Playing with Dynamite
Hi Friends,
I have three important visions that I am sharing with you today. They concern the hindrances that we have that keep us from making real changes in our lives. This is message that many of us need to hear and understand. I am going to do my very best to make it clear. However, I am asking the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us into all truth, giving us wisdom and understanding.
The Visions
The Infant
In this vision, I saw an infant about twelve months old sitting in front of an electrical wall outlet. He/she was inserting the electric power cord from several devices and appliances into the outlet.
Dynamite
In the second vision, I saw a man with two short fuses held tightly between his teeth. The fuses were like sticks, perfectly straight. They were attached to two sticks of dynamite, just inches away from the man’s face. The wild-eyed expression on his face, made me understand that he was aware of the danger that the dynamite posed.
The Two Insects
In the third vision, I saw two insects, one large and one small. The smaller one was on the back of the larger, and was caressing it with its front legs. It is possible that they were mating.
What the Visions mean:
Today as I was praying for the interpretation to the three visions, I received a call from one of my fellow intercessors. Through our prayer time, I realized what the vision was all about. We were praying for a friend who was dealing with repeated demonic attacks. This had been going on for some time intermittently. She was looking for help and yet after much prayer and much counseling there was no change. This reminded me of the scripture: “Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.” Isaiah 6:9
We were perplexed as to what would help her. But in the next visions, we will see where the problem lies. Let us begin with the first vision:
The Infant
In this vision, we see a baby sitting up directly in front of a wall outlet. The baby is attempting to insert the power cords of various devices and appliances into the wall outlet. The baby represents those who have a desire to see things work, and to have the power to make things work. The baby is seemingly innocent, having no real understanding of how it works. The wall outlet represents power. And in this case it represents spiritual power: the power to heal, the power to deliver, the power to perform miracles, signs and wonders. Because God is the source of all power, access comes through our relationship with him. And we also know that God has given Satan and his demons some limited power as well.
The power cord in the vision is used to access that power. It represents wholehearted obedience and submission to the Lord. It represents faith and trust placed in God, for it is by faith in him that our prayers are effective. “The fervent prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” James 5:16
The devices or appliances that the baby wants to connect to the power source represent the resultant work performed. It is the outcome that one hopes to see as a result of the Lord’s power.
However, we cannot ignore the obvious. A baby has no business playing with electrical cords and outlets and appliances. This is a dangerous place for a baby to be, with the potential of electrocution. Playing with power which has its source in the occult, is extremely dangerous. Some people are drawn to this dark power, without realizing how absolutely demonic it really is. Bondage will no doubt come when people are enticed or seduced by the desire to know this power.
I want to share with you an experience that I had with someone who was “innocent” or unaware of the danger of seeking out spiritists to gain wisdom or information. I had a friend at church who was single. She prayed for God to show her who her future husband might be. She wanted specifics, but the Lord was not giving her any answers. The Lord reveals things to people who seek him to know him, but not to those who seek him for selfish reasons. So because she became frustrated that her prayers were not getting answered, she went to see a psychic. This was several years before I met her.
However, one day we were praying for God to deal with the psychics on Route 23, to end their practices and get right with the Lord. I was binding and loosening things in the Spirit, not knowing that she had done anything like consult with a spiritist. But after our time of prayer, she confessed to me that she had gone to a psychic a few years before. I was concerned and asked her if she knew that it was a sin. I asked her if she had asked the Lord to forgive her for consulting a medium or spiritist. She said “Yes,” but it still concerned me. I regretted that I didn’t ask her first. I thought I knew her. I assumed that she was “clean.” But, I obviously did not know her well enough to pray in such a manner.
After this prayer time, things started happening in her life that were not good. She became irrational and paranoid. She imagined that there were people following her and people on her roof trying to break in. At one point she was admitted to the hospital for psychiatric analysis. The open door to the occult, caused her to become spiritually bound.
The baby in the vision is like my friend who wanted to gain information that the Lord was not willing to give her. So she crossed the line and went to the dark side for information. A Spiritist or psychic is someone who will contact the demonic world to gain information. This is called divination. Even though she was a Christian, and even though she said that she asked God to forgive her for doing such a thing, she re-opened the door when she prayed with me. Later I saw that she would seek out “prophets” in the Church to tell her what “her itching ears wanted to hear.”
