Spiritual prisons are divided into different zones inside of the kingdom of evil. The fragmented soul is brought to these regions so the designs of the devil can be manifested in the person’s life. I repeat: A soul may belong to God (being saved and redeemed) yet suffer demonic influence because fragments of the soul are held captive. This condition produces illness, failure, fear, anguish, and breakdowns that do not respond to prayer. So let’s examine these zones of captivity.
THE PLACE OF DARKNESS
Darkness is not only the generic name of the devil’s empire; it is also a spiritual place. As I mentioned before, the places are spiritual, they exist in an invisible realm. Some can be located over a geographical area, others are not. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined (Isaiah 9:2 NKJV). Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee; and leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up (Matthew 4:12-16 KJV). This land of darkness and the shadow of death mentioned in these Scriptures was physically located in Zebulun and Naphtali. Jesus identified these spiritual regions in that specific zone, not in any other, revealing that every one of the cities of the earth can be ruled by a certain area of satan’s empire. It is important to mention that many other places could be under this influence of darkness and shadow of death, besides these Galilean cities. Nevertheless the dimness [darkness] shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at first He lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations (Isaiah 9:1 KJV). Darkness is established in certain places creating violence, affliction, anguish, and confusion among people living in those areas. Have regard for your covenant, because haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land (Psalms 74:20). Tell us what we should say to Him; we cannot draw up our case because ofour darkness (Job 37:19). The next psalm, written by one of the sons of Korah, a Levite, describes a spiritual place in which he is imprisoned with no way out. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and Thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah. Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me; Thou hast made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth (Psalms 88:6-8 KJV). The Lord reveals many levels of darkness while setting captives free. In actual ministry situations in which we enter these regions, we ask the Lord to shine His light to enable us to see despite the darkness there. Many times, we need angels of intense light to open the way for us to move forward. The people who are trapped in these places stumble around as though they were blind. People live in constant doubt and unbelief because they cannot see. Their eyes are in complete darkness. This darkness not only symbolizes living in sin but also the idea of not knowing where to go, what to do, or what one’s purpose is. There are people who have repented, yet are still in darkness as far as many situations in their lives are concerned. Like the blind we grope along the wall, feeling our way like men without eyes. At midday we stumble as if it were twilight; among the strong, we are like the dead (Isaiah 59:10). This region could be described as a place full of holes in the ground. People trip, and when they fall, their souls are afflicted in these places. There are narrow pits of oppression and suffocation. In the natural world, these people seem dark and oppressed. Everything about them is narrow: their vision, their way of thinking, and even the way they walk and move. If you observe them, they appear bound by invisible cords. Their body language clearly displays their captivity. They prefer dark places and are hoarders. They are generally (though not always) people who lack any semblance of order in their lives or houses. Lack of order speaks of darkness and it systematically attracts them. It hearkens back to the time in Genesis, when the earth was formless and void and darkness covered it. Job also made the connection between a lack of order and darkness: to the land of deepest night, of deep shadow and disorder, where even the light is like darkness (Job 10:22). A life that is without order and out of alignment with God’s priorities clearly demonstrates captivity in the regions of darkness. The prisons in this place are like deep caves, many of them are as labyrinths that lead to dungeons. In the book Healing the Wounded Spirit , by John and Paula Sanford, John (one of the most prominent deliverance ministers in the United States) describes an interesting deliverance from the region of darkness. Jo, the person he set free, lived as though she were dead inside. John, after trying every form of deliverance, was led in a vision to a place where the devil held her captive: I “saw” our wonderful Lord walking down a steeply sloping dark tunnel. Hedid not carry a torch or lantern. He was himself the light. I followed Him. The experience was much like following a car down a narrow lane at night, watching the headlights momentarily shine on the walls or bushes, leaving darkness behind. I watched the light of Jesus illuminate the walls as He passed. We came to a huge dungeon door, ancient and rusted, locked. Before the Lord, it opened by itself. Scriptures raced through my mind, “… behold, I am alive forevermore and I have the keys of death and Hades” (Revelation 1:18 NKJV). He hadn’t needed to insert a key; He himself is the key! The door flew open at the authority. “The gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18b KJV). It was confirmed to me in a flash, that Jesus meant to speak of the Church on the attack, not on the defensive, breaking open the gates of Hell to invade and set its captives free! We were entering a dungeon of Hell, and I knew it! [emphasis added] I watched as He walked across a dirty floor. Phantasmagoria of Hell fled before His presence! There in a corner, huddled in a fetal position, manacled by wrists and ankles attached by chains to a wall, was Jo. She appeared ghastly white and blue, emaciated and starved, tiny as a child. With His beautiful nail-scarred brown hands, He deftly, gently broke the shackles off of Jo. He picked her up, cradling her softly against His chest and I thought, “He shall feed His flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young” (Isaiah 40:11 KJV). I wept for joy at the beauty of it. The Lord carried Jo out of that place. I described aloud for Jo what I was seeing. Later, she told me that she felt every moment of it in indescribable joy and anticipation. As He carried her, He breathed His own breath into her, while Genesis 2:7 and countless Scriptures about the wind of the Holy Spirit (as in John 3), and Elisha breathing his breath into the Shunamite woman’s dead son (see 2 Kings 4:18-37), cascaded through my mind. Then, He set her on her feet and taking her left hand in His right, began to walk out of the tunnel with her. As they walked, Jo began to grow, like the WonderBread advertisement of some years ago, from a little girl to the grown woman she is. Then He passed His hands over her body and wherever I could see skin, it turned from deathly pale to glowing pink. The vision ended as I saw Him turn her loose to frolic in the lovely meadow, as He watched, beaming with joy and pride. 