Transcript: Spiritual Warfare Prayers and Ceremonies

When I was a young minister, I didn't recognize the power of the evil one like I do today. I remember in my first church; we had led a fellow named Boyd to the Lord. He had a friend named Greg living in Joliet, Illinois. He said that Greg is really messed up and needs prayer. I went there, and Matt and Greg admitted that he was under demonic influence. I, in those days, and didn’t give much credit for the power of demonic influence in the prayers needed in such situations. By listening to his story, I sort of felt like he needs to seek counseling and so forth. But he asked me to pray for him. I did. I would say that very confidently, I do not feel competent in this area, nor did I feel confident in praying for people in this area. But I did I exercise the role of the officiant in regard to spiritual warfare prayer. We had our little ceremony, which was just a prayer. He started shaking and sweating. After the prayer, he said, thank you, I feel better. He went on to be a wonderful contributor to society, got a job as a chauffeur, would bring me to the airport when I traveled. Just a wonderful man. 

I saw that again. I remember three sisters who were all sexually abused by their father. One of them, the youngest, was in a psychiatric ward, a little Company of Mary hospital. I remember praying with her. Voices were oppressing her, asking her to kill herself. She almost succeeded. When I visited her, at that time, I had done more research, and I was more competent in some of these issues, and more confident to have a ceremony of spiritual warfare prayer. When we were praying with her, she experienced relief. Years later, she wrote a card, stating, at the end of the card, PS: still, no more voices. 

I could tell more stories. But what I realized is that the enemy is real. We read in Ephesians 6:11 and following, put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil schemes, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities against the powers of this dark world, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm. Therefore, put on the full armor of God, that when the day of evil comes, you'll be able to take your stand, and actually have done everything to stand. A couple of things, I think, is interesting about this Bible passage. 

First of all, our struggle is not against flesh and blood but that's where we often make the struggle stay. But really, the struggle is spiritual. Each of us understand that in our sin, we struggle with temptations. The Lord's Prayer with temptation deliver us from the evil one. Even at that core prayer, there's a recognition that our struggle is not merely a flesh and blood struggle. Another interesting thing about this passage about principalities and powers. We see that when Jesus came to the earth, that he was tempted in the wilderness by the devil, Satan. We also see those expressions of demonic influence and possession and oppression, that when he was here in the ministry, he cast out demons and he sent out the 70, presumably disciples, to do likewise. We see here that in putting on the full armor of God, that we have the tools to be confident to win the day of evil. We can stand in that word to win the battle. 

Know that it wasn't even us that won the battle, it was God, His Word. He is the one who vanquishes the devil. He did it back in the time of Jesus Christ and he does it today. The first question that comes in, as we minister, is the question, who do you align with? That really is the issue. In the Old Testament, we see this already in Joshua 5:13-15. Now, when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, Are you for us? Or are or for our enemies? Neither, he replied. But as commander of the army of the Lord, I have now come. Joshua fell face down to the ground in reverence and asked him, What message does my Lord have for his servant? The commander of the Lord's army replied, Take off your sandals for the place you are standing is holy, and Joshua did so. He says, I have no enemies, with humans, but who do humans, who do you align with? Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against powers and authorities. We know that they're in spiritual warfare, you know it.

It was back in the Garden of Eden where spiritual warfare started. Adam and Eve are in this beautiful place, going about life. You can read about this in Genesis 3. Satan, the serpent comes, to Eve, and then Adam, and says a lie: you can be like God, you don't need God. They fall into sin. Our fight is not against flesh and blood. At that point, it was not Eve against Adam or Adam against Eve, it’s enter the tempter. What's interesting about this is where the occult occurs. That's the beginning of the occult. Where does this come? What is his function? What is the definition of occult behavior, and you see that already in Genesis chapter three, that at the very beginning, it's living your life, seeking power, not from God, who created for not glorifying the God who created the world, or not doing it God's way. That’s the essence. That's Satan. He was thrown down out of heaven, kept out of the presence of God. Satan was as an archangel. It said in the Bible, everything was made beautiful. He wants nothing to do with glorifying his creator. He convinced others to follow him. 

