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FREEDOM FROM THE GRIP OF WITCHCRAFT
As we come to the close of the age, there are several terrible things that
have found their ways into the church. Unless an effective spiritual surgery aimed at cutting off these things is carried out, this generation may not witness a revival.
This is an age of moral decadence. Among other things there are seductions, worldliness and backsliding. Witchcraft has taken over many congregations. The purpose of looking into this topic is to identify, isolate and radically banish these witchcraft spirits from our lives.
I want you to pray this prayer point with all aggression: Every witchcraft power that does not want me to have peace, your time is up. Therefore, die, in the name of Jesus.
The blood of Abel spoke vengeance but the blood of Jesus speaks better things. It is now left for you to claim those good things through aggressive prayers. The Bible says: “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed (John 8:36), Therefore, pray like this: Let the blood of Jesus speak for me today, in the name of Jesus.
THE WEAPON OF DOMINATION
There are some key points to note in this chapter. The first thing is that witchcraft is a terrible thing. It is public enemy number one. Witchcraft is extremely bad because it makes people to do satan’s will. It makes people do what they do not like to do ordinarily.
These days, as believers get more enlightened on the subject of deliverance and the power of God, there Is a great consciousness about witchcraft power. Several people are getting to understand things that have to do with witchcraft
It has been made abundantly clear that witchcraft operations are used to subdue people through demonic influences. It uses satanic weapons to subdue people’s prospects. It is used to perpetrate evil and to effect a change using powers which are different from the power of God.
Let us take an incisive look at 1 Samuel chapter 15 verse 22:
1 Samuel 15:22: And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
The key word in this verse is “obedience.” It is not possible to bribe God with sacrifices or with money. The only thing He delights in is obedience.
1 Samuel 15:23: For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.
WITCHCRAFT ROOTS
Whenever there is a problem a believer ought to perceive the problem as a tree having branches. For example, if someone is addicted to alcohol, drugs or smoking, they are just branches of deep problems. The root may just be frustration.
Let us consider the case of a prostitute. The root may be that the person is possessed of sexual demons.
There is a problem also when people go for deliverance or come to the house of God and still decide to stubbornly stick to their sins without obeying God. All that will be achieved at the deliverance ground is to bring about a demonic exchange. That is the water spirit may go for the lying spirit to replace it. The spirit of lust may take its leave, and dishonesty will come in, simply because the individual refuses to obey God.
Know that the flesh will always stand as a barrier between you and your deliverance. The Bible says:
2 Cor. 10:3-6: For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not camal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 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; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
God has given us capacity to revenge all disobedience. God has given us the authority to deal with powers of darkness no matter how fortified their strongholds may be. But this can be done only when a believer Is absolutely obedient to God.
THE IMPORTANCE OF OBEDIENCE
One night a sister was sleeping on the bed. Jesus came in to her and spoke to her: “My daughter, do you want me to use you?” She said, ”Yes, use me, Lord.”
Jesus said,” If you want, me to use you, My glory must be your glory, therefore, remove your artificial glory.” She asked the Lord, “Please, Lord, I do not understand You. What is artificial glory?”
The Lord started to point to her certain things which were abominations to Him but she found it difficult to take to the Lord’s instruction. The more disobedient she became, the darker her spiritual vision; she was no longer receiving instructions through dreams, all the heavenly visions which she previously had, had disappeared. Why? She was not ready to be absolutely obedient.
If you see a sister who has been a member of a gospel church for not less than five years, trying to deck her self with jewellery and paintings and all kinds of things, she is more intereseted in artificial glory than the glory of God. There are certains prayers such a person cannot really pray. If she prays such prayers, she would be inviting more troubles. This is where some people miss it all.
