Overcoming More Wicked Spirits
I believe it is the will of God that I share some things about my life that pertains to powers, principalities and wicked spirits (Ephesians 6) that have bound me over the years. It would have been nice if I had known to believe the gospel from infancy, but that has not been the case in my life. It was not until I was 28 years old that I even heard what the gospel was. So that was 28 years of bondage in my life that I have had to come out from under over the past thirteen and a half years since coming to Water of Life Church in l985, and still am to this day. And I am thankful to God for that, because I could still be groping around in darkness if it had not been for the mercy and grace of God upon my life. Amen.
I was born and raised in Dallas, Texas (as it states in my biography). Both my parents were Methodist, as were both of their parents. We were a middle class family with a very simple lifestyle who attended church on Sunday mornings and that was about it. My parents were very hard workers and I thank God for both of them. My dad attended college for about a couple of years, but never received a college degree and did fairly well. Mother received a degree and became a schoolteacher. I attended college for one year, and saw it was not for me. My older sister and my younger sister did not go to college, but all three of us went to Executive Secretarial School in Dallas. So degree's were not a big deal in our home. Or maybe I should say, Mother's did not have enough influence on us three girls to go and get one. (But if God leads you to go to college to get a degree, then you need to obey what He tells you.)
My mother's parents lived in the country in Garland, Texas on a farm (or what we called a farm), on about 40 acres of land with all kinds of animals. On the contrary, my dad's parents lived in Dallas (Oak Cliff) and they were 'city' people from the word go. But as it states in Acts 17, God has appointed the bounds of our habitations. So it was obviously the will of God for me to be born and raised in Dallas, Texas. I guess He saw fit to have me raised in a 'big' city with 'big' principalities and powers, that one day He would bring me out from under. But God has a plan for everyone of our lives, and that plan was ordained from the foundation of the world. If it had been up to me, knowing what I know now about spirits, I would have raised me on a 'deserted island' and had the gospel preached to me from the very beginning of my life, so that I never would have been bound by these powers and principalities! I am sure many of us have felt that way at one time or another, when we see all the bondage's we have to come out from under, but I just thank God I am coming out.
But when I was 15 years old (a month later I turned 16), my mother married a doctor. She and my dad had divorced years prior. And when she remarried, we came under the influence of some strong sorcery spirits. More bondage's. We had trusted in doctor's all of our lives, and were bound by sorcery and witchcraft that came from trusting in them - instead of the power of God. But living with a practicing physician was totally different. These spirits were so strong that there were changes that took place in my life almost immediately that brought me deeper and deeper into bondage and more and more oppression of the devil. And I guess it is safe to say that they overwhelmed and overpowered my soul.
When they married, we moved into a very 'prideful' area of Dallas, and this just added to more of that spirit that I was already bound by. And I knew nothing about spirits, and I mean nothing, until sometime after 1985. So the things I am sharing with you have been revealed to my spirit since that time. There are many things I could share, but I only want to share what the Spirit of God wants me to, so bear with me and I will get through all this.
There were nine of us living together and it was an adjustment to say the least. It was my stepfather, his son and three daughters and then my mother, myself and my two sisters. We had a big house and really anything and everything we wanted or needed. And I appreciate my stepfather for taking on the responsibility he did with all of us, because it was a big one, and also for my mother and all the drastic changes that took place in her life during those years. She was a schoolteacher, and had been for years, and quit teaching a month after they married. And she did have some changes - just doing the laundry for that many people and trying to prepare meals to please everyone was no small thing. Several years back, (after they had divorced) God put it in my spirit to write both of them and tell them how I appreciated what they had done for me.
But anyway, not too long after moving into this situation, these spirits started really oppressing me like I had not known in times past. And back then I could not have explained it to you like I am now, because as I stated earlier, I did not know about spirits. And I was not what you would call unhappy about the situation, it was just these spirits oppressing my soul, bringing me into more and more bondage. All I can think to say is that they overpowered my soul. These were strong spirits. And I had no clue as to what was happening to me.
I would sleep a lot after school, which I had not done prior to this, and my mother would ask me what I was trying to escape from. And I would tell her that I was not trying to escape from anything, I was just tired. Which I now know was the Jezebel spirit sitting right on top of me. I ended up getting sick twice a year, which you can read in my testimony on "God Delivered Me From Sorcery." Then in school during my junior year, as I have shared before, this spirit (the Jezebel) hit me in class one day and I absolutely had no idea what had happened to me. It was an incredible thing that really changed my life in a drastic way. And I had no idea how to handle it. And I know it sounds like I must have been one miserable person, but that was not so, because most of these were real subtle things that took place - I just did not know they were 'spirits' binding me up.
