Bewitched!

This had been very difficult for me to write. I ought to have published this about three to four weeks ago but kept ruminating on how it would be received. Although I got confirmation to write this piece but still did not until yesterday when I was warned that the window I have to write this piece is almost coming to an end. So, write I must. Apologies if it is long but I cannot break this event I experienced last year into episodes.

Last year, at the start of spring, I started a new job. In this sector my break time was an hour unlike the other sectors in which I had previously worked when I had thirty minutes break. And very early in my role, I discovered a very massive country club ground just opposite where I worked which I quickly turned into my altar. Every time I was in the office, during my break I would go into this field to pray and worship GOD, and afterwards, would have my lunch at my desk as I worked.

Starting in this workplace, I noticed earlier on the team tradition where staff would come together during break time and sit at a long table (I can call it the team dining table) to have lunch. I liked the tradition but could not partake as I always had an appointment to keep on my altar. And by the time I was having my lunch, the family lunch would have been over.

There was this day when I decided I was going to show team spirit and have lunch at the dining table and not go to the field to pray. And as it turned out, there were just three of us on the dining table this day. During our lunch, one of the other two ladies offered to us the potato-based dish she made the night before, which she thought was very nice. The second lady graciously declined. And then I put pressure on myself that I couldn’t say no as the other lady had declined. Thus, I said, ‘sure, why not!’

I must mention here that a few years prior, the LORD had specifically told me that I should always pray on my food before eating. For us Christians, many times we have our different consecrations before the LORD. I have heard people say how GOD has told them not to eat this or that or to do or not do certain things (which are not sinful in themselves but just consecrations unto the LORD). One of mine is that I should always pray on my food before eating.

Growing up in Nigeria (no matter your culture or religion), we were taught to always pray on our food before eating, even in schools. Our elders knew the kind of world we were growing up in and drilled cautiousness into us such that we didn’t take food from just anybody - we had to discern where we ate and from whom we took food. Our parents warned us, even strangers would warn us, if need be. But as we grew up, the world has become ‘enlightened,’ we live in a global village, and food is now celebrated such that we feel that we don’t need to pray on our food anymore before eating.

Recently, a woman of GOD had shared how she was warned by the people GOD had put in her life about something she had eaten, and I heard people had responded on social media that ‘we are now Christians, the blood of Jesus covers us.’ ‘It doesn’t matter anymore, …’ I put a comment on the channel stating a bit of the story which I am going to share below.

As soon as I agreed to taste the dish, my attention was drawn to the pendent she was wearing, my spirit was alerted, warned and this should have been more reason to pray before eating the food, and even though they knew I was a Christian, I still found it embarrassing to bless my food in their presence before consuming it, so I ate the food – without saying grace. It didn’t taste strange, I didn’t start convulsing, feel sick or anything, it was another normal food I ingested but the things that happened to me afterwards, for a few months, took only the mercy of GOD to deliver me from.

Two days after eating this food, I was walking on the street and saw dog faeces (poo) on the road. Normally, I hate seeing this and would normally just pray, ‘come LORD, Jesus (I seriously do pray that when I see faeces and all the decadence on our streets and roads – how we are destroying the earth entrusted to us),’ and walk past but I noticed, on this occasion, that my soul wanted to enter into the faeces and wallow in it. Finding it disgusting and strange, I began spitting, thinking to myself how strange that was but dismissed it in my mind.

This happened to me again about the following day or two days after which alarmed me and prompted me to ask the LORD, what was happening? What it was and what it meant?’ Then I heard the Holy Spirit speak to me clearly, ‘don’t ignore this. Pay attention to it.’

As we all know (if you live in London), you can’t walk on any road without seeing dog poo or filth, this then became a daily occurrence for me. Any filth my eyes would see, I felt my soul wanted to enter it, wallow in it, taste it, be part of it. Even when I went to the toilet, especially at work, it was as though my soul/mind always wanted to go inside the toilet bowl into the sewage.

And whenever I went into the toilet, a voice would speak to me, ‘lick the toilet bowl. At least, just lick it – even when toilet bleach was on the toilet.’ The voice told me to do so many atrocious things. And I began to quickly counter the voice in my head with the Word of GOD. Thank GOD I had learnt earlier in my life that this voice speaking to me was not my voice but the voice of the enemy. So, I began to daily arm myself with the Word of GOD. I constantly and consistently take up my ‘weapons which are mighty through GOD and pulled down every stronghold, cast down every imagination…’ (2 Corinthians 10:4-5). The other scripture I used very often in this season was, ‘he that is born of GOD does not sin,’ (1 Joh 3:9).

I can’t describe in detail in writing these experiences, but I pray you don’t experience it. Two things I recognised from all the things the enemy was telling me to do were: if I, out of any curiosity should try any of the things the devil was suggesting to me, I would become enslaved to him. And those thoughts coming to my mind was an indication of how low the devil planned to degrade my life (I knew it was a mental health issue that he was trying to introduce into my life).

Each time I went to the toilet, I would plead the blood of Jesus upon myself and upon the toilet before using it. With the Word of GOD, I was able to survive each day, but I dreaded waking up to each day. I never told any human being this as I felt, they would think it funny and would explain it off, no person would understand my situation except they had experienced it personally.

I kept praying daily that GOD would have mercy and deliver me from this oppression. And each time, I kept hearing two things – ‘tell your brother about this’ and ‘this kind goeth not except by fasting and prayer’ (Matthew 17:21). And those were the two things I kept telling GOD I didn’t want to do as my brother would be ‘lawyering’ me (asking me endless questions); and I didn’t want to fast as I had been fasting so frequently.

