Month: July 2016

The below is adapted from chapter three of Bob’s book,

DEALING WITH DEMONS, “Creeping Determinism” section.

What I write about below, is important when dealing with victims who’ve suffered any kind of abuse, especially that inflicted by a parent. In his book Why We Make Mistakes, author Joseph T. Hallinan points out a concept that is important in ministering to those who have been demonically attacked: “creeping determinism.” Not only are human beings prone to exaggerate or minimize past occurrences of trauma, depending on the particular need, but they also “misremember” what actually happened. In my words, they lie to themselves.

Demons may be part of this process of self-protective prevarication. The effect is even more dramatic if the individual also suffered something so terrible that there was an immediate need to cancel its pain by instantly reframing the event in the mind. This is why in deliverance ministry the process of inner healing and recovered memories is so important. So is exploring the possibility of dissociative identity disorder (DID).

It’s common for victims of abuse to make excuses about the bad behavior of their abuser, especially someone in close relationship to them. Shouldn’t the victim of abuse give grace and overlook their ill treatment? That’s the mind-game that many Christians play in their attitude toward past abusers. It sounds good, but it’s a deadly trap laid by evil spirits. A lie is a lie, no matter what extenuating circumstances may be present. When that lie is at the root of a demonic opening in one’s life, shading the account of an abuser’s brutality, the outcome is always the same: continued bondage until the truth comes through and can be faced honestly.

When ministering inner healing it’s important that the recipient of abuse deal honestly with the truth of what was done to them. The purpose is not to instill greater resentment of their abuser(s) but to not allow “creeping determinism” to gradually minimize the damage of the abuse at the time it occurred. In retrospect, the pain of mistreatment may have diminished over time, but the point of demonic entry was created by what the individual felt at the time the evil actions occurred. It was the anger and bitterness that they felt back then that may have given demons a legal right of entry. Closing that demonic door means that the victim of abuse must face how they felt at the time the emotional or physical injury took place. Only then can they completely release it to the Lord for emotional and spiritual healing.

TO GET YOUR COPY OF “DEALING WITH DEMONS,”

CLICK HERE or call 303-980-1511.

An encouraging word: PLANT A SEED BY SERVING

Some think that what’s important to being a Christian is getting saved. But the Messianic Psalm 22:30 declares, “Posterity (‘a seed” KJV) shall serve Him.” There’s a wealth of biblical instruction in those few words. More is required of Christians than just to confess Christ. We are to serve Him with all our hearts. A seed does no good unless it is planted. Our lives, even as converted believers, produce no fruit unless we serve the cause of Christ. Think today of ways that you can serve the Lord by planting the seed of your life in some way.

Bob Larson has trained healing and deliverance teams all over the world to set the captives free and Do What Jesus Did® (Luke 4:18).  You can partner with Bob and support this vision to demonstrate God’s power in action by calling 303-980-1511 or clicking here to donate online

It’s the hottest internet, smartphone, gaming sensation in history. The game, launched this past week, is played on-the-go with iPhone or Android devices. By the time you read this blog, in excess of 10 million downloads will have occurred. Nearly $2 million a day in revenue is pouring in to Nintendo Corporation, the developer. Stock shares jumped in value from $12 billion to $30 billion overnight. Apple and Google are in on this, downloading apps worth many more millions. Most folks will remember Pokemon from the 80s and 90s when the Japanese franchise was played with trading cards, video games, and so-called “manga” Japanese comics Pokemon is a shortened version for “pocket monsters,” fictional animals who need to be captured. Pokemon characters (scores of them) may possess supernatural powers and appear as ghosts or orbs.

In the latest gaming version, players use a GPS map to locate Pokemon characters in real time in the real world. Apps use “augmented reality” to simulate capturing a Pokemon in real life. The demonic-looking creatures seem to be moving about in the real world. Police are alarmed that people in pursuit of their Pokemon are trespassing, invading landmarks, businesses, even entering churches, to retrieve “virtual” items in their quest. In Missouri, four teens used the app to lure robbery victims. An apparently bogus “interview” with Time magazine has been circulating the internet in which the Japanese creator says the game was devised as a backlash against Christian parents. Worse yet, he supposedly says the game is directed against Christianity and in favor of Satanism. In the presumably hoaxed interview, the gamer says, “Pokemon is essentially the correct answer towards life, not Christianity. Everything presented in the game is the opposite of what Christians believe.” Hoax or not, the fact that anti-Christian sentiment would be punked is by itself interesting.

So what’s the danger? The characters are taken from demonic mythology, including gods from Hawaii and Scandinavia. Alchemy and black magic sources are also used. That in itself should urge caution. Hogwash, says one Christian game developer. He defends the game by saying, “It is a fun pastime. A totally harmless one.” As to the occult overtones, he adds, “It does nothing to a saved Christian. It has no power.” This misguided man even suggests using Pokemon for evangelism. What’s next? Runes for Jesus? Holy yoga? (Oops, we already have that abomination.)

There you have it. Consorting via virtual reality with Pele or Thor won’t get you demons. I differ. The assumption is a false one, that Christians who tamper with the occult won’t suffer real spiritual oppression. Christians can be demonized. Almost every day I minister to real Believers who messed with the New Age or occult practices and picked up hideous demons by such apparently harmless pursuits. If you are a believer, any contact with crystals, consultation of one’s horoscope, indulging in yoga, cultivating energy fields, may lead to real demonic possession. And yes, it can and does happen to genuinely saved Christians. Stay away from Pokemon lest that little virtual demon on your iPhone lures you in pursuit of more than you bargained for.

