LORD will make your
plagues wonderful, and the plagues of your seed, even great
plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of
long continuance. Moreover He will bring upon you all the
diseases of Egypt, which you were afraid of; and they shall
cling to you. Also every sickness, and every plague which is not
written in the book of this law, them will the LORD bring upon
you, until you be destroyed. And you shall be left few in
number, whereas you were as the stars of heaven for
multitude; because you would not obey the voice of the LORD
your God. (Deuteronomy 28:58–62)

Ultimately, the law pointed to the need for the sacrifice of Christ on
our behalf, which would bring us into a new and better covenant by
faith in Him:

But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up to
the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the
law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might
be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no
longer under a schoolmaster. For you are all the children of
God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (Galatians 3:23–27)

For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by
Jesus Christ. (John 1:17)

Satan and his demons came to discourage, torment, harass,

abuse, and ultimately destroy people by preventing them from
receiving and walking in the abundant life God desires for them.
Jesus came to provide an abundant life in the kingdom of God for all
who believe in Him. In John 10:10, Jesus said,

The thief comes 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.

We have seen that when we willfully sin against God and disobey
His Word—as a practice and a lifestyle—we invite spiritual darkness
into our lives, making ourselves (and sometimes our loved ones)
vulnerable to spiritual attacks and demonic oppression. This is not to
say that every attack that comes against our lives is the result of
something we did wrong or a sin that we have committed; however,
we must understand that a failure to operate according to the Word
of God can unnecessarily expose us to negative spiritual
consequences. Sometimes, we don’t realize that we are going
against God’s Word and leaving ourselves vulnerable. In coming
chapters, we will explore some specific ways we can open demonic
portals in our lives and how to close them again so we may live in
peace and freedom. But first, we need to better understand our
restored authority and jurisdiction as believers in Jesus Christ.

PRAYER OF RELEASE
Heavenly Father, thank You for releasing me of my debt to You
as my Creator through the efficacy of the shed blood of Your
Son, Jesus Christ. Because of Jesus, I am under a new
covenant that gives me power and authority over Satan and
familiar spirits. Therefore, I ask that You would forgive me for
any ways in which I have violated my covenant with You and
opened myself to spiritual debt. Forgive me for any areas of my
life that I have not submitted to the Spirit of God out of
stubbornness or self-will that have led to bondage through
demonic agreements. And for any doors I may have
unknowingly opened in my life, I ask the Holy Spirit to reveal
those areas to me. Your Word says in Revelation 3:7 that Jesus
is “the one who has the key of David. What he opens, no one
 can close; and what he closes, no one can open.”7 Therefore, I
ask You, Lord, to close all doors to the demonic realm that I
have illegally opened. I declare that I am free, by faith and
through the blood of Jesus Christ! Amen.

INSIGHTS FOR OVERCOMING

1. Familiar spirits are like debt collectors because they pursue

people who are in breach of spiritual covenants or
agreements and have fallen into “spiritual debt.”
2. Demonic liens cause people to continually struggle with the
same hindrances and problems. The reason is that a
familiar spirit has infiltrated an area of their lives, and it
must be removed through spiritual force.
3. Willful, unrepentant sin is the most potent means of
demonic powers entering the lives of believers.
4. Jesus’s work of redemption was not simply to save our
souls from sin—as momentous as that work was—but to
reinstate our spiritual jurisdiction and enable us to have
victory over the enemy.

PRACTICUM

1. Write down areas in your life in which you desire to receive

revelation from God about being released from spiritual
debt and demonic liens.
2. As you receive further revelation and insight from God,
pray and ask God’s forgiveness for areas in which you
have given the devil a foothold in your life.
3. Read and commit these verses to memory:

Verily, verily, I say to you, Whosoever commits sin is the

servant of sin. (John 8:34)

Neither give place to the devil. (Ephesians 4:27)

 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

1 Lexico.com, s.v. “debt,” https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/debt.

2 Lexico.com, s.v. “lien,” https://www.lexico.com/definition/lien.
3 Lexico.com, s.v. “portal,” https://www.lexico.com/definition/portal.
4 Lexico.com, s.v. “jurisdiction,”

https://www.lexico.com/definition/jurisdiction.
5 Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, s.v. “indentured servant,”

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/indentured%20servant.
6 Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, STRONG, © 1980,

1986, and assigned to World Bible Publishers, Inc.

7 NLT.
 3
The Authority of the Believer

“Behold, I give to you power to tread on serpents and scorpions,

and over all the power of the enemy:
and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”
—Luke 10:19

As New Testament believers, we have been given supernatural

authority to overcome familiar spirits through the name of Jesus and
the power of the Holy Spirit. I can’t emphasize this point enough.
However, if we are going to successfully operate in this authority, we
must understand the way authority works.
Imagine that a person is driving sixty-five miles per hour on a
twenty-five-mile-per-hour street, and they are being pursued by the
police. They would probably notice the flashing lights of the police
car and slow down, pull over to the side of the road, roll down their
window, and provide the officer with their driver’s license and
registration. The police officer would likely ask them if they knew the
posted speed limit and question why they had been driving so fast.
Most reasonable people would cooperate with the officer,
displaying a tremendous amount of respect. Why? Because of the
police officer’s legal authority. While there are some people who
would not obey the instructions of the police, such individuals are, by
far, the exception. Police officers have received delegated authority
to confront, apprehend, and arrest those who break the law. If the
individual violating the law does not respond to the badge of
authority, the officer is empowered to use force to back up that
authority. This will normally cause the person being confronted to
comply with the officer’s directives.
Now imagine a police officer who does not abide by the rule of law.
They would compromise their ability to operate in their authority. If
the officer were corrupt, turning a blind eye to crimes being
committed and allowing lawbreakers to do as they pleased, that
officer would be guilty of neglecting to execute and uphold the trust
they had been given.

OPERATING IN SPIRITUAL POWER AND AUTHORITY

In many ways, we are like spiritual police officers. We have been
given authority by Jesus Christ to confront, apprehend, and arrest
demonic powers. And, when we are abiding by the rule of law in our
spiritual lives, familiar spirits and other demonic powers recognize
our authority.
Unlike natural police officers, the authority we carry is not backed
by an earthly institution but by all of heaven! I will discuss this
concept in more detail shortly. This does not mean that demonic
powers won’t continue to attempt to break spiritual laws or bring
destruction to people’s lives. But it does mean that, as believers, we
have jurisdictional authority to confront these spirits and deal with
them accordingly.
Remember, nothing can function—whether in a positive or a
negative way—in our spiritual lives without our permission, and, for
this reason, familiar spirits are constantly looking for permission to
operate. Again, they can only operate in the areas of our lives where
we grant them access. I have literally spoken to hundreds of
thousands of people who are struggling with the oppression of
demonic powers. Some of these demonic powers manifest in the
form of sickness, while others manifest in the form of addiction,
compulsion, or calamity. However, one thing is certain: if there is
demonic activity (especially persistent activity), some form of
agreement has been established in the spiritual realm—either on the
part of the individual or on the part of someone who has influence in
their lives. This agreement can be conscious or unconscious.
Many years ago, I spoke with a woman who was dealing with a
chronic illness. She had been diagnosed with this sickness at a very
young age, so she had lived with the condition for nearly her entire
life. When she experienced an attack, she would often collapse as a
result of the tremendous pain it inflicted. One day, I asked her if she
desired to be whole. It was then that she realized she had come into
agreement with a spirit of infirmity—a familiar spirit.
It is not uncommon for people with certain conditions to gather
around, and build community with, others based on their shared
afflictions. While I am an advocate of support groups, we must be
careful not to build “community” around demons. Unfortunately,
many people have unknowingly granted agreement to demonic
entities because they have believed a narrative that was untrue and
unscriptural. For example, they may think that their condition is
chronic and hopeless. Beloved, this is a lie from the pit of darkness.
You can be healed! You can be free! You can be whole in every area
of your life. However, demons do not want you to believe this is
possible or walk in this truth. They will torment, harass, oppress, and
afflict in order to maintain their open door—the door of agreement.

FOUR PRINCIPLES FOR EXERCISING SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY

In order to exercise authority over demonic powers, we must
understand and align our lives with four key spiritual principles. As
with other truths, these principles overlap, but it is essential to
recognize each aspect.

1. ALL AUTHORITY AND POWER HAVE A SOURCE

First, all authority and power have a source. The type and degree
of authority and power is determined by its source. God is all
encompassing, and therefore He is our number one source for
everything we need for “life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3).
Ultimately, all power comes from the spiritual realm, including life
itself. In John 1:1–4, we read:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with
God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not
any thing made that was made. In Him was life; and the life
was the light of men.
 As created beings, our very life was breathed into us by God. As
the Scriptures tell us, “For in Him we live, and move, and have our
being” (Acts 17:28). Therefore, any power that we operate in and
through must come from God, who is the legal source of all things
incorruptible. This power is obtained (received) through transference
(connection). Where there is no connection, there is no power!
Imagine that one of your electrical appliances is disconnected from
the power outlet, and it doesn’t have any batteries inside. Now
imagine that you press the “on” button to that appliance. What
happens? You guessed it! Absolutely nothing. The same principle is
true of our spiritual lives. If we attempt to operate in the spiritual
power and authority that our heavenly Father has given us without
maintaining a healthy connection to Him, that power and authority
will have no potency. Jesus taught us:

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of

itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can you, except you
abide in Me. (John 15:4)

This verse points to the interconnection between the branch—us,

as believers—and the Vine—Jesus, in His complete and divine
personhood—as a necessity for us to walk in power. We have no life
or power of our own. When we remain connected to God, “bearing
fruit,” or producing results for His kingdom, becomes inevitable. It is
a supernatural consequence of being joined with the One who is life.
It is impossible to come up empty if and when God is at the helm of
your life.

2. AUTHORITY AND POWER ARE RECEIVED OR

TRANSFERRED
Second, in connection with knowing that God is our ultimate
source, we must understand that all true authority is received or
transferred. As I mentioned earlier, we do not have any spiritual
authority outside of Jesus. We have to experience a level of
pressing, of revelation, that brings us to a place of conviction that,
without Christ, we can do nothing. (See John 15:4.) Without
transference from the one and only, all powerful, living God, we can
have no real, sustainable power. In fact, if we operate in any
supernatural or natural power that does not align with the Word of
God, that power is illegal, illegitimate, and can bring people under
submission to the influence of demonic spirits.
Contrary to what many believers think, sitting in a pew in a church
is not a qualification for receiving God’s power. How do we know
this? There are many believers who have attended church for years
but do not exercise—and perhaps have never exercised—God’s
power. They haven’t experienced His power in their lives or seen it
demonstrated within their families.
It is necessary that we first receive from God in order to operate
from heaven. This does not have to do with attaining head
knowledge about Him. Rather, it is a conscious revelation of the
power of God flowing to us and through us because of the presence
and work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We must acknowledge the
Spirit of God as the One who lives in us. Because of Him, we have
supernatural capabilities and the conviction of “Christ in you”
(Colossians 1:27) to operate in power and authority.
It is necessary for us to understand that familiar spirits cannot
inhabit environments where God’s presence and Spirit are hosted—
dare I say—continuously. The great men of God in the book of Acts
had to continually walk in spiritual victory to see kingdom results. It
would have been difficult for them to have seen the sustained move
of God if they hadn’t yielded to His power and His way of doing
things.
Just before Jesus ascended to heaven, He told His disciples to
wait in Jerusalem until they had received heavenly power:

And, behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you: but

tarry you in the city of Jerusalem, until you be endued with
power from on high. (Luke 24:49)

But you shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come
upon you: and you shall be witnesses to Me both in Jerusalem,
and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and to the uttermost part of
the earth. (Acts 1:8)
 After Christ’s resurrection, it was necessary for His followers to
receive God’s Spirit in order to be able to function in the same way
He had when He walked on the earth. Acts 10:38 reminds us:

God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with
power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were
oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him.

The level of authority and power that is transferred is determined

by the strength of what is delegated. In the Gospels, Jesus referred
to delegated power when commissioning His disciples:

Behold, I give to you power to tread on serpents and scorpions,

and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any
means hurt you. (Luke 10:19)

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All power is given
to Me in heaven and in earth. Go you therefore, and teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things
whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you
always, even to the end of the world. (Matthew 28:18–20)

Authority is delegated from one person (or government) to another.

Delegated authority is the right to act on the behalf of the one who
has the ultimate authority. Earlier, we talked about how, for the
believer, Christ is the only legal access to power and authority. So,
the spiritual authority that every Christian possesses comes from
Jesus alone. We do not have any spiritual authority outside of Him.
Jesus was intentional about delegating His power and authority to
His disciples, including us:

Verily, verily, I say to you, he that believes on Me, the works

that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he
do; because I go to My Father. (John 14:12)

Christ delegated authority to His apostles and other disciples so

that, wherever they went, the people they met would encounter the
life of Jesus—the life of the One who had been given all power and
authority in heaven and on earth. The disciples were thus equipped
with the power to heal and to set free those who were bound.
Healing and deliverance were signatures of Jesus’s ministry while
He was on the earth. Hence, through the Holy Spirit, Jesus’s
followers become like the One who commissioned and sent them,
and they replicate His acts.

And with great power gave the apostles witness of the

resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them
all. (Acts 4:33)

Therefore, in order to receive from heaven so that we can function

from heaven, we must be connected to heaven. We must be in a
posture to manifest what Christ has made available to us. This
means we must be deliberate and obedient in our walk with God. If
we want to experience the victory that Christ paid for us and to
function in demonstrative power, we cannot be complacent or
rebellious. As born-again believers, we need to be connected to the
kingdom of God through the Word of God, which is the manual for
how we operate in kingdom authority. It is essential that we
surrender our lives to the Lord, be prepared to sacrifice for Christ’s
sake, and keep ourselves available for God’s kingdom purposes.

3. AUTHORITY AND POWER ARE JURISDICTIONAL

Third, we must remember that authority and power are
jurisdictional. In chapter 1, we discussed the word jurisdiction in
regard to God’s original mandate for human beings in the garden of
Eden, as well as in reference to the legal rights of evil spirits to our
lives when we give them an invitation or opening. Let’s review the
meaning of the concept of jurisdiction: “the official power to make
legal decisions and judgments” and “the extent of the power to make
legal decisions and judgments.” All authority in the kingdom of God
operates according to the divine principle of jurisdiction.
To use an illustration from the earthly realm, an individual police
officer does not have authority in every location in their community,
state, and country. The officer is authorized to exercise their
delegated authority within the specific precinct or jurisdiction to which
they have been assigned, under the supervision of their superior. As
believers, we have jurisdictional authority over demons and over the
devil himself. However, we do not have authority over another
human being’s will. God Himself does not infringe upon the human
will.
It is also important to note that there are levels of spiritual
authority. When Jesus declared, “All power is given to Me in heaven
and in earth” (Matthew 28:18), He acknowledged that the authority
and power He possessed were granted to Him by His heavenly
Father. The Greek word translated “power” in this verse is exousia,
which is often translated as “authority.” The Father was always the
Son’s source of life and power. Jesus also acknowledged the
jurisdiction of His authority: “in heaven and in earth.” He sent out the
apostles with the same authority that He had. And if they had the
same authority, it would stand to reason that the authority had the
same jurisdiction. As Jesus’s followers, we, too, have been given
authority “in heaven and in earth.” Hallelujah! That ought to be good
news to somebody!
This principle has powerful implications not only for individual
believers but also for the church as a whole. In Matthew 16:18,
Jesus said, “I will build My church.” The Greek word translated
“church” is ekklesia, which, among many meanings, refers to a
“gathering” or “legislature.” The church is a spiritual community
endowed with heavenly power and authority; we have been given
the ability to legislate spiritual atmospheres. God has given the body
of Christ authority over regions and territories. But when the church
collectively concedes its spiritual authority, it can make room for the
operation of demonic spirits.
If we come into agreement with the plans of the enemy by making
compromises and concessions, our towns and cities will be deeply
impacted. Years ago, I was living in a crime-ridden and drug-infested
neighborhood. There was a crack house across the street from my
home. The people who occupied that crack house were engaged in
trafficking and prostitution as well. One day, my mother-in-law asked
me if I knew what was going on in that house. Of course, I knew
what was going on, but I told her that we couldn’t do anything about
it. She quickly exclaimed, “I thought you had the authority!”
I was both shocked and challenged by her reply. I said to myself,
“She is right! I do have the authority in Christ.” That same day, I went
to the edge of my porch and said, “In the name of Jesus, I declare
that this house is shut down!” and then went back into my home.
Two weeks later, the crack house was abandoned, and it was
eventually condemned by the city. We never called a single
governmental agency about the problem, although there is nothing
wrong with calling the authorities. Instead, we dealt with the problem
spiritually. Imagine what would happen if churches all over America
began to declare with authority that the trafficking and prostitution
and crack houses in their various cities would cease and desist!

4. AUTHORITY AND POWER HAVE A COST

Fourth, we must be aware that there is a cost to operating in
kingdom authority and power. It is not a passive stance. Authority
only functions when you operate in the confines of the instruction of
the one delegating it to you. This means we cannot be estranged
from God’s Manual, or Word, and maintain legal power to operate. If
the enemy can disconnect us from our spiritual source, he can strip
us of our power.
Christ Jesus was aware of and deliberate in acknowledging the
source of His power:

Then answered Jesus and said to them, Verily, verily, I say to

you, The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the
Father do: for what things soever He does, these also does the
Son likewise. (John 5:19)

It is the case for millions of people that, even after receiving Christ
and experiencing being born again, within a very short time, they
become lukewarm or cold concerning the things of God. Why is that?
There are various factors. Perhaps they were not discipled or did not
maintain a connection with their local church (if they had one) and
therefore fell into stagnation. I emphasize this because I know how
easy it can be to stray from or become disconnected from God and
the life of His Spirit.
It does not matter how ecstatic or illustrious our encounters with
God may be, the accuser of the brethren is forever on a mission to
divert our attention from the Creator so that we do not come into the
full manifestation of His power in us. Remember that Satan’s
motivation is “to steal, and to kill, and to destroy” (John 10:10). Yes,
there are costs to maintaining our relationship with God, such as
vigilance and continually allowing His Word to conform us to the
image of His Son. However, the costs are greater if we become
estranged from God and His Word, as well as from the body of
Christ.
Jesus always operated in the anointing for which He came to
earth. But we must remember what it cost Jesus to redeem us.
Christ’s obedience to God the Father required Him to operate within
the parameters the Father had given Him and to rely totally on the
power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus not only paid a price of obedience
and sacrifice throughout His three years of ministry, but He also paid
the ultimate price—death on a cross. As a result, the Father set Him
“far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and
every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that
which is to come” (Ephesians 1:21). Thank You, Jesus!
Because Jesus paid the full cost, died for our sins, and rose
triumphantly, He is the One who is able to sustain and help us. You
and I function from His power, not our own.

Now to Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all

that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.
(Ephesians 3:20)

It is Jesus’s responsibility to save and deliver, and it is our

responsibility to abide in Him. Again, it is His power that works in us
when we stay connected to our source. That is why our stance in
Christ has to be deliberate. We have to be available for Him to use
us in His purposes; we must sacrifice our time and energy to read,
study, and meditate on the Word of God; we need to operate as God
wills and to surrender to His plans for our lives.
Christ lives in and through us to establish and operate the reality of
God’s kingdom here on earth:

For You [Jesus, the Lamb] were slain, and have redeemed us
to God by Your blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and
people, and nation; and have made us to our God kings and
priests: and we shall reign on the earth. (Revelation 5:9–10)

Each and every one of us has a calling on our lives. How we

function within that calling depends upon our connection to the
source of power—our deliberate yielding to God. Jesus said, “For
many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14). In order for
us to walk in the manifestation of what Christ worked for us on the
cross and by His resurrection, His authority and power must be
evident in our lives.
You and I had to receive Christ before we could walk in His
authority. When we accepted His shed blood on our behalf, when
God gave us a measure of faith to answer the call to salvation and
profess our commitment to Jesus, when we believed and received
the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit—all of these aspects were
evidence that Jesus was calling us to Himself so that we could be a
blessing to others under His authority and in the power of His Spirit.

To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and
from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive
forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are
sanctified by faith that is in Me. (Acts 26:18)

You have been given everything you need to live out the reality of
your salvation, to go “from faith to faith” (Romans 1:17) and “from
glory to glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18 NKJV), to walk out the calling of
God on your life. Notice that I didn’t say “to walk out your job.” Your
job is what you are paid for, but your calling is what you are made
for. A set of freshly printed business cards with the title “Pastor” or
“Apostle” or “Evangelist” is not what qualifies you for ministry.
Obedience to God and His Word is what will bear supernatural fruit
in your life. We dishonor God our Creator when we disobey His way
of doing things. And whenever we dishonor our head, or authority,
we lose influence. This is true not just of our relationship with God,
but also of our relationships with human beings whom He has placed
in authority over us to guide us in our natural and spiritual walks on
earth.
Remember, in the book of Acts, the believers were able to do great
works only because they were connected to their Source. Their
works were always in keeping with the parameters of the gospel they
had received and the power of the Holy Spirit working in them. Paul
wrote,

For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. (1

Corinthians 4:20)

…through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit

of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum,
I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. (Romans 15:19)

STAY UNDER GOD’S PROTECTION

To conclude this chapter on the believer’s authority, I want to
emphasize again that anything from the spiritual realm needs
permission to freely operate on the physical earth. We must
continually stay obedient to God and under His protection to have
authority over familiar spirits—both to prevent them from infiltrating
our lives in the first place and to regain our authority over them after
we have given them an opening.
In Numbers 22, there is a very interesting story of a backslidden
prophet named Balaam whose prophetic ministry became
contaminated by his love of money. People with a prophetic gifting
on their lives must be particularly careful not to defile themselves by
a love of money. This story is also a very detailed example of how
familiar spirits operate.

[King Balak of Moab] sent messengers therefore to Balaam the

son of Beor to Pethor, which is by the river of the land of the
 children of his people, to call him, saying, Behold, there is a
people come out from Egypt: behold, they cover the face of the
earth, and they abide opposite me: come now therefore, I pray
you, curse me this people; for they are too mighty for me:
perhaps I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may
drive them out of the land: for I know that he whom you bless is
blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed. And the elders of
Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of
divination in their hand; and they came to Balaam, and spoke
to him the words of Balak. (Numbers 22:5–7)

King Balak of Moab was intimidated by the Israelites, so he wanted

them destroyed. He knew Balaam was an accurate prophet, and he
wanted to pay Balaam a handsome sum of money in order to decree
a curse over God’s people. In the ancient world, curses were verbal
pronouncements or imprecations that could carry spiritual authority.
Such curses would set spiritual forces in motion that could cause ill
favor, sickness, calamity, destruction, and/or even death.
It is very important to understand that pagan nations such as the
Moabites were in agreement with, and under the authority of,
demonic powers. They hated Israel because of the spirits that were
controlling them. King Balak did not have the spiritual authority to
curse the Israelites himself, so he sought to hire Balaam to do his
dirty work. Of course, if you are familiar with this story, you know that
things did not go according to King Balak’s plan. Instead of cursing
the Israelites, Balaam blessed them, later saying, “How shall I curse,
whom God has not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the LORD has
not defied?” (Numbers 23:8).
The twist in the story comes two chapters later, in Numbers 25:

And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit

whoredom with the daughters of Moab. And they called the
people to the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat,
and bowed down to their gods. And Israel joined himself to
Baal-peor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against
Israel. (Numbers 25:1–3)
 Even though King Balak had not been able to curse the Israelites
through divine imprecation, the Israelites brought a curse upon
themselves by violating spiritual laws. Many of the men married
Moabite women, thus inviting familiar spirits to defile their people.
They participated in idolatrous practices. They entered into a
covenant with the very people who had been hell-bent on destroying
them; by doing so, they opened the door to spiritual consequences
and provoked God to judge them. This is what God told Moses to do
to those involved in worshipping Baal-peor:

Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the
LORD against the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may be
turned away from Israel. And Moses said to the judges of
Israel, Slay you every one his men that were joined to Baal-
peor. (Numbers 25:4–5)

Wow! This sequence of events is a profound revelation about

spiritual warfare. The Moabites represent demonic powers. They
worshipped demons disguised as deities. They performed evil rituals
and defiled the land they inhabited. Again, their association with
demonic powers is why they were always hostile toward the
Israelites. Note that when the Israelites operated under divine
protection, their enemies could not successfully curse them.
However, when they went out from under that protection, they were
susceptible to the curse.
The accuser of the brethren does not care how you experience
destruction—whether it is by self-condemnation, spiritual oppression,
or judgment—as long as he can establish a legal accusation in the
spiritual realm. The apostle Paul urged the Romans:

Neither yield you your members as instruments of

unrighteousness to sin: but yield yourselves to God, as those
that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments
of righteousness to God.… Know you not, that to whom you
yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to
whom you obey; whether of sin to death, or of obedience to
righteousness?… I speak after the manner of men because of
 the infirmity of your flesh: for as you have yielded your
members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity to iniquity;
even so now yield your members servants to
righteousness to holiness. (Romans 6:13, 16, 19)

One dictionary definition of the verb yield is “to give way under
force or pressure.”111 The Greek word translated “yield” in the above
passage is paristēmi. In a literal sense, several of its meanings are
“to place beside or near,” “to set at hand,” “to provide,” “to place a
person or thing at one’s disposal,” “to present or show,” and “to bring
to, bring near.” Figuratively, the word can mean “to bring into one’s
fellowship or intimacy.”
In the past, we may have unknowingly (or knowingly) yielded to the
influence of familiar spirits. But now that we understand the nature of
these wicked spirits and how they seek an invitation to infiltrate our
lives, we can stop their oppression by actively yielding to God
instead. We can repent and seek the Lord, committing ourselves to
Him and to obeying His Word. Then He will restore our spiritual
authority and power to defeat familiar spirits and expel them from our
spiritual jurisdiction. Remember these words of Paul:

That you may know what is the hope of His calling, and what
the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what
is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who
believe, according to the working of His mighty power.
(Ephesians 1:18–19)

PRAYER OF RELEASE
Heavenly Father, thank You for the spiritual authority and power
You have given me through Christ Jesus. You have granted me
the ability to confront, apprehend, and arrest demonic powers.
As long as I am abiding by the rule of law in my spiritual life,
familiar spirits and other demonic powers will recognize my
authority, and they can be stopped and expelled. I yield myself
completely to You, and I ask You to help me align my life with
the spiritual principles of authority. I recognize You as the sole
source of my authority and power. I ask You to help me, as the
 branch, to remain continually connected to You, the Vine. Let
me recognize and submit to the power of the Holy Spirit flowing
through me so that I can walk in victory in my own life and help
build the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven: bringing
healing, deliverance, and Your transforming love to everyone I
meet. In Jesus’s name, amen!

INSIGHTS FOR OVERCOMING

1. If we are going to successfully operate in spiritual authority,

we must understand the way authority works.
2. We have been given authority by Jesus Christ to confront,
apprehend, and arrest demonic powers. When we are
abiding by the rule of law in our spiritual lives, familiar
spirits and other demonic powers recognize our authority.
3. Because of the indwelling Holy Spirit, we have supernatural
capabilities and the conviction of “Christ in you”
(Colossians 1:27) to operate in power and authority.
4. In order to exercise authority over demonic powers, we
must understand and align our lives with these four key
spiritual principles: (1) all authority and power have a
source; (2) authority and power are received or transferred;
(3) authority and power are jurisdictional; (4) authority and
power have a cost.

ASK YOURSELF

1. Am I operating in the spiritual authority Christ has provided

for me? Why or why not?
2. Which of the four principles of spiritual authority do I
especially need to move into alignment with at this time in
my life?
3. If I have moved out from under God’s authority, what steps
can I take to yield to Him and be restored to my spiritual
inheritance?
1 Lexico.com, s.v. “yield,” https://www.lexico.com/definition/yield.
 4
Demonic Portals: Emotions and Thoughts

“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things

are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure,
whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report;
if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise,
think on these things.”
—Philippians 4:8

Now that we know our spiritual authority in Christ, we are ready to

look more closely at the various doors that the enemy uses to find an
entrance to our lives. To return to our earlier analogy, demonic
powers are like mosquitoes that attempt to gain access in order to
“feed” on believers. When we leave spiritual doors open through sin
and ignorance, we allow these unwanted guests to attach
themselves to our lives and cause confusion, frustration, havoc,
sickness, calamity, destruction, despair, and even death.
Some of these demonic portals have similar elements, but each is
important to discuss individually. In this chapter, we will explore
demonic portals connected to our emotions and thoughts, and in
chapter 5, we will examine portals related to curses and soul ties.

