Destroying Fear

© 2019 by John Ramirez Published by Chosen Books 11400 Hampshire Avenue South Bloomington, Minnesota 55438 www.chosenbooks.com Chosen Books is a division of Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan www.bakerpublishinggroup.com Ebook edition created 2019 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC. ISBN 978-1-4934-2047-6 Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations labeled AKJV are from the American King James Version produced by Michael Peter (Stone) Engelbrite.

Scripture quotations labeled AMPC are from the Amplified® Bible (AMPC), copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org Scripture quotations labeled ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2016 Scripture quotations labeled KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible. Scripture quotations labeled NASB are from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB), copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org Scripture quotations labeled NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™ Scripture quotations labeled NLT from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The personal testimonies included in this book are real; however, some names have been changed. Cover design by LOOK Design Studio Author represented by Leticia Gomez, Savvy Literary Services, and Raoul Davis, director of Ascendant Publishing

I dedicate this book to the Holy Spirit, my best friend, and thank the Lord Jesus Christ for giving me the opportunity to write another book for the Kingdom and for my brothers and sisters in Christ around the world.

CONTENTS Cover     1 Half Title Page     2 Title Page     3 Copyright Page     4 Dedication     5 Foreword by Juan Martinez      9 Preface      11 Acknowledgments      15 Introduction      17 1. I Am Saved but Still in Bondage?      27 2. Identifying the Source of Fear      38 3. Facing the Spiritual Pharaoh      46 4. Self-Image and the Devil’s Game      54

5. Is Your Mind Good Ground for Light or Fertile Soil for Darkness?       69 6. The Bully in the School Yard      80 7. Fear Is Early-Onset Cancer to the Spiritual Mind      99 8. The Devil’s Booby Traps      112 9. The Power of the Holy Spirit over All Fears      120 10. The Thief in Your Parking Garage      132 11. Doing Damage to the Kingdom of Darkness      140 12. Giving Fear an Eviction Notice      150 13. No Chain Greater Than the Name of Jesus      158 14. Life with No Parole with Jesus Is Ultimate Freedom      167 15. A World Gripped in Fear      179 16. Freedom Is Not Free! The Power of Unchaining Others      189 17. A Warning to Those in Leadership      199

18. No Longer Afraid      211 About the Author     219 Back Ad     221 Back Cover     222

FOREWORD Books like this one are rare gems and very important for the Body of Christ to have. The very first thing that happened during the fall of man when they ate the fruit and consumed the lie was that fear came in. Faith and fear cannot exist together, and we know that “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (1 Timothy 1:7). John Ramirez is one of the world’s greatest evangelists. His wisdom on equipping you to fight the enemy is strategic and will keep you “armed and dangerous.” I remember meeting John for the first time and hearing his story on TBN Salsa. Later he spoke at a dinner I attended. He spoke about believers still in captivity, and he had such a passion for the Church to fight back and such a great excitement and desire to see people set free. At that moment, I knew I would have a lifelong friend. Whenever John visits Get Wrapped Church, or any of the places I’ve seen him minister, it amazes me

how he stays till the very end, shaking hands and making sure he has prayed for each person. It doesn’t matter how long it takes; he is going to stay there ministering deliverance and praying. He always makes that intentional effort to walk people out of their Egypt. Evangelist John’s books will shape and equip you for every fight against the enemy. He is truly a deliverance pioneer showing us the way as he is led by God’s voice through the Holy Spirit. I pray that as you read this book you will allow it to renew your mind, and that you will get a passion and heart for deliverance like evangelist John Ramirez. You were created as a victor and not a victim. Your citizenship is in heaven, and we belong to a Body of Christ known as Heavicans with a King named Jesus. As His ambassadors, we are called to the ministry of reconciliation and to set the captives free. —Juan Martinez, lead pastor, Get Wrapped Church, Spring, Texas

PREFACE In the Marvel cinematic universe, the single biggest thread of tension since the first Avengers movie has not been good vs. evil. It has been the relationship between two key heroes—Iron Man (Tony Stark) and Captain America (Steve Rogers)—who are constantly at each other’s throats and have drastically different views on how to confront problems. This, ultimately, is why they have friction. In like manner, I do not believe the Church’s biggest problem today is the devil. I believe it is the Church’s perception of how to deal with the devil. Stark is the billionaire playboy who thinks everything can be resolved through enough ingenuity and money. One could say Stark believes in the power of his own strength—the natural. In contrast, while Rogers values gadgets and gizmos, he does not place his faith in them. He believes victory comes from preparation and tapping into a higher source—the spiritual realm.

The difference between these superheroes’ philosophies is that Rogers has faith and he walks it out in every moment. It is not something he puts on occasionally. When he loses his shield in one of the narratives, he does not blink because he knows the shield is within him; the physical shield was just a representation of the strength and protection that was already within him. Because Stark does not have that same sort of faith, he relies on man-made tech and his own strength. So what does this have to do with the Church? Everything! We face this same tension today. Society is faced with Tony Stark–type Christians focused on “name it and claim it” beliefs (material things). The most surprising thing about them is that, like Tony Stark, they are driven by fear masked by a façade of confidence. Ultimately, Stark’s fear leads to overwhelming loss because he puts too much confidence in worldly things. I believe most modernday churches and the believers who attend them suffer from the same thing. Fortunately, there is a group of Steve Rogers–type Christians who have faith and conviction. This type

of conviction understands that even if a battle is lost, the war is not over. This type of faith allows for conquering fear. It demonstrates that if you are not fearful of losing a battle—even when hardships hit you—then you are able to live freely. The theme of this book is the ultimate victory of living in freedom through Christ Jesus. Unfortunately, a lot of us in the Church think we understand what we are dealing with when we come up against the enemy, but his strategies related to fear are more than we could ever imagine. We know that Jesus won the war of good vs. evil at the cross, yet we are called to fight daily battles to take back ground the devil tries to steal from us. I have dealt with fear, and it has nearly paralyzed me, almost preventing me from achieving victory in my life. I feared that if I left the occult, I would have a death warrant over my life. I feared that if I missed a footstep, I would pay the ultimate price with my family. Fear is the number one weapon in the devil’s arsenal. None of us is immune to it. The answer lies in how we respond to it. This book is my effort to help guide the modern-day Church and those in the

world to deal with fear and learn how to walk in freedom.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I want to dedicate this book to my daughter, Amanda, whom I love with all my heart. I thank God for her every day. I also dedicate this book to my mother. I am grateful for her and all she has done for me. I am beyond grateful for Chosen Books and thankful for the opportunity and their trust in me to write this book. Also to Raoul Davis and Letitia Gomez, who have strived and believed in the calling that God has placed on my life. God has used them as divine connections to make this book happen. I am beyond blessed by Angie Kiesling. She has been working with me in a supernatural way since my first book. God has blessed me to team up with her to accomplish the mission. I would also like to thank Minister Denise Loffredo for her incredible work of time and passion as she has been a tremendous blessing to my ministry in typing this manuscript and my previous book manuscript. She is a blessing to the Kingdom.

I want to thank Cheryl from the U.K. for being a blessing in handling my Facebook prayer page. I give a big thank you to Pastor Barbara Yovino from Christian Hope Network and her incredible team. We are partners in the ministry, and they are a true blessing to me. I want to dedicate this book to all my brothers and sisters who supported this ministry in prayer and gave their financial support—all of whom I love dearly. This one is for you. For all the pastors and leaders who have allowed me and trusted me to minister in their churches, I thank you with all my heart. To Get Wrapped Church and my dear friend Pastor Juan Martinez, I consider you a true brother in Christ and my confidant. To my true friend and brother in Christ, Pastor Vinny, also from Get Wrapped Church, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for being my confidant and amazing brother in the Lord. I also want to send my love to Pastor Bill and Pastor Jan of First Love Ministry in Kansas City. I thank the Lord Jesus Christ for showing me what a Christian man looks like through the likes of the

late Pastor David Wilkerson, the late Billy Graham and Nicky Cruz. I am so honored to do my best to follow in their examples to touch the world for Jesus Christ.

INTRODUCTION Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion. 1 Peter 5:8 NIV

Can you feel it—the thing crouching around you waiting to pounce? It strikes you every time you want to do something new, every time you have a breakthrough, every time you are looking to get ahead. It is as chilling as a cold wind in a graveyard. It is fear. A lot of us think we understand what we are dealing with; fear is just a part of life, right? Wrong! While fear is an emotion we all experience, it is also a spirit sent from the pits of hell to torment us. But fear is not something that should grip or paralyze us. It is time to give this demon of fear an eviction notice. The Lord Jesus Christ promises abundant life and peace, but many of us struggle with feelings of fear

and rejection. It is time to end these struggles. We need to put the devil in his place once and for all. We are in a season where the Church of Jesus Christ on earth is going back to the book of Acts, to that particular type of church that was born on the Day of Pentecost. They were fearless, and they regularly performed supernatural signs, wonders and miracles. The revelation of deliverance ministry in the Church is much needed today. Without this, we will never be able to destroy the spirit of fear and the works of the evil one. That is the Church Jesus Christ is coming back for, and it all begins with the freedom found through deliverance ministry. All through the gospels, we see Jesus confronting the powers of darkness and setting people free from spiritual bondage. Being “about His Father’s business” meant healing the sick, delivering people from evil spirits and proclaiming the way of salvation. When the imprisoned John the Baptist heard all that Jesus was doing among the people, he sent two of his followers to ask Jesus an important question: And John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to Jesus, saying, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?”

When the men had come to Him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to You, saying, ‘Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?’” And that very hour He cured many of infirmities, afflictions, and evil spirits; and to many blind He gave sight. Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.” Luke 7:19–23

A World Gone Mad Jesus’ testimony is that He delivers His people. When John’s hope was shaken and fear stood over His thinking, He asked Jesus who He really was. Jesus’ answer was the testimony of deliverance. We must remember this is who our God is—our Savior and Deliverer. This is all the more important because we can easily find things to fear. We see volcanic eruptions, mudslides and flash floods. The news tells us of school shootings occurring weekly. We are surrounded by cancer, mental illness and suicide. One only has to look as far as the local newspaper or

social media to find something to fear. Believers and unbelievers alike are sucked into the oppressive vacuum fear creates, drowning out God’s truths and replacing them with the enemy’s lies. Fear cripples. Fear allows individuals to believe the lie of rejection. Fear heaps one bad decision upon another until all the circumstances an individual fears come true.

Faith vs. Fear Tony grew up without a father figure. He lived with the fear of rejection from his dad. He sought out a sense of belonging from gangs in his neighborhood to fill that void. The fear of rejection led him to the fear of retaliation from his gang’s leader if he did not follow the rules, which meant committing crimes. Eventually Tony was caught and ended up serving time in jail. After a successful release, Tony now lives with the fears of rejection, of not being able to provide for himself through an honest living and of always living a life of crime in and out of the prison system. Despising himself and his choices, Tony perpetuates

the cycle of crime: getting caught, going to prison, being released, committing a new crime, going back to prison—reinforcing the original fear of rejection that set this downhill slide in motion. Fear cripples. If not stopped in time, fear can end up killing someone. However, it does not have to be that way. I have seen firsthand the deliverance from fear in extraordinary ways through the deliverance ministry I have shared with churches and at speaking engagements worldwide. Several years ago I met a woman during one of my events. This woman was a practicing Muslim who had been diagnosed with stage IV cancer and was being told by her doctor to put her affairs in order because she only had a few months to live. “Go home, make peace and enjoy whatever life you have left” were his departing words to her. Fear was tormenting her life. Every day she woke up with the realization that she was one day closer to death. She walked up to the platform and said, “John, I have stage IV cancer and was told I only have a few months to live. I am a Muslim.” I responded to her with the following statement, “My God can save and heal you. However, you have

to renounce Islam and believe He is the One true God who has the power to save and heal.” She agreed and surrendered her life to Christ right then. I prayed for complete deliverance and healing for her. Some months later, I was back in the same church and saw a woman waiting for me at the door. She welcomed me with a big hug and said, “Do you remember me?” I apologized that, no, I did not, and she reminded me that she was the former Muslim woman with stage IV cancer who was supposed to be dead by now. Instead, she had gone to the doctor, who declared that all traces of cancer were gone from her body and she was healed—spiritually first and then physically as well. She ended our conversation by telling me, with a twinkle in her eyes, “I bring more people to the church now than the pastor does.” Her life is evidence not only of healing from cancer, but her deliverance from sin and what it means to truly live a life without fear. Her purpose in life is to tell others what God has done for her and how He can do the same for them. She lives out the command in the Bible that states, “to whom much is given, much is required.” Her gratefulness for Jesus

paying the debt for her sin and freeing her from fear and disease motivates her to tell others about His amazing power to save and heal them as well.

Dangerous to the Dark Side There is a reason why Jesus commands His children all throughout Scripture not to worry or fear. When we are crippled with fear, it crowds out His voice and His truths. When we are free from fear and worry, we are able to walk out our calling and purpose, the one our heavenly Father created us to fulfill. The enemy knows that when we are walking in our calling, we are dangerous to his mission. Therefore, he will do everything he can with the arsenal he has to prevent that from occurring. Fear is his strongest weapon, and he is not afraid to use it. Do you remember the story of Elijah, the prophet who called on God to bring fire from heaven? This was the spectacular miracle that ended in the killing of 450 prophets of Baal for all to see. The entire story and what happened afterward can be found in 1 Kings 18, but suffice it to say, God performed a

series of mighty miracles that day that people are still talking about thousands of years later. The very next chapter, 1 Kings 19, continues to explain how angry Jezebel was and her threat to murder Elijah within 24 hours in the same way he had the prophets of Baal killed. This planted the seed of fear in Elijah, causing him to flee to Horeb. The fear that he allowed to enter his spirit eventually manifested as depression, then oppression and finally even thoughts of suicide. So what did Elijah do? He sought God in that moment and cried out to Him. He told God he was the only believer left. However, God, in His grace and mercy, spoke to Elijah in a still small voice, revealing that He had seven thousand allies remaining in Israel—other faithful believers who also served the one true God. After first attending to Elijah’s spiritual needs, God ministered to his physical needs, commanding an angel to feed him, giving the sustenance he needed, along with giving him physical rest. It was only then he gained the strength needed to continue to walk out God’s purpose in his life.

What Is Deliverance Ministry? The above example in the Bible is one of countless examples where God ministers first to the soul of a person and then by healing physical or mental ailments. You may still be wondering, though, what exactly is a deliverance ministry and how do I experience that type of freedom for myself? Look at the life of Jesus Himself when He walked the earth during His three-year ministry. His ministry was all about deliverance and healing. He cast out demons, healed the sick, cured people of plagues and released them from torment the enemy inflicted. His was a ministry of supernatural encounters bringing about supernatural freedom. The modern-day deliverance ministry is modeled after Jesus’ example. Being free from spiritual bondage is complete supernatural freedom to walk in the purpose God created for each individual. It is seen through freedom from mental torment, freedom from a negative mind-set and freedom from being hindered by events in one’s past, present and even future. It is freedom from living in the neighborhood of demonic attacks. Knowing freedom through

deliverance ministry can best be expressed as experiencing the fingerprint of God on our lives.

Beyond Prayer and Fasting I am an advocate of the power of prayer and fasting. Prayer and fasting work, and I have seen many instances of healing and breakthrough that occurred as a result of regular prayer and fasting. However, deliverance ministry takes healing to a deeper level by dealing with the root of issues. Instead of just focusing on sickness, tormenting spirits or the emotions of anger or fear, for example, deliverance ministry helps uncover the root of the issue, taking care of the problem once and for all. Instead of just praying for deliverance from fear, using the techniques learned with deliverance ministry, the Holy Spirit will reveal to a person the why behind the fear. What caused the fear to gain a stronghold in your life? What is keeping the fear present in your body, manifested negatively through physical and/or mental symptoms? By addressing the true cause of the fear and replacing that lie with God’s truth, fear is ripped out by its roots and

becomes spiritually dead once and for all. It cannot return to keep tormenting you because it has been dealt with in total. The root is completely gone, the door has been shut and you can only move forward.

Deliverance Is for Everyone, Even the Forgotten So many hurting people in society today do not even realize they are sick, or they might realize they have fear issues and use other means to “fix themselves” such as mental health services, prescription medications, addictive behaviors or hobbies to mask their symptoms. I have spoken at conferences where people come plagued with fear. They are fearful to leave their homes and tormented to the degree that it is evident on their faces, in their body language and even hinders them from functioning normally in society anymore. Sometimes it is so bad they have lost employment because their fear takes over every aspect of their lives. After experiencing the freedom that can be found in a deliverance ministry and

encountering God personally, they walk out of the building a new person. I receive hundreds of emails from people around the world about how God has given them back their lives because they now walk in His freedom, out of the clutches of the enemy. The true Church has the answers. The true Church knows what needs to happen to help heal the lost and forgotten. The true Church also knows that every form of real healing starts at the cross. The true Church knows that without an authentic relationship with Jesus Christ—without bringing the unbeliever to the cross—their hope of being healed and finding freedom is temporary at best. It is my mission to bring those who are forgotten, the unbelievers, to the foot of the cross to experience their own personal encounter with Jesus Christ. That is when real healing can begin. God is the model for how earthly parents should interact with their children. If you are a father and you see dirt on your child’s face, you are going to deal with it. You know how to clean the dirt off the face of your child, and your child will have a clean face as a result. It is the same with God. Our lives our dirty, and whether we acknowledge the dirt or

not, God sees it and knows exactly what needs to be done. He will take the steps necessary to make us clean. Believers know that the only way to get clean is to bring our spiritual dirt to the cross and let Jesus do the work. But oftentimes this remains just head knowledge after our salvation and does not find its way deep down into our hearts. This book is designed to draw believers and unbelievers alike to the foot of the cross, to give our spiritual dirt to Jesus and then allow Him to work in us to make us clean. My prayer for Destroying Fear is that it will start an exodus for many around the world. My desire is for people to use the techniques shown in this book and experience their own personal encounter with God, to experience freedom and peace of mind for themselves as only God can give.

1 I Am Saved but Still in Bondage? For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we may boldly say: “The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” Hebrews 13:5–6

This book is about destroying fear, but if you do not have the true foundation of a genuine, intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit—if you are not deeply rooted with the Holy Spirit—you will never overcome fear on any level or any demonic attack that the devil throws at you. I say this because in my travels I hear many people talk about Jesus, and even on Christian television as I hear Jesus preached, one

important thing is often left out of the equation: the Holy Spirit. After Jesus left the earth, He promised to send us the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, and today we have lost track of that vital Person of the Trinity. We have lost our relationship with the Holy Spirit, and that is why we are under attack by the devil and living in fear. We know every other voice that comes our way, but the number one voice, which is the Holy Spirit, is foreign to us these days. That is a tragedy for every believer who calls himself a Jesus follower.

A Voice Like No Other In my demon-worshiping days I knew every voice of every demon in the spirit realm, even the devil himself. At that time that was so important in my demonic walk, but in 1999 I had a miraculous encounter in my life and heard the voice and words of the Holy Spirit for the very first time. It changed me forever. This voice was nothing like all the other voices I had ever heard. The voice compelled me, and it was so beautiful, like standing by a brook of water in the woods. It gripped me from head to toe

with love, and even though the devil was a spiritual pharaoh in my life, ruling me with fear, I walked away to my new life and never looked back. This chapter is heartfelt, the cry from my heart to reach out to the Church at large that considers itself to be under the banner of the finished work of the cross. But now so many have come to a place as ministers where they are more worried about protecting their self-image in the pulpit, so they just let people stay in bondage as prisoners of fear because it is more important to protect the image of their churches—and themselves—than to set the captives free. The casualties, the people who have been left on the spiritual battlefield, are those who sit in the pews and are bleeding spiritually. They are being tormented by demons of all kinds of fear—anxiety, worry, depression, oppression, sickness, etc.—and no one is going back onto the spiritual battlefield to pick up our brothers and sisters, because the church buildings, our self-image and political correctness have become more important than going the extra mile to destroy the works of the devil inside our churches.

Who has bewitched us that now we are preaching a different gospel? I say this with a broken heart and with tears in my eyes. We need to wake up as the Church and invite the Holy Spirit back into our hearts, churches and pulpits. The late Pastor David Wilkerson said it best, this is “a call to anguish.” That was one of the most powerful sermons he ever preached in his lifetime. Today you can go to YouTube and hear that powerful message.

Modern-Day Nehemiahs Where are the Nehemiahs of our time? He had a cry in his spirit when he heard the report that the walls of Jerusalem were burnt down and lay in ruins. This man was moved by the Holy Spirit and cried out to God. The Lord heard his cry and answered it. We need to be the Nehemiahs of our time because the spiritual walls of our churches are burnt down. There has to be a cry and an anguish in our hearts for the Body of Christ. Our spiritual walls in the Church today are burnt down by the spirit of this world and by a spirit of witchcraft. We have fallen away from our true

calling of winning souls and setting the captives free. We have forgotten that our mandate is to help God’s people, our brothers and sisters in Christ, to stay free and walk in that freedom and their purpose and destiny in Jesus Christ. Each of us has a destiny that Jesus Christ has ordained for us before the foundations of the earth. This leads us to the million-dollar question today: How can a Christian be in a state of demonic bondage when the Kingdom of God does not share territory with the kingdom of darkness? The statement I am about to make is not meant to be throwing stones at the Church, but the answer to that million-dollar question is this: We are in denial, and we have failed to embrace our true calling of what God, through Jesus Christ, has called us to do on the earth. The early Church was feared and respected everywhere they went, yet we have lost our way as the modern-day Church. We have abandoned our responsibility to care for, love and nourish the Body of Christ to bring them to freedom. It is time we put the devil and his kingdom—every witch, warlock and spiritual warlord who has aimed their demonic arsenals against the Church—in their

place. We must rise up to claim our true identity as Christ followers. He shed His very blood for our redemption. The reason we have broken spiritual walls in the Body of Christ is because we abandoned our relationship with the Holy Spirit.

A Holy Invasion The early Church in the Upper Room never lost sight of their mission once the Holy Spirit invaded them. They wholeheartedly depended on the Holy Spirit through prayer, fasting and waiting on God. Those were the main principles of that awesome church in the Upper Room. And today many churches rely only on formulas and worldly ideas—how to grow your church to be successful. The spirit of Ichabod (meaning “the glory has departed”) rules over many churches today and now we are spiritually sick. When you are spiritually sick, fear creeps in. The evidence of Holy Spirit is fire, and we see His power in Peter preaching one message on the Day of Pentecost when three thousand people were convicted. Those same people, who were yelling

“Crucify Jesus Christ!” fifty days earlier, now became believers. How is it that many of our brothers and sisters, who love Jesus Christ with all their hearts, are still in bondage? Many churches have a vague notion of who the Holy Spirit is. They knew Him at one time, but now they struggle to understand His role. He is overlooked many times in our services today, and we grieve Him tremendously by shutting Him out. Little do we know He is just as divine as the Father and the Son. He is just as important. Without the Holy Spirit in the church, well-intended Christians can go to church service on Sunday, give offerings and tithes and sing praise songs, but still be in bondage. Without a true relationship and intimacy with the Holy Spirit (the third Person of the Godhead, the Triune God), the devil will keep us in bondage to fear, doubt and unbelief. There will be strongholds instead of freedom, and we will just be surviving instead of thriving Christians in the church at large. To the Body of Christ, I want to share these Scriptures because I am not afraid to share with you about how beautiful and important the Holy Spirit is in our walk with Him.

As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Acts 13:2 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.” Revelation 2:7 “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father . . . that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love . . . Ephesians 3:14, 16–17 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. Romans 8:9 For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Philippians 2:13

Meditate on these Scriptures and let them be the spiritual oxygen that you breathe so you can have the victorious life our Lord Jesus Christ has predestined for us who are saved.

Eviction Notice Now that we established first things first, knowing the importance of the Holy Spirit, it is time to turn the tables on the devil and give him an eviction notice out of our churches and out of our lives. As I stated before, a witchcraft spirit of fear and manipulation is controlling many churches today. Satan has unleashed witchcraft spirits against the end times Church. He is looking to bring down as many churches as he possibly can, knowing that his time is short. His greatest weapons to enslave the Church are fear and manipulation . Church, we have been asleep on the job for too long. We must wake up and take a stand as the Body of Christ today to destroy the forces of darkness and banish every malignant spirit from our churches, lives, families, loved ones, businesses, workplaces and finances.

We must understand that the devil goes to church, and he does not want us to grow in holiness, starting from the pastor on down. He came to steal, kill and destroy our churches and our very lives, as well as the ministers our Lord Jesus Christ has appointed for such a time as this. Pray these powerful prayers with me, with the fire of the Holy Spirit. As you do, the fire of the Holy Spirit will cleanse out all satanic invasion and demonic visitors from the pulpit, the pews and the Church as a whole. These prayers may sound alike, but they are not alike. When witches come together with different powers of different ranks and witch covenants, they attack from different spiritual-realm levels. It is the enemy’s trick to confuse the believer so we will pray one way and then he will come in another way. All these individual prayers are important to hit the enemy back from every level. Get ready to fire your arsenals of fire.

