"BURIED
WITH
CHRIST
IN
BAPTISM"
– AND
DELIVERED
FROM
EVIL.
Recently,
at
Christ
the Rock
Church
in Boca
Raton,
Florida,
where
Laurie
and I
are now
members,
Pastor
Perry
Comas
baptized
three
believers.
This
pastor
rightly
teaches
that
baptism
is the
"water
of
separation"
and
intended
to be
God’s
dividing
line
between
the old
life of
demonic
oppression
and
spiritual
freedom
in
Christ.
This is
not to
be
confused
with the
idea of
"baptismal
regeneration"
which
Pastor
Comas
denies.
But he
does
correctly
emphasize
the
parallel
between
modern
believers
"burial
with
Christ"
and
ancient
Israel’s
"baptism
in the
sea" by
which
the Jews
were
separated
from
Egypt. I
Corinthians
10:2.
During
baptism
at
Christ
the
Rock,
all
three
people
experienced
the same
manifestations
of
deliverance
as are
described
in the
ministry
of
Jesus.
This
reaction
was not
voluntary
on their
part or
a
contrived
response
to
Perry’s
teaching.
It was
real.
In that
moment
of being
"buried
with
Christ",
Romans
6:4,
Colossians
2:12,
demonic
strongholds
were
broken
and
demons
were
forced
out in a
visible,
obvious
display.
Nearly
half-an-hour
of
noisy,
thrashing
took
place in
the tank
before
the
deliverances
were
complete.
But!,
the
three
individuals
rose
from the
water
free of
their
former
oppressors.
Mark
1:23,26.
5:7;
9:26.
Luke
8:8,28.
Acts
8:7. I
salute
this
young
pastor
for the
truth of
his
preaching
and the
power
that
anoints
it.
Once
when I
baptized
a young
man in
the
ocean
here in
Florida,
he was
instantly
struck
with the
power of
God and
fell
rigidly
onto the
water,
his body
electrified.
Without
my
touching
him, in
a
“series”
of
immersions,
he sank
to the
bottom,
rose
again,
sank,
rose,
half-a-dozen
times.
In
another
recent
article
I wrote
of David
Rhea’s
baptism
at the
Brownsville
revival
when the
power of
God
electrified
the
water,
knocked
the two
pastors
administering
baptism
to the
sides of
the
pool,
and left
David
stunned,
floating
comatose
on the
surface.
Men
rushed
into the
water
and
carried
him out.
Such is
the
power of
God
intended
for
baptism.
In a
third
account,
I told
of the
gospel’s
power in
Africa
where
some
6,000,000
Muslims
are
being
saved
every
year and
of Heidi
Baker
baptizing
thousands
of them
in the
Indian
Ocean.
Photographs
of those
awaiting
"burial
in
Christ"
showed
the
lines
astonishingly
long.
Thank
God!,
the
modern
Church
is
experiencing
the
"restoration
of all
things",
Acts
3:21,
and is
returning
to
first-century
power.
In
Africa
people
are not
only
being
born-again
but are
being
delivered
from
centuries
of
witch-craft
and
demonic
strongholds.
Nearly
fifty
years
ago--before
I
understood
any of
these
Scriptural
principles--I
witnessed
the near
break-up
of a
precious
young
couple
in my
church.
None of
us were
Biblically
informed
enough
to
discern
the
villain
or stop
its
pillage
of their
home. It
came
from the
girl's
mother;
a
hyper-religious,
church-going
woman,
obsessed
with a
sinister
power of
domination
and
control
who had
already
destroyed
the
marriage
of
another
of her
children.
Today, I
realize
that
woman
was a
witch;
perhaps
ignorant
of her
own
sorcery
but
still a
witch.
At that
time
such
spiritual
issues
were
foreign
to me; I
was a
caring
pastor
but
naive in
vital
areas.
The
family
survived,
struggling
the best
they
could,
and
finally
came to
peace
after
the
mother's
death.
Many
couples
waste
beautiful
years,
sometimes
spending
fruitless
effort
searching
for help
in the
wrong
places.
Counseling
is
important
but
insufficient
unless
the
curse is
broken
and the
demon
cast
out.