Today, we have a warfare, where God and His holy angels war against Satan and fallen angels, demons, and this is an aspect of our fight. Now I want to make something very important clear, here. I don't look for a devil under every rock. I don't like to make this into another form of ministry that reduces your entire ministry to demonic ministry. All I am doing here is giving you the confidence and competence to be able to win when expressions of evil come to you, that you understand that you have a role as a minister as an officiant to help people and that you may be called to help people in this situation. It really does come down to where people are aligned with if they see to align themselves with God. They will be oppressed, and you can help them get free. Help them change and help them to see God in their life in a new way. We see throughout the Bible, particularly the New Testament, that the issue comes about spiritual warfare. Who are we? Jesus says, if you're not for me, you're against me. 1 Peter 5:8, be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 

The New Testament is clear that the devil is prowling around, looking for someone to devour, to get someone not to find their hope in Jesus Christ. Let's look at the ministry of Jesus in a relationship to spiritual warfare. One thing is clear, Jesus dealt with the enemy, even the hometown demons. Luke 4:33, 35. What is interesting about this is that it is in Jesus’ hometown. This is actually in the synagogue in his hometown. This is a part of the synagogue story in the hometown that people usually don't talk about. But this happened, in the synagogue there was a man possessed by demons and evil spirit, he cried out at the top of his voice. What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are the Holy One of God, be quiet, Jesus said sternly, come out of him. Then the demons threw the man down before them and came out without injuring the man. Another interesting passages. Jesus lived his hometown and number of prophets in honor of his own town. Who knows, maybe he knew the person that was possessed by the demon. Maybe that person was a bully in Jesus life at some point when he grew up again, I don't know. But I've observed, as a minister for decades now, that somebody can get affected or assaulted by evil ones by people they know people from their past. Jesus comes to his hometown and interestingly, in the synagogue, in a town where everybody knew each other, a demon possessed man exhibits himself and even says things. 

No prophet has honor his own town. This demon possessed man says, I know who you are, the Holy One of God. For a place not honoring the Prophet, a demon possessed man tells everybody who he is. But Jesus dealt with that man and brought healing, in healing prayer, and the demon was taken away. Just an interesting passage Luke 4:33-35. But we see that in the ministry of the first disciples, Jesus sent out ministers two buy two. But notice again, a spiritual warfare connection, Luke 10:17-20, the 70 returned with joy and said Lord, even the demons submitted to us in your name. He replied, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions to overcome all the power of the enemy, nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit you. Rejoice that your names are written in heaven. A couple of interesting things about that. One of them is he sent them out to buy two and I love that. If you must do a ceremony of demonic release or prayer of spiritual warfare, I highly recommend that you do not go alone. take a spiritually mature person if you're somewhat of a new minister, people who just are prayer warriors. 

I have seen over the years, some people who know how to pray in the Spirit against demonic attack. If you're in ministry, find a prayer team. We have a prayer team. In fact, many of you who may take this course may eventually join our prayer team. Two by two. I remember even that first time I met with that Greg, I was with Boyd and the two of us would work together. That made a huge difference. That's one interesting thing. The other is that Jesus replies to them, that He has given them authority. You, in Christ, Jesus have authority, but the authority is not in yourself. Be very careful to understand this: you are not like now you have the power over demons because you're so strong, and you've been taught how to do it or taught how to say a prayer, or taught how to see the role of demonic influence. Your authority is that you will align yourself with Jesus Christ. He is living in you and he has that authority over demons. He is the one that will deal with demons. You are an agent, a minister, an errand runner, for Jesus Christ. Even today, 2000 years later. That's interesting. One more thing interesting about this passage is, don't rejoice that the demons submit to you. In other words, this isn't your fight. This is God. It's His fight. Don't rejoice that the demons submitted to you. Rejoice instead, that you are in the book of life. In other words, I'll put it another way. Don't get your satisfaction from the work of demons submitting to you. May your whole satisfaction be desiring God! Maybe serving the Lord, maybe heaven. Many people get there in ministry, but you can apply this passage across the board. I take joy that all these people are coming to my church, that demons are releasing people to come into my ministry. Take joy in Jesus Christ. Don't define yourself by results. Don't define yourself by the submission of demons to the prayers that you say. Define yourself by Jesus Christ. I know I’ve probably belabored that a while, but one of the subtlest attacks Satan does to ministers is to start getting them to believe that they're powerful. Again, that's the occult’s way to get you to have a power, authority other than God, and that you can begin convincing yourself that you are the authority. Opportunities are brought to you and this is a fascinating thing. I want to talk about the passive verb in Greek. Matthew 8:16, when evening came, many who are demon possessed, were brought to Him and he drove out the spirit with a word. 

