By: Daniel Hughes, Executive Director / Founder
My first experience with witchcraft and demonic forces happened in my late teens. As a drug dealer, I was exposed to the occult, and things just kept getting darker and darker. For five years, I woke up every day being tormented by demons.
The more I came to grasp all the spiritual things going on around me, I decided I wanted to be in control. I never thought I was worshipping the devil—I just wanted to manipulate the spirit realm for my own benefit. That is one of the biggest mistakes made by spiritualists who believe they can call on spirits to help them. It’s actually a trap.
The enemy will give you enough room to make you think you’re controlling things, but really, he’s behind you pulling the strings.
Eventually, I called on Jesus, and the enemy showed up instead. He tried to convince me to renounce Jesus, and I then realized there must be something to this Jesus if the forces of evil wanted me to turn away from him.
The darkness was trying to take me out and destroy me, and I knew Jesus was my only hope.
That’s what led me to Word Alive Church. The people there may not have known what I was going through in the demonic realm, but they did know the Holy Spirit, and he was the antidote. I didn’t even know who the Holy Spirit was, but I could sense him in Pastor Kent Mattox, and I could tell he was greater than the spirit in me.
Darkness didn’t immediately go away in my life; instead, it got brought into context. I got delivered from the strongholds. I had a revelation of who God was and who I was in him.
Darkness is always going to exist, but once you know who you are as a son of God, those curses come off your life.
The enemy will use addiction as a tool to bring death, but you can be liberated from it when you find your true identity and purpose. Then, the enemy no longer has power over you. The truth sets you free because it renders Satan’s lies ineffective. When you allow the Holy Spirit to lead you and guide you, then the enemy will be disarmed.
Right now, the Lord is pouring out the revelation of sonship, and with that comes deliverance. Don’t be overwhelmed if there’s still some darkness around you. I pray that God’s anointing breaks any yoke of bondage in your life and that the spirit of lies is exposed by the light of truth.
