Thursday, August 23, 2012

Freedom Beyond Comprehension by Joan Hunter

Okay, here is the deal, dear readers.  I comited to reviewing this book for First Wild Card Reviews.  However, when I agreed to do it, I didn't realize it was coming from the point of view of a healing ministry.  I read the subtitle, "Severing Your Painful Past" and thought it might contain some useful tidbits for the many women I counsel who are trying to move beyond their history into the life Christ has for them.

Ms. Hunter is extremely passionate about what she believes.  As a person who is also unshakeably passionate in what I believe, I really respect that.  I do believe very strongly that the Lord miraculously heals today, but I do not believe that it is in the hands of a faith healer or a healing ministry.  I believe He does so in answer to prayer and for many different reasons including to strengthen the faith of a believer and to lead others to salvation.  We saw this in the life of our Nathaniel when he was just one year old and I love to share with people how the Lord used both his illness and his healing to strengthen our family in our walk with God.

Furthermore, I do not believe that all illness is the cause of some trauma or sin in someone's life.  I very much believe that all things happen only with the Lord's permission but they happen for many different reasons.  Look at Job.  There was no trauma or sin in Job's life to cause his illness.  Satan asked permission and the Lord granted it.  And for what?  To bring glory and honor to the God who healed and restored Job.  The God of all allowed it in order to show His power to the accuser and to show the faithfulness of God's servant to Satan and to all students of the Bible.

So while, Ms. Hunter has some good points such as the importance of letting go of our past and forgiving wrongs in our life,  I could not recommend her book because of the underlying themes based on her interpretation of the scriptures which contradict very strongly with my own belief system.  While I believe the gift of healing was very active and true in Jesus day and the early days of the church, I believe it was a gift given to prove God's power as well as the authority of Jesus and the Apostles.  I furthermore believe it is a gift, along with tongues and prophecy which ceased when the Bible was complete.

But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.  1 Corinthians 13:10

I want to be clear to explain that I know a number of good Christians who I find very encouraging in this walk who believe in the modern day gift of healing.  They base their salvation on the grace of Christ alone from the cross of Calvary.  I do not intend in any way to discount Joan's love for the Lord or her desire to see souls won for Him.  I do not intend to profane her name.  I just want to be clear I do not believe everything bad in our lives needs to be cast out or that there is a person, aside from Jesus Christ himself, who can cast it out today.

  It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!

You never know when I might play a wild card on you!



Today's Wild Card author is:


and the book:

Whitaker House (July 16, 2012)

***Special thanks to Cathy Hickling of Whitaker House for sending me a review copy.***

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Joan Hunter is president of Joan Hunter Ministries, a healing evangelist, bestselling author, wife, mother, and grandmother. As the daughter of the world renowned “Happy Hunters,” known and beloved for their gifts of healing and supernatural joy, Joan was trained and anointed for ministry at an early age. Today she carries on and expands the family legacy holding miracle services and healing schools worldwide addressing emotional and practical needs as well as spiritual and physical healing. The mission of Joan Hunter Ministries is “to equip believers to take the healing power of God beyond the walls of the church to the four corners of the earth.”


Visit the author's website.


SHORT BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Trauma impacts just about everyone at one point or another. Sometimes it leaves behind visible scars; other times it leaves its footprint on the soul, imbedding itself in the form of painful memories that interfere with healthy thought processes and emotions. Writing as one who has been there, Joan Hunter addresses trauma-related issues whether they’re the result of physical violence or emotional pain that just won’t heal. Joan shares how she and many others have recovered from trauma by replacing painful memories with positive thoughts, learning to escape stress, renewing the mind, and accepting the unconditional love of God who wants all of his children to be healed and whole! Start the recovery process today with Joan Hunter.


Product Details:
List Price: $13.99
Paperback: 144 pages
Publisher: Whitaker House
Language: English
ISBN-10: 160374505X
ISBN-13: 978-1603745055


AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:

