Transcript of a talk by John Mulinde at a conference in Obsteig, Austria, in November 2000, hosted by the mission organization “Leben in Christus” (Maria Prean)
I would like to share with you the testimony of a man who, before he was saved, had served Satan. When this man shared his testimony, it challenged me so deeply that I first spent ten days in prayer and fasting to ask the Lord: “Lord, can this really be true? Is this the truth?” This man was born after his parents had consecrated themselves to Lucifer. While he was still in his mother’s womb, they had already performed many rituals and consecrated him to Satan as well.
By the age of four, he had already begun to wield supernatural powers. His parents then became afraid of him. At age six, his father handed him over to the witches so they could continue training him. By age ten, he was already accomplishing extraordinary things in the enemy’s realm. The other witches feared him. He was still a young lad, but he did extremely wicked things. By the time he was about 20, he had already incurred a great deal of blood guilt; he killed people through the power of his will. He had the ability to leave his body through transcendental meditation, and he could levitate—that is, he could free his body from the pull of gravity. Sometimes, during meditation, he would separate from his body. He would leave his body behind and move wherever he wanted in the world. This is called “astral travel.”
Satan made powerful use of this man to destroy churches and pastors. One day, he came to a church he wanted to destroy. This church was filled with prayer. There was a great deal of division and confusion within this church. But at that very moment, the pastor had called the entire congregation to a fast. And during this fast, there was a great deal of repentance. The people came together and began to pray for the Lord’s work in their midst. They asked God to have mercy on them and to intervene in their lives. During
those days, this sorcerer came to attack this church together with demonic spirits.
But at that time, there was a prophetic word for the church, telling it to rise up and engage in battle against the demonic spirits that were attacking the church. So one day, this man left his body and went on an astral journey to lead a mighty army of demonic spirits against this church. –
This is his testimony, which I am sharing here. – He moved into the spiritual realm of the church. They tried to penetrate the spiritual atmosphere of the church and attack it, but there was a canopy of light—a protective wall of light—over the entire church.
Suddenly, there was an army of angels fighting against them. This battle took place in the “heavenly places.” All the demons fled, but he was captured. By whom? By the angels. He saw himself being held fast by six angels. They brought him through the roof directly in front of the altar. There, the Christians were in deep prayer. They stood there engaged in spiritual warfare. They were tearing down the powers and breaking the chains. The pastor stood on the stage, leading the prayer and the spiritual battle. The Spirit of the Lord spoke to the pastor: “The yoke is now broken, and the sacrifice lies before you. — Help him and lead him into freedom.”
The pastor opened his eyes and saw this young man lying there, completely collapsed. He was back in his body. The young man said he had no idea how his body had found him. He had left it at home, but now he was back in his body.
He also had no idea how he had even gotten here; all he remembered was that the angels had carried him in through the roof. The pastor shared with the congregation what the Spirit had spoken to him and asked the congregation to remain completely still. The pastor asked the young man, “Who are you?” At that, the young man began to tremble, and the demons came out of him. They performed a deliverance ministry on him, and afterward he began to share his life story.
This young man now lives with the Lord; he serves as an evangelist, preaches the Word of God, and God is using him in a powerful way in the ministry of deliverance. One day I went to a meal because someone had told me about this young man, and I was curious to see him. So we sat together at dinner, and at some point this young man had the opportunity to share his testimony. He had spoken about so many things, and at times he wept over all the things he had done. As he came to the end, he made an appeal regarding two things. There were many pastors present, and he said to them:
“Please, please, pastors, teach people to pray. Because people who cannot pray will be defeated by the enemy in every way. And if they pray only a little, then the enemy has the ability to completely stifle those prayers.” He also said to the pastors: “Take up the Bible and study how to use the spiritual armor that God has given you.”
Then he recounted how he had literally undertaken expeditions. He said he had penetrated the air—the spiritual atmosphere—along with other servants of Satan and many demonic spirits. He had to perform this ministry regularly; it was like a work shift. And he explained: “When a country is permeated by darkness, there is a veil in these heavenly realms—in these spiritual realms—that is sometimes as thick as a rock and covers the entire region. The demonic spirits, as well as people who serve Satan, can both walk on the surface of this veil and operate beneath it. From this elevated position, they rule and control what happens below.
