Breaking Unhealthy Soul Ties: Do Your Relationships Produce Bondage or Joy? (12 page)

Excerpt:
Deliverance for Children
&
Teens

by Frank & Ida Mae Hammond

Available at
www.impactchristianbooks.com

or Toll Free:
1-800-451-2708

Childhood Trauma

Traumatic experiences in early life, beginning as early as the womb but occurring any time within the vulnerable period of childhood, can provide the door for the
opportunistic enemy
to gain entry. The child or older individual can receive a wound in the realm of his soul by being:

• the victim of a wrongful, harmful action of someone else, either intentional, or unintentional
  
• the victim of harm caused by his own action of sinning, either a conscious willful sin or a sin of ignorance
  
• the victim of unpleasant, or cruel circumstances beyond his control
  

Trauma at Birth

The child’s need for deliverance may be the result of accidents and associated trauma connected with the birth process, causing impairment or crippling, accidents removing his parents from the scene, as by death in an auto accident, or other such unfortunate occurrences.

These circumstances are in no way related to the sin of the individual child nor the parents of the child. Such tragedies do occur irrespective of the merit of the individuals and are not to be interpreted as punishment, as Scripture clearly teaches:

“And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?” (Luke 13:2-4)

“And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?

Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.” (John 9:1-3)

Thus, we observe in the words of the Master Himself, that accidents do occur without the victim having brought the tragedy upon himself by sinning. Such tragedies should serve as a motivation to all to get right with God, and to be prepared to seek the Lord. Jesus healed every person who came to Him seeking deliverance or healing. He turned no one away, either because of the quantity or quality of their sins. None had sinned too greatly to be forgiven or to be ministered to.

These truths are especially important as they are faith-building and offer encouragement to those of us seeking either deliverance or healing. In particular, we do not have to merit the blessing of the Lord’s ministry, nor do we have to attain sinless perfection in order to be eligible for it.

Deliverance for Sally from “IT”

Sally, a young nurse from our fellowship, phoned one day to ask if my wife and I would pray with her.

“I know that I need further deliverance. I don’t have any idea what it is I’m up against this time, but I’m sure it isn’t rejection because we’ve already dealt with that and I really believe that it is gone. This is something that is similar to rejection,” she said thoughtfully.

“I know that I’m saved and that the Lord loves me, and that I’ve been baptized in the Spirit and walking with Him for over five years, but there is still something tormenting me.”

I reflected upon the previous ministry with Sally. She had been adopted when only a few days old by an older couple who had lovingly raised her. Having been raised in a home as an only child by older parents and knowing that she had been adopted, Sally had battled rejection and abandonment problems. She had been delivered of both spirits about six months earlier and had also forgiven her birth-mother for abandoning her.

“It’s embarrassing to talk about, but I’m sure most girls, or women, think of themselves as female; as a ‘she’ or a ‘her.’ For some reason, I always think of myself as an ‘it.’ I really don’t understand why, but that’s always been the way that I’ve thought of myself. I’m almost thirty years old, and all the dates I’ve had in my life you could count on one hand. I’m not upset about it because I’ve had no desire to date either.”

I recalled that we had always known Sally to be a friendly, outgoing, loving, patient, and compassionate Christian. We had observed that although she was very pleasant and people genuinely liked her, she did not date. In spite of the fact that she had a great personality, Sally seemed to have no desire to date and did not seem, upon reflection, to be particularly feminine. She always dressed neatly but not in a very feminine way, almost like a tomboy, usually wearing a typical pantsuit and her hair close-cropped.

This certainly sounded abnormal, unnatural - probably demonic. However, being totally in the dark as to what we were up against, I suggested that we pray and ask God to intervene. We prayed a simple prayer, something to this effect: “Lord Jesus, we acknowledge that You are the Deliverer. It is Your ministry and we know that You know all about Sally’s problems and You want her whole even more than we do. In Your name we command this thing tormenting her to identify itself and to come out of her .”

Then we just waited ....

Sally began to shake and shiver. It was evident to us that the Lord was doing something and that she was apparently seeing something. Therefore we decided to simply wait and let the Lord finish His sovereign ministry to her.

A few minutes later she looked up, her eyes wet with tears, and said, “Wow! You won’t believe what the Lord just showed me. I was in a large white room and I began to be able to see details. You know I’m a nurse, so I instantly recognized the scene as a hospital delivery room. I could see the clock on the wall. I could see the delivery room staff milling around. I could hear everything they said. I knew everything going on in that room. It was amazing to me, and then I noticed that there was a woman on the table who had obviously just given birth.”

Sally paused briefly for a breath and continued her description of what she’d seen. “And, suddenly, I felt myself being carried from the corner where I was, out toward the center of the room, and I realized with a start that I was the new-born baby! The nurse carrying me attempted to hand me to the new mother. She took one look at me with a sneer on her face, put up a hand to stop the nurse and snarled, ‘Get IT out of here!’”

She sighed deeply and we all then realized that the curse of being an “it” had, in essence, been laid upon her from the moment of her birth. As a result of her being unwanted by her mother and put up for adoption, she had not only picked up the spirit of rejection and the spirit of abandonment from which she had previously been delivered, but also this unusual and peculiar spirit which had caused her to think of herself as an “it.” We then prayed again with her, breaking the curse of being an “it” and cast out the spirit which made her think of herself as “it.” This peculiar spirit was no doubt a member of the
self-rejection
family or grouping of spirits.

After she was delivered, Sally asked that we pray with her that she might be able to start dating, “preferably a Spirit-filled man.” Within a week she was back to say “You won’t believe this. I can scarcely believe it, myself, but the Lord has answered that prayer. Would you believe, I have been dating a Spirit-filled man, and he has asked me to marry him!” As it turned out, Sally didn’t marry him, but it was a bold move in a new direction for her, and it blessed us all to see the how far “beyond our ability to think or ask” the Lord could do.