Prayer Points

God, You are a consuming fire. Let the enemies of Your Church be consumed. I declare by the power of the Holy Spirit, let every witch infiltrating my church fall to the ground by Holy Spirit fire, in the name of Jesus. I destroy every astral-projecting witch that has come into my congregation. I paralyze and destroy their evil plans now, in the name of Jesus. Any witch that has infiltrated our services and released witchcraft, I ask You, Holy Spirit, to expose them now in the name of Jesus. Lord, let the fire of the Holy Spirit come upon the heads of every astral-projecting witch or any witch that has infiltrated our congregation or any demonic influence that has gripped the leadership of my church. I destroy it now in the name of Jesus. I release the fire of God against every witch, warlock, warlord, wizard, sorcerer and root

worker that has infiltrated my church in the name of Jesus. Every agent of Satan astral projecting into the church at night, I cut the silver cord by the fire of the Holy Spirit. I loose the terror of God upon every agent of the devil that is visiting members of my church in the name of Jesus. I pray the fire of the Holy Spirit to fall upon every witch that is sitting in my church, until they confess their wickedness in the name of Jesus. Let the path of the wicked that the devil assigned against my church be slippery; let them spiral down into destruction until they repent in Jesus’ name. I destroy the ministers of witchcraft in my church in the name of Jesus. I bind all witchcraft, demonic words and spells that have come against my church and my pastors and leaders in the name of Jesus. I demolish every witchcraft plot, device and scheme that is aimed to stop the growth of

my church in the name of Jesus. Any satanic plantings or burials in my church grounds, die now in the name of Jesus. I declare a wall of fire around myself, the congregation and my pastors in the name of Jesus. Today I loose the mind, hands and feet of every leader and member of my church in the name of Jesus. I reverse every curse, witchcraft and sorcery against any members and leaders of my church in the name of Jesus. May the drinkers of blood and eaters of flesh that have mingled themselves with my church members be separated from them now in the name of Jesus. I wash away with the blood of Jesus every witchcraft mark on me or any brothers and sisters and pastors or leaders in my church in the name of Jesus. I bind all witchcraft meetings that are taking place against my church in the name of

Jesus. I recover any blessings stolen from my church through witchcraft in the name of Jesus. I loose my church leaders and all members from any satanic attack in the name of Jesus. I take back all territorial ground I have given up by compromising; I am taking it back in the name of Jesus. I place the pastors and ministers in the hands of the Holy Spirit for divine protection against Satan and his kingdom, in Jesus’ name. Today I frustrate every plot, plan and scheme, every demonic agenda of witchcraft that has been aimed to destroy my church, in the name of Jesus. Every article, sermon, teaching and preaching stolen from my church by witches to manipulate and cast fear, I expose them now in the name of Jesus.

I declare the goodness and mercy of God to be poured out by the Holy Spirit upon my leaders and upon my brothers and sisters, in Jesus’ name.

Put On the Holy Spirit Many pastors today, and even deliverance ministers, talk about the devil, his kingdom, his attacks, his weaponry, his schemes and his entrapments against the Church. They even talk about praying spiritualwarfare prayers. They talk about how you can break out of the bondages of fear, break strongholds off the mind or break generational curses and shut demonic spiritual doors. There is a place for that in the Body of Christ, but I would like to take you deeper and help you understand that none of this will work against the devil and his agents if you do not have a true intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit. You need to know Him personally and know who He is in your life. God’s plan in redemption was that we should live a life full of the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 5:18 says,

“And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit.” As beautiful as Ephesians 6 is when talking about putting on the whole armor of God, we must remember that as Paul described every piece of armor, he was shackled to a Roman solider. To sum up the whole thing: put on the Holy Spirit—on you, in you and through you. The Holy Spirit is the only one who can give you the victory over any satanic attacks that the devil throws at you from any level of the satanic world. In the next few chapters, we will not only identify the source of fear—and why it is such a powerful weapon against us—but we will also go deeper into who the Holy Spirit is and His relationship to you as a believer in Christ. And that will be the ultimate weapon to crush the demon of fear.

2 Identifying the Source of Fear Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6–7

In my devil worshiping days, way before I even dreamed of being a believer in Christ Jesus (BC), I had a demonic covenant with the spirits of fear and torment. I was also under and being controlled by a spirit of fear—fear that if I ever left the occult, there would be a death warrant over my life; fear that if I missed a step and I went the wrong way, there was a punishment I had to pay; fear that if I broke the laws

of the occult and the commandments of the devil, my family would pay the ultimate price. The number one weapon in the devil’s arsenal is fear. Fear starts over a person’s life and then gets driven to the extreme and becomes a spirit of torment. I was groomed in my old lifestyle as one of the generals in Satan’s kingdom. I was trained to release the spirit of fear to control people’s lives, whether believers or nonbelievers. We all knew in the devil’s camp that this was the number one demonic arrow we could use to pierce the heart, soul and mind of anyone we wanted to destroy.

Where Does Fear Come From? What is the source of fear? I will give it to you straight—fear has a name: His name is Satan. While living in darkness for 25 years, I experienced fear firsthand, not only in my life, but in the lives of the people I plagued with that spirit. I truly believe that on the day we are born, not only do we begin to die, but in the delivery room of whatever hospital we are born in there is an angel to watch over us and a demonic spirit sent to sidetrack our course of life.

There are four phases, or times, when the devil tries to seize the moment in your life. I want to share this because we need to understand where we can stop the cancer of fear. This section is a mirror, so you can look into it and not be afraid to confront these patterns and cycles that are eating away your time, and even your whole life. Reading this will shed light on something that is not right, but know that the Lord Jesus Christ will set you free. Read this with anticipation. I have done hundreds of altar calls, and people tell me from their hearts about the deep freedom they receive through understanding what I am about to tell you. The first phase, your childhood: This phase is all about your upbringing, your family values, your neighborhoods, those you interact with and the influence of your family tree. If anyone in your family has been tormented by and struggled with fear, it could easily be passed down to you. The devil wants to own those rights so he can first release trauma spirits like shockwaves into the spirit realm that will eventually find their target. This is the beginning of his mission, leading to . . .

The second phase, your teen years: From the ages of thirteen to nineteen, the devil steps up his game. Think back to your own life. I would be willing to bet you encountered people, places and things as an adolescent and teenager that increased temptation in your life, stole your confidence or wounded you emotionally—for some even to the point of contemplating suicide. The teen years are extremely vulnerable, and the devil knows it. During these years, he increases the attack to lead you deeper down the wrong path with a tormenting spirit of fear, of peer pressure— plaguing your mind and heart, which is your will and emotions. He unleashes upon you every demonic temptation: sex, drugs, alcohol and more. He may confuse you about your sexuality and try to steal your identity. All these things come with a label of fear. He will push that demonic weight through to the next phase. The third phase, your young adult years: Once you become a young adult, the devil tries to fragment you, control you, manipulate you and contaminate you demonically through bad decisions

and dreams of fear (nightmares) that will bombard your nights. Finally, he will try to enslave you and encage you in . . . The fourth phase, your adulthood: Now you are a prisoner in an invisible cage, living your whole life in the control of the enemy’s hands. It is like a puppet with strings, dancing to patterns and cycles of fear. Or you can compare it to a hamster on a wheel that is running frantically but going nowhere. You will want to break away, but you find yourself unable to because of the images going back from your tormented childhood all the way to the present time. It is a straitjacket of fear—fear that if I start a new life, I will not know how; fear that if I change my address, it will make no difference. You may even decide to start all over in a new town and a new workplace, thinking that this will shake off the cycles and patterns of fear that have plagued you from day one. But when you get to that new town and that new workplace, you realize those demons of fear came with you. I know this very well because in the witchcraft world we were taught (in demon church—yes, there

really is such a thing) how to examine someone’s life spiritually and find the cracks and voids of that person’s soul. We were trained to look into their spiritual DNA at the generational curses of their family bloodline to find a portal, a gateway, through which to unleash the spirits of torment and fear upon that individual’s life. But, praise be to God, my Bible says in John 10:10, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly ” (emphasis added). The Lord Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life to destroy every pattern and cycle, going all the way back to the delivery room of whatever hospital you were born in. I am a living testimony to His miraculous power in my life. You can read my story in the book Out of the Devil’s Cauldron (BridgeLogos, 2011). Today is a day of freedom. God declares to you: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV

Exposing the Spirit of Fear Once and for All All over the world people are gripped and controlled by the spirit of fear. Fear paralyzes your purpose and destiny and eats up every desire that God has placed in your heart. The Bible says that fear brings torment, but the Good News says that perfect love casts out fear. It is God’s will for all believers who put their trust in Him to live free from fear. God has not given us the spirit of fear. This demon of fear plagues us with torment and hinders and paralyzes our hope, faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ—as well as the promises He has for us. The prayers we are about to release in the spirit realm will destroy fear once and for all in our lives. I promise you that these prayers are like dipping arrows in the blood of Jesus; they are like daggers plunged into the heart of this tormenting devil called fear. Today we declare an expiration date on the very devil who is tormenting our lives. First things first. Declare and decree the Word of God over your life right now:

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

Warfare Prayers I lift up my voice and give the Lord Jesus praise for all that He has done. I stand against the spirit of fear and the attacks that have come into my life since my birth in the name of Jesus. I reject and destroy every report of fear that the devil is trying to send into my life in the name of Jesus. I bind and uproot the power of fear in my mind, my thoughts and my heart in the name of Jesus. I refuse to give in to fear in the name of Jesus.

I declare by the power of the blood of Jesus Christ that no weapon formed against me, nor the devil’s kingdom against me, will ever prosper, in Jesus’ name. Let the fire of the Holy Spirit fall on the heads of every tormenting spirit of fear in the name of Jesus. You satanic tormenting devil of fear, loose me and my family and church now in the name of Jesus. I destroy every demon that is operating or using the spirit of fear against me, against my family and against my church in Jesus’ name. I declare in the unmatchable name of Jesus Christ that fear shall not be my lot. I arrest every terror spirit right now in the name of Jesus. I declare today that no negative report shall dwell in my heart or in my mind. I uproot it in the name of Jesus. I loose myself, my family and my church from any vibes of a tormenting spirit that the

devil has assigned to me. I destroy them with the blood of Jesus. I bind the spirit of the fear of man in the name of Jesus. I bind the spirit of the fear of people in the name Jesus. I bind the spirit of fear that is holding me back from speaking God’s Word, in Jesus’ name. I declare today that the Lord is my shield in whom I put my trust. I decree that the Lord Jesus Christ is with me, so who can be against me? I cover myself, my family, my purpose, my destiny and my church in the blood of Jesus Christ. I cover my heart and mind in the blood of Jesus Christ. I cover my spirit and soul in the blood of Jesus Christ. I cover my home, my bedroom, the bed I sleep in and my dreams in the blood of Jesus Christ.

Today I make a declaration that this tormenting spirit of fear will not intimidate me. I release the judgments of God upon his head in Jesus’ name. Today I confront in the power of the Holy Spirit every demonic tormenting spirit of disease, sickness, oppression, depression, suicide, deception, false imagination and cutting myself. I smite them over their heads with the blood of Jesus Christ, and they will not rise up, again in Jesus’ name.

Thirty Days of Fear In my first month as a young believer, I was tormented every night by fear and every demon that crept into my room—for thirty straight nights. I was so terrified that I would sleep during the day and do my best to stay up at night to confront my tormenters. Of all people, I knew how real these demons were. And I remember it like it happened yesterday, how they would grab me by the throat out of my bed—I would be lifted off my bed—as they

tried to choke me lifeless. I could not even scream out the name of Jesus, as hard as I tried. On other nights they would grab me by my ankles and literally drag me out of my bed, or my room would go icecold. That was how real the presence of fear was in the room. My blood would go cold in my body, and these devils would jump on top of me to try to destroy me. I was so gripped and paralyzed with fear, I was not sure I would make it to the next day. In the past, I had thought I was so cool and such a bad dude by inflicting these demons on others. I felt powerful that I could command the demons to do my bidding, but now the tables had turned. Now I was not the predator but the prey. But today I am a free man by calling on the Holy Spirit and trusting Him with my very life. I am free. My heart’s desire is that you will be free, too—free from fear and every “sling and arrow” that the evil one tries to throw at you. You really can live the abundant life Jesus spoke of, a life of blessing, joy and power in the Holy Spirit!

3 Facing the Spiritual Pharaoh Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you. Deuteronomy 31:6

Just as the Pharaoh of ancient Egypt was an absolute ruler who enslaved the Israelites and kept them in bondage through fear, we, too, can be enslaved by a “pharaoh” in the form of a person, like what happened to me. Before I can share my heart with you about the number one spiritual pharaoh (Satan) I want to tell you that way before the devil came into my life I had another spiritual pharaoh—my dad. From the time I was a little boy, he wanted to control

and rule my brothers, my mom and me with fear. He did an amazing job at this. I remember the days he walked through the door unannounced, after being gone for who knows how long, and the atmosphere in our apartment changed with the drop of a hat. Gloom and doom came over the place. Just one glance at him and my brothers and I were gripped with fear, and most of the time we did not know what to do because he was a walking time bomb. As soon as he opened his mouth, we walked on eggshells. The only time we had temporary peace was either when he was asleep or not home. He was a taskmaster, controlling and micromanaging our lives by plaguing us with his demonic words. My father was also a warlock, a devil worshiper. I believe his own father was probably a pharaoh, too. Our emotions in the home were like a jigsaw puzzle, shattered in a thousand pieces. No psychiatrist or psychologist was able to put the pieces back together in my life. Once fear takes over, there is nothing else to look forward to. It is a tormenting devil that likes to control your mind, and once it gets ahold of that, it does not stop there. It then controls your will and

emotions. That nasty spirit plays for keeps and wants to be your taskmaster, operating and controlling your life through fear. He finds the weakest point of your life; mine was my dad. He starts to chip away with his demonic arsenals. This was my childhood in the home I grew up in. Later in my life, at the age of eight years old, I inherited a spiritual pharaoh through my father and his family bloodline whose name is the devil. My father and the devil had so much in common. So at eight years old, I lost my childhood when I was given over to witchcraft. Fear controlled my life. Throughout my growing-up years, I would have done anything to find an escape route, a window or door to run through to get away from fear and never come back. That was just a dream that never came true until the age of 35, when I had an encounter with Jesus Christ and my life was radically changed. The chains and shackles of fear fell off. In 2002, the tormenting voices of fear reappeared, and the spiritual pharaoh was knocking on my door. He tried to strike fear into my mind by taking my eyesight for three and a half months (you will read about this later in the book). But to his surprise I had

a new song in my heart, soul and spirit, and the name of this song was “Jesus Christ Is My Savior.” Even though I could not see in the natural, fear was not my pharaoh anymore. When the doctors gave me their negative reports, I learned that the odds were extremely high that I would never see again. But God had a different plan for my life.

Fear Has Nothing on Love In this chapter I want to teach you through the power of the Holy Spirit that you can kick your spiritual pharaoh to the curb once and for all and live the life that Jesus Christ died for you to live. John 8:36 (NIV ) says, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” If the devil has any legal rights over your life— over your mind and heart—no matter what circumstance he is using to plague you by throwing the tormenting arrows of fear, there is victory through Jesus Christ. Your birthright as a believer is to live a life of freedom and never be in bondage again.

I want to give you insight into the devil’s camp, where I used to live, just to show you a glimpse of how it operates. This is also why I have no problem exposing the deeds of darkness and the consequences it brings, which many of the churches today deny. In my early twenties, when we were supposed to report to some devil worshiper’s funeral, especially if you were in high rank, we not only had to pay our respects, but we also had to attend the “last ceremony” that the deceased person receives. This last ceremony is a ritual during which the devil worshipers in attendance are in high alert for the decisions of the demons and asking them if they want to be transferred to the dead person’s living relatives or close friends. Everybody was walking on eggshells in fear that they would get the bad news. Either the demons would transfer to their relatives or close friends (that would be good news), or the demons decided to linger around, looking for revenge to steal, kill and destroy anyone who was close to the deceased person—and pronounce a death sentence over those who were there that night.

That was total fear in your face, and the devil knew how to get his way. Weeks later, some who were at the funeral would die suddenly because the demons decided to get their way. It was brutal and disgusting, but that was the demonic life—a cruel game of Russian roulette with your soul. You are alive today and gone tomorrow. One night I heard the news about a young woman who was in love with someone in the demon world —yes, the spirits even pick your marriage for you— but in her case she was not able to marry the person she wanted, according to the demons. She kept dating this man that the demons did not approve of, and she was living in fear. I guess, for her, love was greater than obeying the rules. This is something about love that I understand now as a believer that I did not know then. John 15:13 says, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” This young lady paid the ultimate price for love. She ended up at a funeral home, lying in a coffin, for love. To make a long story short, the demons tried to torment her with fear in the meetings that we went to. They came down and threatened to punish her,

terrify her and disown her for a season, but she held on to love. Weeks before she passed away, her lover died unexpectedly when he was attacked brutally by a homeless person who was demonically possessed. Weeks later the young woman got sick out of nowhere. She went to the best specialists in New York City and had every examination and test imaginable, and they all came back clean. The doctors said there was nothing wrong with her, but sometime later she passed away. Her autopsy revealed that she had AIDS, and the devil hid it from the medical doctors so she would not get any treatment and die. I look back now and see that fear has nothing on love. In that battle, fear vs. love, love conquered all things and walked out of the ring victorious. This tells me that fear is temporary while love is everlasting through Jesus Christ. There is hope for anyone today if you give your life to Jesus and are set free. Fear does not have to own your life or control it; you have a choice. It is time to destroy the weapons of our enemy and be set free. No longer will I bow

my knee to fear; instead I will bow my knee to the cross of Jesus Christ and be set free. The devil is like a dog tied up to a pole that does all this barking with no bite. The only “bite” he has is this spirit called fear that he is trying to inflict on every believer in the church. Fear only means F -alse E -vidence A -ppearing R -eal. We have bought into the lie and drunk the Kool-Aid. It is time to be set free through these powerful prayers below. Before you can engage in spiritual warfare, you have to put the devil on notice to set the spiritual warfare ground against him. First things first, we have to remind Satan that we are seated with Jesus Christ in the highest of the highest heavens, our place of authority, and we wage war from there. This means that Satan and every demon in his kingdom is under our feet—a pure reminder of the finished work of the cross. We engage the spirit of fear from there.

Renouncing the Spirit of Fear The first words out of our mouth should be: “Satan, listen to me.” That means you are putting him on notice.

Then say: “I renounce every legal right known and unknown and every demonic door I opened consciously and unconsciously. Today no longer does any demon of fear have control over my life, in the name of Jesus. I am going back in my family bloodline all the way to Adam and Eve for any doors that I have opened to it. I renounce it in the name of Jesus Christ, who is master over my life. I destroy every demonic legal right of fear; I command the spirits of fear and torment to shrivel up and die now in the unmatchable name of Jesus Christ.” Now the battle begins. Understand that in order to destroy every demon of fear, you must declare and decree Ephesians 6:10: “Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.” Declare and decree this over your life right now. Next, declare and decree 2 Corinthians 10:3–4: “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down of strongholds.” Now say Psalm 23:5, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.”

Prayer Points Repeat these prayers with me in faith: Father, I pick up my weapons of warfare, and I stand covered by the blood of Jesus Christ in this battle. I release angels from Michael’s quarters to battle with me against forces of darkness and every demon of fear in the name of Jesus. I dip my sword in the blood of Jesus to destroy every demon of fear in Jesus’ name. Holy Spirit, make me invisible in the spirit realm as I stand against all spirits of fear in the name of Jesus. I paralyze and break all the powers of fear over my life in Jesus’ name. All demons of fear, be arrested by the fire of the Holy Spirit. I rebuke and bind every astral-projecting witch that is trying to impart the spirit of fear into my life, in Jesus’ name.

I rebuke and bind every demon of worry that is trying to come against me in the name of Jesus. I destroy and break off every demon of anxiety over my life in the name of Jesus. I cut off every assignment of panic attacks. I destroy them in the name of Jesus. By the power of the Holy Spirit, Father, cover me from head to toe in the blood of Jesus. I call fire down upon the head of every demon of fear, anxiety, worry, depression and oppression, in the name of Jesus. I declare and decree over my life Zechariah 2:15: “For I say the Lord, he will be a wall of fire all around her and I will be the glory in her midst.” Now that you have declared and decreed these powerful prayer points, you have the devil on the run. That means it is time to deal with the inner you —to be healed, delivered and set free.

4 Self-Image and the Devil’s Game I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed and in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. Psalm 139:14–16

I find it amazing how our vision of ourselves can be so blurred. We often see ourselves with inferiority, fear and unbelief while God sees us through Jesus Christ as perfect, flawless and born again into a life of purpose and destiny. But we have bitten the apple of the devil’s game.

When I look at the Body of Christ today, I see both ends of the spectrum. Some people are so beaten down by the devil’s lies that they see themselves as worthless and not even able to receive God’s love. On the other side of the spectrum are those who create an image of themselves, and they puff themselves up in such a way that it has become an idol. They too have bought the devil’s lie. A song by a famous music artist talks about “the man in the mirror,” and today we are running away from the man in the mirror. The mirror in Christianity is the Bible, the Word of God. Yet, astoundingly, instead of believing what the Word says about us, we have come into agreement with the enemy of our souls. We create a different “us” to cover our hurts and pains. Now we create an idol in our minds to satisfy the flesh and our emotions in a superficial way. This is the devil’s entrapment, and if I buy into the lie, I have all these strongholds in my mind and somehow believe that I am pleasing God, but I am only pleasing others and myself instead. It is a game of smoke and mirrors because I am afraid I will not be able to please God in my own strength. But if we do

not see ourselves as God sees us, we will lose the fight and live in the wilderness of fear and manipulation at the control of the evil one.

Words of Death, Words of Life Before we dive into this chapter in a deeper way, I want to share a story of redemption that did not start in the right direction. It is the life of Moses. In Acts 7:23–26 ( KJV ), Stephen shares Moses’ testimony. Let us look at it now. And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel. And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian: For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not. And the next day he shewed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another?

Remember that Moses was a prince of Egypt, but he had a tug in his heart that somehow God was calling him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. As the story goes, Moses stepped out in his own natural strength and wound up committing murder. He saw

two Israelites fighting each other, and as he tried to bring peace between them, one of the men pushed Moses and said: “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?” When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons. Acts 7:27–29 NIV

Those twenty words of death that came out of the Israelite slave’s mouth (the Bible never mentions this man’s name) triggered something deep in Moses, and at that very moment the man was a mouthpiece for the devil. Moses was tormented with fear and took off. That moment changed his life. This was the man of God, Moses. Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” Another way of saying this is words kill or words give life . Which one do you want to believe? Thanks be to God that what the devil meant for evil, forty years later God turned around for Moses’ good. He went on to live an incredible life. When I believe the devil’s lie about who I am, rather than seeing myself as God sees me, this is the

dead fruit of that lie: Step 1: How I see myself in insecurity and fear Worried Anxious Rejected Unbelieving Timid Shy Nervous Disappointed Failing Hurt Mistrusting Traumatized Prideful These are many of the fragmented pieces that we struggle with. Many of us today live in these broken places without seeing any freedom at all. Step 2: How I see myself so I can escape the bondages of the devil

Remember that other side of the spectrum I talked about? This is it. In this scenario, we create idols to make ourselves feel better or to be accepted. We build up images that temporarily make us feel good. We try to be overachievers and out-perform others on every platform—at school, at work, even at church. We create an image in church that somehow we are super-Christians so others will not see the broken pieces in our lives. Now we are walking in self-love or self-hate and either become self-centered or walk in false humility. We have this ten-foot image of ourselves in front of us that feeds our flesh instead of our spirit, an image we have created as an idol to cover ourselves like Adam and Eve did with the fig leaves. We walk around with fig leaves to feel better about ourselves. Instead of operating in the principles of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, we operate in the principles of the world. All these things will only produce death and worthlessness and will pull us deeper into bondage. We become slaves of any idol that we create and pleasers of ourselves, which is the flesh, and people pleasers, which is the world. It is time to break free.

Renunciation Is the Key to Victory In the spiritual warfare fight, the devil’s goal is to have legal rights so he can operate effectively in our lives. A lot of times we put the carriage before the horse by engaging in the fight without taking the ground back first. Renunciation prayers are key to our victory. Satan aims to bind, restrict and arrest us in the spirit and frustrate the plans of God in our lives. And if we give him the legal grounds, he will do so at the drop of a hat. We must remove every legal ground and all legal rights and close those open doors in his face. We need to agree with God again and disagree with the devil in his kingdom. We must forbid the devil to step into our spiritual territory in any given time. That is why renunciation prayers need to be spoken and declared into the spirit realm. This is the key to dismantling and destroying every demonic arsenal of Satan’s kingdom. As we pray these prayers, we will cancel and remove from ourselves, our families, our ministries, our finances and our loved ones every legal right the devil has put on us. Let us declare these prayers with the power of the Holy Spirit and a righteous anger,

and come into agreement with heaven. Get ready for the fight.