Obedience to God must be absolute. There are many offenders in the house of God who do not really know the gravity of their offences. The Bible says that hatred is the same thing as muder, since murder is the offspring of hatred and anger. In the same manner, the Bible says that rebellion is the same as the sin of witchcraft. Stubbornness is the same thing as idolatry and iniquity. Rebellion
says, “I will not do it.” Stubbornness says, “I will do it my own way.” Unfortunately, anyone who disobeys God, no matter the level of the disobedience, has brought himself under the curse which God pronounced on witchcraft. And this is where the major trouble starts.
CATEGORIES OF WITCHES
There are many categories of witches. There are witches who possess evil powers to torment other human beings. They fly to attend witchcraft meetings in the night. It is very unfortunate that the whites are now embracing the gods that Africans have abandoned and are now going deeper into witchcraft.
Witchcraft practitioners now have their own pastors. In the white prisons, witchcraft pastors who are wizards dressed in total black attires would sit beside the prisoners. If a true pastor goes to the prisoners to preach, these witchcraft pastors too would be preaching the gospel of witchcraft. Because of the freedom of worship in the advanced countries, these witchcraft pastors are allowed to preach to prisoners just as the Christian ministers. Nobody would be allowed to criticize them, because the right of freedom of religion is exercised by all and sundry.
THE WORKS OF THE FLESH
The second type of witchcraft is that of the works of the flesh which are documented in Galatians chapter 5 verses 19-20. Many people who do not fly in the night, or drink anybody’s blood could still be referred to as witches if they harbour the works of the flesh.
Galatians 5:19-20: Now the works of the flesh are manifest. which are these; Adultery, fomication, uncleanness, lasciviouansss, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies.
There was a particular pastor who servad in six churches. In all of these churches, he was sacked because in each, he impregnate one woman. He was a witch.
When a person uses manipulation, domination and intimidation to have his way, it is witchcraft. The Holy Spirit does not manipulate people, He does not dominate or intimidate people. If prayer, fasting and confession of the word of God cannot be used to solve a problem, any other method used is witchcraft.
We should not criticise a man of God If he says that God says he should be praying on water for people to drink and get healed. We shall know the validity of his claim if people start drinking such water and it does not only quench their thirst but also has healing and miracle potency. Once somebody deviates from God’s instruction witchcraft takes over.
If someone uses influence, position, money, beauty, etc., to have his way, It is witchcraft. This Is a demonic manipulation.
A child can control his parents by manipulation; he could tell his mother half of the story and the father, another halt of the story so that both of them would start fighting.
Somebody could pretend to be sick so as to have his way. This is witchcraft.
Many children have grown up to be master manipulators. These days, there are
husbands who intimidate their wives
through rage and violence. It is witchcraft.
Several women manipulate their husbands by shedding tears and by making them feel very guilty. This Is also witchcraft.
There are mothers who tell their son that, “If you are the true son of your father chase out your wife,” It is witchcraft manipulation.
Some pastors would come forward and say, “God has shown me that there are 20 people here who will give me one million naira each.” They would go ahead to raise such money all through gimmick and manipulation. It is witchcratt.
The use of prophecies, visions and trances to control and manipulate people in any form is witchcraft.
THE SPIRIT OF JEZEBEL
There is a powerful demon that is very rampant in our days. It is called the spirit of Jezebel. This is the spirit that causes females to reject authority. This Is the spirit that Influences men to behave like women. The character trait of this spirit includes domination, control and manipulation of people.
This spirit seeks to operate in the house of God through seduction, fornication
and adultery. It is very religious and it loves to operate in the church. This spirit has destroyed families. Jezebel is the grand mother of all those who paint their faces and use make-ups. The Immorality that is so common in the church of God now is brought about by the spirit of Jezebel. Whenever you correct Jezebel’s type of dress and make-up, people who are involved in them will query you. They may say, “Have I dressed or done what no one has done before?” this is so serious now that ministers of the gospel no longer go to the streets to search for the prostitutes to preach to. They are already in the church.
Let me share a striking illustration of witchcraft as an evil power with you. Many years ago, we were in a place, where we were involved in certain forms of prayers which were sources of trouble for the enemy. There was a woman who used to attend the prayer meetings we organised while her three daughters would remain at home. She tried hard to bring these children to the prayer meeting but they refused to follow her.
