This message is one of the Times Square
Pulpit series.
It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times
Square Church in Manhattan, New York City.
Other tapes are available by writing to World
Challenge, PO Box 260, Linnville, Texas 75771 or
calling 214-963-8626.
None of these messages are copyrighted and you
are welcome to make copies for free distribution
to your friends.
You have your Bible, just leave it on
your lap.
I'll tell you where to go just a
little bit later.
We're going to go to a number of
scriptures.
But we're going to talk to you tonight
about the key to mental health.
Mental, good mental health.
Hallelujah.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, I need you tonight in a
very special way.
And I pray to you, Father, not to
this congregation, but I pray to you that
you would come down now and touch my
body.
Let there be a quickening of the Holy
Spirit and let the word go forth as
a sharp two-edged sword and then pour
in the oil.
Let there be healing tonight, Lord.
Let there be probing, let there be conviction,
but Lord, let there be healing.
Hallelujah.
Lord, pour out your Holy Spirit upon us
tonight.
Mightily in this house.
Lord, we will not allow any evil spirit
to come into this place and hinder the
word of God, so we take your authority
and your dominion over it in the name
of Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Father, thank you right now for your Spirit.
Make the word alive.
Drive it deep in our hearts tonight.
Glory to God.
Lord, anoint me.
Lord, set us free to hear it, set
us free to preach it.
In Jesus' name I pray.
Amen.
Just a little bit more up, if you
will, please.
A little too much.
Thank you.
The key to mental health.
America seems to be going crazy, going mad.
Our mental health institutions are swamped.
The clinics and psychological hospitals, psychotic hospitals can't
cope with the patient load.
And the state and federal agencies are saying
to us now that the mental health problem
in New York State especially is unmanageable.
In fact, actually it's out of control, absolutely
out of control.
People who break down are taken to the
hospital and now rather than being institutionalized, they're
called what they call now stabilizing.
In other words, they take them there and
for two, three weeks they'll fill them with
drugs, tranquilize them, send them home or back
out on the streets.
Where is there a single New Yorker who
hasn't seen what the result is outside on
the street?
Have you seen all those who have been
released from mental institutions now running like loose
cannons on the street ready to go off
at any time, many of them homeless, helpless,
many of them are going to die on
the street.
This winter, you know it's down 41st Street
here between 8th and 9th, all of those
big cardboard boxes from the New York Times
building, they take them over there.
Those are their homes.
They're sleeping there.
Many of the mental cases that need to
be institutionalized, hospitalized because of sin and what
sin has done in their lives and now
they're being dumped right on the streets because
everything is out of control.
The entire mental health situation in this nation
is completely out of control.
Never in history have so many people become
depressed and mentally troubled.
Millions of Americans are turning to cocaine and
alcohol to ease that troubled mind.
That's why this city has become a crack
crazy city.
People wanting just a few hours of release
from this depression, from the blues, from the
troubling of their own minds.
America is one gigantic supermarket for drugs for
the pushers of the whole world.
They're coming in from Iran.
They're coming in from Colombia.
They're coming in from Mexico, coming in from
all over the world.
This is the biggest supermarket for drugs on
the face of the earth.
Do you know even ministers now, did you
read about the, hear about the school superintendent
right here in New York City who was
buying two vials of crack and he's going
to be put out and now Hollywood celebrities,
sports heroes, politicians, Wall Streeters, heads of corporations,
ministers, school principals, educators, they're hanging out in
street corners now.
They're hanging around in dark corridors waiting for
their pusher.
I know right now of a man that
I tried to help.
He was president of a corporation, a multi
-million dollar corporation.
I watched that man in three months go
down.
I watched him come one day in a
nice, nice suit all dressed up and three
months later see him having slept on the
street filthy and dirty and now he stands
on the street looking for his pusher.
Lost everything.
He's no longer in his corporation.
He's gone.
Airline captains, train conductors, surgeons, there are literally
hundreds of doctors hooked on drugs now.
Twelve hundred, twelve hundred, listen to this now,
twelve hundred anesthesiologists are hooked on drugs now.
Twelve hundred they've estimated.
Now these are the doctors who administer, you
know when you go into an operation, they
administer the tranquilizers and anesthesia and there's a
new drug that they've been experimenting with, Prenatal,
that's fifteen hundred times more powerful than crack.
Fifteen hundred times.
It's a designer drug.
In fact, there was an article recently about
some anesthesiologists out on a golf course and
they were talking about sharing their party pack.
They're called party packs.
And you know, even if America gets ahead
of their crack problem and we stop crack
coming in, cocaine coming in, heroin coming in,
it's just going to create a new problem
just as big or bigger because there are
new designer drugs now.
These designer drugs are created by pharmacologists and
scientists who have hooked themselves on their own
formulas and they have left their institutions and
taken their formulas with them and now in
their garages.
In fact, you can get, I saw an
article the other day, just in a shoebox
this big, you can get almost a hundred
million dollars in a shoebox of these new
designer drugs.
Some of these new designer drugs are 6
,000 times more powerful than crack.
6,000.
They say just one experiment with it and
if we get rid of all the crack,
get rid of the heroin, they're going to
bring in speed again and all the designer
drugs, just as we're doing in London.
Gary just came home from London.
What do they call them now?
Speed shops.
Acid houses.
And that's spreading around London.
We'll have acid houses instead of crack houses
because you see, men's minds are so troubled
they're going to do anything to try to
find a little bit of relief.
They'll go for anything.
See, we were told that success is the
American dream.
That would solve all our problems.
Money would solve all our problems.
The good life.
The good American life.
Everybody wanted a piece of the pie.
You ever heard that?
But someone forgot to tell them that that
ladder at the top has another side and
it's a slide board.
A sliding board goes right down into pits
of hell.
What they're doing is they're climbing the sliding
board to go right down the other side
into the pits of despair.
Why is it that the richest, most successful,
most famous, most beautiful people in America are
the most mixed up mentally and are going
to drugs and alcohol?
Now, there are four major drug treatment centers
and hospitals now for the rich and famous.
Betty Ford Hospital is just one of them.
They're charging $40,000 for six weeks of
treatment.
$40,000.
You've got to be rich to even get
in.
How many of you remember the Beatles?
Anybody remember the Beatles?
Now, listen.
I remember the day that one of those
Beatles on national television said we're going to
outlive Jesus Christ.
That was his boast.
His name was John Lennon.
I can look out my window on 68th
Street and I look at the Dakota, the
Dakota apartment house.
That's where John Lennon was murdered.
And the last five years of his life,
John and Oka were imprisoned there, self-imprisonment.
They were locked into that place, stoned on
drugs for five years.
When that young man shot John Lennon down
outside the Dakota, John Lennon was skin and
bone.
He was a skeleton, a walking skeleton.
John Lennon did not live, outlive Jesus Christ.
But John Lennon never had a day of
peace.
He was trying to stone himself out of
his mind.
There was some haunting voice.
There was something driving.
He spent the last five years in a
drunken, drug-crazed stupor.
I don't know if you read the paper
this week, but now another Beatle, Ringo Starr,
he was the Beatles' drummer, and his wife
Barbara Bach, they've just checked in to Arizona
Rehab Clinic after eight years of booze and
pills and cocaine.
And yesterday the newspaper said this, it's been
an eight-year nightmare for Ringo Starr and
Barbara Bach of booze and drug abuse.