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Chapter 1
THE TOLL OF TRAUMA
Trauma is one of the most common causes of illness. It has incredible power to open the doors of our bodies to sickness. When you experience something traumatic, it’s kind of like an emotional earthquake in your body. It causes everything to “shift,” and not in a good way. The 9.0-magnitude earthquake that shook Japan in 2011 actually caused the earth’s axis to shift.[1] And that’s what happens in our bodies and minds where trauma is concerned. Trauma gets our bodies out of alignment. It disturbs the electrical, chemical, and magnetic frequencies of the human system. And then, before we know it, stress comes on the scene and produces stress hormones, which inhibit the function of the immune system. That’s why we hear so many prayer requests for autoimmune diseases.
It’s important for you to fortify your immune system and its functions, because you’re exposed to sickness wherever you go. Shopping at the mall, traveling by plane, and even sitting at home, you come across a myriad of germs and bacteria. And there is only so much you can do to protect yourself. So, it’s important to keep your immune system strong. But it won’t be strong as long as you’re suffering the aftermath of trauma. In this chapter, we’re going to explore how to be healed of trauma and its far-reaching effects.
It Isn’t “Just in Your Head”
Trauma manifests in multiple forms. Just do a Google search of the term “trauma” or “cellular memory” to learn about the physical effects of trauma, even trauma that was not physical in nature. After someone goes through a traumatic experience, ill effects manifest usually within six months to a year. And it is documented that when trauma comes in, it affects every cell in your body and will remain inside your cells until you die—unless God takes it away.
It is legitimate to make a connection between emotional trauma and physical symptoms. Take, for example, the medical condition takotsubo cardiomyopathy—more commonly referred to as “broken heart syndrome.” According to the Mayo Clinic, this condition, also called stress cardiomyopathy, is a “heart condition brought on by stressful situations, such as the death of a loved one.”[2] The clinic goes on to say that someone suffering from broken heart syndrome may experience sudden chest pain and suspect that he or she is having a heart attack, due to the heart’s reaction to an influx of stress hormones in the body.
Earthquake Babies
After the devastating earthquake that shook Haiti in January 2010, I wanted to go down and pray for the people within six months of the disaster. Praise God, I was able to travel there less than four months after it happened. I prayed with the people, casting out the spirit of trauma from approximately 1.1 million individuals, and trained 700 pastors to do the same in their own congregations. We visited orphanages, hospitals, and nurseries where babies were being delivered in one big room, and we prayed over the newborns, casting out the trauma they had experienced from the earthquake, which had occurred while their mothers were still pregnant with them.
Just before the earthquake hit, arrangements had been made for some unborn babies to be adopted by American families. When these babies were between seven and nine months of age, reports starting coming in from their adoptive parents, saying, “We don’t know what is going on with these babies. They are screaming in anger, raging, hitting us, biting, and demonstrating unbelievable hatred, and we don’t know what to do.” These parents were even considering sending the babies back to Haiti. Why were the babies acting this way? Because they had been traumatized while still in the womb.
Trauma Housed in the Heart
There was a woman who was having heart problems, and it came down to her needing a heart transplant. When she received the phone call informing her that a heart was ready for her, she was extremely excited. After the surgery, she stayed at the hospital, and, the first night, she had a horrific nightmare of being stabbed to death. This nightmare repeated itself for the following two nights, and her killer was the same person each time. So, the hospital contacted the police and brought them in to do a composite sketch of the person in her dream, according to her description. It ended up matching the features of the man who had murdered the person from whom she had received her new heart. That person had been stabbed to death, and that violent act was the last memory the person had experienced. The man was convicted of murder and is now in jail.
There was another lady who had a heart transplant and also was having recurring nightmares. Hers featured a license plate—the same number every night. The police were contacted and the plate number reported. Shortly thereafter, the police located the car and asked permission to search it. The driver said, “Sure, why not?” In the trunk, they found bloodstains which, when tested for DNA, matched the person whose heart the woman had received. The donor’s uncle, who killed her, had thought she was already dead, and he’d thrown her in the trunk. As she was being shoved inside, she had seen the license plate, and the image of the number had been burned on her heart. That man was convicted and sentenced to time in prison.
That’s the power of trauma. The same thing can happen to you. If your heart was transplanted in someone else, what kinds of trauma would that individual inherit? We’re going to deal with the problem of trauma and more in this book.
We all experience traumatic experiences, to some degree. But we don’t have to deal with the repercussions forever.
My Own Traumatic Experiences
The Death of Both Parents
Within a span of two years, I lost both of my parents—my mother in 2009, my father in 2010. My mom passed away on a Tuesday morning, and I was told that my dad would be gone three to six days later.
