Today we're going reach into the Field Guide to Spiritual Warfare's mail bag and pull out a letter. Reaching into the mail bag, I pull out a letter, and it is from Ms. Michelle, and it is about the blog article, "Help Me I'm Cursed".
Ms. Michelle writes,
I have one question, it has many facets, but is really only one. I will try to keep it intelligent (I saw in a previous blog that you don't accept comments from unintelligent people). Okay, here it is: You say you are a Christian, yet your first response in this blog is for the person to buy your book to get the proper prayer. Seriously? You need to make money off of someone who is down on their luck, or is cursed? You need to say, buy my book? Why couldn't you just tell them the prayer? Being a Christian, I would think that you wouldn't charge for helping them. Please explain why.
Wow! A loaded e-mail from our reader, Michelle. Let me take a crack at this. Let's start with the first statement,
I will try to keep it intelligent (I saw in a previous blog that you don't accept comments from unintelligent people).
Actually, what I used to request at the end of every blog post is (up until about 2016) was,
Please also note, if you post a comment, I require that it be an intelligent comment with facts to collaborate and support your point. I have an expectation of the maturity level of the person posting a comment to participate -- otherwise, I will delete it.
The reason I posted this was that some people came in dropped derogatory comments, or opinions, that were in no way open to conversation or dialogue. Controversial arguments were ok, just, it had to be expressed in a way to invite conversation in the comment section. Otherwise, unsubstantiated and lewd comments were deleted. There are boundaries I would like to see people abide by in this space as we discuss some tough topics.
Example of what I typically deleted from the comments, "People who believe in God are idiots."
Michelle, to address the meat of your letter, you write,
You say you are a Christian, yet your first response in this blog is for the person to buy your book to get the proper prayer. Seriously?
In the third paragraph of the article, I did write,
A good place to start when ministering in curse breaking is using my book, A Field Guide to Spiritual Warfare, in the appendix there is a curse-breaking prayer. It's been pretty effective in stirring up curses if they exist during the prayer session. If nothing shows up to the party during curse breaking just have a conversation afterward about the individual's system of beliefs about themselves.
But the rest of the article was focused on dealing with the strongholds and ungodly belief systems that systemically invade the mind. The problem with curses is the mindset a person allows to develop inside of themselves. It becomes a belief system of lies. Curse breaking doesn't remove these thoughts that are contrary to what God believes about you. There is no curse breaking prayer that will heal this. This is a healing process that the soul must want to step into or otherwise fall back into the sinful nature of the curse they're trying to break free from.
Michelle writes, You need to make money off of someone who is down on their luck, or is cursed? You need to say, buy my book? Why couldn't you just tell them the prayer? Being a Christian, I would think that you wouldn't charge for helping them.
Curse breaking is all over in my blog entries. At the end of the blog I also invite the reader to ask questions, which I would answer in future articles. Don't get sucked into a magic bullet prayer for this. Prayer is not methodical it is relationship based with Jesus. The basis for any curse breaking prayer is to take ownership of your family line, then repent and renounce the curse. Ask Jesus for forgiveness for believing the set of lies that you allowed to enter into your mind from the curse. That's it. Now you have to do the hard work and walk out of the sin. Again, this information is scattered throughout my blogs. Curses are hard to deal with because the soul must deal with the very nasty stuff the mind allowed in through the curse. The mind will naturally gravitate back to the ways while under the curse. This is where Jesus comes in and walks you through your healing. Jesus is about relationship. You can't walk this stuff out on your own. You will need pastors, Christian counselors, and solid standing church body members to help you through this journey.
As for charging for books, it cost money to write books. We don't get rich off selling books. A lot of material was compiled in these books to help people out. People I work with directly who are in real situations I give the books to them. We're a ministry. It's the book we use in ministry. However, we don't have the capacity to help everyone. We're a small ministry with some powerful cases under the belt. The books are knowledge base, so if someone is serious about this ministry they would be eager to get their hands on these books. The second book was written for counselors and not lay people.
