Testimonies

Subject: katie’s deliverance story
A Journey In Deliverance
Before the age of 10, I was introduced to- fear (through movies and haunted houses at halloween time), and also occult practices (through horoscope readings, games like “light as a feather, ghosts in the grave yard, and bloody mary”).  One year after learning that santa clause wasn’t real, I inspected my parents closet to see if my Christmas presents were hid there.  I happened to stumble upon my dad’s stash of playboy magazines.  Then another surprise was their dresser drawer full of porno tapes.  While my parents were away at work, I would watch the movies along with a scrambled x-rated channel I found on tv.
I was one among many “Christians” who in middle school, came to know Jesus Christ as my savior.  However, I never knew or was taught about repentance.
During high school I chose to partner with rebellious spirits.  Friends that I would hang around smoked cigarettes (without their parents knowing), and I didn’t want to be left out.  So I became very good at sneaking out to our garage to smoke. One time at a party over at my friends house, my mom made us fuzzy navels.  This was my first time drinking alchohol.  I was maybe 16 or 17 years old.
I fell in love in high school and lost my virginity.  The “love of my life” whom I had every intention of marrying, started college and broke up with me.  Spirits of rejection and bitterness. swooped right on in.  After high school I was consumed by lust.  I searched for love by having sexual relations with any guy who seemed to be interested in my.  Only to be left for someone else, at times even my best friends.
My parents divorced right after high school and my dad became MIA.  I didn’t see him for almost a year.  Abandonment, rejection, unworthiness, and now I had hatred and unforgiveness towards my parents came against me.
The year after my mom remarried, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.  This disease attacked me by making my hands and arms numb.  They were so numb that I couldn’t shave my legs, or put my hair in a pony tail.  It would make my legs and feet would numb.  Sometimes my feet so cold that it hurt to walk.  The only “cure” was for me to have a one hour IV steroid drip for 5 days straight.   Which never immediately took away the numbness.  The neurologists prescribe daily self injections of medicine, that wasn’t even proven to help long term.  This created much fear and depression.
Lust still ran rampant in my life, even after conceiving my daughter and marrying my husband.  4 years into my marriage, I cheated on my husband and thought I wanted a divorce.  I couldn’t get up off the floor for I found myself in such a place of shame.  It was while I was drowning in my tears, sobbing, crying out to God to forgive me, that I heard Jesus tell my that everything would be ok.  My husband, Damien forgave me minutes after hearing Jesus’ voice.  We immediately started attending the closest church to us.  I quit my job in management, to get away from the guy I had been with.  I lost all my friends in the workplace and my sense of being to some extent.  Without know what I would do for work, I now had to take a leap of faith.  God opened a great door for me being a self-employed painter.  And as I write this, my husband and I have been married just over 11 years!
Not long after all of this happened my dad passed away.  When I reached out for my mothers help after finding him dead in his apartment, I couldn’t get a hold of her.  My stepdad answered her phone and said she wasn’t feeling good and was asleep in bed.  I really, really needed to talk to my mom.  When she did finally call me back, she told me how she just got out of the hospital.  She had had a miscarriage. I now allowed more unforgiveness and anger in.
*Here is the turning point, where I believe God has begun to accelerated time in my life.  Therefore I will now give dates of events.*
In the beginning of 2012 at a my church’s food and clothes give-away, a lady named Bette came in to see if we needed more food.  She immediately came over to me and laid her hands on my head and said “Satan is trying to steal your identity.”  WHOA! That was completely foreign to me, what did it even mean?!  I shook and cried in fear and confusion.  When I asked my pastor about it, he shrugged it off and said “I wouldn’t worry about it”.  So I basically put it behind me.
Toward the end of the year I received my first prophetic word.  A lady teaching at a worship event, called me out of a crowd and told me the Lord said He has a ministry for me in deliverance.  Again, I shook and cried.  And again, WHOA! What’s a prophecy?  Can people really hear from God like that?  And what did she mean deliverance?  Doesn’t that involve ghosts and scary things?  I had no clue!
10/12 A friend from church that had heard my prophecy, suggested I attend a deliverance training event at Zion church.  So I went and took many notes of forgiveness and renouncing spirits.
11/12  There was another worship event by the ladies who prophesied over me.  This one was called “spiritual boot camp.”  I learned much more about forgiveness and something called soul ties.
12/12  I was invited to my neighbors house for New Years Eve.  We worshiped and praised God into the new year.  The people who were there, along with my neighbors all attended Zion church.  They told me about a school they have there call the supernatural school of ministry.
1/13  An experience I will NEVER forget.-  I had an unexplainable vision/translation.  I’m not even sure what to call it.  Right after I went to bed for the night, I was lying there when suddenly I heard an ear piercing sound.  And I saw an AMAZING white light.  My arms felt as though electric was running through me.  I looked back and realized I was floating above my bed and husband, who was sound asleep.
3/13 I reached out to Bette for and explanation of what I experienced, since no one I knew could help.  Not even my pastor.  He told me it was probably just a dream.  Bette knew exactly what the light was. She said it was the glory of God.  The sound was the sound of the shofar.  When her husband John and friend Patrick blew their shofars over me, I shook and wept uncontrollably.  WHOA! What did it mean?  Every time I would seek God for an answer, I would just be completely humbled.  I couldn’t get pasted the point of thanking Him and crying because of unworthiness.
4/13  I began the supernatural school of ministry at Zion church.  Here I was taught about boundaries and partnering with spirits.
7/13  Multiple sclerosis tried 3 separate times to attack me.  3 times, I spoke the Word of God and it left me.  I spoke Psalms 103:3- He has forgiven all my iniquities; He has healed all my diseases.  Romans 8:1- There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.  Isaiah 53:5- By His stripes I am healed.  The final time after I spoke the Word, I heard God say “it is gone, you are healed.”   I had a check up with my neurologist who ran a ton of tests on me.  He wouldn’t say that I have multiple sclerosis.  Basically he said that he didn’t know what was happening to me.  That was the last time I saw him and the last time m.s. affected me.
11/13  My sister-in-law Kimi passed away.  She was only 31 years old.  We were very close.  This left a deep, deep hole in my heart and much, much depression and anger towards God and myself.
2014 went by in a bit of a blur.  Guilt took over because i didn’t/couldn’t save Kimi.  Trusted friends, in and out of my church began to question our methodist religion.  I began to question God’s love.  I became curious about reincarnation and visits from the dead.  Also wondered about things like spiritual guides, mother nature, and reiki natural healing.
4/14  I was once again drawn to Bette for the truth.  I received deliverance, and many demons were called out of me.  The ones as far as I can remember were- adultery, pornography, pity party spirit, guilt, mistrust, a suspicious demon in my marriage, identity spirit, and depression.  After my deliverance, the Lord continued to do a work in me, uncovering a spirits of rejection and pride.
Ever since my deliverance I have had such a sense of peace about who I am.  I am free from all guilt.  I have learned about keeping short accounts with God and maintaining my freedom in Christ.  I have fallen short at times.  But when I remember to keep short accounts, it is easier to be honest with the Lord and get back on the narrow path
Deliverance, healing, and equipping the saints, is a definite must in the body of Christ.

