War on Earth - Part 3 — Derek Prince

Demonic Harassment and Anger

Then demons harass, and the example I always think of is this businessman who's had a terrible day in the office. The air conditioning failed, his secretary did the wrong thing, he had a client who was complaining and threatening to sue him.

When he makes it through the day, he gets into his car to drive home, and there's an accident on the freeway. And he sits there for one hour without air conditioning on the freeway, stewing. And, I mean, he's getting hotter and hotter and hotter.

He gets home, and what happens? His wife is late with the supper, the kids are running around screaming, and as they say in America, he blows his stack. And at that moment, the demon of anger enters him, you see?

It's been following him around all day, just waiting for that moment of weakness to come in. Demons defile, they're dirty, they're all called unclean. They make you feel unclean. They fill your mind with dirty, unclean attitudes, emotions, and thoughts, particularly if you're planning to read your Bible or worship.

Anything that attacks you at a moment like that is probably a demon. And you never feel really pure. You can sing about the blood of Jesus, how wonderful it is, but there's something in you that doesn't respond.

Demons defile. Demons torture. Jesus says in Matthew 18, the one who will not forgive his brother or his sister, what's the sentence? Deliver him to what? To the torturer, He says. That means you and me.

If we don't forgive, if we retain bitterness and resentment and unforgiveness, the sentence of Jesus is deliver him to the torturers. Who are the torturers? Demons. Very simple. They torture in many ways.

They torture emotionally. They torture with fear, with guilt, with some kind of uneasy feeling that you haven't done the right thing but you can never put your finger on it. They torture you physically.

Compulsion, Enslavement, and Addiction

Secondly, I've dealt with many people who've been delivered from a spirit of arthritis. To me, if you look at arthritis, that's demonic. It twists, it tortures, it incapacitates. Now please understand, I am not saying that everybody who has arthritis has a demon.

But many do. Then number five, demons compel. They make you do things you don't really want to do. I would say almost any act or habit that is compulsive is probably demonic, not necessarily. Demons also enslave.

They make you slaves. Take the demon of alcohol. It enslaves you. You just cannot do without your glass of whiskey. You know it is harmful, you don't really enjoy it, but you can't help yourself. But people can be enslaved by other things.

They can be enslaved by television, you know that. You can be an addict to television. Some television addicts walk into a room and the first thing they do, switch on the television. They don't know what programs are, they don't know what to watch, but they're just as compulsive as a person who reaches for a glass of whiskey and drinks it.

Now put compulsion and enslaving together, you get addiction. And our contemporary culture is full of addictions. And I would say 99 .9 of them are demonic. Let me give you a scripture from 1 Corinthians chapter 6.

This is for me the biblical definition of addiction. Verse 12, all things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. I would prefer to say beneficial. So all things are lawful. I'm not on any law which says thou shalt not eat and thou shalt not do this and that.

But not everything is beneficial. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. Food for the stomach, and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them.

Now the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. So overeating and sexual immorality are specifically mentioned by Paul as possible examples of addictions. I have come to see that my body is a temple for the Holy Spirit.

Self-Indulgence and Self-Discipline

And I'm responsible for how I treat that temple. I am not free to defile it. I'm not free to do anything that would make it less good than it should be. I am very careful about what I eat and what I drink.

I'm not under any law, but I try to honor God's temple. How about you? Are you taking care of your temple? If it were a physical, material temple, you'd be very careful about it, wouldn't you? I mean you'd keep it sweat, you'd keep the windows clean, you wouldn't let dust accumulate, you wouldn't let the toilet get clogged.

What about your physical temple? How well are you maintaining that? Let me say this, and I make no extra charge for it. I came to the United States in the 1960s, and I had myself—this is my personal subjective impression—there had been three strong men, one after the other, over this nation that have sought to dominate it.

The first was rebellion. In the 1960s there was an upsurge of rebellion. When the Bible says rebellion, is this the sin of witchcraft? Whenever people get into rebellion, they'll get into the occult. So the next demonic force was witchcraft.

But in my personal subjective judgment, those are in the past. They're still very active. But the number one strong man seeking to dominate the United States today is self-indulgence. And whereas both witchcraft and rebellion were regarded as wrong by the church, self-indulgence is practiced by the church.