A ministry has to charge somewhere, we have to travel, drive out to people, pay rent for office space, and so forth. There are logistics behind running a ministry. Being a Christian doesn't fill our tank of gas or pay our rent. Charging $10 for a book is not a big deal. Besides, the last book is on Amazon, and on an amazon kindle premium subscription it is available in ebook form for free.
Michelle, thank you for writing in. And that's it for the mail bag today.
God Bless
Rev. Mike
If you have any questions on how to deal with occult battles, please drop me a comment, and I will answer the question in blog posts.
If you have questions on curse breaking, or curse breaking prayers, I cover these in my book, A Field Guide to Spiritual Warfare.
If you have questions on dealing with manifestations, I cover these in my book, A Field Guide to Advanced Spiritual Warfare.
Get your copy today! Available on Amazon in:
paper back - A Field Guide to Advanced Spiritual Warfare - Deliverance, Exorcism, Healing the Effects of Ritual Abuse.
Kindle - A Field Guide to Advanced Spiritual Warfare - Deliverance, Exorcism, Healing the Effects of Ritual Abuse. (eBook)
Get your very own copy of the ORIGINAL - A Field Guide to Spiritual Warfare!
In this blog I would like to respond to some valid questions raised by ministers from my previous blog on Curse Breaking. I mentioned that my home tends to be oppression free during both times of on and off battle. Is your house a fortress are you protected? Oppression free doesn’t mean attack free. Oppression means that the attacks don’t enter the home. Let me walk you through my spiritual warfare history to show you how my inner transformation aided in keeping my home safe.
When I was first drafted into battle back in November of 2007, I had no clue what deliverance ministry was. I want to emphasize the word drafted, and not the church lingo of being called. There is a difference. In deliverance ministry, God may call and raise up ministers to do some more extreme deliverance ministry than was identified in Luke 10:17. All Christians are called to exercise their authority over the low-level demonic spirits. If a lot more Christians stepped into their authority like the 70 disciples did, their would be less fear filled cries for help in our ministry e-mail in-boxes for curse breaking.For next level darker battles, God has raised up deliverance ministers to go a little bit further in these battles and work with souls who are stuck in strongholds and curses. There is another level of ministry, which I call Mark 9:29 ministry, and the Roman Catholic Church calls the office of exorcism. It is my firm belief that God drafts (anoints) ministers into this ministry. How and why God selects these individuals, only He knows.
The Early Days of Being Drafted into Warfare
Back in November of 2007, I was a devout Christian who thought I had a deep relationship with God. I was a member of my church, I was active within the church and participated in various ministries. I thought I was doing pretty good spiritually. But in reality, looking back, I was a member of the frozen chosen. There simply wasn’t a deep relationship with Jesus Christ. I could hear his voice, but it was intermittent. How do you know you are a member of the frozen chosen? Simply ask yourself this question, “Where will I go when I die?”. If you can’t answer this question with certainty, then you need to spend more time getting to know Jesus. If you are a deliverance minister who can’t answer this, remove yourself from deliverance ministry and work to resolve this spiritual issue. When the timing is right, Jesus will release you back into ministry.
Because I was drafted into dark warfare, all hell broke loose, literally, right away in my home. This was my thawing from the pew of the frozen chosen. The demonic did not want me actively responding to God’s marching orders. Remind you, I had a mediocre to good prayer life. But there were a lot of things God needed fixed in my interior life in order for me to be effective in His battle campaigns. The most memorable incidents were the fire alarms in our house would go off when my wife and I started intercession for those we worked with who were oppressed.
This was extremely annoying. But through this tribulation God raised us up in unity to have the authority to shutdown the fire alarm attacks by standing in our spiritual authority. Did you notice I used the word tribulation? God allowed these attacks so we could be raised up to where God needed us to walk in spiritual authority. This was the beginning walk for us in spiritual warfare and learning to not allow things in our house. For a couple of years, we experienced what I called drive-by spiritual attacks. These were the spiritual versions of gang banger drive by shootings. On very rare occasion do we still experience these today, maybe 1 or 2 a year now. They still try, but they don’t like being in or around a Spirit filled home.