1 Jo was in one of these deep holes where the devil sucked the life and joy out of her. These deep pits in the regions of darkness make up different kinds of jails. In some, the people are tormented by demons of fear. These manifest as horrible spirits, beings with their flesh eaten away, spirits of perdition and homicide. In the natural world, these people are afraid of the dark and cannot sleep in a dark room. They feel as if something in the darkness is stalking them. They are always fearful that something unexpected and catastrophic could happen to them. This happens because this is what the trapped piece of their soul is literally experiencing in its place of captivity. In general, when we are delivering people like this, we are first introduced through regions of fear, where the soul was fragmented by a terrifying incident or trauma. Fragmentation could also have occurred due to participation in the occult by ancestors or by the individual to whom we are ministering. Media contribute to these issues. Many horror movies are made with the purpose of trapping souls. Some time ago, we held a spiritual warfare offensiveat Disney World, Universal Studios, and other amusement parks in the Orlando, Florida, area. We were astounded to see so many rides whose purpose was to fill people with fear. But that was not all we saw; in many of the rides, at the moment of greatest fear, the voice of a demon or monster could be heard shouting, “Now, I am possessing your soul,” or, “Your soul is mine for eternity.” Do you think this is just a harmless game? Those who have ears to hear, let them hear! Thousands of people leave these parks with pale faces caused by terror. They laugh nervously, totally ignorant of the devil’s devices. The Lord revealed to us the spiritual prisons of darkness in those places of apparent amusement and we cried in deep intercession to set the millions of souls free who have remained captive there. Revenge of the Mummy Another type of prison in the region of darkness is sin. Spiritual regions are not isolated. For example, when a person suffers from intense trauma, regions of fear capture his or her soul. As fearful circumstances increase during the person’s lifetime, the soul sinks into deeper levels that we will discuss later. In general, general, the Holy Spirit reveals the soul’s final place of captivity. Prisons of sin look like cells. Sometimes they look like valleys of chained people, whipped by demons who coerce them to sin again and again. Many are located in muddy lakes of sexual filth and perversion surrounded by grotesque demons of sensuality. We have seen people who are forced to drink without ceasing in lakes of alcohol, and others who are forced to drug themselves continually in their prison cells. Flames of fire arise from the bottom of the prison, violently burning the soul. This is the extreme case of someone who cannot get out. We are all responsible for our sins, because free will is always ours and not the devil’s. I am referring to cases of true possession in which the person has repented many times and inevitably sins again. We should be careful and use discernment in these instances, because some people who say they have repented really love to sin. In this case, we should lead the person to an encounter with the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, to feel Jesus’ pain for his or her sin. The regions of darkness are diverse. It is not the intention of this book to exalt the habitations of satan; rather, the point is to expose them. Of all the places of captivity, the ones that make the strongest impression on me are the prisons of homosexuality. In this region, the sexes are confused. It is a whirlwind of sexes mixed together. Men are put in prisons formed in the shape of the male organ; women are housed within the female organ. In this way, the captives become homosexuals and lesbians. The people I saw incarcerated inside those prisons were totally consumed by those gigantic organs. They were unable to see the opposite sex in order to function in the way God had designed them. The Lord has permitted me to deliver people from homosexuality and, I am happy to say, their lives have changed radically. One young man shares his testimony in Chapter 9.
GATES OF DARKNESS
The region of “darkness” with its prisons, labyrinths, valleys, and abysses is a zone connected to other regions. Normally, the following listed places are front gates of entry.
Regions of Fear
These regions and demons are guards and are responsible for bringing the prisoners from the regions of darkness. When a person’s soul is terrorized by some extreme event, this gate opens and the fragmented soul is taken captive.
Covenant Chambers
Occult ceremonies performed in the natural world open gates in the spiritual world. Some gates have their origin in sorcery, witchcraft, divination, rituals of idolatry, Masonic rituals, mind control, and all kinds of New Age rituals. The
Gates of Pain
Gates open after a soul suffers deep pain, such as the loss of a loved one, rejection, or abandonment. It may also occur when the soul, as a fetus, suffers an attempted abortion. Treasons, humiliations, or insults lead the broken soul into captivity. They are led through pain to regions of darkness such as the captivities of hatred, anger, revenge, violence, and resentment, where they are afflicted and tormented. Examples of the Path of Captivity (Different in every case)
THE ABYSS, PITS, AND DEEP PLACES
In each of the regions of captivity, there are prisons, pits, and turbid currents of muddy waters. All of these can be found in the regions of darkness, in the Abyss, in Abaddon, and in the shadow of death. Spiritual holes serve as traps to capture prey. The soul drowns in despair feeling helpless and unable to escape. They spread a net for my feet—I was bowed down in distress . They dug a pit in my path—but they have fallen into it themselves (Psalms 57:6). The Abyss is a place close to hell or Sheol. It is equivalent to the word “Infernos” in Latin, that also mean an inferior plane. 2 It is the place of the waters of darkness. Water spirits are sent out from there, such as Leviathan, the prince of pride. In that day, the Lord will punish with His sword, His fierce, great and powerful sword, Leviathan the gliding serpent, Leviathan the coiling serpent; He will slay the monster of the sea (Isaiah 27:1). Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit (Isaiah 14:15 NKJV). The Abyss is, without a doubt, one of the gates of hell. It is from this place that “the beast” of Revelation comes out. The Bible helps identify one of its main entrances, known as the face of the Abyss. This place is located under the ice in the polar regions, where there is no dry land. As I said before, some can be located on a physical plane but not all of them. when the waters become hard as stone, when the surface of the deep [Abyss] is frozen (Job 38:30). In 2004, the Lord led us on a spiritual warfare expedition to the North Pole, before this Scripture in Job had been revealed to me. The Lord inspired me to fight the powers of darkness that were affecting some European countries from that location. We were walking through an enormous valley of frozen water, when my spirit began to hear shouts and voices coming from under the ice. At that moment, the Lord opened my spiritual eyes and I saw thousands of people held captive in a bottomless pit. Spirits of insanity then burst forth from that place and were released upon the earth. In that moment, one of our warriors came under an attack of death. His life began to leave him by the second. The Lord directed us to hold him up so he wouldn’t fall. My husband, Emerson, and I dragged him away from that place. The Spirit exhorted us to persist in prayer in order to prevent the devil from imprisoning this man’s soul. After awhile, we were victorious. We returned from the North Pole unharmed, but the memory of what we had seen and experienced was continually on our minds. Soon afterward, Apostle Fernando Orihuela, from Bolivia, told me that the Holy Spirit had been revealing to him the importance of the poles in the spiritual world. The Holy Spirit had shown him that the entrance to the face of the Abyss was at the North Pole. When he told me this, what we had gone through there made much more sense. The Abyss is made up of deep pits of water. Souls are trapped in some of the pits; in others are demons that are waiting to be loosed when the fifth trumpet is blown, as described in the Book of Revelation: The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. And out of the smoke locusts came down upon the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth (Revelation 9:1-3).