Personal Struggle with Self-Indulgence

Well I'll go a little further. About 1990, I was diagnosed with a serious physical condition. I prayed many times to God, I said, God, I don't understand. I believe in healing, I preach healing, but I'm not healed.

I've seen many people healed, I'm not healed. Well God didn't give me a definite answer, but he gave me a little overview of the way I had been living in previous years. And he never said a thing, he never made a comment.

But he just showed me in various situations. You know where most of them were? In restaurants. And I saw that I had been a slave to self-indulgence. In 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 7, Paul says, God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and of self-discipline.

That's the NIV translation. Everybody wants power. Everybody wants love. How many people want self-discipline? You see, the Holy Spirit will not discipline you unless you discipline yourself. He won't take over and do the job for you.

But if you make your mind up, he'll help you. I mourn over people very close to me who are slaves of their stomachs. Strange silence, isn't there? And they're destroying themselves. And they're defiling the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Addictions to Food, Drink, and Coffee

Now, like somebody said, now he's left off preaching and he's middling with other people's business. What about coffee? Coffee is a drug. I mean, everybody knows that. Now, I'm not saying you're an addict.

But I'm saying do this. Just stop drinking coffee for 48 hours and see if you're addicted or not. You'll find out. If you come through, it's fine, all right. But if you cannot do without it, then you need to do without it.

Paul said, all things are lawful, but I will not be brought under the power of anything. And really, where it boils down to for modern America is eating and drinking. That's where we have to say, am I under the power of anything?

And many, many good American Christians are slaves of their stomachs, to call it by the right name. And it's an addiction. And it's demonic. I'm not saying necessarily you need to be delivered from a demon, but check and see.

And mind you, you won't be delivered if you want to keep on doing it. All right, the final thing that demons do is they make weak or sick. And almost every form of sickness can be demonic. I'm not saying it is.

Sickness, Crippling Spirits, and Healing

But it can be caused by a demon. As I've said, arthritis is a very conspicuous example. Migraine is another conspicuous example. Almost anything that's torturing is demonic, I would say. Torturing and enslaving.

All right, now we come to the big question. Let me say something else about sickness. You know, I do sometimes pray for people, check their legs, how many of you have seen me do that? Anybody here? That's all right.

Okay, and very often when I hold a person's leg and it grows out, the person will start to contort and twist and behave in a very strange way. And I've learned that it's a spirit of crippling. And I've seen many people delivered from a crippling spirit.

Something that twists, deforms, enslaves. In fact, I think I was on the way to being, having that problem myself if I hadn't met a good chiropractor. I'm willing to take help from anybody that can help me.

And I thank God for chiropractors, I thank God for doctors, I'm not against doctors. But the best one of all, his name is Jesus, that's right. Now we're coming to the practical questions. And here are the steps for receiving deliverance.

Faith in Christ and the High Priesthood of His Confession

Step number one, personally affirm your faith in Christ. The Scripture says Christ is the high priest of our confession. It's our confession that releases his high priestly ministry. If we make no confession, he cannot serve as our high priest.

He is the high priest of our confession. When we say the same about ourselves as God says in his Word, we release the high priestly ministry of Jesus on our behalf. Step number two, humble yourself. God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

And I have not found anywhere in the Bible where God says he will humble us. Always God says you do it. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and he will exalt you in due time. Humility is a decision.

And in this ministry of deliverance, you may well have to make a decision between your dignity and your deliverance. And if your dignity is more important to you, you probably won't get delivered. People who are getting delivered are sometimes very undignified.

But my advice to you is let dignity go and receive deliverance. Because after you've received deliverance, dignity will come back. I want to point out to you something very, very beautiful out of the Scripture.

Mary Magdalene and Deliverance from Seven Demons

There was one person whom God gave a unique honor, never given to any other person. That was to be the first human witness of the resurrection of Jesus. You know who she was? Mary Magdalene. And you know what it says about her in Mark 16?

I want you to notice this. Mark 16, verse 9. Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons. It all goes in the same passage.