On the eve of the fifth day, I was overcome with grief and trauma, which manifested physically by the loss of my voice. I was ministering out of town at the time and was scheduled to do a television show the next morning, for which I would need my full vocal capacity. So, I recognized that the spirits of trauma and grief were trespassing, and I determined that they would not stay in my body.
I went back to my hotel room, took a shower, and declared as loudly as I could, “In the name of Jesus, I curse this spirit of trauma—I curse this spirit of grief—and I command them to be gone. I command my voice to be completely restored, in Jesus’ name.” Then, I shouted, “Hallelujah!”
Not only were my vocal chords restored and my voice returned, but the heaviness of grief was lifted off of me. Plus, the Lord granted me additional time with my dad. I still missed my mom—don’t misunderstand me—but the weight of grief left instantly. If I had not dealt with it immediately, I might not be here today, because the grief and trauma could have crippled me.
An Unsettling Phone Call
Before my husband, Kelley, started traveling full-time with Joan Hunter Ministries, he stayed at home, working and raising his four boys. One day, I called him on his cell phone, and an unfamiliar male voice answered. When he said, “Hello?” I said to myself, No, not again. God, I don’t want to go through this again. God, help me. (You have to understand, prior to my marriage to Kelley, I was married to a man who was a homosexual. I couldn’t bear the thought that Kelley might be having an affair with a man.) Fear gripped my heart, and I was speechless.
After a few moments of silence, the man on the phone said, “Do you want me to get my dad for you?” It was then that I recognized the voice and realized who it was: Kelley’s son Kirk! I just wasn’t accustomed to hearing his voice, which had gotten considerably lower in pitch because of puberty. Moreover, I wasn’t aware that Kirk was staying at the house at the time.
When Kelley got on the phone, he wanted to know why I was crying. How could I tell him? I didn’t until much later. It took a long time for me to come around and be comfortable explaining what had really happened. I was embarrassed that the thought would even cross my mind, because Kelley would never do something like that.
Nevertheless, I was a wreck. It had shocked me to the point of trauma to hear a man other than Kelley answer his cell phone. Some other ladies were traveling with me, and they insisted on praying with me. They told me to put my hand over my heart and to get rid of the trauma. I did, commanding that the spirit of trauma be gone, in Jesus’ name. I knew I couldn’t afford to let the emotional trauma fester, especially since my fears had been unfounded.
Chased by an Alligator
I’ll give you another story of personal trauma from my childhood. I was born and raised in the Miami area, and we lived really close to the Miami Serpentarium, a tourist attraction where the founder, Bill Haast, would extract venom from snakes while visitors watched. Bill’s daughter, Naia, went to school with me, and we sometimes got together to play. Every time I went to visit Naia, I got to see the reptiles, since her family lived in the back of the same building that housed the Serpentarium.
One day, we were playing—having “tea,” if I remember correctly—and an alligator got loose and came after us. Alligators are fast, and they’re a lot bigger than they look on television. So, here I am, this little six-year-old, trying to outrun an eight-foot alligator that’s chasing me and my friend. Scared beyond words, Naia and I rushed into her bedroom and slammed the door behind us. That concluded my trauma related to alligators—or so I thought. As it turned out, it was only chapter one.
A few years ago, I attended a book convention in Orlando, Florida. Alligators are commonplace there, and I was not surprised when a voice announced over the loudspeakers that there was an “alligator on the floor.” But I couldn’t get the image of that eight-foot alligator at Naia Haast’s house out of my mind. Nor could I stop picturing him chasing me again. Others were traveling with me, including my stepson Curtis. I said to him, “Look for the alligator, Curtis. Find the alligator. It’s got to be somewhere around here.” I wanted to find it before it found me.
Finally, we learned that the announcement had been a publicity stunt; there was a booth with a baby alligator, only about four feet long, whose mouth had been fastened shut. The alligator’s keeper told me, “You can hold it if you want to.” And I did! I couldn’t believe how soft and smooth its tummy was. All of the fear and trauma had vanished!
The Difference Between Trauma and Grief
When you are delivered from trauma, it doesn’t mean that you forget the source of your grief—the loss of a loved one, for example—or that the experience will not cause you additional pain. That’s not what I’m talking about. I miss being able to tell my mom, a well-known healing evangelist, about all of the incredible miracles that happen in my life. I miss sharing with her, for example, “I went to Haiti, Mom, and it was the biggest crusade our ministries have ever organized.” I miss being able to talk to her. Everywhere I go, people tell me, “I got saved in one of your parents’ services,” or “I got the baptism of the Holy Ghost in one of your mom and dad’s services.” I missed her at my daughter’s wedding. Every once in a while, I cry about things like that. But, please understand, my feelings are free from heaviness and trauma. There is a difference.
I want to remain completely free of trauma and unhealthy stress. And it’s important for you to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you, too, can remain trauma free! Situations will happen. Problems will arise. People you love will pass away. The longer you live, the more people you will see die. It’s sad, but—praise God—I’m almost sixty years old, and I’m getting younger all the time.
