Church role critical in sorcery

FAITH

DESPITE efforts by government to address sorcery and sorcery-related violence, the issues will remain unsolved for many years.
Government will be fighting a losing battle and the violence against sorcery will increase and remain.
Let us understand that we are dealing with two beings; the human and the demonic spirit. The human being is only a host (house) to the demon spirit. Because the demon has no flesh and blood, it cannot accomplish its mission.
The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy (John 10:10). Therefore, the demon spirits must use the human body (host) to move around and accomplish their missions.
Once a human being is caught in the act or after the act of performing the demonic activities, the demon spirit escapes and the host is always the one to be blamed. The pain inflicted on the host (human being/sorcerer) is in no way affecting the spirit or solve any problem.

This is the final of a three-part article on Ps PETER AGLUM’S views on sorcery-related violence in the country

The current trend is that most of the NGOs, FBOs, humanitarian organisations and the Government are trying to address the host’s problems by sheltering them in safe houses, care centres, etc but not really addressing the demon spirits. The spirit lives on and continues to cause damages to the lives of good people.
We must change our approach and address the spirits. It is a daunting task which comes with greater sacrifice and pain. Therefore, when we talk to the church people to address it, they will be reluctant to take up the challenge.
Before we go to fight our enemies, the demon spirits, we must know: Our enemies; their dwelling places; their strengths and weaknesses against our own; the battle field; their weapons and ours; and the approach to take.
Hierarchy of power
The demons operate within their own power limit; they cannot rise up the hierarchy. When the demon is defeated, the minister will face the next demon of a higher power. In order to meet that powerful demon and cast it out, the minister has to rise up in power and that is through prayer and fasting.
A minister whose power level is below the demon’s power cannot defeat the demon. If he/she cannot defeat the demon, the demons in return defeat the minister by causing harm and destruction to the minister, his family or his church.
Therefore, not many church ministers want to take up this deliverance ministry. It is only few ministers who really sacrifice their time in prayer and fasting in this ministry.
The biggest problem is that those ministers of the church have families and other physical needs to take care of. They don’t want to spend their time going to solitary places for prayer and fasting to build up power to go around and drive out the demons.
Nobody is seriously looking into these areas so the ministers are not taking the deliverance ministry seriously, Satan and his demons are taking advantage of our ignorance and complacency and they are taking the better of us.
In order to cast out a demon the Christian must have more powers than the demon’s power. The Christians power must exceed the demon’s power in order for Luke 10:19 to come into effect.
It is impossible to stand below a certain object and then walk over. You must be above the object to walk over. An example of this situation was recorded in Matthew 17:14-21. The disciple’s power limit was below the power of the lunatic spirit, therefore; they could not walk over and drive out this demon.
Note verse 21: Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.
As I have said earlier, the power in the Christian will fluctuate depending on their personal commitment. The power will only increase to use for this kind of special operation through prayer and fasting. When we pray and fast, we build up the power in us and rise above the power of the demons which they cannot rise themselves. That is when deliverance ministers cast out the demons and deliver the person possessed with the demon spirit.
God knew that sorcerers and witches exist so He released a greater power more potent than that of the demon’s powers. The churches can make use of these powers and deliver the host. We are not using the power in us because we don’t give time to prayer and fasting.
Success stories of deliverance
Below are true stories of a few people who came forward and admitted their involvement in sorcery and other related practices and were delivered by using the above approach. Names are withheld to protect their identity.
Vessel 1 – Unggai Bena District, EHP
A nine-year-old boy came to our church with his adopted parents while we were praying. They came to us to cast out a demon in the boy. We asked the boy to tell us what happened.
The small boy confessed that his biological mother came and gave him some dough nuts to eat. The boy took the dough nut with a small gecko (lizard) attached to the dough nut. When he ate the dough nut, the gecko entered the boy and remained in his throat. Whenever the boy ate, the gecko ate all the food and he is left hungry all the time.
This had gone on for a year and the boy finally broke the news to his parents. They discovered that it was a demon spirit passed on to the child so they brought him to us to cast out the demon.
We prayed and cast out the gecko and the gecko left the boy. We asked the boy to check and see if the gecko was still there and he said the gecko left and is no longer in the throat. The family went away full of joy.
Vessel 2 – East New Britain
A young man aged 22 was a student in one of the schools in Port Moresby. He came from highly educated parents who held senior positions in government departments. His parents observed that he behaved in strange manner. He stayed up late night and talked with someone in his room when there was no one elsein his room.
His parents were worried and looked for pastors to interview and pray over him. We were invited to their home and the boy was reluctant to talk to us at first. He couldn’t look us straight in the eye. He was hiding his face from us so we suspected that he was demon-possessed. After third attempt he finally opened up and told us his story.
He said he started a group in the school with his peers and they prayed and invited the devil into their lives. As soon as they finished praying they felt that a kind of force entered into them. Since then, the demon in them controlled them and was giving them orders to obey.
He was communicating with the devil during odd hours and taking instructions from him. At one time he almost killed a student when the demon instructed to kill but the murder attempt failed.
He renounced his alliance with the devil during that night and we prayed and cast out the demon and delivered the boy. He is completely free now living a normal life with his family.
There are many testimonies and success stories but their stories cannot be told here because they have not allowed us to publish their stories. Over the last 10 years, 56 demon-possessed souls were successfully delivered and some were not successfully delivered. There could have been more souls delivered if only we have the capacity to expand in a bigger way.
However, we gained invaluable experience dealing with these people from the dark world. From the experiences and knowledge gained, we can assist towards the fight against sorcery related violence.
Conclusion
For too long the Government and the churches including other stakeholders have been talking about addressing sorcery-related violence but no workable strategies have been put forward to really address the root causes of the problem.
The Sorcery Act is only to protect the accused but not really dealing with the spiritual forces at work in the lives of the people. What is presented to you is our firsthand experiences on dealing with the people who are believed to be possessed with the demon spirit who caused damages to the people’s lives.
We strongly believe that it is a spiritual problem and we must use the spiritual approach as outlined in the Bible to address the situation. Many people cannot believe and also understand what has been presented to you but as I said, it is a spiritual matter and it has nothing to do with seeing and believing but believing that it exist.
We appeal to all the political and church leaders of all the hot spot provinces who have experienced frequent sorcery-related violence to open doors to us. We can come in and conduct teachings and seminars on the deliverance ministries so that all churches in the provinces are educated and equipped with the spiritual battle strategies to address sorcery-related violence.
We also appeal to those NGOs and FBOs who are dealing with victims of violence to involve us in your programmes so we can work in collaboration and synergise our deliverance programme.
We can also share with you some of the firsthand experiences and valuable lessons learnt over the last 10 years so we can find a way forward to address these very sensitive issues affecting the lives of our people.
We can be contacted through the contact details below:
Prophetic & Apostolic Church of God. Email [email protected]
Phone:+675 71185033/+675 75202371