Renunciation Prayer Points (Defense) I renounce all agreements I made with Satan, with demons and his kingdom; let those contacts be destroyed with the blood of Jesus Christ. I renounce and curse all satanic offers made to me by the devil or his demons and destroy them in the name of Jesus. I renounce all lust, perversion, immorality and unclean spirits that the devil used to bribe me. Let them be destroyed in Jesus’ name. I renounce all witchcraft, sorcery, divination or any occult involvement in my past and in my present today. I smite them with the blood of Jesus. I renounce all ungodly soul ties and unholy relationships of every kind. Let them be

destroyed in Jesus’ name. This year I renounce all hatred, anger, bitterness, resentment, un-forgiveness and all demonic habits that have bound me. Let them be destroyed with the blood of Jesus Christ. This year I renounce pride, envy and jealousy in the name of Jesus. In the new year, fear will have no part in me, so I renounce all tormenting devils in the name of Jesus. I renounce all ungodly covenants, oaths, and vows made by my own mouth, known and unknown, in Jesus’ name. By my own mouth I renounce the vows I made that begin with “I swear to God . . .” I break them in the name of Jesus Christ. By my own mouth, I renounce using the name of the Lord in vain, and I ask for forgiveness in Jesus’ name. I renounce every idle word, spoken and unspoken, in the name of Jesus, and I break the power of these words in His name.

I renounce and break every evil covenant that I made in my dreams, in Jesus’ name. I renounce and break off from myself false prophecies of every kind said over me, in Jesus’ name. Let every demonic record with my name on it be destroyed by the fire of the Holy Spirit, in Jesus’ name. I ask the Holy Spirit to reverse every evil operation that the devil has put in motion against me, in Jesus’ name. Let my yes be yes and my no be no, in Jesus’ name. Here is a personal word from the bottom of my heart. I truly believe that spiritual warfare prayers have kept me in my walk with the Lord and have destroyed every fiery dart that the enemy has aimed at my life. I promise you that the prayers in this book will kill and destroy everything that the devil throws at us. He might laugh at us temporarily, but we will have the last laugh, even if it is at the eleventh hour —even if it is 11:59.

The Holy Spirit gave me these prayers that you are about to pray. I was truly blessed by them, and I know they will bless your life, too. Praying these prayers will bring confusion and destruction into the devil’s camp and dismantle it with the fire of the Holy Spirit. These prayers will rain down coals of fire on the kingdom of darkness.

Prayer Points (Offense) Let the thunder of God locate and destroy every throne of witchcraft and demonic altars that have set up against me, in the name of Jesus. Let every stronghold of witchcraft in my life be burnt down in the name of Jesus. Let the fire of God destroy every spirit of insecurity in the name of Jesus. Let the fire of God destroy every fear and demonic spirit that is attached to me in the name of Jesus. Let the fire of God destroy every false idol in my life in the name of Jesus.

I break and destroy every demonic false image that the devil has created in my mind, in the name of Jesus. I destroy by the fire of the Holy Spirit any false images that I created in my mind that are not the real Jesus, in Jesus’ name. I bring down the idols in my heart and let them be destroyed by the power of the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus. I renounce every lie that I have bound myself to, and I destroy with the fire of the Holy Spirit every lie that I came into agreement with. I break it in the name of Jesus. Every demonic stronghold of any false images hiding in my heart, let it be uprooted by the power of the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ name. Lord Jesus, search every secret place of my heart for any hidden diagrams of any kind. Let them be destroyed in Jesus’ name. Step 3: How God sees me in His image

When we remove strongholds of demonic influence, we must always fill ourselves with God’s truth, so speak these words of truth: I declare over my life by the Word of God how the Father sees me in His image. holy righteous because of Jesus complete through Jesus Christ accepted among the beloved part of the priesthood of all believers without spot or wrinkle as the Church of Jesus Christ an overcomer more than a conqueror Here are three victory Scriptures to speak out loud every day so the devil can hear you loud and clear and you can shut him up once and for all: I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. Psalm 139:14

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Romans 8:37 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD , thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11

The apostle Paul tells us in Philippians 3:12–16: Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.

We have failed to see ourselves through God’s eyes, and we have come into agreement with the lies of the enemy and the idols we have built to comfort us instead of the Holy Spirit. The time is now to destroy the idols and surrender ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ so we can be completely healed and set free.

It took forty years before Moses had his burning bush experience, and it is time for us to have our own burning bush experience, because God is not going to overstep His boundaries and interrupt our free will. He allowed Moses to have his own wilderness experience, which made him ready for the calling, and He will do the same with us today. God allowed Moses to live his Plan B, and forty years later he had his burning bush experience. You can have yours today, too, by breaking down the idols and destroying the images the devil created in your minds to soothe the wounds of the past. Those self-image idols we created have kept us away from God’s best in our lives.

God’s Amazing Grace It is epic how God does things, and not only mindblowing but also transformational for everyone to see and understand how good He is. The proof is in the Word of God. Check out this story about Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus. Both men were profoundly anointed, yet both also faced fears so great it almost took them out.

In Luke 29:28–36 we read: Now it came to pass, about eight days after these sayings, that He took Peter, John, and James and went up on the mountain to pray. As He prayed, the appearance of His face was altered, and His robe became white and glistening. And behold, two men talked with Him, who were Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of His decease which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. But Peter and those with him were heavy with sleep; and when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men who stood with Him. Then it happened, as they were parting from Him, that Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were fearful as they entered the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!” When the voice had ceased, Jesus was found alone. But they kept quiet and told no one in those days any of the things they had seen.

How extraordinary that these two men came down from heaven to have a chat with Jesus about His departure. If you look deep into the lives of Moses and Elijah, two of the greatest men in the Old Testament, you see that Moses represents the Law and Elijah represents the prophets. These two Old Testament believers were greatly used by God in

their time. But centuries later they make an appearance in the New Testament. How awesome is that? Yet, just like you and me, during their time of ministry they struggled with fear. They were tormented to the point that they wanted to give up. Let us go back for a moment to revisit the great prophet Elijah. He served as prophet over Israel during the time when King Ahab and the evil Queen Jezebel sat on the throne. Elijah challenged Ahab to a showdown between the false prophets of Baal and himself, the true prophet of the one true God. So Ahab summoned all the people of Israel and the prophets to Mount Carmel. Then Elijah stood in front of them and said, “How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!” But the people were completely silent. Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only prophet of the L ORD who is left, but Baal has 450 prophets. Now bring two bulls. The prophets of Baal may choose whichever one they wish and cut it into pieces and lay it on the wood of their altar, but without setting fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood on the altar, but not set fire to it. Then call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the L ORD . The god who answers by setting fire to the wood is the true God!” And all the people agreed. Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “You go first, for there are many of you. Choose one of the bulls, and prepare

it and call on the name of your god. But do not set fire to the wood.” So they prepared one of the bulls and placed it on the altar. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning until noontime, shouting, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no reply of any kind. Then they danced, hobbling around the altar they had made. About noontime Elijah began mocking them. “You’ll have to shout louder,” he scoffed, “for surely he is a god! Perhaps he is daydreaming, or is relieving himself. Or maybe he is away on a trip, or is asleep and needs to be wakened!” So they shouted louder, and following their normal custom, they cut themselves with knives and swords until the blood gushed out. They raved all afternoon until the time of the evening sacrifice, but still there was no sound, no reply, no response. Then Elijah called to the people, “Come over here!” They all crowded around him as he repaired the altar of the L ORD that had been torn down. He took twelve stones, one to represent each of the tribes of Israel, and he used the stones to rebuild the altar in the name of the L ORD . Then he dug a trench around the altar large enough to hold about three gallons. He piled wood on the altar, cut the bull into pieces, and laid the pieces on the wood. Then he said, “Fill four large jars with water, and pour the water over the offering and the wood.” After they had done this, he said, “Do the same thing again!” And when they were finished, he said, “Now do it a third time!” So they did as he said, and the water ran around the altar and even filled the trench. At the usual time for offering the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet walked up to the altar and prayed, “O L ORD , God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant. Prove that I have

done all this at your command. O L ORD , answer me! Answer me so these people will know that you, O L ORD , are God and that you have brought them back to yourself.” Immediately the fire of the L ORD flashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull, the wood, the stones, and the dust. It even licked up all the water in the trench! And when all the people saw it, they fell face down on the ground and cried out, “The L ORD —he is God! Yes, the L ORD is God!” Then Elijah commanded, “Seize all the prophets of Baal. Don’t let a single one escape!” So the people seized them all, and Elijah took them down to the Kishon Valley and killed them there. 1 Kings 18:20–40 NLT

As we previously discussed, Elijah was a chosen man of God. He destroyed 450 false prophets all in one day. These false prophets were Jezebel’s servants and sat at her table. Once Jezebel heard that all her prophets were destroyed with the sword, she sent a word to Elijah that she was going to take his life. This man, even after such a victory, was so gripped by fear that he went on the run. Not only had fear taken over his life, but a deep depression kicked in, all the way down to the point of suicide. Elijah asked God to destroy him. At that moment he seemed unredeemable, but a little time later God sent an angel to refresh and feed him. Elijah was able to

finish his race—so much so, and in such a powerful way, that he made an appearance in the New Testament. And today we are still reading his story of hope and redemption. The Lord Jesus Christ can set you free from anything. As He did for Moses and Elijah, He will do for you, too. God is no respecter of persons (see Acts 10:34 KJV ). He does not favor anybody; the cross is available to all. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can bring down the walls, towers and idols of self-image that we have created as a safety net, knowing they are a lie because the devil is the only one laughing. As believers, we will have the last laugh, through the Holy Spirit, and be set free once and for all. Thank You, Jesus.

5 Is Your Mind Good Ground for Light or Fertile Soil for Darkness? For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:16

The enemy wants to steal your mind and focus. Believe it or not it only takes one thought and one opportunity. The first thing we must understand as believers in spiritual warfare is that our mind is a place of territory. Whoever controls this territory controls your will, thoughts and emotions to either move you forward or backward. The enemy likes to

imbed his thoughts in our mind. From there, he can attack our soul. For that reason, we must guard our minds with the Word of the Lord, as Ephesians 6:10– 20 tells us: Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

A single thought, positive or negative, affects our soul, mind and body. The devil’s fiery darts are

designed to attack your thoughts in different spiritual areas such as: Rejection Lowliness Sickness Unworthiness Inferiority Failure Self-Pity Guilt Shame Disgrace Suicide Isolation All these avenues point to one place. The biggest arrow the enemy has that causes all this damage spiritually is the atomic bomb of fear. Fear is the cancer of all cancers that leaks out into all these other avenues that I just mentioned. These fiery arrows are aimed at the Church of Jesus Christ. In

this chapter, we will bring them down by force through the Word of God and warfare prayers. It is time to make up our minds and fight back. Choose today life or death. I say choose life in Jesus Christ and do not surrender your mind or your thoughts to Satan. Before we dive into the prayers, I want to pinpoint events that unfortunately have taken place in our society. Whether the person caused the damage or was an innocent victim, no one wins when the devil seizes hold of a human mind. These tragedies demonstrate how the devil can steal someone’s mind, hold it hostage and then let these terrible things happen.

A Redemption Story Back in the ’70s the world knew one of my great friends and brothers in Christ as the Son of Sam. His real name is David Berkowitz. According to the news, he was rated at the time as one of the top ten serial killers in the world. One afternoon, some messianic brothers in the Lord took me with them to visit David, who has a miracle testimony. Today his new identity is in Christ Jesus, and his new name is

the Son of Hope. Only God was able to do this. We both grew up in the Bronx, and we both ran on the same streets and became devil worshipers, though at different times. That afternoon, as we sat across from each other, with a warm smile I said to him, “Brother Dave, share your testimony, but before you do, is it true what the media said about you back in 1977—that you got all of your instructions from your dog?” We both laughed, and he said, “No way, John, let me share my testimony with you. It all started from a place of rejection, unworthiness, inferiority, self-pity, guilt, shame and failure from family struggles.” He told me that when he came out of the military, he attended a party in the Bronx. I laughed and said, “That year when you were out doing the devil’s bidding, I wasn’t trying to get a girlfriend because you were going after couples.” He smiled and continued his story. At a house party, he met some devil worshipers. They became friends, and a couple nights later he met them in a park behind a store. That night he was initiated into Satanism and became a devil worshiper. Sometime later he started to read The Satanic Bible near where

he worked the night shift as a security guard. As he was reading the book one night, he told me “something got in him” and started to speak to his mind. All these demonic thoughts came in. We all know the story that sometime later he went on a killing spree. The devil imbedded these demonic thoughts and captured his mind, and brother Dave’s life went spiraling down to the pits of hell. He was a victim, and the people he preyed on were victims, too. The devil plays for keeps, but what he meant for evil God turned around for good. Brother Dave’s story did not end with the devil having the last laugh. God did. In other cases where the devil has captured people’s minds, I believe that before something major happens with that person, it all starts because the person was gripped with fear, usually from childhood or as a young adult, but sometimes even as an adult. In extreme cases, the person becomes his puppet and does his bidding. We need to remember Romans 12:2 ( NIV ), “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve

what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Carnage in a Movie Theater One incident that comes to mind—and I am sure you remember it—is the mass shooting that took place in Aurora, Colorado, on July 20, 2012, inside a movie theater. What a coincidence that it was during the midnight screening of the film The Dark Knight Rises . The person who committed this atrocious act was later identified as James Eagan Holmes. He set his mind to teargas the theater and went on a shooting spree with multiple firearms. It was a dark night of sorrow and pain. Twelve people were killed, and seventy others were injured. This was the devil at work. Unfortunately, this person was a victim as much as those who were at the theater. If you Google a picture of his mug shot, you can see the pure evil looking out from his eyes. I truly believe that if we do not confront the spirit of fear head on, people will be victims of the devil’s game because fear lives in the mind and heart of how you see other people in your life. Fear that they

do not love you, fear that you are not good enough to fit in, fear that they see you as a reject—these are the avenues the devil uses to torment people into throwing away their lives, whether in a single violent incident or through a slow, tortuous decay.

Country Music Murder and Mayhem Another incident that the devil sank his teeth into resulted in the largest number of causalities in one shooting in modern U.S. history. It happened in Las Vegas when a man had bit into the devil’s lie and created a fantasy mind-set, thinking that he could go to a high place in a hotel window and shoot down at the people he targeted at a country music concert. Later, the media reported that this person had a drinking and gambling problem. He was also a loner. But I would argue that much more was going on in this man’s life. This kind of situation in the devil’s camp only says one thing: This individual had a root of fear in his heart. When a person has alcohol issues and is a loner, it is a sign that he has a spirit of fear

and feels he does not fit in society, so now he has to prove something to make a name for himself. To feel “accepted” by society, even in infamy, he feels compelled to go out and prove something that is a lie from the pits of hell. When I was growing up, most of my friends spoke these very words: “I am going to do something so I can get my respect, even if I have to go hurt someone. Just so I can be accepted. I do not care if I have to go to jail, but people will know my name.” This was Satan himself using their mouths to spit out this poison.

A Nightclub Turned Nightmare In 2016, on a summer night in Orlando, Florida, 49 people lost their lives in a nightclub because one madman decided, because of his demonic issues, to hurt other innocent people. It does not stop there; the Columbine Massacre was another tragic moment in human history. In the demonic world, as I learned when I sat with the devil and got my teachings and instructions, they call these circumstances “patterns and cycles,” or what the world calls copycat crimes. This is how the

devil uses unfortunate people who have a root of fear in their lives that was never dealt with, creating an open door for the enemy. You cannot medicate a demon; it has to be cast out. Please realize that the spirit of fear does not have to show up as extremely as in the stories I shared above. It affects people on different levels. Instead of leading to murder, it may demonically influence some people to entertain negative thinking or to constantly speak words of death and defeat, choking them spiritually. It ultimately robs them of God’s best in their lives. As the Church of Jesus Christ, we need to confront this demon of fear, not sweeping it under the rug because we are afraid to confront the elephant in the room. In the many altar calls where I have preached, I have heard hundreds of brothers and sisters come up to the altar and share the struggles they have had in their lives with this spirit of fear. Whether it stems from childhood, young adulthood or adulthood, somehow, somewhere they opened the door to fear. We renounced it, broke the ties to it, uprooted it and sent this spirit away to where the Lord Jesus Christ wants it to go. There is victory in Jesus.

John 14:27 ( NIV ) says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” Be encouraged; fear does not have the last word or the last say-so in your life. Remember the words of John 16:33, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

Thirty Seconds to Choose I will show you how to deal with fear face-to-face. When the devil is trying to grip you with fear and bombard your mind with fearful thoughts, you have thirty seconds to cast down that thought and make up your mind on what you are going to believe. You do this by renouncing fear and cursing it to the root, then uprooting all fear out of you and filling that void with the Word of God or a praise song. It is time to move forward because the Word of the Lord says we are “casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge

of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5 KJV ). There is victory in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Spies in Canaan: A Tale of Two Mind-sets In the story of Joshua and Caleb, the Israelites were about to go in and take the land of Canaan as God had commanded them; and not only had He commanded, but God had promised them a land of milk and honey. And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel; from each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a leader among them.” So Moses sent them from the Wilderness of Paran according to the command of the L ORD , all of them men who were heads of the children of Israel. . . . Then Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said to them, “Go up this way into the South, and go up to the mountains, and see what the land is like: whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, few or many; whether the land they dwell in is good or bad; whether the cities they inhabit are like camps or strongholds; whether the land is rich or poor; and whether there are forests there or not. Be of good courage. And bring some of the fruit of

the land.” Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes. So they went up and spied out the land. . . . Now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel . . . ; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. Then they told him, and said: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan.” Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.” But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.” And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.” Numbers 13:1–33

These are God’s people who came out of Egypt, a place of death and slavery. But God brought them out through His mighty right hand through His servant Moses. What a powerful story! They

witnessed God in action when He sent ten amazing plagues, bringing them out from literal death to life, and now they find themselves positioned to cross over into the Promised Land. That afternoon, Moses appointed twelve spies to go in and spy out the land. Two of those spies were men named Joshua and Caleb. All twelve set out on this amazing journey, and this is key for every believer today. It is not what you see in front of you; it is what God has promised you that matters. Because the things you see in front of you are temporary. Whatever obstacles or signs of danger that present themselves do not mean anything if God has promised you the victory. Why? Because God’s Word is the same yesterday, today and forevermore. God promised you the victory, and He will never go back on His Word. So going back to the twelve spies in this story, instead of trusting God and taking Him at His Word, ten of the spies decided to trust their minds instead. That made their minds fertile ground for darkness and unbelief, and they let fear take over. Remember, they, too, had seen God’s miraculous power back in Egypt.

On the other side of the spectrum were Joshua and Caleb, who had a “different spirit” (Numbers 14:24) —men who were on the same journey but saw the same situation through different eyes and a different mind-set. Their minds were filled with God’s Word and promises and were consequently full of light. They came back with a different report. Which church do you want to be in today: the church of the ten spies or the church of Joshua and Caleb, who not only have clarity in their spirits, but minds that are full of light and victory? Either we serve God or we serve fear. We cannot serve both.

6 The Bully in the School Yard Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 1 Peter 5:8

The biggest spiritual bully is Satan himself. He likes to bully your past and remind you of your failures, so much so that we second-guess that God really forgave us. He bullies our frailties when we are a work in progress, and he tries to distort our future by telling us that God is fed up with us, that God does not love us and that God does not have a plan for our lives. He is the ultimate bully that bombards us with

all these things; he will even try to hit us with the kitchen sink if he can. Like every bully, the devil needs to be confronted in the name of Jesus and stopped in his tracks. We do this with the God-given authority that Jesus gave us by way of the cross. There is a deep cry in the heart of the Lord, whether you are saved or not. Jesus Christ loves you, and it is time to confront the bully in the school yard. In your school yard—meaning any avenues of life in which you are being taking advantage of—the bully has to be stopped. If you have a dozen eggs and one breaks, you do not throw away the other eleven eggs because of one bad egg. Suicide is not the way out. This is a very hard chapter to write. My heart gets deeply disturbed when I hear the news of a person who was bullied for no fault of his or her own and committed suicide. How much more must the heart of God be torn for that precious soul. Today we say, “No more.” We will punch the bully in the school yard in the mouth. What is bullying? I am glad you asked. Physical bullying involves hurting a person, whether hitting, kicking, pinching, punching, spitting, tripping or

pushing, or taking and breaking someone’s things. Even mean or rude facial gestures are considered bullying. Verbal bullying is saying or writing mean things and includes teasing, name calling, improper sexual comments or threatening to cause harm. Social bullying is sometimes referred to as relational bullying and involves hurting someone’s reputation or relationship. This includes leaving someone out on purpose, telling other people not to be friends with that person, making up lies about someone, tormenting someone with words, texting hurtful or embarrassing rumors about someone, threatening to hurt someone or telling someone to kill themselves. Posting mean and hurtful pictures or videos about a person on social media is also a form of social bullying. The National Bully Prevention Center reports that more than one out of five people get bullied, which is 20.8 percent of the total population. The Federal Government has been collecting data on bullying since 2005. The National Center of Education Statistics reported that in 2016, 33 percent of students reported being bullied at schools

nationwide, and this happened to them at least once or twice a month. 1 These are some of the many cruel and demonic bully tactics that we will uproot and destroy in this chapter, and in so doing put the bully on the rug. Behind all these evil things lies one mastermind. The devil delights to bring such pain to young people, young adults and even people in adulthood.

A Rejected Son Scripture records a touching story of how the young David, who was chosen by God to be the next king after Saul, was not even invited to his own party: Now the LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his sons.” And Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.” But the L ORD said, “Take a heifer with you, and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the L ORD .’ Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; you shall anoint for Me the one I name to you.”

. . . So it was, when [Jesse and his sons] came, that he looked at Eliab and said, “Surely the L ORD ’s anointed is before Him!” But the L ORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the L ORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the L ORD looks at the heart.” So Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “Neither has the L ORD chosen this one.” Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the L ORD chosen this one.” Thus Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The L ORD has not chosen these.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all the young men here?” Then he said, “There remains yet the youngest, and there he is, keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him. For we will not sit down till he comes here.” So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with bright eyes, and good-looking. And the L ORD said, “Arise, anoint him; for this is the one!” Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the L ORD came upon David from that day forward. 1 Samuel 16:1–3, 6–13

Later in the story, David is still tending the family’s sheep while his elder brothers are fighting against the Philistines with King Saul. One day Jesse tells David to take some food provisions to his

brothers in the camp and to bring back word of how the battle is going. So David rose early in the morning, left the sheep with a keeper, and took the things and went as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the camp as the army was going out to the fight and shouting for the battle. For Israel and the Philistines had drawn up in battle array, army against army. And David left his supplies in the hand of the supply keeper, ran to the army, and came and greeted his brothers. Then as he talked with them, there was the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, coming up from the armies of the Philistines; and he spoke according to the same words. So David heard them. And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were dreadfully afraid. So the men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel; and it shall be that the man who kills him the king will enrich with great riches, will give him his daughter, and give his father’s house exemption from taxes in Israel.” Then David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” And the people answered him in this manner, saying, “So shall it be done for the man who kills him.” Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab’s anger was aroused against David, and he said, “Why did you come down here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your

pride and the insolence of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.” 1 Samuel 17:20–28

Though David was verbally abused by his brothers and bullied by Goliath (before David took him down), God gave him the victory. Even when the world bullies you, or those close to you ridicule you, remember one thing: God has a plan for you, as He did for David. David was victorious that day. He killed the giant with one stone from his sling and went on to his purpose and destiny, becoming the greatest king that Israel ever had. And today we are reading his story—let that be you.

Beaten Down in the Bronx I want to share my story because I have been there before. Reflecting back to my young childhood, living in the impoverished streets of the South Bronx, my brothers and I loved playing in the school yards. We had our wonderful moments, playing basketball and two-hand touch football—we knew how to have fun. But in those same school-yard

grounds, we were bullied, beat up, degraded verbally and spat on at times. We had things taken away from us. We did nothing but bow our heads in shame. Somehow we tried to justify those moments by sugarcoating them and shaking them off or even blaming ourselves. One particular boy in the neighborhood would use my brothers and me as punching bags whenever he wanted or when he wanted to show off in front of the girls. The humiliation ran so deep that no surgeon could have healed the wounds at the time. My brothers and I would get up the next day and make the best of it, black eyes and all. I remember the day that changed all that. I share this moment not to promote any violence, because, as the Bible says, mercy triumphs over judgment, but suffice it to say I had had enough. That afternoon, one of my brothers was getting beat up by the same person, and that day the bully was confronted once and for all. I jumped on his back and pushed him to the ground. With my eyes open wide, I said to him, “If you do not stop beating up me and my brothers, we are going to report you to the police.” That day the bully was put

in his place, even to the point that he became our friend. I learned later that he came from a family where fear ruled the home. He suffered the rejection of not growing up with a father, and his mother was fragmented from every kind of abuse. Now I understood why this person’s behavior was the way it was. He became a good friend and even had supper in our home from time to time.