A few months after my mother and stepfather married, my dad married a lady who was the oldest of seven children and came from a very wealthy family. She ended up becoming a registered dietician - same spirit as physicians. They were married eleven years when my dad died. Years later, I came to see that it was the Jezebel spirit that killed him. These spirits obviously had my dad and mother bound enough and that is why they married 'into' these situations. That is just how I see it - which may or may not be right.
Then when I was around 17 or 18 years old, I joined Beverly Hills Baptist Church and came under the influence of some more of these same strong spirits. And when I say the same, I mean witchcraft and sorcery, which is all the Jezebel spirit. Because doctors, and preachers - as we know them - are the same spirit. They both practice witchcraft and sorcery. (As you read on you will see.) And it says in Revelation that the rich men of the earth got their riches through sorcery. And they are both looked up to as 'god's' and people idolize them. And we are the ones who have exalted them. But you know what? They liked it or they would not have been in that position to let it happen.
Before I go on I will share something with you that I spoke out loud to the Lord on Saturday, April 10, 1999, which was a couple of weeks ago. I said, "This summer if I need to go out north and drive like I did last summer to overcome more of these powers and principalities, then that is what I will do, because I am going to overcome so I can see the fulness of the blessing of the gospel manifest in my life." (You can read my testimony on "You Will Reap, If You Faint Not"). Monday morning, April 12th, when I woke up, the Lord spoke to my spirit, "You don't have to wait until this summer, start today!" And every day since then, the Spirit of the Lord has been leading me to drive to Durant, Oklahoma, which is about 140 miles round trip, 5 days a week, praying and overcoming all these wicked spirits. Plus reading the Psalms out loud almost every day,too. And I am overcoming some powerful things. I never would have known that Jesus would lead you out of the county - even into another state - to overcome, but last summer convinced me for sure. If Jesus had to go alone into the wilderness to pray to overcome the devil, and even led a man out of town to pray for his healing, then it should be no surprise when God leads us to do the same. So all I can say is, thank God.
This same week (April 12th), Doyle started addressing Baptist spirits, specifically with Howard Conatser and Larry Lea. He also shared out of II Corinthians 11:19-20 which says, "For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise. For ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face." That word suffer is to put up with, bear with. So I am going to share some things about Beverly Hills Baptist Church and Church on the Rock.
In Hosea 10:13 it says we have eaten the fruit of lies. And the biggest lie that I believe I have eaten was believing that anyone who stood behind a pulpit, or had a church, or said they were of God, or taught the Word of God, had to be of God. This was probably ministered to me as a young child. It was just something you did not question. I had no idea that you could be taught by a 'wrong' spirit because the one's teaching you were walking in the flesh. And as it states in Corinthians, the letter of the Word will kill you, but it is the Spirit that gives life. And everything I was taught was by the letter and not the Spirit, and it produced death in me.
But not until coming to Water of Life Church, and having God take the 'blinders' off my eyes so that I could read the Word of God as it is written, did I see that a person could speak the Word of God and say 'thus saith the Lord', and it not be the Lord that said it. That you could speak a vision of your own heart and be speaking by the 'wrong' spirit. And where I went to church, they spoke by witchcraft spirits and they walked in the flesh. I never questioned any of that until I saw in the bible (after 1985) that people could speak by the wrong spirit in Jesus name - and it was not Jesus speaking. But when God started taking these 'blinders' off my eyes, I became more and more 'skeptical'!! I was not so willing to believe everything and everyone I heard talking. And it does say we are to 'try' the spirits, whether they be of God.
But getting back to these churches, I can honestly say there is not one change that took place in my life over the years I went to these churches. I never had a devil cast out, I was never healed - if I got sick, I had to go to the doctor, and I did not even receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit with evidence of speaking in other tongues at these churches. But shortly after coming to Water of Life, we were praying in the fellowship hall, and no one even laid hands on me - I just started speaking in other tongues. Also, many devils have been cast out of me and I have been healed on more than one occasion when the devil attacked me with sickness. Now that is the power of God! (Read Mark 16.) And these things started taking place almost immediately after coming to this ministry and having the gospel preached to me by the Spirit. Because the gospel (the death, burial and resurrection) is the power of God unto salvation. And I for sure never even heard what the gospel was prior to coming to this ministry.
But in Jeremiah 23 it says that if these men had stood in the counsel of God, and had caused God's people to hear His words, then they should have turned us from our evil ways, and from the evil of our doings. And this never happened. It continues on and says that God is against them for causing His people to err by their lies, and by their lightness. Because He did not send them, nor command them: therefore God's people were not profited at all. And I was not profited at all. Now, there may be people who went there and had devils come out and got healed and were profited by these ministries, but I am speaking for myself, and not once did the power of God manifest in my life in the years I attended these churches. And I was blind, ignorant and stupid for going there and staying as long as I did - no question about it. And I am responsible before God - no one else is. Even though someone else told me about Beverly Hills Baptist Church, and my mother was the one who told us when Church on the Rock started out in Rockwall, Texas, they are not responsible for my actions in going there - I am and I know it. You cannot blame your mother, father or your best friend. Jesus will hold every individual responsible for their own actions.
