DELIVERANCE FALLACIES

by Pam Sheppard, www.pamsheppard.com

The material for my perspective on deliverance

ministry began to be compiled in the year 2000. It
was then that I met a young woman --- "Maria." An
active member of a non-denominational, word of
faith church for several years, Maria spoke in
tongues, preached the cross, prophesied and
enthusiastically participated in worship, prayer
and praise on a daily basis. Yet, she was bound---
consistently tormented by demons who projected
blasphemous thoughts into her mind and accused and
condemned her daily in an audible voice. One day,
Maria had a dream that showed her that she had 3
phython snakes inside of her. In her dream, Maria
was told "Find Pam and seek deliverance." Maria's
is a landmark case that brought forth amazing
revelations.

Since Maria, I have been involved in several

related cases where active, professing churchgoing
Christians have been tormented by religious demons.
Here are but a few religiosity profiles, starting
with Maria. Several of those in captivity consist
of professing Christians of two types: Those with a
mental health disorder and those without a mental
health disorder. In most cases, the onset of the
mental disorder is directly correlated to the
client's religious conversion. In some cases, the
disorder is the result of the client having been
exposed in one degree or another to either
religiosity, witchcraft or both. Hearing voices,
OCD and depression are considered mental
disorders. I DO NOT ACCEPT CLIENTS WHO ARE
delusional or incoherent, unable to discern
reality from illusion. Those who are incoherent
certainly require the medications and the skills of
professionals who specialize in mental illness.
The vast majority of OUR cases consist of clients
who experienced behaviors---- symptoms not expected
to occur and unbecoming to a Christian: ie a kind
of torment that may or may not include hearing
voices, disturbing visions, and various abnormal
body movements. It should be noted that various
anti-psychotic drugs are known to produce abnormal
body movements as a side effect to anti-psychotic
medications. However, WE have found in most cases
that abnormal body movements also occur in the
absence of client medication exposure.

HERE ARE SOME CASE EXAMPLES: (All first names and

background info of former clients have been changed.)

RELIGIOSITY, BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER--HEARING

VOICES, SEEING DEMONS: Raised Catholic, a Caribbean young
woman converted to word of faith Christianity in her
youth. By the time she was a young adult, she was in
ministry---preaching, prophesying, speaking in tongues, and
discerning spirits. She heard threatening voices
throughout the day, and developed a strategy to cope with
the voices by trying to ignore them. She had a dream that
showed that there were 3 snakes emanating from her chest
area. During her deliverance session, an entity
manifested that threw her across the room and spoke to me
in a gutteral voice saying "Maria is mine. Her grandmother
gave her to me." Her grandmother has been a believer and
follower of Santeria, a religious system that combines
Catholicism with witchcraft.

DEPERSONALIZATION/RELIGIOSITY: A nominal Christian in a

Baptist church for 20 years, this client KNEW that she was
not saved. Then a friend brought Dorothy into a
pentecostal prayer group where they were tarrying or
"chanting" to receive the Holy Ghost through the
manifestation of speaking in tongues. Once Dorothy
"uttered", she was told that she was saved or born again.
Almost immediately, Dorothy was "taken over" by hearing
voices and abnormal body movements. She was diagnosed as

2
suffering from depersonalization by a psychiatrist, but she
did not partake in treatment and was not on medication.
The voices threatened to cause Dorothy to gain 800
pounds. In two months, a thin woman, Doris had already
gained 50 pounds, forced to eat food out of garbage cans.
I picked Dorothy up from the bus station and while driving
to my office, she grabbed my steering wheel while I was on
the highway, driving at about 60 miles an hour. She looked
at me and said "I didn't do that. It was 'them.' They
just told me that they are going to give you quite a time
when you try to cast them out."

CULTISM, UNCONTROLLABLE BODY MOVEMENTS: While watching

Christian television, Carol responded to Christ through a
Mormon sponsored program, sent for the Blue Book and
repeated a sinner's prayer to become saved. There was no
mention of repentance or the Lord's resurrection, other
than to "make Jesus rule over the throne of your soul."
Almost immediately, Carol began to hear voices that she
thought were from the Lord. While standing in her kitchen,
"something" overtook her and caused her to speak in a
tongue. She received visions about the man she would marry
and the church that she would attend. At the onset of
counseling, her body parts were moving outside the use of
her own will and entities would speak through her.
Extremely faithful to her church and to the Christ of her
understanding, this case was particularly baffling because
I could perceive no real fault of the client, a fervent,
loyal follower of the Jesus of her understanding, one who
refrained from sin and who continually sought after
righteousness.