Many
believers
are
unaware
that
more
than one
hundred
Bible
verses
warn us
about
curses
and that
scores
more
give the
same
caution
about
demons.
Most
people
see
these
problems
as being
unavoidable
ancestral
"traits"
and
wrongly
assume
that
there is
no way
to
correct
them.
These
include
patterns
of
alcoholism,
violence,
explosive
tempers,
divorce,
disease,
defeat,
depression,
destructive
habits,
poverty,
persistent
financial
failure,
religious
heresies,
etc. The
list
goes on.
All are
deadly.
While
some
curses
are
inherited,
others
are
self-inflicted,
brought
upon us
by our
own
actions.
Regrettably,
I was
one of
those
pastors
guilty
of
ignoring
this
truth.
For the
first 30
years of
ministry
I
understood
little
about
curses
and
demons
and
preached
less.
Thankfully,
the
change
came in
1977
when I
experienced
renewal
in the
Holy
Spirit
and my
eyes
were
opened
to
numerous
Scripture-truths
unknown
to me
before.
While I
wish
Christians
were
immune
to
demons
and
curses,
I
realize
that
none of
us have
been
through
the
resurrection;
our
"mortal"
has not
yet put
on
immortality,
nor our
"corruptible"
put on
incorruption.
I
Corinthians
15:54.
If
Christians
are
subject
to sin
and
disease,
then we
are also
subject
to
demons
and
curses.
When
people
complain
that I
say too
much
about
this
subject,
I remind
them
that
thirty
percent
of
Jesus'
recorded
ministry
was
spent in
direct
conflict
with
unclean
spirits.
This is
in stark
contrast
to the
modern
Church
which
has
none.
Jesus
dealt
with
demons
everywhere
He went.
They
came out
screaming,
frothing,
throwing
people
around--but
they
came out!
Matthew
8:28-34.
Luke
9:42.
Mark
1:21-34.
The same
thing
happened
in
Philip's
ministry
in
Samaria,
Acts
8:7.,
and
Perry
Comas’
ministry
in
Florida.
Noisy,
yes, but
lives
were
changed!
Homes
saved!
Minds
and
bodies
restored!
In His
final
message
to the
disciples,
Jesus
said,
"These
signs
will
follow
those
who
believe;
they
will
cast out
demons
in My
Name."
Mark
16:20.
On this
point of
Jesus’
instruction,
I
absolutely
refuse
to
surrender
ground.
I have
seen too
many
people
delivered
in
precisely
the same
way
Jesus
said
they
would.
He was
specific
in
teaching
about
unclean
spirits
and we
must be
just as
specific
in
obeying.
Truth in
theory
helps no
one,
only
truth
enacted
sets
people
free.
The good
news is
this:
Hell has
no curse
Jesus
cannot
break.
He came
"to set
the
prisoners
free."
Luke
4:18. No
matter
what the
nature
of your
crisis,
you
can
be free.
Pray,
fast,
have
genuine
believers
anoint
you with
oil in
the Name
of the
Lord,
lay
hands on
you, and
command
the
trespasser
to go.
Mark
6:13,
James
5:14,
Mark
16:17,
Don't
quit
until
it's
done.
When the
devil
leaves
and
slams
the
door,
you will
know you
have
won.
The
curse
will be
broken.
Such
miraculous
experiences
as
occurred
at
Pastor
Perry’s
baptism
should
not
surprise
us. Some
of the
early
Christian
Fathers
wrote
about
miraculous
baptisms
and
deliverance
from
demons.
Tertullian,
160-225
a.d.,
the
greatest
theologian
of his
day,
instructed
new
believers
to rise
from the
waters
of
baptism
expecting
the
charismatic
gifts of
the
Spirit
to come
upon
them.
And on
the
subject
of
Deliverance
he told
the
Roman
Senate:
"Let a
person
be
brought
before
your
tribunals
who is
plainly
under
demoniacal
possession.
The
wicked
spirit,
bidden
to speak
by a
follower
of
Christ,
will as
readily
make the
truthful
confession
that he
is a
demon,
as
elsewhere
he has
falsely
asserted
that he
is a
god. Or,
if you
will,
let
there be
produced
one of
the
god-possessed,
as they
are
supposed,
if they
do not
confess,
in their
fear of
lying to
a
Christian,
that
they are
demons,
then and
there
shed the
blood of
that
most
impudent
follower
of
Christ.
