Invisible Enemies

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  Invisible Enemies

  Copyright © 2011

  Jim Croft

  Cover design by Eric Walljasper

  E-book edition created 2011

  The information given in Invisible Enemies is biblical, pastoral and spiritual in nature. It is not professional or medical counsel and should not be viewed as such. Jim Croft, Chosen Books and Baker Publishing Group hereby disclaim any and all responsibility or liability for any adverse or damaging effects that may be asserted or claimed to have arisen as a result of use of this material.

  Unless otherwise identified, Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

  Scripture quotations identified nasb are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE,® Copyright © The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

  Published by Chosen Books

  11400 Hampshire Avenue South

  Bloomington, Minnesota 55438

  www.chosenbooks.com

  Chosen Books is a division of

  Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

  ISBN 978-1-4412-3246-5

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

  “With years of experience and a depth of biblical understanding, Jim Croft has brought us a jewel in his book Invisible Enemies. Dispelling myths and enlightening the reader with truth, you will be armed for battle to conquer your personal enemy and come out on the other side a victor and not a victim. I applaud Jim Croft for his work of excellence! Well done!”

  James W. Goll, founder, Encounters Network and

  Prayer Storm International; author, The Seer, The Lost Art of Intercession, The Coming Israel Awakening and many others

  “I met Jim Croft in 1972 while he was helping a professor get free from life-long demonic oppressions. Before my very eyes I saw that man set free. Jim Croft and I have been close friends and associates ever since. I can testify that God has used him powerfully in the deliverance ministry for more than forty years. All that gleaned knowledge he has compacted into this book. When he shares about ‘invisible enemies,’ there is no one I know better qualified to teach on this vital subject. With scriptural balance, unique insights, loving grace and distinct humor, Jim Croft has presented us with a precious gem that will enlighten and guide all believers for the coming battles against darkness and advance the Kingdom of God.”

  Dr. Mahesh Chavda, co-founder and senior pastor,

  All Nations Church (Charlotte, NC, and Atlanta, GA); coauthor, Getting to Know the Holy Spirit and Only Love Can Make a Miracle; www.maheshchavda.com

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Endorsements

  Contents

  Foreword by Dick Leggatt

  Acknowledgments

  Introduction

  Part One: Facing Reality

  1: The Truth about Deliverance

  2: Transforming Encounters

  3: Proved Wrong, and Glad of It

  4: Early Attempts at Deliverance

  5: Learning about Satan’s Kingdom

  6: The Christian Dilemma

  7: Jesus and the Exorcists

  8: Initial Steps to Freedom

  9: Self-Deliverance

  Part Two: The Next Step toward Freedom

  10: Biblical Truth and Human Understanding

  11: Separating Ministry Chaff from Wheat

  12: Deliverance in Conjunction with Other Biblical Practices

  Part Three: Deeper into Deliverance

  13: Obliterating Demonic Strongholds in Your Mind

  14: Dealing with Denouncements and Vows

  15: Manipulation and Soul Ties

  16: Breaking the Power of Sex Perversions

  17: Dealing with Spirits of Infirmity

  18: Expelling Home-Wrecking Demons

  19: Deliverance from the Powers of Iniquity

  20: Battling Spirits of Antichrist

  21: Guidelines for Helping Others

  Epilogue: The Challenge of Commitment

  Appendix: Ministry Resource Guide

  Index

  About the Author

  Back Cover

  Foreword

  I’m honored to write the foreword for this book authored by my good friend and colleague Jim Croft. We have known one another since 1975. Our families have enjoyed time as friends, times of ministry, times of worship and prayer, times of collaboration in writing and editorial work, times of recreation. All this is to say that I consider it a great privilege to know Jim and his unique ways.

  The familiar saying, “They broke the mold after he was created,” comes strongly to mind. Jim is unique in his transparency regarding his own life and ministry. He is unique in his amazing, offbeat sense of humor, his honesty and candor, and his impact upon so many sectors of the Body of Christ.

  Jim is especially unique in his God-given calling to the vital area of spiritual warfare and the deliverance ministry. This book, reflecting all those areas of uniqueness, will greatly enhance your understanding of the subject of deliverance.

  I believe this book will benefit you in three important areas of your Christian experience.

  Regarding the Topic of Demons

  First, it will help you develop a normal, matter-of-fact attitude toward deliverance and demons.