RELIGIOSITY, OCCULT/WITCHCRAFT: An hispanic client raised

both Catholic and under the influence of Santeria, there
was no realm of the occult that Johnnie did not experience,
including a belief in reincarnation and in alien life on
earth. Johnnie functioned well in society in a
professional career until he had an accident that caused
severe pain. Once he went to a Santeria witch for healing,
a being stepped into him that caused suicidal ideation,
thoughts of violence to others and insomnia. A being
stepped on his back and caused other body part
manifestations, ie. changes in facial features, head
movements similar to those that occurred in the movie "The
Exorcist." Prior to counseling, Johnnie began to attend a
Christian non-denominational church where he repeated a

3
sinner's prayer and was pronounced "saved." The torment
immediately worsened. In our first session, it was
revealed that Johnnie did not understand resurrection,
believing that resurrection was the same as reincarnation.
The word was rightly divided to him and he obtained a
glorious salvation that included the godly sorrow of
repentance and a confession to believe that Jesus Christ
came back to life, once dead.

RELIGIOSITY/INTRUSIVE, DEGRADING THOUGHTS: A young female

adult, raised in a Christian cult, entered into sin as a
child with the pastor's daughter. The two youngsters
obtained magazines and practiced lesbian sex. Technically
a virgin, Sarah continued to experience spontaneous
orgasm. Furthermore, she continued to waver in her faith,
as to whether or not she was really born again. After 11
months of counseling, Sarah is now assured of her salvation
and the spontanous orgasms have ceased. To read her
testimony in her own words, click here.

OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER/RELIGIOSITY, BLASPHEMOUS

THOUGHTS: Raised by parent who practiced Christian Science,
upon adulthood, Cynthia entered into all aspects of the
occult, including Indian religion, the use of crystals, and
necromancy. A woman in her 50's, Cynthia has been treated
for 3 decades for OCD. Around the same time that she was
diagnosed and treated with OCD, she began to frequent word
of faith churches, where she spoke in tongues. However,
she constantly hears voices that compell her to curse
Jesus. She also has spontaneous orgasms. When she
attempts to read the bible out loud, she growls like an
animal and hisses like a snake. She has been on anti-
psychotic medication for years.

HEARING VOICES, SCHIZOPHRENIA: Raised in church, Joyce

began to dabble in the occult. Once she took peyote, she
began to hallucinate, having been hospitalized for mental
illness on more than one occasion. Joyce believes that she
is saved because "her pastor told her that since she
repeated the sinner's prayer, she is saved." She loves
church and religion, but finds it difficult to enjoy life
because of constantly hearing voices that either condemn
her or try to control her daily activities.

RELIGIOSITY, DEMONIC SOUL TIES: Raised in church, Doris

has been depressed for 20 years. Never missing church when

4
the doors are opened for many years, Doris realized that
something was wrong with her Christian experience and
sought counseling. In the first session, I suggested to
her that she was not saved. I really didn't think that she
had any demons but was I not in for a surprise. In short,
I quietly spoke to one demon, one time, without even a plan
in place to do so. I called it by name. Doris had a
demonic soul tie with someone that she had committed
adultery with several years back,--- someone that she has
not seen for some time but whom she talked to frequently
over the phone. I called the demon by the name of the
man., who I will refer to now as "Thomas." I said
quietly, spirit of Thomas, in the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, I break your hold over "Doris" and I command you
to come out and come out now. First, there was a calm
silence. I said to Doris, how are you feeling. She
answered, "Sad,, I feel sad."