Deliverance Is Possible
We have the ability to break free from trauma through the power of God. Trauma is wreaking havoc in the bodies of countless people, and the only effective way of dealing with it is through prayer—through seeking the divine Physician. No human doctor has the ability to get inside our cells and scrape away all traces of the trauma. God alone has the power to do this.
One of the partners of 4 Corners Alliance, an apostolic group, had a friend in need of a kidney transplant. All of a sudden, a kidney became available, and she wondered why. Sure enough, there had been a horrendous murder the night before. She decided to lay hands on the container in which the kidney was being stored before the organ was put into her friend’s body. As she did, she said, “I command that all traumas leave this kidney before it goes into my friend’s body.” It was a picture-perfect transplant, with minimal swelling and no infections whatsoever. The organ just “popped” in, almost as if God had performed the surgery. And there were no nightmares or other evidence of residual trauma or cellular memory.
This case, as well as the other cases of transplanted hearts mentioned earlier, has been documented and verified by the medical community. Let me reemphasize that trauma is real, and it isn’t an experience that’s merely metaphysical—it has physical implications. Trauma comes in and produces stress, which produces stress hormones, and these have the power to destroy the immune system if they are not dealt with properly—in other words, if they are not given over to God for healing.
Turn It Over to God
When we turn our trauma over to God, He cleans out every cell with a “Holy-Ghost scalpel” and removes every ounce of trauma from our bodies. It works—hallelujah!
If you are praying for someone who has just come through a traumatic experience, say, “In the name of Jesus, I curse the spirit of trauma and command that it be gone. In Jesus’ name, I command that any effect of the trauma be completely turned around and that this body be restored.” Then, begin speaking the chemicals back into alignment; command the electrical and magnetic frequencies to go back into alignment. When you do that, it causes all kinds of things to be turned around and restored to their proper state.
My book Healing the Whole Man Handbook includes a chapter that deals with the electrical and magnetic frequencies in the human body.[3] In that chapter are prayers for the immune system. I pray for my immune system every day, saying something like this: “In the name of Jesus, I thank You that my immune system is doing what it is supposed to be doing.”
As we discussed at the beginning of this chapter, our bodies’ electrical and magnetic frequencies can be disrupted when traumatic “earthquakes” happen within our systems. Because of humanity’s rebellion against God and subsequent fall, even when we haven’t experienced trauma, we do not have the standard electrical and magnetic frequencies pulling on our bodies, as Adam and Eve originally had. There are people who wear magnetic necklaces, bracelets, shoes, soles, and other components in order to enhance their bodies’ equilibrium. Some people say that this practice is of the devil. It’s not of the devil; it’s a legitimate method of helping to restore the body to its proper balance of electrical and magnetic frequencies.
I can command, in Jesus’ name, that my body be in perfect harmony and balance, electrically and magnetically, without having to purchase expensive copper bracelets and such. I am not against these things, however.
Restore the Proper Balance
Those individuals with bipolar disorder have often experienced something traumatic that caused their bodies to be thrown off-kilter, chemically speaking. In these cases, it is necessary to curse the spirit of trauma and the spirit of bipolar disorder and to command the chemicals to return to harmony and balance.
To do this, place your hand on one side of your forehead and, as you move it from one side to the other, say, “In the name of Jesus, I remove the stigma of bipolar disorder.” You should also curse any addictions to prescription medications.
Earthquakes can cause the planet to get off-kilter, and we need to do what we can to keep our bodies in proper balance. The body’s pH is another area where balance is needed. When we experience stress, it produces acid, which causes our pH level to swing in one direction. It’s important that we keep the proper amount of alkaline in our bodies, or the acid may cause ulcers or produce acid reflux. We must simply command our acid level to go down and our pH to return to its proper balance.
At a seminar where I was teaching, the organizers had everyone present take a pH test. Each of us was given a little spoon on which to put some of our spittle, as well as a piece of litmus paper, one type of pH indicator, to measure the alkaline and acidic levels of our saliva.
Next, each of us was given a small amount of fresh, undiluted lemon juice to swish around in our mouth, after which we tested our spittle yet again.
My results were normal the first time, and, only five minutes after I had filled my mouth with something that was highly acidic, my results were again normal—my body’s pH had returned to its natural level in almost no time at all. Because of my strong immune system and low stress level, my pH measurement returned to normal extremely quickly. This was evidence of how well my body can handle stress. Some of the other people present were extremely stressed, and it was evident in the pH levels in their saliva.
It’s amazing, but our spittle is one indicator of how our bodies handle stress. One lady testified, “Mine came back perfect, and it’s because I read Joan Hunter’s book Power to Heal.” I responded, “Yes, praise God for bringing that pH balance back into alignment.” I know what to do when stress comes on the scene—how to deal with it and get rid of it for good.