  This book provides a practical and balanced look at the reality of spiritual warfare in the Christian life. Jim’s down-to-earth approach to dealing with potential demonic influence in our own lives, in others and in our society is candid and refreshing. Unfortunately, the Church has tended to marginalize this important biblical issue. We have ignored the elephant in the room. We know it’s there; we just refuse to talk about it.

  If we were absolutely honest, we would freely admit that we grapple with serious problems in our lives. For many, those problems go well beyond the boundaries of routine character flaws. Those are the ones we don’t talk about in polite company—the compulsive and at times uncontrollable matters that erupt in private; the secret sexual preoccupations that are embarrassing even to our own sensibilities; the obsessive/compulsive behaviors that we wish we could control or eliminate, but cannot.

  Certainly, most problems we exhibit are the routine result of faulty character traits, downright orneriness or a myriad of basic human weaknesses. Honesty demands, however, that we also acknowledge that other category of problems whose symptoms can be telltale signs of demonic influence in our lives.

  The very mention of the word demon in polite company tends to thrust most of us into the realm of denial or panic. “You mean to tell me you believe I have a demon at work in my personality?” The answer is yes; demons are simply facts of life that every person experiences at some level. As you read Jim’s book, you will discover how normal this entire phenomenon and process can be.

  The Scriptures Jim explores in this book attest that it was a normal part of life in Jesus’ time as well. In scriptural accounts of Jesus’ ministry, He would regularly heal a person of a physical malady through prayer. Other times He would cast out the demon causing the malady. In both approaches, the result was the same: complete healing and restoration. Jesus made no distinction between healing and deliverance. He employ
ed both with equanimity and balance.

  And when Jesus was confronting a demonic presence rather than a physical ailment, He did not react with surprise or anxiety, but was steady and controlled. For Jesus, it was nothing out of the ordinary. And it should not be for us either.

  How then do we develop the unflappable attitude toward demons that Jesus exhibited? Jim shares very transparently about personal experiences that helped him understand demonic opposition as a fairly common occurrence in Christian experience. He also shares substantive teaching to provide a clear, expansive picture of the entire topic of spiritual warfare. But first and foremost, what Jim writes can help to produce your first benefit from this book: developing a well-adjusted, matter-of-fact attitude toward deliverance and demons.

  Regarding Your Own Need for Deliverance

  The second benefit is learning how to be set free from the effects of your own “invisible enemies” that have pushed you around for far too long. Writing about his own experiences and offering solid teaching, Jim provides practical means for us to get free and stay free.

  Much could be said about this second benefit, but bottom line, Jim provides enough enlightened instruction in this book to deal with demonic oppression in your own life. And that experience will lead to the third benefit.

  Regarding Helping Others Find Freedom

  Far more people struggle with demonic torment than there are qualified people to help them out of that torment. Almost daily at Derek Prince Ministries, we receive desperate calls for help from people trying to get free from some type of demonic oppression. They ask for referrals to someone in their area who is able to minister to their needs as Jim’s mentor, Derek Prince, would have ministered.

  Far too often, our response is that we are not aware of anyone in their area who is knowledgeable or experienced in the matter of casting out demons. The third benefit is Jim’s purpose in this book: to educate, train and inspire others to carry on the ministry he, his mentors and other servants of the Lord have carried on for many decades.

  The good news is that such knowledge and skills concerning deliverance are attainable for you. In fact, by the time you finish reading this book, you should be prepared to step out prayerfully to help yourself and others who may seek freedom from demonic oppression. And in our society today, the extensive preoccupation we are seeing with occult themes may end up requiring a whole army of compassionate people to respond to what could become an overwhelming need.

  It is abundantly clear from prophetic Scriptures and the account of Jesus’ life on earth that He came to set the captives free. He gave us that same mandate and commission. Are you ready to fulfill it?

  If you have answered yes to that challenge, the best first step in answering the call is simply to read and digest the truths Jim Croft spells out in this book. Then step up to the line, as Jim’s ending section directs, and offer yourself completely to the Lord Jesus Christ.

  Present yourself to Him, and ask to receive His cleansing ministry in your own life.

  Then, present yourself to Him to carry on, by His power and grace (using the tools you have received in this book), His ministry to set the captives free.

  Dick Leggatt

  President, Derek Prince Ministries—USA

  Acknowledgments

  I would like to thank Dick Leggatt for serving as my in-house editor. His fine-tuning skills are without equal. I am also very grateful for Dennis Williams’s diligence in proofreading the numerous drafts of each chapter. Both Dick and Dennis made tremendous sacrifices of their time and energies to see to it that the manuscript was delivered in a timely manner. Bless you, dear brothers.