One day when she got home after the service, her three girls surrounded her and said, “Mummy, we have Information to pass to you. Do you know who witches are?”
She said, “Shut up! What do you kids know about witches? You are children of God.”
The children said, “No! Mummy, just answer us if you know who witches are.”
They refused to keep quiet and insisted that their mother should tell them what she knew about witches. When the mother could not prevail over them, she said, ‘Well, witches are evil people, but I do not what you to talk about those evil people again, let us talk about Jesus.”
The children then said, “Mummy, we have just decided to inform you that three of us are witches.”
The woman said, ‘What?”
The children declared, “Yes, we are witches.”
The mother was shocked, “In this house that belongs to a Sunday school teacher, how could that be?” she asked.
The children added, “We just want to inform you that for the next one week, you and Dad should not come to the living room after 12.00 midnight Our meeting for this week will take place in our siting room.”
This woman ran to us saying that the enemy had set her household aflame. It took time before she could succeed in bringing one of the daughters to us. When she was brought to us, she said, ”The prophet that would pray to bring back the wealth of our parents which we have stolen, will have to make prayer his full-time work. He will stay praying and fasting on the mountain for months with occasional visits to the outside world once a month.”
This shows the grip of these strange children’s witchcraft powers on their parents. It was a tough situation but the Lord prevailed.
There was another situation where a brother took his mother to a crusade. The brother had always felt that his mother was a witch, and he knew that God had been using the preacher in that crusade to pray against witches after he might have given them opportunity to come out to the altar.
That day, after a while the preacher said, “I command by the authority of Jesus Christ that all witches and wizards should start to come out now.”
They rose up and started going towards the altar, but to the amazement of the brother, his mother did not honour the altar call.
The ministration was about to end and the brother feeling dissatisfied, went to his mother, tapped her and said: “Mummy, the preacher is calling you.”
The woman answered, “No, they are yet to call us; it Is not yet our turn. Those ones are low cadre witches; we are the king makers and they cannot call king makers out like that.”
That is an example of a high level of witchcraft.
STEPS TO FREEDOM
The important question is “How do we secure freedom from the grip of witchcraft?” There are only three ways.
The first way to freeing ourselves from the grip of witchcraft is obedience.
Obedience is the first key. As long as there is absolute obedience, no witchcraft power can gain access into a person’s life.
The second key is general spiritual warfare. That is, living in the realm of general spiritual warfare.
The third key is personal spiritual warfare.
Let us examine the first key obedience.
What did the Lord command Abraham to do?
Genesis 12:1: Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Gel thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
What was God’s commandment to Abraham? To get out of his father’s house. How did he respond to this commandment? He obeyed. What are the fruits of his obedience?
Genesis 12:1: By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.
He had the fruits of faith in God. What other command did God give to him? God Instructed him to sacrifice his son and he did. To get rid of a withcraft problem is to be ready to repent from all known sins.
You must dedicate your household unto God because anything didecated to God would be taken care of by God. You must also be careful about what, where, and how you eat.
You must cleanse your house and your business premises spiritually, you need to pray warfare prayers against witchcraft opeartions, you would need to subject yourself to deliverance ministrations, and endeavour carry out litigation against them by pleading the blood of Jesus.
ANTI WITCHCRAFT PRAYERS
Let us look at 30 ways we can pray against witchcraft powers:
- You can pray against their foundations.
- You can pray against their food.
- You can pray against their seats.
- You can pray to make their habitations desolate.
- You can pray to dismantle their thrones
- You can pray to pull down their strongholds.
- You can pray to disgrace their refuge.
- You can pray to disintegrate their networks.
- You can pray to destroy their communication systems.
- You can pray to destroy their transport systems.
- You can pray to destroy their weapons.
- You can pray to empty their banks and store houses.
- You can pray to destroy their altars.
- You can pray to destroy their padlocks.
- You can pray against their traps.