Subject: Testimony
Bette,Here is my testimony for your church – please don’t use my last name.

“I want to thank John and Bette Stevens for their deliverance ministry serving our Lord.  I was referred to their ministry by another sister in Christ and have no doubt it was a divine appointment.  I always realized how the devil and his army attack people(especially Christians) but never realized how they attach to people and oppress and afflict them.  My dad is a 32nd degree mason and I have come to learn this had caused a generational curse on me and my children.  I have struggled with so many things my entire life.  Anxiety, fear, doubt, anger, lust, sexual perversion and drunkenness to name a few.  I am not blaming my dad for this because I know very well I allowed some of this sin into my life through my own choices.  Regardless, I forgive him and myself for all my baggage.  John and Bette prayed deliverance prayers over me and the oppressive demons came out in the name of Jesus Christ!  The bondage has been broken.  Whoever the Son sets free is free indeed.  I am free!  The enemy has up’ed his game and is attacking me more but I am battling everyday.  Be bound and cast back to the pit of hell you devils.  Jesus is Lord!  For those of you struggling and having doubts about people having the ability to bring deliverance in the name of Jesus, I encourage you to read Mark 16.  Jesus tells us in this chapter the signs that will accompany those who truly believe in Him and casting out devils is one of those signs.  Where I go from here, only the Lord knows.  I am his servant.  Blessings to all.  Garry”

I began learning about spiritual warfare several years ago. I had been overcome with fear and panic disorder even after coming to Christ. I think it is important to know that I am a born again Holy Spirit filled person. I previously thought that being born again meant that I couldn’t be tormented or oppressed by demonic spirits. While its true that a demonic spirit cannot overpower or corrupt a true believers spirit (which is in union with the Holy Spirit), they can most definitely attack ones soul (which is entirely different than the spirit). This is certainly the case with me. They can also form strongholds within the flesh and the remnant of the old sin nature. This accounts for many addictions that most believers have including an uncontrollable thought life. These strongholds always come from sin in the believers life that hasn’t been addressed . This unconvicted sin acts as a doorway or entry point for these spirits.

A regenerated person who continues to indulge in a particular sin gives the enemy legal rights to come into their life. Until this sin is repented of and renounced, the demons do not have to leave even if commanded to do so. This is where deliverance comes into play. John and Bette Stephens helped me recognize the sin patterns in my life. They pointed me to the appropriate scriptures which helped me understand and address my improper way of thinking. Through reading the word of God, a revelation came to me about the source of my fear and anxiety. Thankfully, the lord revealed to me my shortcoming which I was able to immediately address and change.

Previously I had tried to perform self deliverance. I would bind, renounce and cast out all devils and demons from my life in the name of the Lord Jesus. I couldn’t understand why it wouldn’t work. Now I realize that until the sin has been identified, repented of, and renounced, they have legal grounds to stay and come back through the same sin doorway over and over. However, once the root of the problem has been recognized (the sin pattern that gave the demon legal rights to enter your life) and renounced, and the door has been permanently sealed with the blood of Jesus, they cannot legally stay. They are now squatters and must obey.

The scripture says that where two or more are gathered, the Lord is there in the midst. Sometimes we have to seek out help from the body of Christ. If you are suffering from persistent fear, lust, pride or any other unhealthy emotions, chances are they are demonically empowered. I recommend you seek out guidance from John and Bette or others who have been gifted with a deliverance ministry. They are great advocates for Jesus Christ. They will help you discover the source and through the power of the Holy Spirit remove it. Then you will be able to maintain your freedom through daily self examination, repentance and deliverance.

Sincerely,

David Carmack, a brother in Christ.

Blessing Bette,

After more post-deliverance from a week ago when you prayed over me and I was delivered from strongholds..that continued in more groups of demons leaving (mainly in my intestines) and healing, I was able to write more that the holy spirit put on my heart! It is my prayer that the Lord uses my story for HIs glory to set the captives free, send more people to you and bring more souls into the kingdom of heaven as I know that is why I am here!

In the love of Christ,

Maria