OFFENSE AND UNFORGIVENESS

One of the ways we open our lives to spiritual debt and demonic
liens is through holding on to an offense and refusing to forgive
others. In fact, I believe offense or unforgiveness is the single
greatest doorway to demonization and oppression. In my opinion,
more familiar spirits are invited into people’s lives through offense
than by any other means. The apostle Paul wrote,

Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions

and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned;
and avoid them. (Romans 16:17)
 Paul uses a very interesting Greek word for “offenses” in this verse
—skandalon. This is the term from which the English word scandal
was derived. Skandalon literally means “a trap,” “a snare,” or “any
impediment placed in the way and causing one to stumble or fall, (a
stumbling block, occasion of stumbling) i.e. a rock which is a cause
of stumbling.” This is a word picture of a fowler who sets a trap for
his prey. Once the bird takes the bait, it is ensnared and ultimately
killed. In other words, offense is a trap set by Satan to lead people
into spiritual bondage and even spiritual death. Often, people do not
understand the severity of the consequences of harboring offenses
in their lives. But the consequences are so serious that Jesus taught
us the following:

Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember
that your brother has anything against you; leave there your gift
before the altar, and go your way; first be reconciled to your
brother, and then come and offer your gift. (Matthew 5:23–24)

Our Lord teaches us that offense can impede our worship and
sacrifice. Demons also know this, and that is why familiar spirits are
always seeking to set the stumbling block of offense before
believers. An offended Christian is a bound Christian. When we
remain offended by someone or something, it can lead to
unforgiveness, bitterness, mental turmoil, spiritual weakness, and
physical infirmity.
Often, when we think of a person being demonized, we picture
someone rolling on the ground or barking like a dog, but there are
much more insidious manifestations of demonic influence in a
person’s life. Diminished spiritual vision, an inability to hear the voice
of God, continual cycles of sin and defeat, and a persistent feeling of
torment are all signs that a person is under the influence of a familiar
spirit or spirits. The key to experiencing freedom is to release the
offense, no matter how justified it seems. You must make the
conscious decision that you will no longer live under the bondage of
the enemy.
We need to understand how unforgiveness can cause a legal
claim to come against us in the spiritual realm. The Bible gives a
very profound depiction of this. In the gospel of Matthew, chapter 18,
Jesus teaches His disciples about the power and necessity of
forgiveness:

Then came Peter to Him, and said, Lord, how often shall my
brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?
Jesus says to him, I say not to you, Until seven times: but, Until
seventy times seven. Therefore is the kingdom of heaven
likened to a certain king, which would take account of his
servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought
to him, which owed him ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as
he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his
wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be
made. The servant therefore fell down, and worshiped him,
saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.
Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and
loosed him, and forgave him the debt. But the same servant
went out, and found one of his fellow servants, which owed him
a hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by
the throat, saying, Pay me that you owe. And his fellow servant
fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience
with me, and I will pay you all. And he would not: but went and
cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. So when his
fellow servants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and
came and told to their lord all that was done. Then his lord,
after that he had called him, said to him, O you wicked servant,
I forgave you all that debt, because you desired me: should not
you also have had compassion on your fellowservant, even as I
had pity on you? And his lord was angry, and delivered him to
the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due to him. So
likewise shall My heavenly Father do also to you, if you from
your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.
(Matthew 18:21–35)

Through this illustration, we see that, in the kingdom of God, a very

powerful spiritual law called “the law of reciprocity” is in operation.
The servant was forgiven a debt he was incapable of paying. Even if
he worked for the remainder of his life, he would not be able to
accumulate enough money to pay what he owed. In fact, his children
probably would have inherited the debt after he died. Notice that the
lord commanded that the man, his wife, and his children were to be
sold into slavery. The man literally begged his master to have
patience and grant an extension so he would be able to repay all the
debt. Instead of extending the repayment schedule of the loan, the
lord had compassion on this servant and forgave the debt in its
entirety. The man was released from the debt completely, with no
further obligation to repay. Therefore, the penalty of this debt was no
longer enforceable. This is a very important spiritual principle.
However, instead of rejoicing and being thankful, the man
immediately went to collect a debt that one of his fellow servants
owed him. It is implied in the text that this debt was separate from
the one the man was previously forgiven. Even though the fellow
servant asked for grace and requested an extension of time (just as
he had), he refused to show mercy and had the other man thrown
into prison until he could repay the debt in full. This was the exact
opposite of the grace the first servant had experienced. Of course,
news of what happened reached his lord, and the lord became very
angry. Notice this portion of the passage:

Then his lord, after that he had called him, said to him, O you
wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt, because you
desired me: should not you also have had compassion on your
fellowservant, even as I had pity on you? And his lord was
angry, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all
that was due to him. (Matthew 18:32–34)

“His lord…delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all

that was due to him.” The word “tormentors” is translated from the
Greek word basanistēs, which can mean “inquisitor” or “jailer”; it
comes from a verb meaning “to torture” or “to vex.” This term
indicates the oppression and harassment of demonic powers.
Because this servant broke a spiritual law, it opened the door to
“debt collectors” in his life. His refusal to forgive his fellow servant
brought him back under the law and reinstated his debt. This debt
was enforced by “tormentors” who had legal grounds to torture him
until the debt was paid in full.
Millions of Christians are being tormented by debt collectors
because they are operating in bitterness and unforgiveness or
because they have refused to break agreements with demonic
powers. Every human being on planet earth owed a debt to God
because of Adam’s transgression. The consequence of this debt was
death (both spiritually and physically). Whenever we refuse to forgive
those who have trespassed against us, it is as if we are negating the
efficacy of the cross and asserting that Jesus’s blood was not
enough. By doing this, we are operating according to the law rather
than according to grace. Like the wicked servant, we run the risk of
rejecting the unmerited favor of our Master and opting for living
according to legalism. When we operate under legalism, the spiritual
law of reciprocity is in full effect, and demons have legal grounds to
collect the debt that was owed.

FEAR
Another means that demonic spirits use to enter our lives is the
threshold of fear. I have often said that fear is the dinner bell for
demonic powers. Just as rodents are attracted to food, demonic
spirits are attracted to fear. Yet the Bible tells us,

For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of
love, and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7)

The Greek word rendered “fear” in this verse is deilia, which

means “timidity,” “fearfulness,” or “cowardice.” Paul refers to fear as
a “spirit.” It stands to reason that if fear is a spirit, it is not a spirit that
originates from God because His “perfect love casts out fear” (1
John 4:18). Therefore, it must come from the devil. The spirit of fear
is an evil spirit, and it can open the door to other familiar spirits as
well. Imagine a doorman. A doorman’s job is to open the door to
guests who want to enter the building of an establishment. The spirit
of fear is the doorman of the spiritual world. It opens the entrance to
such demonic spirits as anxiety, depression, sickness, confusion,
calamity, and death.
 Any type of fear can produce bondage. When we rid our lives of
the spirit of fear, we fire the doorman that grants access to demonic
powers. For example, in my experience as a pastor counseling those
who are ill, I have found that once you remove the fear of sickness, it
becomes easier to get rid of the sickness itself. Similarly, once you
eliminate the fear of rejection, it is easier to get rid of the spirit of
rejection. The same is true for other types of oppression.
How do we overcome the spirit of fear? We must first receive the
revelation that fear is the antithesis of faith. It distorts our perception
of reality and paralyzes us. Let’s look at these Scriptures that apply
to faith and fear:

Thus says the LORD; cursed be the man that trusts in man, and
makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from the LORD.
(Jeremiah 17:5)

Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the
just shall live by his faith. (Habakkuk 2:4)

Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, My
soul shall have no pleasure in him. (Hebrews 10:38)

Faith overcomes fear because the eternal One in whom we trust is

greater than all our fears. Faith is based on the truth, while fear is
based on a lie. Both fear and faith originate from what we hear, so if
we change the narrative, we will change the outcome. We need to
saturate our minds and hearts with God’s Word and trust Him to be
faithful to that Word.

For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear;
but you have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry,
Abba, Father. (Romans 8:15)

For whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world: and this is

the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. (1 John
5:4)
 Since fear can hold such a grip on people, becoming a demonic
portal, I ask you to take a moment right now to pray to be liberated
from the spirit of fear:
Father, in the name of Jesus, I take authority over the spirit of fear
in my life. I apply the blood of Jesus to my conscious and
unconscious mind and declare that I have the mind of Christ. Fear
has no place in either my heart or my mind; therefore, I deny
access to every demonic spirit that seeks to gain entrance through
fear. I exercise my authority in Christ and evict every demon and
familiar spirit connected to fear, in the name of Jesus! Amen.

NEGATIVE THOUGHTS AND MEDITATIONS

We must continually be watchful over our thoughts and
meditations, whether they center on fear or any other negative
emotion or idea. I have often said that “your meditation is your
medication.” In Scripture, the word meditation has a much different
connotation than its modern application in many circles today
(including new age groups), such as repeating a mantra. Just before
Joshua led the Israelites into the promised land, the Lord said to him,

This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth but you
shall meditate therein day and night, that you may observe to
do according to all that is written therein: for then you shall
make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good
success. (Joshua 1:8)

In this verse, the Hebrew word translated “meditate” is hagah,

which means “to moan or mutter (as in under the breath).” This
ancient Hebrew practice was used to recite the Torah. It was a
powerful tool for Scripture memorization. Unfortunately, many people
do not realize the enemy’s insidious attempts to hijack their lives
through their thoughts and meditations and keep them from focusing
on God’s Word.
This is how it works: Satan sends thoughts to people, who then
allow these thoughts to become a meditation; they speak them over
and over again until the words come into manifestation. For
example, a woman who has had a miscarriage but is now pregnant
again may receive the thought, “This next child will be miscarried or
stillborn!” She continues to entertain that thought, and she may begin
speaking the idea. This process can open the door to a spirit of
miscarriage and eventually lead to a physical miscarriage of the
unborn child. Then, well-meaning believers surround her and assure
her that God “took” her child. However, the truth is that the accuser
took her child.
A precious friend of our family suffered multiple miscarriages, and,
as a result, she experienced depression. She was taught and
believed that God was the one causing her to have the miscarriages.
It reached a point where she didn’t even want to become pregnant
again. One day, while speaking to her, I told her that it was not God’s
will for her to have these miscarriages. I showed her this passage of
Scripture:

And you shall serve the LORD your God, and He shall bless
your bread, and your water; and I will take sickness away from
the midst of you. There shall nothing cast their young
[miscarry], nor be barren, in your land: the number of your days
I will fulfill. (Exodus 23:25–26)

This woman was shocked! She had no idea that it was Satan
taking her unborn babies. Sometimes we unknowingly espouse false
(and in certain cases, demonic) doctrines that affect our ability to
operate in kingdom authority. Here is another example: many people
do not believe they are forgiven by God because they have
embraced a legalistic message of religion posing as the gospel of
Jesus Christ. The Scriptures teach us that we are justified by grace
and faith alone. (See Ephesians 2:8–9.) But the accuser of the
brethren capitalizes on the ignorance and fear of believers through
this false doctrine by getting them to believe that the difficulties they
are going through are the result of their past sins. Indeed, there are
natural and spiritual consequences to sin; however, when we believe
a lie about the efficacy of the sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf, we can
unwittingly open the door to familiar spirits.
 Remember, the devil is the “father of lies.” (See John 8:44.) If your
theology is based on defeat or despair, you run the risk of releasing
curses out of your mouth that invite and embolden demonic powers.
(I discuss this process in more detail in coming chapters.) Beloved,
we must give the enemy no place. Sometimes doing so can be much
more insidious than we realize. Maybe you have been taught that it
is not God’s will to heal or that He uses sickness to teach us a
lesson. Or perhaps you have formed the impression that God is a
God of constant punishment or judgment. My friends, these are lies!
Jesus came to give us life more abundantly. (See John 10:10.)
Hallelujah!

DECEPTION
A portal that the enemy uses to gain access to our lives that is
related to the door of negative thoughts and meditations is the
doorway of deception. The apostle Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 4:1:

Now the Spirit speaks expressly, that in the latter times some
shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and
doctrines of devils.

The demonic doctrines that Paul is referring to are quite pervasive

today. Countless times, I have had to confront such doctrines in my
life and in the lives of others. This is why I often recommend that
people who have come out of cults or false religions go through a
process of spiritual deliverance. I remember one instance in which a
woman had left Mormonism. This religion teaches that Jesus is the
brother of Lucifer and that God has several wives all over the
universe. Talk about crazy doctrines! Yet this woman would often
insist that she had experienced more love in Mormonism than she
now did in Christianity. I can’t speak to that, but I do know that she
refused to let go of her fantastical view of the demonic practices she
had formerly engaged in. Consequently, she was greatly oppressed
by demonic powers. She would constantly complain of health
problems and other physical and emotional attacks. Through her
own profession, she had given legal rights to the enemy.
 In Romans 7:11, Paul wrote,

For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me,

and by it slew me.

The Greek word translated “deceived” in this verse is exapataō,

which means “to seduce wholly,” “to beguile,” or “to deceive.” One of
the dictionary definitions of “to deceive” is “deliberately causing
(someone) to believe something that is not true, especially for
personal gain.”1
The accuser uses lies as a spiritual portal that grants familiar
spirits legal access to torment and oppress believers. As the father
of lies, the devil’s goal is to get people to believe something that is
not true. Every area of demonic bondage in a believer’s life is
connected to a lie they have embraced about God, themselves, or
others. This lie blinds them to the truth of God’s Word and causes
them to deviate from His plan for their lives.
For example, many people were told that they would become just
like a family member, in a negative sense. Once a person comes into
agreement with a negative confession or word curse spoken over
their life, they open the door to a spirit of deception. This, in turn,
opens the portal to familiar spirits who seek to use the agreement
with that lie as a basis to execute their malevolent agenda. But
remember, demons have no power until we buy into their lie.
Another example is that many believers have embraced lies about
the church. What do I mean by this? I am glad you asked! They may
have a disapproving view of the body of Christ, often as the result of
a negative experience they had in a local congregation or negative
sentiments that were shared with them by other religious people.
You will often hear individuals saying things like, “There is no love in
the church!” or “The church is full of hypocrites!” This blanket
statement is a lie that opens the door for them to be deceived and
embrace familiar spirits, such as offense, false doctrines, and
delusion, to name a few.
 Spirits of deception convince their victims to believe the insidious
lie that the church is separate from the “kingdom,” so they espouse a
doctrine that suggests, “It’s not about the church; it’s about the
kingdom of God!” They come to believe they do not need the
“church” or “community” because they “hear from God for
themselves.” When this happens, people typically lose their joy in the
Lord and gradually experience a decline in spiritual authority and
power. This often leads them to loneliness, confusion, and demonic
torment.
The key to being set free from such satanic tormentors is to come
out of agreement with the lies of the enemy and to close the demonic
portal by embracing a biblical doctrine about the church and the
kingdom of God. I want to clarify that while it is true that a person
can attend church and be involved in religious activities and still be
distant from God, the notion that God promotes an attitude of disdain
for His church is contrary to Scripture and diabolical. No sincere
husband would endorse someone speaking negatively about his
wife; the church is the bride of Christ, and even with all the flaws of
the people within it, Jesus thought the church was “to die for”!
Jesus said, “If you continue in My word, then are you My disciples
indeed; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you
free” (John 8:31–32). The key to freedom is a knowledge of the truth.
Notice that Jesus did not say, “And you shall ‘hear about’ the truth,
and it shall set you free.” It is not the truth alone that you hear but
rather the truth that you know in your heart that makes you free. Lies
and deceit enslave us. But when we become intimately and
experientially acquainted with the truth, we are liberated from the
power of lies. The key to living a life of freedom is to reject the lies of
the enemy and embrace God’s truth.
In the next chapter, we continue our exploration of demonic portals
as we examine openings related to curses and soul ties.

PRAYER OF RELEASE
Father, in the name of Your Son, Jesus, I come to You humbly
and ask You to forgive me for any and every way in which I
 have compromised my walk with You, opening demonic portals
to my life, including those of offense, fear, negative thoughts
and meditations, and deception. I ask for the help of the Holy
Spirit in renewing all negative patterns of thinking that have
caused me to walk outside Your blessings. I pray against any
forms of deception that I have come under, and I stand against
any future deception. I also ask You to help me see the body of
Christ as You see it. Help me to pursue Your Word, and Your
Word alone, as my ultimate truth. On behalf of myself and my
family, I declare, according to Isaiah 54:17, that “no weapon
that is formed against [me] shall prosper; and every tongue that
shall rise against [me] in judgment [I] shall condemn.” From this
day forward, I walk in the righteousness and truth of the living
Word of God—Jesus, my Lord and Savior! Amen!

INSIGHTS FOR OVERCOMING

1. Offense or unforgiveness may be the single greatest

doorway to demonization and oppression.
2. Faith overcomes fear because the eternal One in whom we
trust is greater than all our fears.
3. We must be watchful over our thoughts and meditations,
whether they center on fear or any other negative emotion
or idea. “Your meditation is your medication.”
4. Every area of demonic bondage in a believer’s life is
connected to a lie they have embraced about God,
themselves, or others. This lie blinds them to the truth of
God’s Word and causes them to deviate from His plan for
their lives.

PRACTICUM

1. Write down an offense someone committed against you

that is still weighing on you right now. How has holding on
to this offense affected your life? Surrender that offense to
 God and ask Him to enable you to completely forgive the
offender and move forward with your life. Write a personal
prayer of surrender and release next to the offense you
listed.
2. What is your greatest fear at this moment? Look up
Scripture verses that will build your faith in God as your
Provider and Sustainer in all things. Out loud, express
praise to God and tell Him that you trust Him to overcome
all your fears.
3. Can you identify an area of your life in which you have
accepted a lie as the truth or been deceived? What truths
from God’s Word counteract that lie or deception? Write
down your thoughts about this. If you can’t think of any lies
you have embraced, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal if you
have unknowingly accepted a demonic lie or fallen into
deception in any way.

1Lexico.com, s.v. “deceive,”

https://www.lexico.com/definition/deceive.
 5
Demonic Portals: Curses and Soul Ties

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sows,
that shall he also reap.”
—Galatians 6:7

Let us now continue to identify portals the enemy uses to gain

entrance to our lives for the purpose of oppressing us and restricting
our work in God’s kingdom. In this chapter, we will discuss openings
that have to do with the negative words we speak and the
attachments and alliances we make.

EVIL COMMUNICATIONS
The influence of our communications, especially the words we
speak, is so significant that I devote an entire chapter to it later in
this book, entitled “The Power of the Spoken Word.” In this section,
we will look at how evil communications become an open door to the
enemy’s attacks.

Be not deceived: evil communications [or companions] corrupt

good manners [“character” NLT]. (1 Corinthians 15:33)

The Scriptures tell us that “evil communications corrupt good

manners,” or good character. The phrase “evil communications”
comes from two Greek terms. The first is kakos, which is derived
from a root word meaning, among other things, “wicked,”
“troublesome,” or “injurious.” The second term is homilia, which
signifies “companionship,” “intercourse,” or “communion.” Homilia is
the origin of our English word homily, “a religious discourse which is
intended primarily for spiritual edification rather than doctrinal
instruction.”1
Essentially, Paul was informing the church at Corinth not to be
deceived by evil discourse or conversation and that evil
communication can bring corruption. The word “corrupt” here is
translated from the Greek word phtheirō, which means “to corrupt” or
“to destroy.” This word has a connotation within the ancient Jewish
religion of defiling or desecrating the temple.2
In other words, evil communications can defile or pollute our
spiritual lives. What kind of conversations do you participate in?
Have you ever gone away from a conversation feeling unclean?
Such a feeling is due to the fact that negative words can be very
powerful.
In my book Unmasking the Accuser, I share a story about a vision
the Lord once gave me. In this vision, I saw two Christians having a
conversation in the parking lot of a local church. As I looked closer, I
noticed that there were two small demons on each of their shoulders.
As these church members continued conversing, the demons would
whisper gossip in each of their ears. Then, the two church members
would begin to speak what the demons were whispering to them. As
they did this, the demons would vomit on each of them. I asked the
Lord what this vision meant, and He said, “The vomit was slander
and gossip.” He also said that “this slander and gossip is the sewage
of hell.”
Gossip is one of many access points through which we can
experience spiritual contamination by the words we speak and the
conversations we entertain. We need to recognize that
conversations can edify, but they can also defile! One of the greatest
misconceptions in the church is that “if it’s just a conversation, it
won’t hurt anyone.” Nothing could be further from the truth.
Discussions can be dangerous. They have the ability to plant seeds
that will later produce a harvest. We must vigilantly guard our ear
gates, hearts, and minds against spiritual contamination. Let us
guard our gates!

WITCHCRAFT AND THE OCCULT

Another portal through which familiar spirits enter into believers’
lives is the doorway of witchcraft and the occult. It is essential to
recognize that witchcraft is specifically prohibited by God. For
example, the Lord told the Israelites in His commandments, “You
shall not allow a witch to live” (Exodus 22:18). Why does God
express such hatred toward witchcraft? Why did He require such
severe punishment for those practicing witchcraft in the Old
Testament?
We must understand that witchcraft was introduced to the human
race by Satan. The apostle Paul wrote,

But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve

through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the
simplicity that is in Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:3)

Paul uses the word “beguiled” in reference to the exchange

between Eve and the serpent in Genesis 3. The Greek word means
“deceived,” but it has a far more complex implication in the context of
Scripture. First of all, the word “serpent” in the book of Genesis is an
idiom for sorcery and divination. The Hebrew root word, nāhaš,
actually means “to practice divination.” We could say that the serpent
brought Eve under a witchcraft spell. Notice what she says when
confronted by God:

And the LORD God said to the woman, What is this that you
have done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me,
and I did eat. (Genesis 3:13)

Eve essentially says that she was seduced or bewitched into

eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. This
was humankind’s first encounter with “the unknown.” Satan exploited
Eve’s curiosity of the unknown to manipulate and control her and to
ultimately rob human beings of their spiritual authority. The word
occult is defined by the dictionary as “supernatural, mystical, or
magical beliefs, practices, or phenomena.” It comes from the Latin
word occultare, which denotes “hidden,” “secret” or “concealed.” 3
Notice that Satan seduced Eve with the proposition of gaining hidden
or secret knowledge that she did not possess (which was a lie).
Just as Eve was corrupted in her mind by the beguilement of the
serpent to the extent that her perspective was altered and she
willfully consented to disobedience, those who practice witchcraft are
under the bewitchment of the devil. They may be driven by a desire
to know information that they believe God has concealed from them,
or something they think He has denied them. This attitude is rooted
in rebellion (unbelief) against God. Satan is a rebel, and those who
practice witchcraft are behaving just like him.

For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as

iniquity and idolatry. (1 Samuel 15:23)

The Bible tells us that rebellion is witchcraft and witchcraft is

rebellion. When people participate in witchcraft, whether knowingly
or unknowingly, they are violating God’s spiritual laws and essentially
inviting demonic spirits to operate in their lives. Witchcraft brings
spiritual corruption and pollution. The purpose of this section is not to
make you superstitious but to highlight the importance of guarding
your heart and life against malevolent and insidious forces that seek
to hinder you spiritually. Anything you need to know in this life or the
next should come from God. You must not consult horoscopes or
chakras to gain earthly or spiritual knowledge; this is occult, or
illegal, knowledge.
Moreover, any attempt to manipulate or control another person’s
will is a form of witchcraft as well. Avoid occult practices that invite
familiar spirits into your life and home. Such practices include:

Divination
Ancestral worship
Santería
Juju
Obia
Black magic
White magic
Illusionism
Voodoo
 Horoscopes
Crystals
Psychics
Mediums
Energy healing
Reiki
Yoga
Praying to or communicating with the dead (necromancy)
Chanting
The power of positive thinking/law of attraction
Spirit guides
Charms, spells, or enchantments
Demonic films or artifacts
Reading tea leaves
While this is not an exhaustive list, it can help give you an idea of
certain things to avoid. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you guidance as to
what specific things should be prohibited in your life. Stay away from
any practice that does not point to Jesus as the only legal entrance
into the supernatural.

GENERATIONAL CURSES
Another demonic portal we must be alert to is the entranceway of
generational curses. The Lord told the Israelites:

You shall not make to you any graven image, or any likeness of
any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth
beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: you shall not
bow down yourself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD your
God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon
 the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate
Me. (Exodus 20:4–5)

God warned His people that idolatry would open them to what is
often called a “generational curse.” Iniquity or trespass—a violation
of a spiritual law—allows the legal ground for a curse to be
established. In the above passage, the Hebrew word translated
“visiting” in the phrase “visiting the iniquity” is pāqad, which signifies,
among other meanings, “to pay attention to,” “to attend to,” “to lay
upon as a charge,” or “to be called to account.” God was telling the
Israelites of old that if they engaged in idolatry, He would hold the
next generations accountable for their ancestors’ iniquities.
However, in the book of Ezekiel, we see a prophetic word that is
very important to note for this discussion because it points to a New
Testament reality:

The soul that sins, it shall die. The son shall not bear the
iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of
the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him,
and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. (Ezekiel
18:20)

The Bible is telling us that, because of Jesus’s work on the cross,

children no longer need to bear the iniquities of their fathers. Each
individual is responsible and accountable for their own sins. Christ
has provided a way for forgiveness of our individual sins and for
cleansing of generational curses.
I think one of the most interesting stories in the Bible is the account
of Queen Esther and her uncle Mordecai. Essentially, this is a story
about the preservation of the Jewish people in the Persian Empire
through the courage of a young Jewish girl and the wisdom of her
mentor Mordecai. However, there is much more to this story: this
narrative actually gives us great insight into the way familiar spirits
and generational curses operate.

After these things did king Ahasuerus [also called Xerxes]

promote Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and
 advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes that were
with him. And all the king’s servants, that were in the king’s
gate, bowed, and reverenced Haman: for the king had so
commanded concerning him. But Mordecai bowed not, nor did
him reverence. Then the king’s servants, which were in the
king’s gate, said to Mordecai, Why transgresses you the king’s
commandment? Now it came to pass, when they spoke daily to
him, and he hearkened not to them, that they told Haman, to
see whether Mordecai’s matters would stand: for he had told
them that he was a Jew. And when Haman saw that Mordecai
bowed not, nor did him reverence, then was Haman full of
wrath. And he thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone;
for they had showed him the people of Mordecai: wherefore
Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the
whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai. In
the first month, that is, the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of
king Ahasuerus, they cast Pur, that is, the lot, before Haman
from day to day, and from month to month, to the twelfth month,
that is, the month Adar. And Haman said to king Ahasuerus,
There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed
among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom; and
their laws are diverse from all people; neither keep they the
king’s laws: therefore it is not for the king’s profit to allow them.
If it please the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed:
and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver to the hands of
those that have the charge of the business, to bring it into the
king’s treasuries. And the king took his ring from his hand, and
gave it to Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the
Jews’ enemy. (Esther 3:1–10)

The most important factor in this story is that Haman, the most
powerful official in the Persian Empire, was an Agagite. Haman was
a descendant of Agag. You may be asking, “Who is Agag, and why
is this fact about Haman’s lineage so important?” I’m glad you asked!
Agag was the king of the Amalekites during the reign of King Saul.
At that time, God had instructed Saul to destroy all of the Amalekites,
including King Agag, but Saul decided to spare the king instead. This
single act of defiance and rebellion was much more serious than
Saul could ever have imagined because it had transgenerational
effects. As a result of his sin, Saul was rejected from being king.
However, perhaps even worse, Agag was allowed to have a
posterity. (See 1 Samuel 15:1–29.)
Fast forward many years later to when the children of Israel are
living in exile in the Persian Empire under King Ahasuerus. Haman,
a direct descendent of King Agag, had one of the most powerful
positions in the world. He hated the Jewish people and sought to
have them destroyed. His ancestor, Agag, had been an enemy of
Israel who was on a satanic assignment to destroy the people (and
the seed) through which the Messiah of Israel would come into the
world. The familiar spirit in Haman’s bloodline sought to carry out a
demonic assignment that had been hindered in previous
generations.
Notice that the single act that provoked this generational curse
was Mordecai’s refusal to bow to Haman. Beloved, whenever we
refuse to bow to the devil, there will be retaliation. But take heart!
Remember that the Scriptures say, “Greater is He that is in you, than
he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4).
Ultimately, the children of Israel declared a national fast to humble
themselves before the Lord and seek His help, and God
supernaturally thwarted Haman’s plans and preserved His people.
The Jewish feast of Purim is celebrated to remember what God did
for Israel during this time. Haman was actually hung by his own
gallows, which he had intended for Mordecai. This incident was more
than just an act of God’s intervention; it was His exposure of a
familiar spirit that was seeking to bring destruction to the next
generation and stop His plan of redemption from coming to fruition.
Thus, King Agag had entered into a covenant with demonic
powers to destroy Israel in his generation. This established a
spiritual debt that was passed on through his bloodline so that
Haman was operating in the same spirit as Agag. Spiritual debts and
demonic liens will continue to be in force until they are collected or
discharged. This is why Jesus had to become the sacrificial Lamb;
He fulfilled the debt that was owed by the entire human race, and we
can now be free of any generational curse. (See, for example, John
3:16–17.)
In Christ, we are redeemed from generational curses because
Jesus Himself became a curse for us and received the penalty of sin
on our behalf: “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law,
being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that
hangs on a tree” (Galatians 3:13). This is good news! We no longer
have to live under the penalty of the sins of our fathers and mothers
or the generations that went before them. However, this only stands
true for those who are in Christ and who appropriate their rights
under the new covenant. God is not the only one who takes note of
sins in the bloodline. The accuser of the brethren seeks to exploit
unrepentant sin and iniquity to propagate demonic strongholds.
One of the best earthly examples of this spiritual concept is the
Emancipation Proclamation:

President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation

Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its
third year of a bloody civil war. The proclamation declared “that
all persons held as slaves” within the rebellious states “are, and
henceforward shall be free.”4

The Emancipation Proclamation freed all slaves in the Confederate

states but not all slaves in all states of the Union. Slaves in Texas
were freed by the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, but they were
not aware of it (that knowledge had been withheld from them by their
supposed masters). Yes! Ironically, there were still slaves in parts of
the South who did not know about this proclamation and were still
functioning as slaves until the Union army arrived, and they were
informed of it. The liberation of the slaves in Texas on June 19, 1865,
is recognized as “Juneteenth” and is celebrated as a national holiday
in the United States today. Full freedom was granted for all slaves in
the United States by the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution,
which was ratified in December 1865.
 The reason I referred to the Emancipation Proclamation is to point
to the fact that it is very possible to be liberated from something and
not know it, and to remain negatively impacted as a result. Have you
ever wondered why so many believers who love the Lord are
constantly sick in their bodies? Have you ever asked yourself why
the children of well-meaning Christians are often battling the same
issues as the children of worldly or non-Christian parents? One of
the reasons this is happening is because of the influence of familiar
spirits. Many believers have been redeemed from the curse, but they
still unknowingly live under the implications of that curse. This is why
so many people are dealing with spiritual, emotional, and physical
bondages.