Pits of the Abyss and Muddy Pits
Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold. I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me…. Do not let the floodwaters engulf me or the depths [Abyss] swallow me up or the pit close its mouth over me (Psalms 69:1-2,15). During the Davidic times in which portions of the Book of Psalms were written, the prophets in the tabernacle of David understood the spiritual realm well. They saw and experienced many of the same things that God is revealing to us today. When we enter prophetic worship, the gifts of the Spirit begin to flow and detailed visions appear before our eyes. The psalmists who wrote the types of songs seen in Psalm 69 were not writing poetry. These are prayers of spiritual warfare, led by God in a specific manner and with great understanding. The “miry pits” have to do with the mud of iniquity. They are traps created by the enemy, situations where someone is tangled in a net of iniquity and cannot escape. In the natural world, this is going to show up through difficult situations. It may be a business deal gone wrong creating legal situations, binding the person’s hands. These are circumstances designed to bring destruction. The persons may feel like they are drowning and can’t find an answer.
Pits of Desperation
I WAITED patiently and expectantly for the Lord; and He inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up out of a horrible pit [a pit of tumult and of destruction], out of the miry clay (froth and slime), and set my feet upon a rock, steadying my steps and establishing my goings (Psalms 40:1-2 AMP).
Many people who fall into depression are held captive in a pit. The Lord rescued me from a psychiatric hospital, where my shattered soul had been trapped in pits seemingly without exit. I clearly felt myself sinking further and further into a deep, dark hole. The voices of the devil tormented me day and night. Visions of horrible beings harassed me all the time. My spirit and soul lived in the depths of a desolate, terribly sad place. I had vivid nightmares every night. The doctors called it schizophrenia. Today, I know differently. I was experiencing captivity in my soul. I felt bound and imprisoned by invisible walls that smothered me. I felt as though I could hardly breathe.
When God rescued me and Jesus genuinely entered my heart, I literally saw the door of the vault-like iron prison open. I saw myself moving into a spacious place, full of light and peace.
He brought me out into a spacious place; He rescued me because He delighted in me (2 Samuel 22:20).
The places of Heaven are spacious. The Spirit rises and soars. Our vision expands and becomes clear. Peace and joy are everywhere.
I had to remain firm in order to keep my freedom. I remember, at the beginning of my Christian life, how the devil suggested again and again that I dive into one of those pits of affliction. His words were depressing, reminding me of the pain I had suffered. It was like standing on a slippery slope where it was hard to keep my footing. Many times, I saw that pit clearly. It invited me to jump in. The devil pushed me with great force, but my will was mine and I was not going to surrender it to the devil. My willpower served as a rudder and kept me in Jesus’ arms. While sitting in His lap one day, I heard His voice say to me, “Shut the mouth of the Abyss! I have the authority to close it, and I am giving it to you!”
So I did it. Now, it doesn’t matter how sad my circumstances are, that pit is closed and it can no longer swallow me. Hallelujah!
Our will is a powerful weapon. Surrender it to God and exercise the power of decision, always choosing the ways of the Lord. Stop believing that the devil is almighty; he is not.
The Pit of Destruction
But Thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction: bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in Thee (Psalms 55:23 KJV). Although there are pits of eternal perdition, there are also those that holdpeople imprisoned in sin, vices, and evil actions. I have seen people whose entire minds are held captive in this place. Almost all of their inner doors have been taken over by demons and their captive minds receive the designs of the devil with great clarity. This is the case with sorcerers, those in the mafia, drug traffickers, thieves, and serial killers.
The Pit of Corruption and the Pit of Iniquity
Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but Thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for Thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back (Isaiah 38:17 KJV). Simon the magician, about whom I wrote earlier, was held captive in this pit. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity (Acts 8:23 KJV). In countries with a lot of corruption, these pits operate at a national level. The consciousness of the people is totally influenced by these places. The nations have fallen in the pit they have dug; their feet are caught in the net they have hidden (Psalms 9:15). In my country, Mexico, this is quite evident. We frequently witness people operating in corrupt ways, without remorse. Bribing policemen to avoid paying fines, lying, stealing, and taking advantage of others are common practices, even among Christians. The worst thing is they don’t realize it in many cases. It is normal to them. This is from the very pit of corruption and we must remove our souls from those places. Every one of us, as sons and daughters of God (if that is who we are) has the ability to call out our own soul from captivity. God has given you the power to overcome the gates of hell. You have the keys of the Kingdom of God to open every prison door where you may be held captive. Open them! Command your soul to leave those places. You don’t belong there. You are of God and must position yourself in heavenly places. The whole of creation is enslaved in those regions. That is why it is so important to understand who we are in God and our mission as liberators: because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God (Romans 8:21 NKJV).
