Mentoring Letter 36

8/4/2019 Mentoring Letter 36

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MENTORING LETTER 36

pamsheppard.com

RESISTING

THE DEVIL

Part One

CAN A DEMON HINDER SALVATION?

The Apostle James wrote that we are to resistthe devil, and when we do, he will flee from us.However, e have to hunt for various nuggets

elsewhere in the word of God, to find out howthat is done. James does provide some cluesin his epistle that pertain to our connection toto the world, sin, how you treat the brethren and humility.

Yet it is a vast, at times complicated process.How do we resist the devil, is the question.

CONTACT ME!

If you feel in any way "out of control," you may need

counseling. If so, send anemail to

[email protected]

,

THE NEW



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Last night I saw a very interesting movie.Simple title. Just called, "DEVIL." I didn'trecognize any stars other than for an up and coming African American,by the nameof Bokeem Woodbine. Woodbine plays the part ofone of five people stuck in an elevator. Among

them is the devil, in disguise as a human being.

It was arranged that every passenger in theelevator car had a destiny with violent death because of their sins, and none were expected tocome out of that elevator alive. Yet one ofthem escaped at the end of the movie. Why?Because the sinner confessed and had a heartfeltrepentance and stopped the devil in histracks. Before the devil left that elevator,he bemoaned, "Oh, didn't I want to get you,too.!" The movie ends with the thought, "if thedevil exists, perhaps God does also." That was

one statement that was best left unsaid and spoiled the movie. Why should the creature confirm the exist of the Creator?ell, in the eyes of Hollywood, he does. Anyway, the main point gleaned from the movieis that the one who escaped the elevator had successfully resisted the devil by repenting and confessing a hidden sin. Surprisingly, this psychological thriller depicted a biblicaltruth. The devil will flee if we maintain aheart of repentance, which is the foundation ofof spiritual resistance.

Recently,I posted on facebook a 30 year old

photo of myself. The day that I preached mytrial sermon was Oct. 25, 1981. Take a look foryourself. An image of a huge head of a gargoylecan be faintly seen beside me, in front of the brown wood paneling of the church's wall. Itsgreen eyebrow actually touched my left hand.Coincidentally, it was my left hand that exuded healing power when I used to lay handson folk. If you are not one of my facebookfriends, then I post the picture for observation by my newsletter subscribers.

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The gargoyle's head is turned toward me, in a3/4 profile. One of his huge ears is visible,cheekbones are high, you can see his nose and

pointed chin. His mouth is not that apparent buthe almost looks like he is smiling. So that demon has been with me for at least 30years, possibly a lot longer. I suspect that heis still here,and will perhaps remain with meuntil I have passed on. Since my attention hasturned toward the demon in this photo last week,it has caused me to do some seriousreflection. My thoughts have been, "Pam, howhave you escaped this bad boy unscathed after 3decades or more?" So my first thoughts ere motivated by a concern to help others. Then I

thought, "and how are you going to continue tokeep him at bay?" My next group of thoughtswere "Pam, how do you protect YOURSELF for yourremaining years?" Sobering thoughts indeed. The first point that I can make, that will help

both you and me, is the fact that that the demon

in the photo was unable to hinder my salvation.

The fact that I was actually IN this demons hands



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in 1977 as both a former atheist and a psychic medium, this entity could not stop God from saving me. If that demon could not block mysalvation, then you need to know that where Hischosen people are concerned, the devil can't stopGod when it is YOUR time to be saved either. This

is a most important point for me to make, particularly because I have come in contact withso many in this hour who have had a counterfeitrebirth experience who are still waiting on God to save them. So my question is "why is it thatit seems the devil is blocking the salvation ofthose who experienced a counterfeit birth?