When they have finished their work, they return; they leave this veil. They do this as part of a covenant through which their strength is renewed. How does this happen? It happens through the sacrifices that people offer on the altars. There are many different forms of sacrifice: sorcery, blood sacrifices, human and animal sacrifices—even abortions and wars serve as sacrifices. Sacrifices can be offered in the form of sexual immorality, through all manner of perversions to which people give themselves over in the sexual realm. These sacrifices strengthen the demons and give them new power.”
I was shaken when he then said: “When you were up there, in those places, you encountered the prayers of Christians on earth in three ways. All prayers appeared like smoke rising into the sky. Some of these prayers appeared as columns of smoke that rose up, wavered back and forth a bit, and then simply disappeared.” He added, “People who pray such prayers usually live in some area of sin and are not willing to let go of what binds them. Their prayers are so weak that they are simply blown away by the wind. The prayers dissolve in this spiritual atmosphere.
And then there is the second kind of prayer: smoke that rises up to this ceiling and hits it, but cannot penetrate it. These are usually people who are truly devoted, who live earnestly and in purity; but who lack faith when they pray. Often they ignore the areas they need to bring together in prayer.
And then there is a third kind of prayer. It appears like smoke filled with fire. When this smoke rises with the fire, it is so hot that as soon as the pillar of fire touches the rock, it begins to melt like wax. The pillar of fire penetrates the rock and splits it open.” And he elaborated further:
It is often the case that people begin to pray, and their prayers correspond to the first type we spoke of. But as they continue to pray, their prayers begin to change and become the second type. And if they persevere and keep praying, then suddenly this fire enters their prayers, so that they become powerful and pierce through this veil.”
He went on to say that often, when they noticed that these prayers had changed so that they were quite close to this fire, they would communicate with other spirits on earth and instruct them: “Destroy this person who is praying. Make them stop praying. Distract them. Take them aside.” And he said:
So often, the Christians gave in to this distraction. At first, they pressed forward in prayer; they repented; they allowed the Word to examine their spirits and let faith grow. Their prayers became increasingly focused.
The devil sees how their prayers are growing stronger and then tries to bring destruction: For example, the phone rings when you’re in the midst of devoted prayer, and you think you could just get up to take the call, then come back and pick up where you left off—but you’re mistaken. Because when you come back, you have to start all over again. And that is exactly what the devil wants: all kinds of distractions come your way. It can even go so far that the enemy touches your body and causes pain somewhere. Or he simply makes you hungry so that you want to go to the kitchen to eat something. No matter how or what, their goal is simply to distract you, because then they have defeated you.”
He exhorted the pastors: “Teach people to set aside time every day—not for some ordinary, daily, little prayer; they can say those prayers throughout the day—but a time when they are focused on the Lord and do not allow themselves to be distracted. For when people stand firm, persevere, and allow the Spirit of God to inspire them and lead them further and deeper, then something happens in the spiritual realm.
This fire comes, rises up to the rock, and causes it to melt. This man said: “When this rock begins to melt, it becomes so hot that no demon can remain nearby. Not even a human spirit can endure it”—they flee; they run away. There are then these openings in the spiritual realm—and once such a breakthrough has taken place, the struggle in prayer ceases. A person who prays in this way suddenly feels their prayer become light and a source of true joy.
I have discovered that it is precisely at this point that we reach the state where time and other things no longer matter to us.” It is the point at which you lay everything down and simply become one with God.
The man continued: “From the moment these prayers break through, there is no more resistance; nothing can stop the prayer, and this person can continue praying for as long as they wish. There is nothing left that can distract or stop them. After such a prayer ends, the opening above them remains open. And when these prayer warriors stand up and walk away from their place of prayer, that open space goes with them.
They are no longer under that covering; instead, whatever they do takes place under the open sky. In this state, the devil can no longer do as he pleases against them. The presence of God is like a pillar reaching down from heaven into their lives. They are protected, surrounded by this pillar. There is so much power in this pillar that, as they continue to pray, God’s presence touches other people. And whatever the enemy has done to these other people is destroyed. When they speak with people or others are near them, those people are drawn into the pillar of God’s presence. As long as they remain within this pillar, the enemy’s bonds and chains grow weaker and weaker.