PLACES OF DEATH
This is a very interesting part of our study because these places of death—Sheol, the Valley of the Shadow of Death, and the Region of Death—constitute one of Jesus’ most important victories. Many times we think the work of the cross ended when the Messiah gave up His Spirit on Calvary. However, He descended to the lowest parts of the earth to finish His work. In Gethsemane, He conquered the soul’s pain and the fear of death. This took more than three hours. Between His captivity, judgment, and crucifixion, fewer than 24 hours passed. But in the deepest parts of the earth where He conquered hell, death, and the regions of our captivity, it took three days. This is very important for us to consider. Jesus did not just die for us. The how, when, and where of His death and burial are very significant. Every part of His suffering had a purpose. They are all part of the complete design for our redemption. Before the foundation of the world, He was spiritually slain to redeem our spirit (Revelation 13:8). With the pain of His soul, He paid for our pain. In His body, he took sickness and iniquity. Stripped of His clothing, He exposed sin; through death, He conquered death. Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil . (Hebrews 2:14). It was necessary for Jesus to be sacrificed on Passover because he was the Lamb of God. It had to happen on top of a mountain, Calvary, to take the power of high places from the devil. It was also relevant that His body be put in a cave covered by a rock, because Jesus not only conquered the heights, but also the deepest parts of the earth. An exhaustive study of every part of His passion yields impressive information. I have analyzed this subject in my book Eat My Flesh, Drink My Blood . For now, I will only focus on His death. As we said before, death is not our final destiny in this world. Death operates in the midst of the natural world in many ways: through fear, sickness, accidents, insanity, and everything that decays. In the spiritual realm, death kills entire movements of the Spirit and destroys churches and ministries. Everything man does apart from God is death. The topic of death makes most people nervous. This is because it is the method the devil uses to control this world. There are carnal believers that have their heart in the things of this world. For them, death is a matter of fear. There are true Christians whose hearts are focused on heavenly things. For them, death is nothing more than the victory that unites us to our beloved Jesus. The person who learns to deny his or her own life, even if it means death, has overcome death and disarmed the devil and his empire. For these believers, this subject is not traumatic or scary, because they have conquered it. Unfortunately, many of our beloved brothers are still fighting and are held in captivity from which they must come out.
Sheol
As mentioned earlier, the Hebrew meaning for Sheol is, “lower places.” In Greek, it is called Hades and in Latin it is hell . The word hell simply locates satan’s base camp. Satan is “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:2). Under this title he controls the second heaven. He rules over captivity and death from the underworld. No one objects to the concept of the devil governing the air, and no one argues with the idea of the second heaven influencing the earth. But now, God wants to increase our understanding over the enemy’s operations base (Sheol) in order for us to destroy his work in every dimension. The devil is not only the prince of the power of the air, but he also carries the titles “angel of the Abyss” (Rev. 9:11), “prince or ruler of darkness” (Eph. 6:12), and he who “holds the power of death” (Heb. 2:14). Therefore, to think of the spiritual world only in strict terms of Heaven and hell is a very limited perception. The devil governs from the air and the mountaintops. In Sheol, or hell, he deals with captivity and death. The region of death has two parts, one is the dwelling of the dead, the second is the place of oppression used to torment the captured souls. From this place satan releases sickness, disease, and death. As I previously said, hell and infernal are words we use to describe things that have to do with the devil. However, this is more a popular use of language than an accurate depiction. Some countries, such as Poland, are reflections of the regions of death. In the year 2000, in order to open the heavens of that country, we led a spiritual warfare expedition. The Spirit revealed the nation had made covenants with the regions of death. The spiritual power over the nation was called the Black Madonna . Her image can be found in the basement of the basilica of Jasna Góra, in the city of Czestochowa. It is a replica of the designs of hell. The chapel is painted black, and so is the “Madonna’s” face, along with three scars on one of her cheeks. Her face was the map of Poland’s destruction, established in hell. The history of Poland is a reflection of the face of the idol. The nation has been divided into three parts more than once. In addition, there are crucifixes with the image of Jesus hanging from the cross set up throughout the nation. At first I thought it was a religious thing, but the Lord enlightened my understanding. He told me, “The devil wants to see Me dead because that is the victory that he announces in hell, saying that he was the one who killed Me. Each one of these crucifixes is a territorial mark to establish death throughout the country. These are decrees that establish the region of Sheol upon the earth.” Poland has been devastated and destroyed many times in its history. In fact, Adolf Hitler chose this nation to build an altar to death itself. He studied the occult extensively. The devil asked him to reproduce a replica of hell on earth. The goal of every antichrist is to build an altar of death to govern the world. The Black Madonna, Poland Hitler’s goal was to burn 6,666,000 Jews and Christians. This altar was built in Auschwitz, Poland. The German leader had more in mind than simply killing the Jewish people. If that had been his only objective, he would have bombed the ghettos where he held them prisoner. Why transport them to one place? Why feed them and hold them captive? Why spend money and energy building camps with bedrooms, gas chambers, and crematories, if the only objective was to kill them? The plan was more diabolical. He needed to reproduce the pain of hell with its sounds of agony and despair. He wanted to recreate the different levels of prisons and dungeons that existed in Sheol. From his soul of captivity he desired to reproduce the same narrow places, oppression, and feelings of suffocation he was experiencing. In the deepest prison cells of Auschwitz, Hitler’s captives were walled in alive. Sometimes it took as many as four days for them to die. Hitler delighted in hearing the music of Wagner and Beethoven mixed with his prisoners’ screams of terror and pain coming from the gas chambers and torture rooms. While all of this was happening, the empire of darkness extended over Europe. Captivity and the shadow of death were established on the continent. It is horrifying to do massive deliverances of those in captivity from those nations. The pain of those who are trapped from their parents’ experiences in the Second World War is heartrending. Opening the gates of their prisons and setting them free is both sad and joyful. Many times, health and healings are instantaneous. Nazi death camp, Auschwitz, Poland. U.S. Presidential Report on Nazi Death Camps. “It is a fact beyond denial that the Germans have deliberately and systematically murdered millions of innocent civilians—Jews and Christians alike—all over Europe.” Sheol is not only a place, it is also a power used by satan in order to take people into captivity. Hitler understood the power of Sheol. It does not only take captives during victimization, as in the case of the Jewish people during the war, but Sheol has an attraction power that causes people to become snared. In the following verses, I have highlighted the fact that the upright will rule over them to demonstrate that here the Bible is not speaking about people that are already dead. This passage is talking about people who are alive; however, death feeds on them and Sheol is their dwelling. It is theologically incorrect to think that the saints rule over the dead. They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches;… Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them . The upright will have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling (Psalms 49:6; 49:14 KJV). The people in this passage live there in a spiritual sense, and death feeds on everything they do. The passage says you can see the place of their captivity written on their faces. We see it in their deadened gazing or violent looks. By contrast, David expresses hope: But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: and He shall receive me. Selah (Psalms 49:15 KJV). Notice in the next passage that the soul of King David was captive in Sheol, which produced an illness that nearly killed him. O Lord my God, I called to You for help and You healed me. O Lord , You brought me up from the grave [Sheol]; You spared me from going down into the pit (Psalms 30:2-3). (Please note that the Hebrew word translated “grave” in the New International Version and others, can also be translated “Sheol,” as it is in the Amplified Bible.) Believing lies or falsehood is a way of feeding on death. It makes you captive in the regions of death. You boast, “We have entered into a covenant with death, with the grave we have made an agreement. When an overwhelming scourge sweeps by, it cannot touch us, for we have made a lie our refuge and falsehood our hiding place” (Isaiah 28:15).