The couple were so deteriorated when they went
in the hospital they looked like the walking
dead.
Ringo suffers drug-induced blackouts and he beats
up his wife and doesn't even remember it.
He can't remember his own songs that he's
written.
He has a heart problem.
Both have liver damage.
They were trying to drink themselves into oblivion.
Ringo checked into the Tucson Clinic looking old
and tired and burned out like someone who
died but was afraid to lay down.
That was just on Tuesday.
Eight years in a drunken stupor trying to
drown something out in the head.
The depression wouldn't go away.
And the more drugs they take, the more
depressed they get.
Liz Taylor's back in the hospital again, one
of America's most glamorous, wealthiest stars, back in
the hospital trying to fight a demon of
drugs.
And one by one they're dying off.
One by one they're going into eternity with
their minds haunted, voices that can't be stilled.
Depressed.
The most depressed people on the face of
the earth.
She's got diamonds as big as rocks.
And they do her no good because there's
a mind condition that can't be solved.
Now, as a Christian, I'm not surprised that
the mental, spiritual breakdown we're seeing all over
America and the secular world.
Jesus Himself said that things are going to
get so frightful that men's hearts would fail
them for fear of watching those things that
are coming on the earth.
And men's hearts are failing them for fear
right now.
Daniel said, knowledge shall be increased.
But then Ecclesiastes said, in much knowledge there's
much grief.
That increases his knowledge, increases his sorrow.
And this knowledge is increased.
It's the knowledge that we're going to be
blown off the face of this earth one
of these days with hydrogen bombs.
It's the knowledge that AIDS is sweeping the
country.
It's the knowledge that this dream is going
to burst.
It's the knowledge that's bringing sorrow.
You can go to Wall Street any day
of the week.
Beginner tomorrow if you choose.
Go down there at 3.34 o'clock
when the market closes and you watch about
5,000 brokers coming out of Wall Street
brokerage houses.
And watch them go down two blocks, a
whole area there, and watch them pour into
the bars.
The bars are absolutely covered, all dressed in
blue and gray suits, all look alike, like
penguins.
Now, listen to me.
If you're a broker, we've got a few
brokers here, and you know I'm not trying
to be facetious.
But I was down there recently and I
watched them.
They all have little...
I think they buy their briefcases at the
same store, their suits at the same store.
All brook suits with red ties.
But the thing that bothers me most of
all, they're like cattle.
They all go to the same bars and
they have to go and get a cocktail
or two to bring them down, coming down,
because of the tension.
There's something driving, and then after a cocktail
they go home and you quit supper and
go back to the bar so they get
enough change to go back to work tomorrow.
Now, you expect that because they don't have
anybody to go to.
They've got no one to talk to.
Their psychiatrists can't help them.
Their marriages are boring to them.
Almost everyone they might talk to, they're sick
and tired of their marriage.
There's no happiness except in a bottle or
a pill or a vial of crack, and
crack's spreading all over Wall Street right now.
But you see, that's to be expected because
they have nowhere to go.
They have no hope.
They have no Savior.
Now look, where do people in the world
go for relief?
Where do they go for something to solve
this crying in the mind?
There is no hope for them outside.
You see, we have a place to go,
but they have none whatsoever.
So they drink, they do drugs.
They're trying to find just a few hours
of relief.
But the world does not expect Christians, listen
to me now, the world does not expect
Christians to go through the same kind of
despair that they're going through.
When they see Christians in despair, they say,
why should I serve your Jesus?
Why should I go with you to church
when you're just as depressed as I am?
You're just as blue as I am.
What good is your religion?
What good is your church if it doesn't
bring you joy and peace of mind?
You see, they say, you've got the same
kind of fear.
You're troubled just like me.
What kind of a God do you serve?
And I tell you, there are a lot
of Christians that are very poor commercial for
Jesus.
I mean, they're very poor commercial whatsoever.
They have no joy whatsoever.
I don't mean you run around with a
silly Colgate grin on your face.
I mean that you're not complaining, you're not
grieving like the rest, and when you see
the world coming apart, you can still say,
thank God I'm saved.
But you see, the truth is a great
and growing number of Christians are not enjoying
good mental health.
Now, I'm not talking about them going insane.
I've never met an insane Christian yet.
I'm not talking about nervous breakdowns because we're
not seeing a lot of nervous breakdowns.
And burnout's not the thing I'm talking about.
I'm talking about this widespread blanket of dejection,
the blues, and depression that seems to be
sweeping over many, many churches and Christians today.
You know, there are husbands that come to
me in the special last five years, and
they say, Brother Wilkinson, I love my wife.
I love my family.
But something's changing in my house.
I don't know what's happening to my wife.
And sometimes it's when they're in their forties
or early fifties, and they say, she must
be going through a change of life because
my wife is so irritable.
My wife can't sleep.
My wife has a tiredness that comes over
her that you can't describe.
There are times that she's jealous and she
doesn't want to be.
She's fearful, and she hates it.
I hear so many say, Brother Deep, I
really am trying, but I can't take it.
I can't take it anymore.
I hear that.
I've heard it in this church.
I get it by mail.
There's something happening to my wife.
I don't understand.
She's going through some changes.
It's not the wife I married.
She's always, there's something coming over her, and
she can't shake it.
I know she loves me, but Brother Deep,
I can't take it anymore because I come
home from work, and I'm tired, and I'm
weary, and I walk in there.
I hate to walk in anymore.
It's so dead in my house.
There's a spirit there that I can't handle
anymore.
And sometimes it's the husband who's so deeply
troubled in mind, and he can't pull out
of a melancholy spirit that's stripped him, and
he feels lonely and defeated and worthless, and
then he takes it out on his wife
and his family, and she feels shut out.
She wants to be a part of his
life, and he just comes home.
Usually, if he's not where he should be
with the audio, he'll park himself in front
of the television, sit there, and just gaze
in space.
Or he'll say, leave me alone.
And not just the married couples, but the
singles are affected too.
Periods of incredible, incredible loneliness.
A spirit of gloom that they can't describe.
They don't know where it's come from.
A deep, dark sadness.
An excruciating depression.
It's a feeling like it's not even worth
going on.
It's not worth it anymore.
I got a letter from a 15-year
-old girl in California.
Single girl, of course.
She said, Brother Dave, please, you must help
me.
She'd had trouble with a boyfriend.
Her boyfriend had broken her heart, went off
with another girl and left her brokenhearted.
She thought her world had come to an
end.
She couldn't talk to her parents.
She said, I read your book.
I've got to talk.
I think you could help me.
I tried to call her because she said,
if I don't get help, I'm going to
kill myself.
And her name was Taffy.
And I tried to call, and I couldn't
reach her.
And so, I sent a special delivery and
said, Taffy, do nothing until you call this
number, collect right away.
I can help you.
The letter came back unopened.
And it must have been her parents who
scribbled a note across the outside of the
envelope that says, Please, send no more mail.
Taffy's no longer with us.
She took her life.
Now, listen to me, friends.
There are young people all over America on
the verge of suicide.
We've had all the calls here.
We've had 15, 20 people raise their hands
on the verge of suicide.
It's because of this mental thing that comes
in.
This thing that sweeps in from nowhere when
you least expect it.
An absolute spirit of depression.
Why is there so much mental anguish among
Christians?
Isn't the very thought of that a slap
in the face of Jesus?
Isn't?
There's supposed to be supreme joy and peace
in serving Christ.
