Oct 11
17
A Humbling Experience
Brad Cullen
I had been invited to speak at an AG church in Kona …I was working with a denomination that was very supportive of Youth With A Mission (YWAM), the president of which was Loren Cunningham an ex-AG pastor and Evangelist. Loren and I had become friends and he knew of my involvement with spiritual warfare – a term I prefer to “deliverance.”
Loren had invited me to speak to about ten key members on his staff whom he wanted to hear my views on demons because he totally agreed with me and wanted the staff to hear it from somebody who operated in authority and had experience in getting rid of them.
My views were and are along the same lines as what Derek Prince teaches. Loren was mildly critical of Derek for the same reason as was I. He allowed demons to manifest in his meetings as a way to demonstrate – I love that word demon-strate.
Anyhow, Loren invited me to lunch in his office, located on the YWAM campus in Kona, YWAM’s world headquarters. A salad he prepared while the AG pastor (from Australia) who subsequently invited me to speak at his church also there in Kona looked on.
A little hay, some wood, add Jesus and away we go!
Loren had invited him because he was very impressed about what I had presented to him and his staff, because this guy was hosting week-long Derek Prince meetings at “Long Barn” a huge thatched roof conference center run by one of the local hotels that very week! A “coincidence,” right?
The AG guy, a totally cool cat, who ministered in bars to what everyone else considered “low-lifes,” because that’s what Jesus did. No big deal for those of us who had answered the call to come out of her, but for an AG pastor? Totally out of character; along with Loren and I had a three hour conversation.
The nightly attendance at the DP meetings was in the hundreds – I don’t remember how many people Long Barn seated but it was filled to overflowing. Loren told the AG guy that he wanted to meet with me because he shared my views and wanted him to hear them.
You have to understand that back in those days, the early 1980s, Derek Prince was widely known, accepted and even lauded by many mainstream denominations including the Assemblies of God. Loren’s disagreement with Derek was fundamental. Large public meetings during which demons were allowed to manifest, he felt were out of place in “today’s” setting and he had been trying to convince this pastor (unsuccessfully) and so he wanted him to hear it from me.
And the Lord Said, "where have you been Satan?"
I told them both that I totally agreed with some minor differences, not worth quibbling over, Derek’s teaching and philosophy. That is getting rid of demons was an integral part of Jesus’ ministry and therefore should be the ministry of the church – which is one of my disagreements – since I believe Christianity at large is operated behind the scenes, to a great extent by demons. Both Loren and the AG guy winced at this. YWAM at the time (perhaps still continues?) worked across the board with all the major denominations.
I didn’t press it, but I did “put it out there.” I was still accepting invitations to speak and still flirted with the organized church, but was convinced that I was being called out of her and that she was the whore of Babylon every bit, if not more than Roman Catholicism and my days working from within were numbered.
Anyway, the guy asked me to come to Derek’s final meeting of the week on the coming Friday night and share the platform. He wanted to introduce me as the speaker for both Sunday services at his church. I told him that I wouldn’t sit on the platform, but I finally agreed to attend the meeting and stand when he introduced me.
Friday night… huge, overflowing crowd from all over the Big Island of Hawaii …Derek taught exactly the same thing he teaches on the u-tube with some very minor variations which are not necessary here. Then all the preacher types left the platform and Derek began his teaching.
His thirty minutes of teaching was followed by having several people come up who admitted to having back problems or difficulty walking. He put on a demonstration of “growing out” the shorter of two legs, the culprit of the problem according to Derek. It was an impressive performance to the oohs and ahs of the crowd.
One of the individuals began shaking uncontrollably, fell off the chair on which he was seated and continued to writhe violently on the floor. It took seven big Hawaiian men (selected beforehand, something apparently routinely arranged ahead of time by Derek (I don’t know that for a fact – but since it was so smoothly organized on the spot, it is a reasonable assumption, in my view) seven big men (sons of Sceva ring any bells) to hold this guy down, physically.
I sat there watching this while Derek calmly continued his performance with the remainder of the people up on the platform. A critical spirit overtook me, David …as I smugly sat there knowing that “I” would not allow demons to manifest. I remember thinking how ridiculous it was to talk about operating in the power of Holy Spirit and not be able to control a demonized man except by physical force – a total contradiction in my mind.
My silent criticism grew inside me; I finally began praying and was shown that I had been overtaken by a demon causing the criticism. I got rid of it and was shocked to hear Holy Spirit tell me that I was going to be “humbled for His glory.”
Does this stuff really happen?
Derek began speaking from the pulpit; saying things like “somebody is being healed of such and such” – I was sitting there still stunned by what I had just heard and wondering how I was to be humbled; it wouldn’t take long to find out.
“Someone, right now, is having their jaw restored.” He looked puzzled and said, “I’ve never encountered this particular malady before, but whoever you are, you have been bothered by your jaw making loud cracking noises and even locking up now and then, the bone has deteriorated but is now whole.” He quickly went on to something else.
Meanwhile I tested it by opening my mouth wide, something that for about three years had been the catalyst for the cracking sound to begin and an accompanying, rather troublesome grating feeling and pain. Gone! Relief! I had even been awakened in the middle of the night by it locking up and being in what to me was significant pain.
What am I supposed to do, I asked and heard, “not now, but tomorrow you will come and share how you have been critical of my son and sitting there smug because you wouldn’t allow a demon to manifest, when the entire time one was manifesting in you!” I immediately felt guilty. I was gently told to stop feeling guilty, but to never again judge the work He was doing through someone else.
They Talk to Brad, are they talking to you?
Several minutes later, the aforementioned AG guy returned to the platform and announced that the next morning at, eight a.m., there would be a send-off rally there in the Long Barn for Derek and his wife, who were flying out around noon, and then requested that everyone who had been healed during the service be there to give a testimony. I knew I was to be there and confess what had occurred to me.
Then he announced that a special speaker would be at his church both Sunday morning and Sunday evening and asked if I was in the crowd to please stand – so he could introduce me …and said they were in for a delightful time and mentioned how Loren Cunningham of YWAM had introduced us.
I stood and heard the same voice say, “Not now, tomorrow.” I wanted to confess right then and get it over with. I was both filled with joy for no longer having to put up with the problem with my jaw, and embarrassed for having been afflicted at the hands of spirits while also allowing demons causing my judgment and criticism of the one through whom I was healed!
Okay, that’s the story – a lesson learned and one from which hopefully others will learn without having to go through the embarrassment or pain.
Editors note: You’ll want to hear more of this story? Listen to the podcast:Podcast 80 A humbling experience
Find out what inspired this storey for Brad, watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMg5PCrj0p8
