Contrary to popular belief a born-again believer can be demonized. Most Christians today believe the “great myth” which is the belief that because I am a born-again believer, an evil spirit cannot live in me because the Holy Spirit lives in me. The word “demonized” comes from the Greek word “daimonizomai” which means “to have a demon.” E.g. Mark 5:15-16. It is improper to say a person is possessed. The proper terminology is demonized. The result of demonization is control not ownership since Satan and evil spirits can own nothing. The areas of control by the evil spirit are not in the person’s spirit but in the person’s soul (mind, emotions, will, and affections) occasionally resulting in physical manifestations. Scripture references that teach about the trichotomy of the human nature (body, soul, and spirit) plus the warfare against the soul are: 1 Thess. 5:23; Hebrews 4:12; 1 Peter 2:11; Psalm 71:13; John 3:3-6; Romans 7:22-23; 8:10-16; 1 Corinthians 5:5; 6:17-20; Galatians 5:16-25.
A Young Evangelist with Generational Spirits
One Saturday afternoon I received a call from a pastor in the Atlanta, Georgia area who explained his church was sponsoring a weekend youth event with a young evangelist from a neighboring state. The evangelist, a friend of his, had come to him earlier in the day and explained he felt he was under spiritual attack and didn’t understand why but knew something needed to be done as he was being plagued by evil spirits. The pastor wanted me to know he had prayed with the evangelist but had also recommended the evangelist give me a call the following Monday.
Early Monday morning I received a call from the evangelist. We discussed his situation and he decided to drive to Florida along with his wife the following Thursday for an appointment we scheduled on Friday. His wife, who was expecting a child shortly, wanted to be in the session so she could better understand why he was struggling so much. She would learn to her surprise that the unborn child was about to be part of the focus of the counseling sessions.
The evangelist and his wife, we’ll call them Jim and Pam, were in their early 30’s and had been married about six years. He held a Master of Divinity Degree and was ordained Southern Baptist. For the last five months he had been suffering bouts of depression and seeing evil spirits in his bedroom at night.
While obtaining background information Jim reported his mother had obtained an abortion while she and his father were dating. They eventually married and shortly thereafter Jim was born. He never bonded with his father who was a workaholic and would spank him extremely hard. His mother was emotionally unstable. Beginning at approximately age two he started seeing spirits outside his window at night and experienced nervous twitches and high anxiety. He stated that one evening he woke up in the middle of the night, at around age six, and saw an evil spirit face to face with him in his bed. The manifestations continued throughout his teen years. He would see spirits in his room at night and at times would be held down in bed by an unseen force and unable to get up. Upon reaching puberty, he would be awakened in the night being sexually attacked, again by an unseen force. Over the past several years the manifestations had seemed to subside. But now it was happening again with a vengeance.
Why the manifestations of evil? Why was he under attack? He was a Christian and was serving the Lord in full time ministry. He believed that as a Christian he was safe from spirit attack. After all, he was taught an evil spirit surely could not indwell a Christian because the Holy Spirit was indwelling. As we began the first session that Friday Pam also attended since she too wanted to understand why the manifestations and attacks toward Jim were continuing
It didn’t take long to get some answers. After prayer I began commanding any spirits inhabiting Jim’s soul to manifest themselves and answer questions given in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The first spirit identified itself as a generational evil spirit associated with the sexual sins of Jim’s father. It admitted it was a succubus who had been responsible for attacking Jim sexually at night, but had no right to inhabit Jim’s soul other than the sins of his father. It had entered Jim at conception. I instructed Jim to take his authority in Jesus Christ, break the generational curse, and command the spirit to leave him and future generations. As he commanded the spirit to leave, the unborn child in Pam’s womb jumped violently. It was the most graphic demonstration of generational spirit activity I had ever witnessed. This spirit had already entered the unborn baby as part of the generational curse which Jim had now broken, and upon command it had to leave the baby too.
The next spirit also identified itself as a generational evil spirit which was associated with his parents aborting a child prior to their marriage. It admitted it was mainly responsible for Jim’s depression but had no right to Jim’s soul other than the generational curse. Again, Jim took his authority in Jesus Christ, broke the generational curse, and commanded the spirit to leave him and future generations. This time Pam was ready and embraced her unborn child as it again jumped so violently in her womb it was noticeable to me as I sat behind my desk.
A third spirit was then identified and when commanded it admitted it was not a generational spirit, was responsible for trying to give Jim false guidance, and did have a right to Jim’s soul at that time. I commanded the spirit to tell us what that right was. It stated when Jim was a teenager he had been involved in the use of a Ouija Board which had answered questions for him. Jim admitted to its usage and the fact that he had not realized the wrongness of the act or confessed the sin. After confessing to the Lord he commanded the spirit to leave and it did. There were other spirits dealt with that day who were there because of past unconfessed sin on Jim’s part. In each instance, when Jim confessed the sin and commanded the spirits to leave, they did.
The session lasted over four hours and was very exhausting to both Jim and Pam. We agreed to set up one more session the next Friday and deal with any remaining spirit activity at that time.
The following Thursday Jim and Pam once again drove over 400 miles to attend another session on Friday. This session was much like the first. Additional spirits manifested with the same results.
Among the spirits which manifested that day was a generational spirit which stated it was responsible for trying to destroy Jim and Pam’s marriage through disagreements. It had entered the generational line through the unconfessed arguing and anger of both his mother and father toward one another. It admitted it had no right to Jim’s soul since he had not entered into this type of sin. Once again Jim took his authority in Jesus Christ, broke the generational curse, and commanded the spirit to leave both him and future generations. And again, the infant in Pam’s womb reacted by jumping violently.
There were a few others that day but Jim left the session free from the spirits which had caused him so much distress for so many years. And Pam left with an infant who would be born a couple weeks later free of the generational curses due to the unconfessed sins of previous generations and the corresponding spirit activity. Today Jim continues in full time youth ministry and reports being free of any spirit manifestations since those two memorable Friday counseling sessions one chilly winter.
