Category Archives: Deliverance

Let’s Fight Principalities and Powers Now (Part 2)

I watched various students crisscrossing the Campanile Esplanade on their way to classes. They looked normal, wearing typical college apparel. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. My spiritual eyes then kicked in, and what appeared normal in the natural realm was not so normal in the spiritual one.

Have you ever seen pictures of a flying dinosaur known as a pterodactyl? It has a long, slender head with a mouth of sharp teeth, scaly-like body, web-like wings, and talons for feet. This sort of resembles the creatures I saw, sitting on the shoulders of almost every student walking below me. Each creature was the size of a large crow and had wolf hair on its body and a slender rat’s tail. They constantly whispered into the ears of students while holding a wing over the students’ other ears. The creatures also defecated and vomited on the students so that each person dripped with slop and sewage. It was ghastly and I yearned to warn the students.

“Follow those two over there,” said the angel, pointing toward two guys.

I focused on the two students. They continued talking to each other as they walked into a free speech area where a street evangelist preached the gospel of the kingdom of God. Both stopped and listened. I watched the pterodactyl-like creatures use their beaks to snatch the seeds of the gospel out of the twosome’s hearts with swift surgeon-like precision. The two students walked away after a few minutes, none the better for their experiences.

I wanted to shout and warn everyone. Someone needed to do it. Why not me?

The angel touched my shoulder again with his hand. I turned toward him.

“Now, it’s time for your spiritual ears to be opened.”

He reached up and touched both of my ears with his hands.

Wouldn’t you think it would be quiet in the spiritual realm over the University of California, Berkeley? Well, it is not. There is constant clamor, reverberating throughout the whole atmosphere, most of which comes from the ruling principality. But what really shocked me was the demonic principality’s words mirrored the liberal attitudes on the campus, from the deans down to the professors, and then, to the students. The religious principality constantly spewed out proclamations like: 

“All white Americans are racists… All wars are immoral and wrong… Homosexuality is not a sin… Pro-choice is a woman’s right… Same-sex marriage is morally acceptable…Traditional Christianity is irrelevant, mean, hateful, judgmental, and dogmatic…Jesus never said anything about homosexuality…Jesus is the Way which is open to other ways, such as Hare Krishna, Buddha, and Mohammad…God is a God of love and not judgment… Satan and demons are fictional beings, thought up by fundamentalist nuts…The Bible contains no more authority than the Koran, Buddhist sutras, Veda, and other spiritual writings…Creating social justice is the main emphasis of the gospel…Global warming is a Christian stewardship concern…”

I stood there with my mouth open, drool running down my chin.

“Hey, many of these statements I agree with,” I muttered aloud, not realizing I had done so.

“And that’s why you are deceived.”

“Deceived? Me?”

“Yes, you and most liberal Christians who believe such garbage.”

“But, but –”

“Not only are you deceived, but your faith is dead when it agrees with Satan’s agenda. He’s always a liar, even when his words sound like truth. Your faith, in order to have life, must be based on what the Lord has stated in Scripture and is presently saying to His church.”

I kept quiet as his words ripped my theology apart.

He paused for a beat or two.

“Not only is this IOU collection day, but it is your deliverance day,” he said in an authoritative voice. “Your past deception, your dead faith, and your deliverance from all of it will give you an understanding of the spiritual battles taking place on America’s college campuses, beginning with the University of California, Berkeley.”

His eyes locked on mine.

“But how –” I stopped myself. How could I complain when I did not know what I was talking about?

The angel almost grinned.

“Now, you’re starting to learn.”

He pointed down again.

“Look.”

There just below us, was a student resembling a fluorescent light bulb walking across the esplanade. She lit up the whole area around her as she hurried on her way. Unlike the others, she did not have a creature sitting on her shoulder, but instead, one hovered around her head, trying to alight on her, but for some reason, the creature could not land. Deep frustration etched a gully in the creature’s face.

“Listen,” said the angel.

My ears adjusted themselves to only listening to the girl. Her footsteps and the movement of her arms came through loud and clear, but also something else.

“Dee, dee, bah, bah, hooka mah hundae,” she whispered over and over.

She spoke in tongues as she walked along.