Freedom from Torment Fear comes in many different packages, and when you open it, it explodes on you spiritually and brings destruction. One of the things I want to share with you is my second brother’s testimony. Because of fear in his life, it opened up avenues to witchcraft, homosexuality, bisexuality and even seasons that he went deeper and became a transvestite; he also had a normal marriage for a while. Those fears originated from his upbringing through an abusive father— verbally, emotionally and mentally—and practicing the occult at a young age. Jimmy also had a fascination with horror movies, wanting to watch

them nonstop. All these things opened doors to spirits of fear and torment and pushed my brother down a spiraling path of destruction. My brother’s fears opened these demonic doors, and he was paralyzed spiritually and stuck in the pit. I believe that somehow he wanted out of this dungeon, but he did not know where to turn. His life went overboard into despair to the point of no return. He even visited a psychiatrist for a long period of time. This is why I know he wanted to get free of these tormenting devils. He did not get free until many years later. As I was a witness firsthand of my brother’s experiences, I would like to share his story in hopes that it can be a blessing to your life. In this day and age, people are even struggling with who they are to the point of questioning their sexual and gender identity. Professionals today are saying that people are born this way. I would like to go deeper and rebut this mind-set. I believe this is demonic in every way. Somehow these wonderful people at one time in their lives had a personal, bad encounter, or it could also be generational—something that these spirits have passed on to the person. This has

happened in my own family. Because of these tragic, scarring incidents, whether the people were molested, raped or experienced other horrific situations, my heart breaks with even talking about these things. When people start questioning who they are and are not even sure of their own identity, this comes from the spirit of rejection, which originates in many ways. The root of rejection comes from fear; it can be fear of man and not being accepted, it could be feeling ashamed due to the situation that happened to them or it could even be a fear of unworthiness because of the scars that they carry. Lowliness, guilt, shame—these are the branches of fear and disgrace, and if we do not cut this devil at the root, it leads to isolation and could lead to suicide.

From Sodom and Gomorrah to the Cross In 1999, I received Jesus Christ through a largerthan-life experience—I went to hell as a devil worshiper but came back a believer. I remember

many Thanksgivings when I would go to my mom’s house and my brother Jimmy would be there, and he knew I was a born-again believer. We would sit at the dinner table, and he would ridicule Christianity and scream out profanity of all kinds. As a young believer, I would take offense, and we would get into physical fistfights. Even the knives sometimes came out, and it was not for the turkey dinner. My mother was the referee for us while the turkey went cold. This happened many Thanksgivings in a row. Later my brother would throw house parties in his apartment, and if you were normal, you were not invited. You had to live a certain lifestyle to come to the party: homosexual, bisexual, transvestite, lesbian or drug dealer. It was like Sodom and Gomorrah. They partied hard with all kinds of liquors and illegal substances. One day all this came crashing down on my brother as he had a heart attack at the age of 44. He was going for heart surgery, and on this day I remember hearing from the Lord Jesus Christ to go to the hospital and share the Good News with my brother before he had the surgery. I did not want to show up at the hospital, knowing that my brother

would be surrounded in his room by all his partygoing friends. But the Lord kept pressing on my heart to go, so I obeyed. To my surprise he was there alone in the room with his wife. I was shocked. As soon as he saw my face he yelled out, “What are you doing here? Get out of my room!” I took a stand and said, “I have come to talk to you about Jesus.” As I started to share the Good News, my brother looked at me intensely, and he could not hold it in anymore; he wept like a baby. Never in my life had I seen my brother cry this way. I knew that God was doing something special that day. He accepted Jesus Christ, and so did his wife, in that small hospital room that day. All these demons that were tormenting my brother through fear, and all the demonic doors that were once opened from ungodly practices, went out the window that day. Sometime later, after my brother recovered supernaturally, he joined a church, and I went to his baptism. What a glorious day. I remember him saying to me, joking around, “If you do not go to my baptism, you are not a real Christian.” From there on, all my brother listened to was Christian worship music. He was in love with the song, “I Can Only

Imagine.” We would sing it together. Approaching his birthday, my brother was planning his first Christian birthday gathering and wanted to invite all his old friends, who did not have a clue that he was Christian. He felt indebted to Jesus Christ and was set free from the demons of fear, sexual perversion (homosexuality, bisexuality, cross-dressing) and witchcraft. This is why I know from my heart that we are not born this way, as some so-called experts say. Jimmy wanted his friends to be set free and to receive what he had: the freedom that Jesus Christ paid for him at the cross. One Thursday night a week before his birthday, he had a beautiful conversation with my mother on the phone about going over the next day to run errands with her and how he was planning for his birthday gathering. To my family’s surprise and mine, that night my brother Jimmy closed his eyes and woke up in eternity the next day. I guess my brother’s favorite song came true, “I Can Only Imagine.” 2 Corinthians 5:8 ( KJV ) says, “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” My brother was

unable to hold his birthday gathering, but God works in mysterious ways, not in our ways. Several days later, I preached at my brother’s funeral, and he still had his party—it was just moved to another location. I preached my heart out on Jesus’ unconditional love, and all the people who were supposed to go to my brother’s birthday party came to his funeral. The room was filled with God’s love. I gave an altar call, and eighteen people who were supposed to be at my brother’s birthday party raised their hands and accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. All these people had struggles with sin, darkness, fear and ungodly practices, but they were set free because the love of Jesus Christ can set anyone free. God loves all people regardless of whatever entrapment, stronghold or bondage the devil has on you. That day, all these bondages were broken and my brother won eighteen souls for Jesus Christ. It is not where you start, it is where you finish. Like my brother Jimmy, who was immersed for years in bondage but set free in a second by the cross of Jesus Christ, his friends, too, experienced the same freedom. To God be the glory.

It is time to break free and trust the Lord Jesus Christ for your victory and confront the bully in the school yard.

Prayers That Will Defeat the Spirit of Fear Satan has released from his camp a very dangerous demon. This particular demon attacks our mind, our bodies and even our dreams, sending us nightmares of fear. It not only tries to destroy our very lives, but our purpose and destiny as well. The power of the spirit of fear roams around free and unchallenged, but no one should be a victim of these satanic attacks. Speak the following out loud with me today: Today I renounce and repent of opening the door, known and unknown, to any and all spirits of fear, rejection, unworthiness, shame, guilt, anger, bitterness, resentment, unforgiveness, abandonment, hatred, self-pity, disgrace, failure, isolation, oppression, depression and suicide. I now declare and decree in the name of Jesus, the following prayers over my life:

I release angels from Michael’s quarters to attack and destroy every demon of fear in Jesus’ name. I destroy every demon of fear that has attacked me in my dreams; I paralyze them now in the name of Jesus. I remove my name out of the devil’s camp in the name of Jesus. I command every warring angel to chase down every spirit of fear in Jesus’ name. You evil workers of hell that are trying to put any witchcraft spirit of fear on me, my family or my ministry, I smite you with the blood of Jesus now. In the name of Jesus, we destroy every bullying spirit that has been released to attack me. I break every tormenting spirit of fear in Jesus’ name. I uproot and destroy every spirit of rejection that has come into my life through the womb, in Jesus’ name.

I uproot and destroy every spirit of rejection that has come in through my childhood, in the name of Jesus. Every demonic spirit of fear that has come through my generational line on both my mother’s and father’s sides, I curse it at the root and command it to leave me now in Jesus’ name. Every spirit of fear that has come through molestation, I destroy you in Jesus’ name. I bind, rebuke and destroy every spirit of anger, bitterness, resentment, unforgiveness and abandonment in Jesus’ name and command you to leave me now and never return. I now release in Jesus’ name the fullness of the love of Father God into my life, mind, body and soul. I release in Jesus’ name the spirit of adoption and acceptance into my life. I release joy, peace and wholeness of my mind, body and soul in Jesus’ name.

I release the fullness of Jesus Christ and the plans that He has for me into my life now, in Jesus’ name. I seal all these prayers in the blood of Jesus Christ and declare around me Zechariah 2:5, “‘For I,’ says the LORD , ‘will be a wall of fire all around her, and I will be the glory in her midst.’” Thank You, Lord Jesus, for setting me free!

Victory in Japan The captivating power of the Holy Spirit, whether it is in Japan, the U.K., any other foreign land or here in the United States, is the same yesterday, today and forevermore. These are living testimonies of God’s miraculous power to kick the bully out of your life once and for all. God has been so good to me. He opened a major door to Japan in 2016 for me to minister. Not knowing what to expect, but trusting the Lord, I accepted the invitation and was on my way. It was one of the most serious journeys in my ministry, taking fourteen hours to get to Tokyo. At the airport,

a host was waiting to take me to Okinawa. Not knowing the language and this being my first time at the Tokyo airport, it was a blessing to have the host waiting for me. The journey was not over, as we had a two-hour layover to wait for the next plane to our final destination. It took an additional two hours to get to Okinawa, making this a sixteen-hour trip. When I got there, I smelled like toast. I was burnt out and could not wait to get to the hotel and close my eyes. I had to be up the next day to minister for eight days in a row. I was up for the challenge; as a minister you have to be more determined than the devil. We had a luncheon that ministers from all over Tokyo and the surrounding regions attended. That same evening was the first meeting I ministered in. Sitting in the congregation was a young girl about thirteen or fourteen years old who had lost her speech for months because she was so traumatized from being bullied at school. A spirit of trauma had hit her, and she shut down. I remember they brought her to the front at the altar call. I laid hands on her and started to pray. Nothing happened right away, but I know that God

works behind the scenes in mysterious ways. When the service was over, the young girl was still the same. As the days went by, through every service, I had the opportunity to minister to many people who came from many places around Japan and far off. On the eighth night (my last night to minister), I was exhausted from preaching every evening, the long travel and jet lag. This night was different from all the other nights. At the altar call, to my surprise, the young girl appeared again. My heart was so heavy, and I knew that I was not going to leave Japan until she was set free. I laid hands on her and prayed and said, “I am not leaving Japan until you are set free in Jesus’ name.” The Holy Spirit touched this young girl at that moment and she let out a scream so loud that it was heard all over Japan. She burst out in tears and cried the rest of the night, even though the service was over. She cried for over two hours like she had never cried in her life, but then she started to talk again. To God be the glory for setting her free! Thank You, Jesus! The spirit of fear and the spirit of bullying did not get the last laugh; the Holy Spirit did.

Freedom Comes to South Carolina I had the opportunity to minister in a spiritual warfare conference where I was one of the main speakers. I always believe that when you attend these conferences you have to be prepared to face the devil head on. That is exactly what happened. Attending the conference was a teenage girl who was brought straight from a mental institution because she was cutting herself and placed on suicide watch. This was all because her boyfriend bullied her and beat her physically. Her mother knew that I was in town ministering and brought her daughter to the service. My heart cried out for her because she could have been anyone’s daughter. I wanted to weep as I laid hands on her, believing that somehow the Lord Jesus Christ was going to set her free. As I laid hands on her, I felt the Holy Spirit ministering to all her spiritual scars of fear, trauma, verbal abuse and rejection. All these devils started to fall to the ground, and the chains were broken. She was completely set free. What a miracle. I even took pictures of her arms, which were shocking, but I

thank God for His incredible mercy that when people give up on us, He does not. The laugh we shared at the end of the night was precious. This young lady and I were asking if anyone had a pair of scissors to cut off the hospital bracelet, a symbol from a place to which she was never going to return. Thank You, Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit Takes Over Jersey I was invited to minister at a university as part of a Christian-based club for an outreach. I was shocked because many of the universities today are very liberal and do not allow these kinds of events to take place on campus. I felt the Holy Spirit prompting me to take the invitation. One of the things that I love doing the most in my life is ministering to young people, knowing that my childhood was stolen by the devil at the age of eight. I did not get it back until the age of 35, when Jesus Christ came into my life. That evening, I was surprised in a good way when I got to the campus, as they had posters all over the university that said, “Ex-Devil Worshiper Is Coming to Preach.” There was an excitement in the air. I felt

very in tune with the Holy Spirit to carry out this commission. The people who invited me escorted me to the hall where the event was going to take place. It was a very large room. As I stood there and got acquainted with those who invited me, the room started to fill up with many people. Before I knew it, the auditorium was standing room only. The host went up front and made some announcements and invited the worship team to come up and play. You could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit in that place. Somehow, deep in my heart, I knew God was going to do something special that night. As the worship team played the last song, you could see on the people’s faces that there was a cry in their hearts to be touched by God. One of the interesting things I noticed that night was that half of the room was filled with unbelievers because, when the worship started, they did not know what to do. As they looked around, they saw the Christians raising their hands, and they copied their moves. It was kind of funny to see that play out. The host then announced me, asking me to come up and share my testimony. As I went up, the Holy Spirit prompted me to call out the witches and warlocks in the audience. If

there were any in the audience, I was willing to give them the opportunity to come up and display their powers, to show them that God has greater powers than their own daddy the devil. The prophet Elijah did it in his time. As soon as I made the announcement, a young man walked into the room. I guess he was running late. He yelled out, “I am a warlock.” I said, “Good, come to the front and sit here. I have got something for you before the night is over.” He sat at the very front; we were only feet away from each other as I began to preach. The power of the Holy Spirit hit that room. You could see the faces of those who were there truly being touched, and no one was able to deny it. God was good. Even the devil worshiper who was in the front seat, as soon as I made my altar call, he ran up and was the first one at the altar with his hands lifted high and tears running down his face. I went over and gave him a big hug and told him that Jesus loved him. He wept like a baby, and the words that came out of his mouth broke my heart. He said, “My mother died less than a week ago. I do not know what to do with myself. I am so afraid to

go on.” The spirit of fear was wrapped around him like a python. He had no way out and nothing to look forward to because of his mother’s death. His mother was the world to him. As he was paralyzed with fear, I laid my hands on him and began to pray. He accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior, and fear lost another victim that night as it fell off him like a garment falling to the floor. I could see the joy on this young man’s countenance and a new hope that tomorrow was going to be a new day. Thank You, Jesus, for Your miraculous power.

A Barren Womb Some time ago I was ministering at a conference and many people came from far and near. I was deeply touched to meet a lot of new brothers and sisters in the Lord. I preached my heart out that evening on the miracle-working power of the Holy Spirit, how if you asked God for a miracle blessing in your life, I believed in my heart that He would do it for you that night. We felt the presence of the Holy Spirit rain down in that room. A couple who had been married for a

while came up to the altar, and the wife was in tears. I could tell that the husband’s heart was broken to see his wife in this condition because all they wanted was a baby. They were not asking for cars, houses or money. They just felt that their marriage was incomplete because they did not have a child. And that night they wanted me to come into agreement with them so they could have a baby. They had gone to every specialist they could find, and everywhere they went the doors were shut and the answer was no. I asked them one question: “Are you sure you want a baby?” They looked at me like I was crazy. And I said, “Next year, come to my meeting with your baby, because Jesus Christ just answered your prayer for a child, and it is going to be a girl He is giving you.” I did not know where those words came from, but I just knew they were deep down in my spirit. We all looked at each other and smiled, and they walked away. A year went by. I was preaching at another conference and made an altar call one night for salvation, healing and deliverance. A couple came up with something wrapped in a blanket and big

smiles on their faces—from ear to ear. I was clueless as to what was going on. The words that came out of their mouths were, “Do you remember us?” I said, “Honestly, I do not.” “A year ago you prayed for us, for a miracle. This is the miracle.” And they extended their arms to show me their beautiful baby girl. I let out a loud laugh, and the whole story came rushing back to my mind as to what had happened. God had answered their prayers, and a miracle was born. What the doctors could not do, the Great Physician Jesus Christ did for them—He gave them a baby girl. How precious are the miracles of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. At that moment, we dedicated the baby to the Lord and thanked Him together that He is the God of miracles. To God be the glory forever and ever. Amen. I want these stories to encourage everyone that fear does not have the last word. It does not have to dictate your tomorrows. You can be set free because Jesus Christ holds your tomorrows. I am a living testimony of this.

1 . “Bullying Statistics,” PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center, December 27, 2017, https://www.pacer.org/bullying/resources/stats.asp.

7 Fear Is Early-Onset Cancer to the Spiritual Mind “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27

Bit by bit and piece by piece, fear will eat away at your mind until you can no longer think for yourself because the enemy has taken over your mind and owns the rights to it. Adam made one mistake, and it cost him everything; Esau made one bad decision, and it cost him his birthright. Fear does not start dramatically. It is usually a slow process, little by little. We are wooed into it, and

once it has its permanent grip on us, we realize we drank the Kool-Aid and bit the apple—and now we are being tormented. These are the symptoms of the spiritual disease called fear: pride self-exaltation ignorance vanity stiff-neck religious spirits (legalism) self-rejection fear of love fear of man insecurity depression loneliness heaviness anxiety double-mindedness belief that God does not love you

belief that you are not really saved Fear is like early-onset cancer; it often goes undetected until it has turned into a monster inside of you, wreaking havoc on your life. Another way to describe this demonic attack is to liken it to getting bit by a venomous snake. As the venom enters your body, it slowly paralyzes the main organs while you are still alive. It starts to steal your breath away and pronounces you dead while you are still dying. The enemy’s plan is to accomplish this kind of attack on every person who has put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Open Gateways Fear can enter us through many different gateways, including horror movies, mass-murder documentaries, the news media that feeds us fear and makes it seem like the world is going to end tomorrow, other people’s tragedies (they grip us with fear because somehow we think it is going to happen to us) or demonic bosses and employers who torment us by saying they are going to fire us at any

moment so we walk on eggshells. These are examples of how we can open the window of our heart to fear in our lives. One of the ways fear enters our lives that may surprise you is through an unchecked habit of what we watch on television. The majority of programming is filth, so whatever area the devil can hook you and entertain you with, that is the area through which he can control, captivate and own you. I remember the late David Wilkerson, my pastor, and how he talked about getting rid of television. At the time, it did not register with my mind and heart what his point was because I had come from a lukewarm church where it was okay to watch anything we wanted to watch. But when the Holy Spirit spoke to me, I knew I had to make a change. It is like a person who has chronic headaches or ongoing aches and pains, but never goes to the doctor to check it out. If you do not keep in check what you watch on television and how much time you spend in front of it, you become like the person who never went for a checkup—and later found out he had a cancerous tumor growing in his brain.

Scripture says that “a little leaven leavens the whole lump” (Galatians 5:9), which means it only takes an inch for the devil to get a foothold. That is the same thing Pastor David Wilkerson was talking about. If we do not keep the television in check and how much time we spend watching it, we are allowing an open gateway of filth and fear to enter our lives. There is nothing good on these days —everything is a fear factor, whether it is the news, shows about murder and abduction or you name it. We are opening ourselves up to the devil’s devices. We are allowing him to get a foothold, and the first waves of fear to get in control us and eventually own us. The only answer that will kill your cancer is Jesus Christ.

An Encounter at the Tombs Jesus encountered the demonic man who came out of the tomb, tormented and crying for deliverance. This man had lost his mind and true identity to the point that the demons were speaking on his behalf. But in one encounter with King Jesus, this man was

set free. The same is true for you, me and anyone who encounters the living God. This is how the story goes: Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes. And when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him. And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones. When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him. And he cried out with a loud voice and said, “What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do not torment me.” For He said to him, “Come out of the man, unclean spirit!” Then He asked him, “What is your name?” And he answered, saying, “My name is Legion; for we are many.” Also he begged Him earnestly that He would not send them out of the country. Now a large herd of swine was feeding there near the mountains. So all the demons begged Him, saying, “Send us to the swine, that we may enter them.” And at once Jesus gave them permission. Then the unclean spirits went out and entered the swine (there were about two thousand); and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and drowned in the sea. Mark 5:1–13

What an amazing story of complete deliverance all at once. I would love to have been there to see Jesus in action on that day. Can you imagine how word of this man’s transformation buzzed through the grapevine for miles around? This is one encounter the Church should put into practice to demonstrate that we have the same authority in Christ Jesus today, but we refuse to flex our spiritual muscles. Instead, we let the devil get away with whatever he wants. It is like catching a burglar in your home in the very act of stealing your belongings, but instead of grabbing him and dragging him to the police department, you help him load up a U-Haul truck with all your personal belongings and then wave as you watch your possessions being driven off. It is sad but true that as the Church of Jesus Christ we allow the devil to do exactly this because we have been too busy preaching a gospel of selfindulgence and not of deliverance. Why? Because we want to be politically correct and not offend anyone. So we let the people stay bound instead of being set free.

Thanks be to God that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ did not think this way. This is one of the most profound stories in the New Testament of a person being set free from demonic possession, tormented day and night, plagued out of his mind so much that he made the cemetery his home. His bondage was so severe that he lost his identity and did not even know his own name. He was paralyzed in his mind with fear and every other demonic spirit that was attached to him, totaling about six thousand unclean spirits. I praise God that the story did not end there. When it was all said and done, this is how the story ended; Then they came to Jesus, and saw the one who had been demon-possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. And those who saw it told them how it happened to him who had been demon-possessed, and about the swine. Then they began to plead with [Jesus] to depart from their region. And when He got into the boat, he who had been demonpossessed begged Him that he might be with Him. However, Jesus did not permit him, but said to him, “Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you.” And he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him; and all marveled. Mark 5:15–21

What a ridiculous situation! Instead of celebrating and rejoicing over what Jesus had done, the people who witnessed this powerful miracle kicked Him out of town, the same way we have kicked the Holy Spirit out of our churches today. There is nothing new under the sun. This incredible man was so grateful that he was willing to leave everything behind to follow Jesus, but in return Jesus spoke into his life and told him, “Go out and share all that God has done for you,” which was his testimony of deliverance by the Lord Jesus Christ. This man had a family, a home and a new life, and he became one of the greatest evangelists in his region. The devil did not own this man’s tomorrows anymore; Jesus did. I have good news for you. You, too, can be set free from anything that torments you today. I do not care if it is so deep-seated it goes all the way back to your childhood, something you have been carrying around for a long time. Guess what? You do not have to carry that torment anymore. The King is in town, and His name is Jesus.

Fear Does Not Own My Tomorrows

I have written in previous pages stories of how I came from a lifestyle of witchcraft, serving as a general in Satan’s kingdom for 25 years of my life. In 1997, I knew it was time to change things around for my daughter and myself. My daughter was growing up, and all she had from me was a box of broken promises. Even though I loved my daughter with all my heart, during that time I was not a good dad to her. I wanted to take a leave of absence from the witchcraft world and make it up to my daughter for all the times I had let her down. The devil and his demons were not having it. The evil one never plays fair. He will lure you in with promises of everything your heart desires, but he is a cruel taskmaster who only comes to steal, kill and destroy. He was not about to let me take a sabbatical, to have a little time off from his kingdom. So the devil sent a punishment down my way, and I lost my eyesight, completely out of the clear blue. Even the best doctors could not understand how it happened. Not only was my soul in darkness, but now I had no eyesight. For one year I was completely blind, and I lost a year of seeing my daughter. Even after multiple surgeries, I still was not able to see. Fear

was my home. Every day was gloomy. The devil and the spirit of fear choked me to death spiritually and whispered to me, You will never see again . A year later on this dark journey, still fighting off fear and hearing those whispers in the night, I woke up and saw a small glimpse of light. I kept it to myself, but I felt a drop of joy in my heart. After several weeks went by, that small light got bigger and my eyesight returned fully. I cannot explain how, but fear disappeared into the night. The bad news was that I had to rededicate my life back to the devil, and I immersed myself deeper into darkness, still holding my status as one of the generals in the devil’s kingdom—until October of 1999, when I had an encounter with Jesus Christ. Fast-forward to 2002, when the devil sucker-punched me, and I was right back in the same condition I was in in 1997, with no eyesight. History repeated itself. The devil and this demonic spirit of fear knew my address. I went to the doctors for four hours of surgery, and the devil kept whispering to me, “I got you now. I told you that you will never leave me, and there is nothing that your God can do for you. I still own you.” My mind was being plagued, and my soul was

drained. Fear was my neighbor day in and day out. It was like the bad neighbor that you cannot get rid of. Early one morning, just before I went into surgery, I said, “Lord, if I never see again, I am fine; I will continue to serve You. It does not matter the outcome of my eyesight. I made a promise that I would do life in Jesus Christ without parole.” I went into the surgery room blind, and four hours later I came out of surgery with no eyesight. Per doctor’s orders, I was supposed to go home and lie down and allow my retinas to heal. I remember this like it was yesterday. It was Good Friday, and my church was holding a special service that night. I told my friend, “I am not going to listen to what the doctors are telling me. Take me to church.” I could not see and I had these big bandages over my eyes. I must have looked like a bumble bee, but I did not care; I was on my way to church to worship the King. When I got there, I knew the people—my brothers and sisters from church—by the sound of their voices. As I lifted my hands to worship the King, the demon of fear was standing right next to me, taunting, tormenting and mocking me, saying, You will never see again. You should have stayed home.

You are wasting your time coming to church, and you broke the doctor’s rules . I could even hear that vile spirit laughing because of my condition. In my worship, I felt like I touched the third heaven, and I was more determined than any tormenting devil of fear. I made up my mind to worship God right there in my crisis, not later when I got the victory. Over three months later, my eyesight came back supernaturally. The doctors were dumbfounded, as it did not make sense to the medical world how I could see. I am a living testimony that fear does not own my tomorrows. Sometime later the Holy Spirit whispered in my spirit, I was the One who gave you back your eyesight in 1997, even though you were a devil worshiper. I gave it back to you again because I have a plan for your life . There is nothing else to say but, “Thank You, Jesus. You have been so good to me.” For any person who is being tormented by fear, turn around and look fear in the face and give it an eviction notice in Jesus’ name. Worship the Lord out loud and be more determined than any demon or the devil himself. I promise you that my Lord Jesus Christ will set you free. He will give you a new song

in your heart, like he did for me. “Bless the Lord, O my soul, for the life that you have given me! So, devil, do not mess with me. I bear the marks of Jesus Christ.” Saints, we are living in times of war in the unseen world, because the enemy knows that his time is short. One of his greatest weapons against the Church is to strike us down with the spirit of fear. Through these fiery, powerful prayers, there is nothing impossible to him who believes in our Lord Jesus Christ. These prayers carry the fire of the Holy Spirit to destroy and dismantle every weapon in the satanic realm that the devil has aimed at us.