“For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” 2 Timothy 4:3
There are a few other examples of Christians who want the power of God because of what it can do for them. There is a scripture in the Bible where we are told to desire spiritual gifts. And that is a good thing if we seek the giver, and not just the gift. We need to understand our own motives. If pleasing God and living for him is our motive, then using the gifts of the Spirit will bring him glory. If we are more about seeking the gifts for our own edification or personal ego, then the power will not be God’s. The devil sees our motives and is more than happy to accommodate the flesh and lead us to seek his power for ourselves.
The Bible gives a great example in the book of Acts. A man known as Simon the Sorcerer, impressed people with his “magical powers.” He referred to himself as “The Great Power.” He became a believer, and noticed how the apostle’s placed their hands on the sick and were healed. Others received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues.
“When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money and said, ‘Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.’
Peter answered: ‘May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.’
Then Simon answered, ‘Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.’” Acts 8:18-24
So, the baby in this vision represents people who have an unhealthy desire to operate in supernatural power. When curiosity and an interest in the supernatural becomes greater than having the desire to know God, this can become the weakness that the enemy will exploit to his advantage.
The wall outlet, representing the source of power, becomes an open door to the enemy. It is opened through the desire to know what is forbidden.
Some people become interested in the supernatural when they see others operating in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, just like Simon the Sorcerer. They too want this power to lay hands on people to receive their healing. They may desire to receive a word of knowledge and share it with the church. This attraction for supernatural power I believe stems from a desire that Eve also had.
Eve, in the Garden of Eden, was enticed by seeing the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that was forbidden. The Lord God had said that she could eat anything in the garden, except the fruit from this one tree. It was the serpent, (the devil), that opened her eyes to accept a lie: “You will not surely die,” the serpent told her. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. Genesis 3:4-6
Eve lacked the fear of God. She was easily led astray by the words of the serpent who gave her the justification she needed to go against God.
Too many people simply need a justification to commit sin or to go against God. With a justification they make room for sin, even if they know it is wrong.
Once we sin, we have a choice: we can repent and get right with God or we can continue to justify our actions. “This is the way of an adulteress: She eats and wipes her mouth and says, ‘I have done nothing wrong.’” Proverbs 30:20
But when we sin, and do not repent, and do not consider turning back to God, we leave a door wide open to the enemy. When sin becomes habitual, a lifestyle, it leads to bondage. In its early stages, it is a hidden bondage. In this early stage, many take pleasure in the sin, but as time goes on the sin will bite!
Most sins of pleasure are sins of indulgence: sexual sins, having an appetite for rich foods, pornography, sensual music, psychedelic drugs, the acquisition of wealth and material possessions…
“Do not gaze at wine while it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. In the end it bites like a snake and stings like a viper. Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will utter perversities. Proverbs 23:31-33
Wine is intoxicating, as are thoughts of success, grandeur, and notoriety. People are enticed by different means, but the devil makes it his job to know your weakness.
The Man with the Dynamite
The man in the vision held the two fuses, of two sticks of dynamite, in his teeth. He had a wild eyed look on his face. He could see that he was in real trouble. This man represents someone who knows that he has a problem, and recognizes that something needs to be done.
It is interesting that the dynamite is between his teeth, keeping him from being able to express himself verbally. When we experience a demonic attack, keeping one’s mouth closed is not the solution. We must take authority over the demon, and start praising the Lord. When we command things to go in the name of Jesus, they will depart. We command things to be bound and other things to be loosened in the name of Jesus. If nothing changes, then either we are not authorized because we do not have a true relationship with God, or we have sin and an open door in our own lives. Otherwise, we may need to fast and pray for greater authority.
In the first vision, the baby was playing with power, even though there was real danger, the baby was unaware. I might call this stage one of the inquisitiveness towards supernatural power. In the second vision, the person is no longer a baby, but a grown man. The danger of such a powerful explosive as dynamite, is no longer a hidden or concealed thing. The demonic attacks that come are apparent– there are definite manifestations, voices, thoughts, and conversations. My brother opened the door through divination. He was interested in working with my sister to make “easy money.”
