Ministries Coming Under Demonic Attack

by Francis MacNutt
September 1990

Dear Friends,

I usually like to write out my part of the newsletter by hand, but we came back from our glorious trip to England a week late. So, to get this out in time, we are printing it this time:

Recently I have been hearing more and more about ministries coming under demonic attack, as they (and their churches) are targeted for destruction by local covens. Just yesterday I read John Sanford's newsletter describing how ministers whom he knows are suffering from various mysterious oppressions, including nagging physical problems that physicians are not able to cure. Last week I was listening to a cassette where Benny Hinn tells how a witch who has come out of Satanic bondage shared with him that local covens gather and in their version of prayer, curse pastors by name, one by one. Then a member of our staff here has discovered that there are some 62 covens right here in Jacksonville.

Although we don't want to overemphasize the importance of Satan's work to the detriment of our emphasis on Jesus, Judith and I have nevertheless felt ourselves to have been under attack in the past few years — especially around the time when we put on our healing conferences. Nothing really major — just unfortunate incidents and problems that drain away our strength and distract our attention — especially through our children.

Take our son, David, for example. One night, during a conference, he stepped on a scorpion who was sitting on the carpet of our second floor apartment in Northern Florida. I have only seen one scorpion in the wild here in three years; but a scorpion in a second floor apartment! Just a coincidence? More subtle are the whirling thoughts, for no apparent reason thoughts of anger or temptations to discouragement. You can, of course, find rational causes, if you look hard enough, such as, "I haven't had enough rest recently"; but if the reasons seem clearly insufficient and the oppression lifts when you pray, it does seem that we may have been oppressed by some evil spirits sent our way.

Far more important are pastor's marriages that are destroyed or churches riven apart by spirits of dissension. As Ray Mossholder wrote in the July–August '90 issue of Ministries Today "It was no surprise to learn that area witches and warlocks had been fasting for the destruction of pastors' marriages and, even more important to their purposes, pastors' reputations" (page 26). I have in my possession the transcript of an interview with a former witch who confesses to have taken two priests out of commission by sending despairing curses and sexual temptations as well, in their directions.

We have just had one fascinating, instructive experience on our recent preaching trip in England. In. one large Anglican church I was giving a teaching on healing; I felt that I should ask for a volunteer from the congregation and then pray for that person up front, to show the people how they might very simply, without dramatics, pray for the sick in their own families. So I asked for someone suffering pain to volunteer, so that we might be able to tell if a change had taken place when we prayed.

Several hands went up, and I chose one man about 40 years old, dressed casually. He explained that for about 3 years he had felt pain in his right ear and was suffering ringing in both ears. So we sat him down in front of the church and prayed for him.

But nothing happened.

Then one member of our team whispered that she felt there was some kind of evil presence surrounding him. Now, how do you handle that in the sanctuary of an Anglican church?

I began praying very quietly, binding up and casting out a spirit of infirmity, at which point the man bent over in his chair and started coughing. Clearly this was a situation demanding deeper attention than we were able to give in five minutes time in front of 600 people. So our team took him to a back room to minister to him privately.

There he informed them that he was an Anglican minister. The ear problem had come upon him three years previously when he and his family had been missioned in Africa. A short time after arriving in Kenya his two–year–old son came down with a mysterious rash that encircled his tummy. Then the child started losing weight; and he kept right on going down until he had lost 25 % of his weight. At that point the doctors said, "You've got to get out of Kenya!" So they did. It was also during this trying time that the minister's ear problems began.

The team prayed with the minister for several hours. Among other things they broke the curse that the African witch doctors had inflicted upon him and his family — to put him out of action.

The next day the ringing in his ears was gone, as well as the pain in his right ear.

I would encourage all pastors (and spouses) to begin the day by praying for protection. Judith and I pray that our Lord protect us from all harm, from all sickness and from all accidents. ("Deliver us this day from evil.") We also ask that Jesus send his angels to guard and protect us We bind up any evil spirits of earth, air, fire and water, of the netherworld and of nature * and command them to leave us and go to Jesus Christ for him to dispose of in his wisdom.

Also, in the name of Jesus Christ and by the sword of the Spirit we break ourselves free from any curses, hexes or spells that may have been directed against us, and we decommission any spirits sent against us and send them back to those who sent them to harm us.

We have come to regard these prayers — in the morning and the last thing before falling asleep — as a simple, wise precaution. We do not dwell on these demonic aspects of life; we say the prayer quietly and just twice a day. The rest of the day we want to put our minds, as St. Paul suggests, upon the noble, the holy, the beautiful things of God.

*We learned about these six categories of spirits from Richard McAlear, who has much wisdom and experience in the deliverance ministry.

Love,
Francis & Judith
Rachel & David

Francis MacNutt is a Founding Director and Executive Committee member of CHM.