Inner Healing and Deliverance

Foreword

There are no hopeless cases—even if someone is addicted to alcohol, drugs, or perverted sex. Someone’s background and upbringing may have caused the person to flee into a destructive lifestyle. It may seem that there is no way out. But nothing is impossible for God when it comes to mental and physical sicknesses—or any challenge that faces us.
The following pages explain how human beings function and how and why we react or respond to different situations. The author has much experience working as a professional within the field of psychology. She is convinced that if those who work in psychology would also embrace the biblical view of the making and the purpose of humans, many knots for recovery would be dissolved. We believe that Christian counselors should acknowledge the insight of people working in psychology and match that with what the Bible says.
The author writes about a component that is often denied or neglected by well-meaning pastors and others in ministry and counseling—the influence of the devil. If a person has been under demonic influence before experiencing what the Bible calls salvation, she or he might need deliverance even after this experience unless the demons left through the confession of sins in connection with the new birth.
We received this teaching many years ago, and we believed that people could get healed and delivered. We saw that Jesus practiced healing in His earthly ministry and also gave His disciples the same task. We thanked God for the revelation that there was an answer to both mental and physical problems. We were soon met with anger from fellow Christians thinking that we were wrong. This book might be met with the same opposition by some Christians, but the author is willing to face that persecution. She has seen so many healed and delivered through Jesus by her prayers and those of others. That is worth the price of persecution. We experienced the same in our work in the Philippines.
Else Landmark, with her professional background and experience, has given us more insight in the sensitive matter of healing and deliverance. Her humble attitude both to the subject and the people she is serving seems to have been developed through years of hard personal experiences. In her writing she often offers her personal life and family as examples. In her dealing with the whole human as a threefold being—spirit, soul, and body—she gives the reason for the possibility of a Christian being influenced by demons in his or her soul and body, though not possessed. That means that a Christian cannot be totally under the control of the devil. One of her central Bible verses is First Thessalonians 5:23 and is the basis for her teaching about the spirit, soul, and body.
Else wants Christians to be clear in our communication and call a spade a spade; for example, we need to call abortion what it is—murder—and sin needs to be confessed and not excused. A person cannot be freed without speaking the truth—and the Word of God is the Truth.
We believe this book serves as an eye-opener for everyone involved in Christian ministry. The greater compassion we have in helping a suffering humanity, the more we will see God’s kingdom being established on earth.
There are no hopeless cases!
Anne-May and Göte Odekvist
Former missionaries to the Philippines