Prayer Points First get some paper towels and put them next to you, because you may begin to vomit due to these fiery powerful prayers. Do not be alarmed if that happens. Lay one hand over your head and start renouncing every demonic attack, every demonic stronghold, every demonic bondage that you have been attacked with or experienced, whether through

your dreams, in your body or in your surroundings, in Jesus’ name. I cough out and vomit out of my spirit and soul every demonic fiery dart of fear in the name of Jesus. I cough out and vomit out every lying, deceiving spirit of fear in the name of Jesus. I release angels from Michael’s quarters to come down and strike down every spirit of fear against me in the name of Jesus. I destroy every negative demonic thought that has my mind bound in fear. I strike it down by the power of the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ name. I strike down every spirit of fear of infirmity that has infiltrated my body. I uproot it with the fire of the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus. Every fiery dart that has infiltrated my spiritual walk, I command to leave me now in Jesus’ name. By the fire of the Holy Spirit, every demonic seed that was planted in me in the spirit

realm of fear, torment or scorning of the mind, come out of me, in Jesus’ name. By the fire of God, I send the judgments of God upon every devil that has been assigned to destroy my life, in Jesus’ name. I release fire against every spirit of fear. I release fire against every spirit of rejection. I release fire against every spirit of infirmity. I release fire against every spirit of unworthiness. I release fire against every spirit of loneliness. I release fire against every spirit of inferiority. I release fire against every spirit of self-pity. I release fire against every spirit of selfcondemnation. I release fire against every spirit of guilt. I release fire against every spirit of shame and disgrace.

I release fire against every spirit of suicide and isolation. I release fire against every spirit of pride. I release fire against every spirit of selfexaltation. I release fire against every spirit of ignorance. I release fire against every spirit of ego. I release fire against every boasting spirit of the flesh. I release fire against every spirit of vanity. I release fire against every spirit of man. I release fire against every stiff-necked and religious spirits. I release fire against every spirit of insecurity and depression. I release fire against every spirit of heaviness, anxiety, worry and doublemindedness. I cover myself in the blood of Jesus, from the top of my head to the soles of my feet, and I break off every legal contract known and unknown and

every thought that has bound me to that which is known and unknown. Any words I have spoken out of ignorance I renounce. I repent and break them off myself in Jesus’ name. Lord Jesus, release ministering angels to come down and minister to me, to replenish me in my spirit, my mind and soul, and fill every gap and void with the power of the Holy Spirit. Renew my mind, heart, spirit and soul in the all-powerful name of Jesus Christ. These are the devil’s schemes and the demons’ assignments, to plague us with this kind of spiritual cancer. Their mission is to cause us to doubt and to bring us to unbelief, and if it does not stop, we will not seek God for who He is, high and lifted up. We should have the attitude of becoming Christlike, rejecting what is evil and embracing what is good in Christ—rebuking, uprooting and cutting at the root of this deadly spiritual cancer. We can declare war on the evil one with our God-given faith, authority and the finished work of the cross. The only answer that kills the cancer is Jesus Christ.

8 The Devil’s Booby Traps He will redeem their life from oppression and violence; and precious shall be their blood in His sight. Psalm 72:14

Satan works through patterns and cycles not only in your life but also in your mind to drag you into your past and bring reminders of condemnation. If he can do this, he will start fragmenting your mind and your thoughts so he can capture your thinking and create his own platform in your mind. Then he will pollute, distort and weaken how you think, how you believe and how you live because he wants to corrupt the fruit of the Spirit that lives in you. The devil’s booby traps to conquer your mind are

1. to steal your thoughts and create a world of his own inside your mind, 2. to keep your mind unrenewed in Christ Jesus and 3. to change the channel of your mind to a carnal mind-set. These three traps are how he accomplishes his mission. I want to give you two powerful examples from Scripture of how the devil conquered two precious people who knew God and had a relationship with Him—and it is not because God is weak. God is allpowerful. In each of these stories, the vessels were weak in spirit and never surrendered their weaknesses to God so they could be healed and set free. The first example is Saul. Saul was handpicked by God to be the first king of Israel, with a tremendous calling and responsibility for that ministry. Saul started out by obeying God and the prophet Samuel. He was walking the walk and running his race. But somehow the enemy tripped him up, and it all started

with disobedience. Disobedience opened the door to the enemy.

King Saul’s Disobedience While Israel was at war with the Philistines, Saul made an unlawful sacrifice that angered the Lord God. This is the account: As for Saul, he was still in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling. Then he waited seven days, according to the time set by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him. So Saul said, “Bring a burnt offering and peace offerings here to me.” And he offered the burnt offering. Now it happened, as soon as he had finished presenting the burnt offering, that Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might greet him. And Samuel said, “What have you done?” Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered together at Michmash, then I said, ‘The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the L ORD .’ Therefore I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering.” And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the L ORD your God, which He commanded you. For now the L ORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your

kingdom shall not continue. The L ORD has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the L ORD has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the L ORD commanded you.” 1 Samuel 13:7–14

Many believers today should examine this tragic incident. The devil has snuck into our camp and many of us have lost ministries, homes, marriages and other beloved things because we took the way of the flesh—the carnal mind—and did not wait on the Lord. The devil seized the moment. Here Saul lost his kingship, his calling and his ministry; he disgraced his lineage and eventually even got to the point that he committed suicide, all because he disobeyed God and the devil then jumped on the opportunity. The Bible tells us that Saul finally got so desperate that he went to seek counsel from a witch—the witch of Endor—and it led to his demise. That is why we have to be very careful today as followers of Jesus Christ not to give the devil any ground in our minds. Our minds should be holy, sanctified and engrafted with the Word of God. This man who had been crowned a king had the right mind-set in the beginning of his ministry, but

somehow the devil turned it into a carnal mind, and he died on the battlefield before his time. God allowed these examples in the Bible to serve as evidence to us that the enemy plays for keeps. When we keep our eyes on the cross, no demon from hell, not even the devil himself, will be able to stand in our way. I want to show you how serious the battle is. Because the devil is a liar, he wants us to bite into his demonic apple. If we take the bait, he can turn our mind—which should be the mind of Christ—into a carnal mind. So he will feed you half-truths, and this is what the Scriptures say: You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. John 8:44

The Most Righteous Man in the Land

Job’s story, his astounding testimony, is unlike any other recorded in Scripture. Here we find God having a conversation with the devil in the spirit realm, and Job knew nothing about it. God was bragging about Job, that he was the most righteous person in the land at that time. And the story goes like this: Job was tested with God’s consent to the point of no return: loss of family, loss of wealth and sickness to the point of death. Can anyone relate to this? But Job did not stop serving God, who allowed these circumstances to pollute his mind. Instead of saying ouch , Job said, “The L ORD gave and the L ORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the L ORD ” (Job 1:21). What an incredible statement. How many of us today can say that? But down the road, the devil will always try to find a weak point in your family. Unfortunately, in Job’s life, it was his wife. So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD , and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself while he sat in the midst of the ashes. Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!”

But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips. Job 2:7–10

Later in chapter 38 of the book of Job, God addressed Job and displayed His majesty. And Job was dumbfounded to the point of repentance. He had known of God, but had not truly known Him until that moment (see Job 42:5). The beautiful thing about it is that God restored everything back to Job, double for his trouble. God was so merciful to Job that he went on to live many years to come with the anointed touch of God on his life. Let me tell you why: because Job never let the enemy control his mind, nor the words of death spoken through his wife to penetrate his mind and soul. In the midst of unimaginable torment, Job maintained a godly mind instead of a carnal mind.

The Devil’s Playground I want to leave you with one more example. Abraham’s nephew Lot was stuck in a hard place.

He decided early on to chase the green pastures when he split away from Abraham, his uncle, thinking that he was getting the best deal. You see, he made a decision in the flesh, which is the carnal mind. But to his surprise he ended up in a place that was the devil’s playground: Sodom and Gomorrah. Sometime later Abraham had a visitation from the Lord: Then the men rose from there and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to send them on the way. And the LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?” . . . And the LORD said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know.” Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the L ORD . And Abraham came near and said, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it? Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” So the L ORD said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their

sakes.” Then Abraham answered and said . . . “Suppose there were five less than the fifty righteous; would You destroy all of the city for lack of five?” So He said, “If I find there forty-five, I will not destroy it.” And he spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose there should be forty found there?” So He said, “I will not do it for the sake of forty.” Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Suppose thirty should be found there?” So He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.” And he said, “Indeed now, I have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: Suppose twenty should be found there?” So He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty.” Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak but once more: Suppose ten should be found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.” So the L ORD went His way as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place. Genesis 18:16–33

This is an amazing moment for Abraham, the father of our faith, who became an intercessor for the wicked and the lost and even his own nephew. We need to take this to heart and intercede for others so they do not have to go to hell, because the devil has stolen not only the lives, but also the minds of many today. They are prisoners of their own circumstances and bad decisions, but God loves them, too.

Because of Abraham’s intercession for Lot, as the story goes, even though God sent judgment, He dispatched angels to Lot’s house to get Lot and his family to safety. But the tragedy of the story is that God gave them one instruction, and Lot’s wife disobeyed. As the angels pulled them out of the city, they warned Lot and his family not to look back at the city that was being burned down to ashes. It was one simple instruction, even as they were being led to safety. But Lot’s wife’s mind was stuck in the past and in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah as she looked back. And for many of us today, the devil has played a game in our thought patterns, trying to trick us to look back at what God has delivered us from. And this woman, instead of being a testimony for God, became a monument—a pillar of salt, a pillar of nothing—because her mind was stuck in her past. Today the Lord wants to set your mind free from the carnal mind to the mind of His Son, Jesus Christ. The devil will be defeated and no longer able to steal your thoughts or create a fantasy world in your mind. Are you ready to get free? It is very simple; just declare two things:

Step 1: “Devil, listen to me. I rebuke you, I uproot you out of my mind, and I renounce this carnal mind of mine and every satanic thought that has infiltrated my thoughts. I renounce any bad decisions I have made that contradicted the Word of God in my life.” Step 2: “In the name of Jesus, I repent and renounce the devil and every contract I have made consciously and unconsciously. Holy Spirit, I surrender my mind to be healed, to be set free, to be whole in Christ Jesus alone. Renew my mind, and let my mind be in Christ Jesus, my Lord and Savior. From today on, let my thoughts, my mouth and my heart come into agreement with You, for all the days of my life. Amen.”

9 The Power of the Holy Spirit over All Fears He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps. He has put a new song in my mouth—praise to our God; many will see it and fear, and will trust in the LORD . Psalm 40:2–3

Jesus’ greatest battle on earth was the three temptations in the wilderness as the devil tried to take Him down from His purpose and destiny to get to the cross. Jesus was victorious through the power of the Holy Spirit, and so will we be. We are well able to conquer and overcome all fears and fiery darts of the enemy. In this chapter, we will learn how to defeat the spirits of mind control that are trying to

conquer our thoughts. We can beat the devil in the battlefield of the mind—beat him at his own game— through the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. We take back our thoughts with three powerful steps: faith God’s Word the finished work of the cross First, we are going to confront the devil with the Word of God, just like Jesus did when the devil tried to tempt Him in the wilderness. As awesome as spiritual warfare prayers are, here we are going to stand on the Word of God to defeat the devil on his own territory. Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry. And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’”

Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.” And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the L ORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.’” Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’” And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the L ORD your God.’” Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time. Luke 4:1–13

Putting Muscle on Your Faith Earlier I told you about the first thirty days after my salvation, how I was tormented by demons every night. I knew something had to give or else I was not going to make it as a Christian. Jesus took me through my darkest valley, as David said in Psalm 23:4, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the

shadow of death, I will fear no evil. . . . Your rod and Your staff they comfort me.” That was when the Lord Jesus Christ introduced me to the three greatest weapons for a believer: faith, the Word of God and the finished work of the cross. Without these three, there would not be a John Ramirez today, no John Ramirez Ministries and no books with my name on them, because the demon world had a bounty on my head. I am a miracle of Jesus Christ because He loves me, He redeemed me and He had a plan for me. He has the same for you. So in this chapter of your life, whatever you are facing, know that it is not the end of your book—it is the beginning of great things to come. Take your eyes off the enemy and put them on Jesus and the measure of faith He has deposited in you. It is amazing to me that we can beat the devil with one finger and one hand tied behind our backs. Let me prove it to you through Scripture because the Word of God will never lie.

Unshakable Faith

Let us see what Jesus, our High Priest, has to say about faith. One day as He talked with His disciples, He said: And the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” So the Lord said, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.” Luke 17:5–6

The devil knows without a doubt that we can beat him with one hand tied behind our backs through the power of the Holy Spirit, but he has clouded our mind with fear, and we are afraid to use the Word of God as a weapon to bring destruction into the enemy’s camp. We need to arm ourselves with the Word of God—do or die—to live on the victorious side. I want to show you through the following Scripture passages several amazing stories that were lifetransforming. Now when He concluded all His sayings in the hearing of the people, He entered Capernaum. And a certain centurion’s servant, who was dear to him, was sick and ready to die. So when he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to Him, pleading with Him to come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they begged Him

earnestly, saying that the one for whom He should do this was deserving, “for he loves our nation, and has built us a synagogue.” Then Jesus went with them. And when He was already not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to Him, saying to Him, “Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof. Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to You. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him, and turned around and said to the crowd that followed Him, “I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!” Luke 7:1–9

What an amazing victory this man had because he exercised his faith and defeated the spirits of infirmity and death—and his servant was healed. It does not stop there. Here is another touching story of faith: Then Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.” But He answered her not a word.

And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, “Send her away, for she cries out after us.” But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” But He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” And she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour. Matthew 15:21–28

I want to illustrate something to all believers who are under attack and tormented by demons, whether it is yourself, your family, your loved ones, your job, your finances—whatever. During this encounter between the Son of God and a “despised” woman, the demons were shaking in their boots and waiting for her to walk away when the Lord said those words to her. They probably thought they had this one in the bag. But God was just testing her faith to see how determined she was, how awesome she was— and she was more determined than the devil. A lot of times we step into the fight and lose momentum because we get hit by fear and

discouragement. And if you read this woman’s story, you will see that she was afraid to approach the Lord. She battled with discouragement, but she pressed in and her daughter was set free. This is an example for us today. No matter what, the devil does not have the last word. I can relate to the following story. I take it personally in a good way. Now they came to Jericho. As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Then many warned him to be quiet; but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. Then they called the blind man, saying to him, “Be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling you.” And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus. So Jesus answered and said to him, “What do you want Me to do for you?” The blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, that I may receive my sight.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road. Mark 10:46–52

This man who was sitting blind at the side of the road was defeated in the eyes of society, with no purpose, no destiny, no natural vision—and sure enough, no spiritual vision. The odds were piled up against him. If we are honest, many of us from many walks of life could fit into this scenario. But Bartimaeus heard that the Good News Himself, Jesus Christ, was coming down the road. And we miss God’s opportunities to get the victory many times because we are too focused on our circumstances, conditions and failures. Or the people around us are telling us to shut up; we are not going to amount to anything. Or people say, “You will never get the victory.” I call those kinds of people Chicken-Coop Christians. Instead of realizing they are eagles, created to soar on the wings of the Holy Spirit, they settle for “barnyard” lives and peck in the dirt like chickens. But thank God for blind Bartimaeus, who proved the naysayers wrong. Because it was not what he looked like on the outside that mattered; it was what he had on the inside—he had faith. Do you have the same kind of faith inside you today that will push through the dark cloud of voices around you, or even

the voices that are whispering in your head? His actions and his faith worked together like Abraham’s. Even with all those people around Him, the only voice that Jesus heard was his. Jesus heard because there was a cry in Bartimaeus’s soul to be healed. That is how we have to do it today, for all of us— including myself—in the fight.

The Two-Edged Sword Listen to what the book of Hebrews has to say about the Word of God, For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

The Word of God is so awesome that you can slice and dice any tormenting spirits, any generational curse, any trial that comes your way and even the devil himself. Have you taken your sword to the Holy Spirit so He can sharpen it for you? In other

words, the Word of God sitting alone is just potential energy, but the Word of God plus faith and the power of the Holy Spirit will slice and dice anything standing in your way that opposes the will of God. Let me shed some light on this through the Word. When Jesus was in the wilderness facing His greatest temptation, He was hungry, He was thirsty and, in His humanity, He was weak and fragile. Satan said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, turn these stones into bread.” The devil is so stupid that he forgot that Jesus is the Word, by the way, but Jesus Christ’s response was a punch in the eye with the biggest black eye. Jesus responded, “Man should not live by bread alone but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God.” I am sure after that the devil was flat on his back. As believers, we need to know how to appropriate the Word of God and His promises through faith so we can quench and we crush every fiery dart the enemy throws at us. Let me give you some more nuggets out of the Word of God: All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that

the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16–17 NIV Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. Psalm 119:105 NIV Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit. Proverbs 18:21 [This means, speak life and you can always have the victory. In other words, speak the Word of God over the circumstances of your life!] The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever. Isaiah 40:8 NIV He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” Luke 11:28 NIV Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. James 1:22 NIV As for God, his way is perfect: The LORD ’s word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in him. Psalm 18:30 NIV “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”

Matthew 7:24 NIV “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” Matthew 24:35 NIV The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple. Psalm 119:130 NIV In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1 NIV For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does. Psalm 33:4 NIV In God, whose word I praise—in God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? Psalm 56:4 NIV

These Scriptures are the weapons of our warfare. Apply them to your spiritual life and live victoriously in Jesus Christ.

It Is Finished

The third weapon is the icing on the cake: the finished work of the cross. Listen to these words: But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 1 Corinthians 2:7–8

These words are so powerful, and we have read them a thousand times over, but we have missed the truth behind them. When Jesus said at the cross, “It is finished!” two thousand years ago, he sent the devil and his demons to therapy. He had given the Church not only the victory, but everything we needed to fight the good fight of faith. Yet we allow the enemy to put a fear factor in our lives, dilute these precious words and downplay the victory of the cross. In doing so we have turned our Lord Jesus Christ into a mere man. It is time to pick up these powerful words, pick up the cross as our victory banner and trample over the hosts of hell. We need to let them know that we are on the victorious side through Jesus and the finished work of the cross.

Let me throw one more thing out there for my brothers and sisters: The Lord Jesus Christ told Peter, “On this rock”—that means you and me, not just Peter—“I will build my church,”—He is talking about the real Church, not the snowflake church —“and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18 ESV ). So take sixty seconds right now and praise Him like you never praised Him before. Say, “Thank You, King Jesus!”

10 The Thief in Your Parking Garage The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. John 10:10

Listen to this scenario and think about it: You are a police officer, and you confront a thief in a parking garage who is breaking into your car. At that moment, you surprise him and he turns around, laughs and says, “It is only you and me in this parking lot.” Little does he know that you have backup—the Holy Spirit, the promises of God’s Word, the Church (your brothers and sisters in

Christ) and the whole host of heaven are at your disposal. The devil is defeated and under your feet. Second Corinthians 10 says that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds. The devil will always tempt you to believe that you are alone in the fight, that you have no backup and no protection. That is the biggest lie he uses so he can isolate and capture you with fear. Do not drink the Kool-Aid. You have the whole host of heaven at your disposal 24/7. My pastor from my home church preached along these lines one day, and it touched me in such a way, not only to go deeper with God, but also to understand that I am never alone in my walk with Him. Many believers today have bought into the lie that God has left them, He is sick and tired of them or that somehow they have lost their salvation, and they are buying into the fear of the enemy’s lie. But I have a few Scriptures for you that will put that lie to death once and for all in your life: For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we may boldly say: “The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” Hebrews 13:5–6

“Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you. . . . And the LORD , He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.” Deuteronomy 31:6, 8

These are incredible promises for us as believers. So whatever parking garage of life you find yourself in, confronting the devil there, these are the weapons of our warfare that the devil runs from. And, sad to say, he believes them more than we do. We have the backup of the Holy Spirit, the warring holy angels and the believing Church on our side— brothers and sisters who are fearless, standing with us in the fight. And the book of Hebrews mentions that in the balcony of heaven we have a cloud of witnesses cheering us on in the fight (see Hebrews 11–12:1). So do not be afraid, step into the fight and let the enemy of your soul understand that you are in for the fight and you are more determined than he is! Whatever he is trying to use to plague you, control you or capture you, it will not stand a chance in hell. God is good.

Not Alone in the Fight When Jesus hung on a cross two thousand years ago, He was mocked, laughed at and ridiculed, and the Bible says that at any moment He had twelve legions of angels at His disposal, waiting on standby with their swords drawn, ready to come down to rescue Him. That was Jesus Christ’s parking garage experience. But Jesus said to him, “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels? How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?” Matthew 26:52–54

Just to break this down, Jesus had 72,000 angels on standby. That proves that we are not alone in the fight. So do not let the devil lie to you and make you believe that it is just you and him in the ring. Growing up in the projects of the South Bronx, there was a bond between the people in the neighborhood. It did not matter whether you were Hispanic or a person of color. When trouble came, we stuck together; we had each other’s back because

there was a commitment to the neighborhood and the reputation we had. There was a commitment to one another. We fought together in the school yards, in the basements of the buildings where we lived and on the street corners of the projects where we hung out. We had no fear. In our minds, those were the parking garages of our lives. How much more so today, knowing that we serve a sovereign, holy God who sticks closer than a brother and watches over every detail of our lives because we are Jesus Christ’s good investment, purchased by His precious blood? And if the devil could not kill you or destroy you while you were in the world, for sure he cannot do it today now that you are in Jesus. So we need to grasp this wretched thing called the devil by the ears in the name of Jesus and kick him out of our parking garage—whether it be our churches, our homes, our families, our marriages, our children’s lives, our workplaces or wherever you find yourself facing this crook who is trying to lie to you that you are alone. We stand in the authority of Jesus Christ, and we do not fight from the earth realm. The Bible says that

we are seated with Jesus Christ in the highest of the highest heavens. That is our position and the Godgiven authority we use to fight.

“You Mighty Man of Valor!” The following Old Testament story sheds light on who we are and how God sees us. And notice one thing: Gideon saw himself as a nobody—how many times do we see ourselves that way?—but the Angel of the Lord (the preincarnate Christ, making an appearance in the Old Testament) saw him as a “mighty man of valor” sent to fight the enemy of Israel: Now the Angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites. And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him, and said to him, “The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor!” Gideon said to Him, “O my lord, if the L ORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the L ORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the L ORD has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.”

Then the L ORD turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?” So he said to Him, “O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” And the L ORD said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.” Judges 6:11–16

There is so much to this story that reminds me of my own life and my own fight with the devil. There were times when I thought the Lord had forsaken me, and it seemed like the devil had gained an advantage over my life. I felt like I had lost spiritual ground like Gideon, and that I was the weakest person God could ever use because of what He delivered me from—my devil-worshiping days. Even the apostle Paul felt that way; he called himself the least of the apostles and the chief of all sinners. I believe in my heart that today many people out there feel like Gideon. You, too, may be hiding and feel beaten down by the devil’s threats. But I have good news: That is not the end of your story or mine. As you read the account of Gideon’s life, you heard from the very voice of God. He called this

precious man “a mighty man of valor,” and that is who we are in Him. Join with me to kick the devil and his cronies out of our parking garage. We need to understand our position in Christ, declare over our lives and confess the strength we have in the spirit realm.

Prayers of Confession The Bible tells us that if we confess with our mouth and believe in our heart that God has raised Jesus Christ from the dead, we will be saved because the Holy Spirit lives in us (see Romans 10:9). So we need to come into agreement with God’s Word today. We need to agree with God and not the devil. Declare our God-given authority and position in Him. Let us confess the following truths over our lives: I confess that I am a child of God. I declare that I am born again by the Spirit of God.

I confess that Jesus has taken my curse upon Himself, and I have been made righteous in His name (see Galatians 3:13–14). I confess that I am a citizen of the heavenly Kingdom, in Jesus’ name. I declare that I am the head and not the tail, in Jesus’ name. I believe with all my heart that I am seated with Jesus Christ in heavenly places. Devil, let me remind you that my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, in Jesus’ name. Devil, listen to me: I am not the old person with the weaknesses I used to have, in Jesus’ name. But I am a new creation, and I can do all things through Christ Jesus, who strengthens me. I declare and decree that I am blessed with all spiritual blessings, in Jesus’ name. Today my life is hidden in Christ. Therefore, I shall live and not die and will declare the works of the Lord, in the name of Jesus.

I declare that I am not a mistake; I was handpicked by Christ before the foundations of the world. Before I was born, when I was in my mother’s womb, God already had a purpose and destiny for me, and it shall come to pass, in Jesus’ name. Any weaknesses in my mind, soul or body, leave me now, in Jesus’ name. I confess through Christ Jesus I cannot fail or surrender myself to the devil, in Jesus’ name. I take all negative thoughts from my mind, and I confess and rebuke them now in Jesus’ name. I declare over my life that I was made to overcome the schemes of the devil. Through the power of the name of Jesus Christ, I quench every satanic dart of fire, in the name of Jesus. Today, tomorrow and forever, no weapon of any kind formed against me shall prosper.