"All the
authority
and
power we
have
over
them is
from our
naming
the Name
of
Christ
and
recalling
to their
memory
the woes
with
which
God
threatens
them at
the hand
of
Christ
their
Judge,
and
which
they
expect
one day
to
overtake
them.
Fearing
Christ
in God
and God
in
Christ,
they
become
subject
to the
servants
of God
and
Christ.
So at
one
touch
and
breathing,
overwhelmed
by their
thought
and
realization
of those
judgment
fires,
they
leave at
our
command
the
bodies
they
have
entered,
unwilling
and
distressed,
and
before
your
very
eyes,
put to
an open
shame."
Irenaeus,
c.130-200,
Bishop
of
Lyons,
France
wrote of
spiritual
gifts
operating
in
baptized
believers.
He said,
"We have
heard of
many of
the
brethren
who have
foreknowledge
of the
future,
visions
and
prophetic
utterances;
others,
by
laying
on of
hands,
heal the
sick and
restore
them to
health
... We
hear of
many
members
of the
church
who have
prophetic
gifts,
and, by
the
Spirit
speak
with all
kinds of
tongues,
and
bring
men's
secret
thoughts
to light
for
their
own
good,
and
expound
the
mysteries
of God."
Irenaeus
insisted
that
these
gifts
were not
restricted
to local
congregations
only but
were
present
throughout
the
total
Church.
Later,
Cyril,
Bishop
of
Jerusalem,
315-387
a.d.,
gave
instructions
for new
Christians
to
anticipate
the same
miraculous,
apostolic-era,
gifts of
the
Spirit
to come
upon
them at
baptism.
"If you
believe,"
he
wrote,
"you
will
receive
not just
remission
of sins,
but also
do
things
which
pass
man's
power.
And may
you be
worthy
of the
gift of
prophecy
also!
...
Prepare
yourselves
for the
reception
of the
heavenly
gifts."
Justin
Martyr,
110-165,
addressed
the
Roman
Senate
on the
subject
of
Deliverance
from
alien
spirits.
He said,
"Numberless
demoniacs
throughout
the
whole
world
and in
your
city,
many of
our
Christian
men--exorcizing
them in
the name
of Jesus
Christ
who was
crucified
under
Pontius
Pilate--have
healed
and do
heal,
through
they
could
not be
cured by
all
other
exorcists,
and
those
who use
incantations
and
drugs."
Cyrpian,
a
Christian
pastor
and
writer
of the
3rd
century
explained:
"Nevertheless,
these
evil
spirits
adjured
by the
living
God
immediately
obey us,
submit
to us,
acknowledge
our
power,
and are
forced
to come
out of
the
bodies
they
possess."
If we
need a
modern
authority,
Harvard
graduate,
Dr. M.
Scott
Peck,
psychiatrist,
and
author
of
numerous
books
dealing
with
unclean
spirits
and the
human
mind,
shares
his own
testimony:
"I
didn’t
feel I
could
address
the
subject
of evil
with
integrity
without
dealing
with the
question,
‘Is
there
such a
thing as
an evil
spirit?’
... When
I
started
researching,
I didn’t
really
think
there
was--and
then I
gradually
discovered
that
there
was."
Dr. Peck
had good
reason
for his
change
of
attitude
and
explains
part of
what
happened:
"An
expression
appeared
on the
patient’s
face
that
could be
described
only as
satanic
... I
have
spent
many
hours
before a
mirror
trying
to
imitate
it
without
the
slightest
success."
His
book,
The Road
Less
Traveled,
describes
his
participation
in
deliverance
ministry.
He
included
accounts
of two
of these
not to
boost
book
sales,
he says,
but to
help
give
support
to the
reality
of evil
spirits.
A young
Assemblies
of God
pastor
came to
me one
time at
a
Conference
in
Florida
and
asked if
I would
minister
deliverance
to him.
I agreed
and we
went to
a
private
room.
