When Influence Turns Demonic

Witchcraft essentially is the dominating satanic force. It's the force that captivates, that dominates, that controls. And it works by spells and by curses and by personal domination. And let me say right at the beginning that it is never the will of God for one person to dominate another. In any situation where one person dominates another, the force that enables that person to do so is evil.

It is never the will of God for a husband to dominate his wife, or a wife to dominate her husband, or parents to dominate children, or a minister to dominate his congregation. Any time that you get domination by one person over another, the force behind it is evil. And very often, it is actually witchcraft.

You see, there's such a thing as the soulish, which is quite distinct from the spiritual. This is, there is no time to go into this tonight, but the spiritual is one thing, the soulish is another. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2,

“the soulish man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned.”

And in James chapter 3, let me just read this short passage, verses 14 and 15, James 3 verses 14 and 15,

“But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.”

If you can't live in peace with your husband or your wife, don't tell everybody that you've got it all from the spiritual point of view, you know. And our church has it all, because when the neighbors hear you quarreling, they'll know better.

Now then, it goes on,

“This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.”

Now, the literal translation is earthly, soulish, demonic. There is a down gradation. You come down to the earthly level, you go into the soulish level, and the next thing is the demonic. So the order is earthly, soulish, demonic.

And when anybody in their own natural willpower and intentions decides to get somebody else to do something, the force that they're exercising is soulish. And it frequently ends up by opening to the demonic. It's most important to understand this. Much prayer is soulish. Prayer is not a way of getting God to do what we want him to do. Any prayer that's based on that kind of motivation is soulish to start with. Prayer is not a way of getting other people to do what we want them to do. And any prayer that's based on that motivation is soulish.

Frankly, there are some people who come to me and say, “Brother Prince, I'm praying for you.” And I sometimes wish under my breath, “I wish you weren't.” Because there are soulish prayers that do not bring the Spirit of God in their train, but bring dark, evil, oppressive power. Earthly, soulish, demonic.

And when a person, in the name of being spiritual, becomes soulish in order to assert his own will, express his own personality, get his own desires and ambitions fulfilled, get other people doing what he wants, that person, and it's usually a woman, is in danger of coming under the influence of witchcraft.

And there are, let me say, two kinds of witches, and I've dealt frequently with both kinds. There are the witches who know they are witches. They intend to be witches. They cultivate Satan's power. They deal in spells and curses and things like that. I've dealt with many of them. We've had some here in these meetings. Some have been delivered.

But there's another kind of witch who really, in many ways, is more dangerous, because she doesn't know she's a witch, and other people don't know she's a witch. And she's usually a good church member.

A man phoned me a little while back, long distance. He was quite excited. He said, “Brother Prince, are there Pentecostal witches?” And I said, “Yes, there are.” And there are charismatic witches, too. “Oh,” he said, “what's the difference?” Well, I said, “Pentecostal witches usually operate in Pentecostal congregations and try to control the pastor and the congregation. Charismatic witches usually operate in home prayer groups and try to control the home prayer group and usually their husband as well.”

So he was silent for a few moments, and then he said, “Well, I think what we have is a charismatic witch,” he said. Now, this may sound shocking to some of you, but I'm speaking on the basis of experience. I have run into this more times than I can count.