I declare and decree over my life, my family, my ministry, my purpose and my destiny, I destroy in the name of Jesus every backlash spirit, any spirit of retaliation, any revenge spirits or any transfer of spirits of any kind —be destroyed by the blood of Jesus Christ. I speak over myself, my family, my loved ones and my ministry the same wall of fire that the Lord God put around Job; I claim it right now in Jesus’ name. Now that we have the devil against the ropes, in the next chapter we are going to knock him out, in Jesus’ name. Join me in the fight to do damage to the kingdom of darkness.

11 Doing Damage to the Kingdom of Darkness Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Romans 8:37

Famous boxer Mike Tyson is quoted as saying, “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” 1 Let me go on record by saying it is time to punch the devil in the mouth. Satan’s presumption is to make you believe that he can take over your life and your rights as a child of God. But he has underestimated us as the real church of Jesus Christ; we have been called for spiritual warfare, not to live defeated lives in mediocre Christianity. Our Lord Jesus Christ paid the ultimate price two thousand

years ago for us to be victorious in our Christian walk and life. The proof is in the pudding, as David knew well: For by You I can run against a troop, by my God I can leap over a wall. As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the LORD is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him. For who is God, except the LORD ? And who is a rock, except our God? It is God who arms me with strength, and makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of deer, and sets me on my high places. He teaches my hands to make war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You have also given me the shield of Your salvation; Your right hand has held me up, Your gentleness has made me great. You enlarged my path under me, so my feet did not slip. I have pursued my enemies and overtaken them; neither did I turn back again till they were destroyed. Psalm 18:29–37

As the true Church, we are equipped to take it all back.

Pursuing, Not Retreating The word pursue has the following synonyms: to chase, dog, follow, hound, tag, trail, trace and track. 2 What a powerful word. Pursuit is a word of action, and the Lord Jesus Christ wants His Church to

pursue and push forward in the spiritual warfare fight. When the apostle Paul describes the armor of God in the book of Ephesians, he had a visual in mind because he was tied to a Roman soldier. Paul describes the armor of God this way: Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; Ephesians 6:10–17

What an awesome picture. Notice that Paul describes every detail of the armor. And it all has to do with the front of the warrior (or Roman soldier). It has nothing to do with the soldier’s back, because Paul was saying to us, in a spiritual way, that it is

about pressing through, pushing through—pursuing. The reason there was nothing about the back of the Roman soldier Paul talked about is because we are a people who are not to shrink back or run the other way. We are not called to retreat, but to pursue. Many of us today have shrunk back and run the other way in the spiritual warfare fight. We have given the devil what he wanted, and we have surrendered what he stole from us without a fight, instead of giving him a fight, because he gripped us with fear. No more! It is time to punch him in the mouth. It is time to pursue. If the Lord has done it for me, he will do it for you. God is no respecter of persons. Stay in your fight and pursue !

“You Shall Surely Overtake Them” I want to share a story about an amazing man of God in the Old Testament. His name was King David. This man went through hell and back, but he was always up for the challenge, and he represents the

Church of Jesus Christ metaphorically. I want to use brother David as my canvas. The Bible says he was a man after God’s own heart, with his flaws, weaknesses and frailties, but David also had amazing strengths. He was a mighty man of God. And let me prove it to you. In David’s darkest hours, when many of us would have shrunk back and thrown in the towel, or run into a cave, or stuck our head in the sand like an ostrich, he stood strong in the Lord. One of the most powerful examples of what we should be is found in 1 Samuel 30. David was out doing God’s work in the battlefield; he had no idea that a major attack was going to happen. But God loved David, and He loves you and me. God will let circumstances and situations come into our backyard, and I hear the Lord saying, Can I trust you in this situation? This is David’s story: Now it happened, when David and his men came to Ziklag, on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the South and Ziklag, attacked Ziklag and burned it with fire, and had taken captive the women and those who were there, from small to great; they did not kill anyone, but carried them away and went their way. So David and his men came to the city, and there it was, burned with fire; and their wives, their sons, and their daughters had been taken captive. Then

David and the people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept, until they had no more power to weep. And David’s two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite, had been taken captive. Now David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God. Then David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech’s son, “Please bring the ephod here to me.” And Abiathar brought the ephod to David. So David inquired of the L ORD , saying, “Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them?” And He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all.” 1 Samuel 30:1–8

David was in God’s perfect will going into battle, but he came back to his territory with his men and found everything burned to ashes and his family and loved ones missing. How many times have we come back from our workplaces or our ministries to a mess, to a tragedy, and instead of seeking the heart of God at that moment, we fail the test and let the enemy get what he wants from us—as he did with King David. The situation was so nasty for him that even his own men wanted to stone him. It is like having your own family want to take you out because something

went wrong, and you have nowhere to turn. But thank God for David; he set an example for us today. He turned to the Lord and asked, “Should I pursue?” God gave him the guarantee that he would recover it all—nothing missing, nothing broken. So this is the perfect picture of what the Church of Jesus Christ should be today.

My Own Ziklag Experience One time in particular, I, too, felt like David. I was in the Bahamas preaching the Gospel, pouring out my heart for the Kingdom so the captives could be set free. When I came back to the States, two precious pastor friends had caught on to things that had happened behind my back, but they were waiting for the right moment to tell me what had gone wrong. I had my Ziklag experience; everything around me was burnt down to ashes—thank God not physically, but spiritually. I remember them having me sit down in the hotel in Atlanta and breaking the news to me that people who were dear to me—people who had slept in my

house, eaten in my house and shared many times of fellowship with me—had allowed the enemy to use them as pawns in a chess game. All while I was out doing God’s work. I had known these two brothers in Christ since I got saved. But over the course of time, both of them had fallen into difficult circumstances. I will leave out details to help protect their identities, but it happened that I was able to give them some direct and significant help in that season, help that went beyond financial support. Despite these being brothers in the Lord, despite the work I was doing for the Lord and despite the help I was giving them, these brothers conspired against me. And sitting in that hotel and hearing the story of how these people had plotted against me for no reason at all, I felt like David in Ziklag—ridiculed and mocked after doing the work of the Lord. Their conspiracy created a domino effect in my life where I lost the house, HUD slapped me with a $25,000 fine, which I did not have, and I wound up in a bankruptcy courtroom in New York City. It felt like my whole life was tailspinning into a dark hole.

I took a drive with one of my pastor friends through the streets of Atlanta, trying to regroup my mind—it was so fragmented, and my spirit was distraught. One song that had recently come out suddenly played on the Christian radio station. It was called, “God Favored Me,” and I held onto that song. The devil depressed me and oppressed me. For the next three years I picked up the broken pieces, and all I had in my pocket was enough money to buy pizza and Chinese food to eat. I remember walking the streets of New York City, seeing people out having a nice meal. I would walk by this one restaurant and say to myself, “One day God will make a way for me to go there and have a nice meal.” I never got bitter with God. To make a long story short, the Lord supernaturally dismissed the $25K fine, and out of the ashes, I pursued—with the power of the Holy Spirit—every demon that had a grip on my life. I beat down every single one. Sure enough, the devil tried to tempt me. A close family member called me and said, “I heard what happened to you. Me and my boys are ready right now. We are going to go to the church, grab

those people, beat them up, and put them on the phone so you can hear them scream.” I told that person, “The Lord giveth; the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” And I also told the person, “Vengeance is the Lord’s, not yours or mine.” It took a moment in my life to forgive, but thanks be to God, I pursued . I did not quit. I did not leave the church. I began again and God gave me beauty for ashes. Everything that the devil meant for evil, God intended for good. Because I sought the Lord like David did, I, too, recovered it all. My credit came back to over 700. There is nothing missing, nothing broken in my life today. And I went back and sat in that restaurant and had my meal—in Jesus’ name.

Fear Not I am a soldier in the Church of Jesus Christ, and I am doing life with no parole. King David had many battles, and he had some failures, but God saw him through it all. God is faithful, no matter what the devil has to say.

One time I had the opportunity to preach in a particular city where something crazy happened. But before I get into the story, I just want to say one thing. When I was a devil worshiper, I was fearless. I was bold and crazy at the same time. I would pursue every fight that came my way, and I was on the losing team! How much more today will I pursue now that I am on the winning team! After an amazing altar call one night, a man came into the church right up in my face and said to me, “I am the chief warlock of this city. I came to destroy your meeting.” But he had forgotten that I have a Ph.D. in spiritual warfare. He picked the wrong church to mess with that night. I said to him, “You sure you’re ready for this fight?” He thought about it for a few seconds, and I knew that I had positioned myself in the spiritual realm before he did, because I remembered how the game is played in the spiritual realm. Then I said to him, “You got all your demons with you? You didn’t leave any at home?” And he said, “Why are you asking me that?”

I already knew he had lost part two of the fight without realizing it, because I positioned myself deeper in the spirit realm to get the victory. He repeated, “Why do you say that?” I said, “When I open this can of whupping on you, and when you get dropped to the floor, I don’t want you to tell me it wasn’t a fair fight because you left something demonic at home.” His eyes opened big and wide, and he said, “I’ve got everything.” I laid hands on him with the power of the Holy Spirit, and he dropped to the floor like he was nothing. He was squirming on the floor like a snake and foaming at his mouth. The believers around me at the altar call were scared to death, but I have learned through Jesus Christ, like David did, to pursue. I went and prayed for a whole bunch of brothers and sisters in Christ before I went to pray for him so he could learn his lesson not to mess with the Church of Jesus Christ ever again. He gave his life to the Lord that night. In my walk with the Lord, I have learned to pursue, and God has trained my hands for war to bring

damage to the kingdom of darkness like it has never seen before. Many times the devil has tried to paralyze me with fear to stop the Word of the Lord in my life. I have attended conferences and events just as a visitor, and people got demon-possessed in the place and turned around and pointed their finger at me saying, “John Ramirez, we are going to destroy you.” Those precious people did not even know who I was in the natural—but the evil spirits knew. I have gotten phone calls and emails from Satanists saying they are going to destroy my life and my daughter’s life. But I have kept my eyes on Jesus, and I will not fear. The church needs to wake up and understand that greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. John Ramirez will die one day, and my daughter, too, but only when Jesus Christ says so, not because of a witch, warlock or Satanist. I leave you with just two thoughts. The day I go home to the Lord and close my eyes for the last time, I will make Jesus Christ proud. And the day I go home to the Lord, hell will rejoice because I left the battlefield. May God get all the glory.

1 . Mike Berardino, “Mike Tyson Explains One of His Most Famous Quotes,” South Florida Sun-Sentinel online, November 9, 2012, accessed January 16, 2019, https://www.sunsentinel.com/sports/fl-xpm-2012-11-09-sfl-mike-tysonexplains-one-of-his-most-famous-quotes-20121109-story.html. 2 .  Merriam-Webster , s.v. “Pursue,” accessed March 19, 2019, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pursue.

12 Giving Fear an Eviction Notice The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me? Psalm 118:6

In this chapter I want to share the tactics of Israel when they fought their enemies, and how they ambushed the enemy instead of the enemy ambushing them. In other words, they were on the offense. It is time to ambush the devil in his camp. When I was growing up, there were many school yard fights, and the person who did the least talking always threw the first punch and knocked the other person out. In the days in which we are living, the Church is doing a lot of talking about the enemy of

our soul but not confronting him. Let us do less talking and throw the first spiritual punch. This is what I call frontline spiritual warfare: to destroy every target, every satanic altar and every satanic setup. The following story shows us how to ambush the enemy’s camp: So [the Israelites] rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the LORD your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.” And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the LORD , and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying: “Praise the L ORD , for His mercy endures forever.” Now when they began to sing and to praise, the L ORD set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated. 2 Chronicles 20:20–22

We are called to be spiritual snipers for Jesus Christ. I believe God called the Church to be specialops for the end times, and I love the story here in 2 Chronicles about how Israel went into battle singing and worshiping. We can do the same thing through these prayers. We are going to praise and

worship God as we go into battle and ambush the devil and his cronies. As you pray these prayers, the foundations of hell will shake and the weapons you release out of your mouth will send an earthquake into the devil’s camp. The forces of darkness will be confused, they will be destroyed and they will be taken down. They will be made into ashes and placed under your feet. God is no respecter of persons. The same way He did it for the Israelites, He is going to do it for us today. It is time to throw the first punch. Through these praise punches, we will establish ourselves in the fight. Remember that we are not fighting alone.

Praise Punches Father, I thank You for my life today. I know that God has a great plan for me, plans of good and not of evil, to give me hope and a wonderful future. Father, I thank You for the blood of Your Son, Jesus Christ.

I thank You, Father, for the benefit and the provision of the blood of Jesus Christ. I thank You for my family, my children, my finances and my ministry, in the name of Jesus. I confess that I am a child of God. I declare that I am born again by the Spirit of God. I thank You, Jesus, that by Your blood You have made me a citizen of heaven, in Jesus’ name. I thank You, Jesus, that by the finished work of the cross, I live in the victorious side, in Jesus’ name. Today, I am reigning with Christ and seated in heavenly places. Today I am blessed because my life is hidden in Christ. I shall live and not die, and I will declare the works of the Lord, in the name of Jesus. I confess that I cannot fail.

I confess that I will not give any territory to the enemy. I confess that Jesus Christ is Lord over my life, in Jesus’ name. Today, for me and my house, we thank God for His goodness that He bestows over our lives, in Jesus’ name. I praise the Lord with all my soul, that even though the devil has formed weapons against me, they did not prosper, in Jesus’ name.

Scripture Arrows Now we are going deeper into the fight with these Scripture arrows that are dipped in the blood of Jesus Christ to destroy everything the devil and his camp stand for: And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the LORD went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead. 2 Kings 19:35

“I will send My fear before you, I will cause confusion among all the people to whom you come, and will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before you.” Exodus 23:27–28 And there was trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. The garrison and the raiders also trembled; and the earth quaked, so that it was a very great trembling. 1 Samuel 14:15 And concerning Jezebel the LORD also spoke, saying, “The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.” 1 Kings 21:23 So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun; when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him. Isaiah 59:19

Repeat this out loud: Today, by the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon my life, I declare and decree that all these spiritual warfare Scriptures may drop like bombs into the enemy’s camp, and let everything be destroyed as I speak the Word of God into the

devil’s camp. I declare the victory in the matchless name of Jesus Christ. We are going to finish off anything that is left standing in the enemy’s camp against us. These spiritual nuclear bombs about the blood of Jesus will destroy fear, terror, insecurity, rejection, every mind-control spirit, every spirit of sickness, unworthiness, inferiority, failure, guilt, shame, pride, narcissism (ego), self-pity, disgrace, isolation, suicide and every demonic spirit known and unknown. Today we give them an eviction notice.

Spiritual Nuclear Bombs Father, I thank You for the blood of Jesus Christ. I dip my mind, my house, my family and everything that You have blessed me with at this point, in the blood of Jesus. Holy Spirit, as I pray these prayers, let every nuclear bomb of these prayers hit every target in the devil’s camp. Make me stealthy in the spirit realm as I go into the

enemy’s camp and take back everything he has stolen from me and my loved ones. I destroy every satanic radar that has been aimed at me. Let them be destroyed by the blood of Jesus. I apply the blood of Jesus to every satanic attack over my life. I release the blood of Jesus to destroy every demonic assignment against me. I plunge myself in the blood of Jesus. I paralyze all satanic operations against me, my family, my business, and my ministry in Jesus’ name. I hold the blood of Jesus as a shield against the powers of darkness against me, in the name of Jesus. By the blood of Jesus, I stand against every entrapment, setup and distraction against me. I smite it with the blood of Jesus, in Jesus’ name. I stand in the blood of Jesus and declare myself to be unshakable and unmovable in

Jesus’ name. Let every Goliath demon that is trying to challenge me in this fight be paralyzed in the blood of Jesus. I destroy with the blood of Jesus Christ every demonic seed that has been planted in my life. Let it rot right now in the blood of Jesus. I destroy, paralyze and take out all demonic spirits through the blood of Jesus Christ. Let the power of the blood of Jesus Christ be released to the four corners and destroy every setup that the devil has against me, in Jesus’ name. I release the blood of Jesus right now to chase after every principality, territorial demon and familiar spirit that has been assigned against me; let them drown in the blood of Jesus. Let the blood of Jesus Christ quicken within me all that is dead in me; come alive now, in Jesus’ name!

I declare the blood of Jesus Christ to destroy all manipulation against me in Jesus’ name. I shut down by the blood of Jesus the four corners of my neighborhood that any witch or warlock has tried to put witchcraft in against me. Let the blood of Jesus and the finished work of the cross stand between me and every satanic force that is trying to hold me down —trying to hold down my present, my past and my future. Today I stand by faith and declare that everything in the devil’s camp against me, my family, my loved ones and my ministry has been burnt down by faith in Jesus Christ. I seal all these prayers with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In Christ We Have the Last Laugh

These praise punches, scripture arrows, and spiritual nuclear bombs will end all insecurities of fear and unbelief and every demonic spirit that is keeping you from God’s best in your life. Through them, you will break and dismantle every stronghold the devil has gained over your mind, thoughts and emotions and be set free. First John 3:8 says, “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” We are called to live a strong, victorious life in Jesus, never to look back over our shoulders—which is Egypt—because we are heading to the Promised Land of our destiny.

13 No Chain Greater Than the Name of Jesus In the fear of the LORD there is strong confidence, and His children will have a place of refuge. Proverbs 14:26

Today we must make up our minds and believe in our hearts that no chain is greater than the name of Jesus. We are to live and die by these words. We are the end times Church that is built on the solid rock of Jesus Christ, until He calls us home. And to prove my case, here is one of the most powerful Scriptures in the whole Bible: Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things

present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:37–39

So every lying, deceiving spirit, every spirit of infirmity or fear and every work of the devil has been destroyed for good. All spirits of bondage, entrapment and unbelief; all seducing, deceiving spirits; and all the hosts of hell have been defeated once and for all. And through some powerful prayers you will see later in this chapter, we are going to maintain our victory in Christ Jesus.

Weak Vessels, Strong Vessels I want to share a moment from my past to set the record straight. As you know by now, I was a general in the kingdom of darkness for 25 years, and I sent witchcraft to many people in those days, including Christians. I understood the spiritual warfare realm from the demonic side. I understood that when I did witchcraft on unbelievers, they were no match for what was going to hit them in the spirit realm.

But one thing that used to boggle my thinking was why it affected believers when I did witchcraft on them. I thought, in my demonic thinking, that the devil was bigger than God, than Jesus Christ. I could not believe, understand or trust a God who would let witchcraft fall on His people, because I had spiritual leverage over the Church. Now I know that it is not Jesus Christ who is weak; He is all-powerful. It is the vessel that is weak, fragile and fragmented. Through my own testimony, I know there is no chain greater than the name of Jesus. I am living proof of the power of the almighty God. The book of James says, “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!” (2:19). I hope you caught that; the demonic realm is terrified of God and especially of the shed blood of Jesus, who died for your sins and my sins. There is no chain greater than the name of Jesus! And today, eighteen years later, warlocks and witches around the world have tried to cast witchcraft spells against me. I have gotten phone calls from witches in Miami, emails, demonic words on Instagram and YouTube about how “we want to

kill you, John Ramirez” or how “we are going to destroy you, and we are going to your funeral.” In other emails they have threatened to kill my daughter, my only child, through witchcraft, but I understand one thing: through Jesus Christ, this vessel—me—is far from weak, fragile and fragmented. My Lord and Savior has made me a vessel of honor. Isaiah 64:8 tells us: “But now, O L ORD , You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter; and all we are the work of Your hand.” Here is another precious Scripture: But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 2 Timothy 2:20–22

We have to determine in our hearts today that we are going to be vessels of honor. I believe that God has made me a vessel of honor for spiritual warfare.

A Spirit of Hindrance against the Church So the witches and warlocks have nothing on me. Nothing will move me, shake me or hinder me. I have seen too much in Jesus Christ to doubt and fear. In many of the services where I have gone to preach, however, I have noticed something troubling: there is a spirit rampant, unchecked, in the house of God today—the spirit of hindrance. This is a spirit that is blocking you, slowing you up in your race with the Lord, sidetracking you, throwing roadblocks on your spiritual walk and placing pitfalls in your path. And we keep going around the same mountain and expecting different results. That is why many of God’s people are in bondage and chained up spiritually, and those chains need to be broken off today. I have preached and taught on spiritual warfare and deliverance, and many wonderful believers have come to the meetings because they were not able to find that teaching in their churches. The best they have been told is, “What you are going through is the will of God for your life.”

Others have just been told hogwash words like “claim it, and you have the victory.” And they soon find out that is not the case because the root of the problem is not just words—it is deeper than that. It is dealing with this devil called hindrance. I promise that this is the last time you will see him trying to plague you and trip you up. It is time for the chains to come off. These destructive demons need to be cast out, dismantled and uprooted. The Lord Jesus Christ does not negotiate.

Do Not Misjudge the Devil Many of the leaders in the Church today say, “Let us not talk about the devil and give him any glory.” That is an easy way out; I call that a cop-out. And it is totally ignorant not to know anything about your enemy. The Bible says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6), and the apostle Paul makes it clear when he warns us, “. . . lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices” (2 Corinthians 2:11). That says it all. It is time to wake up, church, because we are sitting in our pews today in the

Church at large in defeat, bondage and misery. Understand one thing—Satan is a master of his craft. Remember he has been fighting since the day he got kicked out of heaven, and we have only been fighting since we have been kicked out of our mothers’ wombs. Do the math. Do not let the sleeping Church lie to you. Satan’s kingdom is very established and systematic, having demons gather up information on those he intends to attack before he unleashes hell on them. These demons-on-assignment examine our weaknesses, flaws and past mistakes. They try to bring into our lives—whether in dreams or through other spiritual attacks—worry, fear, anxiety, sorrow, emptiness and confusion. These are some of the demonic arrows they shoot right at us. I remember doing these kinds of spells on Christians when I was assigned to unleash Satan’s plan. Some spirits even plague us with insomnia so we have sleepless nights. Satan has aimed his arsenals straight in the face of the churches today. Daniel 7:25 ( AMPC ) reminds us, “And [Satan] shall speak words against the Most High [God] and shall wear out the saints of the Most High.”

The devil’s mind-set is to hinder us, frustrate us, bring delay and stop the progress of our growth in Christ and in our mission as the Church on earth. So all satanic hindrances are leaving today. I have got good news for you, hot off the press from heaven. God is all-powerful, almighty in all His ways, and we are hidden in Christ Jesus. That means the greatest treasure in the universe lives inside of us. He is the third person of the Triune God, the Holy Spirit. We are going to turn the tables on this demon called hindrance. We are going to frustrate his plan and accelerate to the wonderful things that God has for us—for you and me. There are three blessings against which this devil called hindrance and his cronies do not stand a chance in hell. Let me give you these three points to start with so we can engage in the fight. 1. The Word of God “Is not My word like a fire?” says the LORD , “And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” Jeremiah 23:29

2. The Name of Jesus

Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:9–11

3. The Blood of Jesus And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Revelation 12:11

Holy Spirit Fire Prayer Points Say these prayer points out loud with me: Father, thank You for Your awesome power and for working on my behalf, in Jesus’ name. I glorify the name of Jesus. I know with all my heart, Father, that You hear my prayers, in the name of Jesus.

Let every hindrance demon that is trying to destroy my progress be destroyed now, in Jesus’ name. I release the fire of the Holy Spirit against any roadblock demon in my new year, in Jesus’ name. I command fire to strike the head of every demon of all those that are trying to block my breakthrough, in Jesus’ name. Mountain of shame, I destroy you right now in Jesus’ name. Mountain of infirmity, I destroy you right now in Jesus’ name. Mountain of fear, I destroy you now in Jesus’ name. Every demon of unbelief, anxiety, depression and oppression, I destroy you now in the name of Jesus. Let the anointing fire of the Holy Spirit destroy all satanic yokes against me, in Jesus’ name. I loose confusion into the devil’s camp and his operations that are blocking my purpose

and my destiny. Be burned down, in Jesus’ name. I break off me every demonic delay and hindrance trying to stop my blessings this year, in Jesus’ name. I frustrate, confuse and dismantle any roadblock that has been set up against me for the progress of my spiritual walk. I burn them down now with the fire of the Holy Spirit. May the fire of God break into every demonic meeting where my name is called; let those devils be scattered, in Jesus’ name. I bind and rebuke all demonic reinforcements sent by the devil to hinder and frustrate my life, in Jesus’ name. Spirit of the living God, let Your fire be poured on every lying, hindering spirit that is trying to barricade my purpose, destiny and blessings, in Jesus’ name. Every foul, wicked spirit that is a destinykiller, I smite you now with the blood of Jesus.