A counterfeit rebirth occurs in the followinginstances:

1. A person makes a decision to "accept" Jesusand then ends up boasting, "I am saved because I

chose to follow Jesus." Often this person hasrepeated a sinner's prayer or responded to a minister's invitation to "walk forward" at theclose of the sermon. There is also no evidenceof repentance. Nor is their evidence that the believer understood either the cross or theresurrection of Jesus Christ at the time ofthe alleged salvation experience.2. A person assumes because his or her family are professing, churchgoing Christians, and since heor she has attended church from birth, that he orshe is "saved."3. A Charismatic/Pentecostal person has sought

the Holy Ghost through the manifestation of thespeaking in tongues. Since the believer actuallyhad a "tongue manifestation," an assumption ismade that the person is saved.

hat I have uncovered through deliverancecounseling, is this.When a counterfeit birth hastaken place, the devil steps in, represented by afallen angel who now calls himself "Jesus SanandaImmanuel." You can either obtain a copy my book, "The Fake Jesus," or google with Sananda'sname, and you will find that Sananda claims thathe has infiltrated the entire organized church.

Consequently, when prayers and worship areoffered, it is Sananda, and not Jesus Christ of Nazareth who is unknowingly appealed to. So inother words, the believer is actually practicingidolatry without realizing what has occurred and ho he or she is worshiping. y case was different. Sananda could not hinder

my salvation because even though I was an



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occultist, I was also an atheist who had neverattended church a day in my life. In otherords, I offered no worship, prayersor allegiance to ANY gods and therefore, I did not make a known or un-known pact with anyof them. hat I am finding is that with a

counterfeit birth, before God will step in and save, Sananda or any other false gods must berenounced and disavowed.

So if you are one of those who "accepted Jesus"ithout being drawn to Him by the Holy Ghost,then you may very well have to renounce SanandaBEFORE the Lord will save you. Bare with me onthis, because what I propose is a supposition toexplain how and why the enemy can hindersalvation with several believers who "thoughtthat they were saved." For as the scripturesdeclare, if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them

that are lost, lest the light of the gloriousgospel of Jesus Christ should shine on them. (IICor 4:3-4.) Sananda may be blocking you from thelight and the truth of the gospel. So if youthought that you were saved but you ere not, itis possible that you may have to disavow Sananda.

y next point is this. Since the devil useshuman teachers to seduce his prey with doctrinesof devils, you need to examine every doctrine ofdevils that you have received. And I meanEVERYTHING! The first question to ask yourselfis "what have I been taught about salvation?."

Salvation is the most important subject because every aspect of your earthly life and your eternal life depends upon it. All misunderstandings about salvation need to becleared up. Why? Because you resist the devil

with your salvation: from the helmet of your

salvation to your feet shod in the gospel of

peace, your salvation is your primary grounds and

authority to "resist the devil.

The first thing you need to know is that "thereis only ONE requirement of salvation." You haveto HEAR the TRUE gospel of Jesus Christ. You

don't need to KNOW very much. I myself knew the bare minimum. Everything about Jesus, I knewfrom the holidays, particularly Easter. I knewthat Jesus died for my sins. I heard that Hedied and after 3 days, He got up PHYSICALLYin His same body. I didn't know that He intendsto come back. Obviously,a belief on the Lord'sreturn is not required to be saved.



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I said "bah humbug" to ALL that I had heard,until HE CAME AFTER ME! It was not the other wayaround. If you are seeking the Lord to be saved,it is for one of two reasons: You believe itsthe right thing to do because the bible says,"seek the Lord while He may be found." However,

the bible also says that "there is NONE thatunderstandeth, there is NONE that seeketh afterGod. (Romans 3:11) Therefore, since we are allenemies of God and none of us will of our own volition seek after Him, if you find that you area God seeker, then either God has drawn you toHis Son by the ministry of the Holy Ghost. On theother hand, if you have drawn yourself becauseyou are either afraid of hell, or you perceivechurch as a good thing, a counterfeit salvationis not only probable but possible.

SO THE ABSOLUTE FIRST STEP TO RESISTING THE

DEVIL IS THAT YOU MUST KNOW, WITHOUT A SHADOW OFA DOUBT, THAT YOU ARE BORN AGAIN.

If there is the slightest doubt in your mind,

then I suspect the possibility that you are NOT

saved. Why? Because one of the most outstanding

sign is your very confidence and assurance that

you ARE saved.