RELIGIOSITY, OCCULTISM, DEPRESSION: Raised Catholic in a

family with strong gyspy influences, Barbara was a bitter
unhappy person who believed that life was passing her by.
She also had frequented several psychics and readers over
the years, even after she had joined a word of faith
church. When asked why she was seeking counseling from me
rather than from her church, she said that her church was
not into deliverance. She had had a dream which showed
that she had 4 demons in her. After several months, it was
determined that she needed to be delivered from unholy soul
ties as a result of the domination, manipulation and
control manifested upon her by several of her relatives.
We took them one at a time: her mother and then her
sister. The soul tie was broken with her mother but not
with her sister. In future counseling sessions, it was
discovered that the client was unforgiving and bitter where
her sister was concerned, complicated by the fact that the
client and the sister had made a pact with a gypsy witch, a
pact that placed Barbara under the control of her older
sister. In time, we successfully broke this unholy soul
tie also. Barbara was successfully released from
counseling 3 years ago.

TORMENT, HEARING VOICES: Jane came to Christ by listening

to mega preachers on TBN. Shortly thereafter, she began to
hear voices. Demons also spoke through Jane, against her
will. She had been to practically every "big name"
deliverance ministers to no avail. She became "a student

5
of deliverance." As we proceeded through pre-deliverance,
counseling sessions uncovered that Jane was unknowingly in
sin. She was of the belief that oral and anal sex was not
fornication. Once persuaded that she was in sin, other
issues began to surface. It was clear to me that Jane was
not saved, but she refused to accept my assessment.
Quoting to me from several books on deliverance that she
had read, she fired me for not agreeing with her and those
whom she respected, people more renown than myself. I
could not help her because she would not allow me to.

WITCHCRAFT, RELIGIOSITY, SUBSTANCE ABUSE: Sam had always

been a drug addict and a practitioner of the occult. One
day, he went to a word of faith church service, spoke in
tongues, fell out slain in the spirit and got up delivered
from a desire to use drugs. He began to give Jesus the
praise and went about his neighborhood preaching the good
news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. However, shortly
thereafter, an entity began to "take over his brain." He
began to hear voices, have delusions of grandeur, then
suicidal thoughts, then homicidal thoughts.

RELIGIOSITY, OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER: Julia came to

Christ when she was 18 years old, walking up to the altar
and receiving the right hand of fellowship from the
pastor. Shortly thereafter, she went to a conference of a
mega preacher where 25,000 people were gathered. She fell
out slain in the spirit and got up speaking in tongues.
She joined a pentecostal church when she returned home from
the conference. A few weeks later, she found himself
suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder, where she is
compelled to wipe and clean everything he touches. She has
been hospitalized in mental health hospitals several times
in her life. Now 80 years old, Julia has suffered from
OCD her entire Christian life. She received about 4
sessions when I had to recommend that counseling stop. She
refused to even consider that perhaps she was not saved and
that the problem began with "the mega preacher" whom she
idolizes.

RELIGIOSITY, WITCHCRAFT/DIVINATION, SEX WITH A FALLEN

ANGEL: A victim of a well known deliverance ministry,
Andrea's pastor wrote books and sold tapes of Andrea
entering into an altered state of consciousness, where
entities spoke through her. Once Andrea left the church,
other entities which appeared to be "alters," mimicked the

6
fallen angels. Andrea also reports that a sinister being
walked into her bedroom and had sex with her. A faithful
church member for almost a decade, in the first session, it
became clear that Andrea did not understand the cross,
repentance or the resurrection, and therefore she was
obviously not saved. All she learned in her deliverance
church was demonology.

These cases and others are drops in the bucket relative to

the extent of spiritual abuse running rampant throughout
the organized church and Christian television. I know that
there are millions of professing Christians around this
nation that have been caught up in deception, having heard
a different gospel about a "different Jesus." The sin of
deception, whether accidental, unintentional or
deliberate---the result is the same. Professing Christians
are dying believing that they are saved when they are not.
This is the worst sin of all because it affects the rest of
a person's life in eternity.

If the deceived and bound have not heard it already, they

will hear the Lord say, "I NEVER knew you." And the fault
will be that of the ministers who are complicating the pure
simplicity of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Through what I
am learning as I practice my profession as a counselor,.
Obviously, the church models of today are not working. When
people can sit in church and hear sermon after sermon for
50 years and STILL not be saved, organized church is not
working. When people can watch TV preachers and come away
from the TV demon possessed, it is not working. When
captives can go to their pastors seeking relief and
deliverance from their bondage, only to hear "stand on the
word," ---a word that neither the pastor or the captive
understands---it is not working.