During this time, as we were spiritually growing, we started hosting home church in our residence. This is where we invited speakers and equipping ministers to help us grow in areas our then regularly attended Sunday church was not ready to grow in. There was internal strife at our church at this time regarding the movement of the Holy Spirit. We had to go outside the church and start home church meetings that didn't involve or affect our home church. This is probably another blog in itself. But you will learn the hard way not to bring a movement of the Holy Spirit into the church that it is not ready for it. Always keep a checks and balances with your pastor and clergy on where the church is at. Don’t ever push anything on a congregation it is not ready to embrace. When your Pastor tells you NO! on something,that’s that! Never ever be in rebellion to church leadership.If you need to seek training outside the walls of your regular church, do so. But at the same time use discernment of what churches you are going to in seeking spiritual growth. In spiritual warfare you will need to grow primarily in the area of hearing God. This is far more fundamental than which curse breaking curses you know. Jesus is the one who sets the captive free. So learn to talk with Him. As you grow spiritually, you may start having some weird dark dreams as you take on spiritual stuff. This is all God raising you up so you can stand in dark battles with Him. He will do a lot of internal and generational house cleaning in these dreams too.
God’s Presence
So is this the advise you expected? I haven’t mentioned any spiritual warfare books yet, and I won’t! We are looking to move into another home here in Spring of 2018, and my plans are to throw out my library of spiritual warfare books. I don’t plan to give any away because I believe a lot of these books are disinformation. Many spiritual warfare books are nothing more than pastor’s sermons on digital recorder translated over to print by a Christian publishing house. I am amazed at the amount of bad information on warring in the second heaven that are prevalent in these popular Christian books.
The number one thing a spiritual warfare minister can do to learn to keep oppression out of their home is to learn to hear God. PERIOD! I learned from a great course by the late John Paul Jackson, called The Art of Hearing God. The class now appears to be on youtube.
John Paul Jackson’s The Art of Hearing God
There are also some great teachings by Mark Virkler on youtube.
Mark Virkler’s Hearing God’s Voice
I can’t emphasize the importance of this enough. When you and your family invite God and talk to Him in your house, the presence of God is there. Please keep in my mind I am not talking about visions and prophetic words here. These are just conversations with God. Don't derail your ministry with prophetic ministry either. Many people don't test their prophetic messages and can be influenced by the demonic to go off on a tangent. Many self-taught prophetic ministers tend to be hearing from their own soul and not God. Again, I emphasize getting in on a John Paul Jackson course. It's a great place to start.
Probably somewhere around 2009, M16 Ministries garnished a reputation of being a legitimate spiritual warfare ministry. Between 2007 and 2009 I experienced some violent attacks against me that I didn't discuss with anybody. People just didn't understand the level of warfare we were in. We crossed over into the beginnings of Mark 9:29 level ministry. By this time I think we started working on our first full blown demonic possession case and we were dealing with shadow manifestations in our home as a result of this. The shadows left with our authority when we ordered them to leave. We were experiencing objects moving and being thrown on their own. We reached out to pastor and requested a spiritual covering of our church. Activity ceased nearly immediately in our house. To this day we have never had any objects move on their own again.
2009 was also the year my ministry took over San Francisco Night Strike street ministry from Bob Johnson ministries. I believe the street ministry where we worked with the homeless, drug addicts and prostitutes, put us into a favorable spiritual alignment with God. God wants us to help the downtrodden, poor, sick, widows, and orphans. These works of charity I believe were a big factor in the amount of protection we were receiving spiritually. Especially, when we frequently encountered demoniacs in street ministry in San Francisco.
There were some strange spiritual shifts we experienced in 2014 and were forced to move out from underneath the covering of our church. Church coverings can be beneficial, but they can also expose the human legalisms of church administration. Furthermore, God wasn't done moving us into deeper darker water. What the church was cable of providing intercession for was in shallow waters and not prepared for the darker waters we were now operating in. At this time, we started experiencing a lot of internal and deep cutting spiritual attacks from our own church leadership.The enemy used the church as the mechanism to bring oppression on to the ministry. This is another key reason on why you need to distinctly hear God’s voice. During some powerful and heartfelt conversations with God, He outlined and provided a covering for the ministry.There are rules, regulations,and protocols for His covering and we completely abide to this. Remember, Jesus walked us to this point where we were able to operate under His covering. It’s not something we jumped into because we were upset. We were boxed in and only Jesus could provide the resolution, and He did. We had to be patient, wait, and pray.