So she was not inferior because she'd been delivered from seven demons. In fact, she's the first human witness of the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus had such compassion on her broken heart that He wouldn't even go to the Father until He'd revealed Himself to her.

To me that's one of the most marvelous illustrations of the compassion of Jesus. There was one woman, so brokenhearted, so much in love with Him, that He couldn't even leave earth till He'd revealed Himself to her.

Who was it? Mary Magdalene. What was her testimony? He delivered me out of seven demons. Brothers and sisters, don't be ashamed if you should need deliverance. You could be ashamed if you let pride keep you from receiving deliverance.

Confession and Repentance of Sin

Number one was personally affirm your faith in Christ. Number two, humble yourself. Number three, confess any known sin. Don't search for sin, but if the Holy Spirit shows you an unconfessed sin, confess it.

I think you'll find this is true. God has never committed Himself to forgive sins that we are not willing to confess. So if you want forgiveness, you have to be prepared to confess. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

But only if we confess our sins. Now you're not confessing in order to tell something God He doesn't know. Because God knows all about your sins long before you confess them. What you're doing is bringing something dark out into the light.

Because as I understand it, the blood of Jesus does not cleanse in the dark. You have to bring it to the light with all its embarrassment. But when you bring it to the light, the blood is applied and you are cleansed.

Whiter than snow. It's worth it. And listen, we're not talking about confessing our sins to me or to the pastor. Just confessing your sins to the Lord. And after all, you're not going to be telling Him anything He doesn't already know.

Because He knows all about it. But He still loves you. But it's His condition that you bring it out into the open. Repent of all sins. It's not enough to confess, you have to repent. The Bible says in Proverbs, he who covers his sins will not prosper.

If you keep it covered, you will not prosper. But he who confesses and forsakes his sins will have mercy. So you have to confess and then you have to forsake. You may have to throw it away. Whatever it is, you may have to throw it away.

It may be expensive, but you may have to throw it away. Forgive all other people. Now this is absolutely essential. If you don't forgive, God will not forgive you. That's the only comment Jesus made at the end of teaching the Lord's Prayer.

Forgiveness and Releasing Debts

If you forgive sins, God will forgive you. If you do not forgive, God will not forgive you. You have to make up your mind. And let me say, forgiveness is not an emotion. It's a decision. You carry in your hand IOUs from somebody to you.

Maybe for, who knows, $10 ,000. But God in His hand has IOUs from you to Him for $100 ,000. God says, let's make a deal. You tear up your IOUs and I'll tear up mine. But if you don't tear yours up, I'll hold on to mine.

I was teaching this years ago in Florida. At the end of the session, a very smartly dressed young woman of about 30 walked right up the aisle to me, stood right in front of me, said, Mr. Prince, I just want to tell you, I've got rid of about $30 ,000 worth of IOUs, turned around and walked out.

She got the message. I didn't have to consult her or counsel her. She had got the message. So you may have to tear up some IOUs. I've discovered that the two commonest causes why people are not delivered is number one, unforgiveness and number two, failure to repent.

Breaking with the Occult and False Religion

So you have to do it. Then you have to break with the occult and all false religion. That's essential. And you may have to get rid of occult objects that are in your house. Because God told Moses, if you bring them into your house, any accursed object, you'll become accursed like the thing.

Some of you have got things in your house that bring a curse on you. Objects related to the occult. Objects of superstition. Get rid of them. Have a house cleaning. Let me tell you my own experience. My grandfather was the officer in the British Army who suppressed what was called the Boxer Rebellion in China.

You may not know about it but there was an uprising of the Chinese nationalists around about 1900 and something. And the British sent out an expeditionary force under the command of my grandfather that suppressed it.

I'm not saying it should have been suppressed but that's what they did. Well my grandfather returned with some rather costly Chinese antiques. And in due course they were passed through my mother to me.

And amongst them were four beautiful embroidered Chinese dragons. I mean they were beautiful. And furthermore they had five claws. And a dragon with five claws is an imperial dragon. So I had them framed and put up on the wall in my living room.

But when I began to deal with deliverance the Lord had an interview with me. He said, now tell me in the Bible who is represented by a dragon? Well I didn't have to be a theologian to answer that. I said the devil.

