MENTORING LETTER 36

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RESISTING THE DEVIL

Part One

CAN A DEMON HINDER SALVATION?

The Apostle James wrote that we are to resist the devil, and when we do, he will flee from us. However, we have to hunt for various nuggets elsewhere in the word of God, to find out how that is done. James does provide some clues in his epistle that pertain to our connection to to the world, sin, how you treat the brethren and humility. Yet it is a vast, at times complicated process. How do we resist the devil, is the question.

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Last night I saw a very interesting movie. Simple title. Just called, "DEVIL." I didn't recognize any stars other than for an up and coming African American,by the name of Bokeem Woodbine. Woodbine plays the part of one of five people stuck in an elevator. Among them is the devil, in disguise as a human being. It was arranged that every passenger in the elevator car had a destiny with violent death because of their sins, and none were expected to come out of that elevator alive. Yet one of them escaped at the end of the movie. Why? Because the sinner confessed and had a heartfelt repentance and stopped the devil in his tracks. Before the devil left that elevator, he bemoaned, "Oh, didn't I want to get you, too.!" The movie ends with the thought, "if the devil exists, perhaps God does also." That was one statement that was best left unsaid and spoiled the movie. Why should the creature confirm the exist of the Creator? Well, in the eyes of Hollywood, he does. Anyway, the main point gleaned from the movie is that the one who escaped the elevator had successfully resisted the devil by repenting and confessing a hidden sin. Surprisingly, this psychological thriller depicted a biblical truth. The devil will flee if we maintain a heart of repentance, which is the foundation of of spiritual resistance. Recently,I posted on facebook a 30 year old photo of myself. The day that I preached my trial sermon was Oct. 25, 1981. Take a look for yourself. An image of a huge head of a gargoyle can be faintly seen beside me, in front of the brown wood paneling of the church's wall. Its green eyebrow actually touched my left hand. Coincidentally, it was my left hand that exuded healing power when I used to lay hands on folk. If you are not one of my facebook friends, then I post the picture for observation by my newsletter subscribers.

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The gargoyle's head is turned toward me, in a 3/4 profile. One of his huge ears is visible, cheekbones are high, you can see his nose and pointed chin. His mouth is not that apparent but he almost looks like he is smiling. So that demon has been with me for at least 30 years, possibly a lot longer. I suspect that he is still here,and will perhaps remain with me until I have passed on. Since my attention has turned toward the demon in this photo last week, it has caused me to do some serious reflection. My thoughts have been, "Pam, how have you escaped this bad boy unscathed after 3 decades or more?" So my first thoughts were motivated by a concern to help others. Then I thought, "and how are you going to continue to keep him at bay?" My next group of thoughts were "Pam, how do you protect YOURSELF for your remaining years?" Sobering thoughts indeed. The first point that I can make, that will help both you and me, is the fact that that the demon in the photo was unable to hinder my salvation. The fact that I was actually IN this demons hands

in 1977 as both a former atheist and a psychic medium, this entity could not stop God from saving me. If that demon could not block my salvation, then you need to know that where His chosen people are concerned, the devil can't stop God when it is YOUR time to be saved either. This is a most important point for me to make, particularly because I have come in contact with so many in this hour who have had a counterfeit rebirth experience who are still waiting on God to save them. So my question is "why is it that it seems the devil is blocking the salvation of those who experienced a counterfeit birth? A counterfeit instances: rebirth occurs in the following

1. A person makes a decision to "accept" Jesus and then ends up boasting, "I am saved because I chose to follow Jesus." Often this person has repeated a sinner's prayer or responded to a minister's invitation to "walk forward" at the close of the sermon. There is also no evidence of repentance. Nor is their evidence that the believer understood either the cross or the resurrection of Jesus Christ at the time of the alleged salvation experience. 2. A person assumes because his or her family are professing, churchgoing Christians, and since he or she has attended church from birth, that he or she is "saved." 3. A Charismatic/Pentecostal person has sought the Holy Ghost through the manifestation of the speaking in tongues. Since the believer actually had a "tongue manifestation," an assumption is made that the person is saved. What I have uncovered through deliverance counseling, is this.When a counterfeit birth has taken place, the devil steps in, represented by a fallen angel who now calls himself "Jesus Sananda Immanuel." You can either obtain a copy my book, "The Fake Jesus," or google with Sananda's name, and you will find that Sananda claims that he has infiltrated the entire organized church. Consequently, when prayers and worship are offered, it is Sananda, and not Jesus Christ of Nazareth who is unknowingly appealed to. So in other words, the believer is actually practicing idolatry without realizing what has occurred and who he or she is worshiping. My case was different. Sananda could not hinder my salvation because even though I was an