Here are a few revelations I have received about

setting such captives free:

7
1. I am NO LONGER a "deliverance ministry". I
have learned that the demons of today KNOW HOW TO
MOCK a deliverance session with the manifestations
of coughing, rasping, retching, vomiting---pea soup
type stuff as seen in the movie, "the Exorcist."
Much of this is fakery---not on the part of
the person in bondage, but the antics of the
earthbound demons. Those who "manifest" in this
manner are rarely set free. In other words, the
demons of today are more sophisticated than the
ones faced by Jesus and His apostles. They have had
centuries "to practice" their craft. So their goal
is to make a mockery of "casting out of demons" so
as to defy Jesus Christ by making the deliverance
worker look like an inept fool.

2. Earth bound demons can be cast out by faith in

the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth in 5
minutes. If a deliverance session takes longer
than THAT, then an earth bound demon is NOT
involved. It is either a cosmic power---a fallen
angel who is NOT a demon---OR NO DEMON AT ALL.

3. The counselor or worker seeking to help another

under the captivity of evil spirits, must be
prepared for the deceiving spirits misusing to the
captive the very truth the captive himself
desires, and needs for his deliverance. The enemy
will also misrepresent and attempt to discredit
the counselor seeking to help the captive to
freedom. In other words, if you have a demon---
both of us needs to be defensively prepared for the
fact that that your resistance to the truth that
will be revealed through counseling will
be inspired by the very demon who has you in
bondage.

4. Deliverance counseling is a process wherein the

captive and the counselor join forces to
systematically confront the forces of darkness
with TRUTH. In deliverance counseling, clients are

8
taught to understand the intelligent use of the
spiritual weapons and study so as to obtain
knowledge of the organized hosts of darkness. As
such, the client is coached on how to try the
spirits by exercising his or her spiritual vision
so that "by reason of use" it becomes acute in
discerning the operations of the enemy in the
spiritual sphere. I teach my clients to observe
and learn by observation and practice--- If you are
such a captive, it is crucial to your complete
recovery to know the methods of the enemy
against you, in his war against ALL the people
of God.

5. I believe that the Remnant Church of God now

needs "leaders" trained in the knowledge of the
enemy's world-wide campaigns; believers able to
foresee his "wiles," and to guide the rank and file
of God's people into the aggressive war against
him.

I am such a leader--- a spiritual warrior skilled

in the knowledge of the armour, and the weapons of
warfare provided in the Word of God, so as to
detect any weak places in their use as an
intelligent, systematic, aggressive COUNTER-
CAMPAIGN AGAINST the enemy of your soul.

6.The powers of darkness are keenly clever at

working with natural problems by simulating natural
conditions either in a client's personality or
disturbance of mental or bodily functions. They
watch for some physical, emotional, attitudinl or
mental dysfunction to serve as a cover or an
explanation of their own workings.

7. Casting demons out without dealing with the root

cause of the dysfunction may relieve a client from
torment, but the relief is only temporary or the
enemy will simply strategize by transfering its
activity in another sphere of life. So a person

9
believes that they are healed when in essence, the
enemy has merely shifted his target.

8. In terms of strategy, demons are skilled at

taking two opposing positions. In other words, the
enemy will purposefully control both sides of any
situation, so that the unsuspecting will assume
that since one approach is obviously demonic, the
opposing option MUST BE GOD, when both approaches
and opinions are demonic. The goal is to control
every side of every situation,in order to obscure,
deceive and confuse. In this way, the enemy can
advance a long term agenda. Most often, the
enemy's attack is to distract from root causes so
as to maintain power and control.

9.For the most part, religious entities are not

demons but they are fallen angels that I refer to
as “devils.” These are the principalities and
powers that Paul referred to in Ephesians 6. They
cannot be cast out because “they are not demons.”
They have to be “driven out by truth.” When a
captive receives and “grabs on to truth,” these
devils simply “walk away.” Simply put, once the
captive resists them by humbling themselves to the
truth, the devils flee from them.

10.In practically every case of Christian bondage,

skillful examination revealed that the captive
“picked up” the religious demons or devils in their
respective churches. Prior to church attendance,
the vast majority of cases were not in bondage.
Certainly doorways were opened in various ways
prior to going to church. But in virtually every
case, the tormenting condition worsened AFTER and
DURING church attendance.

