Deliverance is an essential key to living an authentic Christian life. Jesus made note to tell us, as recorded in the book of Matthew and Revelation that:
“Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles? And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS. “– Matt 7:22
The Realm of Spirit is More Real Than the Natural Realm
I was invited by a man I was involved with, 17 years to the day, to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. All expense paid, hotel, flight, beach action, etc. I was excited and never had much of a doubt on if I should go or not. I went, and eventually we visited the ocean front. The beaches were beautiful, lustrous, and everything I imagined. I decided that I could not resist going into the water, but told myself that I would stay on the edge only. I said to myself, “I won’t go into the deep. I will stay at the edge.” I knew that I did not know how to snorkel so I had no intentions of diving into the deep.
I intended to do just that. However, while I was enjoying the water, I decided to emerge my head underneath to look at the beautiful clear ocean water’s life more clearly. The water was already clear and very blue, but I had gotten comfortable and wanted to go under the water to see more in detail. I thought to myself, “I can swim, Ill stay on the edge, I’ll be good.”
While underwater, I saw a little boy playing, having a good time gathering fish together in groups back to himself. He then came to me and brought a group of fish for me, and I was so amazed! I lifted my head above the water to thank the boy for the beautiful fish but when I lifted my head I was astounded- I no longer knew where I was. I saw no land anywhere around me.
I was deep in the middle of the sea of Cortez. A strong current apparently lifted me throughout the massive body of water so fast that I had no idea how I was there whatsoever.
Waves started caving in, the water grew very rapid and active. I was in the deep beyond my control. I grew exhausted. In that sea I drowned to death.
I drowned to complete death. I remember dying and I especially remember the sound that I heard before I died.
I was a person that went to church, knew about Christ and even worshiped Him in church. I called on the name of the Lord, and to me in my natural mind, because I sang in the choir sometime and went to church sometime; I just knew I was saved. Before and during the trip to Cabo San Lucas, I had one foot in the world and the other foot out. This was something that my natural mind told me to tell God even as I was dying in the sea. I began to bargain with God and tell Him these things, and He would not answer me.
Soon after, I remember dying completely. That is when I began to see demons coming after my soul. They were coming to collect my soul and take it to hell. Then, I looked up and I could see Angels warring for my soul… They were fighting for my soul; for who had the legal right to take my soul for their kingdom’s victory.
I pleaded with God.
I bargained with God.
I was dead, but yet I was still conscious- I still could think I wasn’t in my body completely, I definitely was in a spiritual realm. Eventually, I came to the revelation that I was in the realm of the spirit completely, but absent from my body. I was not in Sheol, because my consciousness could still reason and state my case.
This went on for what seemed to be a long time. The Angels continued to fight and press over the possession of my spiritual body.
“But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” – Jude 1:9
Eventually I ended up on shore. The last word I heard before the sound and before I came back into my body on earth was “Lahaya“.
The word “Lahaya” means “Live“.
A human being, on the Earth, interceded for a person she did not even know prayed that I might live.
And I did just that.
The chord of life is real
Ecclesiastes talks about the chord of life. This Chord is a real element of human-spirit embodiment. After I was placed back into my body I did not feel the same. I walked on the earth, for roughly 6 months, feeling as I was in my body but out of my body at the same time. I was able to travel in the spirit and roam everywhere. It was as if I was in my body but out of my body at the same time.
“For man goes to his eternal home while mourners go about in the street. Remember Him before the silver cord is broken and the golden bowl is crushed, the pitcher by the well is shattered and the wheel at the cistern is crushed; then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it…” – Ecclesiastes 12:6-7
I was not the same, and I wandered for some time. Eventually I found myself at a prayer service a Greater Bethel Church in New York. It was a 5 AM meeting and I did not want to be there at all. I was there anyway, and eventually I heard a woman praying with such conviction of the truth, that in her voice I could hear that she knew the realm of the spirit. She had experienced this realm too.
As I died in the sea, I heard a sound. A sound that I cannot describe. You never forget the sound that you hear as you die. While in the meeting at Greater Bethel, I heard a sound of the spirit. The sound was similar to what I heard as I had laid dead in the sea of Cortez. You cannot fake a sound! I knew the woman praying had been were I had been and knew the realm of the spirit. I searched and ran up to where the woman was. She had prayer cloths and shawls at that time. Before I heard her voice I simply wanted to lay down and go to sleep. When I heard her praying voice I woke up and eventually, she wrapped one of those cloths around me and declared, “get saved for REAL!”
I began to feel whole again from that moment on.
I am now a pastor of a church laboring in my ministry entirely for Christ.
[Watch Pastor Laroya’s Testimony]
Pastor Laroya’s testimony is a shaking, spirit jarring account. Her death experience brought her face to face of the spirit realm and the reality of the forces of darkness.