An encouraging word: GOD HEARD HIS SON’S CRIES

The messianic Psalm 22 makes a remarkable statement: “For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted . . . but when He cried to Him, He heard” (verse 24). These words apply to all of us who are afflicted, but they were prophetically directed to Christ on the cross. God himself witnessed the pain and emotional torment put on his Son. He heard His own Son’s cries of agony. All because of sin. But the Almighty didn’t pull back. God knew it was all necessary. Jesus had to suffer if you and I were to escape hell and live forever. Today, be grateful that He didn’t deny Jesus the suffering of Calvary.

Bob Larson has trained healing and deliverance teams all over the world to set the captives free and Do What Jesus Did® (Luke 4:18).  You can partner with Bob and support this vision to demonstrate God’s power in action by calling 303-980-1511 or clicking here to donate online.

Happy Birthday, America. In President Obama’s hometown, Chicago, over Independence Day weekend, 64 were shot, five were killed. That’s 389 so far this year, more than New York and L. A. combined, and the year’s just half over. And where is Obama moving after he finishes his two-term assault on Americans morals? A $5 million house in a ritzy D. C. suburb. How hypocritical to leave behind the African-American area that put him in the White House for a new suburban palace away from the killing fields of South Chicago.

Also on July 4th this past week, I noticed an interesting story coming out of Cuba, Obama’s new BFF. Not only is our 90-miles-away neighbor to the south increasing persecution of Christians and all dissidents, in spite of Obama’s “normalized” relationship, but it turns out that Cuba has become a potential hotbed for Radical Islam−a short boat ride away. Cuba, traditionally associated with Santeria witchcraft, Catholicism, and atheism, now has a growling Muslim community of 10,000. Thanks to Obama’s lifting of sanctions against Cuba it can only grow larger. Can anyone seriously think that among those 10K Muslims there are no radicalized, ISIS-friendly terrorist? And that Cuba would do nothing to hide them? Of course not.

In the final days of Obama’s White House we’ve been handed two crises, as stated above. More violence than ever in our urban, African-American communities (a problem his ethnicity was supposed to help solve) and a burgeoning terrorist threat just off the shores of Miami. Whoever is elected president had better get both these things under control quickly or Independence Day 2017 may indeed be bleak. This also underscores the importance of the Christian vote in November.

An encouraging word: WORKS OF THE FLESH.

We hear much preaching about the “fruits of the spirit” as detailed in Galatians 5:22-23. But we don’t hear so much, these days, about the “works of the flesh,” which are pointed out earlier in verses 19-21. Though we need both reminders, I would suggest that in our morally corrupt world, culture is long overdue to be reminded that the Bible details very definitive acts of evil, including “adultery, fornication, lewdness, sorcery, hatred, and drunkenness,” to name a few. People today who ascribe to a relative morality miss the point that sin is specific and it is actual deeds that can damn the soul. We all need this reminder.

Bob Larson has trained healing and deliverance teams all over the world to set the captives free and Do What Jesus Did® (Luke 4:18). You can partner with Bob and support this vision to demonstrate God’s power in action by calling 303-980-1511 or clicking here to donate online.

The below is adapted from my latest book, DEALING WITH DEMONS,

Chapter Three, the section on Hindsight Bias.

I am indebted to author Joseph T. Hallinan for his book, Why We Make Mistakes. The book is primarily an exploration of the human condition of error, even with the best of intentions and meticulousness in avoiding it. In the section of his book called, “Hindsight Isn’t Twenty-Twenty,” Hallinan points out that “hindsight bias” is a constant source of human error. In essence, the author believes that the outcome of individuals’ lives has a strong influence on how they see the past. This is what he calls “hindsight bias.”Almost every person I have counseled who experienced tragedy at a young age has such bias.

What a person becomes later in life affects how they remember what it was like many years before. This is the historical revisionism I referred to. Many times a retrospective lens on the past ought not to be trusted. Our emotions lie to us, especially if demonic forces are there to reinforce that lie. I’ve seen this play out over and over. The result is that people coming for ministry many not be able to recognize curses in their past, because the evil that was said or done to them has been so greatly minimized.

The victim of any kind of childhood abuse or mistreatment has a vested interest in hindsight bias. It aids their ability to overlook how terrible past experiences may have been. The upside is it may ameliorate some of the effect of significant trauma. The downside is that it covers up painful memories that need to be healed. More than that, it actually rewrites the way that those memories are perceived, placing them in a less horrific context. Hindsight bias is one thing if it’s a matter of how a historian views a past war or the effect of a certain political regime. It’s another matter if the bias conceals or minimizes the effect of personal evil on the one who has experienced it. This concealment is one way that demonic forces keep a tormented individual from seeking help. They so negate the authenticity of their emotions that they actually lie to themselves about the truth of what happened.

Don’t suffer from “hindsight bias.” Get help today and see the past for what it really was.

An encouraging word: USE YOUR GIFTS FOR GOD

Moses doubted himself so much that he questioned whether he was fit to confront Pharaoh (Exodus 3:11). The Lord asked Moses what he held in his hand. The answer? “A rod.” For 40 years Moses had carried that rod, which seemed insignificant it him. He didn’t realize what it would mean when empowered by God, even to the parting of the Red Sea. What is it that you have in your hands that God might use? What gift or talent that you’ve carried around without realizing how important it can be, if empowered by God? Today, find your “rod” and use it.

Bob Larson has trained healing and deliverance teams all over the world to set the captives free and Do What Jesus Did® (Luke 4:18). You can partner with Bob and support this vision to demonstrate God’s power in action by calling 303-980-1511 or clicking here to donate online.