When these people who have achieved the breakthrough share the gospel with sinners, the resistance is very, very low. It is then so easy to bring them into the Kingdom of God. When they pray for the sick or for other things, this presence is there—it simply makes a tremendous difference.”
“The devil hates these people,” said this man. If there are places where such prayer takes place regularly, then the presence comes to that place and remains there, and the devil can’t do anything. When people who don’t know God come to that place, all their bonds suddenly weaken, and if there’s someone there who serves with love and patience, they can very easily be drawn to the right side. – “Not by might nor by power, but by the Spirit of God.”
“When they come into this presence, they feel convicted and begin to wrestle with themselves over what they should do now. But if there’s no one there to lead them out of sin and bondage, they walk away again, and the bonds and chains around them grow even stronger. The devil will try to prevent them from ever entering such an environment again.”
You can imagine how we sat there looking at this man. He simply recounted the things he had done and the things he had seen. And then he said, “What did we do with these people who had breakthroughs in prayer?—They were marked and studied. Attempts were made to find out what weaknesses this person had. Other spirits were then given specific instructions on how to attack this person through their weaknesses.
When this person steps out of that prayer room and that spirit of prayer is upon them, and the presence of God manifests, then their spiritual standing is very strong. The joy of the Lord is their strength, and the devil tries everything possible to distract them from God. If there are weaknesses in their temperament, then the enemy tries to find people who will do things to make that person angry.
And if that person is not sensitive to the Holy Spirit, they will turn their eyes away from the Lord and become angry and furious. A few minutes later, they may want to put that aside and continue in the joy of the Lord, but they no longer feel that joy. They try to return to that state, but they can’t quite manage it. Why?
If they give in to temptation, the demons will do everything in their power to close that opening in the ceiling again. And if they succeed—if they can close that opening again—then that person is cut off from the presence of God. That person is still a child of God, but that special kind of anointing that rested on their life is no longer present—the anointing that empowers the Christian to accomplish divine things in the authority of the Spirit.
As I said, the powers seek out the weaknesses of these people. If these weaknesses lie in the sexual realm, they will work with temptations in that area. The enemy will then set up people, events, or anything else to stir up passion within them. And if this person gives in to temptation—for example, by opening their mind to impurity, feeding those thoughts, and giving them space—then they will no longer be able to return to the state of that anointing. That anointing is then lost.
Perhaps you’ll say, “But that’s unfair.” But remember what the Bible says: “Put on the helmet of salvation in hope! Put on the breastplate of righteousness!” We often fail to see the role these weapons can play in spiritual warfare. And remember what Jesus teaches us at the end of the Lord’s Prayer in His plea: “Lead us not into temptation! But deliver us from the evil one!”
Every time you have a breakthrough in prayer, when you reach the end, always remember this: You are a weak human being. Remember this: You are not perfect. Ask the Lord. Say:
“Lord, I was so connected to You during this time of prayer, and now I’m going to leave this room and go out into the world again. I ask You: Guide me so that I do not fall into temptation. Do not let me stumble into the enemy’s traps. I know the enemy has set traps out there. I have no idea which ones or where. And I know that I have weaknesses in certain areas; if You don’t protect me, I don’t stand a chance. So protect me, Lord! If You see that I’m heading in a direction where a trap lies, then turn me around so that I go in another direction. Lord, intervene; step in; don’t let me go in my own strength, relying on my own abilities! Deliver me from evil.”
And God can do that. He can. And when things happen sometimes, you can only say, “Thank you, Lord!” That is why the Apostle Paul says in 1 Thessalonians: “Give thanks to God always, for this is His will for you!”
Some things we experience are not good and are painful, and we ask ourselves, “Why does God allow this?” But if we knew what He has actually protected us from and saved us from, then we would be grateful. If we learned to truly trust the Lord, then we would be grateful in all things. “
Beloved, I’d like to try to take this a step further. This man said: “When prayer breaks through in the manner described, the divine answer is sure to come. But in many cases, the answer doesn’t reach the person who asked. This has to do with the battle in the heavenly realms.”
This man said the following about this: “Every Christian has a personal angel who serves him. We know that the Bible says angels are ministering spirits sent to serve us. When people pray, the answer arrives in the hands of these angels. In Daniel, we read that an angel brought the answer to Daniel’s prayer.”