  Introduction

  Jesus and His team of disciples traveled through the cities of Israel, performing healing miracles and expelling demons from people everywhere they went (see Mark 1:23–27).

  The majority of those to whom they ministered were not from the dregs of society. Most, by all outward appearances, led reputable lives—doing their best to provide for their families and live responsibly according to the Law of Moses. Yet, like many present-day, upstanding, responsible people, they had secret struggles that seemed beyond their control—until the light of Jesus drove the invisible enemies from their lives.

  Demonic Presences in Our Day

  Jesus cast evil spirits out of people because that is precisely what they needed. Any suggestion that biblical deliverance is simply archaic terminology for addressing the psychological anomalies of the day is off base. Even today we use Greek root words to define most modern-day disorders. If counseling therapy is what Jesus did for people, the language of His era would have been adequate to define it precisely in those terms. The Bible offers no such notions.

  Modern man continues to struggle with the mysteries of human personality and with the bodily afflictions so many suffer. We recognize, with gratitude, that partial answers have been found through psychological counseling and medical science breakthroughs. But in spite of tireless efforts many lives remain unchanged. We need to face reality—a Bible-based Christian concept: Evil spirits afflict the personalities and bodies of people today just as they did two thousand years ago. Those invisible enemies need to be expelled.

  Jesus came preaching peace to those who were near and to those who were “afar off” (Ephesians 2:17). Our birth in this generation qualifies us as ones who are in the “afar off” category; therefore, it also qualifies us for the peace Jesus offers.

  Peace means literally “freedom from molestation to the extent that one can enjoy an untroubled, undisturbed sense of ongoing well-being.” That is also a wonderful description of an effective deliverance from demonic spirits.

  The Purpose of This Book

  Perhaps you are not a churchgoer, but are suspicious that demonic powers might be manipulating some aspect of your personality. Don’t worry about any affiliations with organized religion. Jesus wants you free. The Bible states that those who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. One of the definitions for saved is “deliverance.” If you are drowning, the Lord is willing to throw you a lifeline of deliverance. Once you are safely onboard the “Power of His Name” ship, there will be plenty of time to work out the details about how to express your faith in Jesus.

  In other words, whether you are completely converted to Christ or standoffish about matters of religion, the Lord’s will for you is liberation from all of the schemes of the devil. And that is the purpose for which this book was written.

  It is designed to alert you to the unseen spiritual activities of invisible enemies. And it will equip you to deal with those forces just as Jesus did, bringing you into liberty and peace.

  With an abundance of personal stories and experiences, we will explore the unseen reality that most of us deal with every day from the demonic realm. The Bible gives us much to ponder about Satan’s evil kingdom. That knowledge will help us demythologize the subject of deliverance and demons and approach it effectively.

  We will also answer some hard questions: Can a Christian really “have a demon”? How is that possible? We will cut through the Hollywood stereotypes of what commonly happens when people are delivered from evil spirits, and expose some of the aberrant methodologies that have evolved, countering them with Bible-based techniques.

  Now, we will discuss this in detail later, but let me state it clearly here so that you have no question: A Christian cannot be demon possessed in the sense of total ownership and control. Believers are owned by Jesus, and the spiritually minded submit their lives to the precepts of God’s Word and to the control of the Holy Spirit. As we will see, however, demons can oppose, torment, molest and invade aspects of the personalities and health of these same individuals.

  Once we have a solid foundation for understanding the workings of these evil beings, we will look at deliverance techniques that are biblical and effective. This book will teach you how to be set free and how to maintain your freedom—even in the face of the growing influence in the world today of t
he antichrist spirit.

  The book will close with a challenge for you, once free, to equip yourself to assist others in winning their own battles with demonic powers.

  Information about the enemy and how to defeat him is not hidden from us. God intends for us to know the peace available in the power of the name of Jesus. Let’s begin our study, then, to understand the ways He wants us to defeat these uninvited evil spirits, and walk boldly into our freedom.

  Many contemporary Christians believe that the New Testament accounts of Jesus and the early believers casting out demons are true—for that day and age. And some may go so far as to see these deliverances as archaic predecessors of present-day counseling. If demons do exist, they are likely restricted to idolatrous tribes in foreign lands and perhaps to a few cases of extreme mental instability.

  As a result of not being informed about the ongoing existence and purpose of spirits spoken about in the Scriptures, they have no context for believing that demonic activity could be remotely applicable to their problems. The blindness is costly.