No Weapon Formed Against You Will Prosper
Years ago, when God drafted me I would be under some severe attacks. I remember how many of people in my church family would cite, Isaiah 54:17, “No weapon formed against you will prosper.” What I found disturbing was that there was ignorance of the true meaning of this scripture by those who would recite it to me. Not to sound mean or condescending. It was just I was being given advice by people who hadn’t walked in my shoes in the level of warfare and yet somehow became self-proclaimed experts.
My issue with hearing this from my brothers and sisters was that David first had to battle the lion and the bear before he took on Goliath. There were some dark battles I never discussed with anyone that took me from the bear to the lion and finally to the giants. And the giants aren't the big guys like the church likes to believe. Here were people advising me they were slaying giants yet were calling me to swat their gnats. There was this huge disconnect for me due to the church’s inexperience in spiritual warfare, and only a few people to turn to. Don’t be frustrated if your church leadership lacks in these areas. This is a common issue that plagues both the Protestants and the Catholics. I find that some churches only bring in curriculum on spiritual warfare that don’t offend or frighten their congregation. Ever wonder why so many churches are in bondage? Don’t be surprised if you are operating as a covert ministry in your own church. God is revealing to you things the church body is not prepared to deal with or comprehend. So you're not to discuss it with the members of the church. Again, a covert ministry must never be in rebellion to church leadership. God is unity.
So what do you the minister do when your under it? Under it is our code phrase with my counseling ministry team at ITPH, for when we’re receiving directed spiritual bombardment by the enemy. The scripture tells us that “No weapon formed against you will prosper.” When I work on equipping ministers I point out to them that the scripture used the word "formed" in the past tense. This means the weapon has been deployed, is inbound, or has already struck it’s target, you!
At this level of warfare you better be surrounded by friends and ministries that understand this level of warfare. You must be walking in a high level of your FAITH as this point in ministry. I am a counselor who works full time with ritual abuse survivors. My ministry partners with a spiritually mature Christian counseling ministry. We have survivors of severe trauma who understand the importance of intercession. We surround each other when these weapons are formed and deployed. I have supernaturally survived direct destructive attacks, and so have the intercessors I surround myself with. When I say destructive attacks I don’t say that lightly. It’s the testimony of the survival of the attack when it comes. What is curious is that during ministry right after such attacks, the demonic and the occult are apprehensive in picking a fight with me because they fully understand what God did to deliver me from that situation. When you are destructively targeted go to your secret place and proclaim the promises of psalm 91. Talk with God during your spiritual bombardment and suffering and go to your spiritual place of joy.
Why does the enemy attack us when we have a deep prayer life? Remember this is warfare. Some people tell me these bad teachings that they’re sharpening their iron in the second heaven. Really? Do you walk into a biker bar and start a bar fight and not expect to be brutally beat up? Do you walk into an Italian restaurant owned by a Mafia boss, shoot it up, and not expect retaliation? When you enter into darker warfare, such as Mark 9:29 level warfare, you are stepping into a fight. You don’t provoke the fight, you listen to God on how to proceed. When you step into this fight,especially with the occult and demonic possession, there is significant retaliation by the forces of darkness. First of all, I don’t enter every battle that comes my way. I check in with God. You would be surprised how many times God instructs me not to assist. Not because God isn't going to help. But because the request isn't legit and the person seeking help needs to trust God and look elsewhere for help. The person (a church going Christian) can also be in cahoots with a demon and are sent to your doorstep not for receiving your help, but to waste your time and wear you down. If I am released into battle by Jesus, that is one of the regulations of His protective covering. I am allowed to work with the afflicted soul and God has me protected from the occult and the demonic. I never skip this step of being released into battle, it has dire consequences if I act on my own. You must also understand the rules of the fight and how to fight.