His job was to act as a medium, testing himself to diagnose an illness or condition for someone else, five states away. Using “diagnostic instrumentation, and a computer, he was able to fool people into believing that the method of diagnosis was legitimate and scientific. But what it really was, was an expensive Ouija board that allowed him to communicate with the demonic realm to gain information about his client. It is based on using an acupuncture chart with its “energy flows.” A Ouija board uses letters, numbers and “yes” or “no.” His diagnostic apparatus hooked up to a computer screen was the interface between himself and the demonic spirit.
He got involved in this because my sister was doing it. We are influenced and enticed by spirits and the people who operate with them. “A companion of fools suffers harm.” Proverbs 13:20
The Two Insects
In the third vision, we see a small insect sitting on and caressing the back of a larger insect. I believe that this vision shows how unclean spirits seduce a person to sin that leads to bondage. Seduction and temptation go hand in hand.
The devil tempted Jesus in the wilderness after the Lord had spent 40 days and nights fasting. He tried to tempt Jesus, by appealing to his human nature. But the Lord being both fully human and fully God, was strong in Spirit and did not let his flesh succumb to the devil’s temptation.
We are also able to overcome temptation when we fast and pray and studying the Word of God which builds up our spirits. Our flesh is put down in favor of the Spirit if we feed the Spirit. If we ignore the things of the Spirit to please the flesh, then the flesh will become stronger and we will not be able to resist the devil’s temptations.
The seduction of my brother led to terrible demonic possession. But at one time, several years ago, he was delivered. He told me all about the unclean spirit, how it acted in a flirtatious way. The voice of this spirit was like that of a female. He said that he joked with the spirit and they became friends.
However, one day, the voice changed and became like that of a man. It was an angry, forceful voice demanding my brother’s life. The demonic spirit directed him to drive into some type of concrete structure, like the concrete wall of a bridge. But by the grace of God, my brother survived, giving him an opportunity to repent and turn to the Lord.
I spent ten days with him helping him to receive his deliverance. Then a few weeks later, I returned to stay with him for another five days. He seemed to be doing so much better. However, he was still recovering physically, and because he had been out of work, he lacked funds. Going against everything I had warned him not to do, he returned to the very thing that got him into trouble in the first place: working with my sister.
Today, his condition is by far worse. He called me and told me that there were 40 demons! Jesus warned us of the danger of this happening.
“When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first.” Luke 11:24-26
My brother’s situation has not changed. He is still in this terrible tormented state. Even though my born again sister, brother and I have pledged to help him get free, he is so deceived that he cannot see straight. We have told him that when he is ready, to call us. We continue to pray for the Lord to open his eyes to the truth and for our brother to want his freedom.
The Lord loves my brother as he loves each of us. But it takes a full surrender to the Lord’s will to be set free. He has to be able to recognize and repent of his sin and rebellion against God. He has to be able to renounce Satan and all his works. And he has to be able to confess that “Jesus is Lord.” And the first step is just saying “Jesus help me!”
“If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with your heart you believe and are justified, and with your mouth you confess and are saved.” Romans 10:9-10
This vision of the two insects suggests the act of mating. The smaller seduced the larger by caressing the back of the larger insect. The smaller insect wanted the other to feel comfortable, “loved,” even admired. The unclean spirit knew my brother’s weakness. It pretended to be a female, flirting and joking with him, enticing him to come closer, to not be afraid.
My brother was somewhat cautious, so he tried praying to the Lord for protection while he was “testing” himself to diagnose a client. But the Lord will not partner with anyone engaging in witchcraft or divination. The unclean spirit tried to make my brother feel that what he was doing was good, that it was beneficial for the one suffering from some illness. In a twisted way, the demon appealed to his sense of right and wrong, giving him the justification he needed to do something that directly opposed God and his ways. My brother knew that to do what he was doing was risky, but with the justification, he went ahead. We call this rebellion–to willfully sin against God.
After he was delivered, it was not long before he returned to sin. This can happen to anyone who has had an open door to the enemy. Where there was once sin and an open door, the unclean spirit will return to knock on that same door. A demonic spirit is familiar; it knows its victim intimately. It entices using whatever it knows will make the victim fall prey.