Trauma From The Womb

Sally’s story is an example of how early in the life of an infant problems can enter, from the very moment of birth. To go a step further, in certain cases a spirit or spirits can gain entry even before birth. This is a difficult concept, and seems totally unfair to us. Before looking at two ways in which it can happen, let us first consider a Scriptural example. The Bible records that John the Baptist, whose age was birth minus three months and who was thus in the womb of his mother, was filled with the Holy Spirit. If a child in the womb has the capacity to receive the Holy Spirit, then it is certainly logical that a child in the womb has the capacity to receive an evil spirit.

There are two main routes by which an evil spirit can gain entry to a fetus. First, and most common, is the root of inheritance. Second, is through trauma or fear experienced by the mother. The second could be termed to be inherited, although we normally consider inheritance to include only those conditions overtly manifested in the mother, father or ancestors. However, from a spiritual standpoint, the seeds or roots that give legal right of entry to a demon may have been planted in the womb, or even a generation or even several generations earlier.

The concept of a child being demonized is particularly offensive to us, because it is especially unfair for an innocent, defenseless child to be vulnerable to demonic invasion. However, it is unfortunately in line with the character of Satan, an opportunistic enemy, to mount an attack upon the weakest and most defenseless victims.

In many cases, the demonic attack on an infant’s personality or well-being is not based on the actions of parents. However, if we consider the extreme cases where neglect is involved, such as in light of the situation of drug-addicted parents, it becomes more understandable how infants can be targeted. Drug-addicted parents give birth to drug-addicted babies. This is not unfair upon the part of God; it is simply an outworking of the law of cause and effect. Similarly, the prospective parent who goes to a séance while pregnant, can be exposing the as yet unborn child to Satanic influences and contagion. This can hold true even for a child not yet conceived.

There is another possible explanation for a child having a demonic problem, and that is the outworking of a curse. If a great-grandmother, for example, practiced witchcraft, we may see the results of her sin of being a “hater of God” manifested in her offspring to the fourth generation (Exodus 20:5).

Trauma in Early Childhood

Many (probably most) spirits enter individuals as infants or children, and of course adults can acquire demonic issues later in life. Children, I believe, are the most vulnerable, even than infants, because their consciousness is developing along with their minds, wills and their awareness of right and wrong.

The young child is vulnerable to many fears because he does not yet have the natural defensive weapon of a fully developed mind, the means by which an older individual may rationally defend himself. A child, for instance, who is told that the bogeyman will “get him” may pick up a fear because he is unaware that there is no such person, and that the person who mentioned the bogeyman was only joking.

An incident that occurred when I was about twelve illustrates this truth. My parents were taking my five-year-old brother, his good friend, my sister and me on an afternoon outing to visit a commercially developed cave. The five year old friend of my brother, leaned over the front seat and asked, “Where are we going?”

My Dad, who loved to tease and knowing we had not been outside of the Midwest much, said “Well, we’re going to Mexico.”

My family all laughed, thinking it was a great joke. But we noticed a few moments later that the guest was sobbing quietly in the back seat with tears running down his cheeks. In spite of a good time at the caverns, and an atoning treat of ice cream cones, our guest didn’t really relax until we returned him to his parents.

Even totally innocent teasing, or joking, can cause problems for children who, because of their immaturity, have difficulty distinguishing between reality and unreality, truth and fiction. Thus, parents should be careful of joking or teasing with their children, and make sure that the child knows what is a joke. When fishing with your children, a simple joshing statement such as, “Be good (an unspecific, impossible goal) or I’ll use you for bait,” could cause harm if the child believes you mean it. For more information, refer to the “Teasing” section under Gates of Abuse.

Trauma through
Encounters with Death

It is very difficult for a child to grasp the concept of, or to cope with the realities of, death. This is especially true when it involves a loved one.

The Death, or Near-Death, of a Parent

We encountered a doorway involving a variation of the fear of death in our own family. I was a terminal cancer patient in 1970 when my oldest son, Kevin, was about three and a half. I was hospitalized for several months, prior to being healed sovereignly by the Lord. He visited me at the hospital before I came home, and was very loving and affectionate. The day I returned home, he gave me a good hug, a “big love,” and said “Hi Dad, sure glad you’re home. Glad to see you,” and went out to play.

We thought my younger son, Steve, at one-and-a-half, hadn’t really been old enough to grasp any of the gravity of the situation. When I returned home, however, he crawled up into my lap. He put his arms around my neck, and hung on for all he was worth for at least forty-five minutes, which a returning father didn’t mind at all. However, it did show us that my illness and absence from the home had made a far greater impression on his little mind or spirit than we had imagined.

We made the assumption that Kevin had taken it in stride. However, when he was about eleven, we noticed a change in his personality. All of a sudden, he was no longer able to receive affection from me. He would get very giddy and silly when I was around him. I first noticed it manifesting one night when I went into the boys’ bedroom to say prayers with them. He wouldn’t let me kiss him goodnight.

He could receive affection from his mother and other relatives. He was loving toward me at other times, but particularly at night, when I prayed with him and tried to kiss him before bed, he was not able to receive it.

It was certainly peculiar and we realized that this was symptomatic of something deeper, although we weren’t sure just what. Since we weren’t able to get a handle on it or to resolve it any other way, we decided to try a rather natural technique of having me simply spend extra time alone with him. I set aside a half hour every evening to spend just with him playing ping-pong, cards, or whatever he wanted to do. I just wanted to have some quality time with him.