11. Doorways seemed to open for demonic torment by

those who “departed from the faith and gave heed to
seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.” Once

10
 they forsook the doctrine, the torment lessened and
then completely stopped.

I have found over the years that those who have totally
embraced charismatic teachings regarding signs, wonders
and prophetic words are the most difficult to reach.
Certainly, it takes a great deal of time and patience to work
with clients who have been deceived over a prolonged
period of time into believing that their visions, dreams and
messages have practically all been authored by unseen,
invisible entities who are not of God, but fallen angels who
have transformed themselves into agents of light. These
are clients who are comfortable using phrases like "The
Lord told me," "the Holy Ghost led," "I heard in the spirit,"
and "I have a word from the Lord on this matter."

DELIVERANCE COUNSELING: IMPORTANT TRUTHS TO

REMEMBER

1. Truth cuts and humbles. Just as there are various degrees

of deception, there are various degrees of deliverance. A complete
victory depends upon the client's willingness to face the total truth
about his or herself, and the way that the client may have given
ground to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. God resists the
proud and gives grace to the humble. We need grace to overcome
fallen entities. Even if we are saved, if we won't receive correction
from a true elder, we will be food for the entities. Our counselors are
true elders who themselves have been tried and tested through the
fires of demonic deception. True humility is the source of a permanent
victory over these entities, so much so that demons will walk away
and leave you without even needing to be cast out.

2. Psychic power is of the flesh. The flesh profits nothing as it

is an enemy to God. Most captives who have lots of dreams, visions
and other supernatural experiences have very strong psychic power.
Psychic ability may simply be the doorway used by the entities,
triggered when the client sought the Holy Ghost or became an avid
follower within a charismatic or Pentecostal church. Because of the
powers of the client's soul, it was bound to happen.

3. Psychic power must be rejected, for the rest of your life.

Even when the entities have been exposed and the manifestations are
practically gone, the deeper the deception the longer is the counseling

11
 time is required so that the client can be "reprogrammed" from
deception to truth. For example, "a supernatural" client can't even
read what appears to be a harmless horoscope or celebrate Halloween.
The entities must not be permitted to interfere in the client's life,
particularly by the client not giving new ground to them. Every
supernatural experience must be treated with skepticism until
examination through time can determine whether it was from God or
the enemy.

4. Faith is the key. Captives who have trusted in a false

revelation gift which they believe to be the discerning of spirits, a word
of wisdom and a word of knowledge must really learn to walk by faith
and not by either natural or "supernatural" sight. True faith will bring
the trust the client needs to allow the love of God to flow through him
or her to others. The client will learn how to demonstrate faith by not
needing to listen to the teachings of the entities, regardless of how
benign the message may seem. A goal of counseling is to equip the
client to follow God without needing a sign. Once this is goal is
achieved, the stronger the client's true faith will become.

Profile of a Fruitbaring Client

Once a client conscientiously completes all of his

or her assignments with skill, insight and
understanding, he or she will begin to receive his
own revelations about himself and the organized
church. Such a client demonstrates an abiding
respect for his counselor and for himself.

A good counselor will lay back and take great

advantage of how the client himself perceives his
own presenting issues and how he or she turned
out more empowered for it. A conscientious client
takes advantage of his counselor's challenges with
grace and abiding ego strength. The counselor in
turn will enjoy every moment of extra time spent
in studying the client's case and helping him or
her to put on and use the spiritual armor that
will only work for an obedient believer.

The traumas that each client has overcome in life

could have been devastating. Counseling will help

12
the client to take it all in a healthy
stride. Once the client has been refined and
purified by the cross of Jesus Christ, it is
anticipated that the client is going to be an
important servant of God in these endtimes,
ministering to and setting countless captives free
in His Name.

As a non-judgmental carrier of the truth,

deliverance counseling feeds back to the
client reliable impressions of how he or she as a
strong survivor can continue to press forward to
get through each day in spite of all obstacles and
any difficult circumstances. In each session, I
point to the Lord Jesus Christ in order to help the
client build up his or her trust in Him. However,
if the client chooses to go back to the place where
the demon was received and submit to doctrines at
the mouth of the same preachers, the client is
warned of demonic re-infestation.

13