What's interesting to me about this, that I'm one that doesn't go about looking for demons everywhere. I'm not like the demon hunter. This is not the Christian version of a paranormal existence, that I wake up in the morning and think to myself, what attack is going to happen to me today? By whom? What demon am I going to look for? I wake up in the morning, and it's a beautiful day because God made it and ask, Lord, what do you want today, and let me meet you for my devotions and prayer. It's just opening myself up to God. But if you have that attitude, you will notice, in ministry, that things happen. In that passage, people were brought to Jesus with demons, many who are demon possessed were brought to Jesus. That's been my experience. You don't go asking for that, to go minister to those oppressed, or possessed by demons, but it happens. They come to you. opportunities are brought to you. In understanding that passage, I do believe there could be some who really do have this ministry, I want to say something else here, too. In a lot of ways that I'm choosing my words carefully, you can sort of see me stammer a little bit because every word matters. I don't want somebody to get excited about an exorcism type ministry and get caught up in the wrong thing. 

I remember decades ago, and over the decades of ministry, that if someone makes too big of a deal out of this. That path of understanding, when it comes to you, we want you confident and competent. To me, I sense the Holy Spirit says, that's the place to be the place where you're looking for demons, and you're on the attack. It seems like the demons or some demon specialist that gets you off kilter. I'll tell one, I know of a person who really got into this warfare thing, and was trying to cast out demons in community areas where there's a lot of prostitution, all of that. This very person who I had met, and felt like, Wow, that's really interesting. Eventually, he would join with prostitutes and had some sort of strange thing where he would have sessions with the prostitutes, and then there'd be some type of half God, half cult like thing. Look, I'm a minister of the gospel, and things come to me, I'm going to address them. But I'm not going to get preoccupied and go back to that one passage I just quoted earlier, rejoice that your name is in the book of life. I think you get the point. Proceed with confidence and competence but with caution in these types of areas. I really liked things like worksheets, and in the worksheet to be things where they're just questions. 

Is there a demonic influence here and is prayer needed? I just find that there are certain things that look like checklists that are revealed in the Bible. that could be factors even today. For instance, and Matthew 8:28, when he arrived at the other side of the region of the gathering, two demon possessed men coming from the tombs and met him. They were so violent, that no one could pass that way. If somebody is really into horror movies and violence, it just seems like demon possession and horror and preoccupation with death. The tombs and violence are connected. We live in an age where there is great writing about paranormal activity and horror movies. What if you were to say, okay, is there demonic oppression here? If you find that someone is been really into all of those things, there may be something there to factor in as you learn about this area of spiritual warfare. We also read from Luke 8:27, when Jesus stepped ashore, he was meant by a demon possessed man from the town. For a long time, this man had not worn clothes, or lived in a house, but lived in the tombs. Horror movies, violent pornography, those are all like places where it seems like the devil, demons, find a host to oppress, to harm. 

I also find that we learn in Scripture that demons have names, you know, Luke 8:26- 28, the shores of the region of Gerasenes, which is across from the lake of Galilee, when Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon possessed man from that town. For a long time, this man had that wore no clothes nor lived in a house. This could be talking about the same person or one of the people just talked about. But he lived in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell into his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, what do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you do not torture me. Jesus asked him, what is your name, and he discovers the demons that his name is Legion. That's the whole story, about the Legion being cast out and thrown into pigs and the pigs run down a cliff. That's another whole story. But what's interesting about this encounter, is that what is your name? getting back to a checklist, I introduced that subject. It does appear in CS Lewis wrote a whole book about this, which just so interesting, The Screwtape Letters. You know, in the book, the demons have names and specialties. They're into playing mind games, spiritual warfare games, with humans. If every one of us has some experience with being tempted, oppressed, and so forth, and each of us have those thorns in the flesh. We can talk about all of this later. 

