The Journey to Freedom

Spending the weekend reflecting on Friday afternoon’s events, I returned to the office Monday and found the student’s email address. I composed a message, and soon, the next step of my journey was underway.

Naturally, our conversations grew over time as I explained my background and the previous seven months of research I had conducted. She was equally amazed. She then recounted her journey to the course. Alerted to attend only a week before, she mentioned that elders at her church acknowledged, “Yes, you’re going to this Army course, but you’re really going there to meet somebody.” She continued, “As you walked into the room for the first time, I immediately knew the message was for you. However, I used to work within the intelligence community in Washington D.C. and I’ve been burned many times when I tried to share similar messages with others. After you walked in, I prayed and asked the Lord if He really wanted me to give you that message, He would confirm it by you bringing up something about Hebrew. The two weeks of the course went by, and I forgot about my prayer. Then, suddenly, when you asked me about my ring while walking back to the classroom, I almost stopped dead in my tracks.”

She stated plainly, “There’s no way you could have known about my prayer. When I prayed, I prayed silently behind my mask, and I prayed in Hebrew. I’ve spent considerable time in the Middle East and speak Hebrew, so there’s no way you could have known about it. Additionally, I picked up that ring at a gift shop a long time ago since it’s my favorite verse. I didn’t even realize I was wearing it.”

Amazed, our growing conversations glorified the Lord, and nothing she expressed contradicted anything I had found in scripture. On the contrary, she possessed a wealth of knowledge that answered countless questions I had accumulated during my last seven months of study. Everything confirmed that this was a truly divine encounter, one that fostered growth in both of us, and glorified the Lord.

At this point, she stated, “Satan is very legalistic. In this battle, we’re going to get wounded; there’s no shame in that, it’s going to happen. But the key thing is that we get ourselves healed and freed. We need to get our families healed and freed, thereby eliminating any legal access the enemy has to us, and that is when we can go forth in full combat.” She then asked, “I don’t detect that you’re living in sin, but are there any sins that you are still struggling with?”

Continuing outside of my comfort zone, but unable to deny the experiences up to that point, I opened up for the first time in my life about the struggles I had dealt with since my teenage years.

In a quick and non-judgmental reply, she stated, “I know.”

Internally smirking, I thought, “Well, I guess you would,” and she continued, “Pornography is a far greater and more common problem than most people recognize, both for men and women. The key thing is to identify the source and break those strongholds so that you can be free.”

Amazed, for the first time being able to discuss this with someone, I was met not with judgment but with the forgiving love of the Lord and compassion for His will. Long story short, this path led to a life survey where we identified the challenges of my past, plus those within my genealogy. This section culminated the afternoon of March 13th, 2021, when I met her pastor, her pastor’s wife, another elder couple from the church, and her over a Zoom call.

After the introductions, her pastor posed his first question: “What are your thoughts on the gifts of the Spirit—healing, tongues, and so forth?” I replied, “Well, I’m not completely opposed, but I see so many exploitations—be it on television, the internet, or elsewhere—so I’m somewhat reluctant.”

He replied, “Well, think about this: the enemy cannot create anything; he can only take what’s true and spin counterfeits. The fact that there are 999 counterfeits proves that there’s one truth. We can’t let the fear of the counterfeits keep us from walking in the one truth, which is the proper balance between Spirit and Truth. Anything that comes to us in the Spirit must match and be found in the Word of God. That’s how we ensure that we stay on the straight and narrow.”

Hearing those words, my mind recognized the wisdom, thereby granting me the confidence to continue. Over the next four hours, we prayed deliberate prayers of renunciation, including renouncing the powers of darkness by name. There were prayers of healing, prophetic words, and intentional specifics that would challenge many Christians within the Western church. As previously stated, I was well beyond my comfort zone. However, faith often calls us to step outside the boat, asking us to do what we once thought impossible. After those four hours, spiritual chains within my life were broken. I have since remained free from the lust of the eyes and the associated sins that accompany them. Presently, that’s three and a half years—the longest period of freedom since first exposure.

Since that afternoon, the Lord has drastically improved my life. I’ve experienced spiritual acts from both the Kingdom of Darkness and the Kingdom of Light. As I grew in my new-found freedom, the greatest battle of my military career was already underway.