Let every demonic seed planted in my mind or in my dreams be uprooted right now in Jesus’ name. Today I embarrass and destroy the plans of the devil against my life, in Jesus’ name. Let every astral-projected demon of hindrance that has been assigned to my spiritual space be burnt down by Holy Spirit fire in Jesus’ name. I destroy every satanic power trying to sabotage my relationship with Jesus Christ. Be destroyed now. Let every satanic delay infiltrating my life be destroyed now in Jesus’ name. Every satanic plan against me, let it catch on fire in Jesus’ name. Let every satanic monitoring device that has been aimed at me blow up right now, in Jesus’ name. Now shout hallelujah and give the Lord a praise for your supernatural breakthrough, in Jesus’ name!

14 Life with No Parole with Jesus Is Ultimate Freedom Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Galatians 5:1

I have decided to sign a contract by the finished work of the cross. I have made up my mind to do life with Jesus, and I want no parole. I say, like the great apostle Paul, I am determined to finish the race and one day, with all gladness, to see Jesus face-to-face. I hang my hat on this Scripture for life. I hope that you will do the same.

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. Romans 8:14–16

Wherever you are in your walk with God, stop, ponder and make a commitment to do life with Jesus without parole. I promise you that when you close your eyes for the last time, you will make Jesus proud.

Two Contracts I remember it like it happened yesterday. On a dark night in October in the late 1990s, I went into a basement in the Bronx, determined to sell my soul to the devil. That was the ultimate goal: to sign the contract with my own blood. Weeks before, all this had been set in motion, leading to that one night, which came with a sense of foreboding. I remember being ushered into the basement along with sixteen other people, blindfolded and hearing the demonic songs,

drumbeats and chanting. You could cut the atmosphere with a knife. Before I knew it, midnight was staring us in the face. We were ordered up to the altar to meet the devil. You could almost hear and feel the heartbeats of those who stood with me at the altar. I was the first one in line—I wanted to be first. I was crazy and determined to beat everyone out. The fear was so real that some of the other initiates fainted and fell onto the cold concrete floor. As they carved the razor into my chest, blood gushed out, and I was ready to sign the contract. Little did I know there was another contract waiting for me years later—more real than this one. God was about to turn the tables on the devil. In 1999, Jesus Christ took me literally to hell as one of the most satanic people who ever walked the earth, and I came back from that journey a believer in Jesus Christ. My life was compelled by the love of God after that. Somehow His love saturated my thinking, and I was so grateful that Jesus Christ thought of me and loved me unconditionally with a love that is everlasting.

I never had a dad who loved me, not even the devil —who once told me he would be my “daddy.” But the Lord Jesus Christ showered His love on me, and His Father became my Father. As a token of my appreciation, I came up with the idea of making a new contract. While I was ignorant enough to sign a contract with the devil, how much more would I love to sign a contract with my Savior, Jesus Christ. In my baby-Christian faith, I took out a piece of paper, and with no regrets at all, I wrote on the paper: “I am doing life with Jesus Christ, and I want no parole.” I signed it with all my heart. I offered it up to Jesus and said to Him, “I give You this for what You have done for me,” and my journey started. Sometime later, The 700 Club heard about it, and they were so touched by my story that they sent a film crew from Virginia Beach to tell my story. Only God could do something like that. That is my contract, and I still have the paper today. That is why I shout the words, “Doing life with Jesus Christ, with no parole!” It is a commitment not only for this life, but for the life to come. My life will never be the same. I am

living the ultimate freedom because Jesus knew my address. The Bible is full of stories that have touched me beyond comprehension, and somehow I have seen my own life in these stories. I hope you find yourself in these stories, too.

The First Martyr The book of Acts tells the story of a young disciple named Stephen. The most amazing thing about this young man was his humility and his heart for the Gospel. His job, appointed by the apostles, was to wait on tables. We will go to the Scriptures and let the Word tell the story: Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, “It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” Acts 6:1–3

One of the seven men chosen to serve as a deacon was Stephen. He was powerful, anointed and filled with the Spirit of God. And he had made a decision to do life with Jesus with no parole—no matter what came his way, he was sold out for the cross. Sometime later, Stephen, who had an evangelistic spirit, was out and about preaching the Gospel when his enemies confronted him. I thank God for this young man’s amazing example of courage and boldness and how it has helped me live my life the same way. And you know how the story goes, after preaching a bold sermon to the unbelieving Jews of his day, Stephen said: “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it. ” When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; and they cast him out of the

city and stoned him . And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep. Acts 7:51–60

This beautiful story in the Word of God makes me cry every time I read it. The Bible says that Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of the Father, but for just this one day, as Stephen was gazing up to heaven, he saw Jesus Christ standing on his behalf. How powerful and amazing our Jesus is, that He stood up for our brother Stephen because he made the ultimate sacrifice—giving his life for the sake of the Gospel. When you make up your mind with all your heart to do life in Jesus without parole, Jesus will stand up for you, too. The story does not end there. It is so compelling that the young man holding the coats as Stephen was being murdered watched it all. I believe he saw something in Stephen that even he did not have, with all his religious accolades. He even cast his own lots for this to happen.

His name was Saul. Only God and His incredible love can turn your life around like he did for me and for many others. Saul was a scholar from the Sanhedrin. He had a reputation, he had zeal. Historians say that Saul spoke five languages. He was a Roman citizen. He sat at the feet of Gamaliel, discipled to be a “Pharisee of Pharisees” (see Philippians 3:4–6). Reading between the lines, you can see that Saul was an angry young man, a very bitter person, full of religion but no Holy Spirit, to the point that he was determined to destroy Christianity in his day. But it is not where you start that matters, it is where you finish. Thank God for mercy and grace instead of judgment. This is Saul’s encounter with the Almighty One on the Road to Damascus: Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”

And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one. Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank. Acts 9:1–9

God had prepared one of His own in Damascus to pray for Saul, give him back his sight and baptize him. Then Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.” Acts 9:13–16

When Ananias obeyed God and restored Saul, Saul then spent some days with the disciples at

Damascus: Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God. Then all who heard were amazed, and said, “Is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem, and has come here for that purpose, so that he might bring them bound to the chief priests?” But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this Jesus is the Christ. Now after many days were past, the Jews plotted to kill him. But their plot became known to Saul. And they watched the gates day and night, to kill him. Then the disciples took him by night and let him down through the wall in a large basket. Acts 9:20–25

How amazing that Paul—no longer Saul—went into the witness protection program in Jesus! He had decided to do life with Jesus and wanted no parole.

Blind but Doing Life in Jesus I sit at times in my apartment looking out the window, reflecting back to 2002 when the devil sucker-punched me and I lost my eyesight for three and a half months. I was even registered with the

Commission for the Blind, but thank God for my awesome mom. I always say that the closest thing to God is an incredible mother. I have never told this part of my story until now. In my legally blind state, my mom came to live with me to take care of me. Sitting by my window, I remember those days as clear as blue skies and sunshine. My mom would ask me, “Do you want to go for a walk?” I knew the weather was warm even though I could not see the blue skies and sun. As we walked around my neighborhood, I would walk beside her. When it came time to cross the streets, she tried to grab hold of my hand, and I would say, “Please don’t.” She said, “You can’t see. You’re blind.” I told her, “It’s okay. I’m doing life with Jesus, and I want no parole.” As we crossed the street, I told her, “If any cars are coming, please let me know, because the devil will not get the last laugh.” Looking back on those days, with my eyesight restored today, all I can say is God is good.

A Motley Crew

Here we witness the love and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. When it came time to pick His twelve disciples, He could have gone anywhere and picked anyone He wanted, but as He walked by the seashore He grabbed fishermen and made them fishers of men instead. He did not stop there. He knocked on the door of a tax collector—a man hated by his fellow Jews because he was seen as enemy number one, overcharging so he could fill his pockets. There was even a man called Judas, and we know his story and downfall. Yet Jesus still chose him and loved him, all the way down to the Last Supper, when he sat as a traitor at the table and heard the words of love that came out of Jesus’ mouth that night, giving him an opportunity to change his heart and mind—but he chose not to. These precious men walked with Jesus for three years, the most powerful years of their lives, lifechanging and life-transforming, with all their flaws and weaknesses. But as soon as the Lord said, “Follow me,” they figuratively signed a contract like I once did. They went on a journey to do life with Jesus with no parole.

Even with their mistakes, lack of faith and fears, they became great men of God. This is the most touching part that has impacted my life—the story of a man called Peter, with many flaws, a big mouth and a basketful of emotions. On the night of Jesus’ betrayal, Peter boldly told Jesus that he would stay with Him to the very end. Here is how the story goes: Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: ‘I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee.” Peter said to Him, “Even if all are made to stumble, yet I will not be.” Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you that today, even this night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.” But he spoke more vehemently, “If I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” Mark 14:27–31

Sometime later, this is what happened to Peter: Now as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came. And when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with Jesus of Nazareth.” But he denied it . . . and he went out on the porch, and a rooster crowed.

And the servant girl saw him again, and began to say to those who stood by, “This is one of them.” But he denied it again. And a little later those who stood by said to Peter again, “Surely you are one of them; for you are a Galilean, and your speech shows it . ” Then he began to curse and swear, “I do not know this Man of whom you speak!” A second time the rooster crowed. Then Peter called to mind the word that Jesus had said to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.” And when he thought about it, he wept. Mark 14:66–72

But God was not done with Peter yet. It is fascinating how he denied Jesus three times, and later we see the resurrected Jesus asking Peter three times by the seashore, “Do you love me?” Poor Peter was so moved and grieved in his heart. I am sure all he could remember was the betrayal. The only words he had were, “Lord, you know all things. I love you” (see John 21:15–19). After three denials, Jesus restored his life in three statements at the seashore. Peter went on to have such an incredible ministry that his first preaching gig, recorded in the book of Acts, led three thousand people into the Kingdom of God.

Church historians tell the end of his story. At an old age, Peter was crucified in Rome, and he told the soldiers tasked with his execution, “Crucify me upside-down, because I am not worthy to die the way my Lord died.” Those are the words of a man who signed up to do life with Jesus, with no parole. The other disciples (except Judas) signed the same contract as they sat at the table during the Last Supper. They did not know they were going to be martyrs, too; all they knew was that they were going to finish the race, because when you decide and commit your ways to the Lord, you, too, are doing life with Jesus without parole. Rejoice, the battle has been won!

15 A World Gripped in Fear For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16

The world is running upside-down by the devil’s command, and many are trapped. It is like a hamster on a wheel—running but going nowhere—because of circumstances, crises and the uncertainties of tomorrow. That is the poison the devil has handed over to you; it is called fear. Running to psychics, reading horoscopes, meditating on your own righteousness, even bending over like a pretzel in a yoga class, trying to find peace. Stop chasing the question mark in life when Jesus Christ is the answer and He can set you free from all fears—and promise

you a tomorrow filled with peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. 2 Corinthians 4:3–4 Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time. Revelation 12:12

There is no doubt we are living in troubled times, times of uncertainty. These are the facts:

Natural Disasters From earthquakes in Indonesia, flooding in Japan and a volcanic eruption in Guatemala, thousands have lost their lives in natural disasters in 2018, and hundreds of thousands more were injured or displaced. The ongoing deadly wildfires in California underscore how rapidly natural disasters can become deadly.

Greece: Wildfires Papua New Guinea: Earthquake North Korea: Floods Pakistan: Heat Wave Nigeria: Floods Japan: Floods India: Floods Indonesia: Earthquake 1 Natural disasters are here today and gone tomorrow, beyond our control, leaving a trail of victims in their wake—sometimes through the loss of homes and other property and sometimes through the loss of lives. These are some of the fear factors that we think about. Like a game of Russian roulette, we do not know if the next crisis will happen in some state next to ours, some country far away—or even in our own hometown. We do not know whose turn is next. It is time to pray.

Gun Violence In 2018 alone, including the carnage at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, there have been 47,220 gun-related

incidents resulting in 11,984 deaths in the United States, according to data compiled by Gun Violence Archive, an independent data-collection and research group. 2 Many horrible crimes have been committed by people who claimed they heard voices in their heads that convinced them to go out and kill. It is sad to say, but we are all victims—the ones who die and the ones who commit the crime. No one wakes up one morning and says, “I am going to go out and kill a bunch of people today.” Something had to happen to that person’s life for them to carry out this insanity. Whether it is our schools, our college campuses, our restaurants or even our churches and synagogues, rampant gun violence is on the rise and skyrocketing out of control. Turning on the news, all we hear are the patterns and cycles of copycat crimes as people’s minds are being held captive by the evil one. We are living in a world gripped with fear, and that world has a cruel taskmaster, a spiritual pharaoh— manipulating, controlling, tormenting and abusing innocent people whom Jesus Christ loves. People are running up and down with fear, with no guarantee of tomorrow. We try to find the answer so we can have

a guarantee in our everyday lives, but what many people turn to is emptiness—empty people putting their hope in empty promises and false answers that are empty of power. We turn to psychic readings, horoscopes and meditations just to find temporary peace in a false hope. And tomorrow we are back on the same hamster wheel. Some people run to yoga classes, somehow thinking that stretching and humming is the solution to our problem, when it is much deeper than that. Instead of getting out of the pitfalls of life, we dig ourselves deeper.

The Devil’s Scammers Every chance I get, I like to expose the utter scam that psychics practice, all in the name of helping you “get your answer for tomorrow” or “resolving all your problems” with the broken promises of a tarotcard reading. How is it that the psychic makes all these promises to you and their own lives are falling apart? What a joke. Allow me to let you in on a little secret. Psychics do not work. I was one myself at one time. Let me

pull away the curtain and show you what you are really signing up for. Whether the psychic has the title of a white witch or a black witch, no matter how you slice the devil, he is still the devil. It is like having pizza; no matter how you slice the pizza, it is still pizza. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD , and because of these abominations the LORD your God drives them out from before you. Deuteronomy 18:10–12

This is what the Word of God says, and God is true, though every man be a liar. When you sit with a psychic or a medium, they take the tarot cards and break them into three piles: past, present and future. The reason they can tap into your past is because they have connections with familiar spirits, which are demons, and they will say things to you about your past that will impress you to set you up for a deeper downfall.

The psychics do not stop there; the next pile is supposed to represent your present, or what you are going through now. They will tell you about your sufferings, your bad decisions and your struggles so they can release a spirit of fear on you at the same time. They are masters of deception. I know how the game is played; I have a Ph.D. in witchcraft. Please listen to this, “As for the person who turns to mediums and to spiritists, to play the harlot after them, I will also set My face against that person and will cut him off from among his people” (Leviticus 20:6 NASB ). Next, the psychic goes straight to the third pile, which is supposed to be your future. That is the dagger they use to go straight into your heart, your will and your emotions—because all they want from you is your bank account. There is no future in witchcraft. I did 25 years in it only to later realize that the only thing I accomplished was a dead end. There was no happy ending. They promise you that all these beautiful things are going to happen—for a price. They may tell you that you have to do a spiritual cleansing and, even deeper, a ceremony. They will tell you that you

have a guardian angel or protective spirit that is going to see you through it, and that you have a bright future. They will tell you that if you do not do these things, bad things will happen to you. And then they will give you a time frame in which to do these things—more lies, more fear, more deception. They will say things like, “You are going to lose your marriage,” or “You are going to lose your job,” or “I see a loved one getting sick to the point of death.” Little do you know, when you walk away from this disaster card reading, the demon that was whispering in the medium’s ear will go with you to perform all these demonic attacks. Then you will run back to the witch—days later, weeks later—desperate, saying, “Everything that you said to me did happen!” And then the medium or witch will say, “I can fix it for you for a fee.” She calls back the demon that was tormenting you and making all these terrible things happen. Meanwhile, she is taking you to the cleaners and emptying out your bank account. That is not telling you the future; that is a demonic entrapment. I am willing to challenge any witch, medium or tarot-card reader at any time to expose

the truth of what they are really about. And this is what the Word of the Lord says for those who take this road that leads to destruction, “Do not turn to mediums or spiritists; do not seek them out to be defiled by them. I am the L ORD your God” (Leviticus 19:31 NASB ). Again, I say why chase the question mark when Jesus Christ is the answer? When our world is gripped with fear, understand one thing: Storms do not last. There is One who can speak peace into your storm. He is the Savior of this world and of your world. Imagine being terrorized, your life continuously drained and your heart gripped with fear. Now imagine every day waking to the thought, “This day could be my last day or the last day for my loved ones, my family or my friends.” Imagine living in the constant fear of being burglarized, brutalized, vandalized and victimized without the answer or the key that will lock the door against your torment. We may even run to a psychologist or psychiatrist for comfort, and at times there is nothing wrong with that. God made doctors. But if you need surgery, why would you ask for a Band-Aid?

Terror No More Some time ago the Lord made a way for me to preach in Santa Monica, California, at a coffeehouse, not too far from the famous pier. I went there with great hope and faith that God was going to do something powerful for someone, without knowing who the person was. As I began to preach my heart out, the place was packed, and there was one young man who stood out from the crowd. According to the world’s standards, he was there by coincidence, but not for God. I did an altar call for people who needed healing or deliverance from tormenting spirits. He came up with his friend, a young woman, and to my surprise he told me he was in Santa Monica that week because he was going to be on a popular TV talk show. This young man was one of the blessed ones who survived a school shooting, and he had protected other people from being shot. Though he was alive, he was gripped with images of the school-shooting carnage in his mind, and the TV show wanted him to come tell his story.

But thanks be to God that he came to the service before he went on the TV show. As I laid my hands on him in the name of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit touched him so deeply that he burst out crying and shaking. He was instantly healed from his pain and set free from the torment. No longer did he have to chase the question mark. He got the answer that night. Days later I received a beautiful email saying that when he walked out of the coffeehouse, he was set free, and now he knew he had a purpose and a destiny—and it was not to be on a TV show. It was to tell the world that Jesus Christ is the only answer for anything that you are going through. Psalm 34:4 says, “I sought the L ORD , and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.” So wherever you find yourself, and in whatever circumstances—whether outright crises or just uncertainties about tomorrow—this is the poison the devil has handed over to you so that you will have no peace and never find the answer. But I have good news for you today, “For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and

has broken down the middle wall of separation” (Ephesians 2:14). If your world is gripped in fear and feels upside down; or if you are going through something and no psychic, medium, psychiatrist, psychologist or medication has gotten you the victory; or if these things have been just a temporary fix in your life and you are repeating patterns and cycles or experiencing generational curses that you inherited through no fault of your own; or if life has dealt you a bad deck of cards—know this: It is not where you start, it is where you finish. I lived in the broken places for half of my life, and by now you know much of my story from childhood until the age of 35. But today I am living proof that you can have a strong finish. You can finish on the side of Jesus Christ. Let me remind you, too, of my brother Jimmy, who was a living testimony, as well. Before he went home to the Lord, he lived in the ashes of life. His life was upside down from childhood, living in witchcraft, living a life of homosexuality, substance abuse and the pain of not being loved by his father. But God wrote the ending

to his story, not the devil. And I know one day I will see my brother again in heaven. No matter your story, God wants to meet you today. Would you take this step of turning to Him? God can give you beauty for ashes, as Isaiah 61:3 promises.

A Dedication to the Unsaved This is an invitation from deep in my heart for those who do not yet know Christ. You have been running, you have been ducking, you have been hiding and you have tried everything on the planet, looking for truth. You have found facts, but facts can be changed. Truth cannot. Truth has a name; His name is Jesus. When I was growing up, there was a commercial that said, “Take the Pepsi Challenge. You have nothing to lose.” And I say to you today, “Try Jesus. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.” You are only one step away from a life-transforming miracle that could happen to you today and will last you a lifetime. Just say these words with me:

Father, I come to You in the name of Jesus. I confess all my sins before You, and I ask for forgiveness. King Jesus, now I believe that You are the Son of God and died for me so I do not have to live in my sins anymore. Father, wash my sins with the blood of Jesus Christ. I confess that You are the Savior of the world. Come into my heart and change me. Give me eternal life. Thank You for saving me and redeeming me by the precious blood of Your Son, Jesus Christ. I believe by faith that Jesus rose again, sits at the right hand of the Father and is coming back again. Thank You, Lord, for Your forgiveness. I receive You now as my Lord and Savior forever. Amen. Now you are on the journey to start a new life. Even if it rains (spiritual drama), Jesus Christ will be your spiritual umbrella and no harm will come near you. This is a beautiful thing that has happened to me and to every other person who is born again, and I had to share it. If I had the cure for cancer, why would I keep it to myself? I want everyone to be set free from fear. Thank You, Jesus.

1 . U.S. News & World Report, “10 of the Deadliest Natural Disasters in 2018,” WTOP.com, November 26, 2018, accessed January 4, 2019, https://wtop.com/world/2018/11/10-of-thedeadliest-natural-disasters-in-2018/. 2 . “There Have Been 47,220 Gun Incidents in the U.S. in 2018—and Here They All Are on One Map,” MarketWatch, October 28, 2018, accessed January 4, 2019, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/there-have-been-47220gun-incidents-in-the-us-in-2018-and-here-they-all-are-on-onemap-2018-10-27.

16 Freedom Is Not Free! The Power of Unchaining Others Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. John 15:13

Once believers have found freedom in Christ at the cross, it is our purpose to share that freedom with others—believers and unbelievers alike. Sharing the truths of the deliverance ministry with others who are still in bondage brings the message of healing and freedom full circle. When the resurrected Jesus was about to ascend back to His Father in heaven, He spoke these words

to His disciples, which includes those who believe today: And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. Matthew 28:18–20

A Bronx Tale Listen to me carefully. God the Father purchased us at a price, so it is not for us to keep our freedom to ourselves. Let me share my own experience that happened to me one day. It was a summer afternoon in New York, with beautiful blue skies, and I decided to get up that morning and head out to run errands in the Bronx. There is a particular car wash there where I take my car all the time because they hand-wash your car. As I got to the place, I greeted the workers as usual with small talk, and in front of me they were handdrying this big SUV that must have cost a fortune. It

had big jumbo rims on it and was a fairly new truck. To my surprise, four young guys were standing right beside it, and they did not look like the kind of guys who worked on Wall Street to pay for this truck, if you know what I mean. They were living on the other side of the tracks. On impulse, I went over and looked at the truck and complimented them on the SUV. As conversation broke out, talking about cars and trucks, I noticed that one of the young men had witchcraft beads around his neck. This was no fashion necklace; I would recognize those beads anywhere. At that very moment, I heard the Holy Spirit speak to me saying, Share the Gospel with him . I was saying to myself, I don’t think so. These guys are not going to take it too well. I even went into spiritual warfare mode, rebuking Satan, thinking that it was the devil trying to trick me. I tried to downplay it, yet all along I knew in my heart that it was the Holy Spirit. Because the situation could turn bad at any second, I tried to keep my freedom to myself, but I felt a strong conviction.

I got into my Bronx mode (we can laugh about that) and told the young man, “Those things that you are wearing around your neck are going to lead you straight to hell.” Things got serious at that moment. He frowned and said, “What are you talking about? My grandmother gave me these for protection.” I started to share my testimony at that very moment, led by the Holy Spirit, knowing that if I had walked away the only Gospel these young men was going to see was me. The last thing they were thinking about was going to church—and more likely to the nightclub. The other three guys were staring me down with a hardcore look, and suddenly I remembered that God had purchased me with a price. He healed me and set me free and purchased my freedom through the blood of Jesus Christ and the finished work of the cross. At that very moment, the car wash became a sanctuary, the Holy of Holies, holy ground. I saw the young man’s face soften, along with the faces of his three friends. He said, “I am willing to take these

things off. I do not want to go to hell. What should I do with them?” I said, “Give them to me, and I will rip them apart and pray for you.” As soon as I did that, I felt the bondage break off and deliverance took over through the power of the Holy Spirit. Truth prevailed that afternoon. I had driven half a block from the car wash when I heard the voice of the Holy Spirit once again. He said to me, That CD you are listening to [which was Christian rap and one of my favorites at the time] —I want you to turn back, go to the car wash and bless them with it . I said, “Lord, this is mine. I do not want to give it away.” But I felt in my heart that God was not done yet. I went back and blessed them with the CD. They were so happy; they turned off the worldly music they were listening to on the car radio and put in the Christian rap CD and drove off. What a touching moment. I thank God every day for that moment. Listen to these words I am about to speak. Someone somewhere is depending on you to do what God has called you to do. I repeat myself:

Someone somewhere is depending on you to do what God has called you to do. Many times the devil slaps us down with fear. We get timid, we get embarrassed and he shuts us down because he does not want to see anyone free.

