Much of the bible was written by people who heard the voice of God. Thirty-four years born again, I have heard voices, even engaged in conversations on occasion with either the Holy Ghost or the devil. In fact, I remained quite comfortable with the voices that spoke messages sent in visions, mostly dreams. However, until the Lord revealed to me that 90% of what I either saw or heard in the spirit came from the enemy who imitated the voice of God, I realized that it was time for me to learn how to try the spirits to see if they be of God. This shocking revelation was quite sobering and so I have become extra vigilant in these times, recognizing that we live in an hour when strong delusion has been released and the enemy has become increasingly skillful over the last 19 centuries at transforming himself into a being of light.
The difference between my experience and that of those who hear voices 24/7 is that I was never tormented. My mental state was never impaired and I never lost any sleep. Once I discovered that I was hearing much more from the devil than I was hearing from the Holy Ghost, my knowledge of the truth practically nullified the enemy’s conversations with me. Once I knew the truth, as Jesus said, “the truth MADE me free.”
However, once I brought my deliverance counseling model called the SEW Program to the web in December 2002, I was surprised to discover that so many professing Christians were “hearing voices.” The demonic nature of voices needs no evidence. To captives who are in torment yet they do not have a medical, physiological condition, it is clearly evident that the voices they are hearing are “NOT THEIR OWN.”
Since the days of Noah, the disembodied spirits of the offspring produced from the forbidden sex between fallen angels and women that died in the flood are called demons, evil spirits, the Nephilim. Since the flood, they roam the earth looking for a familar place to “inhabit.” Dreading the dry places like deserts and haunted houses, human flesh provides demons the most conducive habitation to their liking.
Logically, it would seem that demons would settle down in a home of flesh and try to remain quiet and undetectable, and for the most part, this is what most demons do. However, not the “talkative ones.” In an effort to kill, steal and destroy, loquacious demons cause their voices to be loud, accusatory, condemning, vulgar and often urging their captives to commit an assortment of unseemly acts. It seems “the voices” are hell bent on tormenting their victims to either lose their minds, kill somebody, or kill themselves. Once the demons have destroyed “their home of flesh,” tormenting, auditory demons simply find themselves yet another human home to reside in and torment in like manner.
Consequently in deliverance counseling, it is important to be able to differentiate what is purely spiritual or supernatural in nature from what is physiological or medical. Deliverance counseling is a brief therapy that takes authority in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth over what is spiritual or supernatural. On a natural level, our stand is that medication that is actually working is an asset to what we do in SEW because the medication allows us to renew the minds of those who are reasonably rational.
Some of the more common medications prescribed are effexor, risperdal, wellbutrin, largactil, and clopixol. Even though these medications may have different side effects on different people, for the most part, the captive whose demons are under control by medication is a big help to me. My task is to equip the captive to walk in the spirit and to put on the whole armor of God. As such, medication can induce a reasonably sound, rational mind, quieting down the voices of the demons so that my own voice can be heard and understood. Along these same lines, since substance abuse of all kinds can induce anxiety disorders, panic attacks and other physiological conditions that incite and draw demons, all captives in deliverance counseling must be clean and sober.
In the mental health field, any discourse or conversation between two or more voices, schizophrenia is the diagnosis of choice. When a running commentary occurs in a person’s thoughts, this alone is enough for a mental health worker to look to schizophrenia opposed to other diagnoses where hearing voices is also a factor. I have worked with both the spiritual and the schizophrenic side of hearing voices. I believe that although schizophrenia is a disease, there is definitely a demonic influence involved, more or less.
My rule of thumb is this. Disorganized thinking is the primary way to distinguish a mental disorder from demonic torment. Those who express unusual or odd beliefs of delusional proportions are too mentally ill for me to prepare them to actively participate in their own deliverance. Those who are possessed by conspiracy theories, believe they are being gang stalked, spied on, watched, who read certain gestures, signs, comments, passages from books, etc. in a personal, irrational way, are not good candidates for deliverance counseling.
For example, I am reminded of a charismatic word of faith churchgoing, tongue speaking client who was on a high dosage of medication, yet she still heard voices 24/7. Joyce could not go to church because when she heard the voices, she would ask those sitting beside her, “Did you just say thus and so?.” Churchfolk were getting annoyed. It happened so often that her husband went to church and left Joyce sitting outside in the car. Joyce also insisted that when she was at home, the voices came from her neighbors speaking to her through the walls. Once she thought she heard the name “Joyce” on the radio and she called the station wanting to know why were they talking about her on the air. Once I provided clear, irrefutable evidence that the voices were not her neighbors or anyone standing by her and Joyce still held on to her delusions, I could not proceed with her case.
However, with those who hear voices who are able to function normally, I have had significant success with casting out demons and totally silencing their voices. In the next post, I will share why I believe that so many Christians are hearing voices today.
If you are hearing voices, there is help for you at www.pamsheppard.com/online_ministers_available
Spiritual Warfare Library of PSM 