But did you ever think that there is a named demon that could be a factor over the years, occasionally, that has manifested itself in ministry? Just keep that in mind.

What is essentially the basic work of demons? It's lies, lies at characteristic of demonic activity, John 8:44, you belong to your father, the devil, who wants to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth. There's the truth in him, when he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar, and the father of lies. This is said to the religious leaders! Isn't that interesting that that religious leaders can be totally duped. They can go down in life and they can lead to Word of God, and they can become people who have nothing to do with God. Seminary presidents who don't believe in the resurrection! I just saw a news article about that they don't even believe the Bible is the Word of God anymore. They call themselves Christian. But they have listened to the father of lies. That is one of the most characteristic things of someone who is under demonic oppression.

For instance: I don't need God. I feel fine in myself. I feel peace in myself. I don't need God for power. In fact, I can I have my incantations and my chance and I've got my crystals and I've got my ‘angels’ to help me, or people who say, you know, I see that the Bible is not the word of God and they get picky about like little things to trash talk the Bible, again, to erode the role of the Word of God. That seems the intent is to constantly lie. Over the years I've seen those lies in people who experienced demonic influence or oppression or possession. It would be such thing as, I'm no good, I'm no good. Then comes desire to kill themselves because some there's some voices trying to get them to see they're worthless. That's a lie. They're made in the image of God. They're created beautiful, God made someone beautiful. Now, I want this point to be very careful. When I talk like this, many will say, well, are we getting into clinical psychology here? Again, I am all for counseling, and I'm all for people who are called into this area of life. But I also know that our fight is not just flesh and blood. But it's about lies. Lots of people go to counseling, the counselor, good ones, will help them find out about the lies that they've told themselves. Then I got, you told yourself those lies. But believe me, there is a spiritual entity, helping you believe those lies. It is trying to convince you, or create in your mind, temptations that reinforce the lies of the evil one. Let's talk now about different ways that liar lies to people. One of the areas is temptation, in the different ways that Satan encounters humans, and gets them to depend upon themselves and not to serve the Lord. One of them is simple temptation, and everyone is tempted by sin. It's a demonic role. Matthew 6:13, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Jesus was tempted by Satan, in the wilderness for 40 days. Ultimately, Jesus said that man cannot live by bread alone, but by the word of God, and Jesus said, be gone. 

This is true for us today. We all are tempted, we will be tempted our entire life, because the evil one hates God, to the point where even the most saintly of saints, a person who's loved the Lord their whole life, you and me, will be tempted. Instead of being tempted, this helps us become aware that we fight in the spiritual warfare. One way that we have knowledge that the devil is at work is the fact that we're tempted, and we have the Lord's Prayer to offer. One of the things about the Lord's Prayer dialogue is that it addresses spiritual warfare. Addressing this virtual warfare is something that from the Lord's Prayer, there's something that really makes us realize that it's something to contend with. I've also noticed there is oppression at times. I do believe that Christians are oppressed at times. Personal attacks of demons. This is where I asked the question, What is the name of your oppressor? 2 Corinthians 12:7 to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing great revelations, they were giving me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torture me or torment me, to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing great revelation, there was given to me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. What do you think about that? The apostle Paul was oppressed by the evil one, is there something in your life that forms as an oppression? I believe that leaders are oppressed. I believe that we contend, I believe that we contend with our own sinful nature. There is a demon that knows that. Back to The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis, I do believe that each of us have weaknesses. I believe that the devil wants us to fall. One of the things I say to ministers as you come into ministry, what will sidetrack your ministry? If you go over the line in issues related to money, or you are stealing from ministry, or stealing from others, issues related to sex, that you're not being faithful to your spouse, or you're not living a holy life, issues related to anger. Now, if you look at these things, and power, you know, if you become an egotistic, it's all about you, then people do not want to be part of your ministry. These are common areas, that the evil ones will oppress ministers. Now, having said that, none of us are perfect for all of these areas, and others. 