If you need my help on this, send an email to

[email protected]

If you have that one little doubt, then

examination is both important and scriptural. Ibelieve what Paul wrote to the Corinthians is

applicable to us as well. "Examine yourselves,

whether ye be in the faith, prove your own

selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that

Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

(II Cor 13:5)

PAM'S BOOK CORNER

AN EXCERPT FROM "FACES OF THE RELIGIOUSDEMON: Freedom Through Deliverance Counseling.

Jesus made a very plain yet profound statement concerningcounterfeits, so basic and elementary that believers often neglect toconsider His rather simple admonition, “you shall know them by their fruit.” The case of 78 year old Bertha from Nebraska is an outstandingexample. A woman who claimed to have been a born again, acharismatic believer for 60 years, Bertha continually suffers with



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obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) for the same length of time. In her incessant need for cleanliness, the outward manifestation of OCDinvolved various rituals of hand washings, and the wearing of rubber gloves during visits to her own toilet. Bertha would also scrub anysurface area that she observed any visitor touch in her home. Thewashing rituals became increasingly intense for Bertha in any public

area. Having been hospitalized for over a year in her mid twenties, shealso received shock treatments to her brain, which were of no avail.Unable to raise her children and to fulfill her duties as a wife for manyyears, Bertha still remained a devout, religious Christian.

In the assessment stage of pre-deliverance counseling, Idiscovered a connection between the onset of the OCD and Bertha'saccount of her baptism in the Holy Ghost with the manifestation of speaking in tongues. Even though I did not automatically assume thather spiritual experience was a counterfeit, I routinely proceeded to trythe spirits to see if they be of God. As I sought for fruit, I kept inmind that anyone who has been saved, who has experienced thebaptism of the Holy Ghost, and who has been a woman of prayer for 60years most definitely have access to the mind of Christ. Yet it was rather strange that Bertha's mental disorder first became apparent

practically simultaneous to her receiving of the Holy Ghost. In my mind,this was not only an obvious contradiction to the Lord's life and power but even more, a subtle affront or insult. It naturally follows that a “fruit”of Bertha's salvation would be her enhanced ability to overcome aperpetual affliction, at least after 60 years!

By standard procedure, my first step within the assessmentstage of pre-deliverance counseling is to seek to know whether or notthe client has a clear knowledge of the basic elements of salvationwhich includes repentance and an understanding of the Lord'sresurrection. In Bertha' case, my eyebrow was slightly raised becauseeven though Bertha accepted the doctrine of being “born in sin”, shereally did not seem to understand it. As counseling progressed, itbecame evident that Bertha had never experienced herself as a lostsinner needing Jesus as her substitute for the crime of falling short of

the glory of God. In fact, she viewed sin more as an act of “doing” thanas a state of being. She reasoned that she had never experiencedthe glorious kind salvation that others have attested to because shenever really sinned as others did--- no fornication, adultery, swearing,drunkenness, lying, stealing or any such behaviors.

Moreover, since the only sin that Bertha could identify with in 78years of life was eating a piece of candy that was stolen by a friendwhen she was 8 years old and coming home late from school one day, Iwas somewhat concerned that Bertha never really experienced the godlysorrow that brings forth a rebirth in the spirit. Therefore, when I carefullyasked Bertha to consider whether or not the fact that she did not raiseher own children might be considered a sin, I was not expecting anoutraged confrontation. In fact, her resistance was so strong thatcounseling could literally go no further. Bertha even prompted one of her sons to call me the day after the session to apprise me of what awonderful mother Bertha has been, in spite of the fact that isgrandparents raised him.

The problem in continuing in pre-deliverance counselingwith Bertha was that her 60 years in Christiandom was seriously shakenafter only 3 sessions with me and reading one chapter of “War on theSaints.” Even so, Bertha was committed to continue in pre-deliverancecounseling with me if and only if, I had submitted to her terms. Her primary concern was that I expressed doubt of a renowned, well known



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evangelist about the word of faith phenomena of “falling slain in thespirit.” At meeting when Bertha was a young woman, she claimed thatshe fell out so powerfully in the spirit when this evangelist laid hands onher, that she had to be carried off the platform. Bertha explained that shewas “out cold” and it took several minutes for strength to return to her body.