- You can pray to overthrow their projections.
- You can pray to reverse their burial because there is something known as witchcraft burial.
- You can pray to destroy their bewitchment.
- You can pray to stop their evil summons.
- You can pray to destroy their Identification marks because they put marks on their prey.
- You can pray to frustrate their evil exchange.
- You can pray against their flying zones.
- You can pray to destroy their curses.
- You can pray to break their evil covenants.
- You can pray to recover your organs from their altars.
- You can pray to destroy their evil plantations.
- You can pray to cancel their initiations.
- You can pray to destroy their poisons.
- You can pray to frustrate their evil plans.
- You can pray to destroy their evil cage.
If you are under the attack of witchcraft powers. It will be advisable to take it up by fervent. ceaseless prayers. Note the. 30 areas and pray thoroughly against these evil operations.
A sister noticed that anytime she collected her salary. within a few days. the salary was gone. She would not be able to account for the money. Immediately after she collected her salary. she would go into debt; she would start borrowing from those who earned less and this got her worried. One day. she listened to a message by the G. O. entitled “Your battle and strategies.” and set out to war.
Immediately she received her next salary, she carried out a prophetic action; she put her salary on the floor, took up a cutlass and started to pray like this: “Every evil hand on my money, I cut you off, in the name of Jesus.”
As she dangled the cutlass round the money without knowing the implications of her actions. To her amazement, the next day, she was summoned and Informed that something mysteriously cut off the two hands of her grandmother. When she heard this, she did not bother to travel home because she the cause of the incident.
If you pray effectively against witchcraft forces, they will let you go. But know that when your obedience is not complete, these witchcraft spirits will launch counter-attacks against you as you come against them. Their counter-attacks could be very dangerous. I pray that God would evacuate the spirit of disobedience from your life, in the name of Jesus.
I want to make it categorically clear that it is just impossible for anyone to resist witchcraft spirit as long as such a-person is living in any iota of disobedience.
SPIRITUAL WARFARE
The second and third keys are personal spiritual warfare. There are various steps to deliverance. If you feel that you are under attack or feel that a particular aspect of your life is under evil control, the anti-witchcraft prayers above will provide a permanent barricade against the enemy.
What is the conclusion of the matter? Witchcraft is public enemy number one that must be dealt with decisively. It is very Important that you pray that the
witch in you must die, first because if disobedience and rebellion in your life are not removed, and you start to pray against external witchcraft, these spirits would be embitettered and will deal with you. They will come against you in a rage.
God has issued both physical and spiritual death sentences on all forms of witchcraft. Any believer living in disobedience and rebellion can die like a worthless housefly. A death sentence has been issued against all witches and wizards. Unfortunately many born again believers are practitioners of witchcraft in that they harbour the works of the flesh. These principles of spiritual warfare should be put into practice.
The first step to be taken Is to bow unto God in repentance and forgiveness in anyway you have entertained disobedince and rebellion in your heart. True repentance will grant total victory and your life will no longer remain the same. Tell God that He should remove the property of the devil in you which has turned you to an object of attack by the devil. Command that the witchcraft in you to die. God ahead and pray the prayer points below.
PRAYER POINTS
While laying your hands on your head, want you to pray the following prayers:
- Every pattern of witchcraft in my life, break, in the name of Jesus.
- Every ladder of witchcraft into my life, scatter, in the name of Jesus.
- Every consequence of witchcraft powers that touched me when I was a baby, die, in the name of Jesus.
- Every consequence of witchcraft hands laid on my head, die, in the name of Jesus.
- Every embargo of witchcraft against my moving forward, die, in the name of Jesus.
- Every agenda of witchcraft upon my destiny, die, in the name of Jesus.
- Every. pillar of witchcraft of my father’s house, die, in the name of Jesus.
- Any witchcraft power that ever troubled my Israel, I have a controversy against you. Therefore, appear, in the name of Jesus.
- Every assembly of witchcraft that Is troubling my Israel, die, In the name of Jesus.