occultist, I was also an atheist who had never attended church a day in my life. In other words, I offered no worship, prayers or allegiance to ANY gods and therefore, I did not make a known or un-known pact with any of them. What I am finding is that with a counterfeit birth, before God will step in and save, Sananda or any other false gods must be renounced and disavowed. So if you are one of those who "accepted Jesus" without being drawn to Him by the Holy Ghost, then you may very well have to renounce Sananda BEFORE the Lord will save you. Bare with me on this, because what I propose is a supposition to explain how and why the enemy can hinder salvation with several believers who "thought that they were saved." For as the scriptures declare, if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ should shine on them. (II Cor 4:3-4.) Sananda may be blocking you from the light and the truth of the gospel. So if you thought that you were saved but you were not, it is possible that you may have to disavow Sananda. My next point is this. Since the devil uses human teachers to seduce his prey with doctrines of devils, you need to examine every doctrine of devils that you have received. And I mean EVERYTHING! The first question to ask yourself is "what have I been taught about salvation?." Salvation is the most important subject because every aspect of your earthly life and your eternal life depends upon it. All misunderstandings about salvation need to be cleared up. Why? Because you resist the devil with your salvation: from the helmet of your salvation to your feet shod in the gospel of peace, your salvation is your primary grounds and authority to "resist the devil. The first thing you need to know is that "there is only ONE requirement of salvation." You have to HEAR the TRUE gospel of Jesus Christ. You don't need to KNOW very much. I myself knew the bare minimum. Everything about Jesus, I knew from the holidays, particularly Easter. I knew that Jesus died for my sins. I heard that He died and after 3 days, He got up PHYSICALLY in His same body. I didn't know that He intends to come back. Obviously,a belief on the Lord's return is not required to be saved.

I said "bah humbug" to ALL that I had heard, until HE CAME AFTER ME! It was not the other way around. If you are seeking the Lord to be saved, it is for one of two reasons: You believe its the right thing to do because the bible says, "seek the Lord while He may be found." However, the bible also says that "there is NONE that understandeth, there is NONE that seeketh after God. (Romans 3:11) Therefore, since we are all enemies of God and none of us will of our own volition seek after Him, if you find that you are a God seeker, then either God has drawn you to His Son by the ministry of the Holy Ghost. On the other hand, if you have drawn yourself because you are either afraid of hell, or you perceive church as a good thing, a counterfeit salvation is not only probable but possible. SO THE ABSOLUTE FIRST STEP TO RESISTING THE DEVIL IS THAT YOU MUST KNOW, WITHOUT A SHADOW OF A DOUBT, THAT YOU ARE BORN AGAIN. If there is the slightest doubt in your mind, then I suspect the possibility that you are NOT saved. Why? Because one of the most outstanding sign is your very confidence and assurance that you ARE saved. If you need my help on this, send an email to contact@pamsheppard.com If you have that one little doubt, then examination is both important and scriptural. I believe what Paul wrote to the Corinthians is applicable to us as well. "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith, prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? (II Cor 13:5)

PAM'S BOOK CORNER

AN EXCERPT FROM "FACES OF THE RELIGIOUS DEMON: Freedom Through Deliverance Counseling.
Jesus made a very plain yet profound statement concerning counterfeits, so basic and elementary that believers often neglect to consider His rather simple admonition, you shall know them by their fruit. The case of 78 year old Bertha from Nebraska is an outstanding example. A woman who claimed to have been a born again, a charismatic believer for 60 years, Bertha continually suffers with

obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) for the same length of time. In her incessant need for cleanliness, the outward manifestation of OCD involved various rituals of hand washings, and the wearing of rubber gloves during visits to her own toilet. Bertha would also scrub any surface area that she observed any visitor touch in her home. The washing rituals became increasingly intense for Bertha in any public area. Having been hospitalized for over a year in her mid twenties, she also received shock treatments to her brain, which were of no avail. Unable to raise her children and to fulfill her duties as a wife for many years, Bertha still remained a devout, religious Christian. In the assessment stage of pre-deliverance counseling, I discovered a connection between the onset of the OCD and Bertha's account of her baptism in the Holy Ghost with the manifestation of speaking in tongues. Even though I did not automatically assume that her spiritual experience was a counterfeit, I routinely proceeded to try the spirits to see if they be of God. As I sought for fruit, I kept in mind that anyone who has been saved, who has experienced the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and who has been a woman of prayer for 60 years most definitely have access to the mind of Christ. Yet it was rather strange that Bertha's mental disorder first became apparent practically simultaneous to her receiving of the Holy Ghost. In my mind, this was not only an obvious contradiction to the Lord's life and power but even more, a subtle affront or insult. It naturally follows that a fruit of Bertha's salvation would be her enhanced ability to overcome a perpetual affliction, at least after 60 years! By standard procedure, my first step within the assessment stage of pre-deliverance counseling is to seek to know whether or not the client has a clear knowledge of the basic elements of salvation which includes repentance and an understanding of the Lord's resurrection. In Bertha' case, my eyebrow was slightly raised because even though Bertha accepted the doctrine of being born in sin, she really did not seem to understand it. As counseling progressed, it became evident that Bertha had never experienced herself as a lost sinner needing Jesus as her substitute for the crime of falling short of the glory of God. In fact, she viewed sin more as an act of doing than as a state of being. She reasoned that she had never experienced the glorious kind salvation that others have attested to because she never really sinned as others did--- no fornication, adultery, swearing, drunkenness, lying, stealing or any such behaviors. Moreover, since the only sin that Bertha could identify with in 78 years of life was eating a piece of candy that was stolen by a friend when she was 8 years old and coming home late from school one day, I was somewhat concerned that Bertha never really experienced the godly sorrow that brings forth a rebirth in the spirit. Therefore, when I carefully asked Bertha to consider whether or not the fact that she did not raise her own children might be considered a sin, I was not expecting an outraged confrontation. In fact, her resistance was so strong that counseling could literally go no further. Bertha even prompted one of her sons to call me the day after the session to apprise me of what a wonderful mother Bertha has been, in spite of the fact that is grandparents raised him. The problem in continuing in pre-deliverance counseling with Bertha was that her 60 years in Christiandom was seriously shaken after only 3 sessions with me and reading one chapter of War on the Saints. Even so, Bertha was committed to continue in pre-deliverance counseling with me if and only if, I had submitted to her terms. Her primary concern was that I expressed doubt of a renowned, well known

evangelist about the word of faith phenomena of falling slain in the spirit. At meeting when Bertha was a young woman, she claimed that she fell out so powerfully in the spirit when this evangelist laid hands on her, that she had to be carried off the platform. Bertha explained that she was out cold and it took several minutes for strength to return to her body. The issue at hand is that Bertha has based practically her entire religious experience upon the divine origin of this supernatural occurrence at the evangelist's meeting. As such, she really could not be in agreement and join forces in counseling with anyone who does not believe in being slain in the spirit, in general, or in the renowned evangelist, in particular. In fact, not only did she become defensive but she put up an aggressive and strong counter attack by fiercely declaring suppose YOU were confronted by the fact that no one with the background in New Age and witchcraft that YOU have experienced could EVER be saved nor could YOU be anointed with power from the Holy Ghost to cast out devils?!! So, finally, here it was. The spirit of charismatic witchcraft spoke through the pride system of this outraged 78 year old upstanding and highly moral senior citizen, a demon covertly bent on killing off the minister sent to set its captive free. Rather than shout back get thee behind me Satan, I answered Bertha calmly, without defense or malice and simply replied: I have been so confronted over the years and so I have already put ALL of my supernatural experiences to the test, including the day that I got saved and the day that I spoke in tongues. I assessed it ALL by the word of God. Where my salvation experience is concerned, I experienced myself as a lost sinner who needed a Substitute to take the punishment for my sins. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, I knew without a doubt that Jesus Christ of Nazareth was that man who is God, resurrected from the dead. I confessed Him as Lord over my life. Where the speaking in tongues is concerned, since I received this manifestation when I too was a young woman at a Kenneth Hagin convention in 1983, I have periodically questioned it. I have recently vowed not to speak in tongues in public until the Lord grants me the gift of interpretation. I also no longer pray in tongues either. Where all other supernatural experiences are concerned, quite a few of them have proved to be counterfeit, including the phenomena of being slain in the spirit. Bertha was certainly not prepared to hear that I recognized her Jezebelian character traits in her style of religiosity, as she might have succumbed under the shock of such a revelation. Nor did I not get an opportunity to share with Bertha my impressions concerning her manifestation of OCD from a spiritual perspective. The primary spiritual benefit that one receives from repentance is the overwhelming sense of forgiveness and cleansing that comes from receiving Jesus Christ as a Substitute for one's personal sins. Only a sinner saved by grace can testify of what it feels like to come out of the wilderness. I myself will never forget it. I cannot state too often that as a 33 years old, I felt like I had just been born and like I had never sinned. I was washed and I was cleansed. I understand why Bertha admitted in our first session that her salvation experience was not so glorious. It simply happened that one day in church, she believed that it was time to make a commitment and so she simply got up from the pew, went forward to make a decision for Christ. It came to me after that first session that