Why are so many Christians so full of
this trouble of mind?
All right, first of all, all mental problems,
all mental anguish or depression is not spiritual
in nature.
It's not always spiritual in nature.
For example, there's such a thing the doctors
call as the sugar blues.
Sugar.
Now, I'm going to talk practical tonight.
Don't blame God if you've just had a
pint of Haagen-Dazs and a half a
dozen of Mrs. Phil's chocolate chip cookies.
Then you say, I'm so blue.
I'm so depressed.
Now, you may laugh at that, folks, but
we have, Americans are eating so terribly now
there's a lot of sugar blues in America.
You cut out some of that sugar and
you watch some of that depression go.
I'll tell you something.
Listen, a doctor would have charged you $35
and I'd give it to you free.
Sugar blues.
I saw a secretary, not in my office,
I saw a secretary who had a dozen
bucks that went in there two hours later
and that whole dozen donuts were gone.
By the end of the day, I pity
her husband.
She go home so blue.
Sugar blues.
I mean it, folks.
God never intended us to eat the way
we eat.
We like hogs.
That sounds crude, but it's crude to what's
happening in America.
It's crude.
God help us.
Now, not only could it be sugar blues,
but there's also chemical imbalances in the body.
Now, I want you to listen very closely
to me, please.
God never intended Americans to live under the
kind of stress that we're living under.
This is abnormal.
Our society is not normal.
Our society is abnormal now.
There's nothing in America that's normal anymore.
It's all abnormal.
God never intended it to be this way,
that we should be so worried over our
jobs and our children, our future, our marriage.
And I'll tell you what.
One of my dearest friends, Dr. Rice, a
very godly Christian doctor, was with me in
the service this morning.
He had to fly back to Dallas.
And he was sharing with me when I
was preparing this message.
And he's a very godly man.
My wife's had five operations for cancer over
the years, and he's been a godsend in
our life.
He's seen us through so much.
And if he doesn't have a diagnosis, he
just prays for the people.
And he believes in healing a real man
of God.
And he explained to me what's happening.
You see, God has so arranged this body
that under tension or under stress, the body
produces adrenaline.
That gives you sudden surge of strength.
I'll tell you what.
If you saw your child under a car,
suddenly you could almost pick that car up.
There's a flow of adrenaline that comes into
you.
God put it there.
But at the same time, there's another chemical
that's secreted in the brain called serotonin.
Serotonin is that which helps give a sense
of balance.
And when adrenaline because of stress is overproduced,
serotonin is underproduced.
It's not secreted as it should.
And that in turn causes a depletion in
the brain called dopamine.
Dopamine.
Now listen closely.
I'm not giving you a medical lesson.
There's a truth here.
I've proven it in my own home.
Now, dopamine is that secretion in the brain
that gives you a sense of well-being
and balance that keeps you from being depressed.
Now, the reason our kids that are on
crack today are paranoid, permanently paranoid, is because
crack, cocaine, destroys the dopamine in the brain.
And it also destroys the possibility of it
being repleted or produced.
So they go into absolute depression and they
can't pull out.
Now this is what's happening.
Now listen closely.
Sometimes, especially women, I don't know what happens,
but because of the stress in America, this
constant producing of adrenaline in the brain because
of stress with children, family, job, future, all
of these things is a constant flow.
And then, the brain is not producing the
serotonin and then the dopamine is depleted and
then we have a chemically imbalanced individual, chemically
imbalanced Christian.
Now, I want you to listen please.
There was a time that we thought epilepsy
was always demon-possessed.
That was demon-possessed.
I remember when I was a boy, my
father played for epileptics.
We thought it was demon-possessed until they
found out that you could put it on
an EEG and you could see the brain
waves.
And now, there is a drug that absolutely
controls epilepsy.
If it were a demon, you couldn't control
it.
You couldn't control it.
Now, my wife, I told you, had five
operations for cancer and in the process, we
took her to a specialist because this was
the greatest trial in our life.
I didn't know that my wife had a
chemical imbalance.
I didn't know that those operations, an operation,
if you've had one or more operations, this
is often a problem, a follow-up.
I'm not a doctor, but I've checked this
out very, very carefully, so follow me, please.
I promise that I'd be faithful in this
tonight because many of you women are worried
that you have a spiritual problem and it's
not spiritual for a number of you.
It's a chemical imbalance in your body.
And I want you to listen, please.
I want you to listen because my dear
wife, after five operations, she had a hysterectomy.
Her body was not producing estrogen and without
estrogen in the body, there is an incredible,
absolutely incredible kind of depression that sets in.
And I got to the place.
I came in one day and I said,
honey, I pray, I seek God, but I
can't handle it anymore.
And she said, David, I wouldn't blame you
if you want to Now, I would never
do that.
But I was on my face night and
day because I couldn't handle what was happening
in my home.
My wife loved me.
She loved God.
She loved the Word.
But she didn't know what was happening to
her body.
She didn't know this terrible weariness that came
over her.
She didn't know this tiredness.
She didn't know this terrible jealousy that would
come over her.
Things that she would never bother before.
Just overwhelmed.
She'd cry herself to sleep at night.
In fact, a lot of sleep and sleeplessness.
Hardly able to sleep.
And lifting her voice and speaking out and
so many, many things that were so unlike
her.
And thank God for this Christian doctor who
said, David, I don't think her problem's spiritual
because I prayed for her.
I went in one day and I thought
that's demonic.
I'll cast every demon out of her.
I'll tell you what, if there was any
spiritual being cast out, it should have been
me because I didn't have the patience.
Didn't have the patience.
But I couldn't understand I didn't know she'd
be traveling all over America and come home
to this.
I dreaded coming home.
I dreaded walking in because I felt her
pain.
You see, when women are like this, they
say, just leave me alone.
Have you ever heard that, sir?
Leave me alone.
Let me work it out myself.
And there's an isolation.
And I used to say, Gwen, you have
no right to shut me out.
No matter how you feel.
And I'm going to tell you that's true.
Sister, no matter how you feel, or brother,
if you're married or if you're in a
home with family, no matter how low, no
matter how depressed, no matter how bad you
feel, you have no right to shut your
mate or your family out.
You have no right whatsoever to do that.
That's ungodly.
It's unchristian.
He did some tests and found out that
she was absolutely depleted of estrogen.
He took her into his office and gave
her one and a half cc's of estrogen
within two days I had a new wife.
I had an absolutely new wife.
I saw joy.
I saw victory.
She said, Honey, I've never felt like this
in years.
Now my wife, I think it's been ten
years now and every week she has to
have an estrogen shot because her body doesn't
produce it.
Her body doesn't produce it at all.
Two weeks ago she went two extra days
without her estrogen and the same thing was
happening again.
The greatest depression.
I hadn't seen it in almost a year
and I said, Honey, what's happened?
She said, Oh, I forgot my estrogen shot.
You say, Well, why can't you just pray
on the Lord Healer?
Well, listen, all it is, it's putting back
in the body what's been depleted.
God never, it's this system, it's this American
system.
It's the pressure that we're living under today.
It's the sin and corruption that's in the
land.
And all that my wife is doing now
is putting back into her body what has
been depleted.
It's unnatural.
It's not a narcotic.
And there are some of you, dear women,
now, I know there are some preachers who,
they'll hear this tape and they say, Brother
David doesn't believe in divine healing.