The Valley of the Shadow of Death
This is the projection of things that move in the regions of death and Sheol on the earth. The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me (Psalms 18:5). We understand that many illnesses are from regions like the Valley of the Shadow of Death, or Sheol. In Psalm 23, we see that many Christians go through that valley and suffer the consequences of the journey. For some, the soul is taken captive and, if not rescued, will sink further and further until it dies. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me (Psalms 23:4). It is a dangerous thing to be a patient in a hospital. People are unaware of the connection to the regions of death. In fact, most hospitals are built near cemeteries. There is spiritual activity from the regions of death located nearby. These places of intense suffering, trauma, pain, and death are designed to trap and capture unsuspecting persons. If you must go to a hospital, you must immediately close the gates of death and Sheol and spiritually cut all the currents of death and the spiritual tunnels coming from the cemeteries. In Jesus we have the keys of Sheol and death. The keys are used to close and open. In this case, we close the door and make a decree with the authority that Jesus has given each of us. Later in this book, we will discuss heavenly regions and learn why there is no reason for us, as children of God, to go to hospitals. God wants to spare us from that unnecessary suffering. Not long ago, we conducted spiritual warfare in the city of Saint Augustine, Florida. Our ministry offices are located in the vicinity. Aside from being the oldest city in the United States, Saint Augustine is ranked the third most hauntedcity in the nation. Death is the central theme of the city and its inhabitants, as illustrated by city attractions such as ghost tours. Families from around the world bring their children and babies to the cemeteries and haunted houses. All who visit, and especially the children, come face to face with real spirits. Night after night, dozens of people enter the regions of death to be held captive unawares. We asked the Lord for a strategy to set this city free. The Lord revealed that the population was submerged in the region of the shadow of death. This is the most superficial part of Sheol and is found at ground level. It is also where poltergeist spirits roam and spiritualists invoke the spirits of the dead. This practice attracts spirits of death, which produce sickness and spiritual death among the population. Some theologies teach that there is no such thing as spirits of dead people having contact with the living. The belief is that ghosts are demons that assume the form and voice of those who have departed. I also believed this until God opened my eyes during a battle in Rome, Italy. We went to the Vatican to pray for the Catholic people in captivity. Praying in that place caused an intense battle to ensue. The Holy Spirit said to me, “You are completely ignoring the army of the dead. They are coming against you. Mobilize my army of angels against them.” When I obeyed, I remembered that, in every mass, Catholics ask the dead to protect them. Influences from SheolStudying the subject in greater depth, I first consulted with the Holy Spirit and then with various theologians, asking them about Scriptures that confirm the belief that ghosts are demons and not spirits of the dead. They all came to the same conclusion: There are no such Scriptures. They admitted it was a practically unknown subject in Evangelical theology; however, they agreed that certain passages in the Bible seem to indicate that the dead can appear in the world of the living, as we will see in this section. I arrived at the conclusion that, if the Scriptures do not affirm ghosts or spirits of the dead as being demons, why should we? We should scrutinize the Word of God to discover the truth. I feel that in the matter of deliverance, it is important to know the difference between demons, ghosts, and spirits of the dead. Let’s look at verses that support what the Lord has shown me: And you shall be laid low [Jerusalem], speaking from beneath the ground, and your speech shall come humbly from the dust. And your voice shall be like that of a ghost [produced by a medium] coming from the earth, and your speech shall whisper and squeak as it chatters from the dust (Isaiah 29:4 AMP). In this Scripture, we see that the Lord uses the word ghost when referring to someone who is dead speaking from under the earth. Genesis 3:19 says, “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” Only a dead person goes to the dust, a demon doesn’t. Another verse that gives us light in this matter is found in the book of Job: Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up: It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: An image was before mine eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice, saying, Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker? (Job 4:15-17 KJV) Job identifies the person speaking with him as a ghost. The key is in the word form and the word image. 3 The word form means something beautiful to see, a beautiful face. In other languages it is translated as a beautiful face. Nevertheless, it produced fear and Job’s hair stood up. So we know it is not a demon by his appearance and his message. It is not an angel, either; the presence of an angel produces peace, reverence, even the fear of the Lord, which is different than being afraid of something. When the Bible wants to speak about an angel, it rather says the word angel or someone in the likeness of man, but never “a ghost.” So in the case of this Scripture, I believe it was a ghost, the disembodied spirit of a man, a phantom. He had the face of a man, but it was not someone Job knew. He did not say that he was a demon or an angel. The other word that is interesting to study in this same passage is “image.” The Hebrew word is tmuwnah , something portioned (i.e., fashioned) out, as a shape, that is (indefinitely) phantom , or (specifically) embodiment. 