If a person engages it, acknowledges its presence, or speaks to it, the spirit will get what it wants: an opened door.
The friend who we initially spoke of, now finds herself in a situation just like this. She is being seduced by this evil spirit. It speaks to her and manifests in ways that scare her. She feels like a helpless victim. She feels powerless to fight, even though we have instructed her over and over again, our words seem to fall on deaf ears.
Like many people who have been victims of abuse, they are not able to take authority over the spirit, because they think that they are helpless. They have rehearsed their explanations, listed their reasons and told their stories so often that they fail to see that their problem is no longer the issue. They have now become their problem. Their identity is synonymous with their problem. How can you rid yourself of something you have spoken of so often? It becomes part of you. How can this friend imagine herself free, when every relationship is based on being the victim? And the stories and the blame continue and align themselves perfectly. The same way she relates to her friends is the same way she relates to this unclean spirit. If you cannot establish boundaries with human beings who mistreat you and boss you around, how are you going to establish boundaries and take authority over the enemy of your soul?
I cannot tell you how many people I have prayed for that have asked to be healed of their emotional issues. But after praying with them, believing in faith, that they would receive their healing, I would be utterly amazed to find them negating the prayer and the healing with the first words out of their mouth. “But, just the other day…
The word “But,” says it all. They did not receive their healing because they did not want to get rid of their problem. They only wanted attention. They only wanted to tell you about their problem. There was no expectation of change because there was no genuine intention to change.
They are quite comfortable with their “problem.” All they want is to tell their story, and to get attention, and for people to “understand their problem.” But never did they actually want to get rid of it! After all, what would they do, if they didn’t have their problem as a “social crutch,” or a means of “introduction?” It is their calling card! It is their identity!
A person with a victim mentality will stay a victim until they surrender their right to blame others for everything that ever happened to them. A victim does not have to take responsibility for his failures. A victim has justification for his circumstances. He simply says, “It’s their fault.” A victim just wants you to feel sorry for him. A victim may shed tears, and put on a show, but unless he is able to embrace what a life of freedom is all about, he will continue as he is. He does not want to take responsibility for his own life and for his own decisions.
For us as concerned people of prayer, we must understand that the more we cajole, and please, and listen, and show empathy towards them, the more they will “need” us. Helping someone who does not really want help can be a fruitless endeavor. So how can we truly help them to be free? The Lord showed me years ago:
I had an older woman as a friend at church. A very kind and loving woman. She came to church to see me. I tried in so many ways to help her trust in the Lord and to develop real faith in him. But after a long, long while, I began to plead with her to the point of tears. “Don’t you know that if you were to leave here, and get into an accident, you would go to hell?”
She carried a lot of unforgiveness. She hated her husband who abandoned her for another woman. Her husband even arranged for her to have a needless surgery that would keep her in the hospital so that he could get away for a romantic trip with someone else. She blamed the Lord for the terrible events in her life.
In frustration with her stubbornness, I took it to the Lord one day, and he gave me this parable:
“A man had a fig tree that was planted in his vineyard. He went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the keeper of the vineyard, ‘Look, for the past three years I have come to search for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Therefore cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’
‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone again this year, until I dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”
Luke 13:6-9
So, I knew the Lord wanted me to stay with her another year in hopes of her coming to the Lord. Finally, on one Sunday during worship, I heard the Lord speak to me. He said, “I must increase and you must decrease.” I knew what he was saying to me, so that very day I told her that I was stepping away from our relationship. It felt terrible–like a divorce! But I knew that God’s ways are by far better than mine.
For two and one-half years I did not see her. Then after that time, she came to church. I was so elated to find that she had come to church to meet with God–not me! Hallelujah! By stepping away, she finally found the Lord and could now place her trust in him!
She died about 15 years ago. But I know that she was saved. Now I have peace, knowing that she is at home with Jesus! God’s ways are higher than our ways!