UNGODLY SOUL TIES AND TRANSFERENCE OF SPIRITS

Another way familiar spirits gain access to people’s lives is through
ungodly “soul ties” and alliances. Simply put, a soul tie is a bond
involving the mind, will, and emotions of two individuals or a group of
people. A soul tie is essentially a bond that takes place through
intercourse, intimacy, and/or communion. There are good soul ties,
as in the biblical example of Jonathan and David (see 1 Samuel
18:1) or the bond between a husband and wife in a marriage
sanctioned by God. However, there are also negative soul ties where
the bond or covenant is not sanctioned or authorized by God. The
Scriptures exhort us:

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness,

but rather reprove them. (Ephesians 5:11)

Be you not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what

fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? and what
communion has light with darkness? (2 Corinthians 6:14)

In this verse, we are admonished not to be unequally yoked with

unbelievers. The verse goes on to say, “What fellowship has
righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion has light
with darkness?” The word “fellowship” is translated from the Greek
word metochē, which means “a sharing,” “communion,” or
“fellowship.” The Greek word rendered “communion” is koinōnia,
which can mean “fellowship,” “association,” “community,”
“communion,” “joint participation,” or “intercourse.”
When we fellowship with unrighteousness or commune with
darkness, it has a detrimental effect on our spiritual lives and can
create soul ties. The people we are in fellowship with can invite
familiar spirits. That is why the Scriptures tell us not to be “unequally
yoked” with the unbelieving and the ungodly. God told the Israelites
not to intermarry or commune with pagan nations because it would
open the door to idolatry and spiritual contamination.
There are certain people who have yielded to demonic powers
who can potentially “suck the joy” out of you. We might call them
“spiritual vampires.” Have you ever ended a phone call with
someone and felt drained? This can actually be a sign that you are in
the company of someone influenced by a familiar spirit. In
mythology, a vampire is a deceased person who draws from the
blood and life force of living people. In their efforts to revive their own
lives, the vampires inevitably destroy the lives of their victims.
Another analogy is that of a tick that infects a person with Lyme
disease. In some instances, and in certain species of ticks that are
infected with the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, there can be a
transmission of this bacterium from tick to host, causing an infection.
Symptoms can include fever, chills, headaches, muscle aches,
swollen lymph nodes, and even worse conditions. Similarly, there are
certain people harboring familiar spirits who inadvertently infect the
people they latch on to. This is why we must be mindful to avoid
codependent relationships that can open our lives to spiritual
bondage. We must also be aware of the need for boundaries in
relationships as well as in counseling scenarios.
I heard the testimony of an individual whose friend was always
experiencing calamity, confusion, and overall negativity. This
individual would often give his friend advice and hang out with him.
One day, he gave the friend a ride to a sporting event because the
friend did not own a vehicle. On the way home from the event, they
got into a really bad car accident, and the vehicle was totaled. On
the surface, this may seem like a coincidence; but, from a spiritual
standpoint, the accident was not arbitrary. We must understand that
our connections with people can grant the very spirits operating in
their lives access to ours. The friend had a spirit of calamity and
chaos working in their life, and, as a result, the familiar spirit was
able to transfer from them to someone they were close to.
This is why, when you regularly commune with negative people,
you may often find yourself harboring negative thoughts and
attitudes. When you fellowship with immoral people, you may begin
to be tempted by immoral thoughts or feel a pull toward immoral
behavior. My father frequently quoted the saying “Birds of feather
flock together.” We must be aware that who we connect with,
fellowship with, or marry is very important.
A biblical example of ungodly soul ties and affiliations is the
account of Queen Jezebel, the pagan wife of Ahab, a king of Israel in
the prophet Elijah’s day. In the book of 1 Kings, we read about the
union between Ahab and Jezebel:

And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to

walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took as
a wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians,
and went and served Baal, and worshiped him. (1 Kings 16:31)

The Bible tells us that Ahab walked in the sins of his earlier
predecessor Jeroboam, who encouraged idol worship; but to make
matters worse, Ahab married Jezebel. We can infer from the text that
the act of marrying Jezebel was, in itself, a sin against God. Why? It
says right there in the same verse that “he took as a wife Jezebel the
daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians.” Jezebel was the daughter
of the king of Zidon, whose name literally means “with Baal” or
“under the favor of Baal.” The Israelites were forbidden to intermarry
with pagan nations. Not only was Ethbaal a pagan king, but he was
also a priest of Baal, the Phoenician god of fertility and harvest. Baal
was often referred to as “the lord of the harvest” or “the lord of
thunder.”
 The marriage between Ahab and Jezebel was a demonic
arrangement by familiar spirits to give the spirit of Baal legal rights to
erect idolatrous altars in Israel. This disastrous situation is further
expressed in the original language of the text in Jezebel’s very
name, one of the meanings of which is “Baal is husband to.” Thus,
Ahab did not just marry Jezebel, but he actually entered into a
covenant marriage with the spirit of Baal itself. Consequently, as king
of Israel, he brought the entire nation into a covenant with Baal!
The name Jezebel can also mean “unchaste,” and Jezebel indeed
operated in manipulation, seduction, intimidation, and control. Even
though Ahab was the king, Jezebel was the one “calling the shots.”
King Ahab’s sin brought a curse upon the nation of Israel, and
Elijah confronted Ahab about this wickedness:

And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead,

said to Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I
stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but
according to my word. (1 Kings 17:1)

Elijah’s confrontation with King Ahab was actually a confrontation

with the spirit of Baal. The prophet spoke a decree over the heavens
(and the demonic spirits operating in the atmosphere) preventing
rain or dew from touching the entire nation. Why? Israel had turned
to Baal as their god and looked to Baal for the dew of heaven. The
drought was a judgment from God.
Although Jezebel was a historical figure, the “spirit of Jezebel” is a
familiar spirit that inhabits and influences people even today. Like the
original Jezebel, the spirit of Jezebel operates in idolatry, seduction,
manipulation, and control. We see this spirit at work in the lives of
women and men alike all over the world. Jesus told the church in
Thyatira,

Notwithstanding I have a few things against you, because you

permit that woman Jezebel, which calls herself a prophetess, to
teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to
eat things sacrificed to idols. (Revelation 2:20)
 Why would Jesus make mention of a woman who had been dead
for hundreds of years? He was not referencing the historical Queen
Jezebel but rather to the spirit she represents. Notice that the rebuke
was that they “permit that woman Jezebel, which calls herself a
prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit
fornication, and to eat things sacrificed to idols.” When there is
idolatry in any area of our lives, we become susceptible to the
Jezebel spirit.
Often, the Jezebel spirit is generational in nature, passed down
from mother to daughter, father to son, or even from aunts and
uncles to nieces and nephews. Have you ever been under
leadership that was domineering? Have you ever seen a woman
who was manipulative and controlling? I want to be clear that not
every woman who is strong and assertive is a “Jezebel.” Many
women have been wounded by the false accusation of having a
Jezebel spirit. This is not a term we should throw around loosely. But
any person who is bound by this domineering spirit is in need of
serious deliverance and a radical encounter with the love of God.
We must be vigilant about legal claims in the spiritual realm that
are perpetrated by spirits of darkness. We must be honest with
ourselves about areas in our lives where we have come into
agreement with the enemy concerning people, circumstances, and
situations that are out of alignment with the Word of God. We are no
longer under the law but under God’s grace. Therefore, our debts
are paid for by Christ through faith. We must come out of any
agreements that are holding ourselves or others hostage to areas of
spiritual debt, such as bitterness, manipulation, and control. We must
not come into covenant with demonic forces that can infiltrate us, our
homes, and our generational bloodlines. If we are currently in such a
situation, Jesus Christ can restore us through His blood and
substitutionary sacrifice.
I pray that these last two chapters have opened your eyes to
demonic portals that you may have inadvertently opened in your life
so that you can learn to close them and live in the freedom Christ
has won for you.
PRAYER OF RELEASE
Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank You for the Word of God,
which brings truth into my life. I thank You that Your Holy Spirit
lives within me and brings to light those areas of my life that are
in need of examining and cleansing. I pray that, from this day
forward, I will desire to expose to You the places where I have
allowed the enemy to gain a foothold so You can begin the
cleansing and healing process. I take authority over any
familiar spirits that I have given permission to enter my life,
either under my own volition, out of ignorance, or through my
family bloodline. I plead the blood of Jesus over myself and my
household, and I thank You that Jesus’s blood covers all of our
iniquities. I also declare that my tongue will bless and not curse
myself or others. I nullify any word curses in my bloodline that I
have come into agreement with. I declare that those words
have no effect on my life. I reject any deception I have given
access to through rebellion or participation in witchcraft, the
occult, or any other form of illegal access to knowledge. I
recognize, according to Galatians 3:13, that Christ became a
curse for me, and that my family and I do not need to walk
under Satan’s agenda but can fulfill Your assignment for our
lives. I cancel all former patterns of destruction through curses,
and I willingly submit myself and my family to the truth of Your
Word. I am blessed and not cursed because of the blood of
Your Son. In Jesus’s mighty name, amen!

INSIGHTS FOR OVERCOMING

1. Conversations have the ability to plant seeds that will later

produce a harvest. We must vigilantly guard our ear gates,
hearts, and minds against spiritual contamination.
2. When people participate in witchcraft, whether knowingly or
unknowingly, they are violating God’s spiritual laws and
essentially inviting demonic spirits to operate in their lives.
3. Christ has provided a way of forgiveness for our individual
sins and of cleansing for generational curses.
 4. We must be honest with ourselves about areas in our lives
where we have come into agreement with the enemy
concerning people, circumstances, and situations that are
out of alignment with the Word of God.

ASK YOURSELF

1. In what ways have I entertained or participated in evil

communications? How will I resist the temptation to
participate in evil communications in the future?
2. Is there any evidence of witchcraft and/or occult practices
in my life or my family bloodline that need to be brought
under God’s authority and cleansing?
3. Who am I connected to or fellowshipping with that
represents a liability to my spiritual journey with Christ?

1 Lexico.com, s.v. “homily,” https://www.lexico.com/definition/homily.

2 See Strong’s, G5351,
https://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/kjv/phtheiro.html.
3 Lexico.com, s.v. “occult,”

https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/occult.
4 “The Emancipation Proclamation,” National Archives,

https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured-documents/emancipation-
proclamation.
 6
Healing the Wounded Soul

“Beloved, I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in
health, even as your soul prospers.”
—3 John 1:2

We need to receive spiritual and emotional healing in order to

defeat the enemy’s attempts to gain access to our lives through the
areas we discussed in the last two chapters, as well as other areas.
For us to walk in the fullness of our freedom in Christ, we must be
willing to surrender our wounded areas to the One who heals all
wounds and restores our souls.
One of my favorite portions of Scripture is Psalm 23, written by
King David. And one of my favorite parts of this psalm is the verse
that says, “He restores my soul: He leads me in the paths of
righteousness for His name’s sake” (verse 3). Why is this verse such
an important one in the Scriptures? David, the king of Israel, went
through many devastating situations and circumstances. He was
rejected by his elder brothers. He was anointed king at a very young
age. He had a javelin thrown at him by his predecessor, King Saul.
He was pursued by Saul for several years, and he had to flee for his
life, sometimes hiding in caves. During his life, David was threatened
by several assassination attempts, and he also faced the
consequences of his participation in an adulterous affair and murder.
Saying that King David had experienced trauma would be an
understatement. He, of all people, knew the value of restoration. And
Psalm 23 expresses that God our Shepherd restores souls.
Countless believers are suffering the debilitating effects of
emotional trauma as they consciously or unconsciously experience
affliction in their souls. But God is not just interested in your being
healed in your physical body or renewed in your spirit; He is heavily
vested in the condition of your soul. Third John 1:2 says, “Beloved, I
wish above all things that you may prosper and be in health, even as
your soul prospers.” Notice that the writer of the text suggests that
our lives will prosper to the extent that our souls prosper. What does
this mean? The Greek word translated “prosper” and “prospers” in
this verse is euodoō, which means “to grant a prosperous and
expeditious journey” or “to lead by a direct and easy way.”
Demonic spirits exploit the fragmented places in our souls so they
can embed their nefarious activity there. I have heard it said that you
will never find a “whole” person bound to sin and addiction. I believe
this statement is true. God does not want us to be carted before the
pearly gates in a wheelbarrow at the end of our lives and dumped
out in pieces for the angels to sweep up. It is His will that we go
through life whole rather than fragmented and broken. And, in this
chapter, I want to teach you how to identify “soul wounds” and allow
the power of God to restore you completely. Hallelujah!

SOUL WOUNDS
What is a soul wound, and how do we address such a wound? A
soul wound is essentially any area in our mind, will, or emotions that
has incurred damage from trauma, pain, or any other devastating
event in life. A common source of a soul wound is rejection. When a
person experiences rejection, they are under the impression that
they are unwanted, unacceptable, unloved, and unworthy. Rejection
is a very normal part of life; we will all experience some form of
rejection in certain instances and at certain stages of our lives. We
can use such instances to learn to trust in God, receive His love, and
grow personally. However, when we internalize rejection, it becomes
a soul wound.
If a soul wound is left untreated, it can actually develop a root
system and become a bitter root through which familiar spirits can
inhabit our lives. In the next few sections, I highlight common causes
of soul wounds and describe their characteristics. This is not
necessarily a complete list of soul wounds, but it is a guide that can
help you identify and confront areas in your life where you have been
emotionally wounded so that you can take these areas to the Lord
and receive lasting freedom through the power of the Holy Spirit.

FATHER WOUNDS
 I mentioned the fact that rejection is one of the primary sources of
soul wounds, but there are different types of rejection, which cause
different kinds of wounds. One wound that people frequently incur is
what I call a “father wound.” We see an example of this in the Bible
in the relationship between King Saul and his son Jonathan.

Then Saul’s anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said

to him, You son of the perverse rebellious woman, do not I
know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own
confusion [shame], and to the confusion of your mother’s
nakedness? (1 Samuel 20:30)

Saul called his own son “You son of the perverse rebellious
woman.” That is probably not the best way to parent a young man.
Saul was angry that Jonathan favored David, and he actually threw a
javelin at his son. (See 1 Samuel 20:33). You may not have had a
javelin thrown at you, but you may have had an emotionally absent
or verbally abusive father. Perhaps you did not know your father
while you were growing up (and possibly still don’t know him), and
you have felt the absence of a father figure in your life. Such
experiences can inflict wounds in the soul, even if the wounding
takes place subconsciously.
My father was present in our home, but he was often working and
very seldom exhibited affection toward me. However, he was very
proficient at discipline. I didn’t know what it meant to hear the words
“I love you” coming from a male figure. It wasn’t until much later in
life that I realized that I had been wounded emotionally by my
father’s lack of affirmation and affection. I do not say this to cast any
aspersion on my father; he truly did the best he knew how to do.
However, it is important for us to understand the underlying causes
of the hurts and woundedness in our lives.
The following are some signs that you may be harboring a father
wound:

Inability to submit to and trust authority (especially male

authority)
 Extreme stubbornness and/or self-will
Diminished capacity to discern a purpose and vision for
one’s life
Dysfunctional relationships with men
Strong tendency to rebel against God
Suspicion
Self-doubt
Insecurity
Identity confusion
Self-sabotage

MOTHER WOUNDS
The role of a mother is key in developing a healthy atmosphere of
nurturing, love, joy, and security in the home. If your mother was
deeply wounded herself or operated with toxic emotions, you may
have unknowingly incurred “mother wounds.” Unlike father wounds,
mother wounds can actually be inflicted in utero (while one is still in
the womb). Just as a pregnant woman’s placenta delivers vital
nutrients to her baby, her emotional state and the trauma she has
experienced in life can be transferred to her unborn child. This is why
people are not always exaggerating when they say they were “born
this way.” Demonic spirits can afflict an unborn child with rejection,
perversion, anger, and even addiction before that child is ever born.
In addition to this, many people were raised by controlling,
manipulative, fearful, critical, and/or otherwise negative mothers.
Instead of creating an atmosphere of nurturing and acceptance,
these mothers fostered an atmosphere of chaos and rejection. The
Bible says,

Every wise woman builds her house: but the foolish plucks it
down with her hands. (Proverbs 14:1)
 The Hebrew word translated “builds” is bānâ, whose meanings
include “to establish” and “to cause to continue.” The role of a wife
and mother is to foster continuity in the home and in the children. But
the Bible says that the foolish woman “plucks [her house] down with
her hands.” The Hebrew word rendered “pluck down” is hāras,
among whose meanings are “to tear down” and “to destroy.” This
verse is profound. A woman has the power to build up her house
(including her husband and children) or destroy her family.
Here are some signs that you may be harboring a mother wound:

Manipulative and controlling

Hypercritical and judgmental
Inability to give and receive love
Difficulty expressing emotions or showing affection
Codependency, clinginess
Misogyny (hatred or negative feelings toward women)
Fear of abandonment
Obsessive and compulsive behavior
Sexual perversion and addiction
Inability to maintain close relationships

SPIRITUAL ABUSE
There are various types of abuse, including physical, verbal,
mental, financial, and others. Each of these types of abuse can
cause trauma and soul wounds. However, for the purpose of this
chapter, I am focusing on spiritual and emotional abuse. Why?
Because the two most important parts of a person’s being are their
spirit and their soul.
I have prayed for and counseled thousands of people over the
years who have been victims of someone who has abused their
spiritual authority. In my book Unmasking the Accuser, I deal with a
condition that I call PTSD (pastoral traumatic stress disorder). Just
as many people have experienced post-traumatic stress disorder
through exposure to severe trauma (including war, the tragic death of
a loved one, or a natural disaster), there are countless people in the
body of Christ who have experienced the devastation of spiritual and
emotional abuse, often at the hands of an individual in spiritual
leadership. Satan is the accuser of the brethren, but many leaders
under demonic influence function as “abusers of the brethren.”
The reason why emotional and spiritual abuse are so devastating
is that people in spiritual authority represent God, and when these
leaders abuse their authority, it is often very difficult for their victims
to distinguish between the pain of the abuse and their personal
relationship with the Lord. If you have suffered from spiritual abuse, I
want you to truly understand this: God did not abuse you, although
those representing Him did.
People who are the victims of spiritual abuse can experience soul
wounds that are very difficult to overcome. Thankfully, the power of
God is greater than the pain of abuse. Our heavenly Father is more
than able to heal and restore us when we call upon Him with a heart
of sincerity and humility. We may also need to seek help from a
trusted Christian counselor.
I remember speaking to someone who had been the victim of
extreme spiritual abuse. They had received false prophetic words
from their pastor that convinced them to marry a person who
happened to be a witch. They were constantly criticized, judged, and
controlled by this pastor. They were even told that if they left the
fellowship, they would become sick and die. Friends, this type of
controlling behavior is demonic! If you find yourself under this kind of
abusive leadership, I recommend that you leave immediately and
seek counsel from a licensed counselor or other minister who is
qualified to give insight in this area.
Another form of spiritual and emotional abuse is when those in
church leadership use their influence and power to draw people to
themselves rather than to God. This is a form of witchcraft. When
people become more committed to their pastor than to Jesus
Himself, this is a serious problem. Please do not get me wrong: I
believe in honoring those in authority over us. However, when honor
becomes worship, there is another spirit at work besides the Holy
Spirit. We should all love our spiritual leaders and hold them in high
esteem. We should even do our best to bless them as much as
possible. But again, these things should be done as unto the Lord,
according to Scripture; and doing so should draw us closer to God,
not create dissonance and chaos in our spiritual lives.
Spiritual abuse can also be wielded in the form of mind games.
Many Christians are literally losing their minds while sitting under
certain leaders in the church who “gaslight” them (manipulate them
psychologically) but then deny their words and behavior in a way that
makes the people under them question their own sanity.
Here are some signs that you are under spiritual abuse:

Decreased ability to hear God’s voice

Unproductive spiritual and emotional life
Fear of man
Constant spiritual and physical infirmity
Isolation from family members and friends
No longer able to make rational decisions
Constant strife and confusion in one’s spiritual life
Regression in one’s spiritual life
Calamity and devastation in one’s life
Extreme financial lack and poverty

DEMONIC RESIDUE
Have you ever heard someone say that they had been through a
difficult trial or season in their life, yet somehow they did not look like
they had experienced such a trauma? They had received
supernatural grace to see them through it, and it showed because of
the joy and peace on their countenance; they had been spiritually
strengthened even in the midst of their troubles. Then there are
others who share testimonies of overcoming certain challenges or
difficulties, but it often seems like there is something missing from
the equation. Why? When it comes to the healing of a wounded soul,
the question is not what a person has gone through but rather how
much of what they went through is left behind as “residue.”
The Bible says that the almighty God brought the Israelites out of
Egypt “with a mighty hand…and with signs, and with wonders”
(Deuteronomy 26:8). However, only about a year later, when Moses
went up to Mount Sinai to receive the law of God, the Israelites
compelled Aaron to make them a golden calf to worship, declaring,
“These be your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land
of Egypt” (Exodus 32:4). Where did the Israelites get such a notion?
It was the residue of Egypt! Even the gold that was used to forge the
calf came from their time in Egypt. (See Exodus 12:35–36; 32:2–3.)
God is not merely interested in taking us out of Egypt; He wants to
get Egypt out of us. Glory to God! Unfortunately, a false “grace”
message has been perpetrated in the church, convincing people that
because Jesus paid it all, there is nothing else for them to do in order
to live in the freedom Christ won for them. Nothing could be further
from the truth. The Bible says,

Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us

cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit,
perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (2 Corinthians 7:1)

This verse describes what we often call “sanctification.” The Greek

word translated “cleanse” is katharizō, among whose meanings are
“to remove by cleansing” and “to consecrate.” Even though our
spiritual being is born again according to 2 Corinthians 5:17, we
must apply the Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit to our
souls (mind, will, and emotions) in order to appropriate the kingdom
of God in our lives in its fullness.
The accuser of the brethren often attempts to convince people that
they are not really born again because they find themselves
struggling in a certain area of their lives or being demonically
attacked. This is not true. Instead, many times, this means we are
dealing with residue in our souls—for example, old thoughts,
suggestions, and patterns. The dictionary defines the word residue
as “a small amount of something that remains after the main part has
gone or been taken or used.”1 I am not suggesting that there is a
small amount of the sinful nature left in you that Jesus’s blood did
not cleanse you of when you were born again. Rather, I am saying
that we often go through circumstances in our lives that have a
tendency to leave behind a “residue” that must be addressed. In the
Old Testament, God would often instruct the Israelites to wipe out the
pagan inhabitants of the land so that there would be no residue of
their presence that could come back to haunt them in the future.
Years ago, I went through a devastating season in ministry.
Honestly, at the time, I did not think my ministry would survive. By
the grace of God, I made it through that difficult time, but I was
negligent to consider the residue that remained. Then the Lord
asked me, “Son, did you pay attention to what was left behind?”
Many pastors never get over an offense, a betrayal, or a church split
because, long after the offender is gone, the spirit of offense that
operated through them is still present. We must forgive and allow the
fire of God to cleanse us from all hurt, disappointment, and
bitterness that the enemy would attempt to operate through in the
future. As I have said in other contexts, we must do as David did and
“cut off the head of Goliath” (see 1 Samuel 17:51) so that “giants” will
not show up in future generations.

INNER HEALING
We must come to understand that our heavenly Father desires to
speak to the wounded places in our lives and heal them with His all-
encompassing love. Psalm 103:2–4 says:

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: who
forgives all your iniquities; who heals all your diseases; who
redeems your life from destruction; who crowns you with
lovingkindness and tender mercies.
 Years ago, I was in Liberia, West Africa, and I met a young lady
during one of our village crusades who had been displaced by the
civil war there. Her parents had been killed by a militia, and she was
raised as an orphan in the jungle. She was a beautiful young lady,
but she was emotionally disconnected and traumatized because of
her experience. You could literally see the pain in her eyes. In one of
the ministry sessions, I began to minister to her, and I walked her
through a time of inner healing. I prayed to break the spirit of trauma
off her life. She literally wept and wailed. This was the first time she
had ever confronted her trauma, and she experienced healing. Glory
to God!
Often, we are carrying wounds deep in our subconscious that we
have never dealt with. The devil exploits these deep-seated wounds
to manipulate our thinking and behavior in an attempt to bring
bondage and affliction into our lives. I urge you again: give him no
place! The power of the cross is efficacious in healing the wounded
soul. As King David declared, “He restores my soul” (Psalm 23:3).
The Shepherd of your soul is ready, able, and willing to deliver you
and heal you of all your diseases, both spiritual and physical. In fact,
He already healed you two thousand years ago by His death on the
cross! It is time for you to walk in the fullness of Jesus’s finished
work and enjoy the life that He died and rose again to give you.

PRAYER OF RELEASE
Heavenly Father, I thank You for Your love and the sacrifice of
Your Son, Jesus Christ. Your Word says in Romans 5:8 that
“while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” I thank You that
because of Jesus’s sacrifice, I can walk in spiritual victory. I
therefore repent of harboring any and all pain, hurt,
misunderstandings, grievances, and trauma from my past and
my present. I choose to hold no one hostage for any of the soul
wounds they have inflicted on me, because Christ’s shed blood
is sufficient for me. I ask You to forgive me for idolizing my
wounds rather than seeking Your complete redemption of my
life. Right now, as an act of my will, I choose to allow Your holy
fire to cleanse me from all hurt, disappointment, and bitterness
 that the enemy would attempt to operate through today and in
the future. I sever all ties to demonic residue from spiritual and
emotional abuse, and I declare that from this day forward, I
walk in complete healing from the inside out. In Jesus’s mighty
name, amen!

INSIGHTS FOR OVERCOMING

1. We need to receive healing spiritually and emotionally in

order to defeat the enemy’s attempts to gain access to our
lives.
2. A soul wound is essentially any area in our mind, will, or
emotions that has incurred damage from trauma, pain, or
any other devastating event in life.
3. Some common soul wounds are “father wounds,” “mother
wounds,” and spiritual abuse.
4. The Shepherd of your soul is ready, able, and willing to
deliver and heal you of all your diseases, both spiritual and
physical.

PRACTICUM

1. Identify areas of your life in which you have experienced

trauma and/or soul wounds as defined in this chapter. Pray
about each area, asking Jesus, the Good Shepherd, to
bring healing and restoration to your soul.
2. Make a decision to forgive and release all those who have
inflicted soul wounds on you, recognizing that you will need
to rely on God’s power and love to do this.
3. Think about someone in particular, whether a family
member, friend, or colleague, who is hurting from a soul
wound. In the Lord’s leading, seek ways in which you can
be an encouragement to that person, asking God to help
you be an agent of His healing love.
1Lexico.com, s.v. “residue,”
https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/residue.
 7
The Power of the Spoken Word

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it
shall eat the fruit thereof.”
—Proverbs 18:21
“Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.”
—Romans 12:14

The words we speak and the words we receive from others are so
significant to our spiritual well-being that we need to carefully
consider this area of our lives as we learn to overcome the influence
of familiar spirits.

THE SPIRITUAL WORLD IS GOVERNED BY WORDS

The power of the tongue is a persistent theme in Scripture. When
something is spoken into the atmosphere, it can change reality.
Simply put, the spiritual realm is governed by words. The truth is,
words can create or destroy. Yet, in my experience, nothing seems to
be more understated in the church than the profound power of our
words. So many Christians all over the world are unaware of the
impact of what they say. As we will talk about further in the next
chapter, the invisible world operates based upon the “law of
permission.” When we speak, we give permission or license to
spiritual forces to operate. Our words set things in motion in the
unseen realm that subsequently manifest in the natural world.
In case you might wonder if this process is a “new age” concept, I
would like to bring your attention to Hebrews 11:3:

Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by

the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made
of things which do appear.

The world that we know was framed, established, and set into
proper order by the spoken word of God. In keeping with this, when
we speak God’s Word, it literally changes our world. You must
understand that new age “positive thinking” and “confession” are
counterfeits of the confession and declaration taught in the
Scriptures. As Christians, we are not inviting the “universe” or
“positive energy” to assist us; we are actually using the spiritual
authority that God has given us through His Word and by His Holy
Spirit to bring about His will on earth. Jesus said,

And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and
whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.
(Matthew 16:19 NLT)

WHAT WE SAY MATTERS

There is no denying that what we say matters. Our words affect us
more powerfully than we often realize. And not only does what we
say affect us greatly, but it also affects the people around us. This
reality applies to both positive and negative words. The Scriptures
tell us:

And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue

among our members, that it defiles the whole body, and sets on
fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. For every
kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in
the sea, is tamed, and has been tamed of mankind: but the
tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly
poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and
therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of
God. Out of the same mouth proceeds blessing and cursing.
My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Does a fountain
send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the
fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so
can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh. (James 3:6–12)

The Bible also says that “death and life are in the power of the
tongue” (Proverbs 18:21). The Hebrew word translated “power” in
this verse is yād, which literally means “hand.” We could say that
“death and life are in the hand of the tongue.” Thus, another way of
looking at this is to view the tongue as a demolition tool that can
destroy or an instrument that can craft and construct.