They're not a preacher on the face of
this earth who believes in divine healing more
than I do.
We pray for the sick every night.
I've seen God keep my wife alive.
My wife should have been dead years ago.
She's living on divine health.
She's living in divine health right now.
But there are some of you who are
suffering great depression.
I would recommend you go to a good
Christian brother, a good Christian man who can
test and see if there is a chemical
imbalance.
Because, listen, I can't tell you how many
ministers and others I've sent to my doctor
who are on the verge of divorce.
Absolutely on the verge of divorce.
Tried everything.
Been to deliverance meetings.
Deliverance meetings.
Think it was demonic.
And there would be a check of the
blood.
Be a pap smear.
A few other tests.
And suddenly, the deficiency was found.
And within a week, the absolute healing of
the marriage.
Because the balance was found.
We have imbalanced our bodies by the way
we live and the stress that we're under.
So, not all.
And I'll tell you what, I can't tell
you how relieved my wife was when she
found out it was not demonic.
Because she loved the Lord.
She loved the Lord with all her heart.
She was a precious child of God.
If you know her, she just has a
tender, beautiful heart.
And she just hugged me one day and
she said, Oh, David, I thought I was
losing my mind.
I thought I was losing my mind.
I thought I was going insane.
She said, You don't know what I've been
through.
I said, Well, I tried, honey.
You couldn't talk.
She said, Well, honey, you can't talk about
it.
You don't know how to describe it.
You can't express it.
It's so deep.
I didn't know how to tell you.
She said, How can you describe those feelings?
And brother, I'll tell you what.
There are some doctors that are absolutely unfeeling.
They don't care because my wife would go
and they'd say, Ah, grow up, is what
they were trying to say.
You know, doctors are used to being conned.
I know that.
But you know, a lot of doctors are
just absolutely insensitive to what women are going
through.
They'll give you a test and they'll say,
They won't even check it out the way
it should be checked.
You need to demand it if you go.
But I'll tell you what.
It's almost as if she would go to
the doctor and they made her feel like
she was putting it on, like she was
faking it.
Sister, do you know what I'm talking about?
Have you ever been to a doctor and
they make you feel like you're just faking
it?
Or maybe your husband thinks you're faking it?
Or others think you're faking it?
Brother, sister, stand back.
You don't have a slightest idea what she's
going through.
God give you grace and strength.
Now, what I've just told you is like
telling overweight people that are obese that their
problem is glands.
When actually only one out of a hundred
are gland problems.
And so almost everybody that's overweight says, I've
got a gland problem.
No, it's a pork chop problem.
It's not a gland problem.
Now, all right.
Now we're going to get down to the
nitty gritty.
Now listen to me close.
Now, having said all that, let me say
this.
There is a depression that's demonic.
Now listen closely, please.
Its result is stubbornness, disobedience, and self-will.
And there are some of you hearing me
tonight and some of you hearing this tape
that are under the evil influence of an
evil spirit of depression.
And I'm going to show it to you
and I want you to go to 1
Samuel.
Go to 1 Samuel, please.
We're going to show you the classical example
of an evil spirit causing depression.
It's the life of Saul.
1 Samuel, 16th chapter.
1 Samuel 16.
I want you to go to verse 14.
Are you still with me?
If you are, say amen.
Amen.
All right.
Glory to God.
We're going to get to the bottom of
this thing tonight.
Hallelujah.
You see, as some preachers, they have the
courage to stand and tell you what I
told you just now.
They think that robs you of your faith.
It doesn't rob you of your faith at
all.
I can't stand up here and tell you
anything but what I know to be the
truth in my family and what I know
to be the truth from the Word of
God.
Now listen closely here too.
1 Samuel 16, verse 14.
But the Spirit of the Lord departed from
Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord
troubled him.
And Saul's servants said unto him, Behold now,
an evil spirit from God troubleth thee.
This was the depressing spirit, an evil depressing
spirit.
All right, look this way please.
There are great mental disorders that can be
the result of the Holy Spirit leaving the
body.
When the Holy Spirit leaves a body, that's
an invitation for evil spirits to move in.
It's very clearly shown here.
Do you know that God is still in
control of everything that's ever been created?
God is still...
Listen, He's still King of the flood.
There's no demon that can make a move
without His permission.
They couldn't even enter the swine without permission
from Jesus.
Is that correct?
There are so many instances in the Word
of God that prove this.
Do you know that Job couldn't be harassed
by the devil until the Lord took the
wall down?
Didn't the devil come to God and say,
I can't get you.
You've got a wall around you.
And he removed the wall so that he
could be tested.
The devil can't touch you unless our God
puts down the wall.
Now, it's not that God creates evil spirits.
Evil spirits are there, but you can't get
away...
I've studied and looked at this verse from
every angle, from the commentators and everything else.
You can't get away that this evil spirit
was sent by the Lord.
God says, I'm moving out, and He commanded
an evil spirit and He pressed him to
move in because He controls all the forces
of good and evil on the face of
the earth.
Nothing happens without His permission.
It has to happen by His permission.
But there's a reason for this permission.
The reason is because Saul wanted his own
way.
He was a stubborn, self-willed man.
He refused to take God's advice or advice
from anybody.
He had never gotten rid of a spirit
of rebellion that was in him.
He could blame somebody for every one of
his problems.
He always said, the people did it.
They did it.
I was afraid of the people.
The people.
Everywhere you turn, you hear Saul saying, the
people did it.
They made me do it.
You've heard the others say, the devil made
me do it.
He's saying, the people made me do it.
I want you to, let's look at life
of Saul here and see how an evil
spirit can possess a man and bring horrible
depression and death.
Look at Saul's life, if you will, 1
Samuel 10, 1.
1 Samuel 10, 1.
This man is a type of a Christian
certainly because he was a man of God.
And the Bible said, these things happened unto
them for examples, to us upon whom the
ends of the world have come.
1 Samuel 10, 1.
Then Samuel took a vial of oil and
poured it upon his head and kissed it,
this is Saul, and said, is it not
because the Lord hath anointed thee to be
captain over his inheritance?
Now, do you agree with me that this
man was anointed by God?
If you do, say amen.
Amen.
Look at verse 6, And the Spirit of
the Lord will come upon thee and thou
shalt prophesy that thou shalt be turned into
another man.
Look at verse 10, And when they had
come thither to the hill, behold, a company
of prophets met him, and the Spirit of
God came upon him, and he prophesied among
them.
Look at me please, Saul is anointed, he
prophesies, he has been filled with the Holy
Ghost, he has been turned into another man,
and the Bible said also that he traveled
with those that gathered around him, had a
heart after God, he was in good company.
See ye him whom the Lord hath chosen,
verse 24, there's none like him among all
the people, there's none like him.
He's surrounded by godly people whose hearts God
had touched, the Scripture says, and for a
while Saul walks with God, for a while
he has great victories.
Now, look at me please, look at, get
this please, he's a type of the modern
Christian who goes along winning a number of
victories, walking among Christian friends, at this point
there's no sign of mental deterioration, God seems
to be blessing his hands upon him, there's
no one like him in the land, among
the people, and he's winning victories, for example,
remember when Jabez Gilead, or rather, the Ammonites
threatened Jabez Gilead, and the Bible says, they
said, we're going to attack you, and if
you don't, if you want to make peace
with us, you've got to surrender to us,
and let us pluck out your right eye
to make a reproach upon all of Israel.