Bertha's perpetual need to wash and be washed may be related to the fact that since she never saw herself as a sinner, she never got cleansed in the spirit. Could it be that the compulsion to wash physically is a sign that she has not been washed spiritually? I don't know. However, if this be true, then Bertha is still in her sins, and she never really got saved. Moreover, if she never got saved, then the spiritual language that she spoke did not emanate from the Holy Ghost. In like manner, Bertha's joy in worship and her devotion of 60 years to a good and moral life is merely a natural byproduct of clean living, obtainable through Buddhism, Hinduism, or any other religion. On the contrary, the joy of salvation in Christ is to know by faith that you have been lost and that through the sacrifice of Jesus and His bodily resurrection that you have been found. This is worshiping the Father in spirit and in truth. Unfortunately, some prefer to keep their religious life in tact, even though they may be worshiping in the flesh and in error. Along with the daily OCD rituals, Bertha reports that she takes Holy Communion every day and has great fellowship with the Lord every morning, a joy in Him that completing her assignment to read various chapters in War on the Saints was seriously beginning to hinder. According to Jessie Penn Lewis, people like Bertha are the most difficult to reach with deliverance for several reasons: ...Devotion, singing, preaching, worship,--- all rightful things--- MAY SO POSSESS THE MIND AS TO CLOSE IT TO ALL PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE NEED OF DELIVERANCE FROM THE ADVERSARY'S DECEPTION2....In the moral realm comes an attitude of infallibility, positive assertion and unteachableness, with loss of real power of choice. (War on the Saints, 9th edition, pp. 176- 177): It should be noted here that in Bertha's case, she truly wanted me to convince her to continue with pre-deliverance counseling because she was clearly confused, stating that 'she did not know what to do.' However, I realized that I could not compete with the glorified image that she continued to maintain of the renowned evangelist, a key hindrance to any continued pre-deliverance productivity with me. Moreover, there are occasions when someone will seek my services for one reason, and then I discover later that either the Lord or the devil sent them for another purpose entirely.

I could be wrong, but in the case of Bertha, I believe that her contact with me was crucial and important where her own eternal salvation is concerned because the Holy Spirit used the late Jessie Penn Lewis and myself to shake Bertha's foundation and served her a wakeup call. I personally believe that its far better to check one's spiritual life BEFORE the night of death comes--- the final season which no man or woman can check or can change. (II Corinthians 13: 5,6) So, in my mind, a loss of 70 years of a fruitless Christian experience is better checked in time, in the light of day. For in spite of the best of human morality, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, where the wages of sin is death and an eternity in hell. As the case of Bertha suggests, it is crucial to understand that there are those who are not saved who appear more saved than many

who actually are born again. The case of Ola is yet another example. My experience with this case is presented in more detail in later chapters. Nevertheless, Ola is mentioned now because even more than Bertha, Ola appeared to be saved. Not only did Ola speak in tongues, but she also manifested counterfeit gifts of the Holy Ghost that fooled the elect for years. Born a catholic from Nigeria, Ola truly believed that she was born again as a charismatic when she joined a word of faith church. However, in the course of her deliverance, she was completely taken over in a trance. During the deliverance, the witchcraft demon railed at me that he owned Ola because she had been given to him by her grandmother. Once exposed, a trilogy of demons became bold and confrontational, refusing to turn Ola loose. Ola's grandmother still remains a practitioner of Yoruba, a form of religious witchcraft practiced in Nigeria. Witchcraft is the practice of cursing and controlling with a counterfeit spiritual authority and power. Therefore, it is mandatory to seek to uncover what caused the captive to become subject to witchcraft and its various forms. The captives victory from deception and bondage is attainable if he or she is guided or counseled to be enabled to see the Lord clearly and serve and respect Him obediently. I am not suggesting that you will need to study darkness in any great detail. For example, you do not need to study every ritual, false doctrine or religious practice to realize that witchcraft and or the religious demon is involved. Utterly committed to upholding their own self image, captives in the grips of the demon Jezebel will fight to uphold an appearance of moral purity. Moral purity in this instance is not so much a desire to seek after true righteousness but more a desire to appear righteous to its public. The spirit of Jezebel is like her old testament predecessor in the flesh. Its desire is to kill the prophets of God and to crown false prophets that are obedient to Satan. In this regard, the religious demon has found a seat in the organized church, a pivotal position to fulfill Satan's goal of killing true prophets. From the onset, I point out that a sensitivity and a compassion for those bound by this demon is essential to set the captives free. I myself am always prepared to help these captives to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives when the Holy Spirit confronts them to face their own wickedness. Remember also that the spirit of Jezebel will send demons of accusation, rejection, condemnation and fear as a means of counter attack, so it is imperative that one is wise as a serpent but as harmless as a dove. The key is to remain humble, repentant and forgiving.

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