I can’t recollect how long this experience lasted but it was a few months. Amid this, I continued to serve in all the areas I had been chosen to serve. I continued to lead a connect group, I continued to help and support people, not because I was a strong person, but I knew if I stopped doing any of these, I would give the devil a food hold. As I didn’t tell a soul, I kept praying daily for mercy, help while also continuing to combat the enemy.

Joyce Meyer’s book – Battlefield of the Mind was helpful to me in this season. I didn’t remember everything she spoke about in the book, but I remembered that the battle was either won or lost in my mind and it would be a matter of time before I experience either victory or loss depending on what I believed.

This oppressive experience held me captive and brought me to my knees - this happened on a Saturday morning last summer. Usually on Saturday mornings, I leave home early to run errands and don’t usually eat before leaving home. Hence, I didn’t eat this Saturday morning. After running my errand, I decided to go do some shopping before going home. Walking on the road to the shopping mall, I noticed that some people were looking at me and I just heard in mind, ‘those people looking at you do not see you as a human being. They see you as a dog. You have a tail between your legs.’

It had never been that bad before; I had never heard that in my mind before. This was a new thing, and it made me very scared. And because I was scared, I prayed in my heart saying to the LORD, ‘LORD, I am going to enter this store now; If anyone looks at me, then I would believe this voice that has spoken into my mind but if no one looks at me, then I would know it is a lie.’ On entering the store, I consciously looked into people’s faces, trying to make eye contact, to see if they were looking at me. To my relief, no one paid me any attention, not even the staff at the till – everyone was preoccupied with their businesses. At this I was encouraged and was reminded that the voice I heard in my head was the voice of the devil, the liar and enemy, and should not be believed.

On getting home that day, I decided that it was time to do the fast that the LORD kept telling me about. As I hadn’t eaten anything that day, I started a three-days dry fast (no food for three days, just water, tea and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. I take tea because of the nature of my life activities) and then I promised GOD I was going to speak with my brother at the end of the three-days fast. I continued my daily activities as usual - went about my business, went to the office, tended to all I needed to attend to, but continued to fast and pray, using the scripture the LORD had given me.

I didn’t speak with my brother until the fourth day of my dry fast (I broke the fast on the fourth day). In speaking with my brother, I explained all the oppression I was going through and the event that led to it. He explained to me that it was a demonic canine spirit at work. He prayed for me and rebuked the spirit in Jesus’ name, and I was set at liberty. In fact, I was in the field, my altar, when my brother called me - my deliverance took place on that altar I erected in my workplace.

After I had hung up the phone with my brother, the LORD gave me a revelation from the book of Genesis 1:26 – “Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.””

As a graduate of English Language, I know that other words for ‘let’ are ‘allow,’ ‘permit,’ ‘authorise.’ GOD gave me the revelation that when He said ‘let us,’ He was inviting Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit to give permission, to agree for mankind to be created, and in GOD’s likeness and image, and stated the authority that the mankind would have if they agreed for him to be created - to rule over other things created and also over all the things that creep upon the face of the earth (what are the things that creep upon the face of the earth?). Then He told me that the fact that I have been created as ‘mankind,’ a human being, is because the permission was given by GOD the Son and GOD the Holy Spirit and the permission comes with the authority for me to rule over ... And according to verse 27, He told me, ‘Female, He has created you’ and not a dog.

Submitting in fasting and prayer and speaking with the brother (whom the LORD appointed for my deliverance), I was set free from the oppression of the enemy.

And I continue to tell the devil he is a liar; I continue to pull down strongholds and cast down imaginations. I pay more attention in praying on my food and drinks whether people are watching or listening before consuming it (I am still far from doing this perfectly and always – I am a work in progress).

Lessons from this experience, obedience is always better, better than sacrifice. If only I had prayed on the food before eating it and not thought about pleasing people but rather pleasing GOD, especially when the Spirit of GOD drew my attention to the pendant on the chain this lady was wearing which seemed like a dark symbol to me. If only I had surrendered to do the fast earlier and spoken to my brother sooner, my deliverance would have come sooner.

The devil is still using food to bewitch people – don’t be deceived. We now live in a world that being a ‘foodie’ is now celebrated and presented as harmless – food deliciously presented (it looks and tastes good does not mean it can’t cause your death or destruction). “But Daniel was determined not to defile himself by eating the food and wine given to them by the king. He asked the chief of staff for permission not to eat these unacceptable foods” (Daniel 1:8). It is time for us Christians to go back to saying Grace before eating; let us not allow our bellies to be our god. Philippians 3:19

But most importantly, what has the LORD told you? If He told you to eat whatever is placed before you (Luke 10:8; 1 Corinthians 10:27), please go ahead and do so without fear or hesitation. If He tells you to hold on and pray before you eat the food, I will advise you to do so. If He tells you not to order from that popular restaurant that everyone is talking about, you better listen and not order from them. You don’t have to be trapped, bewitched or poisoned through food.

The intention for this is not to scare us, we already have the victory but we must be alert and not take things for granted. And please if you feel you are under any oppression of the enemy, I do understand if you feel you just can't speak to everyone, if you feel the need to keep it a secret or you are being threatened by the enemy to not talk to anyone about it, that if you do something tragic would happen to you or your loved ones; you have to seek the face of the LORD - Yahweh, asking Him to provide a way of escape for you from the attack of the enemy (1Corinthians 10:13). He will lead you to your deliverance. Trust Him and don't be afraid.

Remember what Mary told the servers at the wedding at Cana in Galilee, 'whatever He tells you to do, do it.' John 2:5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1H8UgvsXWs