Concluding Remarks
Some of the information presented here may sound a bit harsh. My goal wasn't to knock any ministries or institutions, but to illustrate the steep up hill challenges involved with dark spiritual warfare. Not everyone is cut out for it. Some are called, and a few survive the shake out process. There are consequences for over stepping your covering. I hope some of my experiences will help you in direction for getting the protection you need. I think my transparency will help those who are truly looking for more protection as they grow in their ministry. I know if you're looking for answers here you clearly understand the severity of the attacks and how God protects you from them.
For more information on advance warfare topics, checkout my books. A Field Guide to Advance Spiritual Warfare is that covers most of what I covered here. Both books are required reading by anyone involved in spiritual warfare.
I hope this helps.
God Bless
Rev. Mike
If you have any questions on how to deal with occult battles, please drop me a comment, and I will answer the question in blog posts.
If you have questions on curse breaking, or curse breaking prayers, I cover these in my book, A Field Guide to Spiritual Warfare.
If you have questions on dealing with manifestations, I cover these in my book, A Field Guide to Advanced Spiritual Warfare.
Get your copy today! Available on Amazon in:
paper back - A Field Guide to Advanced Spiritual Warfare - Deliverance, Exorcism, Healing the Effects of Ritual Abuse.
Kindle - A Field Guide to Advanced Spiritual Warfare - Deliverance, Exorcism, Healing the Effects of Ritual Abuse. (eBook)
Get your very own copy of the ORIGINAL - A Field Guide to Spiritual Warfare!
A common request for ministry help I receive in emails is for curse breaking. The email body usually reads, “Help me! I’ve been cursed! Contact me ASAP!” The M16 Ministries' in box is overflowing with these requests. Due to the volume of these requests I can't respond to everyone. However, with a blog I can address how to walk out of a curse. If a curse is present.
The first step is to determine if a curse is present. I have worked with a lot of Christians who have had very tough lives. Hardship in finances and living is not a sign of a curse. Ever wonder why you met people who have seen a shopping list of deliverance ministers and have never had their lives restored to their satisfaction? Many times these individuals believe that God has forsaken them after this many failed deliverance attempts. There could be other issues going on that God is trying to point out but they're refusing to see. A person who thinks they're cursed could actually be dealing with rejection and self-hatred and they view these lies about themselves in the form of a curse. Many times, this or a similar situation has been the case. Not always. But it is actually more predominant than actual curses being present.
A good place to start when ministering in curse breaking is using my book, A Field Guide to Spiritual Warfare, in the appendix there is a curse-breaking prayer. It's been pretty effective in stirring up curses if they exist during the prayer session. If nothing shows up to the party during curse breaking just have a conversation afterward about the individual's system of beliefs about themselves.
Now let's look at tougher scenario, there actually is a curse present. In this case a person was actually cursed by the occult or willfully subjugated themselves to witchcraft. Curse breaking prayer is a good start, but it may not free the individual or family from the curse. What this soul needs is spiritual direction. A curse can remain attached to a soul or bloodline because the people don't possess the indwelling spirituality to make the curse break. What I am talking about is the soul's relationship with Jesus Christ.
A soul battling a curse may go to church on Sunday’s and not comprehend why this happening to them. It's because they have a weak relationship with Jesus Christ and a stronger relationship with what's in the world. The curse is anchored in the latter. The individual must work on their internal life with Jesus and strengthen it. As the relationship grows stronger a prayer life develops. As prayer life develops the anchor spot for the curse weakens. The spiritual mindset must switch from being cursed to one of a spiritual tribulation that Jesus Christ is going to grow and walk you out of. A curse could break off right away or be months to years of tribulation. Under a curse, all is hopeless, this is the message of the enemy, that Jesus can't help you. Furthermore, you have bought into this faithless lie. This is where you must develop your prayer life and relationship with Jesus Christ. I am constantly in dark battles as I work with individuals in their healing. Do you think my life's a picnic? I must be able to find joy and strength in my darkest battles.
