Demonic Strongholds

Throughout this site we have referred to Doorways & Strongholds.

You have come here to find out what they are and how they are closed and pulled down. The information contained here should be reviewed and digested before you go to the Deliverance page. True deliverance cannot happen until you deal with the open Doorways and existing Strongholds that exist in the person. I cannot state this enough times. Deliverance always follows the pulling down of Strongholds and the closing of Doorways. Deliverance never precedes, it always follows.
In essence a Doorway is the deed, action, event, or behaviour that gives the demons access. Doorways always spawn Strong Holds if they are allowed to remain open.

That leads us to our next topic:.

Strongholds
Micah 5:8-15 "And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver. Thine hand shall be lifted up uon thine advesraries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots: And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy strong holds: And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand; and thou shalt have no more soothsayers: Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands. And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee: so will I destroy thy cities. And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathen, such as they have not heard."
Doorways soon lead into Strongholds. What is a Stronghold. In the above verse it is shown to be a center of military and strategic operations in the defense of cities and kingdoms. When the enemy enters a new land that is not defended they will seek to set up Strongholds to operate from. In doing so they do two things.

First they create for themselves a safe haven against attack. If an enemy comes to take back the land they will attack a strong, defended position that has been reinforced. As a general rule the margin of losses for a offenses force to take a defensive force is 3 to 1. In other words for every 1 defensive person it will take 3 offensive person to take the position. If the Stronghold has been entrenched and built well it can be very difficult to attack it, pull it down, and spoil those within it.

Second they create Strongholds for offensive purposes. The Stronghold is a base of operations to attack neighbouring Kingdoms that are not under their control. From the Stronghold they launch attacks against the neighbouring cities and enemy positions. Once the land they attack is conquered they set up new Strongholds in which to repeat the process.

The enemy is never idle.

They always seek to expand their kingdom.

We had mentioned that Doorways spawn Strongholds. This is true. A foothold becomes a place of residence for the demon. The place of residence is built up to become a Stronghold if it is not dealt with. The Stronghold will be used by the demon(s) to access other areas of the person's life in order to give access to other demons to the other areas of the person's life. Lets continue our examination of the two examples:

John now has a demon of divination who had accessed his life. John doesn't realize that he is present. His disobedience to the Holy Spirit's warnings have produce co-habitation with this demon. This demon is not dealt with by John because he doesn't believe Christian can harbor demons. He asked his pastor and the pastor told him that where the Holy Spirit was demons could not exist. The pastor told him to pray more and make sure he studied his bible. John soon found that for some reason it was difficult to study the bible and pray.

When ever he tried he became confused or other thoughts soon raced through his mind and he became distracted. He also found that he just didn't desire to have fellowship with other believers any more. He found reasons not to attend church. His walk with God soon grew cold. He felt drawn to read his horoscope. The pattern progressed and soon John became involved with a young lady who did not serve Jesus Christ. His growth is now stunted and he cannot be used of God for His purposes. The Stronghold soon expanded and took other areas of John's life. He returned to drinking alcohol and found himself more dependent on astrology for guidance.

Jack grew and developed. As he aged the demons who gained a doorway through his ancestors used the foothold to develop their stronghold. They kept Jack away from Church and from children who loved Jesus. From their stronghold they gained control of a number of areas in Jack's life. Jack developed a uncontrolled lust for pornography in his teen years. His lust soon gave way to sexual relations with willing young ladies. He soon fell into drug use and alcoholism. He dropped out of school due to his addiction. The demons had thoroughly gained control of a large number of areas in Jack. Their hold was entrenched and deep.

Demons dwell in our emotions, thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and memories. It is absolutely crucial that you replace the lies, deceit, and false doctrines that the demons have deceived you with all these years with the promises of God's Word. The Word of God is our only "offensive weapon". The Battleground is for your mind. Where the mind goes the rest of the person will follow. It is by faith that we are saved and it is also by faith that we can hold onto the promises of God instead of believing the lies of the devil.

It is very easy to think that if we simply repent of the sin and cast out the demon causing the bondage that everything will be alright. It simply just doesn't work that way. If we do not believe God's truth over the enemies lies then we will remain in bondage. It is usually satan's lies that bring in the bondage in the first place.

Here is an example of a gentleman I have worked with in the past. He believed that the demon's in him were stronger than Jesus Christ. He continually confessed that the demons in him were to strong for me to cast out. He told me that it would take a "Billy Graham" or "Apostle Paul" to cast out the demons in him. His confession was the acceptance of the deceitful lies that the enemy was feeding him. His confession allowed the demons to remain. He had to replace the lies of deception with the truth of God's Word.

