Demonic Confrontation

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

DEMONIC CONFRONTATION

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Traveling through a land of spiritual darkness like Java, it was inevitable that Lester would face demonic spirits protesting the message of Jesus Christ. Still a young man, he really wasn’t prepared for such intense spiritual warfare.

Acts 10:38 says, “Jesus...went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil.” At a revival service one evening in Java, Lester had his first encounter with demon possession.

As the song service proceeded, a young girl about twelve years old slipped away from the front pew, where she had been sitting with her family, got on the floor, laid on her belly, and “began to writhe on the floor like a snake foaming at the mouth.”  Her tongue would flick in and out like a serpent’s as she slithered back and forth in the front of the church. Lester was horrified at what he saw, but the Javanese pastor continued on with worship as though nothing unusual was happening.

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Lester had never been a shy man. When he stood in the pulpit to speak, righteous anger rose up in his spirit. He pointed at the young lady, who understood no English, and commanded her, “Get back in your seat!” Immediately, she sat back in her seat and remained there, sitting as still as a statue, for the entire sermon.

As Lester preached, he was also having a private conversation with the Lord. He asked God to take care of the problem of the little, demon-possessed girl. He didn’t know what to do with her. The Lord answered him clearly, “This is your problem. You take care of it!” Never having dealt with the occult before, but knowing that, in Christ, he had authority, Lester finished his sermon. Immediately afterward, he leaned over the pulpit, looked at the young girl sitting rigidly before him, and shouted at the top of his lungs, “Now come out of her!”

Lester never touched the little girl or had any conversation with the demons wrestling within her. But, in a moment, the Spirit of the Lord descended on her. Her eyes became clear, and a sweet smile lit up her face. She was unaware of where she was or what had happened. As the Javanese pastor explained to her that she had just been freed from an evil spirit, she danced around with joy.

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As if on cue, hundreds of people in the congregation stood up and streamed to the altar, trusting in the God of power for salvation, healing, and deliverance. For hours, Lester prayed with those at the altar, but he was still shaken by what had happened.

Howard Carter had been teaching at another church and had not been present at Lester’s meeting. Back in Lester’s room later that night, Howard reassured him that he had handled the entire situation well, according to the Word of God. Just the same, Lester hoped with all his heart that it would never happen again!

Unfortunately for him, there were other demonic conflicts in Java before they left. Lester remarked afterward, “The greatest thing I learned was that I was not personally in the conflict. It was Christ in me. Also, it was not the person who caused the battle, but the devil within him or her.”

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When Lester and Howard ministered together in Java, the results were powerful. Thousands of Javanese were saved and received the baptism of the Holy Spirit through the laying on of Howard’s hands. When Lester ministered to them, many would be instantly healed of their diseases and would give their hearts to Christ. Like Paul and Timothy, this duo of ministers made an impression for Christ wherever they walked.

Pastor F. Van Abkoude summed up the success of Lester Sumrall and Howard Carter’s  three months of ministry in Java, saying, “We prayed God to send a messenger, and Brother Carter came to Java with Brother Sumrall....Souls have been saved, healed, and baptized with the Holy Spirit. The result of their ministry will be seen in eternity.”

- God’s Generals ( The Healing Evangelists)

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William James Roop

Hospice Care and Dying

The Trucking Tango

Brother Roop teaches the Bible

How Demons Possess People

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

HOW DEMONS POSSESS PEOPLE.

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Jesus then told me he was going to show me how demons get hold of people, even believers, if they will let them.  He showed me a man in a vision. I didn't recognize the man. I saw an evil spirit come and sit on his right shoulder. (There's no significance to the right shoulder at all. If there had been, the Lord would have told me.) The evil spirit began to whisper in this man's ear, and the man began to entertain its thoughts.

Then in the vision the man became as transparent as if he were made of glass. Something seemed to go into his head. It looked like a black dot and it was almost as large as a baseball. Jesus told me that this thing first came from the outside to attack the man, but because he had listened to it and had opened his mind to it, it had entered his thinking. He had become obsessed!

Then I saw this black dot go from the man's head down into his spirit. He told me that it now possessed him wholly. Then I saw a whole group of evil spirits come in. I saw the first spirit holding a door open, as it were, for all these other spirits who were swarming in. There were so many I couldn't count them all. They looked like big flies. The first one looked like a little monkey or elf.

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Jesus talked to me about that. He reminded me of the Bible account in Matthew 12:24 which tells how Jesus was accused of casting out devils by Beelzebub, the lord of flies. He said these spirits were lower classes of spirits. The higher class demon got in there first and got control and then let the others in.

Remember the man whose house was swept clean but the evil spirit came back with seven others and they all entered into him (Matt. 12:44,45)? The one spirit knew how to get in, and he took the others with him. Jesus told me this man was possessed of the first spirit which went into him, and then he let the others in. All of them were in there, but only one fully possessed him. He then told me the madman of Gadara had a legion of demons.

Jesus told me in the vision to walk up to the man I saw in the vision. I walked up to him, and the Lord told me that from that night on, when I was in the presence of one who was fully possessed, these spirits would recognize me. They would recognize that I had power over them.

He said when a person is fully demon possessed, the demon can use his voice and state that he knows who you are. The demons will know you as much as they knew who Jesus was.

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He said that through discerning of spirits, which is an inward revelation, I would know what kind of a spirit possesses a person. He told me that if the spirit did not come out when commanded to, I should ask what his name is and how many there are within. Some won't come out until you do this.

Then Jesus showed me some things I hadn't understood before. He talked to me about the man who came out of the tombs at Gadara. (Mark 5).  Jesus said if I had been there that day I would have heard, with my physical ears, this man talking. But it was really the demon who possessed the man doing the talking. (A person present wouldn't have heard all the demons speaking unless he had discerning of spirits.) This was what Jesus told me. He said because I had this gift, at times I would see and hear into the realm of spirits. That scares some people; I'd be lying if I said it weren't so.

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Sometimes I've had spirits speak to me before I've ever said a word. I hear them. People can hear me telling them to leave, but no one else hears them talking. Sometimes they say to me very emphatically, "I don't intend to go." I say, "Yes you do, and out you go in the Name of Jesus." I've seen them go. People will be delivered. I've seen too much of it not to believe it, and I know it works.

I don't just run and jump into something. I stop and think it over for a long time before I start using it. The Lord told me one time when He appeared to me in a vision that He would rather I be too slow than too fast. He said some people receive a little revelation, and they grab it and run. They usually end up with everything messed up. It's better to be careful.

I do not believe that God is going to take novices and new Christians who know little or nothing, equip them with these things, and send them out to turn the world upside down. That's out of line with His program.

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So Jesus told me to walk up to this man. When I walked up to him, the man immediately spoke out loud and said, "I know you; I know who you are." Without thinking I told him to shut up in the Name of Jesus. He hushed. Then on the inside of me I knew what kind of spirit was talking to me. It was a deceiving spirit.

I said, "You foul deceiving spirit, I command you to come out of the man in the Name of Jesus!" Nothing happened!  So then I asked the name and how many there were in there. (Deceiving isn't a name, it's just a kind.) He said there were 19 more in there besides him. That was all I needed to know. I then commanded him and all 19 to come out in the Name of Jesus. And they came out!

- Kenneth E Hagin ( MINISTERING TO THE OPPRESSED )

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William James Roop

Hospice Care and Dying

The Trucking Tango

Brother Roop teaches the Bible