THE MOUTH: A SPIRITUAL GATEKEEPER

Speaking blessings and declaring the promises of God can open
doors of favor, increase, and prosperity in our lives. However,
speaking what is contrary to the will of God can open the door to the
influence and oppression of demonic powers. For example, spoken
intently, statements such as “This headache is killing me!” can lead
to infirmity and even a spirit of premature death.
What you proclaim, you permit! Are you forbidding demonic activity
or permitting demonic activity with the words you speak?
Many people have unknowingly conceded rights to the devil and
his demons in this way. Thus, one of the things we must fully
recognize is the power of the tongue with regard to legal rights in the
spiritual realm. We are responsible for protecting the spiritual
jurisdiction that God has given us. Remember, the word jurisdiction
is derived from the combination of two Latin words, jur (law) and
dictio (saying), which we could interpret as meaning “the law of
saying.”
This is one of the most important spiritual principles the Lord has
ever revealed to me. During a specific season in my life, I was going
through unusual spiritual warfare, and I asked the Lord what door I
had opened to the enemy. The answer I received should not have
been shocking to me, although it was. The Lord said, “Your mouth is
the open door!”
Jesus taught that we are responsible for what we say:

Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account
thereof in the day of judgment. For by your words you shall be
justified, and by your words you shall be condemned. (Matthew
12:36–37)
 I want to draw your attention to the sentence “For by your words
you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned.”
The Greek word for “justified” is dikaioō, among whose meanings are
“to render righteous or such he ought to be,” or “to declare,
pronounce, one to be just, righteous, or such as he ought to be.” The
word translated “condemned” is katadikazō, which means “to give
judgment against (one), to pronounce guilty” or “to condemn.” These
are legal terms. Our words carry legal authority to bring either
justification or condemnation. When the Lord spoke to me about my
mouth being a gateway to experiencing unusual warfare, I was
absolutely shocked because I realized that I was not being afflicted
by some outside power. Instead, I had given legal rights to the
enemy through the words I had said!

CURSES AND EVIL ASSIGNMENTS

Remember that iniquity or trespass (violation of a spiritual law)
gives a curse legal grounds to be established. We talked about this
in the account of Balaam. The prophet could not curse the Israelites
because they were blessed by God. But then the Israelites entered
into an ungodly, idolatrous agreement with the Moabites and
experienced the effects of a curse, coming under the judgment of
God. Curses include the spiritual consequences of sin. Adam and
Eve were “cursed” after they violated God’s law in the garden of
Eden.
In Romans 12:14, the Bible tells us to refrain from cursing: “Bless
them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.” This is not a
simple prohibition on profanity but is much deeper than that. The
Greek word translated “curse” in Romans 12:14 is kataraomai, which
literally means “to curse,” “to doom,” or “to imprecate evil upon.” In
Scripture, a curse often refers to an imprecation of evil, which means
to speak ill or evil over or against someone. Clearly, the accuser of
the brethren is in this line of business!
This is a very important spiritual principle. Familiar spirits use
people’s curses (again, words of imprecation spoken against others)
to carry out their evil assignments. Too often, we assist them in these
assignments. I have often said that the tongue is a landing strip for
the devil.
Every day, millions of people inadvertently engage in “cursing”
themselves or others without realizing the implications of their words
in the spiritual realm. Allowing words to proceed from your mouth
that are contrary to the will of God can open the door to demonic
powers. As if the words that are spoken were not evil enough, any
malicious intent behind the words is also potent. In the realm of the
spirit, our words have weight.
This is why parents have to be careful what they say to their
children. For instance, a mother may say to her son in a moment of
frustration, “You can’t do anything right!” Those words can set in
motion spiritual forces that can affect that son in a negative way.
Once a curse is spoken and the recipient of the curse accepts it in
some manner, the curse has power. This reality is based on the “law
of agreement,” which has both negative and positive applications.
Remember what Jesus taught regarding the power of agreement in
prayer:

Again I say to you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as

touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them
of My Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 18:19)

Unfortunately, the power of agreement can also work in a

destructive way. I vividly remember ministering to a young woman
who told me that her former spiritual leader had spoken a word curse
over her saying that she would have infirmity in her body. A “word
curse” refers to an imprecation of evil spoken with spiritual authority.
Because this woman was under the authority of the spiritual leader,
the words the leader spoke had efficacy (especially considering that
they were spoken under the guise of prophecy). After she left the
ministry, she literally found a mass in her body. This type of situation
happens all too often. Agreement is empowerment. The moment you
come into agreement with someone (or something), you give that
person (or thing) power. Every so-called prophecy is not from God!
Our heavenly Father does not afflict people with cancer or any other
disease. You must come out of agreement with any word curses that
have been spoken over your life and begin declaring God’s truth
instead. You can confess, “I am healed in my body. I walk in divine
health! I will live a long and fruitful life, in the name of Jesus!”

CURSES WITHOUT CAUSE

Proverbs 26:2 tells us, “As the bird by wandering, as the swallow
by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come.” To be effective, a
curse must have a “cause,” or a basis for being set in motion. The
Hebrew word rendered “causeless” in the above verse is hinnām,
among whose meanings are “freely,” “for nothing,” “without cause,”
“for no purpose,” “in vain,” and “undeservedly.” If there is no opening
for the curse, it has no power.
People have actually spoken curses over me, either in person,
through written notes, or through email. But I reject every curse in
the name of Jesus and send it back to the pit of hell. The Bible is
abundantly clear that “no weapon that is formed against you shall
prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment
you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD,
and their righteousness is of Me, says the LORD” (Isaiah 54:17).
As mentioned previously, in the ancient world, curses were verbal
pronouncements or imprecations that were influenced by evil spirits
and carried spiritual authority. These verbal pronouncements had the
ability to orchestrate forces such as sickness, calamity, destruction,
and/or even death. Yes! Words can create or destroy.
If the power of our words can release blessings or curses over our
lives or the lives of others, then it is highly possible that many
calamities that people experience are the result of negative words
that have been spoken by them, to them, or over them. You will
notice that certain times of the year often give rise to accidents and
calamitous events. This may be a sign that word curses are being
released into the atmosphere. We must recognize these devices and
counter them with the blood of Jesus and the authority of His name.

RELEASE GOD’S BLESSINGS

 Let us always seek to use our words to build up and not tear down.
The Bible says, “A man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his
mouth: and the recompense of a man’s hands shall be rendered to
him” (Proverbs 12:14).
When I first started my ministry, I was told that the city where we
live, Tampa Bay, Florida, was a very difficult place to pastor. I would
often hear people say things like, “This is hard ground!” Other people
would refer to it as a “spiritual graveyard.” These words were coming
from pastors who had been given spiritual authority by God over the
territories the Lord had called them to pastor, yet their words were
negative and filled with defeat. No wonder it was so difficult to
minister there! They (not the devil) had given spirits of oppression,
bondage, and stagnation the legal right to lay siege on the spiritual
atmosphere of the city. These spirits were tasked with bringing delay
and discouragement to spiritual leaders.
The more I subscribed to this narrative, the more difficult it was for
me to pastor and for my church to grow. Then, one day, the Lord
revealed what I and so many other pastors had been doing to the
spiritual fabric of our city. I began to declare that Tampa Bay was
“The Bay of the Holy Spirit.” This change in decree started to
reshape and shift our church culture. We broke through, and our
church began flourishing!

You shall also decree a thing, and it shall be established to you:

and the light shall shine upon your ways. (Job 22:28)

Through our Scripture-based words, God wants us to release

blessings over our families, homes, churches, cities, and nations. As
you pay attention to what you are speaking, and as you actively
reject all word curses and statements that are contrary to God’s
Word, remember this truth:

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made
a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangs
on a tree: that the blessing of Abraham might come on the
Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the
promise of the Spirit through faith. (Galatians 3:13–14)
PRAYER OF RELEASE
Heavenly Father, I acknowledge that You want my words to
bring Your truth, love, and blessings to the world. I repent for all
the times I have used my words for negative purposes—
complaining about my circumstances, bringing an atmosphere
of hopelessness and despair, or speaking ill of other people. I
break any negative agreements I have made with the spiritual
forces of darkness, and I ask You to forgive me and to cleanse
me from all unrighteousness. Thank You that Christ has
redeemed me from the curse of the law. Father, fill me anew
with Your Holy Spirit, and may every word I speak reflect the
fruit of Jesus’s righteousness. Let there be no cause for any
curse to have power in my life as I walk in Your ways. In
Jesus’s name, amen.

INSIGHTS FOR OVERCOMING

1. The spiritual realm is governed by words. When we speak,

we give permission or license to spiritual forces to operate.
Our words set things in motion in the unseen realm that
subsequently manifest in the natural world.
2. The Bible says that “death and life are in the power of the
tongue” (Proverbs 18:21). What you proclaim, you permit.
3. Speaking blessings and declaring the promises of God can
open doors of favor, increase, and prosperity in our lives.
4. Iniquity or trespass (violation of a spiritual law) gives a
curse legal grounds to be established, but a curse without
cause has no power.

ASK YOURSELF

1. What words do I regularly speak about the state of my life?

Am I forbidding demonic activity or permitting demonic
activity with these words?
2. What is the first thing I say when something goes wrong? If
it is a negative statement, how can I change what I say to
align with God’s Word?
3. Is what I am saying to or about other people positive or
negative? How can I speak to others in a way that uplifts
and encourages them, ultimately pointing them to their
loving and all-powerful heavenly Father?
 8
The Law of Attraction

“Be you not unequally yoked together with unbelievers:

for what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness?
and what communion has light with darkness?”
—2 Corinthians 6:14

We talked previously about the power of spiritual meditation, which

has profound implications for us as we read and reflect on the Word
of God and allow it to renew our minds, change our negative and
erroneous patterns of thinking, and conform us to the image of
Jesus. However, we also discussed how the spiritual principle of
meditation has been adopted (I would even dare say “hijacked”) by
the new age community and twisted into something far different from
what God originally intended.
Many people all over the world are settling for a counterfeit version
of faith. They go to conferences and motivational seminars to learn
how to use the power of the mind to achieve success in their
relationships, businesses, and careers. Most of this instruction
seems very harmless, but it can be much more diabolical than
people fathom: positive thinking, chanting, channeling, and
visualizing are all methods taught at these seminars. These are also
tools used in the practice of witchcraft.
I distinctly remember watching a session on the Internet from a
very popular motivational speaker who told the audience members to
lift their hands and “let the universe flow through them.” The Lord
revealed to me that the people in that auditorium (all fifteen thousand
of them) were inviting familiar spirits into their lives. These familiar
spirits would initially seem to bring blessings, but then they would
begin to bring curses and destruction. This is the reason why you will
find that many successful businesspeople who incorporate such
practices to achieve success often end up with broken marriages,
fractured families, and even failed health. Why? Because their
success was accomplished through demonic powers.
 The Bible tells us, “The blessing of the LORD, it makes rich, and He
adds no sorrow with it” (Proverbs 10:22). God’s blessings do not
have curses attached to them. The enemy, on the other hand,
always takes from people far more than he gives. This is why we
must be very careful what spirits we invite and attract into our lives.
The new age approach to meditation is often referred to as the
“law of attraction,” which incorporates the concept of the power of
our words. Let me be clear: the law of attraction is a spiritual
principle, but perhaps not in the way you might think. The idea is that
if you concentrate on certain things hard enough and speak about
them into the atmosphere, your desires will materialize. This is a
very popular philosophy that is even embraced in many Christian
circles. Remember, the devil is a counterfeiter; he is not capable of
any original ideas. As we noted earlier, while confession and
declaration are biblical concepts, any attempt to manipulate the
spiritual world or God Himself in order to fulfill your fleshly desires is
not from God.
You may hear people say things like, “The universe blessed me
with this house” or “The universe gave me this car.” Beloved, the
universe does not bless anyone! God is the source of all life and
blessings. (See James 1:17.) Unfortunately, many people are inviting
familiar spirits through these insidious new age practices. We
discussed in the last chapter that, when we speak, we set spiritual
forces in motion that can affect us for good or for evil. The question
is, with our thoughts, meditations, and words, what are we
attracting?

DEMONIC MAGNETIC ATTRACTIONS

The law of attraction operates in various ways. As we delve deeper
into an understanding of how this law works, it is important for us to
recognize that not all attraction is natural. The word attraction is
variously defined as “the act, process, or power of attracting,”
“personal charm,” “the action or power of drawing forth a response:
an attractive quality,” and “a force acting mutually between particles
of matter, tending to draw them together, and resisting their
separation.”1
 Every person on this planet experiences natural attraction to other
people, places, and things. There may be a certain tone of voice,
look, style, or hue that draws their attention. Such attraction is based
on their personality, upbringing, and socialization. However, there is
such a thing as demonic attractions. These are attractions that are
facilitated by familiar spirits.
For example, a woman who has been abused in a relationship with
her significant other may find herself drawn to the identical
personality profile in different men who do not know each other. She
may even move to another city or state and find herself getting into
relationships with the same type of abusive man over and over
again.
Here is another illustration: two people who have a past of sexual
immorality will somehow locate each other in a large church. Even
though this church may have thousands of members, they find
themselves gravitating toward each other, and they soon meet.
Though they are often unaware of it, the force attracting them to
each other is a spirit of lust. For example, I heard a story from a
pastor who was separately counseling a man and a woman who
lived in different but nearby states. The man had been disciplined for
being involved with women in his church in an inappropriate manner.
The woman had been involved in multiple affairs with several
different men and was seeking deliverance. This pastor told me that
there was a regional conference in their area, and both of these
individuals attended. Though they had never met each other before
and there were hundreds of people in attendance, they were seen
gravitating closer and closer to each other from across a large room.
Eventually, they met at the coffee table and began talking. Ultimately,
they exchanged numbers and “found themselves” on a date
together. This type of scenario is very common.
The law of attraction operates in other types of associations as
well. A friend of mine told me that he had been involved in a cult and
hadn’t realized it. Eventually, he recognized that he had to leave for
the sake of his spiritual well-being. Moreover, this wasn’t the first
time he had unknowingly joined a cult. The Lord later told him that
the reason he kept being drawn to cults was that he had a spirit of
deception operating in his life. When he repented to the Lord,
confronted the spirit of deception, and renounced that demonic spirit,
he was never a part of another cult again. Hallelujah!

INVOKING OCCULT POWERS

Sometimes, the law of attraction is manifested through the use of
occult powers. If you are familiar with my ministry, you know that I
have taught extensively on the dangers of witchcraft. We have
discussed some of these dangers in previous chapters.
Unfortunately, many Christians are unknowingly engaged in this
occult behavior. There are many aspects to witchcraft, but the two
we are focusing on in this book are (1) manipulation, control, and
domination, and (2) employing the power of evil spirits. These two
aspects are often connected.
Have you ever looked at a person and said, “I want to connect with
them”? Many of us have said things like that either in our thoughts or
out loud. There is actually nothing wrong with a desire to connect
with someone, such as a potential friend, a pastor who speaks
deeply to our spiritual state, or even a mentor. Yet such a desire
becomes dangerous and sinful when people invoke occult powers to
facilitate the connections they seek. For example, a man who wants
to romantically connect with a woman in a church setting but uses
spirituality as a veil to conceal his lustful desires is indeed invoking
familiar spirits. Or a person pretending to connect with a ministry for
spiritual purposes but actually seeking financial assistance as the
only motive for the connection is also invoking familiar spirits.
There are even times when a woman or man will say to
themselves about a particular person, “I will have them!”—regardless
of whether that person is already married or in a committed
relationship. Such thoughts and declarations can open the door to
familiar spirits who imitate the voice of the Holy Spirit in order to
“confirm” these evil desires as spiritual and justified. The individual
desiring the relationship may be deceived by false dreams, visions,
and spiritual encounters. Of course, I am not referring to our seeking
the leading of the Holy Spirit, which draws us and connects us to
people and places for God’s purposes. I am talking about (knowingly
or unknowingly) using ungodly spiritual forces to obtain connections
that God has not sanctioned or to manifest evil desires.
Whether you are a new or seasoned believer, you may be
wondering how to be certain you are hearing God’s voice or how you
can differentiate between the voice of the Holy Spirit and the voice of
a demonic spirit. I understand that this is a serious question for many
believers who find themselves in situations where they are uncertain
about God’s will. However, let the following be a guide to you: the
Holy Spirit will always lead you into all truth. That is what the
Scriptures teach us. (See John 16:13.) Therefore, you may be
assured that the Holy Spirit would never lead or tempt you to engage
in behavior that is contrary to God’s Word.
Once, a woman came to me for prayer, telling me that God had
shown her the man who was to be her husband—except that he was
married to someone else. She said the Lord had revealed to her that
his wife was going to die, and she and the man would be married.
She insisted that God was leading her to pray for the wife’s death. I
told this woman in no uncertain terms that this idea had come from a
demonic spirit and not the Holy Spirit. As ridiculous as this story may
seem, it actually happened. There are many people in the body of
Christ who are bound by such demonic spirits. If you realize that you
have been deceived in a similar way, repent immediately and ask
God to deliver you from the familiar spirit. There is freedom and
healing in Christ.

“RESIDUE” AND DEMONIC ATTRACTION

Like the woman in the previous story, many people are unaware of
the activity of insidious familiar spirits working in their lives. I often
tell people to take inventory of what is “pulling” or attracting them.
This can help them recognize the presence of an evil spirit. Ask
yourself the following: “What’s pulling me?” “Who do I gravitate
toward?” “What is a common characteristic of people in my circle?”
I have been a pastor for a number of years, and I have noticed that
many people tend to gravitate toward others based on the spirit that
is operating in them. For instance, I have noticed that when people
are offended, they tend to gravitate toward other people in the
church who are offended. If you pay very close attention, you will see
that the offended individual never brings their initial grievance to
some random person in the church. They always bring the offense to
someone they believe shares the same sentiment.
Most of us will have at least some relationships with friends that
are based on healthy interests. But we need to evaluate the full
range of our relationships. For example, do you find yourself
sometimes gravitating toward people who gossip? Or do you
experience the same negative or abusive experiences at every
church you attend? This could be an indicator that a familiar spirit is
at work.
As we talked about in chapter 6, “Healing the Wounded Soul,”
sometimes there is a “residue” of hurts or negative attitudes left over
in our lives because we have not completely surrendered our pasts
to God or been fully healed emotionally. This residue can attract
familiar spirits seeking an opportunity to legally enter our lives. Have
you ever thought you were delivered from something, but then the
issue reared its ugly head again? This doesn’t mean that God didn’t
do a work in you, but it may mean that there is still more work to be
done in certain areas of your soul.
I clearly remember a season in my life in which God delivered me
from a spirit of lust. I was going through a time of great testing and
temptation, being attacked in my mind with lustful thoughts. I went to
God in prayer, and while I was saying a prayer of deliverance and
breakthrough, it felt like a bird flew off of my head and went off into
the distance. Something literally broke. I had experienced
deliverance in that area before, but the Holy Spirit was now doing a
deeper work in my soul that would ultimately liberate me from the
power of that spirit. Additionally, although I was supernaturally
delivered from the influence of that demonic spirit, in order to
maintain a pure mind, I needed—and still need—to make a
conscious, daily decision to obey God’s Word and “flee youthful
lusts”:
 Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity,
peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. (2
Timothy 2:22)

After we receive God’s deliverance from a certain issue, even

though we need to daily commit to following God’s ways, we should
not continue to experience a raging struggle with that issue every
day. When this happens, it can mean that there is indeed some
residue that needs to be addressed. If it is not dealt with, that residue
can pull us toward sin and ultimately lead to deeper levels of
bondage. This is why many leaders struggle in their walks with the
Lord. They love God, but they need to do some spiritual
housecleaning in order to address the various areas of sin and
bondage in their lives. Contrary to popular belief, demons do not just
“go away” with time; if we do not confront them, they actually
become stronger. I believe that God is taking the church through a
deeper level of cleansing and sanctification that will enable His
people to function in His glory in the way He intends. For the next
great move of the Spirit of God, we need “clean hands, and a pure
heart” (Psalm 24:4).
We see the effects of such personal “residue” in the life of Moses.
Moses fled Egypt because he had murdered a man in anger. (See
Exodus 2:11–15.) Note that, years later, the same issue of anger
kept him from entering the promised land. Moses became angry at
the Israelites and struck the rock that God had only told him to speak
to (an act that might seem to pale in comparison to murdering
someone), and because of his disobedience, he was unable to enter
into the land with the rest of the Israelites. Why? The same spirit had
motivated both actions: it was a spirit of anger! Of course, Moses
was operating under the old covenant; he was not born again, and
he didn’t have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside him. But we have the
advantage of the cleansing blood of Jesus and the presence of the
Holy Spirit as our Guide and Comforter to overcome any such
residue in our lives.
If you are trapped in a cycle of sin or defeat, declare that the blood
of Jesus breaks the power and the pull of that demonic spirit. We will
talk more about applying the blood of Jesus to our lives for
deliverance in chapter 11, “The Power of the Blood.”

GOD’S LOVE: THE DEMON REPELLANT

Years ago, I was ministering overseas, and I had a very intense
time of preaching. Afterward, the pastor of the host church brought
two young ladies to me for prayer in the sanctuary. He asked me to
pray for them to get married, as they were both well beyond what
some would consider “marriageable age.” As I was praying for one of
the young women, the Lord told me that she had an ungodly soul tie.
The moment I said (through the interpreter) that there was soul tie,
this young lady immediately began manifesting a demonic spirit. Her
eyes became bloodshot, and she began screaming in her language.
She then proceeded to spit on the host pastor and his wife.
There were many demons inside this woman, and because I was
familiar with deliverance, I began to cast out the evil spirits as they
manifested. I proceeded to ask one of the spirits how it had been
able to enter her. Before it could reply, the Holy Spirit revealed the
answer to me, and I said, “It was through your grandmother!” The
moment I revealed this truth, the young woman started to scream.
But this scream was different. When I told the familiar spirit in her to
leave, it began to say, “No, no, no!” It was almost a cry of
desperation. Finally, a spiritual word of knowledge came to me, and I
shared with the young lady, “God loves you unconditionally.” She
began weeping and saying that she could never be forgiven for the
things she had done. I asked God to baptize her in His love, and I
could see the grip of the spirit of perversion, confusion, and death
being broken. Eventually, she was totally free. Glory to God!
This experience taught me a profound lesson about demons: they
cannot stand the love of God! The agape love of God is like a
repellent for powers of darkness. The Bible says, “Charity [love]
never fails: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether
there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it
shall vanish away” (1 Corinthians 13:8). The love of God is the most
powerful force in the universe. When we walk in the unconditional,
agape love of God, demonic powers lose their hold and strength.
God’s love can break through all satanic attachments. Hallelujah!

THE POWER OF PERMISSION

In connection with the law of agreement, we should never
underestimate the power of permission. The word permission is
defined as “consent” or “authorization.”2 Throughout this book, we
have talked about how familiar spirits are constantly seeking our
agreement for them to operate in our lives. We must always be
mindful of what we grant permission to because, again, whatever we
permit, we authorize; and whatever we authorize, we empower.
God warned the Israelites not to make a covenant with the
inhabitants of the land of Canaan, or it could become a “snare” to
them:

Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the

inhabitants of the land where you go, lest it be for a snare in the
midst of you: but you shall destroy their altars, break their
images, and cut down their groves: for you shall worship no
other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous
God: lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land,
and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice to their
gods, and one call you, and you eat of his sacrifice; and you
take of their daughters to your sons, and their daughters go a
whoring after their gods, and make your sons go a whoring
after their gods. (Exodus 34:12–16)

As we consider this passage, let’s review the relationship between

spiritual permission and legal rights. For the Israelites’ own
protection, God admonished His people to refrain from unsanctioned
covenants with pagan nations. The Lord knew that these covenants
could open demonic portals that would lead Israel into spiritual
bondage. The same principle is true for us today. It is not enough for
us to refrain from evil ourselves; we must also refrain from
agreement with those who practice evil.
 Can you imagine giving your friend a ride to a liquor store so they
could rob it? And suppose this friend were caught. Would you be
surprised if you were arrested along with them? Now picture yourself
standing before the judge and asking, “Why am I being charged with
robbery?” You would probably be scoffed at in the courtroom. Why?
Because you were a willing accomplice and accessory to a crime.
You did not commit the physical act, but you gave consent,
permission, authorization, and support for the crime to be
perpetrated.
Demons recognize the power of the permissions we grant. That is
why they are constantly seeking to deceive believers into giving
consent to their plans. Remember this: the devil cannot do anything
in your life without your permission! Demons cannot come into your
house without your authorization; this is why what you allow into your
home is so important. Many believers are bringing in ungodly
artifacts, objects, paintings, and other points of contact that invite evil
spirits. Countless other Christians are watching pernicious images
like pornographic films that bring familiar spirits into their home
environments. It is sad to even think that many children are exposed
to pornography in Christian homes. I do not say this to condemn
anyone who may be struggling in these areas but to give deeper
insight into places in your life that may be creating an atmosphere
that is antithetical to the presence of God.

THE LAW OF ALTARS

Throughout the Bible, we see the law of altars, which has great
significance with regard to the law of agreement. In the ancient
world, altars were used to invoke the presence and power of spiritual
beings. The building of altars to the Lord seemed to be intuitive to
people in the Bible. For example, when Jacob had a supernatural
visitation from God, he built an altar to the Lord to memorialize his
divine encounter. (See Genesis 28:10–22.) In Genesis 15, God
commanded Abraham to make an altar before entering into a
covenant with him.
As we will discuss in more depth in chapter 10, “Renouncing Evil
Covenants and Oaths,” God is a God of covenants and altars. Yet
the Israelites did not only build altars to honor and revere God. When
they were rebellious, they often erected altars to invoke “strange
gods.” (See, for example, Deuteronomy 32:16; 1 Samuel 7:3.) It is
important to understand that other gods do not exist; therefore, these
“strange gods” were (and are) demons, including familiar spirits.
Today, an altar is any place where we invite, invoke, and commune
with spiritual powers.
An altar grants permission for a spiritual power to operate in a
certain place or territory. If that power is evil, it needs to be cut off. In
the Old Testament, when God dealt with His people concerning their
participation in idolatry, He would command them to tear down
and/or cleanse the altars. The kings of Israel who actively sought to
obey the Lord removed pagan altars from the land, as we see in this
example:

And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the
LORD his God: for he took away the altars of the strange gods,
and the high places, and broke down the images, and cut down
the groves: and commanded Judah to seek the LORD God of
their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment. (2
Chronicles 14:2–4)

The true power of any people is determined by the purity of their

altar, a theme we will return to later in this book. In the famous battle
between the prophet Elijah and the prophets of Baal, the center of
that confrontation was the altar. In fact, this was not really a battle
between a prophet of God and the prophets of Baal; it was a battle
between the altar of Jehovah and the altar of Baal. You may know
how that battle turned out. Let us just say that it was no contest:
Jehovah powerfully and unequivocally demonstrated that He is the
one and only true God. (See 1 Kings 18:17–40.)
One day, I was asked to pray over a young boy with cerebral palsy
who was bound to a wheelchair. His mother wanted him to receive
healing. As I and other believers were praying over him, the Lord
revealed that a demonic spirit was involved in this infirmity. I asked
the mother if she had ever been involved in the occult, and she put
her head down and said, “Yes!” It turned out that she had been
taking her young son to a psychic and witch. The moment we told
the mother that she could no longer take her son to a psychic, the
boy manifested the most evil spirit I had ever seen. He screamed,
spat, and accused his mother of harming him. God told me that the
spirit of palsy had a legal right to be there because it had been given
permission through witchcraft, and the mother of this child was
unwilling to repent and let go of this sin. I cannot tell you how many
times I have witnessed a similar scenario with different people. In a
sense, this mother had established an evil altar in her life, which
gave permission to demonic spirits (including the spirit of infirmity) to
operate in her life and attack her family.
Sometimes, we seem to have done all that we know to do to expel
unclean spirits, and the demons still will not go. When dealing with
demonic spirits that appear to be resilient and persistent, we must
first establish whether or not the spirit has legal grounds to remain.
There is a good example of this principle in the book of Acts:

Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them

to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord
Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.
And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of
the priests, which did so. And the evil spirit answered and said,
Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you? And the man
in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame
them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that
house naked and wounded. (Acts 19:13–16)

You can see from this account that there were religious Jews who
were attempting to exorcise a demonic spirit from a man, but they
were approaching the demon incorrectly. They were using a
ritualistic method and trying to adjure the spirit through “the name of
the Lord Jesus…whom Paul preaches.” The Greek word translated
“adjure” in this passage is horkizō, which means “to force to take an
oath” or “to administer an oath to.” These itinerant Jews were trying
to make the spirit take an oath in order to get it to leave, and the
Bible says that the spirit responded by saying, “Jesus I know, and
Paul I know; but who are you?”
 The seven sons of Sceva could not cast out the demonic spirit
because they did not have the authority to do so, not being true
believers in Jesus Christ. They tried to use the name of Jesus and
the name of His apostle Paul, but they did not know Jesus
themselves, and they were not in right standing with God. The evil
spirit recognized all this; that spirit not only didn’t come out, but it
also turned on the men and severely beat them. Similarly, many
people today are attempting to use a name that they do not really
know. When they pray, they say, “In Jesus’s name” merely as a ritual
to get the things they desire; they are not truly submitted to the
authority of that name. Praying in the name of Jesus is about more
than simply the use of a phrase; it is about intimacy with Him and
devotion to Him. We must make sure our lives are subject to the
Lord Jesus before we can walk in His authority.
In this regard, one of the most important lessons I ever learned in
deliverance ministry came one evening as I was conducting a
Healing School. These schools are designed to teach believers
about ministering healing and freedom to others as well as receiving
healing for themselves. That particular evening was very interesting,
to say the least. There was a woman in attendance who began to
manifest demonically. She was disruptive, displaying continuous
outbursts and expressions of mockery. After enduring this behavior
for a while, I decided to confront the demonic spirit operating through
her. (However, I cannot say I heard from God on this.) I was very
frustrated, so I called her up to cast out the demon, and she began
to laugh. This made me even more angry. Then a large number of
people came up to the altar in a spiritual “gang rush” in an attempt to
cast out the demon. The more the people yelled at the woman, the
more she laughed, and the more chaotic the atmosphere became.
Unfortunately, we were operating in the flesh and not in the Spirit.
Jesus said, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is
born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6). On another occasion, Jesus
said, “How can Satan cast out Satan?” (Mark 3:23). In the words of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only
light can do that.”
 After we had tried to deal with this demonic spirit for some time, I
told everyone to back down and ignore her confrontation. Some
people took her outside, and I continued ministering to the
congregation. Eventually, they brought her back into the church. At
that point, I spoke to the evil spirit, telling it that it was not allowed to
speak anymore, and the woman became silent.
Afterward, I asked the Lord why the woman had not been instantly
delivered. The first thing He said was that the evil spirit had legal
rights to be there. The spirit operating in this woman was a spirit of
chaos and confusion. And the more chaotic we became in dealing
with her, the more legal grounds the spirit had to operate. Second,
the Lord told me that by engaging in a spirit of frustration, we had
been empowering the demonic stronghold. That day, I learned the
importance of meekness. Jesus was never exasperated by demonic
powers but always operated in the peace and strength of God. The
Scriptures admonish us not to strive:

The servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle to all
men, apt to teach, patient…. (1 Timothy 2:24)

When dealing with or confronting demonic spirits, we must always

be led by the Spirit of God and operate in love. Bitterness, anger,
fear, hatred, and chaos give ground to the accuser of the brethren
and attract evil spirits. This is why some so-called deliverance
ministers are ineffective in liberating people from bondage. They
shout, scream, embarrass, and engage in drama that does nothing
to help the person who is bound. In contrast, when our ministry has
followed biblical principles according to the authority of the believer,
we have seen countless people healed, delivered, and set free by
the power of God.
Some demonic spirits are sent to bring us frustration and
exhaustion. I firmly believe that not every demon deserves our
attention, time, and energy. One of Satan’s greatest weapons is
distraction. We must be careful not to become consumed by an
attack that the enemy is launching against us but to remain focused
on the Lord.
 Let us seek to be fully aligned with the will of God for our lives. The
Father desires for us to walk in freedom, and we must abide by His
ways, and His ways alone, to experience complete freedom from any
demonic stronghold. We need to be watchful not to attract familiar
spirits, or to be ignorant partakers of Satan’s intent to gain access
into our lives by agreement and permission. We must repent of any
ways in which we have deliberately or unconsciously invited “strange
gods” into our lives. Let us humble ourselves before the Lord, and,
without presumption, in the power of the Spirit, reject and expel any
familiar spirits that would seek to operate through the law of
attraction.