The issue at hand is that Bertha has based practically her entire religious experience upon the divine origin of this supernaturaloccurrence at the evangelist's meeting. As such, she really could notbe in agreement and join forces in counseling with anyone who does notbelieve in being slain in the spirit, in general, or in the renownedevangelist, in particular. In fact, not only did she become defensive butshe put up an aggressive and strong counter attack by fiercelydeclaring “suppose YOU were confronted by the fact that no one withthe background in New Age and witchcraft that YOU have experiencedcould EVER be saved nor could YOU be anointed with power from theHoly Ghost to cast out devils?!!”

So, finally, here it was. The spirit of charismatic witchcraftspoke through the pride system of this outraged 78 year old upstandingand highly moral senior citizen, a demon covertly bent on “killing off the

minister sent to set its captive free.” Rather than shout back “get theebehind me Satan,” I answered Bertha calmly, without defense or maliceand simply replied:

“I have been so confronted over the years and so Ihave already put ALL of my supernatural experiences tothe test, including the day that I got saved and the day thatI spoke in tongues. I assessed it ALL by the word of God.Where my salvation experience is concerned, Iexperienced myself as a lost sinner who needed aSubstitute to take the punishment for my sins. In amoment, in the twinkling of an eye, I knew without a doubtthat Jesus Christ of Nazareth was that man who is God,resurrected from the dead. I confessed Him as Lord over my life. Where the speaking in tongues is concerned,

since I received this manifestation when I too was a youngwoman at a Kenneth Hagin convention in 1983, I haveperiodically questioned it. I have recently vowed not tospeak in tongues in public until the Lord grants me the giftof interpretation. I also no longer pray in tongues either.Where all other supernatural experiences are concerned,quite a few of them have proved to be counterfeit,including the phenomena of being slain in the spirit.”

Bertha was certainly not prepared to hear that I recognized her Jezebelian character traits in her style of religiosity, as she might havesuccumbed under the shock of such a revelation. Nor did I not get anopportunity to share with Bertha my impressions concerning her manifestation of OCD from a spiritual perspective. The primary spiritualbenefit that one receives from repentance is the overwhelming sense of forgiveness and cleansing that comes from receiving Jesus Christ as aSubstitute for one's personal sins. Only a sinner saved by grace cantestify of what it feels like to “come out of the wilderness.” I myself willnever forget it. I cannot state too often that as a 33 years old, I felt like Ihad just been born and like I had never sinned. I was washed and I wascleansed. I understand why Bertha admitted in our first session thather salvation experience was “not so glorious”. It simply happenedthat one day in church, she believed that it was time to make acommitment and so she simply “got up from the pew, went forward tomake a decision for Christ.” It came to me after that first session that



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Bertha's perpetual need to wash and be washed may be related to thefact that since she never saw herself as a sinner, she never got cleansedin the spirit.

Could it be that the compulsion to wash physically is a signthat she has not been washed spiritually? I don't know. However, if thisbe true, then Bertha is still in her sins, and she never really got saved.

Moreover, if she never got saved, then the spiritual language that shespoke did not emanate from the Holy Ghost. In like manner, Bertha's joyin worship and her devotion of 60 years to a good and moral life ismerely a natural byproduct of clean living, obtainable throughBuddhism, Hinduism, or any other religion. On the contrary, the joy of salvation in Christ is to know by faith that you have been lost and thatthrough the sacrifice of Jesus and His bodily resurrectionthat you have been found. This is worshiping the Father in spirit and intruth. Unfortunately, some prefer to keep their religious life in tact, eventhough they may be worshiping in the flesh and in error.