And so word was sent to Saul, said
we're surrounded by Ammonites, and they told us
that if we're going to make a treaty
with them, that the covenant with them would
include the plucking out of our right eye,
so that we would be a reproach among
all the people of Israel.
And the Bible says, and the Spirit of
God, when Saul heard that, the Spirit of
God came on Saul when he heard those
things, and his anger was kindled greatly.
For he had a zeal for God.
No way are those, he isn't going to
touch God's people.
And he sent out a trumpet call around
the land, and he gathered the armies of
Israel.
The Bible said, Saul and his army slew
the Ammonites until the heat of the day,
and it came to pass that they which
remained were scattered, and that not two of
them were left together anymore.
And Saul and all the men of Israel
rejoiced greatly.
Oh, they said, what a king we have,
what a man of God we have.
He was head and shoulders over all the
people.
At this time, he seems to be walking
diligently before the Lord.
But there comes a time in Israel's history
when 30,000 Syriots and 6,000 horsemen
of the Philistines come against Israel, and the
children of Israel gathered at Gilgal.
Samuel had told Saul, you wait there for
seven days.
Don't sacrifice until I get there.
I don't care how bad it looks.
I don't care if the enemy starts marching
on you.
You wait for me.
I'll sacrifice before God, and then we'll wait
and get direction from God, and God will
tell us what to do.
And he waited and waited.
Seven days go by, and Samuel didn't show
up.
And all the people of Israel were fleeing.
His army was scattered in all directions.
And here come the chariots.
He could hear them rumbling.
And he couldn't wait any longer.
He decided to do it his own way
because he had a spirit in him of
rebellion.
A zeal for God, but it was based
on a foundation of rebellion and stubbornness.
God help you, sir, if you're a stubborn
man.
God help you, lady, if you're a stubborn
woman.
It's the spirit of witchcraft.
It'll destroy you.
It'll bring mental disorder.
He couldn't wait.
He said, bring me a lamb, spotless lamb.
He slays the lamb, lays it out on
the altar, and he takes on the role
of a priest, which is the worst act
of obedience this man could have ever done.
First of all, he's panicked.
He doesn't take God at his word.
He doesn't take the prophets at his word.
He has no respect for the prophet.
And there's something in him that says, I'll
do it my way.
I'll do it my way.
Listen to me.
I'm not a psychiatrist.
I'm not a psychologist.
We have a dear psychologist that sits right
down here in the front.
Dear woman of God.
The reason she's successful and has such a
good practice, she uses Jesus.
She's not tied down by her trade.
She uses the word of God.
She's a wonderful person.
I'm not a psychologist, but I think God's
beginning to show me the root cause.
The root cause of most mental disorders in
America and even in the church of the
depressed and it's coming.
It's this matter of doing things our own
way.
Having a zeal for God that says, I'll
do what I have to do my way
in my time.
And so he sacrifices.
And just as he's finishing his sacrifice, Samuel
comes on the scene.
Go to 1 Samuel 13 chapter.
13th chapter of 1 Samuel.
You love the word of God?
1 Samuel 13th chapter.
And I want you to go to 11th
verse, please.
Samuel said, What have you done?
And Saul said, Because I saw the people
were scattered from me.
You didn't come within the day appointed, the
days appointed.
The Philistines gathered together at McMash.
Therefore said I, the Philistines will come down
upon me to gild gown.
I've not made my supplication to the Lord.
I forced myself, therefore, and offered a burnt
offering.
Listen, look at me.
Have you ever met people that have an
alibi for everything they do?
I mean, they're stubborn.
They're self-willed.
They're always right.
You know somebody that's always right?
Never wrong.
I mean, they can argue out of anything.
They'll justify anything they do.
And they're going to get in the last
word so help me.
I know some husbands that ought to be
lawyers.
They're so good at it.
Boy, I used to be good at that.
Not anymore, thank God.
He took that out of me.
But I used to be good.
My wife knew I'd always have to have
the last word.
And I always had to be right.
Now I just want to be his and
hers.
1 Samuel 13, verse 13 now.
And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done
foolishly.
Thou hast not kept the commandment of the
Lord thy God, which he commanded thee.
For now would the Lord have established thy
kingdom upon Israel forever.
But now the kingdom shall not continue.
The Lord hath sought him a man after
his own heart.
You know what a man after his own
heart is?
It's a man who obeyed the word of
God.
It's a man who hears a message and
says, God, I'll act on it.
It's a man who gets along with God
in prayer.
God tells him what to do or she's
told what to do.
And she obeys God.
She doesn't try to argue.
He doesn't argue.
Hear the word of God and obey.
But now the kingdom of God shall not
continue.
The Lord hath sought a man after his
own heart.
The Lord hath commanded him to be captain
of his people because thou hast not kept
that which the Lord hath commanded thee.
Thou hast not kept that which the Lord
commanded thee.
Listen, Saul became so headstrong, so determined to
do God's work his own way.
God said finally, it repents me that I
have set up Saul to be king for
he has turned back from following me.
He does not carry out my word.
He does not follow my commandments.
Look at chapter 15, verse 13.
Even though the prophet's talking to him, even
God to the Holy Ghost is talking to
him.
Look at this man.
He's always got to be right.
Chapter 15, verse 13.
And Samuel came to Saul and Saul said,
Blessed be thou of the Lord.
I have performed the commandment of the Lord.
He's a liar.
He hadn't commanded, he hadn't done what God
told him, but he's always right.
Listen, I want you to go to 1
Samuel 28 now.
I want to show you something about the
end of this man.
The mental deterioration God's spirit departs from him.
Remember what I told you?
I read to you the verse and the
spirit of God departed from Saul and the
Lord sent an evil angel, an evil spirit
to trouble him.
Saul would be sitting on his throne, happy,
and all of a sudden, bang, there it
was, a spirit would come upon him.
And I'll tell you, when that spirit comes,
the first thing it does is troubles the
house.
All of those in the house said an
evil spirit from the Lord has troubled you.
What are we going to do?
Call for David.
He plays the harp.
And so for a while, David would play
the harp and he would soothe him down.
But I'll tell you what, demons don't run
from harps.
You can come to this church and you
can listen to all the music.
Demons are not going to run from the
music.
It can be as annoying as it can
be.
The devil is not going to run just
from the music.
No, if your harp has got a stubborn
streak in it, if you're not going to
obey God, if you refuse to obey the
word of the Lord, you open yourself to
this.
Look at 1 Samuel 28, verse 15.
You got to read verse 15.
And Samuel said to Saul, oh, by the
way, you know what Saul's doing here, don't
you?
He prayed.
He's about to go in battle against the
Philistines again.
And he's praying and God won't answer him.
And he's gone to the priest.
The priest gets no word.
The heavens are shut to him now.
God doesn't even talk to him.
He doesn't hear anything from heaven.
So what does he do?
He goes to the wits at end door.
He goes.
Oh, I tell you, you'd be surprised when
God shuts down what people go to.
When the Spirit of the Lord departs, they'll
turn to anything.
They'll go to palm readers, tarot cards, anything.
Because the Lord's not there anymore.
Look at verse 28 now.
Now, I'll tell you what's happened here.
Now his mind is playing again because there
is no witch on the face of the
earth that can bring up a man of
God from the grave.
This is an apparition.
And Samuel said to Saul, why have thou
disquieted me to bring me up?
And Saul answered, I'm sore distressed.