A young lady I know believed that God couldn't love her. She had been told by her father that she was dirty and disgusting . That no one could ever love her. She had been fearful of ever approaching God because she believed the lies of the enemy. God would only judge her. He couldn't love her. Through scripture it was shown that her belief was incorrect. That God loved Her so much that He willingly died for her so that He could be with her forever. She confessed that she knew God accepted her and loved her. She repented of her belief, believed God's promises, asked Jesus Christ to redeem her through his death on the cross and resurrection from the dead. The demons screamed in great agony! She even told them to leave herself in the name of Jesus Christ and they fled like roaches when the lights are turned on. It is very important that we allow God to identify the beliefs, emotions, feelings, and thoughts that are allowing satan to keep a hold in our life.

Removing Strongholds
I am going to use my own life as an example that can be followed. Even at this time there are still some strongholds which remain with me and have not been dealt with. However, the victories that I have received through Jesus Christ are significant and reveal that God is not finished with me yet. I encourage you to read my testimony for in it is the keys to the strongholds that existed in me. These are the Strongholds that have existed in my life:

Pride
Independence
Rejection
Fear / Insecurity
Rebellion
Control
Deceit
Stupor/Prayerlessness
Bitterness
Heaviness
Sexual Impurity
Religiosity
Idolatry
Jealousy
Confusion & Unbelief

Even after I came to Jesus Christ most of these still exercised control over me. It would be easy for someone to state that I had not really come to "know" Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour if I did not immediately throw off the issues that once controlled me when I was ignorant to the truth but this was simply not the case. I loved Jesus with all of my heart and desired nothing more but to serve Him with gladness. I continually went through the process of committing sin, feeling guilty, coming under conviction, repenting and confessing the sins, and then committing them all over again. This cycle did not stop until the fall of 2000! Some 11 years after my Redemption in 1989. Why?
In the Fall of 2000 God humbled me. I repented of my continual sin and asked Him to deal with me so that I would not continually sin against His will. Over the past 2 years God has continually humbled me. The strongest stronghold in my life has been Pride. With His humbling He has revealed the various areas of my life that are controlled by strongholds. With these "revelations" under the conviction of the Holy Spirit He has dealt with each in His own timing and methods.

The first he dealt with was "Deceit". Throughout my life I have manipulated, deceived, and lied. I would lie even if it would not cost me anything to tell the truth. Deceit found its' entry through Pride. I committed this area of my life to God in February of 2001 under the conviction of the Holy Spirit. In March the Holy Spirit brought me under conviction for "lies" that I had told a family member. I confessed the sin to the family member and eventually the person forgave me.
In July of 2001, God revealed that Sexual Impurity was still present through my wife's spiritual gift, "Discernment of spirits". I had not committed any impure acts but the Stronghold was still there. I confessed the sins of Lust, Adultery, Debauchery, Fornication, and etc. to God. I asked Him to remove these from me. I asked Him to destroy their power over me and to cover them with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Then I addressed each one individually. "Lust, I rebuked you and bind you in the Name of Jesus Christ. I command you to leave me and never come back. Go in Jesus Name". My wife saw each one leave me after each one was addressed.

In March of 2002 God released me from the stronghold of Rejection and Fear. I continually feared rejection from others because my father was never present in the home. He took no interest in me or my brother. I asked God to fill the void in my heart from my Father's absence. He did. I repented of my attempts to fill this need through others and my fear that came from desiring not to be rejected. God removed these strongholds.
Now God is dealing with Independence, Stupor, Vanity, Vainglory, and even Pride. There have been many areas in which God has dealt with and is dealing with in my life. Sometimes I feel so broken. I just cry. I am learning that I am just a very small piece of the puzzle that is called the Bride of Christ. I am not perfect nor am I a "super Christian" who has all the answers. I deal with the same issues each day that you are dealing with. I am no better than you. Its' a continual work that will be completed. Each day I grow in Christ Jesus.

Demons dwell in our emotions, thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and memories. It is absolutely crucial that you replace the lies, deceit, and false doctrines that the demons have deceived you with all these years with the promises of God's Word.

In May of 2001, an Angel appeared to me and my wife. He appeared so that he could minister to my wife. In my pride I asked the angel what was God's will for my life. He simply answered, "Seek Him First". Each subsequent question was answered by "Seek Him First". The angel would not answer my individual questions but answered by pointing me back to my need to develop my relationship with Jesus Christ. Nothing else really mattered for without my relationship with my Lord all else was but Vanity. I came under severe conviction after the angel left and I repented.
God has one desire for us who are "born-again".

He desires for us to seek Him as one who seeks His/Her lover. If we do this then all else will follow in the correct order. He truly wants us to seek Him First. My life as a believer has been mirrored by the letter to the Ephesians in Revelation Chapter 2. They had many good works and hated those who taught heresy. They vehemently defended the faith and demonstrated their status as believers through Good Works, but they had forgotten their first love. They were not seeking Jesus Christ first. Their works were based in obligation, responsibility, self, vainglory, religiosity, and etc. As Christ admonished the Church of Ephesus so He has admonished me. "Seek Him First".

I hope this section has been of help to you.

The next section I will send you to is a section of self deliverance.

I have been given permission to use this material on the next section by "Truth Encounter Ministries of Ohio".