I would have preferred to remain anonymous in writing Opening Spiritual Eyes, and would have except I felt a need to be accountable to any who would disagree with its premises. My life began with the problem of Attention Deficit Disorder, long before it had a name. It kept me doing poorly in school....except for anything having to do with writing. I barely made it through the other classes. Then when I was in Junior High, I got the highest grade ever in California's English test, again, because it had to do with writing more than anything else. Through my life, I felt a need to write a book, but never had a subject I felt was worth the effort.
As for my learning of the Lord, I always had a curiosity about God. I went through several 7 year periods, on and off with God, fortunately getting saved along the way. Then at the end of a terrible wilderness period, He began speaking to me. I didn't understand what He was telling me until I went into the house and found my wife dead. Then I knew He had been preparing me for this tragedy. This began a very close relationship with Him, like I'd never had before.
I felt led to go to a nearby church, and loved it there. I began hearing about classes they had on spiritual matters, and decided to go to a particular one. In the first class, the teacher was telling us of a convention he had just attended where a man got saved, and asked for immediate baptism. They arranged for a water tank the next day, and dunked him. The teacher then said the man came up out of the water blaspheming and manifesting of demons. The teacher kept going on his talk, but that short sentence grabbed me. After the meeting, I went to the teacher and asked him about it...how, if saved even for only one day, the man had demons? He uncomfortably assured me it happened.
I had always heard that a saved person could not have demons and believed it, even if it left some questions unanswered. Now these questions came before me again, and they had possible answers. God prompted me to join the prayer team. The team was divided into groups of three, one being the leader, and the others to silently pray while the leader probed the victim's problem. In my time on the team, we only had obviously saved people come for our help. It was an eye opener. I need to cite a couple of cases here.
An elderly lady who herself had once been on the team came for help because of inordinate fears of nights in her home. At the very first probe, she slid to the floor and slithered around, hissing like a snake. We cast that demon out of her and then she said, "I've cast many demons out of others, but never thought I might have one myself."
This next case was a hard one for a pastor's wife who had traveled a thousand miles to get our help. She began by telling us she led a very uncomfortable life, and often had severe headaches and she had one now. I asked her if the headaches ever move around from place to place, and she said they did. I told her to tell us if that happened while we were in session. Our instructions were to never call a demon up, but if they manifested on their own, to go after them.
In a short while, she told us the headache just moved. I told the demon to manifest, and it did, oh so grotesquely through this beautiful woman. I asked it how it got into her, and it said she had cheated on a test in grammar school, and that was its permission. Since then, they had become constant companions, with the demon getting her through life looking like she was intelligent. It gave her the answers to many questions that made her look good in the eyes of others.
Off and on through the session, we had the lady come forth and we told her what the demon had told us so she could rebuke it and get rid of it. But as she told us, so many people looked up to her at her church, she would look like an idiot without its help. The demon laughed at us, knowing he had her trapped. After a long time, we gave up, since the demon was more precious to her than cleansing. Later as I walked through the church lobby, I glanced aside and saw her sitting on the floor leaning against a pillar. The demon showed through her, as she was stretched out of human proportions with a horribly wicked glare of hate for me. I wondered that no one else in that crowded lobby could see what I saw.
At the same time I was in these prayer sessions, I noticed a certain lady showing interest in me. She was also on the prayer team. I wasn't interested in her because of our age difference. But God kept arranging for us to run into each other at many different places. Finally, I asked God what was going on with her, and He told me, "This is the woman I've chosen for your wife." Wow! So I let myself fall in love with her as we flirted and grew to know each other.
But suddenly she kept a distance from me, and got angry when I tried to approach her to find out what was wrong. In a discussion with our prayer team leader, I found out he had warned against me with lies and had dismissed me from the prayer team. He told me to never approach her or talk to her unless she approached and talked to me first. He was a leader in the church and had their backing. God told me, "Do as they say, but not as they do." Over the next couple of years, I tried everything I knew to get the truth to her without crossing the line they and God had drawn for me.
At times, I saw she had doubts about the lies she had been told, and she made hinting efforts for us to get together, but she did this from a distance and I could not disobey God and approach her. To be honest, I saw a spirit of rejection in her that caused her fear of making it more obvious than bare hinting looks and often showing up where I might be present. I saw that when I did not respond to her hints, that she got embarrassed and angry with me for a month or two before she again tried the feeble efforts. It was frustrating for me.
Meanwhile, God was showing me how to be delivered of demons myself, as I write about in my book. He used my love for the lady to keep me going as my church turned on me. They were not happy that I as a prophet was telling them what God showed me was going on behind the scenes in the church.
They knew I was a prophet, even if they didn't like it. That I'd been awakened by God one morning and was told, "Go tell XXXXX (The church head pastor) that Peter Jennings was not going to reveal he beats his wife." I told him, and he denied it. It was hard going through the next year wondering if I'd been a false prophet. But then, one Sunday we came to church and found the pastor had indeed been beating his wife and was no longer our pastor. It turned out that pastor had been interviewed by Jennings, and he slipped up in telling him more than he wanted to.
Worse, was that the top people in the denomination acted like it was a surprise to them, and heaped blame on the pastor. They had known about this all along, and had kept it covered up in hopes things would get better between the couple. For my part, I felt sorry for the man, and hoped only the best for him. You see, I had been going through deliverance of demons myself, and knew the pastor was unaware of demons in himself, just as I had been. How could I hold anything against him, knowing I had been no better than he?
Nevertheless, I really learned what Jesus meant when He told us we would experience what He had as we walked with Him. For example, I came for my bride and because of religious leaders, she rejected me. All but a few of the hundreds of people I knew turned away from me. I had taken in a young man who was recovering from drugs and alcohol, and was discipling him. There was another lady in the church who hated me and for a price, (sex) she got him to betray me, telling the church the lies about me were true.
I was put on trial in the church over these lies. After an hour of lying accusations against me, it was my turn to defend myself. But they cut me off each time I tried, and then I heard, "Dave, shut your mouth like I did at My trial." I trusted Him and did so. I was found guilty of all charges. All my ministries were cut off. Soon after, the young man repented and I fully forgave him. He went to the church leaders and told them the truth...(but in time, he went out and hung himself.) The church never took off the restrictions they had put on me there, even after hearing the truth.
In the middle of God showing me what evil goes on behind the scenes in churches, He told me this is prevalent in EVERY Christian organization, without exception. Of course, I saw that it was because they are unwilling to look into truths about demons in people, even themselves. Their pride will not even consider such a thing.
Now, I had something to write about.
I'd love to hear comments and/or questions from you! Email me!