Along with the daily OCD rituals, Bertha reports thatshe takes Holy Communion every day and has great fellowship with theLord every morning, a joy in Him that completing her assignment to readvarious chapters in “War on the Saints” was seriously beginning to

hinder. According to Jessie Penn Lewis, people like Bertha are the mostdifficult to reach with deliverance for several reasons:

...Devotion, singing, preaching, worship,--- allrightful things--- MAY SO POSSESS THE MIND AS TOCLOSE IT TO ALL PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE OF THENEED OF DELIVERANCE FROM THE ADVERSARY'SDECEPTION2....In the moral realm comes an attitude of infallibility, positive assertion and unteachableness, withloss of real power of choice.” (War on the Saints, 9thedition, pp. 176- 177):

It should be noted here that in Bertha's case, she trulywanted me to convince her to continue with pre-deliverance counselingbecause she was clearly confused, stating that 'she did not know what

to do.' However, I realized that I could not compete with the glorifiedimage that she continued to maintain of the renowned evangelist, a keyhindrance to any continued pre-deliverance productivity with me.Moreover, there are occasions when someone will seek my services for one reason, and then I discover later that either the Lord or the devilsent them for another purpose entirely.

I could be wrong, but in the case of Bertha, I believe that her contact with me was crucial and important where her own eternalsalvation is concerned because the Holy Spirit used the late Jessie PennLewis and myself to shake Bertha's foundation and served her “a wake-

up” call. I personally believe that its far better to check one's spirituallife BEFORE the night of death comes--- the final season which no manor woman can check or can change. (II Corinthians 13: 5,6) So, in mymind, a loss of 70 years of a fruitless Christian experience is better checked in time, in the light of day. For in spite of the best of humanmorality, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, where thewages of sin is death and an eternity in hell.

As the case of Bertha suggests, it is crucial to understand thatthere are those who are not saved who appear more saved than many



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who actually are born again. The case of Ola is yet another example. Myexperience with this case is presented in more detail in later chapters.Nevertheless, Ola is mentioned now because even more than Bertha,Ola appeared to be saved. Not only did Ola speak in tongues, but shealso manifested counterfeit gifts of the Holy Ghost that fooled the electfor years. Born a catholic from Nigeria, Ola truly believed that she was“born again” as a charismatic when she joined a word of faith church.

However, in the course of her deliverance, she was completely “takenover” in a trance. During the deliverance, the witchcraft demon railed atme that he owned Ola because she had been given to him by her grandmother. Once exposed, a trilogy of demons became bold andconfrontational, refusing to turn Ola loose. Ola's grandmother still remains a practitioner of Yoruba, a form of religious witchcraftpracticed in Nigeria. Witchcraft is the practice of cursing andcontrolling with a counterfeit spiritual authority and power.

Therefore, it is mandatory to seek to uncover what caused thecaptive to become subject to witchcraft and its various forms. Thecaptive’s victory from deception and bondage is attainable if he or she isguided or counseled to be enabled to see the Lord clearly and serve andrespect Him obediently. I am not suggesting that you will need tostudy darkness in any great detail. For example, you do not need to

study every ritual, false doctrine or religious practice to realize thatwitchcraft and or the religious demon is involved. Utterly committed toupholding their own self image, captives in the grips of the demonJezebel will fight to uphold an appearance of moral purity. Moral purityin this instance is not so much a desire to seek after true righteousnessbut more a desire to appear righteous to its public. The spirit of Jezebelis like her old testament predecessor in the flesh. Its desire is “to kill theprophets of God” and to crown false prophets that are obedient toSatan. In this regard, the religious demon has found a seat in theorganized church, a pivotal position to fulfill Satan's goal of killing trueprophets.

From the onset, I point out that a sensitivity and a compassionfor those bound by this demon is essential to set the captives free. Imyself am always prepared to help these captives to pick up the pieces

of their shattered lives when the Holy Spirit confronts them to face their own wickedness. Remember also that the spirit of Jezebel will senddemons of accusation, rejection, condemnation and fear as a means of counter attack, so it is imperative that one is wise as a serpent but asharmless as a dove. The key is to remain humble, repentant andforgiving.

Sheppard's Counseling and Publishing Center, PO Box 356, East Greenbush NY2061 [email protected]

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Mentoring Letter 36

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