4 As we have seen, both of the words point to the idea that it was truly a phantom and nothing indicates that it was a demon. In another passage found in Psalms, King David prayed against the voices of the dead. Let me not be put to shame, O Lord, for I have cried out to You; but let the wicked be put to shame and lie silent in the grave (Psalms 31:17). If he has to pray for them to be silent, that means that there is a possibility that they could speak. First Samuel 28 provides an example of invocation of spirits. King Saul asked the witch of Endor to call up the prophet Samuel’s spirit. This is a sin. Conversation with the dead is an attempt of the devil to trap one’s soul. This passage demonstrates that the dead are not demons, but human spirits. And the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for what sawest thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth. And he said unto her, What form is he of? And she said, An old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed himself. And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up? . (1 Samuel 28:13-15a KJV) We find here the one that came up from among the dead was the prophet Samuel. Perhaps the psychic saw him as a spirit full of the splendor of God, since she confused him with a god, but it was certainly not a demon in disguise. Now, let’s return to the story of the haunted city of Saint Augustine. I asked the Holy Spirit how to pray against the ghosts that wandered in this zone of the shadow of death, since they are not demons. He said, “Order My angels to take them captive to their eternal dwellings.” We did it, and immediately they were taken prisoner and to deep regions of death. The atmosphere in the city changed dramatically, and one can no longer feel the presence of death like before. In the place of the shadow of death, the devil has the designs to destroy the spiritual life of churches, movements of God, and ministers. At times, I have heard the expression: “This city is a cemetery for pastors.” In other words, the region of death is established over that city, and the result is that many thingsdie—businesses, marriages, and even churches. In 2003, I was invited to El Rey Jesús Church, a growing church in Miami. Pastor Guillermo Maldonado told me he was worried because every church that grew to 1,500 members in the city had been dramatically destroyed. He told me of several church leaders who had fallen into sin after their congregations reached the 1,500 membership. Their ministries and their churches had been decimated. I explained the designs of hell, and we agreed to pray to discover the design of death over the city. Through a vision, the Lord took us to one of the regions of Sheol. There we saw demons allied with witches, who had built a cemetery for pastors in the spiritual world. The objective of this cemetery was to kill the spiritual life of God’s servants. We saw gravestones with the names of every pastor who ministered in Miami, and among them was Pastor Maldonado. In the Spirit, we removed the tombs and opened the prisons. One by one, we released the ministers. Afterward, we destroyed the spiritual graveyard with the power of God and great victory. Amen! Since that day, the number of churches in that city is multiplying. Today, El Rey Jesús is one of the largest Hispanic churches in the United States. We found the same design in the city of Cassadaga, near Orlando, Florida. As we prayed to deliver that city from the demonic influence that controlled it, we saw in the Spirit a cemetery with all the names of famous pastors from Orlando, including those that have already left the city. This town is known for the occult, and the devil sends a flow of satanic spells specifically over many of the Orlando amusement parks. Among the tombs of the cemetery was a throne dedicated to satan. There is a flag of the United States surrounded by witchcraft, indicating the country’s consecration to the devil. In the Spirit, God showed us a pastors’ cemetery around the flag. They were buried there in order to kill them spiritually. There were churches and many pastors who had revival in Orlando’s history, but had fallen into sin. There were others who moved to other states at the height of their growth. We destroyed that place spiritually, and God has begun to do many wonderful things in Orlando.
The Region of Death
This is the dwelling place of those who have departed from this world. Sometimes in funeral homes or on accident scenes, the Lord leads us to ask Him for a resurrection. A dead person or someone whom you are trying to bring back to life must be removed from this region of death. Only God can grant resurrections. Life and death are His alone. Once while preaching a message about resurrecting the dead in the city of Giradot in Colombia, a woman shouted in the middle of the service that a child had fallen from the fourth floor and had died. She begged us to go and try to resuscitate him. The pastors’ enthusiasm encouraged me to go the funerary for the child. We removed the people from the room and only those who had faith to see him raised from the dead remained. The Lord showed us a desolate region; it looked like a valley of trees and dried leaves. Among the withered leaves were forgotten graves. The Holy Spirit said “You are seeing the region of death.” The Lord asked me to open one of the tombs. The boy was inside a deep pit. I took him by the hands in order to pull him out. He was cold and stiff. A powerful force anchored him to that place. We cried with all our might for thepower of the resurrection. The funerary room filled with the glory of God. A wave of life was forming, and we had no doubt the boy would rise from the dead. A shining throne appeared, covered in a white cloud. It was the Father. His clothes covered the small casket, and next to Him was Jesus. They talked to one another, but we could not hear anything. The moment was solemn. Then, I asked them to grant us this resurrection. Jesus looked at us and said He could not do it. He explained that the boy was with them, but if he returned, his soul would be lost. Then they disappeared. We looked at one another with joy, satisfied with the Lord’s decision. Although the boy did not rise from the dead, something wonderful happened. The Father and Son descended in response to our prayer, and the spirit of death over the city was destroyed. In the days that followed, the power of resurrection touched everything. Dead churches were filled with life. Everything in the city received life. God allowed the incident of the boy’s death to bring resurrection to the city. Glory to His name!