“Your message to Christians on college campuses is very simple,” said the angel. “It’s the same one Paul gave to the believers in Ephesus when he said, ‘Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, with all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.” Then he added, “In case you have forgotten, these scriptures are located in Ephesians 6: 17-18.”

(Excerpt from Deceived Dead and Delivered by Larry Nevenhoven, © 2012 by Larry Nevenhoven, Amazon eBook)

(Continued in Part 3)

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New Book Release: “A Black River”

“I had a vision that showed a black river flowing out of America’s inner cities, filled with black apostles and prophets. Their moralcharacters were at a level never before witnessed in America.

“No longer would believers have to gaze back at John Wesley, Jonathan Edwards, Charles Finney, D. L. Moody, Billy Graham or whomever for examples of godly men because these black apostles and prophets would raise the bar of godliness to a level approaching the character of Jesus… This is the generation of men that America has been longing to see. (Excerpt from Chapter 13 of A Black River)

God is never late, but He sure misses lots of opportunities to be early. This is especially true for Black Americans who have suffered through four hundred years of oppression and discrimination while chasing the American dream. The years have all merged themselves together into long days of weary hopelessness. 

But now at last, hope arises. The same God who looked upon Israel’s captivity in Egypt, is looking down on the Black Americans living in our nation’s inner cities and is preparing to act.

How? What? Why? 

A Black River is one of the most important books published in 2021, especially for those believers hungering for revival.

81 pages    Author: Larry Nevenhoven    

Kindle eBook: $2.99 

Available for Kindles and Kindle Apps

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How Shall We Overcome Our Fear, Anxiety and Depression? (Conclusion)

 

Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad. (Proverbs 12:25 NKJ)

The foundation for anxiety and depression is fear.

Now, most Christians don’t have to be reminded that it’s wrong to be fearful because we have heard it over and over again. Yet, in our brokenness and our frailty, we fall short of trusting the Lord in all of our circumstances.

The “what if this happens or that happens, then what” scenarios continue to play over and over in our minds and drown out our trust in the Lord. Right?

The Apostle Paul underlined our struggles when he wrote:

Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (Romans 7:24)

Paul answered his question in Romans 8:1.

Many of us have memorized Romans 8:1, but how can we really walk in the truth of not allowing condemnation to derail our lives?

Yes, the Bible exhorts us to pray and study the word.  But let’s be honest, this advice fails to move most of us, which brings us back to Paul’s question: “who will deliver us?”

If we’re thinking the answer is going to a church on Sunday, sitting in a pew with 300, 600, 1000 or 8000 other believers, listening to a sermon-lecture and a few prayers, and returning week after week for more of the same, then why aren’t we all delivered from our fear, anxiety and depression as yet?

Maybe we need to look elsewhere.

Did you know that 50% of the members at Alcoholic Anonymous stay sober, another 25% relapse but return, and the other 25% do not remain sober?

Why is Alcoholics Anonymous so successful?

The meetings are small in size and open to all. Everyone is allowed to share what’s on his heart. Success stories – even small successes – are celebrated as victories. There are intense discussions. Each member is paired up with a mentor who helps them through any struggles.

HELLO!

Well, my brothers and sisters, let’s summarize. When you meet together, one will sing, another will teach, another will tell some special revelation God has given, one will speak in tongues, and another will interpret what is said. But everything that is done must strengthen all of you. (1 Corinthians 14:26 NLT)

Alcoholic Anonymous modeled its meetings after the early home churches. And it works!

Thus, I believe the only way for us to overcome our fear, anxiety and depression is to have small home groups (or home churches) with open formats, allowing the Holy Spirit to move in our midst. Members can pray and use their spiritual gifts to help set others free.

The reason I use a bold font to emphasize “with open formats” is that many churches have home groups, but have rigid formats that they follow. This won’t work!

Why is this so important?

I believe America is about to enter into a period of extreme tribulation and confusion that has never been experienced before in our nation’s history. The number of people who suffer from fear, anxiety and depression will multiply off the charts almost over night.

We need to prepare ourselves now.