I'm depressed.
I'm troubled.
For the Philistines make war against me and
God's departed from me.
He answers me no more, neither by prophets
nor by dreams.
Therefore, I've called thee that thou must make
known unto me what I should do.
Then said Samuel, wherefore then didst thou ask
of me, seeing the Lord's departed from thee,
is become thine enemy.
And the Lord hath done to him as
he spake by me.
The Lord's taken his kingdom out of his
hand and given it to his neighbor David.
Because thou obeyed not the voice of the
Lord nor executed his fierce wrath upon Amalek,
therefore hath the Lord done this thing upon
thee.
Verse 20, And Saul fell straightway along on
the earth and was sore afraid because of
the words of Samuel.
There was no strength in him for he
ate no bread all the day nor all
the night.
Listen.
Look at me, please.
Saul died a madman.
Saul died insane.
He was insane when he was killed by
the Philistine.
Absolutely insane.
A man of God who died in insanity.
Why?
Because thou hast not obeyed the voice of
the Lord.
I tell you now, if you don't hear
anything else out of my message tonight, if
God told you to lay down a relationship,
if He's told you to do something and
you know in your heart it's a clear
word from the Lord, you'd better obey Him.
Oh, the Bible said obedience is better than
sacrifice.
I know people that they'll do anything for
God but obey Him.
I mean, they'll give the shirt.
I know men that'll give the clothes right
off their back.
I know men that have such a zeal
for God.
They love people.
They'll work with drug addicts, alcoholics.
They'll go to people's homes.
They'll clean the house.
They'll do anything.
They'll give their last dollar.
But they won't lay down that thing God
told them to lay down.
They'll hold on to that thing tenaciously.
I tell you now, mental health, good mental
health, depends on obeying the Holy Ghost.
Obey Him.
If He says, do it, do it.
And I'll tell you what, God will open
up your mind and there'll be a spirit
of divine health flow into you.
Hallelujah.
Saul, you know, David saw what happened to
Saul and then when David sinned, you know
the first thing David did, he ran to
the altar of repentance and said, Oh God,
don't take your Holy Spirit from me.
Why?
He said, I don't want to go mad
like Saul.
I don't want to lose my mind.
I saw what happened when the Spirit of
God departs.
I'm going to ask you a question.
Remember the Scripture that I read to you?
Let me just go once more.
Listen to this.
Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed
David in the midst of his brother and
the Spirit of the Lord came upon David
from that day forward.
The next verse says, but the Spirit of
the Lord departed from Saul.
See, the Spirit's coming and it's going.
The Spirit's coming on David and it's leaving
Saul.
My question to you, in your life, is
the Spirit coming or going?
Is it coming or going?
See, with David, the Spirit of God stayed
with him the rest of his life.
He grew from grace to grace and glory
to glory.
This man had, oh, what a spiritual mind,
what a giant he became mentally.
Good mental health.
Even when his soul was cast down, he
knew where to go.
Saul, I'm asking you, is the Spirit coming
or going?
If there's disobedience, if there's rebellion, if there's
stubbornness in you, the Spirit of the Lord
may one day depart.
But if your heart is open to him,
so, God, give me an obedient spirit.
Give me an obedient heart.
The Spirit of the Lord is always coming
on, coming on.
Hallelujah.
Coming, baptizing, healing.
Hallelujah.
How many before a holy God tonight can
say, I believe the Spirit's coming upon me.
I believe He's coming in my life because
I want to obey the Lord.
I don't want disobedience in my life.
I'm going to close very soon, but I
want to give you what I believe is
the key.
I'm going to let you go to one
more verse, Revelation, the third chapter.
And here's the key.
Here's the heart of it.
Here's the key to mental health, good mental
health.
One verse, Revelation 3.20. And I'll tell
you, mark it down and quote it every
day of your life.
And I ask God right now in the
next five minutes to open it up.
I'm going to preach five minutes then I'm
finished, but I want you to hear it.
Behold, I stand at the door and I
knock.
If any man hear my voice and open
the door, I will come into him and
I'll sup with him and he with me.
All right, do you have it?
Now, please forgive me for saying it once
more, but look this way.
I like to look you right in the
eyeball.
I'm going to tell you something.
This scripture is often used in the context
of Jesus standing at the door of the
heart of the sinner and wanting to come
in and bring grace and salvation.
That's a part of it.
But there's another part and I believe it's
even more significant.
It's something the Holy Spirit showed me this
past week and it has to do with
our mental health.
Church of Jesus Christ here at Times Square,
listen to me please.
I believe that this one he's talking to
here, Jesus is already in because he's talking
to his church.
He's already in the heart.
He already abides.
He's there.
He's inside the heart.
But you see, he is abiding with this
Christian sister, this Christian brother and all of
a sudden, out of nowhere, comes a flood.
The enemy comes in like a flood and
there's a sudden swamping, a spirit of depression,
or blues, whatever you want to call it.
It just sweeps in from absolutely nowhere.
Some of you know what it's like.
Folks, I've only had one experience and it
only lasted two weeks.
I only had two weeks of depression probably
in my lifetime.
But it was horrible.
And some of you endured it for weeks.
Some of you go through stages.
It keeps coming back on you.
You go a week or two or a
month or even three months and then suddenly,
for no reason, there it is.
That flood is there.
You can't understand what's happened to you.
And when it comes, you feel unworthy.
And what usually happens when that comes, there's
a tendency to find a little secret room
in your heart to escape.
And you go into that little room and
you hide.
Now, you may occasionally call a friend that
you trust, but you've already found out your
friend can't pull you out.
So, eventually, not even your friend.
You go to counselors and they're finally shut
out.
The pastors shut out because you still find
that it comes in on you.
And there you are.
Now, it's not a physical room I'm talking
about.
It's a spiritual thing.
There's a little secret isolation place where you
go to brood and to think and to
stare into space and try to figure it
all out.
And it's a little room of memories.
Memories.
Thinking about childhood.
Something had happened to you way back.
And you go into this little room.
See, it's not that Jesus left you.
You walked away from Him.
You went into your little room.
You went into this little closet and you
shut the door and you hung up a
little tag outside that says, Leave me alone.
I'm unworthy.
Leave me alone.
I'm hurting.
And when it says, Behold, I stand at
the door I believe He's talking about that
little room where you go.
That isolation you bring yourself to.
That cutting away from everybody else.
And I know I'm talking in the Spirit
right now.
Some of you have done that for years.
You go right there.
Nobody can touch you.
Nobody can get near you.
It's not that you don't love the Lord.
But you're going to try to ride this
out.
And I believe with all of my heart
that Jesus, loving us as He does, sees
you get up and escape into your little
room.
Your little hiding place.
Your little brooding room.
Your thinking room.
And He says, I can't let you do
this.
I care too much about you.
And I see Jesus go to that room
of yours and He knocks.
And He says, Hear me.
Open up.
And there it is, brother and sister.
If you go to the psychiatrist, you lay
down on the bed, a psychiatrist will say,
Open up.
Tell me what's on your heart.
Isn't it amazing that Christians don't know how
to open up to their Master?
What the Lord is saying, I'm not going
to leave you.
I'm not going to budge.
I'm going to tell you something.
When you go into that little room and
you're a Christian, you're a child of Jesus,
He's not going to move.
He's not going to budge.
He's going to stand right there and He's
going to keep knocking.
Not yelling.