This
gentleman
was a
well-groomed
college
graduate
with a
successful
ministry
and
family
life.
"My
ancestors
have
practiced
Druid
worship
and
psychic-powers
for
generations,"
he
explained,
"I am
not
participating
in any
way with
witchcraft
but I
experience
torment
from its
presence
in my
family.
Its
darkness
constantly
hovers
over
me." He
paused.
"I
explained
the
problem
to my
Presbyters
and
asked
them to
minister
deliverance
to me
but they
refused.
Our
doctrine
denies
that
Christians
can have
demons
in their
minds or
bodies."
Like it
or not,
we are
still
vulnerable
to
powers
of
darkness
and must
fight as
Jesus
taught.
Spiritual
warfare
is a
constant,
on-going
battle.
Ephesians
6:10-18.
When I
brought
the
authority
of Jesus
against
his
ancestry
of Druid
worship,
astonishing
things
happened.
Demons
began
speaking
out of
him in
guttural,
dog-like
growls,
contorting
his
body,
changing
his
appearance
into
something
ugly and
grotesque.
(Mark
1:26;
9:26.)
Four
major
spirits
were
identified.
One of
those
was the
spirit
of
"idiocy."
When we
challenged
it, the
man's
eyes
suddenly
crossed,
his
hands
became
spastic,
jerking
rigidly,
his
tongue
thickened,
turned
sideways
in his
mouth,
and be
began
slobbering
with
senseless
jabbering.
In a
split-second,
he
became a
full-blown
idiot.
The good
news is
that he
was
totally
delivered;
the
mental
pain was
gone
forever.
But
please
be aware
of this
frightening
truth:
Had this
young
pastor
not
received
deliverance,
the
spirits
hiding
in him
would
ultimately
have
destroyed
his
sanity,
ruined
his
family
and
ministry,
and had
him
locked
away in
an
asylum.
Could
that
happen
to a
born-again
pastor?
Yes.
Absolutely.
I have
no doubt
that
asylums
needlessly
contain
many
such
Christians.
The
sister
of
Kenneth
Hagin,
Sr.,
spent
many
years in
a mental
hospital
but was
set free
in one
brief
ministry
and was
never
hospitalized
again.
If you
can
detect
patterns
of
successive,
repetitive
problems
in
yourself
or your
family,
I
suggest
you give
serious
thought
to the
possibility
that you
are
dealing
with a
curse
and/or
alien
spirit.
If that
is true,
be
encouraged.
Knowing
the
truth is
the
first
giant
step
toward
recovery.
Here is
good
news:
"For
this
purpose
the Son
of God
was
manifested
that He
might
destroy
the
works of
the
devil".
I John
3:8.
That
includes
every
curse.
You,
your
family,
your
church,
can be
free.
How is
that
done?
You
drive
out
demons
and
curses
in
precisely
the same
way you
would
chase a
muddy
dog from
your
house.
You open
the
door.
You use
a broom,
stool,
or some
object,
and with
authority,
you make
the
trespasser
go. In
curse-breaking,
your
total,
absolute,
unconditional
supremacy
is the
Name,
Jesus
Christ
of
Nazareth.
Mark
16:17.
Speak it
in
power!
Believe
that
"greater
is He
who is
in
you
than he
who is
in the
world."
I John
4:4.
Don't
ignore
the
curse's
danger
or God's
offer of
deliverance.
Life
depends
on it.
This
model
may be
helpful
to you:
"In the
Name of
Jesus
Christ
of
Nazareth
I take
total,
absolute,
unconditional
authority
over
every
spirit
contrary
to the
Holy
Spirit--permanently
binding
and
forbidding
you ever
to
operate
in me
again.
You are
stripped
of
power,
rendered
helpless
and
impotent,
in the
Name of
Jesus
Christ.
And in
that
Name I
command
you to
go!"
Finally,
If you
have
reason
to
question
the
validity
of your
baptism,
fear
your
motive
at the
time was
insincere
or
prompted
merely
to
please
others,
do not
hesitate
to
receive
an
authentic
baptism.
You may
have
been
Christened
as an
infant
or
acquired
some
other
substitute
for
actual
baptism.