(Conclusion)

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How Shall We Overcome Our Fear, Anxiety and Depression? (Part 1)

I struggle with writing a series about fear, anxiety and depression because I don’t really suffer from these disorders. It’s not that I’m uncommonly brave or anything like that. It’s just that from my childhood until now, I’ve always had an attitude of “something good is about to happen to me.”

This becomes somewhat funny if you take the time to read my testimony because the Lord saved me on the day I was going to commit suicide. It’s not that I was depressed or anxious on May 20, 1985, it’s just that I had run out of options to save my home, car and family. My life insurance policy of $125,000 seemed to be my only hope. So I thought of it at the time as a business decision – nothing more.

Now, the only time I have ever truly suffered from depression was when a Christian friend with good intentions leant me his copy of Deliverance and Inner Healing by John and Mark Sandford. The book blends scripture with the teachings of Jung and Freud to supposedly rid believers of buried memories. The authors’ premise seems to be that Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the Bible are not quite enough to set captives free.

I began reading the book on a Saturday afternoon. And after about a hundred and fifty pages,  I became severely depressed and confused. The book had convinced me that my Bible studies and prayers were wasted efforts and that I needed the insights of inner healing, as outlined in this book.

I decided to go for a walk to clear my head.

As I walked down the sidewalk in a foggy daze, a Christian neighbor looked out his window and saw me. He felt I was in danger. He rushed outside and asked, “Larry, what’s your problem?”

“I’ve been reading a book entitled Deliverance and Inner Healing and it has really confused my faith,” I answered.

“Oh, that book is filled with psycho-babble and sorcery,” he replied. Then, he proceeded to outline the history of Agnes Sanford, John and Paula Sandford, Karl Jung, Sigmund Freud, inner healing and more.

“Jesus is the way, truth and light. Period,” he said.

His words instantly set me free.

Thus, if my depression on that Saturday is a small example of what many suffer on a daily basis, wow! It makes me realize just how debilitating and tormenting fear, anxiety and depression must be for millions of people.

Two female riders on my ride-share travels this week inspired me to write this article. We will talk about them in the future.

(Continued in Part 2) 

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Thou Shalt Not Eat Sweets

“In two decades, I’ve lost a total of 789 pounds. I should be hanging from a charm bracelet.” (Erma Bombeck)

Since I graduated from college in 1968, I have struggled with my waistline. The only times I haven’t struggled was when I jogged five miles each day or was a painting contractor, climbing ladders. My times without struggling would amount to maybe six or seven years out of my fifty-one years since college.

My biggest problem has always been sweets — cookies, pies, cakes, donuts, ice cream, peanut butter, jams, jellies, ketchup, honey, muffins, cinnamon rolls, pastries, chocolate covered peanuts, M&Ms, Snickers, Reeses Peanut Butter Cups and whatever else.

“Larry, would you like some ice cream with your pie?” 

“Yes, ma’am, and could you pour some hot fudge syrup over it, too?”

After I gave my life to Jesus Christ in 1985, I became an avid reader of the Bible. This opened my eyes to some disturbing verses about gluttony and overeating.

Oh dear! What should I do with these verses?

In a way, I ignored them.

But what I really did was justified my bad eating habits to myself.

You see, my Christian walk has been one long trial after another. Marital separation. Divorce. Loss of friends. Fired from five consecutive sales jobs. Minimum wage jobs by the dozens with not enough money to pay bills. Marriage to a wonderful woman, but still not enough money to pay bills. Moving thirty-five times to nine different states and numerous cities. And so forth.

So, I allowed sweets to become one of my comforters.

“Well, you know, God knows my heart!”

Just so you know: the Holy Spirit has been working on my poor eating habits during my whole thirty-four years of walking with the Lord. And at the same time, I was crying out to Him for His help because sweets had a stranglehold on me.

Then, we moved to Gilbert, Arizona.

We moved without much money in the bank, but this wasn’t unusual because all of our other moves followed this same pattern. Our hope has always been in Him and for Him to speak to us and show us what to do.

After spending time in prayer, it seemed that we needed to sell an item on eBay. We listed the item and sold it for a great price. Both of us prayed over the item and shipped it off to the buyer.

But then disaster happened!

The item was damaged in shipment and the buyer refused it. Because of an eBay glitch, we did not purchase insurance for the product. The refund to the buyer drained our bank account.