He said, do you think it's appropriate that you as a preacher would have on the walls of your living room something that demonstrates or advertises or portrays the devil? I got the message so I got rid of them.

And I want to tell you this. I didn't change what I was doing. My ministry was exactly the same. I was a travelling Bible teacher. But in the next year my income doubled. That is speaking a language you can understand.

Do you understand that? It wouldn't have doubled if I hadn't taken away the hindrance, the barrier to God's blessing. So get rid of anything occult. Let me say one of the most dangerous and subtle forms of the occult is Freemasonry.

If you have any relative or you yourself have in any way been involved in Freemasonry break it off totally. Absolutely terminate it. Get it out of the house. Don't maintain any connection with it. Some of the most terrible cases of demonization I've seen have been associated with Freemasonry.

Forgiveness, Curses, and the Cross of Christ

Forgive all other people. Break with the occult and all false religions. God warned Moses, He said, if you bring any of those satanic objects into your home you become a curse like them. Prepare to be released from every curse over your life.

We're going to deal with that without going into it. Jesus was made a curse on the cross. That was the last thing that happened to Him. That we might be redeemed from every curse and enter into the blessing of Abraham whom God blessed in all things.

There is another book that I have out there called Blessing or Curse, you can choose. I think it's the most, if I may say this, the most unique revelation God has given me. Other people speak about casting out demons.

I don't know of any other book that deals systematically or thoroughly with the issue of curses. Many, many people in America and Britain and Europe today don't believe in curses, they think they're superstitious.

Believe me, if you go to Africa or Asia, they know curses are real. They're just as real here, but they're dressed up in nice pretty clothes. So you can be released from a curse, why? Because on the cross Jesus was made a curse.

Taking a Stand with God

That's the only basis of release. Take your stand with God. Come out on God's side. Say, God, I'm your child, I'm your servant. I want to serve you, I want to live for you. I hate anything that comes between you and me.

I don't want it. I'm for you. And number nine, expel. Now that's very, very important. That's why I titled my book, They Shall Expel Demons. Because expel is not a religious word. I was looking for some word that wasn't religious.

It's in a certain translation of the New Testament. So what is expel? You've got something inside you that you don't want. What do you do? You expel it. You breathe it out. You blow it out. You sob it out.

You cough it out. You scream it out, but you get it out. You don't keep it inside you. Now I saw this marvelous illustration somewhere near Washington, D .C. many years ago. A mother brought to me her four-year-old son.

She said, will you pray for him? I said, what's his problem? She said, allergies. I said, what kind of allergies? She said, food allergies. I said, what's he allergic to? She said, tell me what he isn't allergic to.

I said, I'm going to deal with this as an evil spirit. Are you prepared? She said, yes. So then I sat the little boy down and I talked to him in very simple language. I said, there's a bad spirit of breath inside you that keeps you from eating the things you really like.

I'm going to command that spirit to come out in the name of Jesus. I want you to blow it out. Well, he was like a little soldier. Everything was just military. I went through it all. I said, now come out, you spirit.

I said, blow it out. And he blew out four times. No emotion, nothing. Well, I didn't know what had happened. So I said, well, that's the best I can do. So off he went with his mother. About three days later, the mother was back.

She said, pray for me. I said, what are your problems? She said, allergies. I said, first of all, tell me what happened to your son. Well, she said, he marched back home with me, marched up to the refrigerator, took out everything he enjoyed, ate it all, and nothing did him any harm.

You see, this is so simple that religious people can't always do it. But, expel it. I had a letter once from a woman years ago. She said, Brother Prince, never hesitate to tell people to breathe it out.

She said, my husband went to one of your meetings, went up to the front, prayed like you told, blew out four times, and that's all that happened. But she said, he's been a different man ever since. This is very real, see.

Invitation to Seek Deliverance

It's not up there. It's right down here on the surface of earth. So on my pages 216 and 217, I have the prayer for deliverance. So, I want you to consider for a few moments what I've been saying. Open your heart and mind to the Lord and say to Him, Lord, is there anything in me that I need to get rid of?

Because I want it out.