Meaningful
as it
may have
been to
your
parents
and
beautiful
as a
family
memory,
it
offers
no
benefit
to you
now in
the
cancellation
of dark
powers.
The
decision
must be
your
own.
Scripturally,
such
dedications
cannot
become
replacements
for
baptism
in which
you are
truly
"buried
with
Christ".
Experience
the
"waters
of
separation"
and
present
yourself
to the
Holy
Spirit
for His
impartation
of
miraculous
gifts.
Receive
believers’
baptism
and
through
it make
yourself
a
candidate
for
deliverance!
Three
Methods
Of
Prayer:
Why "Pray
In The
Spirit?"
The New
Testament
identifies
three
types of
prayer
which
are
vital to
the
Christian
life.
They
are:
1.
Praying
according
to
human
understanding;
that is,
praying
about
information
that our
five
senses
have
told us.
I
Corinthians
14:15.
This
prayer
is
dependent
upon
knowledge
gained
by the
mind.
Information
for such
a prayer
is
therefore
limited;
sometimes
characterized
by
misunderstanding,
conflict,
and
failure.
James
4:3.
2.
Praying
"in the
spirit".
I
Corinthians
14:15.
Jude 20.
This
prayer
originates
from the
specific
direction
of the
all-knowing
Holy
Spirit.
In this
prayer,
through
the gift
of
tongues,
we speak
"mysteries"
far
beyond
human
comprehension
or human
language.
I
Corinthians
14:2,14.
3.
Praying
as "the
Spirit
Himself
makes
intercession
for us
with
‘groanings
which
cannot
be
uttered.’"
Romans
8:26.This
groaning-prayer
(which
is not
to
confused
with the
gift of
tongues)
originates
with
Jesus’
intercession
at the
right
hand of
the
Father.
Romans
8:34. In
response
to His
prayer,
all
creation
is now
in a
state of
travailing
birth-pangs,
waiting
for its
own
deliverance
from the
"bondage
of
corruption,"
and the
simultaneous
"manifestation
of the
sons of
God."
Romans
8:19-23.
The
prayer
Jesus
began at
the
Throne
is now
permeating
the
entire
Universe.
Jesus
revealed
this
when he
spoke of
the
capacity
of the
stones
to "cry
out."
Luke
19:40.
Some
individuals
also
find
themselves
drawn
into
this
prayer;
in its
embrace,
they
become
so far
removed
from all
language,
so deep
in its
penetration
into the
things
of God,
so
infinite
in its
breadth,
that--like
a
magnet--they
are
pulled
into its
wondrous,
universal
anticipation.
While in
such
intercession,
one
feels an
overwhelming
intimacy
with
creation’s
deepest
cry for
deliverance.
This
prayer
is
expressed
in
wordless
groaning.
In my
opinion
it is
the most
powerful
form of
prayer
available
to us.
In
examining
these
types of
prayer,
we
realize
the mind
has only
five
natural
sources
of
information.
It
receives
knowledge
by what
the body
tells it
through
seeing,
hearing,
tasting,
touching,
and
smelling.
These
are all
marvelous
senses
with
which
God has
equipped
mind and
body to
function
together.
We thank
God for
them–though
none of
these
senses
are
spiritual.
Consequently,
the
mind, by
itself,
is a
vastly
insufficient
tool for
the
spiritual
work of
prayer.
Christians
whose
prayer-life
is
limited
to
mental-knowledge
are
depending
on human
abilities
inferiors
to those
of
animals.
That is
a rash
statement
but
before
you
disregard
it
please
hear
what I
say.
Animals
have
senses
vastly
superior
to
man's. A
Polar
Bear can
smell
food at
a
distance
of 24
miles.
The
common
housefly
can
detect
and
respond
to
danger
in
one-two
hundredths
of a
second.
The
peregrine
falcon
can see
a pigeon
5 miles
away and
dive at
speeds
of 217
miles an
hour.
Also, it
has
"fast"
vision
and
could
actually
read
print on
a
whirling
airplane
blade.
An owl
can hear
the
movement
of a
mouse
from two
football
fields
away.
Bats fly
unaided
through
a
pitch-black
cave,
sharks
can
smell a
single
drop of
blood in
millions
of
gallons
of
water.