Anyway, the reason I thought these were men of God was because I walked in the same spirit, and I was blinded by the god of this world because I did not believe (II Corinthians 4:4). And the other day as I was praying a scripture came to me by the Spirit and I am going to share it with you.
In Acts 8 there was a man named Simon, which used sorcery and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that he was some great man of God. And from the least to the greatest they gave heed to this man and they had regard for him because for a long time he had bewitched them with sorceries. And that was exactly like Howard Conatser and Larry Lea. They gave themselves out to be great men of God - and I believed they were. And anytime a person thinks he or she is a great man or woman of God - it is the wrong spirit - it is sorcery. Because Jesus said NO flesh is going to glory in His presence. And His glory is going to fill the earth - Praise God!
So while they were trying to destroy an apostle and prophet of God (Doyle) back in the 70's, I was attending their church - Beverly Hills Baptist Church. And in 1978, Howard Conatser died, and that was the judgment of God on this man for doing what he did. And as Doyle has shared, it was over him preaching the gospel in his own home. (Doyle has shared how they would have closed door meetings about him behind his back.) These men were so full of deceit and hypocrisy in their hearts, that you never would have known something like that was going on to hear them preach for an hour or so on Sunday morning's.
Something I have come to see over the years, though, is anyone who even dares to believe this gospel and walk in it, wicked people and wicked spirits will come after you. The devil hates anyone who will trust in, rely on and adhere to this gospel, because it exposes their own unbelief and wickedness. I know after coming to this ministry and receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit, when God started leading me by His Spirit is when 'hell' hit me for obeying God. It has not been anything as drastic as what Doyle went through back in the 70's, but it was more than I was prepared for. But God always makes His servant's stand, and I appreciate Him for that.
But back in February 1985 when I was over at my mother's house talking to our cousin, and it was when I was telling her what a hunger and thirst I had for the Lord, there was something she briefly shared with me. (I have never shared this openly, although I told Doyle about this years back.) She knew I was going to Church on the Rock and she lived in Athens or Corsicana, Texas I believe at that time. And Church on the Rock had a 'sister' church in the city she lived in. She and her husband had attended it, and I don't remember if she said this was a small group of people there, or even how long they went there - I am a little uncertain on all the details. But she mentioned to me that night as we were talking, that there was things that went on that were really frightening (or something along those lines - I don't even remember the exact words she used) about Larry Lea and this group of people. That they were very controlling people. And what she was telling me was so hard for me to believe, and I am sure I told her that. She didn't say much more at all and it was for just a few minutes during this time that she mentioned this to me. But it was like she was talking about two completely different people. What we saw for an hour or so on Sunday morning at church was not even anything like what she was describing. It was really kind of freaky. But obviously what went on behind closed doors, or in a small group of people, was totally contrary to what these men portrayed themselves to be in front of the church. But that is how the Jezebel operates. And that is a frightening thing.
You know, this is going to sound contradictory to what I said earlier, but it really seems as if God let me get involved in these situations throughout my life, because He sure could have kept me out (and if I am wrong Jesus, then you can forgive me). But it seems as if He led me down these paths and into all these bondage's, so that years later I could overcome all these spirits by faith and by believing the power that raised Jesus from the dead. These have been some powerful spirits to overcome in my life (with doctors and preachers), but by the mercy and grace of God on my life, I have and I am overcoming.
Some of these things are hard to sort out, but I am more determined than ever to overcome all these spirits. I had no idea what a fight it would be and the amount of determination it would take, but when God speaks to you and puts you in a situation, if you want out bad enough, you will fight with everything that is within you to overcome. And God's grace is always sufficient. He also says that in all of our weaknesses, His strength is made perfect. I am just thankful that He is my strength and my strong defense, and in Him I do trust!
A couple of years after being at Water of Life Church, one day Doyle spoke to me by the Spirit of God and told me that God was getting ready to speak to me about my life. Almost immediately after that God started speaking to me, and He has never quit. It began, though, when the Lord sent an angel to talk to me for about a two-three week period. And everything this angel said, God confirmed it to me in His Word. I am totally confident that the power that raised Jesus from the dead will perform everything in my life that has been spoken to me. I was not looking for any of it - I was hungering and thirsting after righteous. Seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness - and He started adding all these things to me. It is a real comfort to see your life manifest before your eyes according to the Word of God and by His Spirit - and that is what has, and will continue to take place in my life. And that is why I will continue to fight the good fight of faith until every one of these spirits bow - because I will see everything God has spoken to me about my life manifest shortly. Amen!
Well, God bless you, and I will see you next time!