Moses Gripped by Fear I want to reflect on the life of Moses, a mighty man of God. In the very beginning he tried to do things on his own. He even committed murder by accident, ran away out of fear and was lost in the wilderness. But he also had the burning bush encounter that changed his life and jump-started his real purpose. Many of us should ask God for a burning bush experience in our lives. Listen carefully to the words of Moses. After God called him to go to Pharaoh and demand that he set the children of Israel free, Moses said, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue” (Exodus 4:10). Moses sounded just like me that afternoon in the car wash. For some of us today, the reason why we

shy away from sharing the Gospel is fear that the devil will come after us, or the fear of man and what people will think of us. But listen to this powerful Scripture passage: And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. . . . These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.” Matthew 10:1, 5–8

Now read verse 16, “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” What an awesome display of the transformation from Moses before—running off in fear, trying to do things in the natural—to Moses after he spent forty years in the wilderness. That is where he was given a second chance to allow God to destroy fear off his own life, so he could destroy the fear of the Israelites who were in bondage, so they could be set free to

trust God in the journey. What a beautiful display of God’s goodness, mercy, grace and love. How awesome is the opportunity God has given us, that you and I have freely received our freedom in Christ. Now it is time for us as the Church, as believers, to allow God to speak through us, to use us the same way He used Moses and the first disciples. If you allow the Holy Spirit to do His job through you, you will live an amazing life in ministry. Let us look through the windows of the ministry of Jesus Christ during the three years He ministered on the earth. Window #1: When Jesus came down from the Mount of Transfiguration with the three disciples (James, John and Peter), they had encountered heaven up on that mountain the same way that we have encountered the blessings of God in our lives. God has called His Church to be down in the valley —that is where the ministry is to the broken, lost, oppressed and demonized. Here is the story: And when they had come [down from the mountain] to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often

into the water. So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.” Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.” And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour. Matthew 17:14–18

What a beautiful story of the power of unchaining others. This father saw the freedom of his son that day with his own eyes. Window #2: This next story tells of a woman who had a condition of death, no financial resources and nowhere to go but to Jesus. Feeble, unwanted, rejected by the community and probably with many demonic voices running through her mind—spirits of rejection telling her that she was unwanted, unclean and had no future. But she had a heart full of faith and determination, and she was relentless—so much so that she pushed through a massive crowd to touch the hem of the King’s garment. Please understand this in your spirit: Even with the masses of people that were pressing in on Jesus that day, the Lord said, “Who touched me?” And out of all these self-righteous people, she was the only one who was

able to touch Jesus and be healed. Touch Jesus today and be set free and healed. But as He went, the multitudes thronged Him. Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, came from behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped. And Jesus said, “Who touched Me?” When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, “Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’” But Jesus said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me.” Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before Him, she declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately. And He said to her, “Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well. Go in peace.” Luke 8:42–48

Window #3: This is a supernatural example of not giving up, even when things are dead in your life or about to die—there is no giving up in Jesus. While He spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped Him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay Your hand on her and she will live.” So Jesus arose and followed him, and so did His disciples. . . . When Jesus came into the ruler’s house, and saw the flute players

and the noisy crowd wailing, He said to them, “Make room, for the girl is not dead, but sleeping.” And they ridiculed Him. But when the crowd was put outside, He went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose. Matthew 9:18–19, 23–25

Many of us can relate to this story; if we have something happen to our family or to our children on some level or another, the first thing we do is cry out to God to come and touch our children. How many times has God given us the opportunity to pray for someone, to go to a hospital or to go to someone’s home and bring the ministry of deliverance, healing and freedom? And somehow we have shrunk back from the opportunity because we think we are not good enough to be used by God. Or we are walking in shame because we fell into sin that morning, so now we think God cannot use us. The Lord Jesus Christ is not looking for perfect people; He is looking for people who are genuine and called by His name. Do not let the devil steal the ministry of deliverance from you. Sadly, today we hear many preachers saying that the deliverance ministry was only for Jesus’ time because they are afraid to confront the devil on his turf. I love the story of how the great evangelist

Nicky Cruz has taken his ministry to the highways and byways of life. The last praise report I heard from brother Nicky is that, at the age of eighty, he was in Russia preaching the Gospel to the youth. There were five thousand young people there, the biggest youth gathering recorded in Russia. I am sure three things happened: the love of Jesus Christ, the ministry of deliverance and healing and freedom. We have heaven at our disposal 24/7. Do not believe the satanic lie that God cannot use you. The Church must wake up and be the watchmen on the wall. Window #4: Here is another amazing story of Jesus setting a man free in His ministry: Then they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught. . . . Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, saying, “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” And when the unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, he came out of him. Then they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they

obey Him.” And immediately His fame spread throughout all the region around Galilee. Mark 1:21–28

This was a powerful moment when Jesus set a demonized man free in the synagogue. How many people are going to church today spiritually bound, with strongholds, because we refuse to practice true freedom through Jesus Christ to set people free? God the Father, through the finished work of the cross, has given us the mandate and the authority, and He has put the devil under our feet. Somehow the evil one has gotten out from underneath our feet and is running rampant, loose and unchecked in the lives of unbelievers and believers alike. The Bible says that God is the same yesterday, today and forever. He changes not, and God has set us free with a commission to share that freedom in His house and in the four corners of the world. Why be free and not fulfill our purpose and destiny to help others be free? I leave you with this one word: count the cost. One day we will see Jesus face-to-face and give an account of our freedom that He lavishly poured out

on us. The true Gospel comes down to this: deliverance, healing and freedom. It is summed up in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

17 A Warning to Those in Leadership For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. Romans 12:3

The devil whispers these words—self-entitlement, pride and lust—to bring down what God has entrusted to those who are called to fivefold ministry (teachers, evangelists, prophets, apostles and pastors). The entrapment of the enemy is that he wants us to bite into the lie that we have the last word, are never wrong and are the final authority. If you succumb to this lie, it helps the devil kill your church, ministry, purpose and destiny.

Scripture says that pride goes before a fall, which means the devil has stuck out his foot and you have tripped over it. Through pride, we fall into the abyss of the ultimate lie that we are never wrong, and we can be like God, knowing right from wrong, the same way Adam and Eve fell into this entrapment. We have removed the Holy Spirit and let the devil take over—not realizing that our minds have been seared and poisoned with pride. The devil’s pitfalls include: Coveting material things Being greedy for money Starving for fame Hungering for power Lusting after men or women You can break these chains off your calling once and for all and be an overcomer in Jesus Christ. Remember, we cannot serve two masters. The secret of defeating fear and the evil one is by loving God more than you love your ministry. Matthew 6:24 ( KJV ) says, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the

other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” I say it again—the urgency for writing this book is not only for the Church at large, but for many leaders and ministers who are paralyzed, stuck and tormented by fear. Today you can be set free by the finished work of the cross. Let us turn the tables back on the enemy.

Derailed Callings I am very touched to write this chapter because I want to be a blessing to the Body of Christ, and if this chapter were an altar call, I would be one of the first ones at the altar. One of the greatest tricks the devil can pull is to afflict us with his poison. I think back to the life of Peter, a man chosen by God for ministry, and Peter had such a zeal in his heart and the right intentions. He was a man of many words from time to time, but he loved Jesus, and we can see that throughout the Scriptures. As always, the devil was trying to find a window or door into his life—and he found it.

As much as Peter loved Jesus, somehow the devil found that window into his heart the night Peter denied Jesus three times. Twenty-four hours earlier, Peter had said (paraphrased), “I will die with You, Lord, if that is what it takes.” And 24 hours later the devil stole his ministry. Shortly after I was saved, in my early church days, we would have church meetings from house to house. I used to hide myself in the very back of the crowd so they would not pick me to pray during the meeting. Even though my intentions were good and my heart was right—I loved Jesus—I was fearful of messing up. And because of that fear I did not want to pray, share my testimony or do anything that had to do with ministry. I wanted to be right with God and not mess up something that He was trying to entrust me with. The safest ministry for me at the time, so the devil would not try to afflict me, was to clean the bathrooms and cut the grass. I believe most of us have the right intentions to step into ministry. We have the right heart to touch other people’s lives, and in some capacity or other God has called us to the fivefold ministry. But the

devil somehow is sticking his head out of the bushes to try to ambush us at any given moment. We see this pattern all throughout Scripture, from Adam and Eve way back in the Garden of Eden, to the Old Testament heroes of the faith, and even to when Jesus stepped into the wilderness for forty days, the devil gave it his best shot, trying to derail His ministry. Here is a metaphor for you. Think of ministry as a boxing match. Even though you get in the ring and you are the champion, you should never get comfortable in the fight. It only takes one knockout punch from your opponent to lose it all. As we know very well, many high-profile preachers and evangelists who used to have powerful ministries have disappeared before their time because the devil shut down their ministries and their churches, and they are no longer preaching. We could call them by name; we know who they are. Whenever this has happened and I heard the news through the media, it gripped my heart in pain because that could happen to any one of us. Here is how the mind of the enemy works. It is like a chess game for him. In his chess game, once again,

these are his tools: Coveting material things Being greedy for money Starving for fame Hungering for power Lusting for men or women If he can entrap you in one of these, he creates a stronghold in your life. And his main goal is to water down the Gospel. Today, sad to say, many fivefold ministers have watered down the Gospel in America and other parts of the world. The apostle Paul had strong words to say about how we preach the Word of God: But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ. Galatians 1:8–10

Many ministers are living in fear because they are stuck in a compromised lifestyle, and now they find no way out. The demonic voices they hear are, “You are going to be exposed,” “You are going to lose your family,” “You are going to lose your ministry,” and “You are going to lose your church.” But God is merciful and full of grace. He is faithful to forgive and restore us when we truly repent.

Entrapment #1: Coveting Material Things Coveting material things, such as a house, promotion, career change, moving geographically to where we think the grass is greener on the other side or even the purchase of a new car, is an area that the devil can use when we have the wrong desires or the wrong mind-set. We can get spiritually blinded because we have lost our focus on God. We fall into these spiritual pitfalls by thinking that these desires or goals are blessings from the Lord Jesus Christ, but instead our motivations are lining up with Satan himself.

We need to discern what is a godly blessing compared to what is a simply good thing. The devil will use these avenues to set us up for our downfall. We need to pray and wait on the Lord to discern for the time that we are in what is important in our Christian walk today according to His will for our life. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. Ephesians 6:11 ESV

Entrapment #2: Being Greedy for Money The gospels tell the story of a young man who kept the commandments and one afternoon came face-toface with Jesus, desiring to follow Him. Like many of us today, he wanted to follow Jesus into ministry, and this is the conversation that took place that day: Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”

He said to Him, “Which ones?” Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Matthew 19:16–22

What a tragic moment for this young man. Who knows? He could have been one who was added as a disciple and follower of Jesus, but he lost his opportunity because his heart had a true love for dollar signs instead of for the Lord. It is the motives of the heart that the enemy is after. Many famous ministers today are trapped in this poisonous pit, and they do not see anything wrong with it. It is not the money that is poison; it is the heart and the intentions of the person. There is nothing wrong with being wealthy. Abraham was wealthy, but his heart was for God, not money. It is time to escape the grip of hell, come out of this place of greed and divorce the enemy once and for all.

Entrapments #3 and #4: Starving for Fame and Hungering for Power A chilling passage in the book of Isaiah describes the birthing place of these two poisons: “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit.” Isaiah 14:12–15, emphasis added

You read that right, lust for power and the desire to be worshiped have diabolical origins. The one called Lucifer—or Satan, the devil himself—started as an anointed cherub, the highest of all God’s angels. His five “I will’s” caused him to be thrown out of heaven. Now he tries to ensnare us with the same poison that caused his downfall.

The Suffering Church

Sad to say, these are the poisons the enemy has injected into many leaders today: starving for fame and hungering for power. We have tried to build our ministries in the flesh, the same way the devil tried to accomplish his. But whatever you build in the flesh you have to maintain in the flesh because now the Holy Spirit is not responsible for your ministry (it is a carnal ministry, not a Holy Spirit–filled ministry). When God builds it, He blesses it—and He will maintain it. Many believers sitting in these churches today have had their faith shipwrecked because they have been given words of flattery, perhaps something like, “You are going to have a great ministry and win thousands of souls.” And that one word has not come to pass, and now these brothers and sisters are totally discouraged and their faith is sitting in ashes. Let me say something here. If you are going to receive a word from the Lord, let it be from the Bible itself, or better yet, from your precious time spent in your prayer closet with Jesus. Every believer has the responsibility to sit under good teaching and a good shepherd, one who preaches the whole counsel of God. As Jesus said, “‘I am the

good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep’” (John 10:11). That is a powerful example of why we should give everything God has given us for the Body of Christ. Let us break away from the enemy’s grip once and for all.

Entrapment #5: Lusting after Men or Women Many ministers in the Church have been suckerpunched by the filthy devil, and they have been plagued by a spirit of lust. Many have fallen into adultery or other circumstances. No one is exempt from these setups by the enemy, and if this happens to anyone, including me, the wisest thing we can do is repent, step down for a period of time, sit under the Word and be restored. The book of Judges tells the story of a young man who was called by God from his mother’s womb. His name was Samson. Because he never dealt with his fear or anger, his story is a tragedy. He never surrendered.

Samson fell into the wrong hands, but because he had that special anointing God had put over his life, he thought he could always get out of the messes he made for himself. And we know how the enemy works. He threw Delilah in Samson’s path, and she seduced him and seduced his ministry—all the way to her lap. The Bible says that Samson was tied up with ropes and broke free, and there have been times when we, too, have taken the anointing for granted. There came a day when this woman vexed him in his spirit until he shared the secrets of his anointing. We have to be very careful not to cast our pearls before swine (see Matthew 7:6). Unfortunately, Samson made the biggest mistake of his life, and it cost him everything. He lost God’s presence, he lost his anointing, he lost his ministry and, in the end, he died while the true spiritual enemy mocked him through the Philistines. Samson died with his ministry before his time, between two pillars that came crashing down in a stadium. Fast-forwarding through time, tragically, we have heard many similar stories today of precious ministers who have lost it all, too.

I have good news. It is time to turn the tables back on the devil and be set free. The prayer bombs below are powerful to bring destruction into the devil’s camp beyond human comprehension. Fear, today, has an expiration date as we release these powerful prayers into the spiritual atmosphere to destroy fear and let the devil drink his own medicine and tremble. The Word of the Lord says, “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man [or woman] avails much” (James 5:16).

Prayer Bombs Ministers, lift up your voice and give praise for all He has done for us in Jesus’ name. Today I stand against the spirit of fear and his entrapments against my life, going back to the day I was born, in Jesus’ name. I reject and curse to the root lust of the eyes, in Jesus’ name.

I bind right now every demonic power of fear in my mind, my thoughts and my heart, in Jesus’ name. I refuse to move in fear, in Jesus’ name. I declare over my ministry that no weapon formed in fear shall prosper in my life and in my ministry, in Jesus’ name. Let the fire of the Holy Spirit destroy every demonic altar of fear set up against me, in Jesus’ name. You demon of fear, loose me now, loose my ministry, loose my preaching, and loose my church, in Jesus’ name. I destroy every spirit of Mammon that is against my ministry, my church and my calling right now, in Jesus’ name. Fear shall not be my lot, in Jesus’ name. No demon of terror shall occupy the same space with me, in Jesus’ name. I destroy any propaganda or spirit of fear in Jesus’ name. I destroy every demonic force that is working to obtain power, in Jesus’ name.

I loose myself from every fiery dart of fear that has tried to come against me and my ministry, in Jesus’ name. I bind the spirit of fear of man in Jesus’ name. I bind the spirit of fear of people in Jesus’ name. I bind the spirit of fear that is trying to come into my church and my ministry to keep me from preaching the true Gospel, in Jesus’ name. I bind the spirits of lust, fornication and adultery, in Jesus’ name. Lord, You are my protector, and I put my trust in You, in Jesus’ name. I declare that if God is for me, no one can be against me. I cover my calling in the blood of Jesus. I cover my heart and mind in the blood of Jesus. I cover my family, my ministry and my church in the blood of Jesus.

I refuse to be intimidated by the demons, demonic forces and the devil himself, in Jesus’ name. I break and destroy every evil covenant any witches made against my church. Every demonic work activated against me that is trying to trip me up through coveting, greed, fame, hunger for power or lusting after any man or woman, let it be destroyed once and for all in Jesus Christ, never to rise up again, against my life, against my church or against my family, in Jesus’ name. I hope that this chapter is a blessing to many ministers and leaders, whom I love with all my heart. We should not let the enemy take advantage of us, in any way or by any means, in Jesus’ name. I leave you with this last word. God is looking for the Church to step out in boldness and declare His power once again in our time. Amen.

18 No Longer Afraid “And the LORD , He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.” Deuteronomy 31:8

Faith always triumphs over fear, so the time to replace fear with faith is now. Hebrews 11 (abbreviated below) is called the Hall of Faith. It lists incredible men and women who started out living in fear but became overcomers, and today we are reading their stories. By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death.

By faith Noah prepared an ark. By faith Abraham obeyed and went out, not knowing where he was going, and later offered up Issac. By faith Sarah received strength to conceive, and she bore a child when she was past childbearing age. What is the common denominator in all these stories? Fear was destroyed by faith in all their lives, and today they stand as living examples. Now it is our turn, and to take it further, fear has nothing on us, for those who are in Christ Jesus. I believe a lot of times we read the Bible and miss the rich nuggets of life. My pastor preached an amazing word recently about Elijah and Moses when they appeared on the mountaintop to talk with Jesus (see Matthew 17). He went to the Old Testament and showed how Elijah had his own mountaintop experience on Mt. Carmel when he called fire down from heaven, and how Moses had his own mountain experience on Mt. Sinai when he went up to get the Ten Commandments. These two precious saints had their mountaintop encounters; now we find them in

the New Testament sharing Jesus’ mountaintop experience. Many times I have read the Word and gone back to it later and discovered these kinds of treasures. Let me share another story that I have been so blown away and touched by. In Acts 2, 120 believers were gathered in the Upper Room gripped by fear because the Pharisees were making death threats. Their Lord had just been crucified and resurrected, but the Jewish leaders of their day had put a price on the heads of anyone who followed “The Way.” As they huddled in the Upper Room, they were vulnerable and afraid—even though they had a promise from God. Sometime later, two precious believers, Peter and John, walked to the temple one afternoon and met a crippled man lying on a mat at the Beautiful Gate. And we know how the story goes. This man was begging for money, and Peter turned to him and said, in my paraphrase, “Silver and gold I do not have, but I have something greater for you. Be made whole in the name of Jesus Christ.”

The man jumped to his feet and into a new life, going into the temple to worship God for his victory. Sometime later, in chapter 4, Peter and John were arrested and thrown in jail for healing this man and preaching the name of Jesus. And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, “By what power or by what name have you done this?” Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole.” Acts 4:7–10

As the trial went on, they were threatened by the council not to preach in the name of Jesus anymore. Look at their response, “But Peter and John answered and said to them, ‘Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard’” (Acts 4:19–20). What an incredible story! Here are Peter and John, filled with the Holy Spirit, boldly proclaiming on behalf of their risen Lord and the power He has—

through the Holy Spirit—to set people free. These were the same two who were in the Upper Room in chapter 2, gripped by fear. And now we see that fear had no place in their hearts anymore. Psalm 46:1 says, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Also, 1 John 4:18 tells us, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.”

“I Want Out” In every Mafia movie, just as in real life, there is always a person who wants to get out and leave their past behind. Fear and control have dominated them while they have been part of the underworld, but now they are desperate to get out and be free. A precious brother in Christ today has a powerful testimony of how he overcame the Mafia through Jesus Christ, and now he is telling his amazing testimony all over the world. And I am sure he and I can both relate to this Scripture, “The L ORD is my light and my salvation;

whom shall I fear? The L ORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1). There comes a point in someone’s life when he is not even worried about being killed anymore; he just wants out. I remember this about my own story. One afternoon I went to see my mom, and a lady named Daisy—a longtime friend of the family—was visiting my mother that day. At this time I was a born-again believer. Daisy was a witch, caught up in the satanic world of spiritualism and Santeria. The word Santeria means, “worship of saints,” but it really is the worship of demons. That afternoon I had such a burden in my heart to share the love of Jesus with her, and to my surprise she was open to hearing the Gospel. When the conversation was over, she said something amazing. She looked me in the eye and said, “I want out of the hands of the devil, even though I am gripped with fear. I want to throw out all my demonic stuff and give my life to Jesus today.” I led her through the sinner’s prayer because she was willing to face her fears. A good friend of hers

went over to her home and threw all the demonic things in the trash, where they belonged. Less than three months later, Daisy went home to be with the Lord, not because the devil had a say-so, but because it was her time to go see the King.

Confronted at a Funeral I went to pay my respects for Daisy’s life, and little did I know all the high-ranked devil worshipers whom I sat and ate with for 25 years showed up that evening. I felt like Paul in the book of Acts when he confronts the Sanhedrin. I guess it was my turn. But I feared not. I stood in my place as they were making spiritual death threats to many there, and I lived on the words of Isaiah 41:10, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” They were staring me down with evil looks, saying with their eyes, “We have been trying to kill you for the past seven years, and you are still here.” It was an amazing moment. After seven years, the Lord Jesus Christ had prepared me from the top of

my head to the soles of my feet to stare into the face of my past, knowing in my heart that I had left that world once and for all. When I walked out of the funeral that evening, there were only two victorious people: Daisy, who went home to see the King, and me. I was not afraid of any demonic attack. All I wanted was to know in my heart that I was no longer a part of that world. I had left Egypt, never to return. “And the L ORD , He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed” (Deuteronomy 31:8).

It Is Time to Rise Up The early Church started with 120 people—fragile, feeble and uncertain about the future—but when the Holy Spirit descended on them in the Upper Room, 120 lives were transformed and the true Church was born. This was so true that in the first sermon preached on the Day of Pentecost, three thousand people were saved. I am constantly amazed that in the world in which we live today, every demon that was hiding out in

past decades—perversion demons, murderous demons, politically correct demons, demonic spirits of every stripe—has come out in the open, parading their vile filth, and yet where is the Church at large? Let me check. The Church has run into the closet in fear. We have become ostriches, with our heads stuck in the sand, afraid, and somehow the devil and his cronies have taken away our voice. The Church has gone silent, way different from that Church that came out of the Upper Room. We need to be like the church in China, like the church in the Middle East, like the church in other areas that are under persecution. No matter what comes their way, they refuse to run into the closet. These precious brothers and sisters can testify. Their homes have been burnt down, their churches have been destroyed, they have been beaten and dragged into courts. They have even been put to death. Yet no matter what, they continue to preach the Gospel. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4).

That is the picture of the Church of Jesus Christ today. The Lord has sent me to many places to preach the Gospel. I have preached in the U.K. several times, in a heavy Muslim region, and I was not afraid. I never went into the closet because I knew that greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world (see 1 John 4:4). I have also taken the Gospel to the Caribbean islands, which are full of witches, and I was not afraid because I refuse to run into the closet. I have taken the Gospel through the power of the Holy Spirit to the First Nation Native Americans, where they practice shamanism and convert themselves into animals through witchcraft, and I was not afraid. I have preached in Japan, where less than one percent of the people are Christians— and I refused to run into the closet. This closet has a name: It is called fear. It is time to come out of hiding and fear not, for all my brothers and sisters in the Church. Jesus Christ said two thousand years ago, “It is finished” (John 19:30). He has empowered us through the Holy Spirit and given us all the authority of heaven. This is my proof, and God is not a man that He should lie. Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you,

he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father” (John 14:12). One of the saddest things in my heart is that when I was in the dark world and the devil spoke lying words and broken promises, we believed it to the core. And we ran into a suicide mission, believing that we were going to be victorious. Yet when the Master and CEO of the universe, the Lord of our souls, says something in His precious Word (the Bible), we second-guess it, we water it down, we make excuses and we tend not to run with it. That surely must grieve the heart of God. I made up my mind in 1999 that if I can believe the devil’s hogwash for 25 years, after being born again and redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ, I am going to believe everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. So I am no longer afraid, and you should not be either. To all my brothers and sisters, whom I love, and all who have been called to fivefold ministry, fear has lost its grip on us! I hang my hat, and I leave you with Psalm 23:5, “You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.” That means to us who have been called, every fear demon, every devil, every principality, every witch and warlock and even Satan himself has to watch us eat from that table, and they can do nothing about it. Because fear has been destroyed, once and for all, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

John Ramirez is an internationally known evangelist, author and highly sought-out speaker who shares the story of how he was trained to be a priest in a satanic cult (Santeria and spiritualism), casting powerful witchcraft spells and controlling entire regions. For more than eighteen years, Ramirez has been teaching believers around the globe—from cities across the United States and the Virgin Islands to Germany, the United Kingdom and Japan—how to defeat the enemy. He has appeared on broadcasts such as The 700 Club , TBN, The Word Network, and The Church Channel. In his first book, Out of the Devil’s Cauldron: A Journey from Darkness to Light , Ramirez tells of his early training to become a warlock, eventually ranking the third highest devil worshiper in New York City. In his gritty, transparent style, he walks you through the dark alleys of the Santeria cult while exposing hidden secrets of darkness. He unfolds God’s enormous power through his testimony and

teaches Christians as well as those trapped in the occult how to combat the enemy and be set free. Ramirez grew up in an impoverished ghetto neighborhood, despising his father for his careless disregard of his family. He quickly learned how to survive the cold, harsh streets of the South Bronx. But in his search for love and validation, he found acceptance in a new “family” of witches and warlocks who groomed him to become a high priest in their occult religion. His plunge into the dark side reached a boiling point on the night he sold his soul to the devil in a diabolical, blood-soaked ritual. With renewed fervor—and the mark of the beast now cut into his right arm—he actively recruited souls into this “unholy kingdom,” haunting the bars and clubs of NYC by night to find his next victims. His life continued down this dark path until God intervened through a miraculous, larger-than-life dream, revealing Himself for who He really is and literally snatching Ramirez back from the grips of hell. According to Ramirez, people from all ethnic backgrounds dabble in the occult and fall victim to

this satanic underworld and never see the way out. He is one in a million who made it out.

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