Your own
dog or
cat has
hearing
perception
better
than
you. At
a
burned-out
arson
site, a
dog can
smell
1/500,000
of a
drum of
flammable
fuel;
his
sense of
smell is
100
times
greater
than a
human’s.
The
common
shrimp
can see
more
colors
than we
do. The
Monarch
butterfly
can
discern
tastes
12,000
times
more
subtle
than a
human’s,
and with
perfect
precision,
fly
2,000
miles
unaided
to a
tiny
spot in
Mexico.
What
about
endurance?
Eggs of
the
tadpole
shrimp
can
survive
dormant
for
centuries
at
temperatures
more
than 150
degrees
below
zero.
Unlike
the
limited
mental
capacities
of our
human
body,
the
regenerate
human
spirit
is
neither
confined
nor
limited.
It has
potentials
greater
than all
the
combined
animal
abilities
I
mentioned.
Our
spirit
has
access
to the
gifts of
"wisdom
and
revelation"
which
equip it
to
receive
and use
knowledge
directly
from the
Holy
Spirit.
This
special
equipping
is the
precise
function
of the
"word of
knowledge,"
"word of
wisdom,"
"discerning
of
spirits,"
and
other
gifts of
the Holy
Spirit.
When we
pray we
should
avail
ourselves
of the
ultimate
potentials
with
which
the Holy
Spirit
has
endowed
us. This
becomes
our most
powerful
way to
pray! I
Corinthians
12:8-10.
CCC
The Lord
Appears
To
Abraham
In
Trinitarian
Form
Abraham
may
never
have
realized
the
honor
God gave
him but
he was
the
first to
witness
God in
His
Trinitarian
nature.
Scripture
clearly
reveals
that
this
occurred.
In His
plurality-manifestations
to
Abraham
we have
one of
the most
theologically
challenging
examples
of deity
sovereignly
transitioning
Himself
between
the
Divine,
the
angelic,
and
human
essence.
We are
introduced
to this
mystery
in the
opening
chapter
of
Genesis
where--in
every
instance
and more
than 30
times--the
name of
God,
Elohim,
appears
only in
the
plural.
The
personal
pronoun,
"we,
our" is
also
used
consistently.
In
Abraham's
encounter
with
God,
observe
the
following
verses
carefully:
Genesis
18:1-19:2:
Then the
Lord
appeared
to him
(Abraham)
by the
terebinth
trees of
Mamre,
as he
was
sitting
in the
tent
door in
the heat
of the
day. So
he
lifted
his eyes
and
looked,
and
behold,
three
men
were
standing
by him;
and when
he saw
them, he
ran from
the tent
door to
meet
them,
and
bowed
himself
to the
ground,
20. And
the Lord
said (to
Abraham),
"Because
the
outcry
against
Sodom
and
Gomorrah
is
great,
and
because
their
sin is
very
grave, I
will go
down now
and see
whether
they
have
done
altogether
according
to the
outcry
against
it that
has come
to Me;
and if
not, I
will
know."
Then
(two of)
the men
turned
away
from
there
and went
toward
Sodom,
but
Abraham
still
stood
before
the Lord.
Genesis
19: 1:
Now the
two
angels
came to
Sodom in
the
evening,
and Lot
was
sitting
in the
gate of
Sodom.
When Lot
saw
them, he
rose to
meet
them,
and he
bowed
himself
with his
face
toward
the
ground.
The
revelation
of God
to
Abraham
is this:
1. "The
Lord
appeared
to him."
(Yahweh)
in the
form of
2. "Three
men
were
standing
by him
..." ªnaashiym
3. "The
men
turned
away
..." haaª
naashiym
but,
4.
"Abraham
still
stood
before
the
Lord."
(Yahweh)
5. "Two
angels
came
to Sodom
..."
Shaneey
(two)
hamal’aakiym
(angels)
6. No
matter
how we
divide
it, it
is the
Lord who
appears
to
Abraham
in three
distinctly
divisible
components.
He is
one in
three
manifestations.
Understand
it? No.
Believe
it as a
truth of
Scripture?
Absolutely