We face an evil one, who is trying to take away the effectiveness of your ministry, and your ability for playing Jesus Christ. Now, having said that, none of us will be perfect. But there is that sense where we need to really be bathed in prayer to have our life stay on the path of life. The apostle Paul was given this messenger of Satan, and there's indication here that is just what it is. Maybe you understand this and even know the name of that oppressing demon, and prayers to ask the Lord to completely remove that tormentor is something that you should do. I need to do as well and do in fact, again, I love this concept. I was going two by two because I haven't found that one person is tormented by this and another to be tormented by that. But together, there's more victory. There could be temptation, there could be oppression. We're all tempted, and we're all oppressed. But at some point, we see that lifestyle starts changing. I've noticed that over the years that that some people experienced demonic attack and they're depressed, not just tempted, not just cold pressed, but depressed. The attacks of the evil one has wounded them with lies, as if to share these lies before he destroys them. Here's where that first Peter 5:8 passage, be self-controlled and alert your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour, depressed. 

Again, I want to go back to are we doing clinical psychology. What about somebody who has a chemical depression, all of those things? I am not saying that this is the only reason somebody experiences depression or suicidal thoughts or suicide. But I am saying it could well be a factor. If someone has been deceived by the evil one, in such a deep and long-standing way, from their childhood, all the way to now adult in those lies have built into bitterness and hurt and self-loathing. I understand that depression is a factor. But I also believe that prayers to ask Jesus Christ to take over someone's life into address. To command the evil one to leave is appropriate. There still may be a lot of complaint after that. But as a minister or an officiant, our calling is to give prayers. If there is deeply rooted in someone's depression caused by demonic activity, by all means, we want to be at the front edge of that by offering prayers. Prayers cannot hurt, prayers can only help. If someone is depressed, we don't have to become psychologists, we just have to be that conveyor of the presence of God. Now, again, we don't own the presence of God. We can't force the presence of God but it's a windy path where prayers are spoken. In spiritual warfare prayers are spoken, especially someone wants and welcomes those prayers. 

We find that people are depressed. Lastly, we see in the, in the Bible, people who are possessed. Mark 5:15, when they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by a legion of demons, sitting there dressed in his right mind. They were afraid. Mark 7:25. In fact, as soon as they heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an evil spirit came and fell at his feet. Mark 9:17, a man in the crowd answered, teacher, I brought to my son who was possessed by a spirit that is robbed him of speech. Luke 4:33, in the synagogue, there was a man possessed by a demon, an evil spirit, he cried out the top of his voice—we looked at that passage earlier. Now what I find interesting about these possession encounters, is we see childhood possession, a little daughter or someone who cannot speak, because the spirit robbed him of speech. We see interesting stories of different people with different life circumstances. Over the years when evil presented itself to me, people who are possessed, I found that their story was extremely filled with pain and the lies of Satan, and even things where the people who are writing were starting to believe lies of Satan, play Ouija boards and Tarot cards. They were looking for ways to empower themselves over their lives, where they were in control, or they wanted to help to be their own Masters of the Universe, and in the method, a bunch of that was already set up by the lies of Satan. Were they people who had troubles? Yes. Did they have troubling pasts? Yes. Did they live in families where there was trouble? Yes. Did they experience unspeakable evil? Yes, but the lies of Satan were also there, and liars are also there. Eventually people gave themselves over. It could have been quickly; it could have been taking long term. We don't know the psychoanalysis of the stories of the people who experienced demon possession. The question is, does this happened today? I believe Yes, it does. I believe that these kinds of things occur, I believe that there are different forms of possession, different forms of evil. When I look at people who kill others, there's a train like the mass murderers, but they also believe in these areas of life where the devil can get such a foothold, and then possess people, you know, how could somebody make child pornography? I can see that you get people who, for various reasons, view it, and which is totally an open door to Satan, but to make it something is possessing them, or to make pornography or to be actors in pornography?

Now, I want to be careful. God loves the actors in pornography, desiring to save them, if they come to know him. He loves them, and he loves them with an unconditional love through the blood of Jesus Christ. As I say this, you feel that tension, you can start looking like, these people are the bad people, and then the holy people are the righteous people. Hey, how can a seminary president eventually reject God? These are all these issues. But know that our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers. 

I really basically should conclude by talking about the sin and demon discussion. Mark 7:21-26. For from within, out of man's heart come evil thought, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man unclean. At that part, we think well, are we talking about sin is really the root of all evil in one level, you can say yes, and rebellion. 