By the power of God, we can nip trauma in the bud. We can curse the trauma and the stress, as well as whatever brought them on: grief, loss, rejection, abuse, and so forth. We don’t want to open the door to schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, agoraphobia, depression, fibromyalgia, a suppressed immune system, or anything of that nature. And this is one reason why we strive to get to the root of the problem before it grows into something disproportionately big.
Depression plunges many people into a bipolar personality disorder or chronic fatigue. For them, getting out of bed can be the most difficult thing to do. Romans 13:11 says, “And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep [out of depression]; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed” (nkjv).
It is now time to “awake” from depression. As Christians, we have hope in Jesus Christ. Someone may protest and say, “If you only knew why I am depressed.” That’s exactly why I am talking to you right now. It doesn’t matter what occurred to cause your depression, your grief, your trauma, or your stress. What matters is that you allow the blood of Jesus to comfort you, cleanse you, and heal you. And you can do this only as you release whatever it is that brought about your depression, handing it over to Jesus to deal with.
Delivered from Trauma
By cursing the trauma and turning it over to God, countless people have broken free from the bondage of pain and launched new lives in freedom. The following are just a few examples to serve as inspiration and encouragement. You, too, can be delivered from trauma!
A Woman Healed of Childhood Trauma
I was ministering in Canada when a woman came up to me and said, “I want you to pray for me.” I said, “Okay, no problem.” She went on to explain that when she was a young girl, her parents placed her in an orphanage. The institution ran out of cribs, so, when she was two or three, she was sleeping in a “big girl” bed. Without any bars to keep her in, she had a tendency to get up out of bed and wander around. The staff at the orphanage wanted to keep her in the bed, and so they put her in a straightjacket and strapped her to the bed. She had to wait until morning to go to the bathroom.
As you can imagine, the experience was traumatic. So, here she was, extremely traumatized. I asked her to cross her arms over her chest, as if she were in a straightjacket. “I can’t! I can’t!” she screamed. I said, “If you’ll give me about three minutes, you will be completely free.” She said, “Okay, okay, okay,” and she managed to place her hands across her chest. Then, I told her that I was going to squeeze her really tight, and she would be free. I used my arms like the straps of a straightjacket and held her really tight as I said, “In the name of Jesus, I curse this spirit of trauma and fear, and I command it to go in Jesus’ name.” I released my hands, and she crumpled to the floor. Moments later, she got up and said, “It’s gone! It’s gone!”
For years, she hadn’t been able to be hugged by her husband. Now that she was free, she could go home and embrace him with open arms and without any fear. Hallelujah!
A Star Swimmer Regains His Winning Streak
My friend Debby Fry Wilson sent me the following testimony about her son.
In February 2011, my son, Hunter, was swimming in the Washington State high school championships. We were very hopeful because the year before, as a ninth grader, he was one of only a handful of freshmen to make finals at the state championships. So, we went into the meet feeling very optimistic. And, indeed, in the preliminaries, he swam great and made the finals in all his events.
But, after Hunter swam his last event at prelims—his signature event, the 100-meter backstroke—we noticed he was doubled over on the pool deck, clutching his hand. Apparently, he had swum so fast that he’d smashed his hand into the wall of the pool on his finish.
The next day, Hunter was trying to warm up for finals, and he was in so much pain that we rushed him to the emergency room. The doctor said he had a hairline rotated fracture from the base of his index finger to the top of his hand.
The problem was that in a couple of hours, he had to swim in two individual finals, as well as in the team medley relay final, an event in which the team was ranked in the top three in the state. He could give up his individual events, but if he didn’t swim the medley relay, his relay team—three other boys and himself—would have to give up their big opportunity at the state championships.
The doctor said that if Hunter decided to swim, he chanced completely separating the fracture and might require surgery. He offered to tape Hunter’s hand to help.
We prayed for a miracle and put our faith in God.
Hunter jumped in the water and did the underwater pullout on his leg of the medley relay—breaststroke—and, in that movement, he completely separated the bone. He later said he felt the bone completely crack apart and that the pain was excruciating. But Hunter kept swimming, and his relay team placed. He ultimately had to give up one of his individual events and managed to struggle through the other.
In the next couple of days, we learned of the severity of damage to Hunter’s hand, which was more devastating than we’d thought possible. Hunter required surgery and had three screws permanently drilled into his hand bones to put it all back together.
In the last twelve months, we’ve watched Hunter struggle with swimming and noticed that he’ll always be winning a backstroke race until the last twenty-five yards, only to lose in the last couple of yards—by a hair, even though he is fast enough to win these races and more.
A calendar year went by, and it was time again for the Washington State high school swimming championships. We all worried about what would happen there.
