Invisible Enemies

by Jim Croft

  Deviant lifestyles, mislabeled as natural, come primarily from the refusal to acknowledge that original sin spawned unnatural desires. The entire creation was subjected to corruption, of which sexual perversity was a part (see Romans 8:20–21). Homosexual behavior in animals, for instance, which is often cited as God’s approval of the practice, came subsequent to and is inherent in original sin and the fall of Adam. When God created living things, neither man nor beast had such inclinations.

  Unnatural sex acts have all the earmarks of demonic inspiration. Most would agree that immorality is a major means of spreading sexually transmitted diseases. Emergency room workers are well acquainted with some of the more injurious aspects of unnatural sex acts. It is commonplace for them to treat injuries in victims of sadomasochistic sexual encounters and to extract lodged objects from body cavities.

  The Problem of Sex Addictions

  Sex is an exceptionally strong aspect of the human psyche. Any physical activity that has accompanying pleasurable sensations can become a preoccupation, allowing addiction to spring forth easily. Note that not everyone who engages in sexual perversion is necessarily a sex addict.

  Here is the context in which I am using the word addiction. It is enslavement to sex to the point that it is no longer regarded as an expression of a holy love-based relationship. Sex addicts’ waking hours are spent concentrating on opportunities for self-centered orgasmic release, not unlike heroin addicts escaping life’s realities through drugs. More and more pastors are hearing women in their congregations complain about their husbands who are hooked on pornographic websites. The addiction of some is pedophilic. The most common enslavement is the compulsion for individuals of both sexes to act like nomads in a sea of endless sexual partners.

  Only satanic influences could possibly lead anyone to believe that some of the practices of unnatural sex acts follow the original design and intention of the Creator. I dealt with one seminary student who was addicted to sex with dead fur-bearing animals.

  In the Marriage Relationship

  With married couples, the voice of God within is a trustworthy gauge to help discern what is appropriate and what is not. Certainly within the bonds of married love, there is room for variety in the sexual experience. If, however, such experimentation makes either partner uncomfortable, the uneasiness is likely justified. It is sinful to engage in a sexual activity that both partners feel is improper, or with which both are not comfortable to perform in good conscience.

  Anyone who continually ignores godly inhibitions is at risk of opening up to spirits of perversion and perhaps sexual addiction. Further enticements for more intense types of experimentation are sure to follow. Astonishingly, for example, there are sophisticated people who are addicted to pain during sex.

  Satan’s objective is to inundate the marriage bed with activities that cause couples to cast aside all thoughts of holy union. In such instances, many would testify that any momentary gratification they might experience carries a heavy price tag of emptiness of soul the morning after.

  The Bible’s Challenge

  Basically, the claim of Satan’s propaganda machine is that sexual abnormalities do not succumb to reparative therapy. That is not what the Bible teaches. In the passage 1 Corinthians 6:9–13, we see a list of unrighteous individuals who will be denied entrance into the Kingdom of God. Fornicators, adulterers, homosexuals, thieves, drunkards and revilers are mentioned specifically. The passage proclaims boldly, however, that these ones can be changed by salvation.

  I have added italics to verse 11 to emphasize that after being born again, those who previously sinned in that way were no longer ensnared in those sins: “And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”

  The implication is that the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord. Believers must not submit to the powers of sin.

  Addressing the subject of homosexuality again, we see that in the context of Christianity and the born-again experience, the argument about whether homosexuality is genetic or acquired is rendered moot. Even the rare instances in which a person is born with homosexual desires or tendencies do not provide a free pass to engage in a homosexual lifestyle. It is just as ungodly to live out that tendency toward homosexuality as it is to live out an inborn tendency to be a drunkard. It is not life-threatening to say no to the forbidden behavior for the sake of Christ. One can go to heaven with unfulfilled sexual compulsions. No one can see God unless he or she has reckoned those unlawful passions as dead in the active pursuit of holiness (see Colossians 3:5; Hebrews 12:14).

  I suspect that a double standard exists with those who assert they are powerless to control depraved passions. Let us imagine a professing Christian homosexual couple that has one partner who is a thief and is given to abusive speech. It is highly probable that the law-abiding, verbally abused partner would press the offending partner to stop stealing and to control his tongue. Furthermore, he would expect him to succeed at doing so. Biblically, thievery and abusive speech appear in the same list as fornication and homosexuality.

  Remember the phrase “such were some of you” in 1 Corinthians 6:11? Is there any biblical reason for it to apply to thieves and revilers and not to homosexuals? There is no difference. Sin is sin. Christ within empowers believers to put all sinful inclinations into the past tense.

  Deliverance

  The first step toward liberation from all forms of sex perversion is to genuinely want deliverance. It is unproductive to submit to deliverance just to please parents or to comply with the wishes of a spouse or to assuage momentary guilt pangs. The primary motive must be the Spirit-inspired conviction that the act at issue insults the holiness of God.