We rebel against God. In our rebellion, sin creates all sorts of havoc and chaos. Where does it come from? Out of a man's heart is where it comes from. Now, it's interesting in the very next verse, here in Mark 7, Jesus left that place that went to the vicinity of Tyre, into the house and did not let anyone know it, yet he could not keep his presence secret. In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by a demon came and fell his feet. The woman was a Greek born in Syrian Phoenicia, she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter. There was a discussion: please read this on your own. First, let the children eat all they want. He told her for you the right to take the children's bread and give it to their dogs. Yes, Lord, she replied that even dogs under the table, eat the children's crumbs. This was a discussion about Jesus. The purpose was not to minister to that people group first, but it was to minister to reach the people of Israel. She's saying, look, I know that. Jesus went on to say to her, for such a reply, you may go; the demons have left your daughter. She went home and found her child lying on the bed and the demons gone. 

Now, why do I bring the story up? I want you to read this as well. Why don't we bring up the story is because well, first of all, we feel that oh, are receive? It's clearly decided that evil comes out of the heart. The next narrative story is about a woman whose child is possessed by a demon. What's the point? The point is, is yes, human found the sin, who is there when they found the sin the devil, and went to the devil do, convince human hearts, they don't need God. Here is a Phoenician woman who comes up and says, I need God. I don't think there was argument that, theologically, the fall of humanity precipitated all this. But this woman says, I need you Lord, I need you to heal the effects of hearts apart from God has had a terrible toll on my own daughter. 

I'm going to just conclude with some observations. First of all, this is observations of sin in the demon discussion. Sin is the root cause of our separation from God. The devil’s demons seek to tempt, depress, oppress, and pull us humans even today. Observing this, it's an irresistible, self-evident observation. I'll say that again, an irresistible, self-evident observation. 

Somebody will say, can you prove that there is demoniacal oppression? Science would want us to prove it. Can you prove it? What would be the test that we would do that? Now, you know, maybe you could construct a test this way by observable reactions that don't fit science and chemical practices There have been many studies in the world of the crime world of people who do incredibly terrible things in the name of Satan. can we prove it that way? Could we prove it from testing the brain? When that's done, people, in scientists will point to evil, as synapses that are misfiring? Or could you have Skinnerian approach, where you know, all are created good, and then the environment changes things, then the changes create some sort of imbalance, and this imbalance creates the appearance of evil, but it's really not evil. The thing is, everybody is trying to explain this. But one thing is clear. In my own experience, and read about it, the fact that horror movies exist, could be evidence that in the experience of humans, demonic type of activities occur. 

Ultimately, I say every day, when I wake up, the sun is out, is an irresistible, self-evident truth there is a sun. But in this area of demonic influence, and that, we read it in the Bible, but we also, if you live life long, you see how things get mucked up, and you see how people lie to themselves. The old ‘the devil made a do it,” or did I do it? It's as if there's a partnership of evil. We fall into sin, for the devil, who wants us to have nothing to do with the God of the Bible. Experience says that we all do fall into sin. 

But here's my concluding observation. We do not need to be psychoanalysts deciding of whether or not someone has a demon or not. But if we're asked to pray, let's pray. If we suspect demonic activity, let's pray for someone's release in freedom. If someone asks us to pray, let's pray in confidence. Let's not be the diagnosers. We really don't know everything. Because some things are behind is the veil, so to speak. We can't see his battles of principalities and powers. 

Now, here's a word of caution. As we pray in that, you prayed up by others, be transparent. Keep your life filled with a path of moderation yourself. Don't go in places where were your temptation lies. I refer back to that person who work with prostitutes, but it turned out that his own very temptation lies at that place, so maybe that's not a good idea. In a sense, these things come to you. Your responsibility is to pray, is to offer encouragement. Encourage someone to get Christian counseling. But also, don't underestimate the role that the demonic may play keeping someone in the lies that keep them down. This is just basically an introduction. It is a lot of material in one presentation. But as an officiant, as a minister, as someone who may be licensed or ordained to do this, this gives you a framework by which, if you're called to pray for someone, you know what could be behind the scene. Remember you do not need to be an expert on demonology or paranormal. Where do you rejoice? Rejoice that your name is written in the book of life.