We had the revelation, based on Joan’s teachings, that Hunter must have been traumatized by what happened to him and was afraid of hitting the wall again, so he was letting up on his finishes.
We texted Joan and asked for prayer for Hunter, and we followed her instructions and repeated the prayer over Hunter to curse all trauma and fear.
More importantly, we really released Hunter and his swimming career to the Lord. As much as we would have been thrilled to see Hunter win his events, we realized that we had to let go and let the Lord execute His own plan for Hunter.
In February 2012, Hunter swam the best swims of his life in prelims and in finals. Hunter swam fast enough to be recruited as a backstroker for NCAA division 1 in college and potentially to qualify for the U.S. Olympic trials in four years—and eventually more, if that is the Lord’s plan for him.
We are so blessed to have the Lord answer our prayers over time and to give us revelations through Joan and her teachings. We know that Hunter’s future, in swimming and in life, is in God’s hands.
Feet Are Healed and Pain Is Gone
In Northern Ireland, a lady told me, “My feet hurt so bad. It’s like walking on glass.” But she didn’t have a choice. She had to walk, since she had no wheelchair. Imagine every step you take feeling like broken glass piercing the soles of your feet. She also said that plenty of people had been praying for her, but to no avail. I asked her, “Has anyone prayed about your trauma?” She replied, “No.” I asked her when her feet had started hurting. She said that, five years prior, she’d been in her car, and a street sweeper had come along and inadvertently picked up her car, carrying it down the street. She’d panicked because she couldn’t get out of her car. So, she’d leaned back and used her feet to kick out the windshield. Glass had shattered everywhere, showering her as she climbed out, and her feet had recorded the trauma of that experience.
I said, “In the name of Jesus, I curse this trauma. I command it to be gone.” Within seconds, she was saying, “Thank You, Jesus! Thank You, Jesus!” The pain was gone. When I’d met her, her ankles had been swollen over her shoes, which were at least one size too big to account for her inflamed feet. But, when we parted ways, she could barely keep the shoes on her feet due to how much the swelling had decreased.
No More Gagging
A woman came up for prayer when I was ministering in Myrtle Beach. She said, “I feel like I have something in the back of my throat. It’s hard to swallow. I choke whenever I try to drink liquids.” I said, “Okay, I will pray.” She added, “I recently had surgery—a tongue reduction.” I had never heard of such a procedure before. She went on, “I had a tongue reduction and a couple of other things on the inside of my mouth.”
I soon found out that as she was coming out of the anesthesia, she kept repeating, “I can’t breathe!” The nurses had assured her, “That’s normal—you had a tube down your throat.” She told them that it felt like she was being strangled, but they said, “It’s just the anesthesia. Don’t worry; it’s a normal reaction.” Still, she insisted, “I can’t breathe.” To pacify her, the nurses looked inside her mouth, and they found a piece of gauze they had stuffed there to soak up the blood from her tongue and had forgotten to remove. As a result, her tongue and throat were traumatized.
I said, “In the name of Jesus, I command all the trauma to go.” The woman drank an entire glass of water without choking or gagging. It was the best glass of water she’d had in years.
Healed of Trichotillomania (Compulsive Hair-Pulling)
This powerful testimony comes from a young woman who is about to graduate from high school.
When I was in third grade (eight years old), I began to pull my hair out. Nobody knew why, and I dont even know how it happened. I just started pulling my hair out.
I didnt pull it out in chunks; I pulled my hair one at a time. By the time I was in fifth grade, I barely had any hair.
Kids would ask me if I had tried to cut my hair, and I would lie and tell them thats what I did. My parents had tried everything to get me to stop. They took me to a doctor, who had never seen anything like what I was doing; they prayed for me; they changed shampoos; they tried everything they could think of. Sometimes I would do better about not pulling, but I could never completely stop.
I hated pulling my hair. I felt like the ugliest person, and I hated myself because I couldn’t stop. By the time I started my freshman year, I had given up hope that I would ever be able to stop, and I felt like I was the only one in the world with this problem. Then I met Kris Boston. She attends the same church I do, and she went up to my mom and asked if I pulled my hair out, because she did also. She had pulled for twenty years and desperately wanted to stop, like myself. I cant even explain how it feels to have somebody there for you who knows exactly what youre dealing with.
We began to send messages back and forth to each other. Then, in March 2009, Joan Hunter came to our church for special services. I was excited to go, and the first night was an awesome service, but I didnt go up to get prayed for. I was skeptical because I had been prayed for about pulling my hair many times before. Saturday night, during the entire service, I felt like I needed to get prayed for, and Kris came up to me near the end of the service and asked if I wanted to go with her after the service to have Joan pray for us. I said yes.
As soon as the service ended, we went and found Joan and explained our situations, and she prayed for us. She cursed the spirit of trauma, fear, and rejection. As soon as she began to pray for me, I felt a really warm feeling all over, and also the sense that a huge weight had been lifted off me. I felt happy; I wasnt even sure why. Kris told me she felt the same feelings come over her when she was prayed for. I knew when I got home that my struggle was over and I wouldnt pull my hair anymore. That was three years ago, and Kris and I both proudly have full heads of hair.