So what do we do for this friend? Well, I know that the Lord may ask us to continue trying for a year, like he did with my other friend. But I know that the ball is in her court. If she will only surrender to the Lord and desire him above everything else, she can be set free in a heartbeat. We cannot fight her battles. We cannot force her to forgive those who have offended her or harmed her. She must do that herself. If she surrenders her “right to blame others,” and surrenders her status as “victim” by seeing that the sin or abuse of someone who harmed her is no greater than her own. That when she forgives and asks the Lord to forgive her and to close any doors that are open, then she can have the freedom that she claims to want.
I have one more short story that complements this one:
Years ago, a man came from out of state to visit our church. I saw him for the first time in the church lobby one Sunday morning. He was carrying a large stuffed bunny in his arms, like a small child would carry a doll. It was in the evening during prayer that the counseling pastor brought him into the room. He asked us to pray with him. As we prayed, I could see that he was holding his mother and brother in contempt for how they treated him. His problem was based on holding unforgiveness. So I shared this scripture with him: “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” Matthew 6:14-15
We helped him to see that his mother and brother may have sinned against him, but if he didn’t forgive them, the Lord would hold him accountable for his sin of unforgiveness. So he received this revelation and agreed to forgive his mother and brother. Then he prayed with us to receive the Lord’s forgiveness and salvation. We worshiped in the prayer room, and he joined in exuberantly. After our celebration of freedom and salvation, he picked up his bunny! I told him, “You cannot return the way you came. If you pick that thing back up, and take it with you, you will return to your bondage!”
He did not agree, and told me that he was going to take it anyway. I do not know for sure, but in all likelihood, he returned to his old ways. “Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.” 2 Peter 2:22
I hope he found the Lord and the grace to walk in love with a forgiving heart. But, I may never know, for I have not seen him since.
If we have been hurt, then we need to forgive. Jesus showed us how. He forgave those who spit on him, abused him and nailed him to the cross saying: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Luke 23:34
Surely we can forgive those who have hurt us. The stakes are high. If we do not forgive, we will not be forgiven. Eternity is a long time. We cannot afford to hold onto unforgiveness and keep our status as a victim. We need to know who we are in Christ and declare that over ourselves. We need to see others as the Lord does.
“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.
“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Luke 6:27-36
In Summary–
We can be like infants that are unaware of our motives. We may be opening doors through sin that can lead to attacks and bondage. We should not have or develop an unhealthy interest in supernatural power. The gifts of the spirit are for the body of Christ, not for self glorification or for a personal desire for power. If our focus is on supernatural power, the devil is more than happy to show us his power. We cannot open this door. We must repent for having an unhealthy desire to know about supernatural phenomena.
If you are attacked:
“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7
If you, or a loved one is attacked, take authority over it in the name of Jesus.
Bind the demonic entity or power.
Command it to loosen whoever it is being attacked.
Then start praising the Lord.
Use the Lord’s name: Jesus!
Declare that Jesus is Lord, God and King over all.
Do not entertain the spirit.
Do not speak to it.
Do not ask it its name.
Do not think about it.
CHANGE THE CHANNEL IN YOUR MIND!
FOCUS ON MAGNIFYING THE LORD!
WHEN THE LORD’S NAME IS PRAISED, THE BATTLE IS WON.
Repent of any sin, or any open doors.
If the attack is coming as a result of someone in the house practicing witchcraft or another grave sin, then they must stop immediately, or one of you needs to leave. Witchcraft is not to be tolerated. (Also: Ouija boards, tarot cards, palm reading, fortune telling of any kind, necromancy—praying to saints or contacting the dead, astrology, divination, sorcery, mind altering drugs, acupuncture, transcendental meditation, hypnosis, yoga, levitation, Halloween, reading books of witchcraft and watching shows of the occult etc.)
Please know that the Lord does not want you to suffer bondage. He wants you to be free to worship and serve him. Read the word of God, for it will transform your heart and mind and nourish your spirit. Commit yourself to knowing the Lord. Spending time with the Lord in his presence, builds your faith and causes you to trust him for everything you need. This is the best way to no longer feel like a victim. When you realize that a relationship with God is worth more than all the gold in the world, and his friendship is sweeter than any other you might have, then you will feel greatly blessed. You will have a thankful heart that is filled with love for all people and you will truly be set free.
Let God be first, and all will be well!
Please share this with those who may benefit. God bless you and keep you under the shelter of his wing!