PRAYER OF RELEASE
Father God, I thank You for making a way for my freedom and
eternal righteousness through Jesus’s sacrifice and the power
of His mighty and matchless name. I declare and decree that,
according to John 8:36, Jesus Christ has already set me free.
Therefore, I renounce any agreement with false gods that I
have entered into under my own volition or out of ignorance. I
declare that Satan has no power over me, for I am free in
Christ. I thank You that I have full authority as a child of the
most High God to cast out from me, my family, and my home
anything that is not of You, and I do so right now. I decree that
my mouth will speak the will of God for my life, according to His
Word. I will speak only life, not death—which includes fear,
discouragement, anxiety, chaos, and confusion. I invite the
Holy Spirit to be my Guide and my Shield against the spirit of
religion and all manner of deceptive practices and rituals. I
exercise my spiritual authority, as given by Jesus in Luke
10:19, to overcome all the power of the enemy, in any form or
fashion in which he comes. I declare that the enemy is subdued
in all ways that concern me, my family, and my home. In
Jesus’s mighty name, amen!

INSIGHTS FOR OVERCOMING

 1. The law of attraction works through counterfeit meditation,
demonic magnetic attractions, the invoking of occult
powers, spiritual “residue,” the power of permission, and
demonic altars.
2. The Holy Spirit will always lead us into all truth; the Spirit
would never lead or tempt us to engage in behavior that is
contrary to God’s Word.
3. When we walk in the unconditional, agape love of God,
demonic powers lose their hold and strength. God’s love
can break through all satanic attachments.
4. Bitterness, anger, fear, hatred, and chaos give ground to
the accuser of the brethren, attracting evil spirits. When
dealing with or confronting demonic spirits, we must always
be led by the Spirit of God and operate in love.

PRACTICUM

1. Ask yourself the following questions proposed in this

chapter: “What’s pulling me?” “Who do I gravitate toward?”
“What is a common characteristic of people in my circle?”
Record your answers and reflect on whether you have any
unhealthy attractions in regard to your hobbies, work, and
relationships. If so, pray about these areas and write down
how you will begin to remove these attractions from your
life. Seek assistance from a trusted Christian counselor if
you have been deceived into thinking you had permission
to engage in adultery or other behavior that is contrary to
God’s Word.
2. Consider ways in which you may have given permission,
authorization, or support to creating an atmosphere that is
antithetical to the presence of God in your home. (If
possible and appropriate, talk with your family members
about this as well.) Areas to consider include what you
watch (on the Internet or TV), what you read, and the topics
of your conversations. If you discover any areas that are
 negatively affecting the spiritual atmosphere of your home,
determine how you will remove these negative influences in
order to honor God with your whole life and protect your
home from demonic attachments.
3. Have you been refusing to break an agreement with an
ungodly “altar” (for example, holding on to occult
associations or practices)? If so, repent immediately and
ask God to completely cleanse you. Meet with godly,
trusted spiritual leaders to pray about your desire to be
totally free from these attractions and associations.

1 Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, s.v. “attraction,”

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/attraction.
2 Lexico.com, s.v. “permission,”

https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/permission.
 9
Breaking Ungodly Soul Ties and Attachments

“Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved,

let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit,
perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”
—2 Corinthians 7:1

In this chapter, we will take a deeper look at the implications and

consequences of ungodly soul ties and other attachments. In this
way, you can be alert to these associations in your own life and be
prepared to renounce them and be set free from demonic
oppression.
As I have prayed, interceded, fasted, and ministered to people who
were struggling with familiar spirits, the Lord has given me increased
revelation about soul ties. This is an area about which I receive
many questions and prayer requests. Although my ministry is
primarily concerned with the supernatural, the most prevalent
questions I receive are in reference to relationships. This is an area
that many people do not understand.
In chapter 5, we talked about how illegal soul ties are one of the
portals that familiar spirits use to infiltrate our lives. If we are going to
live in spiritual victory and freedom, we must break the power of
ungodly soul ties. Remember that a soul tie is a bond involving the
mind, will, and emotions of two individuals or a group of people.
Such a bond can take place through intercourse, intimacy, and/or
communion. We previously noted that there are good soul ties, as in
the biblical example of Jonathan and David. Some additional positive
examples from Scripture are Ruth and Naomi, Paul and Barnabas,
and Paul and Timothy. There are other types of positive soul ties,
such as the bond between a husband and wife in a godly marriage,
or between a mother and a daughter, a father and a son, a spiritual
mother and a spiritual daughter, or a spiritual father and a spiritual
son. However, we know there are also negative soul ties where the
bond or covenant is not authorized or sanctioned by God.
 Severing ungodly soul ties is a necessity in anyone’s life, but
especially for a believer. Maintaining soul ties is dangerous to our
lives and our growth in God. Christ Jesus shed His blood to give us
victory over all demonic bondage, and we need to enter into the full
freedom He has provided.
As we learned in a previous chapter, when an individual enters into
a soul tie with someone, there can be a transference of demonic
influence and oppression. Whatever spirits the individual’s partner or
friend was carrying now have the legal right to afflict them. This is
why people who never dealt with a particular type of affliction or
bondage will suddenly begin to struggle with that issue once a soul
tie is established. Someone who never dealt with depression or
anxiety will begin experiencing depression or anxiety. Or someone
who never had a problem with pornography will begin dealing with
lust and perversion. An illicit connection was made with something
unlawful in the spiritual realm, and it opened the door to familiar
spirits.
This transference is similar to the legal ramifications of a marriage
where one spouse has bad credit and has racked up debts, but the
other spouse is equally responsible under the law to pay back the
money. Why? Because the marriage contract gives the first spouse’s
creditors access to their husband or wife.
Negative soul ties not only transfer sinful attitudes and tendencies
from one person to another, but they also sometimes reshape
people’s whole personalities. A woman may be outgoing and jovial,
but when the wrong man comes into her life, she suddenly becomes
antisocial, closed in, or irritable. A man may be very responsible,
dedicated, and disciplined, but when the wrong woman comes into
his life, he becomes irresponsible, thoughtless, and reckless. Those
bondages and strongholds have entered by way of an illegal soul tie.

CHANNELS OF UNGODLY SOUL TIES

ILLEGAL SEXUAL UNIONS
In 1 Corinthians 6:16, Paul wrote,
 What? know you not that he which is joined to a harlot is one
body? for two, says He, shall be one flesh.

The second part of this verse is a direct reference to Genesis 2:24,

which says,

Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and
shall cling to his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

The Bible says that when a man or woman engages in sexual

immorality with someone (in this particular instance, the Scripture is
speaking of relations with a prostitute), he or she is actually joined to
that person, and they become “one flesh.” This is an ungodly soul tie
that can produce devastating spiritual consequences. If you have
sexual relations with someone you are not married to, you engage in
an illegal union that is not sanctioned or blessed by God. Such a
union opens the door to demonic soul ties and also to spiritual
oppression. Many people are battling this distressing reality.
When people engage in sexual intercourse, they enter into a union
that is recognized as a covenant in the spiritual realm. In biblical
times, a couple would consummate a marriage through intercourse
in order to legally seal a marriage. It was not the ceremony that
made them a married couple but rather the sexual union. Because of
the hypersexual culture we live in today, people do not often
consider the gravity of sex before marriage or sex outside of
marriage.
While having a sexual relationship outside of marriage creates
harmful soul ties for both men and women, it seems that women, in
particular, seem to suffer deep emotional consequences from them.
The moment a woman sleeps with a man, she forms a spiritual bond
with him. This is why, even if she goes on to another relationship or
even gets married to another man, she still has a former “spiritual
husband.” Having a past spiritual husband or husbands can be a
source of marital strife, sexual difficulties, and even illicit dreams that
bring torment. In some marriages, it may literally feel like an entity is
coming between the husband and wife, preventing them from
becoming one as they were meant to be. I have counseled married
people who cannot connect with their spouse because of a
preexisting ungodly soul tie. This is because the former bond is
blocking the new union.
In the insurance world, a preexisting medical condition may
prevent someone from obtaining coverage. There are also
preexisting conditions in the spirit. Again, a person can be affected
by relationships that existed before their marriage. Their soul was
connected to someone illegally, and this opened the door to familiar
spirits that keep them trapped in the past.
In the apostle Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church, he uses
language that everyone at that time would have understood. Corinth
was a city that was infamous for immorality. During the first century,
temple prostitution was very common. In Corinth, there was a temple
to Aphrodite that employed hundreds of temple prostitutes.
“Priestesses” would be depicted in picture form to show men where
the temple was. These priestesses would engage in sexually
immoral acts to venerate the false deities that they worshipped. We
know, according to Scripture, that they were actually worshipping
demonic spirits.

But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they
sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that you
should have fellowship with devils. (1 Corinthians 10:20)

As the people engaged in this satanic worship, they would actually

open their souls to demonic infestation and, in some cases, demonic
possession. As far-fetched as this scenario might seem to us in
modern times, many people are engaged in a similar practice today.
Every time they forge an ungodly soul tie through sin, it brings with it
a demonic power.
Paul wrote the above passage because the believers in the
Corinthian church found themselves struggling with immorality. The
city of Corinth was one of the most immoral cities in the first century,
and this landscape of perversion had crept into the church. The
church was even engaging in activities that not even the Gentiles
participated in. That aspect alone indicates how demonic and
disturbing this behavior was. It was a gross indictment on the
Corinthian church, and Paul rebuked the Christians so they would
repent and live according to their freedom in Christ. He knew the
spiritual consequences of their behavior.
Years ago, when I was ministering overseas, a young woman
came to me for prayer. She complained that although she was smart,
attractive, and loved God, she could never get married. In fact, every
time she entered a new relationship, something would happen that
would sabotage it. She had been engaged several times, but each
time, the wedding had been called off, even as late as a week before
the scheduled ceremony. As this young woman looked at me with
frustration, I told her that she needed to break ungodly soul ties.
When I said that, she stared at me, and her eyes turned bloodshot. I
prayed a simple prayer of deliverance over her to break the ungodly
soul ties, and she was set free! The following year, she married a
wonderful Christian man. We must stop the contagion of ungodly
soul ties in our own lives and prevent them from affecting our
children and subsequent generations.
Let me include a note of caution: an ungodly soul tie is not the
issue in all cases in which someone struggles with relationships or
can’t seem to get married. This is not a blanket statement that
applies to everyone’s situation. However, many times, problems in
relationships like this are the consequence of an ungodly soul tie.

EYE-GATE AND EAR-GATE PORTALS

As we noted earlier, soul ties are not only formed through sexual
unions. They can be formed through any type of spiritual, mental,
emotional, or physical attachment. For example, soul ties can be
created through the eye gates. When a person views pornography,
the same spiritual principles apply. The word pornography comes
from the Greek word pornographos, which literally means “writing
about prostitutes”; it comes from pornē, “prostitute,” and graphein,
“to write.”1
Jesus said, “Whosoever looks on a woman to lust after her has
committed adultery with her already in his heart” (Matthew 5:28).
Many believers have opened their lives to familiar spirits (including
bonds with spiritual husbands or wives) through pornography. Make
no mistake, to entertain pornography is to invite demonic spirits into
your life. Such spirits can torment people for decades, even when
their victims don’t understand what is causing their oppression.
Countless women and men have told me about being tormented in
their sleep by evil spirits. Some people have reported a demonic
entity visiting them in their dreams and their having a sexual
encounter with this spirit. When these people wake up, they feel
ashamed and defiled.
Not only eye gates but also ear gates can be the means of tying
souls together. Even conversations can tether you to somebody. This
was the case with Eve in the garden of Eden. Eve got into trouble
because she entertained the false words of the serpent. She listened
to a being who was full of evil, and because of what she entertained,
she was seduced. (See Genesis 3:1–7.)
In chapter 5, I related the story of the man who became close
friends with an individual who experienced constant calamity in his
life. Through their friendship, that spirit of calamity transferred to the
man’s life, causing him to have a bad car accident. You may have
close associations with people who are bringing a spirit of calamity
or darkness into your own life. Many people are waiting for God to do
something for them or to provide some relief to their circumstances,
but God is saying, “No, you need to sever that soul tie; you need to
break the connection that is giving the enemy access to your life.”
Once you break the connection in the name of Jesus, you will close
the door to whatever has been tormenting you, and you will be able
to move forward in God’s purposes.

ASSOCIATIONS WITH MONITORING SPIRITS

Another way the enemy seeks to infiltrate our lives and thwart
God’s purposes is to use “monitoring spirits” to undermine us and
draw us into demonic attachments.
First, we need to understand the difference between a “ministering
spirit” and a “monitoring spirit.” God sends us “ministering spirits,” or
His angels, to assist us.
 Are they [angels] not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister
for them who shall be heirs of salvation? (Hebrews 1:14)

Angels are powerful spiritual beings, created by God, whom God

sends to us as helpers. The Greek word translated angelos in
Hebrews 1:14 means “a messenger.” God will send human agents
and angelic beings alike who have assignments to help you and
encourage you. He will provide people who can give you exhortation,
minister to you, and intercede for you. These people have been sent
to cover you, not to expose you; they are there to strengthen you
and to enable you to get where you are called to go. They are
“ministering spirits.”
But there are messengers of God, and there are messengers of
Satan. God sends ministers, but Satan sends monitors. God sends
intercessors, but the devil sends interceptors. Monitors and
interceptors may be evil spirits or they may be human beings whom
the enemy uses for his purposes. These monitors and interceptors
seek to find out the areas where you are weak, where you are
susceptible, where you can be accused of wrongdoing.
Many people have a misconception about Satan and how he
operates. Contrary to popular belief, the enemy is not omniscient; he
does not know everything. Remember, the devil is not God. He is a
finite, created being, so the only way for him to obtain information
about God’s people is to do research and collect data. Therefore, he
uses evil spirits to do surveillance on us in order to examine and
gather information about us.
I will never forget an experience I had in my bedroom many years
ago in which I was nearly suffocated to death. I could not breathe,
and I was literally sinking down where I lay; I felt like darkness was
hovering right above me. I screamed out, “I bind you, spirit of
oppression!” When I declared those words, the feeling of suffocation
literally broke off of me. At the same time, my spiritual eyes were
opened, and I saw an entity that looked like an octopus or a jellyfish
hovering over my bed. When that spirit saw me, it looked shocked
because I was not “supposed” to be able to see him. I was not meant
to know this demon was present. A successful spy never reveals
their true identity and assignment.
I have just given an example regarding an evil spirit, but, as I wrote
earlier, monitoring spirits often operate through people or use them
for satanic purposes. You might ask, “Is there a scriptural basis for
that idea?” Let’s look at the biblical story of Nehemiah. Nehemiah
was living as an exile in the Persian Empire with many other
Israelites following the Babylonian invasions of Israel many years
earlier during which the Babylonians had taken a number of the
Jews captive. The Persians had subsequently defeated the
Babylonians, and Nehemiah had been given the position of
cupbearer to the Persian king, which was a highly trusted role. The
Lord put it on Nehemiah’s heart to go back to Israel and rebuild the
broken walls of Jerusalem, which had been destroyed during the
Babylonian assault. Nehemiah prayed and then asked the king if he
could return to perform this task, and God’s favor was upon him; the
king granted Nehemiah’s request and even provided building
materials.
However, when some enemies of Israel heard of the rebuilding
plan, they became very angry.

When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the

Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there
was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.
(Nehemiah 2:10)

Two of the individuals who sought to thwart Nehemiah’s mission

were Sanballat and Tobiah. Sanballat was a Horonite; he was likely
from an area called Horonaim in Moab. In Hebrew, the name
Sanballat means “strength.” Sanballat had a companion named
Tobiah, an Ammonite whose name signifies “Jehovah is good.”
These names seem ironic considering their opposition toward
Nehemiah.
When Nehemiah began to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,
Sanballat and Tobiah immediately showed up. They were not there
to offer support but to surveil those who were rebuilding the walls.
They were there not to assist the Hebrew builders but to stop them.
They wanted to hinder the work from going forth.
Throughout the challenges he faced while rebuilding the walls,
Nehemiah recognized the character of his opponents. In Nehemiah
2, we see his discernment and strategic movements when his
naysayers mocked the Jews’ fervor in their work and accused
Nehemiah of wrongdoing.

But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the
Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us
to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that you
do? will you rebel against the king? (Nehemiah 2:19)

To this, Nehemiah replied:

The God of heaven, He will prosper us; therefore we His

servants will arise and build: but you have no portion, nor
right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem. (Nehemiah 2:20)

Nehemiah made it clear to Sanballat, Tobiah, and their cohort,

Geshem, that they had no lot or part in the matter of rebuilding
Jerusalem. They had no say in it, and they had nothing to do with
this assignment and purpose, so he cut them off, denying Sanballat
and the others access to him.
Likewise, we must take authority over monitoring spirits—whether
demonic spirits or human beings—and cut off their access to us in
the name of Jesus. Many believers confuse love with full access;
yes, we are to love everyone with God’s love, but this does not mean
we are to give everyone close access to us. When Jesus’s disciples
asked Him why He spoke to the masses in parables, He said,

Because it is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom

of heaven, but to them it is not given. (Matthew 13:11)

Please note that being aware of the existence of monitoring spirits

is not a reason to espouse fear or suspicion but rather to exercise
wisdom and discernment. This will enable you to know the difference
between a friend and a foe.
In this regard, we must understand that Satan is a false prophet;
he is not capable of giving us real prophetic words from God. Thus,
when the enemy says something to you through a monitoring spirit
(either spiritual or human), he is not doing it to declare what will be.
He is doing it to see what false idea you might come into agreement
with. Again, Satan is not omniscient, so he has to observe you to
know your desires and weaknesses. I like to use the example of
“cookies” from computer science technology when explaining this
type of spiritual warfare. In case you aren’t familiar with this term,
here is the technical definition:

A small file or part of a file stored on a World Wide Web user’s

computer, created and subsequently read by a website server,
and containing personal information (such as a user
identification code, customized preferences, or a record of
pages visited).2

For example, suppose you go to the website of a fast food

restaurant and place an order. Then, when you log on to your social
media page, suddenly, advertisements for this restaurant keep
popping up. Why? Because cookies were tracking your online
activity. Cookie software investigates your interests and desires in
order to determine what images and offers to present to you. The
enemy uses a similar method: he presents temptations to us based
on what we respond to and what we “bite,” like a fish going after a
certain bait.
Since the enemy is constantly trying to figure out what we are
doing, we have to take authority over any satanic surveillance
systems that may be monitoring us. We know that the devil is “the
accuser of [the] brethren” (Revelation 12:10). The Greek word for
“accuser” is katēgoreō, which means “to charge with some offense”
like a plaintiff. The devil seduces us into sin, and then he records us
sinning. He tempts us to do something and then tries to use what he
told us to do against us. That is his modus operandi.
 There may be people surrounding you who are operating under a
spirit of surveillance. They are not there to support you or assist you.
They are there to monitor you and gather information about you.
They want to figure out what you are doing so they can hinder or
completely block your assignment from God. Such people are
influenced by monitoring spirits.
To do their monitoring, some people use the power of witchcraft,
such as astral projection, where a person will project themselves
through an astral plane to watch other people. The person using the
astral projection will extend themselves remotely (in the spirit) into
the rooms of people’s homes to see what is going on.
I once encountered this type of monitoring spirit. Someone came
to me while I was on one of my overseas ministry trips, and they
thought they were being “prophetic,” sharing with me the following: “I
was in your house in the spirit.” This person lived in one of the
poorer areas of the world and had never traveled outside their
country; they had never been to the United States even for one day
in their natural life. Neither would they have had an opportunity to
use Google maps or a similar method to view my home on the
Internet. Yet, their description of the way my house looked and of my
car and driveway was accurate. Right then, I had to take authority
over that spirit. I said, “I take authority over you, you monitoring
spirit. You are not a prophet. You are a demon. Who gives you the
right to be in my house? I did not give you permission to be in my
house. I did not give you permission to watch me.”
Please understand that I am not saying that anybody who has a
word of knowledge or a vision is a monitoring spirit. God gives
spiritual gifts, and He can give a true prophet a word of knowledge or
an insight or a vision concerning you in order to encourage and
strengthen you. What I am saying is that sometimes what you are
dealing with is not a ministering spirit but a monitoring spirit, and you
need to know the difference for your spiritual well-being.
As a believer, you must walk in wisdom and learn to operate
effectively in the gift of discernment from the Holy Spirit. (See, for
example, 1 Corinthians 12:10.) Your level of discernment needs to
be higher than it has ever been. You have to be able to recognize
the presence of monitoring spirits operating through human beings.
Be sure to read and study the Word and stay close to God in prayer,
listening for His guidance and direction. Your senses must be
exercised to discern between good and evil:

But strong meat belongs to them that are of full age, even
those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to
discern both good and evil. (Hebrews 5:14)

Thus, you should be able to recognize, “This person is not

someone I should let into my inner circle. I discern that is not their
assignment.” You don’t need to submit a prayer request, divulge your
dream or vision, or share your plans with everyone you meet but
only those whom you trust in the Lord. Remember, some people are
not sent to minister to you but to monitor you. Some people go to
churches not with the intent to serve or to receive but to observe. I
have seen this scenario play out many times. The first thing they
want to discover is your weaknesses. In this sense, they have a
“Delilah spirit.”
Delilah, whom we read about in the book of Judges, had a
monitoring spirit upon her. She was bribed by the Philistines to
monitor Samson to find out the secret to his strength and how they
might defeat him. (See Judges 16.) Those who harbor a monitoring
spirit will inquire as to what areas you are struggling in and what you
are dealing with. They will insist that they want to learn about your
difficulties so they will know how to pray on your behalf. In reality,
they are concerned about “preying,” not “praying.” They want to
gather information on you so that information can be leveraged
against you or be brought as an accusation against you.
Again, let me be clear: I am not saying that everyone who inquires
about your well-being is a monitoring spirit because there are sincere
Christian leaders and friends who want to support your spiritual
growth and genuinely want to pray for you. Rather, I am referring to
demonic spirits and people who are working under their influence.
This is where our great need for discernment comes in.
 SPIRITS OF PREVENTION
Monitoring spirits may work in accordance with a spirit of
prevention. When there is a calling on your life, the devil will do
everything in his power to hinder you from reaching your destination.
And one of the devices he employs is a spirit of prevention. No one
ever taught me about this spirit in seminary or even in a Bible study;
I discovered it in the trenches of full-time ministry. However, there
are biblical examples of it, including one from the life of the prophet
Daniel.
Daniel, living in exile in Babylon, was praying and fasting on behalf
of the Jewish people when one of God’s angels appeared to him.
This angel told Daniel that his prayer had been heard when he first
started praying, twenty-one days earlier. The heavenly messenger
had been immediately sent from heaven with an answer, but he had
been “withstood” by “the prince of the kingdom of Persia.”

Then said he [the angel] to me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the
first day that you did set your heart to understand, and to
chasten yourself before your God, your words were heard, and
I am come for your words. But the prince of the kingdom of
Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one
of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there
with the kings of Persia. Now I am come to make you
understand what shall befall your people in the latter days: for
yet the vision is for many days. (Daniel 10:12–14)

From Daniel’s encounter with this angel, we learn that there is an

unseen realm that affects human events and that the powers of
darkness try to delay or prevent God’s plans. Notice that the angel
said, “I am come for your words.” The ability to prompt angelic
activity is another aspect of the spiritual authority we have as
believers when we pray and make declarations according to God’s
will. However, for the purpose of this book, I want to focus on the fact
that there was a spirit of prevention in the form of a demonic
principality in the heavenly realm.
The Hebrew word translated “withstood” in the above passage is
‘āmad, among whose meanings are “to delay,” “to stand still,” “to
stop (moving or doing),” or “to cease.” There are spiritual forces that
seek to create delay in our lives, to discourage us, and to convince
us that God did not (and does not) answer our prayers. The devil is a
liar! It is my firm belief that spirits of prevention and delay do not just
operate in the heavenly realm, but they also operate through human
agents. This is another reason why we must take inventory of our
connections. One of the strategies of the enemy is to cause delay
through insidious attachments.

SPIRITS OF SABOTAGE
Monitoring spirits not only seek to delay and prevent God’s plans,
but they also try to sabotage them. We noted earlier that “evil
communications [or companions] corrupt good manners [“character”
NLT]” (1 Corinthians 15:33). However, it is important for us to
understand how that corruption functions in conjunction with soul
ties. For example, the Bible says:

Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man

you shall not go: lest you learn his ways, and get a snare to
your soul. (Proverbs 22:24–25)

The Scriptures tell us that we must not enter into a friendship with
an angry man lest we adopt his ways and snare our souls. The
Hebrew word translated “friendship” in this verse is rā‘â, which,
among many meanings, can signify “to associate with.” This word
has the connotation of sheep grazing together in a pasture. Many
people don’t realize that they are exposing themselves to a spirit of
sabotage through wrong affiliations and connections. The word
sabotage means “to deliberately destroy, damage, or obstruct
(something), especially for political or military advantage.”3
Remember, familiar spirits seek to undermine our lives and destinies,
hindering our callings and diminishing our spiritual vision and fervor.
The apostle Paul dealt with spirits of sabotage during his ministry.
To give one illustration, Paul and Barnabas were preaching in the
city of Iconium, and as they went about winning Jews and Greeks to
the Lord, religious people stirred up strife:
 But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, and made
their minds evil affected [bitter] against the brethren. (Acts 14:2)

Eventually, Paul and Barnabas had to flee to another region,

where they continued to preach the gospel. (See Acts 14:7.) The
sabotage could not prevent the gospel from being proclaimed
wherever Paul went.
For another biblical example, let’s return to the account of
Nehemiah, who continued to face opposition from Sanballat, Tobiah,
and others, even though he had refuted them.

But it came to pass, that when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the
Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that
the walls of Jerusalem were made up, and that the breaches
began to be stopped, then they were very angry, and conspired
all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem,
and to hinder it. Nevertheless we made our prayer to our God,
and set a watch against them day and night, because of them.
(Nehemiah 4:7–9)

Nehemiah discerned that Sanballat and Tobiah were operating in a

spirit of sabotage to keep the Israelites from fulfilling their
assignment. Sometimes, people will persist in trying to monitor,
delay, and sabotage our life or work. This is when we need to stand
firm in the Lord, as Nehemiah did. In Nehemiah 6:1–3, we read:

Now it came to pass, when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem

the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies, heard that I had built
the wall, and that there was no breach left therein; (though at
that time I had not set up the doors upon the gates;) that
Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, Come, let us meet
together in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But
they thought to do me mischief. And I sent messengers to
them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come
down: why should the work cease, while I leave it, and come
down to you?
 Again, we see Nehemiah exercising discernment and not being
tricked into an attachment with those who would do him harm and try
to stop his God-given purpose. Years ago, when my wife and I were
just beginning our ministry, we sought to connect with various
pastors and ministries for support. At one point, we began to
fellowship and partner with a few other ministries. There was one
particular ministry that we were about to partner with on a deeper
level when God gave my wife a dream in which this ministry gave us
turtles. As soon as she awoke from the dream, she knew
immediately what it meant and warned me that if we partnered with
that group, it would bring years of stagnation to our own ministry. We
never partnered with that ministry, and they eventually ceased
operations. Had we been connected to them, it would have hindered
our spiritual progress.

STOPPING THE CONTAGION

Most of us have experienced sickness in some form. Perhaps it
was a common cold or a virus, such as the flu or the coronavirus. No
matter what their degree of gravity, all viruses need a connection in
order to transmit. Just as viruses can transmit between people who
are in proximity to one another, demonic spirits can transfer through
ungodly soul ties and attachments. One of the major ways we can
stop the transmission of demonic assignments is by severing
unauthorized connections.
God is saying that it is time for the church to be cleansed of
unhealthy soul ties and associations. Until you sever a soul tie, it will
be difficult to remove the connection that has given the enemy
access to you. But there is good news: you can be free! You must
make a decision that you will break these ungodly ties through the
power of Christ. I invite you to do so right now.