We were devastated!

When something like this happens, I always seek the Lord on why He allowed it to occur. Hey, we prayed! Our faith was in Him! Satan is a weakling compared to God! So, what happened?

While waiting on the Lord, the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart: “Your gluttony opened a door for Satan to rob you.”

The fear of the Lord came upon me. I repented and meant it this time with all of my heart for the first time ever.

The Holy Spirit eventually let me know that this was my last chance. If I didn’t change my eating habits, I would not be able to fulfill His destiny for my life because bad health would soon derail my walk with Him.

Can others learn from my testimony?

My advice for those who have longstanding issues, whether it’s gluttony, porn, drugs, alcohol, lust, pride or whatever: keep crying out to the Lord for Him to help you. Plus keep professing that you want Him to be Lord over every area of your life. Do both of these, not just one or the other.

I guarantee He will eventually show up and set you free. How He does it will be up to Him and not you.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom… (Proverbs 9:10)

I now eat lots of fruits and vegetables…and no sweets!

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Prayers for America (3/22/2018)

Let’s pray for seventy-seven year old Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, representing most of San Francisco.

She has struggled to make speeches without mental glitches for weeks. I don’t know what’s happening to her, but if I were her, I’d want someone to care enough to pray for me.

Father, we lift Nancy Pelosi before Your throne, asking You to open her heart to the love of the truth, so she would know You as her Savior and Lord. And that You would heal her of whatever malady she is suffering right now. We ask this is Jesus’ name. (Based on 2 Thessalonians 2:10)

What do you think and has the Lord spoken to you today?

Join with me on Thursdays to fast and pray for America.

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If God Loves us, Why do we Still Suffer? (Part 5)

We Evangelicals major on talking about “being born again,” but do you know how many times our Lord spoke on this issue? Just one time. Period.

Yet, there are more than thirty instances in the four Gospels where Jesus cast out demons, gave power to His disciples to cast out demons, or taught about casting out demons.

Now, how is it that we Evangelicals can talk for hours about the importance of being “born again,” but yet, we draw blanks when it comes to casting out demons?

So that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes. (2 Corinthians 2:11)

Paul wrote the above verse in reference to a man who had committed sexual immorality with his father’s wife. The apostle recommended that the man be delivered to Satan for the destruction of the man’s flesh. Then, the man repented and Paul recommended the man should be accepted back into the fellowship.

But the important point is this: Satan has schemes and plans to destroy the effectiveness of us believers.

Okay, who benefits the most by us believers not being able to cast out demons? The Kingdom of God? Or the kingdom of darkness?

But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. (Matthew 12:28)

It’s obvious that if we believers do not understand how to cast out demons, the kingdom of darkness rejoices at our ignorance. Why? Because our power and authority in Jesus’ name bows impotent before the god of this world: Satan.

Oh dear! What should we do?

(The above is taken from my 9-part series, “Do We Still Cast Out Demons,” which can be seen in its entirety here.)

Christians suffer many needless defeats because we do not know how to use our authority to defeat Satan and his horde of demons. We need to remember that Jesus won the victory at the cross, but we still must enforce it.

Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. (James 4:7)

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith… (1 Peter 5:8-9)

As believers, it’s our responsibility to take authority over demons and cast them out. God will not do it for us because He has given us the tools to do it.

Mike Bickle has a great teaching on the authority of believers which can be seen as a video format or read in a PDF format here.

(Continued in Part 6…the full series to date  can be read here.

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Prayers for American Christians’ Eyes to be Opened (6/7/2017)

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My personal sins do not hurt anyone else but me.

Is the above statement true or false?

On the one hand, our personal sins do hurt us individually by hindering our fellowship and relationship with God. But we have to also remember that sin is rebellion against God and His ways. The prophet Samuel said to King Saul:

For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry… (1 Samuel 15:23)

Our sins – hidden or open – empower the god of this world through its powers of witchcraft and divination. Plus, our stubbornness to hold onto our personal sins by not repenting of them may eventually cause the sin to move into the highest rank of wickedness: iniquity. This hideous sin is the one that forces God to eventually judge a nation when it hits a certain measure of wickedness.

Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people. (Proverbs 14:34)

Remember: we all struggle with sin and our old sin nature. This is an everyday battle for all of us. But as long as we hate our sins and continue to cry out to God for His mercy and grace to help us rid ourselves of whatever sins we struggle with, He is faithful to do just that.

My prayer today:

Lord, open the eyes of American believers and show us who we are empowering with our actions and words, whether it’s You or the god of this world.

Join with me on Tuesdays to fast and pray for American believers’ eyes to be opened.

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Prayers for Healing and Deliverance (3/14/2017)

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The female pastor walked to the pulpit and began the eulogy for my high school friend. I have no idea what she said because the Lord chose this moment to speak to me.

The Holy Spirit whispered to my heart: “My church is a bunch of nice losers. They lay their hands on the sick and pray for them, but when they die, they aren’t mad at all. They don’t check themselves out to see what happened or what they may have done wrong with their prayers and actions. They accept defeats and don’t think anymore about them.

“Now, Major League baseball teams are all filled with good players. Each player has to be one of the best in the world to make it to the Major Leagues. Losing teams have good players on their rosters, too. But after a while, losing teams’ players don’t mind losing because after all, they still receive their Major League paychecks and bonuses.

“But winning Major League baseball teams are different. They hate losing and will do anything and whatever it takes to win. They hate losing.

“I want My church to hate losing!”

(Excerpt from The Hunt for Larry Who by Larry Nevenhoven, ©2014, Amazon eBook)

My prayer today:

Lord, help American believers to fear You so that we will hate evil in all of its forms, including sickness and demonic oppression, and help us to rid ourselves of our lukewarm Laodicean attitudes. (Based on Proverbs 8:13 and Revelation 3:15)

Join with me on Tuesdays to fast and pray for new revelations on healing and deliverance for Americans NOW.

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Prayers for Healing and Deliverance (3/7/2017)

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On that particular Sunday, I attended church from 10 a.m. to noon. A married couple approached me before I left.

“Larry, we’d like to pray for you,” said the wife.

“When?” I said.

“Is right now, okay?”

“No, I’m taking my daughter Susan out to lunch.”

“Can we do it later?”

“Sure.”

We agreed on a time for later that afternoon.

I gave no thoughts as to why the couple wanted to pray for me. We were close friends and these types of things often happened at our small church because many had strong prophetic gifts.

The couple waited for me in the apartment attached to the rear of the church when I arrived. The church’s pastor, her husband, and another couple also waited there.

What have I done now? I thought. Oh well, I guess they’ll let me know.

“Do you remember Ellen?” said the wife.

“Yes the intercessor who prays five hours each day.”

“One of the prophetic words you spoke to her was wrong.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. I’ll ask forgiveness of her.”

“No, that’s okay because your mistake caused her to spend time praying for you. She found some problems with you.”

With those words, I was thrown across the room. Everyone instantly began praying in tongues. The wife and her husband began commanding the demon to let loose of me. I rolled back and forth across the floor, out of control.

What was going through my mind during all this?

I hoped someone had enough spiritual power to set me free from this monster.

It ended after a few minutes. I stood up and hugged everyone.

“Do you feel better?” asked the wife.

“I don’t know…maybe,” I replied.

I noticed a big difference in the following days, which probably was not so obvious to others, but I felt freer in my spirit.

I eventually believed the Lord revealed it was a religious spirit, which had puppet-like strings attached to my soul − mind, will, and emotions. The demon could pull on these at certain times, causing problems. The strings were so tightly woven around my personality I did not even notice them.

Here’s my take on this: hang around believers who pray, hear God’s voice, and have spiritual power and anointing. You need strong friends in spiritual warfare.

(Excerpt from The Hunt for Larry Who by Larry Nevenhoven, © 2014, Amazon eBook)

My prayer for today:

Lord, help us American believers to turn away from persuasive words of human wisdom, but instead, to demonstrate the power of the Holy Spirit so that our faith will no longer be in human wisdom but rest on the power of God. (Based on 1 Corinthians 2:4-5)

Join with me on Tuesdays to fast and pray for new revelations on healing and deliverance for Americans NOW.

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