Abaddon
Abaddon is the deepest part of the Abyss. I want to give it special treatment here because this is the place where the devil forges his plans of destruction. They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon (Revelation 9:11). I have often wondered whether it is just a coincidence that the “address” of this verse is 9:11, the date the Twin Towers of New York were destroyed. I remember an occasion when a powerful servant of God in the United States approached me. In a relatively short period of time, he had had a series of automobile accidents and felt that death was trying to harass him insistently. When I heard this man’s testimony, the Holy Spirit immediately confirmed what I suspected: he was under the design of destruction and his soul had been taken captive in order to destroy his ministry at any cost. This design had been built in Abaddon (mash-shoo-aw). Abaddon comes from a Hebrew word having to do with destruction or “perishing.” 5 Asaph refers to this place of perpetual desolation. Lift up Your feet to the perpetual desolations. The enemy has damaged everything in the sanctuary …They said in their hearts, “Let us destroy them altogether.” They have burned up all the meeting places of God in the land (Psalms 74:3,8 NKJV). The devil destroys homes, lives, ministries, and entire cities from this sinister place. The murder of millions of babies is carried out. The designs of terrorism are forged from Abaddon. War, genocide, the shedding of innocent blood, as well as natural disasters, such as earthquakes and hurricanes, originate from this place. The minister we prayed for was bound to a design of insatiable death. We were allowed to see this region. We saw in the Spirit a dark place at the bottom of the ocean. We knew we were penetrating the Abyss. A deeper region opened up below us after we arrived at the bottom of the waters. A place was seen that looked like an enormous fortress made of black rocks with other places of labyrinths. There were huge demons inside ovens forgingarms and weapons. Among some destroyed automobiles, we found the minister we were searching for. He was bound in a car crash with a horrible demon guarding him. The angel accompanying us in the vision held a scroll the Father had given him. It was the certificate to set His servant free. The guard did not resist and we took the man from the place. To the best of my knowledge, he has been accident-free since. It is interesting to observe that on earth he was suffering one accident after another while he was bound to the automobile in Abaddon. Nothing serious happened to him, because his life was in God’s hands and not the devil’s. On another occasion, I had an experience that left me perplexed for a long time. Another servant of God in the United States approached me with severe financial problems. His father had been a military man and was in several wars. God does not call anyone to serve Him and then keep them in poverty. God is good and takes care of His servants. I began to pray until God showed me the region where he was captive. He was in Abaddon. I did not see the same fortress I had seen before; this time it was a valley. A powerful angel appeared to lead me inside this vision. I saw an enormous bloody plain with body parts strewn all around. The scene shocked me at first, but the presence of God’s powerful messenger encouraged me. We walked for a while until we saw a gigantic demon. His image is still etched in my memory. He had enormous claws and growled thunderously. He was around 200 feet tall and would thrust his hands into a multitude of men clutching dozens of them at a time. Then he squeezed so hard they fell into pieces to the ground. This happened over and over again. He was between beast and man and was seated upon a mountain of incalculable riches. The angel said this demon was the Slaughterer . (see figure on page 112) The United States sold their children for money in the Vietnam War: The war involved lots of money and many young Americans died. The angelic messenger said this gave the demon the right to destroy and steal the riches of a nation. The angel instructed me to hide behind his wings. We stealthily approached, careful not to let the demon see us as we came to the opening between his parted legs. Once inside the mountain of riches, we made our way through a tunnel of gold. This led to the minister’s father in a dungeon. The man was hugging an enormous treasure that he jealously guarded, but could not use because he was captive. Under the direction of the Holy Spirit, I told the man to ask forgiveness for having participated in the war. He humbly asked forgiveness and gave us his treasure. In the same cell was his son; we removed them from there and since that time he has prospered. El Masacrador, The Slaughterer One thing we must proclaim in Abaddon is that the truth—Jesus, the Son of God—has set us free. He set the captives free and announced the opening of prisons to those bound. Shall Your loving kindness be declared in the grave? Or Your faithfulness in the place of destruction? (Psalms 88:11 NKJV) Yes, it is!
The Place of Jackals
Abaddon has various regions and one is called “the place (or haunt) of jackals.” In some translations, such as the King James Version, it is called the “place of dragons.” It is a place in which the soul feels as if it is being attacked by wild beasts; the devourer mentioned in Malachi 3:11 (KJV) is one of them. He devours finances, health, projects, dreams, and everything else within his reach. It is a place of brokenness and great destruction and it is a place of God’s judgment. But you crushed us and made us a haunt for jackals and covered us over with deep darkness (Psalms 44:19). The Bible speaks about desolate and deserted cities full of jackals. In the spiritual sense, they are devouring demons destroying everything in one’s life, whether the person is a servant of God or an unbeliever. In this passage, the sons of Korah cried out because they were being persecuted for the cause of the Most High. The Roman Coliseum was a physical manifestation of this spiritual region. Lions devoured Christians because the emperors of ancient Rome received the inspiration of this design from hell. In fact, they reproduced it in every detail. King David was harassed in his soul by these spiritual beasts. The soul feelsas if it is being torn apart in this place of affliction. I am in the midst of lions; I lie among ravenous beasts—men whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords (Psalms 57:4). An individual, city, or a nation under God’s judgment, can be destroyed in this manner. In Abaddon, people are held captive and literally devoured by these beasts. The Scripture says the devil roams about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (see 1 Pet. 5:8). There are entire cities held in this region of wild beasts. The cities of Nezahualcoyotl (meaning “Place of Coyotes”) and Coatzacoalcos (meaning “Place of Serpents [or Dragons]”) are located in my country, Mexico. Both cities suffer the devastating impact of these spirits. On one occasion, in the church I pastored in Mexico, we discovered sin among two of our leaders. Both had opened doors to spirits of sexual uncleanness. The church experienced a period of spiritual death during that time. We brought the leadership together and sought the Spirit to discover what was happening. The church was in a pit at the bottom of a series of tunnels. Rats and jackals were everywhere. Angels sent to help us led us through the passages. One by one, we began to find the brothers of the congregation. The rodents had bitten them. We took them out of that spiritual atmosphere one at a time. When we finished, the entire church was delivered and lifted to heavenly places. During the next Sunday’s service, we witnessed the difference. The church was again full of the Holy Spirit.