The angels who carry the answer in their hands must be equipped for battle. But if Christians do not take their spiritual armor seriously, then the angels come with the answer, yet they themselves are not wearing any armor either. They are not equipped for battle at all. For example, if Christians do not pay attention to the thoughts going on in their minds and do not engage in the battle for their minds, then their angel comes without a helmet. No matter which weapon you ignore—the weapon you ignore will not be available to your angel.
When the angel arrives, the demons carefully examine which areas are unprotected. And they try to attack those areas. If the angel has no helmet, they try to aim for his head and strike him there. If he has no breastplate, they try to strike his chest. If he isn’t wearing boots, they’ll set a fire so that he has to walk “barefoot” through it.”
I’m just repeating what this man said. We then naturally asked, “Can angels feel fire?” Do you know what he said? “Remember, it’s a spiritual realm. These are spirits dealing with spirits—the battle is intense. If the demons can overcome an angel of God, the first thing they’re after is to take away the answer he carries with him. If they can snatch that answer from him, they give it to the witches and sorcerers. And then people say, ‘I got this through witchcraft.’”
The Epistle of James says, “All good things come from God.” Where does the devil get the things he gives to people? Some people who cannot have children go to sorcerers or witches, and suddenly they become pregnant. Where did they get this child? Is Satan a creator? Can he do that? No! He steals from those who give up in prayer. Jesus says, “Pray without ceasing.” And he says, “When the
Son of God comes, will he find faith? Will he find you standing firm where you’ve been persevering, or have you walked away and given up?
Then this man continued, “These demons aren’t satisfied with just stealing the answer. They’re interested in stopping the angel. They fight against him and sometimes succeed by holding him down and binding him.” He said, “When that happens, the Christian on earth becomes a victim with whom the demonic powers can do whatever they want. For he is down there without his guardian angel in the spiritual realm.”
We asked the man, “Do you really think that angels can be held captive by demonic powers?” At that point, the man didn’t know much about the Bible yet; he was still quite new to the faith. He was simply speaking from his own experience with satanic attacks. He replied, “They can’t hold the angel captive for long. Because when other Christians pray somewhere else, other angels come to reinforce them, and the angel must be released again. But if the Christian on earth who is responsible for this doesn’t pray it through himself, then the angel remains in bondage. It can happen that the enemy sends his own messengers as ‘angels of light’ to that person and deceives them through false visions and false prophecies, leading them astray toward false leadership and wrong decisions. Often, this person then finds themselves in a state where they are open to every kind of attack and bondage.”
I was deeply shaken by these statements and prayed, “Lord, I don’t even want to try to understand this.” But when I then sought the Lord during a 10-day fast, He did two things:
a) God confirmed this man’s explanations and, moreover, opened my mind so that I could further expand on this insight. I was able to see what is happening in the spiritual realm.
b) He showed me what we can do when these things happen, so that we are not overcome but become overcomers ourselves.
There are three things we must be aware of:
- We can and must use the weapons of our spiritual battle. The Bible calls them: the weapons of God! It is not our armor, but God’s armor. When we use them, we allow God to fight in our place.
- We must understand the ministry the angels have for us in our spiritual lives, and what we must do in our hearts so that we are protected in the spiritual realm.
- The third point revolves around the Holy Spirit:
The Holy Spirit is not our servant. He doesn’t constantly run back and forth between us and the Father to tell Him what we need. That is the work of the angels; rather, He stands by our side, next to us, to guide us, teach us, and help us pray the right things in the right way. And when certain things happen in the spiritual realm, He lets us know.
Sometimes He wakes us up in the middle of the night and says, “Pray!” And you say, “No, it’s not time for that yet.” But He says, “Pray now!”—Why? He sees what’s happening in the spiritual realm. Sometimes He says:
“You should fast tomorrow!” And you say, “Not tomorrow, but I’ll start on Monday.” But it is the Holy Spirit who understands what is necessary and what is happening right now in the spiritual realm. We must learn to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. He guides us into all truth and righteousness. Beloved, please let us remember that you or your brother in Christ may have often missed what God had prepared for you. Take each other by the hand—two or three of you—and say to one another:
“There’s no reason to continue being disappointed and defeated. We can overcome. There is enough strength to overcome. Jesus has already done everything. Amen. Thank you, Lord Jesus.”