PRAYER OF RELEASE
Father, in Romans 10:13, You said that whoever calls upon the
name of the Lord will be delivered. You know all my needs. You
know what binds, torments, and defiles me—every evil,
unclean spirit. In the name of Jesus, I ask that You would
 deliver me and make me free of all ungodly soul ties and
attachments. I declare that anything that was planted in my life
by demonic powers is uprooted by the power of the blood of
Jesus. Father, I speak annulment to every illicit union that was
not established by You. I take authority over it, I renounce it,
and I reject it. I break all soul ties with any and all spiritual
husbands or wives and any nefarious spirit attached to them.
I also break the power of every monitoring spirit sent to my
relationships and my home. I nullify every wicked spirit that has
an assignment to infringe on my privacy or to impede the plans
You have for me. I also deactivate any technology that is being
used to surveil me against Your will, any ungodly surveillance
system that has been sent to monitor me in order to report back
to their “base” things that can be used to bring accusations
against me.
Father, I thank You that I am released from every ungodly
connection and association, including spirits of prevention and
sabotage. As a child of God, I am released from every wicked
tie. I am released from every spiritual bondage. I renounce
everything that is causing perversion in my life, everything that
is causing hindrances in my life, everything that is causing lack
in my life. I receive the cleansing blood of Jesus for my spirit,
soul, and body. I declare that I am totally free, in Jesus’s name!
Amen.

INSIGHTS FOR OVERCOMING

1. Maintaining soul ties is dangerous to our lives and our

growth in God. Jesus Christ shed His blood to give us
victory over all demonic bondage, and we need to enter
into the full freedom He has provided.
2. Some channels of ungodly soul ties and attachments
include illicit sexual relationships, eye-gate and ear-gate
portals, and associations with monitoring spirits, including
spirits of prevention and sabotage.
 3. Satan is a finite, created being, so the only way for him to
obtain information about God’s people is to do research
and collect data. He uses evil spirits to do surveillance on
us in order to examine and gather information. To identify
and remove monitoring spirits, we must walk in wisdom and
learn to operate effectively in the gift of discernment from
the Holy Spirit.
4. One of the major ways that we stop the transmission of
demonic assignments is by severing unauthorized
connections. You must make a decision that you will break
ungodly soul ties and attachments through the power of
Christ.

ASK YOURSELF

1. Which soul ties have you identified in your life that need to
be broken? How will you give these areas over to God
completely in order to sever those ties?
2. Have you encountered people in your life or ministry who
were there to monitor rather than to minister? What
happened in that situation? Based on what you have
learned in this chapter, how will you respond to such
circumstances in the future?
3. In accordance with Hebrews 5:14, how will you actively
exercise your senses to discern good and evil?

1 Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, s.v. “pornography,”

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pornography.
2 Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, s.v. “cookie,”

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cookie.
3 Lexico.com, s.v. “sabotage,”

https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/sabotage.
 10
Renouncing Evil Covenants and Oaths

“What? know you not that your body is the temple of

the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have of God,
and you are not your own?”
—1 Corinthians 6:19

Previously, we explored the spiritual principle that the words we

speak can invite and invoke spiritual powers—either benevolent or
malevolent—to work in our lives. We also talked about the dynamics
of generational curses and how these curses can have a devastating
effect on people’s lives both spiritually and physically. At this point, it
is important for us to further understand the nature of covenants and
oaths and their connection to the operation of familiar spirits. In this
way, we will be able to renounce any evil covenants and oaths that
are oppressing us.

POSITIVE COVENANTS AND OATHS IN THE BIBLE

We find the concept of covenants throughout the Scriptures, in
both the Old and New Testaments. There are godly covenants and
oaths as well as ungodly ones. In this chapter, we will mainly focus
on the ungodly ones, but let us begin by looking at some positive
examples. The first occurrence of the word “covenant” is in Genesis
6, where God made a covenant with Noah that he would be the
progenitor of the human race after the flood:

But with you will I establish my covenant; and you shall come
into the ark, you, and your sons, and your wife, and your sons’
wives with you. (Genesis 6:18)

The Hebrew word translated “covenant” in this verse its berît.

Among its meanings are “covenant,” “alliance,” “pledge,” and
“agreement.”
 The first appearance of the word “oath” in the Bible is Genesis
26:28–29, where Abimelech of Gerar makes an agreement with
Isaac:

We saw certainly that the LORD was with you: and we said, Let
there be now an oath between us, even between us and you,
and let us make a covenant with you; that you will do us no
hurt, as we have not touched you, and as we have done to you
nothing but good, and have sent you away in peace: you are
now the blessed of the LORD.

The Hebrew word rendered “oath” is ’ālâ, which literally means “an
imprecation” or “a curse.” It comes from a root word meaning “to
swear “or “to adjure.” An oath may be defined as “a solemn promise,
often invoking a divine witness, regarding one’s future action or
behavior.”1 In the ancient world, oaths were often made before God,
and there were specific curses or spiritual consequences associated
with a refusal to honor or fulfill the oath.
When a covenant is established, it is typically accompanied by an
oath. Usually, an oath is made to an equal or greater party to keep
the one who made the oath accountable to the terms of the
covenant. In the case of the covenant that God make with Abraham,
the Lord could not swear by anyone greater, so He swore by Himself
(see also Hebrews 6:13):

And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham out of heaven the
second time, and said, By Myself have I sworn, says the LORD,
for because you have done this thing, and have not withheld
your son, your only son: that in blessing I will bless you, and in
multiplying I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heaven,
and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and your seed
shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in your seed shall
all the nations of the earth be blessed; because you have
obeyed My voice. (Genesis 22:15–18)

Thus, we can think of covenants and oaths as solemn agreements

that have spiritual implications and consequences. Throughout this
book, we have talked about the law of agreement and how
everything in the spiritual realm operates according to permission.
Whatever we give permission to, we give power to. And such power
is amplified with the incorporation of covenants and oaths.

UNGODLY OATHS AND COVENANTS

With this basic understanding of covenants and oaths, let us
explore what kinds of covenants and oaths are ungodly, creating an
opening for familiar spirits in people’s lives.

SECRET SOCIETIES AND FRATERNAL ORDERS

Many people have unknowingly made oaths with demonic powers
through their involvement with certain organizations. One of the most
common examples of this is when people make oaths to secret
societies (such as the Freemasons or Shriners). This is why the term
“pledging” is often used in reference to joining such organizations.
However, people are often unaware of the entity that they are
coming into agreement with.
When I was a child, I was visiting at a relative’s house and found a
ritual book in the closet. I had no clue what the book was, but I was
very inquisitive and brought it out to read. However, when I began to
open this book, one of my relatives literally snatched it out of my
hand and told me that I was not allowed to read it. This was very
confusing to me at the time. I asked them why, but they never really
answered me. Later, I discovered that this book was connected to
Freemasonry. I also came to realize that the emblems on this
particular ritual book were demonic and purportedly had connections
to Baphomet and Pan, two demonic entities that were worshipped in
the ancient world. Such connections to the occult have opened many
people to familiar spirits and curses, such as calamity, mental illness,
family strife, infirmity, and premature death, to name a few. I have
ministered to countless people who were involved in such
organizations, and I have heard many reports of calamity in the lives
of their children and family members. Beloved, secret societies are
rooted in idolatry, occultism, and spiritual darkness. God tells us that
we are not to have any other gods before Him. (See Exodus 20:3.)
 When I was in college, I considered pledging a fraternity. I knew
that the fraternity did not align with my Christian beliefs, but there
were many “Christians” who told me it was totally acceptable to join
because, after all, “So-and-so is a Christian, and they pledged!” All
the while, there was a lingering feeling deep within me that this was
wrong. The night I was to pledge, I heard the voice of God speak to
me, saying, “Son, you can pledge this fraternity, but you will have to
do it without Me.” The fear of God fell on me in a way that I cannot
describe. I knew that if I proceeded to pledge, I would face severe
spiritual consequences.
The apostle Paul admonished:

Be you not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what

fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? and what
communion has light with darkness? And what concord has
Christ with Belial? or what part has he that believes with an
infidel? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols?
for you are the temple of the living God; as God has said, I will
dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and
they shall be My people. Wherefore come out from among
them, and be you separate, says the Lord, and touch not the
unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father to
you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord
Almighty. (2 Corinthians 6:14–18)

We are commanded by God to refrain from agreements with

ungodly things and people. Light is antithetical to darkness, and the
two will never be in agreement. When born-again Christians connect
to people, things, and organizations that are against God, they are
communing with darkness. When Paul asked the rhetorical question,
“And what concord has Christ with Belial?” the Greek word he used
for “concord” was symphōnēsis, which means “agreement” or
“accordance.” This term is related to the English word symphony.
What are you in agreement with? What have you become
synchronized with? What are you in harmony with? The Bible tells us
not to touch what is unclean. This is not a reference to physical
germs but to spiritual uncleanness.
 UNGODLY BLOOD COVENANTS AND BONDS
Most of us have had a best friend or a “blood brother or sister” that
we were deeply connected to at some point in our lives. Even if you
did not have such a friend, you probably are familiar with the
concept. These are people with whom we have entered into “soul
ties.” Remember, a soul tie is a strong bond with another person
involving the mind, will, and emotions.
In the ancient world, people made covenants by mingling blood. It
was common for two men to puncture their wrists and then join them
together in order to bind themselves in a covenant relationship. In
today’s culture, covenants, including brotherhoods and sisterhoods,
can be sealed in a much less dramatic way—they may simply be an
agreement or bond with a friend, a close relative, a romantic partner,
or even a mentor or mentee—but they are still significant.
Since such covenants can be positive or negative, we must be
mindful of the vows that we make in the name of friendship. For
example, I am very loyal to my friends. I am the type of person that
you can befriend for life. However, this trait of fidelity, while having a
positive side, has caused me many spiritual problems throughout the
years. Why? Sometimes, I was loyal to things and people that were
outside the will of God for me.
When I was a child, I had a very close friend, and I felt such a
connection to him that I would follow him into situations and
circumstances that were not good for me. I remember going to a
party that I knew I should not go to simply because I wanted to
support my friend. This was a disaster that opened me up to very
negative spiritual consequences. Today, the two of us are no longer
friends. Such experiences are why it is important to understand the
nature of covenants and oaths, even ones we may not speak out
loud but still establish in our hearts. How many times have we come
into agreement with things without regard for their true nature or
spiritual origin? Or how many times have we suffered spiritual,
emotional, or even physical consequences because we were
negligent in examining beforehand the spiritual implications of the
agreements and relationships we made?
 As long as an ungodly covenant or oath is active, the demonic
realm has legal grounds to enforce the terms of that covenant or
oath. Oaths keep us tethered to certain behaviors, circumstances,
places, and even individuals until they are renounced and broken.
This is why some people cannot leave the town or city they grew up
in. This is why some people find it nearly impossible to break certain
habits or patterns of behavior. This is why some people feel bound or
obligated to certain individuals—no matter what. This can be the
case with fraternal oaths; people feel compelled to do certain things
for their fraternity brother or sorority sister even if it goes against
their judgment or the Word of God in general.
As we discussed in the previous chapter, similar unhealthy
covenants can occur in romantic relationships. I have seen situations
in which a woman is not able to break away from her children’s
father, even after they are legally divorced or the relationship is
severed prior to marriage. She finds herself unable to meet new men
or develop healthy relationships, including platonic friendships. Even
though the woman and her former husband are legally divorced, they
have not broken the spiritual cord that binds them together. Satan
uses this ungodly covenant to drive away new, productive
relationships.
The same can be true of inordinate relationships between parents
and children. Suppose a single mother tells her son that he must
never allow any woman to come between them. “It’s just you and
me, little guy! Forever!” If the son, whether knowingly or
unknowingly, accepts such a spiritual covenant, it may prevent him
from ever getting married or else keep him from truly cleaving to his
wife if he does get married. (See Genesis 2:24.) Behind such a
situation are familiar spirits who act as spiritual enforcers or debt
collectors, demanding that the terms of ungodly covenants and oaths
be fulfilled.

BITTER ROOT JUDGMENTS AND INNER VOWS

Years ago, I was introduced to the concept of bitter root judgments
and inner vows by my pastor during a Bible study class. Honestly, at
the time, I did not have a clue of what he was talking about, but I
have since come to understand the concept very well. What do the
terms “bitter root judgments” and “inner vows” refer to? And what do
they have to do with oaths and covenants? When people go through
traumatic experiences, especially when these traumas continue to
affect them deeply, they have a tendency to make visceral judgments
and/or make promises to themselves based on a negative motivation
—that of never wanting to repeat the trauma of those painful
circumstances. Therefore, they make statements like, “I will never
get married again!” or “I will never be like my mom or dad!” These
are classic examples of bitter root judgments and inner vows.
Yet the Bible teaches us:

Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you
judge, you shall be judged: and with what measure you mete, it
shall be measured to you again. And why behold you the mote
[speck] that is in your brother’s eye, but consider not the beam
that is in your own eye? Or how will you say to your brother, Let
me pull out the mote out of your eye; and, behold, a beam is in
your own eye? You hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of
your own eye; and then shall you see clearly to cast out the
mote out of your brother’s eye. (Matthew 7:1–5)

You have probably realized by now that the Bible is very accurate
when it says, “With what judgment you judge, you shall be judged.” If
you do not believe this, ask any parent who judged their own father
and mother as not being good parents or not raising their children in
the most efficient manner. Many parents have had to repent for
saying that they would never make the same mistakes their own
parents made. Why? Because they often end up making similar
mistakes. This can be due to the presence of bitter root judgments.
Jesus says that when we make an unrighteous judgment, we
actually activate a spiritual law of reciprocity. We bind ourselves to
becoming guilty of the same things for which we judged others.
Why? In verse 5 of the previous passage, the Greek word for
“hypocrite” is used to describe this phenomenon; hypokritēs refers to
“a stage player,” or “an actor under an assumed character.” In the
ancient world, a “hypocrite” was an actor who would use a mask to
cover their face and augment their voice. But this mask inhibited the
actor from seeing clearly. Bitter root judgments are actually a form of
spiritual hypocrisy because we don’t see our own failings and
tendencies toward weakness. Thus, once we judge others, we bind
ourselves to the very thing that we judged. When we make
judgments based upon our hurt, disappointment, or pain, we unleash
familiar spirits whose assignment is to ensure that we manifest the
same behavior.
How do you recognize that you have a bitter root judgment? Such
judgments, as the name suggests, spring from seeds of bitterness.
For example, a young man who grows up without his biological
father may feel rejected because of this void in his life. The wound of
rejection that the young man incurs through his father’s absence
grows into a root of bitterness; from this bitter root, he makes a
judgment against all fathers or all men who remind him of his father.
The young man says, “I will never be like him!” Ultimately, this bitter
root judgment opens the door to the same familiar spirits that caused
his father to be absent in the first place. If the young man’s father
was an alcoholic or a workaholic, and he judged his father for this,
the young man will often become the very thing he judged. (It is
important to note that not everyone who has an absentee parent
experiences feelings of rejection or bitterness that lead to being
oppressed by familiar spirits.)
Whatever their origin, bitter root judgments and inner vows can
invite demonic spirits into our lives. We must renounce these
judgments and vows in order to break the demonic strongholds they
create.

EVIL ALTARS
Another aspect of covenants and oaths are “evil altars.” We briefly
discussed evil altars earlier in this book, but I want to revisit this
concept for the purpose of giving you a deeper understanding of how
altars relate to covenants and oaths and how evil altars can be
confronted and broken.
Ancient altars were essentially places of sacrifice. We noted how
altars invite and invoke spiritual powers. When people make vows on
an altar that is not from God, they come into agreement with familiar
spirits. These agreements are like legal contracts in the spiritual
realm. For a contract to be legally binding, there must be two
elements: (1) All parties must agree about an offer made by one
party and accepted by the other. (2) There must be an exchange of
something of value.
In the case of vows made on an evil altar, the spiritual power being
implored demands a sacrifice be made in exchange for a specific
manifestation of that power. There are many technicalities to
contracts, but, essentially, if a contract is not fulfilled, then the party
who failed to meet their part of the obligation can be considered in
breach of contract, unless the contract was broken on legal grounds.
There are instances where someone will make a sacrifice on an
evil altar in order to obtain something that they desire, making an
agreement with a demonic power. In exchange, they dedicate their
immediate family and/or their descendants to that evil spirit. Thus,
oaths and covenants can have generational implications. They can
affect everyone attached to that bloodline for decades. This is why it
is so important to recognize such oaths and covenants and renounce
them accordingly.
I remember an instance when I was praying for a woman who was
dealing with chronic back pain. The Lord told me that this woman
was dealing in the occult. When I asked her if she had any ties to the
occult, she emphatically insisted that she did not know what I was
talking about. Then, because of the word of knowledge God had
given me, I asked her plainly, “Have you been involved with
Hinduism?” and she said, “Yes!” She further said that she had been
dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu when she was a child and had
received a ceremonial tattoo. Once I told her that this involvement
was demonic and that the spirit that had been tormenting her had to
loosen its hold, a male voice spoke out of her, saying, “I will never let
her go!” The people around us were shocked when they heard that
voice. I commanded the evil altar to be destroyed and the spirit to
leave her, and she was totally set free!
 Once we identified the evil altar that had given the familiar spirit of
oppression legal rights, we knew how that spirit had gained access
and could cast it out accordingly. How many people are being
afflicted by an evil altar of which they are totally oblivious?
The cross of Jesus Christ is the legal ground upon which we can
nullify every ungodly oath, agreement, covenant, or contract that was
made on an evil altar and is affecting our lives in a negative way. We
must declare that the finished work of Jesus cancels every ungodly
agreement and releases us from the power of every evil altar, in the
name of Jesus!
In order to do this, we must have a pure altar in our own lives. This
means that we have a clear relationship with God, having good
standing with our heavenly Father through Jesus Christ. There are
several very important principles to understand regarding having a
godly altar:

The power of a believer is based on the purity of their altar.

The purity of the altar determines the depth of your
intimacy with God.
The purity of the altar determines the effectiveness of your
spiritual authority.
We must realize that we are powerful agents in the earthly realm
where Christ has given us dominion through His blood. Once we are
born again, we automatically become citizens of the kingdom of God
and can be used by the Lord in His purposes. Therefore, it should
concern all of us as believers that any spiritual covenant we are
involved in other than the new covenant in Jesus Christ, which He
sealed by His shed blood, would frustrate or oppose God’s plan for
us. Anything that would cause us to be compromised in our spiritual
walks will also limit our ability to hear and receive from God. What
agreements we, as agents of the kingdom here on earth, come into
will also have an effect on our representation of Christ.
Our bodies, minds, and souls are subject to God’s use as vessels
for His glory. The apostle Paul expressed it in this way:
 What? know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy
Ghost which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not
your own? (1 Corinthians 6:19)

Yes! Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, so you are
accountable for how you use your body and what alliances you make
with others through oaths, agreements, vows, or pacts. Christ does
not want any part of us to be enslaved or in bondage to evil
allegiances. We are called to glorify God in our bodies and in our
spirits (see 1 Corinthians 6:20) because, as believers, all of us
belong to the Lord.

IDENTIFYING COMPROMISE IN OUR LIVES

Any kind of spiritual uncleanness pollutes the soul. As we saw in
the example of the woman who had been dedicated to the Hindu
god, many people unknowingly come into bondage to oaths and
covenants through traditions, rituals, yogic practices, psychic
readings, demonic literature, idle conversations, and anything else
they might encounter through their eye gates and ear gates that is
not aligned with the will and Word of God. These are all influences
that can pollute your soul—the seat of your mind, will, and emotions.
Remember, when you are born again, your spirit becomes right with
God, but your soul and body must be disciplined with the help of the
Holy Spirit. You must be intentional and deliberate about recognizing
where you have permitted spiritual compromise to enter your life and
renounce all ungodly covenants and oaths.
In the book of Acts, we read what happened when some residents
of Ephesus believed in the Lord Jesus:

Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books
together, and burned them before all men: and they counted
the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.
(Acts 19:19)

The spiritual realm is covenantal, and renouncing evil covenants,

oaths, and altars is an essential part of being delivered from the
power of familiar spirits. Remember, who or what you enter into a
covenant with will determine who or what you give permission to
occupy your spiritual (and sometimes physical) life. In the next
chapter, we will further discuss the power of the blood of Jesus to
liberate us from spiritual bondage of all sorts. However, it is critical
that you also identify and reject any oath, ritual, right, vow, pact, or
covenant that you have entered into or participated in that is not of
God. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal these covenants, oaths, and evil
altars to you so that you can renounce them immediately. If you feel
that there is an evil covenant, oath, or altar operating in your life,
please pray this prayer right now.

PRAYER OF RELEASE
Father, in the mighty name of Jesus, I thank You for who You
are and all that You have done in my life. I recognize that I have
a new covenant with You through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
Right now, I renounce and reject every evil covenant or oath
that has operated in my life, whether with my knowledge or
without it. I sever all agreements, pacts, brotherhoods,
sisterhoods, or idolatrous practices that are antithetical to Your
Word and ways and/or that deny that Jesus Christ is the Son of
God and the only means to eternal salvation. Thank You, Lord,
for filling every void in my life with the presence and power of
the Holy Spirit. In the name of Jesus, amen!

INSIGHTS FOR OVERCOMING

1. Covenants and oaths are solemn agreements that have

spiritual implications and consequences. Whatever we give
permission to, we give power to. And such power is
amplified with the incorporation of covenants and oaths.
2. People can create openings for familiar spirits through
covenants and oaths from secret societies and fraternal
orders, ungodly blood covenants and bonds, bitter root
judgments and inner vows, and evil altars.
3. The power of a believer is based on the purity of their altar
(a clear relationship of good standing with the heavenly
 Father through Jesus Christ); the purity of the altar
determines the depth of your intimacy with God; the purity
of the altar determines the effectiveness of your spiritual
authority.
4. You must be intentional and deliberate about recognizing
where you have permitted spiritual compromise to enter
your life and renounce all ungodly covenants and oaths.

PRACTICUM

1. Ask God to reveal areas of your life where you have made
ungodly covenants or oaths through your involvement in
organizations or through personal bonds with others. As He
reveals these areas to you, repent of them immediately and
let go of your unhealthy ties to these relationships.
2. Identify any bitter judgments or inner vows you have made
in the past, especially regarding your parents or other
family members. Reject these judgments and vows and
receive cleansing from them through the sacrifice and
blood of Jesus Christ. Replace these bitter thoughts by
quoting and memorizing Scriptures that reflect God’s good
purposes for your life, such as Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know
the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD,
thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected
end [hopeful future].”
3. Commit today to establish a pure altar in your life:
Be intentional and deliberate about recognizing
where you have permitted spiritual compromise to
enter your life. Renounce all remaining ungodly
covenants and oaths, ask for God’s forgiveness, and
accept His cleansing.
Surrender your whole self anew to God, recognizing
that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and
that all of you belongs to the Lord.
 Make yourself accountable for how you use your
body and carefully monitor any alliances you make
with others through covenants, oaths, and other
agreements.

1 Lexico.com, s.v. “oath,” https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/oath.

 11
The Power of the Blood

“For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you
upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the
blood that makes an atonement for the soul.”
—Leviticus 17:11

We cannot talk about removing the oppression of familiar spirits

from our lives without discussing the power source that breaks the
influence of these demonic entities. The ultimate spiritual “legal
tender” that releases us from the obligation and penalty of sin and
every curse associated with it is the blood of Jesus. That’s right! The
blood of Jesus paid our ransom, destroying the power of sin, poverty,
sickness, and death!

THE SACRIFICE OF YOM KIPPUR (THE DAY OF ATONEMENT)

To help us understand the efficacy of the blood of Jesus, we will
begin by looking at a vital spiritual principle found in the Word of
God: “the life of the flesh is in the blood” (Leviticus 17:11). This
principle was the basis of all the Old Testament sacrifices.
Understanding sacrifice is a key to knowing how the spiritual realm
operates and how to overcome familiar spirits.
Every year, the Israelites were required by the law of Moses to
have a sacrifice made on their behalf to atone for and cover their
sins.

Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a

day of atonement: it shall be a holy convocation to you; and
you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to
the LORD. (Leviticus 23:27)

Once a year, the high priest would take two animals, the
scapegoat and the sacrificial goat. He would transfer the sins of
Israel onto the scapegoat by the laying on of hands and banish it into
the wilderness. The other goat would be used as the sacrifice for the
sin offering; its blood would be poured upon the mercy seat in the
holy of holies. (See Leviticus 16:5–22.)
This sacrifice was the spiritual atonement for Israel’s sin for that
year, but the sacrifice had to be observed every year in order for the
Israelites to remain in forgiveness and right relationship with God.
The yearly sacrifice was insufficient to cleanse the people
permanently because they would continue to sin every year, and
thus a perpetual sacrifice was required.

JESUS, OUR SACRIFICIAL LAMB

However, God had a plan of redemption that would solve the
problem of sin once and for all: His only begotten Son, Jesus, would
make the sacrifice for the sins of the world. This sacrifice would not
need to be repeated but would fulfill all righteousness:

For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not
the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices
which they offered year by year continually make the comers
thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be
offered? because that the worshippers once purged should
have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices
there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is
not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take
away sins. Wherefore when He comes into the world, He says,
Sacrifice and offering You would not, but a body have You
prepared Me: in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have
had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the
book it is written of Me,) to do Your will, O God. Above when
He said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering
for sin You would not, neither had pleasure therein; which are
offered by the law; then said He, Lo, I come to do Your will, O
God. He takes away the first, that He may establish the
second. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Hebrews 10:1–10)
 The Bible calls Jesus “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the
world” (Revelation 13:8). This is a reference to the Passover lambs
that were slain at the time of the exodus from Egypt. Following God’s
instructions, the Israelites applied the blood of these lambs to the
doorframes of their homes so they would be delivered from the death
angel. (See Exodus 12:1–28.)
Jesus’s blood was the only blood worthy to pay the price for our
sin because His blood is sinless. Jesus was the substitutionary and
propitiatory sacrifice that removed the penalty of sin, broke the curse
of the law, and turned the wrath of God away from us. It is as if, the
moment we were born again, we received a spiritual blood
transfusion. Jesus’s sinless, spotless, pure blood removed every
stain and blemish from our spiritual lives—we were cleansed
completely! Hallelujah!
The accuser of the brethren understands this spiritual law very
well. That is why he hates the blood of Jesus. Christ’s blood
discharges every debt that humankind could ever incur. When we
place our faith and trust in Jesus as our Sacrifice, and when we
confess and repent of our sins, His blood cleanses us from all
unrighteousness:

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our

sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

The blood of Jesus is more powerful than anything we could ever

fathom or imagine. His blood is necessary for breaking demonic
strongholds off of your life and the lives of your family members.
Why? Because the very life of Christ was and is in the blood! Christ
is greater than all the powers of darkness combined. His name and
His blood are stronger than any bondage or affliction that we could
ever experience.

THE POWER OF PLEADING THE BLOOD

Just as a defendant pleads their case in a human court of law, you
and I can plead the blood of Jesus in the courts of heaven. When we
do this, something supernatural happens. The hosts of hell are
reminded of the defeat they endured and the victory we have in
Christ.
The question remains, why are so many Christians still
experiencing the implications of a curse in their lives? That is a very
good question. Christ has redeemed us from the curse, but as
participants in the new covenant, we must appropriate the promises
associated with that covenant. This is a spiritual reality we must
apply to every area of our lives. We must declare that the blood of
Jesus has cleansed us from all unrighteousness, and therefore we
stand before God holy and unreprovable. We no longer have to
surrender to the lies of the enemy. We no longer have to live in
bondage or defeat.

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made
a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangs
on a tree: that the blessing of Abraham might come on the
Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the
promise of the Spirit through faith. (Galatians 3:13–14)

Jesus ratified the new covenant, with all its promises and benefits,
with His own blood. After we are born again, we must make a claim
on Christ’s finished work by invoking His blood. “Pleading the blood
of Jesus” is more than just a cliché. It is a spiritual revelation. Every
time we point to the sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf and on behalf of
our family members, we are pleading His blood over our lives and
the lives of those we love. If you are experiencing oppression in any
area of your life, apply the blood!

THE LIFE IS IN THE BLOOD

For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you
upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the
blood that makes an atonement for the soul. (Leviticus 17:11)

Previously, we saw that “the life of the flesh is in the blood.” We

established that this spiritual principle is the basis of all sacrifice in
the Bible. We further noted that the shed blood of Jesus Christ was
the sacrifice of atonement that was acceptable to God to take away
the curse of sin and death from our lives completely and
permanently.
It is important to understand the deep spiritual ramifications of the
blood of Jesus. Consider the nature of human blood. Not only does
blood deliver oxygen and nutrients to all the vital organs in the body,
but it also carries deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA. What is the
significance of DNA? First, let us define what DNA actually is:

A self-replicating material that is present in nearly all living

organisms as the main constituent of chromosomes. It is the
carrier of genetic information. Each molecule of DNA consists
of two strands coiled around each other to form a double helix,
a structure like a spiral ladder.1

DNA is the code of all biological life. This is why blood is so

important from a natural perspective. The question is, what is the
much deeper significance of the blood of Jesus? Through Christ’s
blood, we have received the spiritual DNA of the heavenly Father
within the fiber of our spiritual being. The very life of God flows in
and through us by virtue of the blood of Jesus and the power and
presence of the Holy Spirit.
Demons are focused on blood because they know that the life is in
the blood. Have you ever noticed that in all the horror and vampire
movies, the emphasis is on blood? In these films, the vampire
consumes blood. The occultist or warlock searches for a virgin or
innocent person to sacrifice in order to invoke evil spirits. Within
witchcraft and occultism, there is a requirement for blood sacrifice as
a source of spiritual power. Often, when people are being promoted
in the occult world, they will begin to engage in blood sacrifices to
solidify and increase their power. The sacrifice will usually become
more and more aberrant and disturbing as their thirst for power and
success increases. They may even sacrifice a family member or a
young child.
This is also why the sin of abortion is so egregious in the sight of
God. It is essentially the blood sacrifice of unborn babies on the
“altar of Molech.” Molech, or Moloch, was “a heathen god worshiped
especially by the Ammonites with gruesome orgies in which little
ones were sacrificed.”2 God actually judges nations based upon the
shedding of innocent blood. But the pure blood of Christ Jesus was
shed for our sins once and for all, and it has established for all who
believe in Him an eternal covenant relationship with God. With
repentance and faith, we can receive forgiveness and a new life in
Christ.