  One must be absolutely committed to the reality that the old carnal nature was crucified with Christ at Calvary. That entity is dead and was buried in the waters of baptism. With those factors established, the specific demon of perversity must be expelled. If you are seeking help in this area, treat that demon with utter hatred over the despicable acts it has compelled you to perform. Homosexuals who have participated in “gay pride” events should repent of glorying in that which is shameful (see 1 Corinthians 5:1–2, 6; Ephesians 5:11–12).

  When I minister to those given to sex perversions and to sex addicts, I ask them to lay their hands on their erogenous zones, one by one. As they do so, I command the particular evil spirit to leave each location in Jesus’ name. In addition, sex addicts I have counseled have described what we might label an erotic energy resident in them. It causes their flesh to tingle with desire for erotic contact. I have them repeat the laying-on-of-hands procedure and ask them personally to command that energy to leave them. They often report that they can feel the demonic force actually slip away.

  This chapter has covered some sensitive core issues. It is fitting to spend some time seeking God as to whether or not areas in your life need adjustment. I suggest that you repeat this contemplative prayer several times and then listen for what the Lord might say to you: “I am not my own. I have been bought with a price: the precious blood of Jesus.”

  Next, we deal with spirits of infirmity. The success rates involved in delivering people of catastrophic illnesses and those with diagnosed mental conditions have been points of substantial challenge. We are making headway, but all of us are still early in the learning curve. To emulate the Master Physician, we are obligated to keep trying, and that is one of the reasons for our next chapter.

  In the matter of healing, the Body of Christ has yet to approach anything even close to the ministry of Jesus. No matter what the source of the malady He confronted, without fail, Jesus healed all who came to Him. The wide gap between His success rate and our hit-and-miss attempts would be discouraging were it not for His promise that we would perform greater miracles than He. That prophecy was not given for a few gifted individuals. It speaks of the Body of Christ functioning in the unity of the faith
in the fullness of the stature of Jesus Christ.

  Spirits of infirmity can be the source of physical maladies and mental disorders. In other words, anything may be demonic, but not everything is. One person can have a crippling spirit of arthritis cast out and be completely restored. Another person can have the same symptoms and undergo deliverance without experiencing any changes because the infirmity is not demonic in origin but, rather, physical.

  This means we need to exercise discernment so as to be able to help guide any person who is suffering into the ministry—spiritual or medical—that he or she needs. We should never assume every problem comes from demons.

  Success Can Be Elusive with Mental Conditions

  Over the years, I have attempted deliverance on scores of people with diagnosed mental conditions. On one particular occasion, I ministered to a young autistic boy who was compelled to urinate on bathroom walls. I cast out the demon troubling him, and then his mother and I walked with him to the bathroom where he urinated directly into the toilet. His mother wept for joy. Even though deliverance prayer was successful in this case, I have ministered to several other autistic children without seeing the same dramatic results.

  I find this to be the case far too often with conditions that have a mental component. Sometimes people are healed; sometimes they are not. Sometimes the healings “last”; sometimes they do not.

  Why is this the case? There are various possible explanations for the failures. The most obvious is that most mental disorders might not be demonic in origin. Perhaps they could be attributed to soul problems that we do not yet know how to unravel. For certain, many dysfunctions of the mind are caused by hormonal and chemical imbalances. In those cases, physical healing is needed.

  At the same time, some mental conditions are unquestionably demonic. Why do these not always respond to deliverance? I have observed two consistent obstacles with mental patients for whom all attempts at deliverance have failed.

  The first is that the patient himself has not been the one to ask for deliverance. When loved ones bring a person to me, any absence of desire on the part of the patient may be one of the limiting factors.

  The second is the majority of the mentally impaired for whom I have prayed are people who refuse to take their prescribed medications. That stubborn resistance to medication, which eliminates or suppresses their symptoms, could be an indication that the patient somehow needs the escape that the symptoms supply. It may be that the drug of choice is the mental disorder itself. This tendency to partner with the illness reveals that in some cases, spirits of infirmity are allowed to stay because the person does not truly desire liberation.

  As I have continued to process the challenges I have experienced in this area, I have put two policies into place that I hope will lay the groundwork for more to be set free. These policies are direct results of the obstacles given above.

  First, I will not accept appointments with adults who do not request the ministry on their own. Then, they must take their medications for a week prior to and on the day of the appointment. This affords me the opportunity to speak to the person without interference from the mental condition. I will ask them to state specifically what they want to be delivered from and why. I formulate the name of the suspected spirit from what they state. From there, I minister deliverance in my customary fashion. Even after deliverance I do not recommend that mental patients go off their medication without the consent of their physicians.

  The Strange Case of Darrell

  I was asked a number of years ago to minister deliverance to a man in his twenties named Darrell, who had been diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder. When I arrived at the family’s home to pray for Darrell, I found a mind-boggling sight. The home was strewn with open cans of food and partially eaten sandwiches and fruit.