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!” 3 For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper And from the deadly pestilence. (Psalm 91:1-3)
I can find joy and peace in my secret place with Jesus Christ. I have had some violent long drawn out battles. I know Jesus, and I know there is always a victory when I am in Him and listening to Him. When you are in the midst of battle with witchcraft and curses you must master practicing the presence of Jesus Christ (St. Teresa of Avila called this recollection). In my darkest hour I can feel Jesus presence with me. So tangible that I can reach out and feel His hand. I can feel His heart and at times hear Him speak to my soul. This is where you need to be spiritually when battling to break the curse off yourself and your family line. There is strength in Him and you must learn how to go deeper in Him for freedom. The curse begins to break when your heart changes. God is about resurrection, restoration, redemption, and reconciliation. You will notice a common thread in all of my posts that I am big on connecting with God. Transformation of the heart and soul is what brings freedom from the demonic. Only Jesus Christ, God who became incarnate, can bring this change.
But Mike, you don't understand, we’re seeing shadows and our family is being attacked.
How do you think I learned how to fight? I have dealt with shadows, it was an oppression through a lot of my life. I have also been physically attacked by the unseen realm while assisting others. I have been involved with very dark levels of warfare. Seriously, nothing really shocks me anymore. Whatever the enemy throws at you practice His presence. This is how I can go into cursed homes and not bring home any spiritual attachments. As of now, and being involved in a lot of dark battles that go beyond low level demonic deliverance, I live in a peaceful house with no spiritual activity other than the Holy Spirit. God’s presence is in me, it’s in my family, and it’s in my home.
Deliverance ministry books are cookie cut and copied. No one speaks about deepening a relationship with Jesus to break off curses. Jesus is your fortress, your stronghold. You must make significant spiritual changes in your life to break off the curse’s attachment to your life. Don't be surprised to find out what you need change in your life to break the clutches of a curse. I am constantly learning and changing, The Apostle Paul calls this a transforming union. As you develop a deepening prayer relationship with Jesus He will show you, very calmly, areas in your life that need to change. If you are praying and you think you are hearing from Jesus that you are going to hell, you are on the wrong channel. Keep praying and pressing in until you find His voice and His will. It’s very calm and it’s never condemning. Many times the Holy Spirit will urge your will to make changes. The triune God is very subtle in how He speaks to us internally.
On my ministry blog site, I wrote an article for beginners on connecting with God, First Stages of Connecting with God and Trauma Survivors . The fact of the matter is, if you want to break a curse you’re going to have to deepen and develop your prayer life. Curses can be broken through curse breaking prayer, but not all the time. I am just presenting you with the facts and what I have observed. When curse breaking fails you need to develop your relationship with Jesus Christ. You should develop a strong prayer life anyway, regardless. This is not taught from the pulpit and is something you need to tackle and develop on your own. Your soul must become a student of Jesus and learn what offends Him. I hope this was an eye opener for you. If you’re wasting money and phone calls with deliverance ministers, who are reading curse breaking prayers and asking you to cough after each renunciation, stop this nonsense right away. Your money will be better spent on prayer books and learning how to pray.
Curses break as you go steeper into your stronghold and protection of Jesus Christ. There is no shortcut around this. Its also the true way warriors in survive in battles with dark forces. Many battles simply take time. Not because God has forsaken you, but because God is changing you to be the person He needs you be for a deeper relationship with Him. So choose today, are you cursed? Or are you going to go through this tribulation with God and allow Him to demonstrate His glory?
When you get the idea of what I am sharing here, you'll see that over time God will do a lot of the fighting for you. Before it shows up your door step.
I hope this helps.
God Bless
Rev. Mike
If you have any questions on how to deal with occult battles, please drop me a comment, and I will answer the question in blog posts.
If you have questions on curse breaking, or curse breaking prayers, I cover these in my book, A Field Guide to Spiritual Warfare.
If you have questions on dealing with manifestations, I cover these in my book, A Field Guide to Advanced Spiritual Warfare.
Get your copy today! Available on Amazon in:
paper back - A Field Guide to Advanced Spiritual Warfare - Deliverance, Exorcism, Healing the Effects of Ritual Abuse.
Kindle - A Field Guide to Advanced Spiritual Warfare - Deliverance, Exorcism, Healing the Effects of Ritual Abuse. (eBook)
Get your very own copy of the ORIGINAL - A Field Guide to Spiritual Warfare!