Maegan Jewell
A Man with Schizophrenia Released to Minister Healing to Others
I met a man I’ll call Frank who had been to a healing school. I prayed over him in Jesus’ name and anointed him. The next day, I found out that he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. I said, “That’s easy,” by which I meant that it was easy for God.
Schizophrenia is a condition that is brought on by trauma. Individuals with schizophrenia endured a trauma after which they formed a sort of shield around themselves—an alter ego or personality to hide behind, a wall that keeps them safe. Schizophrenics lead lonely lives, but at least other people leave them alone.
When I prayed for Frank again at the healing service, I said, “Father, in the name of Jesus, I curse this trauma, fear, abandonment, abuse, and rejection; I command it all to go. And I curse the spirit of schizophrenia, in Jesus’ name, and I command the chemicals in this body to return to normal, in Jesus’ name. Thank You, Jesus. Amen.”
After the service, I asked Frank’s pastors about the trauma he had experienced. I found out that when he was three years old, his mother had doused herself with gasoline and burned herself to death right in front of him. Upon her death, his father had gotten custody of the kids, and Frank’s upbringing had been even more horrendous than watching his mother burn to death, if you can believe that. As a result, he’d built a shell to hide behind.
I had prayed for him on Sunday. The next day, he was back at the home where he lived, and he was doing well; plus, the church had been counseling him for five years. He was doing so well, they had provided him with toenail clippers, which is a big step in that home, and his job was to trim the toenails of other residents at the home. So, a man was lying on the table, waiting for Frank to clip his toenails, when Frank noticed that one of his legs was short. Frank asked him, “Do you have a back problem?” The man answered affirmatively. Frank prayed for him, and he was healed! Frank was so excited, he could hardly stand it. He wanted to pray for every person who needed healing.
A woman with a swollen ankle came limping down the hall. Up close, one could see that her ankle was a pretty shade of purple—pretty for fabric, that is. Frank said, “May I pray?” The woman responded, “Sure, what’s it going to hurt?” He knelt down and prayed for her ankle. Within seconds, the ankle returned to its normal size and shade, and all the pain was gone.
Then, Frank went to church, where he was viewed by other people in one of two ways: God can’t use Frank because he has schizophrenia or If Frank can do it, I can do it, too! Frank said, “I know Joan prayed for me, I know she laid hands on me, but I really, really didn’t think God could use me.” He was totally, completely set free from schizophrenia. Hallelujah!
Freed from the Trauma of Agoraphobia
There was a lady who came to a meeting in Florida, but she couldn’t bring herself to come inside the church because she had agoraphobia, which is defined by Merriam-Webster’s 11th Collegiate Dictionary as “abnormal fear of being helpless in an embarrassing or unescapable situation that is characterized especially by the avoidance of open or public places.” So, she just sat in the foyer with her dog. The woman has a multimillion-dollar company, and one of her employees was a member of this church. This employee explained that her boss ran her business out of her home, where she felt safe; her conviction was that every time she would go out, something horrific would happen. What a lonely life! For protection, she took her dog along whenever she did venture out—to check the mail, for example. She never did anything by herself.
When she came to the church on that Friday night, I was informed that she was in the lobby, so I went out there and prayed for her. I cursed the spirit of trauma and fear and commanded the agoraphobia to go, in Jesus’ name. On Sunday morning, she came back to the church, this time by herself! Hallelujah! She was totally free. What an awesome work of God!
Healed of Abandonment Issues
I was ministering at a church, and I said, “Who would like to be healed as a demonstration?” A lady came forward, and I started speaking to her, but she wouldn’t make eye contact with me; she kept her focus on her husband, who was seated in the second or third row. I thought to myself, This is not going to work. Then, I turned her around so that she could no longer see her husband.
Yet, as I talked to her and asked her questions, she kept turning around! I thought, What is going on here? I soon found out that she had experienced the trauma of abandonment as a child, and, as a result, she feared that her husband would leave her, even while she was standing with me at the front of the church. They had been married for more than forty-five years, and he’d never left her, yet she was petrified that he would! Every morning when he left for work, she experienced a panic attack. Can you imagine leaving your wife while she’s having a panic attack every workday for forty-five years? In public restrooms, she was stricken with fear and insisted that her husband stand just outside the door so that they could communicate, giving her reassurance that he was not going to leave her while she was in the restroom.
Talk about a controlling spirit of fear brought on by the trauma of abandonment and perpetuated by a dread of future abandonment! She could not handle it. He hadn’t left her in over forty-five years, but she still couldn’t shake the fear that he would leave her today. God bless that man!