  As it turned out, Darrell would not eat anything without first washing each bite while standing at the kitchen sink. If the food came from a can, after several small portions were consumed, he considered what remained of the food in the can to be unclean. A fresh can of the same food would have to be opened for him to continue eating. The same rules applied to bites from apples and from a single bunch of grapes. Three bites maximum from a whole fruit; three grapes maximum from a single bunch; then the uneaten portions were discarded.

  Darrell was grossly underweight. He compulsively splashed water on himself dozens of times throughout the day and night. The tangled hair that hung down his back was always damp. The radio and TV were incessantly blaring Christian programming. Darrell’s fears of contamination had kept him homebound for years. Instantly, I discerned that Darrell’s OCD condition was perpetrated by a spirit of infirmity called religious confusion.

  My first step was to ask his mother to turn off the blaring TV and radio. Then I turned my attention to Darrell.

  “Darrell,” I asked, “are you willing to do everything I direct you to do in order to be set free?”

  “Yes,” he replied.

  “Your OCD is actually a religious demon,” I said. “I am going to command it to leave you.” I explained further that after his deliverance I was going to offer food to him to eat, and then we were going to make a trip to the barber.

  Darrell gazed back at me with a puzzled but agreeable expression.

  “After your deliverance,” I continued, “you are welcome to go to church once per week. However, I want you to agree that you will not watch or listen to Christian programming for six months. Are you willing to comply with my prescriptions?”

  “Yes, I am willing,” Darrell agreed.

  Then I continued my ministry to Darrell by praying directly against the spirit that was troubling him.

  “You spirit of confused OCD infirmity,” I commanded, “you foul spirit of religious confusion, come out of Darrell now!”

  With a series of coughs and huffs of breath that he forcefully exhaled, Darrell expelled that demon.

  The first proof of his deliverance came when Darrell ate mouthful after mouthful of peanuts that I handed to him, something he never would have done in his previous OCD condition. His mother giggled with glee.

  A few minutes later we pulled into a fast-food restaurant, and Darrell ravenously consumed a burger and fries and licked the ketchup that was dripping from his fingers.

  The haircut was the icing on the cake, absolutely transforming Darrell’s appearance.

  For Darrell, there would be no more ritualistic food cleansings. What’s more, his compulsion to splash water over himself evaporated. The family home became as neat as a pin. Jesus had set Darrell completely free from OCD.

  Physical Infirmities

  In contrast to deliverance ministry to those with mental problems, deliverance seems more likely to succeed when dealing with spirits of physical infirmities. Many people seem to have much greater success in this area.

  A woman came with her sister one day to get food at our church’s food bank. The sister was totally blind. When they asked for prayer, I asked how long the woman had been blind and was told two months. I inquired about diabetes and other health issues, but nothing seemed related. Then I asked about what happened at the time of the onset of the blindness, and the woman said that it had occurred instantly. “I got real mad at my kids, and it happened as I was screaming at them.”

  Clearly, the expression, “I’m so mad, I can’t see,” was more than a colloquialism in this case. I commanded the demon of “hysteric conversion” that had frozen her optic nerves to come out. The woman was healed instantly.

  For some reason, one area of particular ability for me is praying for people with headaches, fevers, unexplainable chronic pains and allergies. In the allergies department, especially effective have been my prayers against allergies caused by natural substances. I have seen many delivered of spirits that cause reactions to pollen, pet hair, dust and the like. Other people seem also to have areas in which they “specialize.”

  I believe that Jesus invented the specialist concept in order for t
he Body’s members to be interdependent, one upon another. First Corinthians 12:28 speaks of “gifts of healings,” not one gift of healing. More people would probably be healed if we disciplined ourselves to discern each individual, unique healing anointing.

  When dealing with spirits of infirmity, I verbally rebuke those spirits with biblical phrases about spiritual authority and healing. My strategy includes speaking not only to the evil spirit, but also to the location in the body where it is causing discomfort. The following is an example of how I might pray in the case of someone with a spirit of allergies to grain foods. Let’s call the person we are ministering to by the name of Jane.

  “God has given us all foods to enjoy. Bread strengthens the heart and is made from grains. Jane’s body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. It has been redeemed and cleansed by the blood of the Lamb.

  “I call for the peace of God that surpasses human understanding to flow throughout Jane’s digestive organs. God’s peace coupled with the power of the blood of Jesus renders powerless this spirit of allergies to grain.

  “I speak to Jane’s stomach and intestines now. You are reverberating with God’s power. You will now eject the spirit of infirmity. You demon of allergies, I command you to leave Jane in Jesus’ name.

  “Itching and hives will cease and desist. The grace of God has empowered Jane to eat what she pleases when she pleases. Whatever she chooses to eat is sanctified by Christ from this time forth.”