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doyle

Was COG pastor correct in "casting a demon out" of a 16-year girl who regularly cut herself?

Acts-celerate Owner Posts: 6957 **1/18/16 1:48 pm**

Your input on this post may be of great help to other pastors who are at times dealing with the "cutting" phenomenon taking place in some young people these days. Its fairly difficult for some of us to get our head around it.

About a week ago, I shared that in the ER, we meet and minister to many "cutters." Most of them are teens. They intentionally cut themselves as a way to deal with severe emotional pain. One 17-year-old (with more than 30 scars from cutting), shared with me that if he did not cut an opening in his skin, his emotional pain would not have a place to be released.

In some ways, that seems to be a theme among the "cutters" to whom we minister in a hospital setting. After my post, a long-time COG pastor shared an incident in his church where he felt led to cast a demon out of a girl who was a regular "cutter." He gave permission for part of his email to be used here.

DO YOU feel it is demons that are causing young people to cut themselves? I can tell you that it is FAR MORE than a fad. Do you feel the pastor handled this situation correctly? How would you have handled it differently?

WHAT THE PASTOR SAID:
"During my first pastorate, I had a 16 yr old girl, who cut herself on a weekly basis. One Sunday morning, the Lord spoke to me that she had a demon telling her she was worthless and the only way she could get any attention from her mother, (she took the attention she got from cutting herself as being loved on by her mother).

I didn't know she was cutting herself until the Lord spoke to me. He (the Lord) told me to cast the demon out of her. I stopped preaching and went to this girl and told her the Lord loved her and she didn't need to do to herself what she was doing. The girl had grown up in this church and the church was like a family to her. I told her that the Lord wanted to deliver her and I asked the church to pray. I laid my hands on her forehead and commanded the spirit to leave her. She started crying and grabbed her head and screamed, "Get him out of my head!"

She and I ended up in a corner in the back of the church. I continued praying and commanding this demon to come out, the church continued praying. No one was watching me and this girl, they continued praying. After several minutes, there was a heaviness in the sanctuary (best way I can describe it). She looked at me with a smile that I had never seen from her before. and said, "I feel free, I don't hear him anymore."

She was a different girl after that. Her mom told me that her daughter had always stayed in her bedroom and didn't want to have anything to do with rest of the family. Now she is always singing and laughing. She said she had never seen her daughter like this before.

The girl told me later that the reason she cut herself was she had been sexually abused by a close relative for several years and cutting herself relieved the emotional pain she had experienced.

The emotional pain these people experience is too much for them to bear and cutting themselves gives them an outlet to experience physical pain that they can see and feel. They can see and feel the scars left from the cutting, but feel nothing can be done for their emotional pain."

Whachathink?

Doyle
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Cojak

01000001 01100011 01110100 01110011 Posts: 24285 **1/18/16 1:58 pm**

Maybe good counseling would have had the same affect. But if it worked, looking from the outside, I could not argue. But to make a reasonable observation, it would take more than one side of a situation. Cool

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Acts-perienced Poster Posts: 11849 **1/18/16 2:07 pm**

That sounds like it could be demonic.

I was staying at a relatives house several years ago after a long international flight. The adult son was out of town and I was sleeping in his room. He was raised Pentecostal and used to be very evangelistic. But he'd gotten into fornicating with his girlfriend who had these freaky demonic-sounding nightmares all the time. He'd also been hanging out with witches. I don't know if he'd been doing drugs at that time but I found out that afterwards in his life that he'd fallen back into some problems with drugs he'd had in his youth.

I didn't know everything he was going through, but I was staying in his room. I went to sleep, all tired and jet lagged in the afternoon after an overseas flight, and I had this dream where this guy with a speech impediment that I'd helped try to minister deliverance to several years before called me and said, "This nation wants only me". Then the voice changed to this very different 'demonic' sounding-voice growling saying the same thing over and over again, until it turned into a growling sound.

I opened my eyes around sunset and saw a completely dark closet with a picture of lion's head drawn in glowing green, kind of like a screen saver picture. Then I woke up and saw the exact same scene minus the lion.

His mom called him and he said he had a porno mag in that closet. She took it out and burned it or disposed of it. It was right where the lion had been apparently.

When he came back, he told me of some of the junk he'd been going through in his life. He also told me that there was something in his room that would sit on the bed and knock stuff over.