THE BODY AND BLOOD OF JESUS IN COMMUNION

Then Jesus said to them, Verily, verily, I say to you, Except you
eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, you have
no life in you. Whoso eats My flesh, and drinks My blood, has
eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh
is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He that eats My
flesh, and drinks My blood, dwells in Me, and I in him. (John
6:53–56)

One of the most controversial statements our Lord made is found

in John 6:53: “Verily, verily, I say to you, Except you eat the flesh of
the Son of Man, and drink His blood, you have no life in you.” Was
Jesus advocating cannibalism? Of course not! Instead, there is a
deep spiritual meaning to this statement. It essentially refers to what
we would call Communion (the fulfillment of the Passover Seder). As
we “partake” of Jesus’s body and blood by accepting His sacrifice on
the cross and by embracing the spiritual “elements” of that sacrifice,
we are in effect eating and drinking His body and blood. From a
spiritual standpoint, when we take Holy Communion, we are
consuming the supernatural life of Jesus and being filled with His
fullness. I recognize that people have different doctrinal
understandings of what this exactly means. However, suffice it to say
that we must have a revelation of who Jesus is and what He
accomplished on the cross through His body and blood.
In 1 Corinthians 11:17–31, Paul gives us great insight into
Communion, or the Lord’s Supper. Let us look at a portion of that
passage:
 And when He [Jesus] had given thanks, He broke it [the bread],
and said, Take, eat: this is My body, which is broken for you:
this do in remembrance of Me. After the same manner also He
took the cup, when He had supped, saying, This cup is the new
testament [covenant] in My blood: this do you, as often as you
drink it, in remembrance of Me. (1 Corinthians 11:24–25)

Jesus’s body was broken so that our bodies could be healed. His
blood was shed so that our lives could be cleansed. Holy
Communion is not simply a ceremony or a ritual; it is indeed a
prophetic act that releases supernatural deliverance and healing to
those who partake in it. In fact, I believe that Communion is a
weapon of mass destruction to the kingdom of darkness. When we
rightly discern the body of Christ and receive the elements with a
spirit of reverence and revelation, it literally releases heaven on
earth.

HEALING ISSUES OF BLOOD

Years ago, my wife, Gloria, was diagnosed with gestational
diabetes during one of her pregnancies. The first thing we did when
we received this diagnosis was to take Communion. We applied the
blood of Jesus to her body and declared, “The blood of Jesus is
diabetes-free; therefore, Gloria’s blood is diabetes-free, also, in the
name of Jesus.” Then we ate the Communion elements together.
The following day, Gloria went to the doctor, and she was free of
diabetes! This healing came about without her making any dietary
changes. Hallelujah! The life of Jesus is in the blood!
Years ago, when I first began pastoring, we held a large meeting,
and the Lord gave me a word of knowledge about women who had
issues of blood. I called all women with such conditions to the altar
for prayer. I was surprised when the altar became filled with women
of different ages and ethnic backgrounds who were having problems
in this area. I began to renounce and cast out the spirit of infirmity
and declare the blood of Jesus over those specific issues of blood.
Many people reported an instant manifestation of healing in their
bodies.
 At a conference we held some time ago, a woman was in
attendance who had recently been diagnosed with fibroids. This
condition was causing a myriad of health problems and frustrations
for her. As she sat in the session where I was teaching about the
blood of Jesus, she felt the fibroids begin to melt, so she ran to the
bathroom and began passing the fibroids out of her body. The blood
of Jesus is more powerful than any sickness plaguing your life today.
As we have seen, there is supernatural power in the blood of
Jesus Christ. The blood is the devil’s worst nightmare. When we
properly apply Jesus’s blood to our lives, it can revoke the legal
claims of familiar spirits and cover our homes and bloodlines with a
hedge of supernatural protection.

But God commends His love toward us, in that, while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now
justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through
Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God
by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall
be saved by his life. (Romans 5:8–10)

As you pray the prayer of release for this chapter, apply the blood
of Jesus as full payment for every outstanding spiritual debt and
demonic lien that has come against your destiny and future.

PRAYER OF RELEASE
Father, I plead the blood of Jesus over my mind, my will, my
emotions, and my body. I break the power of the enemy in my
life. I apply the blood of Jesus as the legal tender and full
payment against every outstanding spiritual debt I owe. In
Jesus’s name, all demonic liens against me are released,
including sickness liens, barrenness and miscarriage liens,
mental illness liens, poverty liens, and any other type of
demonic lien. Father, right now, I release all bitterness and
unforgiveness in my heart. I forgive every person whom I have
held in the captivity of unforgiveness, including myself, in
accordance with Matthew 6:12, which says, “Forgive us our
debts, as we forgive our debtors.”
 Father, I thank You in advance that the things I have been
praying about and believing You for are now becoming a reality
in my life. I receive, as a result of the cleansing power of
Jesus’s shed blood on the cross, the full manifestation of my
identity in Christ so that I can begin to fulfill my purpose and
assignment from this day forward. I release all shame, guilt,
and condemnation, for they are no longer my portion. I thank
You, Jesus, for going to the cross to destroy the works of the
devil in my life. I thank You, Lord, that the enemy is already
defeated. I claim my full freedom, in Jesus’s mighty name!
Amen.

INSIGHTS FOR OVERCOMING

1. A vital spiritual principle found in the Word of God is “the

life of the flesh is in the blood” (Leviticus 17:11).
2. Christ’s blood was the only blood worthy to pay the price for
our sin because His blood is sinless. He was the
substitutionary and propitiatory sacrifice that removed the
penalty of sin, broke the curse of the law, and turned the
wrath of God away from us.
3. Holy Communion is not simply a ceremony or a ritual; it is a
prophetic act that releases supernatural deliverance and
healing to those who partake in it. Communion is a weapon
of mass destruction to the kingdom of darkness.
4. There is supernatural power and healing in the blood of
Jesus Christ. When we properly apply Jesus’s blood to our
lives, it can revoke the legal claims of familiar spirits and
cover our homes and bloodlines with a hedge of
supernatural protection.

ASK YOURSELF

1. After reading this chapter, has your perspective on

appropriating and applying the blood of Jesus to your life
 changed? If so, in what way(s)?
2. How do you respond to this statement: “Holy Communion is
not simply a ceremony or a ritual; it is indeed a prophetic
act that releases supernatural deliverance and healing to
those who partake in it”?
3. Are you applying the blood of Jesus to every area of your
life? How will you apply His blood to a need in your life
today?

1 Lexico.com, s.v. “DNA,” https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/dna.

2 Tenney, Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary, 550.
 12
The Mind: Our Spiritual Battleground

“(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal,

but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts
itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ.”
—2 Corinthians 10:4–5

Contrary to what many people believe, spiritual warfare is not some

mystical or ethereal activity that takes place in a distant dimension.
Rather, the battlefield of spiritual warfare is in the mind. Most of what
the enemy attempts to do to bring God’s people into bondage
involves our thoughts. As we seek to become free of familiar spirits
and keep them from gaining a foothold in our lives, we must be sure
we understand where the spiritual battles are fought and won.
In 2 Corinthians 10:5, Paul uses a very interesting Greek word for
the concept translated as “imaginations.” The word is logismos, one
of whose definitions is “a reasoning: such as is hostile to the
Christian faith.” Thoughts influenced or planted by the enemy are
often camouflaged as a logical way of thinking, but in actuality they
are insidious and malevolent. Familiar spirits try to sow demonic
images, ideas, and perceptions into our minds. They use destructive
thought patterns to enslave their victims to attitudes and mindsets
that produce despair, defeat, and, in some cases, death.
The root word of logismos is logos. With regard to speech, this
term can refer to “a word, uttered by a living voice; [it] embodies a
conception or idea.” Accordingly, the thoughts that the enemy
implants in the minds of believers become like “voices in our heads.”
Have you ever felt like a voice other than God’s was speaking to
you? I am not talking about textbook schizophrenia where a person
actually hears voices. I am referring to thoughts and impressions that
operate in our minds. Unless we are aware of the origin of erroneous
thoughts and learn to resist them, they can become a powerful voice
that has the ability to negatively influence our lives.

FALSE PARADIGMS
I cannot emphasize enough the importance of understanding the
dynamics of spiritual warfare with regard to the mind. Demons seek
to express their evil assignments through the thoughts and lives of
people who are willing to host them, whether knowingly or
unknowingly. The goal of the enemy is to spiritually distract or even
assassinate people to prevent them from fulfilling their God-given
assignments and destinies.
Familiar spirits actually operate within the framework of our
thought patterns and paradigms. A “paradigm” is simply a pattern of
thinking. For example, a person can have a victim-based paradigm
that suggests they are entitled to help and assistance all the time
and at all costs. People who possess such a paradigm often battle
with ingratitude and entitlement. They imagine that the world owes
them a tremendous debt. They may even feel hurt or rejected if you
do not give them what they desire. Why? Because their paradigm is
deeply entrenched in the fabric of their thoughts, behaviors, and
even personality.
When a familiar spirit infests a person’s paradigm, it becomes
extremely difficult for that person to distinguish between their own
thoughts and the thoughts planted by the enemy. This is why the
discerning of spirits is such an important gift of the Holy Spirit with
regard to healing and deliverance. Sometimes people are oblivious
to the fact that much of their mental framework has been infected by
demonic spirits. Often, when I have a deliverance or healing session
with someone, I ask them questions about their life and experiences,
and I follow up with probing questions about their current mindset. In
most instances, the people I counsel have been totally unaware of
the impact demons have had on the way they think.
We noted previously that we must train ourselves to know the
difference between the voice of God and the voice of the enemy.
That is why Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them,
and they follow Me” (John 10:27). Earlier, while describing the
relationship between sheep and their shepherd, Jesus said, “A
stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him” (verse 5).
The enemy of our souls often attempts to impersonate or muffle
God’s voice in the lives of believers. This is where the demonic
realm literally thrives. The goal of familiar spirits is not just to attack
us physically or even spiritually but to cause us to embrace a
mindset that is contrary to the Word of God. Once someone
embraces a false mindset, it becomes a spiritual stronghold or
fortress that can be inhabited by demonic powers. The voice that we
heed becomes the voice that dominates us.
As we have seen, the enemy’s purpose for establishing
strongholds in our lives is to gain access and influence. Again,
whatever has access to our lives has the ability to influence us; and
whatever has influence over us controls our destinies. The devil
cannot diminish your God-given destiny, but he can seek to divert
and/or discourage you from reaching it. However, even though we
are in a tough spiritual battle involving our minds and thoughts, we
have spiritual weapons that are greater than those of our enemy.

WHOSE VOICE ARE YOU LISTENING TO?

Countless times, I have conversed with Christians who have told
me, “God said…” when He actually never said it. How do I know
that? Because what God supposedly said did not align with His Word
or His ways. Some people honestly believe that God is speaking to
them, but they are being led and influenced by familiar spirits that
are simulating His voice in order to lead these people into confusion.
Such instability is a demonic stronghold in a person’s mind that
alienates them from a life of freedom and victory. It is as if the person
is being attacked from within themselves.
For example, a person may say that God told them to join a church
or accept a position on a job, only to come back a few days later and
announce, “God has released me!” Wait! What? Did God change His
mind that fast? Did He change His mind at all? Demonic thoughts
are like shifting shadows. (Contrast James 1:17.) This is why so
many believers deal with inconsistency in their thoughts and
emotions. This is the cause of so much inner turmoil and confusion
in the lives of millions of people all over the world. To be under the
influence of familiar spirits is to be like a wave “tossed to and fro”:

That we hereafter be no more children, tossed to and fro, and

carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men,
and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but
speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things,
which is the head, even Christ. (Ephesians 4:14–15)

Beloved, not every voice in your head is the voice of God. In fact,
God does not often speak to us in our heads at all; He mainly speaks
to our spirits. Please do not misunderstand me: at times, we all make
mistakes and miss what God is telling us. But if someone is
constantly saying, “God said,” and then, a short time later, insisting
that God is saying something completely different, that person is
probably dealing with a familiar spirit.
God’s voice does not create mental, spiritual, or emotional
instability in people. His voice is steadfast, producing peace, not
confusion! The Bible says, “For God is not the author of confusion,
but of peace, as in all churches of the saints” (1 Corinthians 14:33). If
we think we are hearing God’s voice, yet this voice is producing
confusion in our lives instead of peace, we can rest assured that it is
not the voice of God.

IDENTIFY THE SOURCE

When I was growing up, I was quite a rambunctious child, to say
the least. I couldn’t sit still for five minutes. I would often be outside
playing with sticks or climbing trees. My siblings always laughed
about my adventures and antics. In fact, they still laugh about them
today!
Sometimes I would shadowbox in the house or outdoors. When
you shadowbox, you swing at an imaginary person, so you’re
essentially punching the air. Sometimes boxers use this method to
train, but I would do it to release pent-up energy. What I want to
emphasize is that a shadowboxer’s opponent is invisible. Yet, even
though they are swinging at an opponent who only exists in their
minds, they are still expending time and exerting energy.
In a similar way, countless people are exhausted from a spiritual
fight that they cannot seem to win because they have yet to identify
where the battle comes from. Many believers do not realize that what
they are fighting against is actually in their own minds or
imaginations. They are essentially engaged in spiritual
shadowboxing.
If we allow him to, the enemy uses our experiences, traumas, and
circumstances to plant thoughts and suggestions in our minds,
thereby constructing demonic strongholds. Each additional thought
becomes a brick in the fortress that Satan attempts to build to house
his hordes of hell, haunting and tormenting people from within.
These are spiritual attacks by familiar spirits whose goal is to bring
about perpetual condemnation, alienation, and isolation.
This is one of the reasons why many Christians deal with
depression. The enemy attacks their minds and emotions, which
give way to a spirit of despair and even death. This statement is by
no means a trivialization of depression; many people have suffered
the devastation of mania and depression, but I believe that there are
spiritual root causes to such conditions, and I also believe there is a
way out.
During my first year in ministry, a feeling of despair came over me.
This feeling was inexplicable because God was doing great things in
my life; there should not have been a reason to despair. I did not
realize that this was a demonic attack. One of the ways you know
that you are under a demonic attack is that there is incongruence
between your circumstances and how you actually feel. If you
suddenly feel like giving up on life or that no one loves you, this is an
indication that you are being afflicted by familiar spirits.
In my case, I literally despaired of life. I wondered if God had even
called me. It was only through revelation from the Lord that I
recognized I was dealing with a spirit of despair, as well as a Jezebel
spirit. God opened my eyes to what I, as well as many other church
leaders, had unknowingly experienced. To better understand how
this happens, let’s look at an example from the life of the prophet
Elijah, who was afflicted by the same spirit:

And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how
he had slain all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent
a messenger to Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and
more also, if I make not your life as the life of one of them by
tomorrow about this time. And when he saw that, he arose, and
went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongs to
Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s
journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a
juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and
said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not
better than my fathers. (1 Kings 19:1–4)

Elijah had been attacked by a spirit of oppression and depression.

The Bible says that he “requested for himself that he might die.” You
know it is pretty bad when you ask God to take your life! This attack
was in the form of a word curse (a form of witchcraft) spoken from
the mouth of Queen Jezebel. Can you imagine a powerful prophet
who had just experienced a major victory running from Jezebel and
having suicidal thoughts and prayers? As irrational as this episode in
Elijah’s life may seem, such a reaction is a very common occurrence
in the lives of millions of people. Witchcraft attacks the mind,
producing feelings of despair, hopelessness, rejection, and suicide.
We must learn to recognize that such thoughts are indeed demonic.
The beautiful aspect is that once you have identified the source of
the attack, you can take authority over the demonic spirits. When
you have a revelation of who you are in Christ and your authority as
a believer, you can sever ties with familiar spirits that have been
assigned to you and have been attacking you unceasingly. Friends,
we must tear down these demonic strongholds!

BREAKING MENTAL AND EMOTIONAL STRONGHOLDS

To break mental and emotional strongholds, we must not only
understand where the battles are fought, but we must also make
sure we recognize the realm of the devil’s playground. Let’s return to
Ephesians 6:12, which we examined in chapter 1 of this book:

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against

principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness
of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
(Ephesians 6:12)

I mentioned previously that the Greek word translated “darkness”

is skotos. One of the literal meanings of skotos is “darkened eyesight
or blindness,” and one of its figurative meanings is “ignorance
respecting divine things.” A very basic but important spiritual
principle to understand is that the accuser of the brethren has
jurisdiction over the realm of darkness. When we operate in the dark,
we are actually on the devil’s playground. By operating in darkness, I
mean functioning in ignorance, blindness, or even secrecy. The devil
wants to keep us ignorant and spiritually blind; he wants to keep our
true issues, battles, or struggles a secret because they can empower
the demonic spirits that have been assigned to our lives.
Thus, the enemy doesn’t want people to know the methods he is
using and the schemes he is working against them. He doesn’t want
people to recognize the fortresses he is erecting in their minds, wills,
and emotions because, when they are aware of them, his power can
be broken. But knowledge is power!
In 2 Corinthians 10:5, the Bible commands us to “[cast] down
imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the
knowledge of God, and [bring] into captivity every thought to the
obedience of Christ.” When the light of the truth of God’s Word
illuminates our hearts and minds, the shifting shadows are
dispersed.
A shadow is essentially the presence of some darkness. In
contrast, the Scriptures tell us:

This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and

declare to you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at
all. (1 John 1:5)
 And the light shines in darkness; and the darkness
comprehended it not. (John 1:5)

The key to breaking the power of familiar spirits is to receive

revelation from the Word of God regarding the area where there is
oppression or torment. For example, if you have thought that you are
always the victim or that everyone is against you, and you finally
come to the truth that you are a victor in Christ, those demonic
thought patterns can be eliminated.
The enemy does not want us to expose to the light what he is
doing. Millions of Christians all over the world are daily being
bombarded by guilt, shame, and condemnation. The shame that they
feel keeps them in cycles of defeat and bondage. There is an old
adage, “Tell the truth and shame the devil!” This maxim is actually
very scriptural. The Bible says:

Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another,
that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a
righteous man avails much. (James 5:16)

The apostle James admonishes us to confess our faults to one

another. The Greek word translated “confess” is exomologeō, which
can mean “to profess: acknowledge openly and joyfully.” The Greek
word for “faults” is paraptōma, which means “a lapse or deviation
from truth and uprightness.” The Bible is telling us to acknowledge
where we have deviated from truth and uprightness. When we admit
our sins to God (and before a spouse or another close family
member or mature believer, when appropriate), we actually bring our
shortcomings or struggles into the light, outside the jurisdiction of the
accuser of the brethren. Remember, the devil can only operate in the
darkness. Once we bring our sin or failure into the light through
confession, the lying devil loses his power over us. It does not matter
how embarrassing the sin is, you no longer need to fear being
condemned. Why? The Bible tells us:

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in

Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
 (Romans 8:1)

One of the biggest lies that the enemy tells Christians is that if they
confess their sins, people will judge them. This is an insidious tactic
of the accuser to keep us in bondage. The truth is that people may
judge or criticize you, but the greater truth is that you will be free. It is
better to please God than to please men. This does not mean we
should run around telling anyone and everyone our deepest, darkest
secrets. But it does mean that we should be willing to humble
ourselves and acknowledge when we were wrong about something.
Additionally, note that James 5:16 says, “Confess your faults one
to another, and pray one for another, that you may be healed.” The
Greek word rendered “healed” is iaomai, which means “to cure,” “to
heal,” “to make whole: to free from errors and sins, to bring about
(one’s) salvation.” When we confess our sins with a sincere heart of
repentance and acknowledge our faults, we are made whole.
Demons hate truth. Demons hate light. They hate accountability. If
the enemy has been tormenting your life, bring your struggle before
the light of God’s countenance. Humble yourself before God, and His
grace will deliver you. Hallelujah! Let’s pray now!

PRAYER OF RELEASE
Father, I recognize, according to 1 Corinthians 2:16, that You
have given me the mind of Christ; therefore, familiar spirits
have no place influencing or negatively affecting my mind. I
take authority over every demonic thought pattern or insidious
paradigm that has given familiar spirits legal entry into my life. I
cast down every imagination that is contrary to the Word of
God, and I bring every thought captive to the obedience of
Jesus Christ. In Jesus’s name, I command oppression,
depression, despair, and thoughts of rejection, worthlessness,
hopelessness, and suicide to leave me, right now! All mental
illness and its residue is driven out of my life. I am free! Thank
You, Jesus!

INSIGHTS FOR OVERCOMING

 1. The battlefield of spiritual warfare is in the mind.
2. Familiar spirits operate within the framework of people’s
thought patterns and paradigms. When a familiar spirit
infests a person’s paradigm, it becomes extremely difficult
for that person to distinguish between their own thoughts
and the thoughts planted by the enemy.
3. The goal of familiar spirits is not just to attack us physically
or even spiritually but to cause us to embrace a mindset
that is contrary to the Word of God.
4. To break the power of familiar spirits over our minds, we
must receive revelation from the Word of God regarding the
area where there is oppression or torment, acknowledge
where we have deviated from truth and uprightness, and
admit our sins to God (and before a spouse or another
close family member or mature believer, when appropriate),
with the assurance that there is no condemnation for those
who are in Christ Jesus. We must reject false ideas and
mindsets as soon as we recognize them in our lives.

PRACTICUM

1. Identify a negative thought pattern or paradigm (for

example, perpetual feelings of condemnation or alienation)
that you have been deceived by and need to let go of.
Release this negative mindset to God and ask Him to
replace the erroneous thoughts with His healing, freeing
truths.
2. Building on the above exercise, write down several false
and deceptive thoughts that you need to “cast down and
take captive to the obedience of Christ,” according to 2
Corinthians 10:4–5. Submit these thoughts to the truth of
God’s Word and daily remind yourself of the difference
between what God says about them and what the enemy
would say about them.
3. Make a decision to humbly acknowledge an area of sin or
weakness to God and to a trusted friend or mentor. Bring
this sin or weakness into the light of Christ so you can be
made whole. If needed, seek additional counsel about the
matter from a qualified Christian counselor.
 13
Exposing Hidden Enemies

“And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who

came in secretly to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ
Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage.”
—Galatians 2:4

In chapter 12, we talked about how the enemy has jurisdiction over
the realm of darkness. Darkness is the devil’s playground. We
discussed how familiar spirits love to hide behind the veil of our own
thoughts and emotions. In this chapter, I want to further explore the
dangerous dynamics of “hidden enemies” in our lives and how to
recognize and expose them so that we can experience greater
freedom in Christ.
I have always said that the most dangerous enemy is the one you
do not see. David wrote,

Who can understand his errors? cleanse You me from secret

faults. Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous
[“deliberate” NLT] sins; let them not have dominion over me:
then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great
transgression. (Psalm 19:12–13)

David asked God to deliver him from “secret faults.” The Hebrew
word translated “secret” is sātar, which means “to hide” or “to
conceal.” In the context of this Scripture passage, it seems that the
most dangerous enemy is within us—our hidden sins and iniquities.
It is clear that the more hidden a sin or iniquity is, the greater danger
it poses to our life and destiny. I believe that King David’s plea for
God to deliver him from hidden sin is a blueprint for spiritual warfare.
God desires to expose every hidden enemy in our lives, whether
internal or external. Hallelujah!

THE UNSEEN ADVERSARY

 A friend of mine told me about a man who attended a conference
where several famous preachers were speaking. This man was a
retired law enforcement officer. During the time of altar ministry, he
noticed a particular individual who walked to the front of the church
to receive prayer from a well-known preacher. The retired officer
could not take his eyes off the man who was being prayed for. Then,
something came over the officer, and he ran and tackled the man
receiving prayer. Everyone in the church was astonished. They
screamed at him for tackling the innocent parishioner and shouted,
“Get off of him!”
The church’s security team scrambled to the scene and asked the
former officer to please let the man get up off the ground. They told
him it was not necessary to accost anyone because security was
present. Reluctantly, the retired officer got up off the parishioner but
proceeded to ask security to search the man. Even though there was
no apparent need to search him, the security team agreed because
the officer insisted. To their surprise, they found a serrated assault
knife in his pocket, which he admitted he had intended to use to cut
the throat of the pastor!
What would have happened if this former law enforcement officer
had not discerned the threat and acted accordingly? That preacher
might have been killed before his time. But the officer’s years of
service had given him the knowledge and experience to detect that
something was wrong and to intervene.
Like the well-known pastor who didn’t see the threat to his life,
many Christians are suffering all sorts of afflictions and bondage in
their spiritual lives because they are oblivious to the unseen enemy.
They are unaware that this enemy poses a threat to their having a
sustained spiritual walk and growing in God. The unseen adversary
operates in darkness—in other words, in our ignorance. As we
previously discussed, familiar spirits can function as “monitoring
spirits” or informants, announcing to the enemy where there are
open doors in our lives. It is necessary for these hidden enemies to
be exposed so that we can remove them and walk in freedom. Like
that retired law enforcement officer, we must learn to detect the
“hidden enemy” and act according to the Word of God to secure our
deliverance and healing.

THE DISCERNING OF SPIRITS

Previously, we discussed the importance of exercising the gift of
discerning of spirits. Throughout the years of my life and ministry, my
need for discernment has become more and more evident to me. In
fact, on a number of occasions, spiritual discernment has literally
saved my life, and I want to share with you what I have learned
about this vital area. We will explore ways in which we can use this
gift to detect, expose, and overcome hidden enemies.
Years ago, I did an exercise with my children to teach them about
discernment. First, I brought out two clear plastic containers from the
kitchen, and I proceeded to put sugar in one container and salt in the
other. Then I asked my children to join me and tell me which
container was filled with salt and which was filled with sugar. As you
can imagine, they had a difficult time distinguishing between the two
substances just by looking at them. They could tell the difference
only after tasting them. I told them that there will be people and
circumstances in their lives that might look one way but would
actually be something totally different from what they seemed. I
wanted them to understand that things are not always as they
appear to be. My children were very receptive to this lesson.
To better understand what it means to exercise discernment, let’s
review Hebrews 5:14:

But strong meat belongs to them that are of full age, even
those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to
discern both good and evil.

The Greek word translated “discern” is diakrisis, which means “a

distinguishing, discerning, judging,” as in knowing the difference
between two things. The writer of Hebrews was essentially telling us
that we must exercise the spiritual skill of distinguishing between
good and evil. This a very important spiritual principle when it comes
to overcoming familiar spirits because the differences between good
and evil are not always immediately obvious.
The Bible says, “Woe to them that call evil good, and good evil;
that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for
sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20). We are living in a time
when spiritual and moral lines have become increasingly blurred.
Unfortunately, our culture has become more and more deviant in
these last days. The greatest form of deception is the belief that the
things God calls profane are holy, and the things that God calls holy
are profane.
Moreover, the danger is that the demonic realm is unseen to the
natural eyes. Therefore, there are times when malevolent forces are
operating and would be undetectable to those without a strong ability
to discern good and evil. Sometimes, our “presumptuous” or “willful”
(NLT) sins, as David called them in Psalm 19:12, are, unbeknownst to
us, precipitated by demonic spirits. And sometimes our negative
external circumstances are caused by these hidden enemies. We
need to be able to discern such encroachments from the kingdom of
darkness.
Several years ago, I went through the worst spiritual battle I had
ever faced in my Christian life. What made it even harder was the
fact that, while I was going through it, I did not know exactly whom to
trust. Have you ever felt that way? I had given someone very close
to me great access to my life, and the devil used this person to
attack me further. As I confided in this person and shared the details
of what I was going through, the situation became worse, and I could
not understand what was happening. Months earlier, the Lord had
shown me the true character of this individual, but I had refused to
accept or heed His warnings.
One day, the Lord gave me a prophetic dream in which this person
was sitting in a dark room. When I went to confront them about the
things they were doing and saying, a knife came out of their mouth
and traveled to the top of their head. In the dream, I felt a strong
admonition from the Lord to refrain from engaging this person any
further. When I woke up from the dream, I began to pray. The Lord
told me that this individual had been using slander as a form of
witchcraft. I knew that fighting them with my own reason and might
were not going to yield results.
Instead, I went before the courts of heaven and asked God to
issue an injunction against the lies and slander that were being
spoken by this person. I took authority over the spirit of witchcraft
operating in and through them, and, to my surprise, things began to
turn around. I was delivered from that situation, and our ministry
experienced a greater level of blessing and increase than we had
seen to that point.
Many times, we do not recognize when familiar spirits are
operating through people. But once the Lord exposes the unseen
enemies, the efficacy of their attack can be significantly diminished
or nullified. We must use our spiritual authority to shut down the devil
and his clandestine schemes.

THE JUDAS SPIRIT

Let’s look at another way unseen demonic spirits operate in
people’s lives. We all know the very prominent gospel accounts
about Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Jesus. But there is
something in his story that we can all learn from that I call the “Judas
spirit.” In fact, if we do not understand the nuances of the Judas
spirit, we run the risk of being its next victim.

Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the

number of the twelve. And he went his way, and communed
with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him to
them. (Luke 22:3–4)

The name Judas is a transliteration of the name Judah, which

literally means “he shall be praised.” Names are very important in the
Bible, but they can reveal an even deeper reality about the spiritual
realm, such as this: the Judas spirit is one of false praise. Some of
the most diabolical attacks that I have undergone in my life were
accompanied by false praise. Counterfeit praise is a telling sign that
the Judas spirit is in operation. The disciple Judas sat with Jesus,
ate with Him, and even ministered with Him, yet his heart was fertile
ground for betrayal and treachery. I don’t believe Judas was an
outwardly evil or sinister person, but I do think there was a spirit of
greed and selfish ambition operating in his life that led to his
destruction.
How can someone sing your praises one day and slander you the
next? They are under the influence of a Judas spirit. One of the keys
to dealing with this spirit is making sure that your own heart is pure.
Jesus said, “Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of
this world comes, and has nothing in Me” (John 14:30). What did He
mean by the statement “the prince of this world comes, and has
nothing in Me”? Jesus was saying that He had nothing in common
with the prince of this world, who is the devil. There was no similarity
or congruence between Him and the enemy. Therefore, there were
no legal grounds by which the accuser could bring a legitimate
accusation against Him.
I once went through a very difficult experience with betrayal. It was
distressing because I had thought the person involved was my
friend. They would often sing my praises, yet they were under the
influence of a Judas spirit. One day, a pastor from Texas came and
ministered to our congregation. He called me out of the crowd and
gave me a profound word of knowledge, telling me that I was going
through a difficult season and that there was a battle for my heart.
He then proceeded to tell me that I was supposed to pray for the
very person who had betrayed me. I was totally shocked at his words
because he knew nothing about the situation I was going through at
that time. I realized that I needed to obey this biblical command:

Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans

12:21)

We must keep our hearts pure. We must walk in love and forgive
freely. These are weapons against the Judas spirit that will dismantle
its influence in our lives and ministries. It is important to remember
that Jesus died on the cross to free us from all forms of wickedness,
sin, and spiritual death. He also died for the betrayers in our lives
and ministries. It is impossible for us to overcome the unseen
familiar spirits operating in others without the discernment and
leading of the Spirit. We must submit the Judas spirit to the fire of the
Holy Spirit and ask the Lord for help in praying for those who are
under the influence of that demonic spirit.

THE DISSEMBLING SPIRIT

But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the
face, because he was to be blamed. For before that certain
came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they
were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them
which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled
likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried
away with their dissimulation. (Galatians 2:11–13)

In the book of Galatians, the apostle Paul deals with the problem
of legalism and its damaging effects on the early church. He rebukes
the “Judaizers,” or the adherents of legalistic behavior, for their
hypocrisy and treatment of the Gentile believers. What does this
account have to do with familiar spirits? Great question! There is an
unseen spirit of artifice that is operating in the church today that has
caused much frustration and pain. This spirit undermines
relationships, sows strife and discord, and even bewitches
unsuspecting believers into embracing a mindset that is antithetical
to the gospel of Christ.
For many years, I faced setbacks and hindrances in ministry that I
could not understand or explain. If you have ever served in ministry,
you may be able to identify with what I am describing. For example, I
can remember a specific instance where I had been invited to
appear on a major Christian television network with another pastor.
At the time, this was a mind-blowing opportunity for our ministry to
receive the exposure it needed. However, when I contacted the
producer to get the final details for the show, I never received a
response. I called several times, to no avail. Later, I was watching
this TV program when I saw the pastor whom I had been invited to
appear with being interviewed. I could not understand why I had
been left out, yet I had an eerily familiar feeling about it. At different
times in my life, similar things had happened where I had been left
out of something. I call the familiar spirit behind such occurrences
“the dissembling spirit.”
In Paul’s description of his infamous meeting with the apostle
Peter, he uses the word “dissembled.” The Greek word is
synypokrinomai, which means “to act hypocritically with.” “To
dissemble” means “to hide under a false appearance” or “to put on
the appearance of.”1 The aspect of this word that I want to focus on
is the notion that there are people who act one way around a certain
group of people but then act a different way around another group of
people. I have seen instances where ministers will act like friends in
one setting, but those same ministers will seek to undermine and
sabotage each other’s ministries in a different setting. This is not just
a character issue with those particular leaders; there is a familiar
spirit working in their lives. Sometimes people are oblivious to the
fact that the dissembling spirit is operating in and through them.
When I finally received a revelation of what this spirit is and how it
operates, I began to take authority over it. Since that time, I have
seen greater success in my life and ministry relationships.

REVISITING THE SPIRIT OF SABOTAGE

Earlier we talked about spirits of sabotage that rear their ugly
heads by drawing people into wrong affiliations and connections that
work to hinder their spiritual progress in God. The work of such
spirits is often hidden. However, they will become easier to identify
as we look to the light of the Word of God and the Spirit of Truth to
reveal the true agendas of the people we interact with in life. Like
people who are influenced by other types of familiar spirits, many
who have been compromised by leaving an open door to a spirit of
sabotage are not aware that this spirit is functioning within them.
Beloved, we must not be passive toward the familiar spirits that are
working to undermine our walk in Christ. There are unseen demonic
forces that are manipulating or trying to manipulate us into
relationships and experiences that are contrary to God’s best for us.
Again, spirits of sabotage work to deliberately destroy, damage, or
obstruct God’s plan and destiny for our lives.
 We must understand this important spiritual principle: everything
that takes place in the natural realm is precipitated by something in
the spiritual realm. For example, if you seem to change friends once
a year, it may be that unseen demonic forces are affecting your vital
relationships. These spirits try to negatively influence people’s
attitudes toward you, and vice versa. Be mindful of the spiritual
atmosphere that surrounds certain events or circumstances in your
life. If you notice a pattern of unsettling events or the manifestation of
an unhealthy type of person in your life during a particular period or
time of year, then you may be dealing with a familiar spirit.
During one period of my life, I noticed that every year, around the
same time, a certain type of disruptive person would come to our
ministry. It was as if we were dealing with the same person from a
previous season, only in a different body. At times, they would even
possess the same attributes, personality, or mannerisms as the
earlier person. Pay attention to occurrences such as this! Usually,
the enemy will use such people or situations to keep you trapped in
a cycle of confusion or confrontation. Begin to take authority over the
spirit of sabotage operating in the person or circumstance. It does
not matter how things appear; lean on the gift of discerning of spirits
and ask God to expose what has been hidden. Once God has
exposed the enemy, do not deny what you are seeing. Instead,
break the cycle, in Jesus’s name!

MARINE SPIRITS
As we grow in the gift of discerning of spirits, we can learn to
sense the spiritual atmosphere around us and to recognize how
familiar spirits are working their attacks in the physical world. In
chapter 1, I described how principalities and demonic spirits are not
omnipresent, and therefore they are assigned as “territorial spirits” to
various countries, regions, states, cities, and communities. I also
mentioned how, in my travels, I have found that particular countries
or cities are under the influence of certain demonic strongholds. One
type of territorial spirit is the “marine spirit.”
As I wrote in my book Kingdom Authority, the first time I heard
about marine spirits was when I was ministering in Liberia, West
Africa, some years ago. One night, I was exhausted and
recuperating after a long day of preaching and teaching, and I
seemed to fall asleep and begin to dream. However, I realized I was
not really having a dream; I had fallen into a trance and was seeing a
vision, yet this vision was not from God. In the vision, I saw a young
girl who was about seven or eight years old, and she was leading me
down a pathway.
I thought it was strange that the young girl’s face was identical to
the face of a girl I had known in elementary school. Because her
face was familiar, I trusted her, even though, in the vision, she hadn’t
grown to be an adult but was the same age as when I knew her. She
led me to a building, and we went down a corridor and then through
a door into a room. The girl said, “Follow me,” so I followed her
toward the bathroom. There, she transformed into a grown woman
with a different face who had long hair that covered various parts of
her body, but she was not clothed. Then she said, “Touch me,” and
as I stretched out my hands to touch her, I realized that this was a
satanic apparition. I knew it was not from God but from the devil, and
I began to take authority over that spirit.
I came out of the trance, and, in the process, I felt the most
satanic, the most diabolical, the filthiest presence I had ever felt in
my life. I immediately called my wife, and we began to pray over the
phone. We racked up a nine-hundred-dollar international phone bill,
but I needed to conduct spiritual warfare with the support of my wife.
The next day, my hosts were driving to the red-light district in
Monrovia, and I saw the image of a woman on the side of a building.
It was a picture of exactly the same woman I had seen in my dream!
The Lord spoke to me and said, “This is the principality of this
region.” When I talked to the local pastor concerning this matter, I
asked him what was going on. One reason I asked was that we had
ministered to a number of young women, and most of them were
unmarried, had given birth to children out of wedlock, were having all
kinds of reproductive problems, had difficulty conceiving, or had
suffered miscarriages. The pastor replied, “Marine spirits.”
 Some communities and traditions refer to marine spirits as
“mermaids.” In West Africa, the term is mami wata. In the Dominican
Republic and other Latin-American Caribbean areas, marine spirits
are referred to as Yemaya or the queen of the sea. Each of these
cultures, as well as previous civilizations, has acknowledged that
there is such a thing as a marine spirit, marine demon, or mermaid.
These are demonic spirits that have an assignment to seduce,
manipulate, and control but also to bind people or to bring people
into slavery to the lust of the flesh.
On a different occasion, while I was preaching on the African
continent, I had an encounter with a spirit that was operating through
a particular person, and I became extremely sick. I had all the
symptoms of cholera; I needed to use the restroom about twenty to
thirty times in a matter of hours, and I was losing weight. It was truly
a demonic attack. The Lord finally said to me, “How long are you
going to take this?”
After the encounter with this spirit, I had begun to wrestle in my
mind with the lust of the flesh. It was not about committing physical
acts of sin but rather a struggle in my thoughts. I was tired, lethargic,
and trying to battle through. At this time, one of my spiritual
daughters gave me a call and said, “Apostle Kynan, I saw you in a
dream, and in the dream you were lying on your bed. As you were
lying on your bed, there were marines that were mermaids all around
you, and they were whispering in your ear. They would then say to
each other, ‘He won’t listen to us; we are trying everything we can,
but he won’t listen, he just won’t listen.’ They left you afterward
because they could not capture you, but they tried. After they left
you, they began to take pastors into captivity and bring them into the
sea.” After hearing about her dream, I understood what was going on
in my situation; it was another attack from marine spirits.
This type of attack is real. Marine spirits are demons on a mission
to pervert and destroy people by influencing them to give way to lust,
seduction, and manipulation. It would be safe to say that behind
every major fall, every major scandal, every major moral failure in
the body of Christ, marine spirits and/or Jezebel spirits have been
involved. Please understand that this is not a matter of scapegoating
or making excuses for wrong behavior. We must be responsible for
our own actions, we must be diligent, and we must walk in holiness,
as Christ has called us to do. Yet most people are ignorant of the
various unseen workings of the spiritual realm and the dangers of
the kingdom of darkness. They must have their eyes opened and
learn to engage in spiritual warfare if they are to defeat these familiar
spirits.
I have seen marine spirits manifested all over the world. I have
seen both the attacks and the negative consequences they bring. In
the coastal areas of many countries or regions, there is a prevalence
of perversion, immorality, and fornication. When you go to certain
areas like Miami Beach or Daytona Beach in Florida, and to many
islands in the Caribbean, there are festivals and ceremonies that are
influenced by these marine spirits. Why? Because of the presence
and manifestation of marine principalities. Marine spirits are the
culprit behind children being molested, women being perverted at an
early age, and men being seduced and perverted in their formative
years. I receive so many prayer requests from happily married
women who tell me, “I have sexual experiences in my sleep every
day.” These are incubus and succubus spirits. Many pastors and
ministers do not talk about such encounters, but we can’t afford to be
ignorant about them; we need to be mindful of these divisive,
demonic spirits so that we can combat them in the power of God.
One day, feeling under attack again in the area of sexual purity,
and thinking it had solely to do with the fleshly nature, I prayed,
“God, I need to be free. I need to get this off of me. I don’t know what
this is. I don’t know why I’m struggling.” I had gone to spiritual
fathers, to leaders in the body of Christ, to receive counsel; I had
written books on deliverance, including Kingdom Authority. I’d written
books on the Jezebel spirit. So, I understood how these spirits
operate, and yet I didn’t realize what was happening at the time. As I
prayed, the Lord explained to me, “Son, this is not just an issue with
your flesh; you are dealing with marine spirits.” After the Lord
showed me what I had been dealing with, I literally felt the blanket of
oppression lift from me. I cannot explain it. It just broke! God had
done it supernaturally.
 Marine spirits target spiritual leaders more than anyone else. In
fact, spiritual leaders are their targets of choice. I heard a story in
Nigeria about a woman who was stranded on the side of the road. A
man who was driving by stopped to check on her, asking, “Hey,
ma’am, do you need any help?” The woman replied, “Are you a
pastor?” He said, “No, I’m not a pastor.” She dismissed him, saying,
“Go! I’m looking for pastors. I want pastors. I’m after pastors. If you
are not a pastor, I don’t want to talk to you.”
The Scripture says,

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. (Hosea 4:6)

People are destroyed for a lack of knowledge, and the devil

exploits our blind spots. When we are ministering in countries or
regions where marine spirits are prevalent, we need to understand
the spiritual ramifications of what we are exposing ourselves to. We
do not need to be fearful because we have spiritual authority in
Christ. However, we ought to be vigilant and prepared for the
warfare. Anytime you engage in a spiritual battle, you need to
understand the territory and terrain you are going into. Beloved, we
must be aware of the wiles of our enemy!

THE SPIRIT OF PREMATURE DEATH

Years ago, I was in Nigeria attending a large church meeting with
thousands of people. The pastor began praying against the “spirit of
premature death.” That was the first time I had heard such
terminology. I later realized that the spirit of premature death is very
real, and it is even referenced in the Bible. Let’s look at an example
from the ministry of the apostle Paul:

And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came
together to break bread, Paul preached to them, ready to
depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.
And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they
were gathered together. And there sat in a window a certain
young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep:
and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and
 fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead. And Paul
went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble
not yourselves; for his life is in him. When he therefore was
come up again, and had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a
long while, even till break of day, so he departed. And they
brought the young man alive, and were not a little comforted.
(Acts 20:7–12)

Many people think this is a story about a boy who almost died. Yet
this is a story about a boy who actually died but was resurrected by
the apostle Paul in the power of the Spirit. I believe that this boy
experienced premature death. The Bible says that Paul fell upon him
and said, “Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him.” The last
phrase can be literally translated, “His soul is still in him.” In other
words, even though his body was dead, it was not his time to die. His
death was premature.
Just because a person perishes does not mean it was their time to
die. The spirit of premature death is behind suicide and many
sudden and unexpected deaths. There are countless cases of
people who were in perfect physical health falling dead for no
apparent reason. The devil is a thief and a murderer. We must take
authority over the spirit of premature death in the name of Jesus.
Proclaim this verse over yourself and over your household:

I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD. (Psalm
118:17)

DISCERNING AND CONFRONTING UNSEEN ENEMIES

In this chapter, we have looked at ways we can discern and
expose hidden demonic enemies. In various aspects of our lives, we
may not just be dealing with natural circumstances or people but with
unseen spiritual forces that seek to impede the work of God in us
and distract us from our heavenly assignments. However, once we
understand this spiritual reality and then discern and confront any
unseen enemies, we can walk in freedom and victory. Glory to God!
PRAYER OF RELEASE
Father God, Jeremiah 29:11 says that Your thoughts toward me
are of peace and not of evil, and that You have an expected
end for me. I ask the Holy Spirit to guide me in the discerning of
spirits. I ask You, Father, to expose the enemy’s hidden plans
that have come against Your plan and destiny for my life.
Forgive me for the times when I have knowingly or unknowingly
operated according to a dissembling spirit, a Judas spirit, or
any other hidden familiar spirit. I rebuke any spirits of sabotage
operating in my relationships and spheres of influence. Father,
grant me a pure heart. Remove from me anything that does not
reflect Your character. I declare that Satan has no legitimate
accusation against me because You are “for” me. I declare that,
according to Psalm 68:1, the enemies of God in my life are
scattered. I cancel every demonic assignment, every plot sent
my way to destroy, damage, obstruct, hinder, or sabotage my
spiritual calling. I come into agreement with Psalm 139:5, which
says, “You have beset me behind and before, and laid Your
hand upon me.” Therefore, I am fully protected from any and
every hidden enemy, in Jesus’s mighty name. Amen!

INSIGHTS FOR OVERCOMING

1. God desires to expose every hidden enemy in our lives,

whether internal or external.
2. The spiritual skill of distinguishing between good and evil is
very important for overcoming familiar spirits because the
differences between good and evil are not always
immediately obvious. We are living in a time when spiritual
and moral lines have become increasingly blurred.
Moreover, the danger is that the demonic realm is unseen
to the natural eyes.
3. Some hidden spiritual enemies are: the Judas spirit, the
dissembling spirit, the spirit of sabotage, marine spirits, and
the spirit of premature death.
 4. In various aspects of our lives, we may not just be dealing
with natural circumstances or people but with unseen
spiritual forces that seek to impede the work of God in us
and distract us from our heavenly assignments. However,
once we understand this spiritual reality and then discern
and confront any unseen enemies, we can walk in freedom
and victory.

ASK YOURSELF

1. Have you been frustrated by recurring problems with

circumstances and/or people? If so, will you ask God to
show you if hidden enemy forces are playing a role in these
situations and to enable you to discern what they are so
you can overcome them?
2. Do you recognize any areas in your life where you may
have allowed a familiar spirit to influence you to act in way
that is dissembling or hypocritical toward others? If so, how
will you respond in the future?
3. Have you been distracted from your heavenly assignment
by other people or circumstances? How can you realign
your life with God’s purposes?

1Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, s.v. “dissemble,”

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dissemble.
 14
Walking in Total Freedom

“If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.”
—John 8:36

I wrote this book to help Christians recognize and overcome the

insidious familiar spirits that attack them daily, robbing them of their
peace and victory. It is my earnest desire to see the body of Christ
walking in total freedom and experiencing the abundant life in its
completeness. This means that after we overcome familiar spirits,
we need to maintain the freedom Christ has won for us.
The apostle Paul admonished the churches in Galatia, “Stand fast
therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be
not entangled again with the yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1). He
made this statement in the spiritual climate of the “Judaizers,” the
zealous religious believers we talked about in the previous chapter
who advocated for legalism instead of grace and brought Gentile
believers under bondage to the law.
Like the first-century church, we are commanded to stand fast in
the freedom that Christ won for us in His death and resurrection and
to not be “entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” The Greek
word translated “entangled” is enechō, among whose meanings are
“to have within,” “to hold in,” or “to be held ensnared.” Essentially, the
Bible is telling us to not become ensnared by the bondage from
which we have just been delivered.
How many times have you heard Christians refer to their “thorn in
the flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7) in reference to a sin, sickness, or
affliction they are unable to overcome? In previous books and
teachings, I have extensively expounded on what Paul was referring
to by his “thorn of the flesh,” so I will refrain from a detailed
explanation in this book. However, I want to assure you that God’s
will is for you to walk in total freedom. The Scriptures are very clear
about this: “If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be
free indeed” (John 8:36).
We will return to this verse later in the chapter, but for now, I want
to focus particular attention on the word “indeed.” It is translated from
the Greek word ontōs, which means “truly, in reality, in point of fact,
as [opposed] to what is pretended, fictitious, false [or] conjectural.” In
other words, Jesus does not make us free in the sense of pretending
that everything is okay when we are around other Christians but, in
reality, remaining in bondage. He grants us true and lasting freedom.
He changes our reality from that of captivity to that of liberty.

TWO DIFFERENT FOUNDATIONS

To maintain that liberty, we need a solid foundation. As a Florida
resident, I have seen my share of storms. In fact, one of the worst
hurricanes to hit our coast in years came right to my backyard. I
remember it like it was yesterday! God miraculously delivered my
family and me from that storm. (I talk about this incident in detail in
my book Invading the Heavens.) Nonetheless, through that
experience, I learned that, spiritually speaking, storms do not come
to destroy us but to reveal our trust in God. If we are going to walk in
total freedom as new covenant believers, we must learn to weather
the storms that try our faith.
One of my favorite stories in the Gospels is Jesus’s parable about
the two houses in Matthew 7:24-27:

Therefore whosoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does

them, I will liken him to a wise man, which built his house upon
a rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the
winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was
founded upon a rock. And every one that hears these sayings
of Mine, and does them not, shall be likened to a foolish man,
which built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended,
and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that
house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. (Matthew 7:24–27)
 Jesus said that whoever hears His words and does them is like a
man who builds his house on a rock. When the storm comes and
beats upon that house, the house remains standing. In contrast,
whoever hears Jesus’s words but refuses or neglects to obey them
is like a foolish man who builds his house on sand. When the
inevitable storm comes, that house cannot withstand the devastation
and ultimately is destroyed.
It is very important to understand that in both scenarios, there was
a storm. The difference was the foundation. According to Jesus, our
reliance on Him and our obedience to the Word of God determines
the type of foundation we build on, and ultimately whether or not our
spiritual house will remain standing. Too many believers are building
“sandcastles.” No matter how beautiful a sandcastle may be, it will
never withstand a flood. What foundation are you building upon?
Obedience to Jesus is absolutely necessary for sustaining our
deliverance from familiar spirits. Once we receive deliverance, we
must maintain that deliverance through spiritual discipline. As we will
shortly discuss, this includes the essential discipline of reading,
hearing, meditating upon, and obeying God’s Word.

DELIVERANCE PLUS DETERMINATION

PLUS DISCIPLESHIP
Throughout my walk with the Lord, I have discovered that, many
times, the enemy tries to convince us that we are not as “delivered”
as we think we are. In previous chapters, I have talked about how
there are times when we say, “I thought I was delivered from that!”
only to find ourselves succumbing to that particular temptation once
again. How can we move past this? We need to combine
deliverance with determination (a commitment to maintaining our
freedom) and discipleship.
As I indicated previously, years ago, I struggled with pornography. I
remember telling my youth pastor that I was having a very hard time
in this particular area. I even went to a men’s conference and
confessed my sin before the entire group of men because I was
desperate for freedom. Here I was, born again and Spirit-filled, yet
struggling with lust. I was so ashamed.
 Unfortunately, many men at that conference were struggling with
the same issue, and the only advice I was given was to “take it one
day at a time.” I thought to myself, “I don’t want to take it one day at
a time; I want to be completely free, right now!” I walked away from
that conference very disappointed.
One day, while I was crying out to God for deliverance, I heard the
Lord speak to me as clear as day: “Kynan, I already delivered you
from this!” I was so perplexed by that statement that I enquired
further. He told me, “You are choosing this!” Then, I got the
revelation. There was deliverance in my decision. It took some time,
but one day, in the middle of a worship service, I told the Lord, “I
don’t want this anymore. Take it from me! I choose You!” Instantly, I
felt a weight lift off of me. I did not cough or spit up. I simply felt a
release. After that, I even tried to go back and watch pornography,
but I could not. Hallelujah! As I daily walked out that supernatural
encounter, I experienced real and lasting freedom.
I am very thankful for the supernatural grace of God that delivered
me from the power of addiction. However, as I expressed earlier, I
honor that grace daily by choosing to turn my eyes from evil things.
Please make no mistake: this is only possible by the grace of God,
not by human strength or ability. The point is that there is something
distinctively divine about making a quality decision to receive all that
was provided for us by Jesus on the cross.
Let’s look at this profound statement by Jesus:

Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on Him, If you

continue in My word, then are you My disciples indeed; and you
shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John
8:31–32)

Many people quote John 8:32 out of context, neglecting to also

quote verse 31. Jesus said explicitly, “If you continue in My word,
then are you My disciples indeed.” This is an “if-then” statement. It
tells us that continuity in the Word of God produces discipleship.
Jesus then said, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free.” These two verses are connected by the Greek
conjunction kai, which means that the two ideas were conjoined by
the writer of the text.
Truly, maintaining our freedom requires both determination and
discipleship. As I wrote earlier in this book, in today’s church, we live
in an age of “hyper-grace.” Many well-intentioned preachers are
presenting a truncated version of the Scriptures, giving people only
part of the truth. As a result, many impressionable Christians equate
the message of God’s grace with a form of spiritual laziness that
does not require any sacrifice or discipline because, after all, “Jesus
paid it all!” While it is very true that Jesus paid it all, we must
intentionally and consistently appropriate His finished work in every
area of our lives. The apostle Paul puts it this way:

Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in

my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out
your own salvation with fear and trembling. (Philippians 2:12)

The Greek word rendered salvation is sōtēria, which literally

means “deliverance.” Paul tells the Philippian church to “work out”
their deliverance with reverential fear. The words “work out” are
translated from a compound Greek word, katergazomai. The prefix
kata can signify “throughout,” and the suffix ergazomai can mean “to
labor” or “to exercise.” A good analogy to describe the meaning of
this word is that of a pastry chef kneading dough. They have to work
from the inside out. The dough has everything it needs on the inside,
but the pastry chef must “work it out” to see the full manifestation of
the dough’s potential.
Many people believe that if they go through the nearest “healing
line” or set up an appointment with the best deliverance minister in
town, then God will tap them with His magic wand and, voila! they
will experience “freedom.” Friends, it does not work that way! Does
God deliver people instantly? Absolutely! We have many examples
in Scripture where people received a miraculous touch from God.
However, we have a responsibility to walk out our freedom daily.

MIND RENEWAL AS MIRACLE MAINTENANCE

 There are many ways in which we walk out our freedom, such as
regularly reading the Word of God, fellowshipping with other
believers, praying, fasting, praising and worshipping the Lord,
serving others, and giving to God’s work. However, in this chapter, I
want to focus on one significant way that we can maintain our
freedom: renewing our minds. To keep from reverting to our old
ways, we must change the way that we think! Romans 12:2 is very
clear about this truth:

And be not conformed to this world: but be you transformed by

the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that
good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

I love the word “transformed” in this passage. It comes from the

Greek word metamorphoō, which literally means “to change into
another form” or “to transfigure.” It means to undergo a
metamorphosis. We are called by God into a transformational
experience through the “renewing” of our minds. The Greek word
translated “renewing” is anakainōsis, which signifies “a renewal,
renovation, complete change for the better.”
As we change the way we think, it causes a renovation within us,
which produces a transformation. Think of it this way: the renovation
is the process, and the transformation is the end result. It is much
like having your home renovated. When the contractors come in,
they begin to demolish the old structures in order to build new
structures. This demolition and construction is a process, but when it
is complete, your house looks and feels brand new. Your home is
literally transformed! “Old things are passed away; behold, all things
are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Thus, when the Bible talks about deliverance, it is speaking about
an all-encompassing reality. Romans 10:13 says, “For whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” The apostle
Paul was quoting Joel 2:32, “And it shall come to pass, that
whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered.”
The Greek word translated “saved” in Romans 10:13 is sozo, which
signifies “saved,” “healed,” “delivered,” and “restored.”
 Suppose a firefighter rescued a woman from a burning building,
but her body had been burned by the fire. If the firefighter were to
merely leave her outside the building, lying on the ground, she would
have been saved from the fire, but she would still be at risk because
of the burns she sustained. He would need to bring her to an
ambulance, which would take her to a hospital where there was a
burn unit. The doctor would then need to treat the burns and
prescribe medicine and possible therapy to ensure that the woman
was restored to health. In the same way, God didn’t just snatch us
out of the fires of hell to leave us burned on the side of the road. He
wants us to have joy, peace, and abundance. We can receive these
things fully by the renewing of our minds, “that [we] may prove what
is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans
12:2).
Everything I have shared about familiar spirits in this book boils
down to this simple truth: God wants you to live the abundant life that
He paid a heavy price to provide for you. Once you take authority
over these demonic powers, confronting and renouncing them, you
must build godly structures in your thinking that will facilitate and
maintain a victorious life.
The enemy wants to tear us down, but God wants to build us up.
The enemy wants us to be isolated, but God draws us to Himself in
love.
The enemy binds us in his lies, but God frees us in His truth.
Remain in God and His Word, “and you shall know the truth, and
the truth shall make you free”—from familiar spirits and all the work
of the enemy. Praise God!

INSIGHTS FOR OVERCOMING

1. We are commanded to stand fast in the freedom that Christ

won for us in His death and resurrection and to not be
“entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”
2. Once we receive deliverance, we must maintain that
deliverance through spiritual discipline.
3. Although Jesus “paid it all,” we must intentionally and
consistently appropriate His finished work in every area of
our lives.
4. To keep from reverting to our old ways, we must change
the way we think by renewing our minds with God’s Word.
 About the Author

Dr. Kynan T. Bridges is the senior pastor of Grace & Peace Global
Fellowship in Tampa, Florida. With a profound revelation of the Word
of God and a dynamic teaching ministry, Dr. Bridges has
revolutionized the lives of many in the body of Christ. Through his
practical approach to applying the deep truths of the Word of God,
he reveals the authority and identity of the new covenant believer.
God has placed on Dr. Bridges a particular anointing for
understanding and teaching the Scriptures, along with the gifts of
prophecy and healing. Dr. Bridges and his wife, Gloria, through an
apostolic anointing, are committed to equipping the body of Christ to
live in the supernatural every day and to fulfill the Great Commission.
It is Dr. Bridges’s desire to see the nations transformed by the
unconditional love of God.
A highly sought speaker and published author of a number of
books, his previous books with Whitaker House include Unlocking
the Code of the Supernatural, School of the Miraculous, Invading the
Heavens, Unmasking the Accuser, The Power of Prophetic Prayer,
and Kingdom Authority. Dr. Bridges is a committed husband, a
mentor, and a father of five beautiful children: Ella, Naomi, Isaac,
Israel, and Anna.

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