I prayed for the spirit of trauma and abandonment to come out. A few days later, I received an e-mail from the woman. She said that they got up one morning, and her husband said, “Would you go to the local drugstore and get me a newspaper?” And she said, “Sure.” She got in the car and drove to the store, only to find that it hadn’t opened yet. While she was waiting, other cars pulled up in the parking lot. She knocked on the window of one of the cars and asked the driver, “May I pray for you while we are waiting?” And she did that to every other car in the lot. Then, when the store opened, she went inside, purchased a newspaper, and returned to her car. As she was driving home, she said to herself, “I’m really healed!” She had left her husband at home! A few months later, she was driving several hours to attend my meetings, all by herself. That’s freedom.
Healed of Injuries Sustained in an Auto Accident
I prayed for a lady who had been in a car accident in which another car had T-boned hers. Although she had sustained no specific injuries, her body was in excruciating pain. I did not pray for her healing. Instead, I said, “In the name of Jesus, I command the trauma that the left side of this body is experiencing to go.” Just like that, the trauma was gone, and so was the pain.
Beauty Restored by the Departure of Trauma
I prayed for another woman who had been in a terrible car accident that had destroyed her face at the age of fourteen. Her head had been propelled forward into the windshield. Thanks to skilled plastic surgeons, today, her face has no signs of scarring; she is absolutely beautiful. But her body had been so mangled that there was not a single place where she didn’t hurt because of the trauma, and her body had contorted into the shape of the letter C. Everybody in her church had prayed for her. She had been told that she would never walk again, yet, today, she is a gorgeous, tall blonde. You would never guess that she had been in such a terrible accident. We prayed for the trauma to go and for her body to go back into alignment. Her hips had twisted and her collarbone had been broken, but we prayed for realignment, and her body ended up perfect.
After that, she said, “Only one thing: I feel like I have something right here.” I put my hand over her face like a mask, to represent the impression caused by the impact of the windshield, and said, “Father, in the name of Jesus, I command that spirit of trauma to leave her face, and I command that mask to be taken off, in Jesus’ name.” And it was off. She’d felt like she’d had a clamp on her arm for many years, but she was set free when we cast off the spirit of trauma.
Sleeping Patterns Restored
I prayed for the leader of a church in Illinois who had not slept in a bed for more than four years—he’d slept only in chairs—and had incurred back injury as a result. Everyone in the church had prayed for him. I said, “In the name of Jesus, I command the spirit of trauma to go.” Immediately, all of the pain and trauma left, and he has slept in his bed ever since.
Trauma Is Serious
Trauma has a truly profound impact on the body. When I pray for people to get healed, the results are phenomenal, but when I pray and cast out the spirit of trauma, it propels people to an entirely new level of deliverance. I have been praying this way for many, many years, but I am bringing it to the forefront now because I am seeing the effects of trauma manifest in people’s lives more noticeably than ever before.
We need to get rid of the trauma. It truly is easier than most people might imagine, especially for those whose hope is in Jesus Christ. He bears our burdens and makes everything easier. He says to each of us, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
Prayer for Release from Trauma
It’s time to get rid of all of the trauma in your life, whether it was caused by an alligator, a car accident, childhood abuse, or something else. Some of you were molested as children. That was traumatic. Some of you were verbally abused by a parent or a teacher. That was traumatic. Some of you have been traumatized by divorce or the loss of a loved one. One simple prayer, below, will cover it all. But I encourage you, after today, to pray over yourself again to be more specific. If I were praying for myself, I’d name the trauma of being chased by an alligator, the trauma of being abandoned by my natural father, and the trauma of being molested by an uncle. Some traumas you may not even be aware of until you get the opportunity to deal with something similar again.
I want you to place your hands over your heart and receive this prayer: “Father, right now, in the name of Jesus, I send the word of healing to each person reading this book. Father, right now, in the name of Jesus, I curse the spirit of trauma and command it to be gone. I curse any feelings of abandonment, of rejection, of abuse, and of worthlessness; I command every bit of that to go. I curse any spirits of hopelessness, depression, and oppression, and I command those to be gone, in Jesus’ name. I speak life, health, wholeness, and complete restoration into the life of this person, and I command all of the chemicals to be returned to their proper balance, in Jesus’ name. Amen.”
When you have been freed from trauma, you will find that some of the ailments you were suffering from have gone, as well, because they were caused by trauma. 
Scriptures to Take to Heart
Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses. (Psalm 107:19 nkjv)
You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. (Psalm 32:7)
[Jesus said,] “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28–30)



[1] http://content.usatoday.com/communities/sciencefair/post/2011/03/japan-earthquake-shifted-earth-axis-shorter-day-nasa/1.
[2] http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/broken-heart-syndrome/DS01135.
[3] Joan Hunter, Healing the Whole Man Handbook (New Kensington, PA: Whitaker House, 2005, 2006), 73–76.

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