The Land of Forgetfulness
Shall Your wonders be known in the dark? And Your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? (Psalms 88:12 NKJV) This is a place of infinite loneliness, sadness, abandonment, and rejection. It is a place where the devil imprisons people in order for them to live their lives forgotten by others. After their names are placed in the land of forgetfulness, no one remembers them. A man in a church approached me one time, asking me for help. His face was very sad and I felt the compassion to help him. I asked him what his problem was and he answered that he lived in terrible loneliness; he felt as though he didn’t exist. “No one ever remembers my name,” he said. “I have gone to the same church for years and no one knows me. They continually ask me for my name.” “What is your name?” I asked. I expected to hear him say an unpronounceable name, perhaps one that was a Greek or Russian name. Instead, he answered, “My name is William.” It seemed strange that no one could remember such a common name. He continued by saying, “When preachers make altar calls, they pray for everyone, but skip me. It is as though they can’t see me. I sign up to serve in some way for the church, but it is as though my name were erased from thelist. No one ever calls me.” I entered the Spirit, looking for direction, when a beautiful angel appeared and told me to follow him. Suddenly, everything disappeared and I could only see the angel and the light that came from his body shining over me. Around us was what appeared to be a concrete wall and walking was like entering into clouds. I asked where we were because I couldn’t see anything clearly. The angel responded, “We are in the land of forgetfulness. Here, everything disappears and is forgotten. That is why you can’t see anything.” I followed the angel closely so I wouldn’t get lost. As we walked, I began to make out very vaguely some bubbles inside the concrete-like structure we were in. It was like being inside of Swiss cheese. William’s Ancestor watching over his generations captivity. Inside the solid bubbles, there were people in solitary confinement. Soon, we arrived at one of these holes and found an old man sitting in front of a trunk. The angel instructed me to order the old man to open the chest. He told me the man was William’s ancestor, who made a covenant to lock his future generationsgenerations in the chest. I ordered him to allow his descendants to come out. He opened the lid and before my confused eyes, I saw a series of people leave. William and his two sons were among them. We took them out of the land of forgetfulness. I noticed a distinct glow to William’s eyes after the vision. His countenance had changed. Two years later, I returned to find him busy in the church. Everyone loved him and remembered him with great affection. I want to be clear that I was not invoking the dead when I saw William’s ancestor. I was interacting in a vision in the spiritual realm. In other words, I was seeing a vision of something that happened, not in the natural realm, but in the spiritual. It is like having a dream in which one sees someone who has already died. I was not invoking the dead; I was in the realm of visions and revelations.
GOD PUTS PEOPLE IN PRISONS, TOO
Another important thing to understand is this: Not only do traumas and difficult circumstances take us to regions of captivity, but God Himself can put us there. Those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, Bound in affliction and irons—because they rebelled against the words of God, and despised the counsel of the Most High, therefore He brought down their heart with labor; they fell down, and there was none to help. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and broke their chains in pieces. Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He has broken the gates of bronze, and cut the bars of iron in two. Fools, because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, were afflicted. Their soul abhorred all manner of food, and they drew near to the gates of death. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses. He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions (Psalms 107:10-20 NKJV). How many people are in this condition in the Church today because they choose their own paths and despised the Word and counsel of Jehovah? And how many leaders are suffering from sicknesses and tremendous pain because of their religiosity? God desires to take them in some direction, but because they are bound to their own systems and doctrines, they refuse to change. Simply put, controlling our own lives and not glorifying God for everything can lead us to these regions. Give glory to the Lord your God before He brings the darkness, before your feet stumble on the darkening hills. You hope for light, but He will turn it to thick darkness and change it to deep gloom. But if you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly, overflowing with tears, because the Lord’s flock will be taken captive (Jeremiah 13:16-17). Bitter people who cannot forgive end up in these prisons. Jesus taught about the servant whose lord had forgiven him a great debt but he refused to forgive the one who was indebted to him. In anger his master turned him over to the jailers … until he should pay back all he owed. This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unlessyou forgive your brother from your heart (Matthew 18:34-35). Before we proceed, it is important for us to take stock of our own spiritual condition. We must allow God to reveal any areas of imprisonment, so that we can strip off the shackles, be free, and set others free. E NDNOTES 1. John Sandford and Paula Sandford, Healing the Wounded Spirit (Tulsa, OK: Victory House Publishers, 1985), 149-150. 2. Biblesoft’s New Exhaustive Strong’s Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary . CD-ROM. Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc. s.v. “she’owl,” (OT 7585). 3. 4758. hRa√rAm mar}eh, mar-eh’; from 7200; a view (the act of seeing); also an appearance (the thing seen), whether (real) a shape (especially if handsome, comeliness; often plural the looks), or (mental) a vision:—apparently, appearance(-reth), as soon as beautiful(-ly), countenance, fair, favored, form, goodly, to look (up) on (to), look(-eth), pattern, to see, seem, sight, visage, vision. 8544. h Î n … wm; Vt tmuwnah, tem-oo-naw’; or h Î nUm; Vt tmunah, tem-oo-naw’; from 4327; something portioned (i.e. fashioned) out, as a shape, i.e., (indefinitely) phantom, or (specifically) embodiment, or (figuratively) manifestation (of favor)—image, likeness, similitude. 4. Biblesoft’s New Exhaustive Strong’s Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary . CD-ROM. Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc. s.v. “tmuwnah,” 8544 from 4327. 5. Biblesoft’s New Exhaustive Strong’s Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary . CD-ROM. Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc. s.v. “abaddown,” (OT 11).