Authority Over Demons and Disease
164
“My second vision of Jesus occurred about a month after the first. I was conducting a
revival meeting in the state of Oklahoma. I told the congregation what the Lord had
shown me about ministering to the sick and also about the anointing in my hands.
One night while I was ministering to the sick, a man in the healing line told me he had
tuberculosis of the spine. He said he had been through three clinics and all the doctors
had given him the same diagnosis: He was beyond medical help at that time. The man’s
spine was as stiff as a board.
In praying for him, I laid one hand on his chest and one hand on his back. When I did, the
fire or anointing, jumped from hand to hand. I knew immediately that his body was
oppressed by an evil spirit.”
Now is that something to be afraid of? No. What should you do? Take authority over it, and run
it out. Don’t get spooky. Don’t get afraid at all. Jesus has already conquered them.
“I commanded the spirit, saying, ‘You foul spirit that oppresses this man’s body, I
command you to come out of his body in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ!’
And then I made a terrible mistake: I got into unbelief. It is easy to get into unbelief
sometimes, no matter who we are and not even realize it.
I said to the man, ‘See if you can stoop over and bend your back. Try to touch your
toes.’”
Do you hear the unbelief? Where do you hear it? We should examine this. What does ‘if’ mean?
“You may not be able to…” “It might not have worked.” “
Try
to do it.” One thing I really dislike
about some of the modern translations or paraphrases is that they say the Lord is telling you to
try to do this or that.
The Bible never tells you to try to do anything. That would imply that God
might not know whether you could do it or not. He knew before He told you to do it that you
could do it.
“The word ‘if’ is the badge of doubt. When I said, ‘See
if
you can,’ that was doubt. (God
will put up with a certain amount of doubt in a young Christian who doesn’t know any
better, but when one is enlightened in God’s Word the Lord won’t let him get by with it.)
The man tried to bend over, but he couldn’t. His back was as stiff as ever. I laid my hands
upon him again, one hand on his chest and one hand on his back, and I felt the fire jump
from hand to hand. Again I commanded, ‘You foul spirit that oppresses this man’s body,
I command you to come out of him in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.’ Again I said to
the man, ‘See if you can bend. Stoop over. Bend your back and touch your toes.’ His
back was as immovable as before because I’m acting in unbelief and didn’t realize it.
I said, ‘Well, we’ll try it again,’ which is unbelief, too. I laid one hand on his chest and
the other on his back. Again I had the same manifestation of anointing in my hands. For