He won't force His way in there.
Because if He has to force His way
in there, you won't hear a word He
says.
But He's going to keep knocking on that
door.
And He's saying, I know your pain.
All the power of the Godhead is invested
in me.
I'm your shepherd.
Open the door.
Let me put light into that room.
Let me come in.
I've got my arms full of good things
and we're going to dine.
I want to sup with you and you
with me.
We're going to have a dinner table talk.
I'm going to talk this over with you
because I've got an answer for you.
If you'll talk this out with me and
not with people, we're going to settle this
thing.
Behold, I stand at the door and I
knock.
If any man hear my voice, if you'll
sit here right now and say, Jesus, and
you know what that voice is calling?
It's calling you by name.
You know what He's saying?
I don't care how long you stayed there.
I don't care how long you're locked up
in there.
I'm not leaving.
He said, I'll never leave you.
I'll never forsake you.
Oh, how patient our Jesus is.
He'll just stand right there and knock.
And I want to tell you something.
Some of you that have gone through such
depression and you feel backslidden, you feel like
you've got...
the devil's injected such evil thoughts in you.
Listen, just this afternoon, I was reading the
story of a pastor, Nathan, one of the
early Puritans.
Cotton Nathan's nephew, I believe it was.
He's writing about the death of his own
nephew.
A very godly man.
And they've quoted from his diary.
And he's one of the godliest men that
ever lived in America.
A preacher of the gospel.
And just before he died, he said, for
years I've been hassled and harassed with blasphemous
thoughts.
The devil has tried to attack me more
than any man on the face of the
earth with evil thoughts.
He said, that's what's drawn me close to
the Lord because I have made it a
rule of my life to take it to
Jesus.
And I've grown strong in it.
I've known what it is to sit in
a pulpit in front of 10,000 people
and have the devil come and throw blasphemous
thoughts at me.
Thoughts like, curse God!
There is no God!
You're wasting your time!
And I hear these vile curses coming from
out there somewhere, the devil trying to inject
them into my mind.
And I want to tell you, the devil
will do that.
He'll try to inject those evil thoughts into
your mind, that you're unsaved, you're ungodly, you're
helpless, that you're going to commit suicide.
He'll throw everything he's got in hell at
your mind.
But when that comes, you stand up in
the name of Jesus and say, those are
not my thoughts, those are the devil's thoughts.
I bind them in Jesus' name.
Some of the godliest people I know have
had to battle thoughts, evil thoughts, that the
devil tried to bring on them.
That doesn't mean that you're not right with
God.
Often it means that you're making progress and
the devil sees it.
I'm telling you tonight that you don't need
to call a counselor.
I'm telling you tonight that even if it
were demonic, you have deliverance in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He can set you free.
What have you got locked up in that
room?
I know my friend John down in Texas.
His name was John.
He was a scientist, a brilliant man.
And I know, I could see it come
on him.
He'd go alone for about three months and
all of a sudden, that spirit would hit
him.
And he'd go into that little locked room.
All the Scripture verses, everything you say, he
didn't hear a word, nothing, nothing.
Nobody could touch him, his wife, nobody could
touch him.
I tried for days and days and finally
I couldn't reach him.
I'll tell you what was locked in his
room.
It was his father.
Memories of his father.
His father was an army colonel, a career
man that was a perfectionist.
And this boy could never please his dad
and he himself became a perfectionist.
Everything had to be just right.
He was trying, somehow you know his dad
was dead.
He was still trying to please his dad.
His dad had been dead for ten years
and this man still tried.
He said, David, I could never please my
father.
And he'd go into that room and replay
his whole life with his father.
One day John went into the bedroom he
was visiting in Houston, went in the bedroom,
he took out a large insurance policy, made
sure that suicide was covered in the policy,
took a shotgun to his stomach and pulled
the trigger and killed himself.
He couldn't shake that depression, he couldn't shake
it off because that room locked in there
was a memory.
You take that locked memory, you take everything
there is in that room and you bring
it out.
Jesus says, Open up to me.
Open the door.
The door to that locked room, the door
to that thing that held you, that despair,
that father, that mother, that thing in your
childhood.
I don't care if it's incest.
I don't care if your father beat you.
I don't care what it was.
Open it up.
Open the door.
Bring it to Jesus.
He said, I'm the one that has the
answer.
You don't need to tell it to somebody
else.
Tell it to me.
And the tragedy is, folks, the tragedy is
we don't even know how to talk to
Jesus anymore about what's going on.
I've learned to be honest with Jesus.
I'd go home there anymore and I'd lay
down before God.
I'd tell Him everything.
David said, I poured my heart out.
My soul was cast out, so I went
to God and I poured out my soul.
Tell Him everything.
Tell Him about your lust.
If you're married and you've been trying to
get out of your marriage and your vows,
tell Him.
Lord, I don't love my wife anymore.
I don't think.
I think I'm in trouble, Lord.
I'm not treating her like I should.
I've got a lust.
There's another.
Name the woman.
Name everything.
Tell it all.
Get it all out.
If you'll go to Jesus, if you'll open
up and say, Lord, I'm going to open
up every dark room in my house, every
window, every door.
I'll take you down to the basement and
show you the old skeletons.
I'm going to take you up in the
attic and show you all those old loves
in my life.
I'll take it all, Lord.
Open it up and let the Holy Ghost
come in and just sweep out the house.
My Bible says He will keep him in
perfect peace whose mind is stayed on the
Lord, stayed on the Lord.
Stand, please.
I know tonight some of you are going
through a literal hell.
Some of you.
It really hurts as a pastor.
Sometimes you feel you don't have the answers
and you want so bad.
You pray for people and they go through
so much hurt.
I don't think there's a pastor that hasn't
cried over many of you.
I know I have.
I've wept over some of you.
We hurt for you.
But the truth is there comes a point
we can't go any deeper with you.
We just have to turn you over to
Jesus.
And I can promise you that He's standing
right at the door of your heart.
I don't care what you've done.
I don't care what you've been through.
I don't care how you're hurting tonight.
If you just open up and say, Jesus,
come.
And you make up your mind this next
week and the next 30 days.
You start having these table talks with Jesus.
Wine and dine with Him.
Sit down and talk to Him.
Don't sit in front of television.
That just makes you sadder.
You're going to be depressed and watch television.
You're going to just blow everything.
Turn off that idiot box and just get
along with Jesus.
Shut the door and say, Jesus, I'm not
leaving here until I have Your joy in
my heart.
And I'll tell you what, just start thinking
of what it's going to be like in
eternity.
Think about all the good things God's already
done.
Start counting your blessings.
Start being honest with Him.
And you watch how the Holy Spirit Himself
comes in and begins to take control.
Hallelujah.
That's when the devil has to run.
Now let me tell you how I believe
you can tell if it's demonic.
You can tell if it's demonic.
Listen closely now.
If you have in you a spirit of
rebellion and stubbornness about a particular sin that
you won't let go, you've been dealt with
it time and time again, and you've sat
through the Word of God for weeks and
weeks, and if it's still holding on, chances
are very high that that demonic stronghold needs
to be broken.
We're going to believe God tonight to break
even Satanic strongholds and set you free.
Hallelujah.
Do you believe God's able tonight?
I said, do you believe God's able tonight?
Yes, He is.
I'll tell you something else.
I believe also that God heals chemical imbalances.
I believe He can heal you.
I believe He can heal appetites.