He had this on-again, off-again relationship with his girlfriend, which caused him a lot of emotional pain. One time, he said he got so angry and frustrated he started cutting himself and didn't see what he was doing. He looked down and saw that he'd cut some kind of symbol into himself.
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Dean Steenburgh

Golf Cart Mafia Capo Famiglia Posts: 4682 **1/19/16 6:46 pm**

I won't go into too many details but I will say it is very possible that any cutter can suffer from demonic possession or oppression. I've dealt with it & I can tell you from my experiences that many times it always deals with some form of sexual abuse. I've heard them say, 'no, no i have never been involved in any form of sexual abuse or any type of sexual relationship' only to turn around and later on admit that yes in fact there was abuse going on.

I've also dealt with people (usually teens) who are just having a hard time with life & a severe lack of love in their homes who turn to cutting w/out it becoming a demonic possession. The problem with cutting isn't so much the cut or wound but it's the mentality behind the emotional release. Any blood sacrifice has as it's foundation the belief that there is power in the spirit realm. When some teens cut themselves they believe they have spiritual authority again in their lives. Some take the cutting to the point where they invite spirits to give them supernatural controls & experiences in life. I've had experience with helping some who did things only found in our imaginations. Some I didn't believe & some I did. A few I didn't believe had witnesses who offered credence to their account.

Cutting at the core is a huge cry for help.
They're not doing it for fun even though they'll say they enjoy it, but that's a smoke screen & they're lying.

Trust me, the devil is behind every cut & every attack they do to themselves.

I wish I could say more but it wouldn't be fair at this point to the victims. Every word we write gets plastered on the internet.

For what it's worth, one of my worst cases dealt with a woman in her early 30's. Married w/3 kids & a decent normal mid-class life; woke up one day & was cleaning the house when her mind exploded from years of suppressed memories & it was then that the real nightmare began. I can tell this small account at this point due to the amount of time it has been & because I tweaked the scenario a tad bit. I did all I could to help her & eventually had to release her to the care of others more advanced.

I never look forward to dealing with these but at the same time I realize that if we don't help them possibly nobody will. They also suffer from a high rate of suicide due to a lack of help or a lack of trusting anybody to help them.

.
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wayne

great question

Acts Enthusiast Posts: 1274 **1/20/16 10:39 am**

I believe any time a Pastor is directed by God to do something, they had better do it.

Dean, I would love to hear more from you and others regarding this topic.

I have been in church since I was 9 years old and in that time frame I know I have experienced these people who were oppressed or obsessed with demons but have noticed the church not engaging these people too much.

The story I posted the other day about the lady in our church who had the 2 auto immune diseases made me wonder what we were dealing with. Also, within the last year or so, I had to deal with a lady that was very accusatory of everyone. When she started on me, my wife and I immediately started rebuking her in Jesus name and she became quiet and calmed down.

Are we afraid to engage these spirits?

4golf

Is it of the devil?

Bound By Beaulah Posts: 1003 **1/22/16 6:02 am**

To answer that question YES!! No body in there right mind would go around cutting themselves! It is real and it is Biblical. The reason most don't believe in it and cannot cast out demons is most are; #1 not decerning enough. #2 not prayed up and close enough to God to do such battle with the devil. I have several time been used by God to cast demons out and it is real! It is not as much drama as so many make it out to be. I don't walk into the face of the devil as Ronnie Lingerfelt. I walk into the battle with the devil as a Ambassador of Jesus Christ. David said the battle is not mine, the battle is the Lord. As long as I have the Full Armour of God on I would not be afraid to walk inot the gates of hell to battle the devil! I know I am not battling the devil in my own power, but in the Power and calling God has given His children! It is real and it is very dangerous today.
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Bullseye77

Short Answer

Acts Enthusiast Posts: 1441 **1/22/16 12:11 pm**

Yes.
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Dean Steenburgh

Re: Is it of the devil?

Golf Cart Mafia Capo Famiglia Posts: 4682 **1/23/16 3:21 pm**

4golf

Dean

Bound By Beaulah Posts: 1003 **1/24/16 7:46 am**

I agree with what you said 100%. Not every body who has a mental illness is demon possessd. What I said that MOST are not decerning enough and not prayed up enough is not to know about people who are cutters, but those who are demon possessed. Sorry if I did not make that clear. The key to know the difference between, maybe a chemical imbalance in themselves and being demon possessed is to be close to God and be able to hear His voice. Like I said, most in the pulpits are not close enough or do not have enough faith and boldness in God to know and do something about it.
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Carolyn Smith

Hon. Dr. in Acts-celeratology Posts: 5923 **1/24/16 3:01 pm**

Mark 5:1-5

1 And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.
2 And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit,
3 Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains:
4 Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces : neither could any man tame him *.
5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying , and cutting himself with stones.
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