I've got two amens out of this whole
congregation.
I believe He can heal appetites.
Yes, He can.
Beloved, the Lord's doing something by His Word
right now, by your heads.
And while I'm praying, if this message was
meant for you, hear me now, up in
the balcony, if this message was meant for
you, and the Spirit of the Lord's tugging
at your heart, and you said, Brother Wilkins,
I've got to have freedom, I want you
to get out of your seat and come
and stand here while I'm praying.
Up in the balcony, just go to the
exit and down.
Please don't come unless the Spirit draws you.
But the moment you feel that tug or
pull, that's the Holy Spirit saying, tonight, open
up.
I don't want you to come unless you're
willing to open up everything to Him.
You're going to make a commitment that you're
going to open up your heart to Him.
Hallelujah.
Lord Jesus, find everybody in this building tonight
that needs deliverance.
Some, Lord, have a demonic stronghold.
Others, Lord, are suffering from a medical problem,
a chemical problem.
Others, Lord, just a spirit of stubbornness that
needs to be dealt with.
Others, Lord, have not learned how to open
up to You.
You're the one, Lord Jesus, who can help
us open up.
While they're singing, come on, join these that
are here.
We're going to pray.
We're going to believe God for miracles tonight
here tonight.
We're going to believe God for real miracles.
Please move in tight.
Move in close and tight so we can
make room for these coming in.
Move in closer here.
You that have come forward, look this way,
if you will.
All of you for just a moment.
I want you to believe.
In fact, I'm going to ask, do you
really believe that the Lord is standing at
the door of your heart knocking right now
saying, open up.
Hear my voice.
I know you by name.
I know everything you're going through.
And I've got the solution.
I've got the power.
How many believe the Lord's knocking at the
door?
That door, that secret door of your little
room.
You going to open up that room to
Him right now?
Son, is it true that there is a
room in your...
Do you have one of those rooms in
your heart?
Yes.
It tends to shut people out?
Yes.
Isolate.
Do you have that kind of a place
where you go, nobody, just leave me alone,
trying to suffer through by yourself?
Do you know what that room's like?
Open it up tonight.
Do you have that room?
Is that...
Do you understand what I'm saying tonight?
Yes.
You said that just before you came to
church.
You wanted everybody to leave you alone and
just be alone.
It's the worst thing you can do.
The only one to be alone with is
Jesus.
That's all right.
Never been able to surrender in 20 years.
You've been holding on to something for years.
You ready to let go of it right
now?
Amen.
I do.
Just hold it.
Lord, say it right now.
Jesus, I give it up.
I lay that down.
I'm going to obey you now.
I want everybody that has...
I don't want to know what it is,
but everybody that has to lay something down,
raise your right hand so we can pray
about it right now.
Raise your right hand.
All right.
Will you go in that room now and
dig it out right now?
Let's bring it right out to the light.
Nobody has to know, but you and Jesus.
Say it right now.
Jesus, I want it out.
This thing hidden in me, I bring it
to the light.
Expose it.
Forgive me.
I give it to you, Jesus.
Give me power and a willingness to obey
you now.
I obey the Lord Jesus.
Come in, Jesus.
Come into my room.
Come into this secret place.
Fill me now and heal my mind and
my spirit.
Now, thank him right now.
Jesus, take it right now.
Take it now.
Take it all, Lord Jesus.
We bind the enemy.
We bind the enemy in Jesus' name.
We bind it.
All right, now.
Listen closely, please.
There are some of you here tonight that
may have a demonic stronghold, and we have
saints of God here tonight to believe God
answers prayer.
People, I want you to join me tonight.
We're not even going to have to lay
hands on these tonight.
Listen to me.
All of you in the aisle right here.
If you've had this thing that you can't
let go and you believe there's been a
satanic stronghold in your heart, I want you...
You don't even have to raise your hand.
You just stand right now at attention before
a holy God.
We're going to have this congregation.
The pastor's behind me.
And we're going to pray right now in
Jesus' name.
We're going to take authority over that.
And I tell you, there's such power of
God here tonight, those spirits cannot remain.
They will depart, and the Spirit of the
Lord will come in.
And I'm going to ask you, after I'm
done praying, to raise your hands and say,
Holy Spirit, fill me anew.
Fill me fresh.
Fill me full of the Holy Ghost tonight.
Just fill me.
And I'll tell you what.
When you open up and lift your hands
to the Lord, he'll do just that.
We're going to believe.
Saints all over the building, will you join
me in prayers?
We take authority now over every demonic stronghold.
Father, in the name of Jesus, I'll pray.
You just listen.
We bind every evil spirit.
We bind every evil spirit that's come because
there's a heart for obedience now.
There's a heart to open up to you,
and we're opening our hearts.
We command in Jesus' name every evil spirit
to release every body that's at this altar
tonight.
Release.
Every evil spirit must depart.
You're commanded in Jesus' name to depart this
body.
Depart.
Command it right now in Jesus' name.
So I command Satan in Jesus' name.
I command every evil spirit to depart.
I command it to depart in Jesus' name.
Command it in Jesus' name.
In the name of Jesus, to be free.
In the name of Jesus tonight.
Binding every spirit of evil.
Drive it out, Lord.
Drive out every evil spirit.
She's all right.
Just lay hands on her.
She's all right.
Just let her worship.
That's the Holy Spirit.
She's being released.
Thank you, Jesus.
Just worship Him now, dear.
Just worship Him now.
Hallelujah.
Now raise your hands and say, Fill me,
Holy Spirit.
Fill me with the Holy Spirit.
Lord, by Your Spirit, come down now and
fill us.
Fill our hearts, Lord, with Your Spirit.
Thank you, Lord.
Fill me now.
Blessed Jesus, fill me now.
Glory to God.
Glory to Jesus.
Open up your heart to Him right now
where you stand.
Lord, I open to you to be filled
with the Holy Spirit of God.
To be filled right now, Lord, to overcoming.
Overflowing.
Let's worship the Lord.
Let's just worship Him right now.
Lord, we worship.
We praise You.
We give You glory.
Lift the burden, Lord.
Lift the burden.
Set the minds free.
Set our minds free.
Lord, there's freedom in the name of Jesus
from this moment on.
Freedom in the name of Jesus.
Never to be afraid again.
Lord, never to be afraid again.
Never to be afraid.
Father, never to be afraid.
Jesus, never to be afraid of the enemy.
I will fear no evil.
Say it.
I will fear no, again.
I will fear no evil.
Once more.
I will fear no evil.
Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Hallelujah.
Glory to Jesus.
I want to know how many of you
that are up here at this altar for
the first time in this church.
Raise your hand.
You've never been up here before.
All right.
You that have come up for the first
time, I'd like you to meet us backstage
so we can minister to you one by
one.
You're up here for the first time.
All right.
Hold still.
You're here for the first time.
Come up this way.
Right through the crowd.
Make your way through the crowd.
All right, dear.
You can come back.
All right.
Those are here for the first time yet.
You come up those steps on this side
also.
Come up these steps.
Those that are in the aisle.
We'd like to minister to you backstage.
We've got counselors.
God bless you.
What do you want Jesus to do for
you?
Get rid of all my sins.
Get rid of all your sins.
Yes.
How about you, son?
Forgive you for everything.
You want God to touch you tonight?
God bless you.
How about you?
I want him to forgive me.
Cleansing.
This is the conclusion of the tape.