Odd Situations and Justin Bieber

About a year and a half ago in a Sunday afternoon service we had a young lady named Jazmin and her mother come visit us. They looked very rough and it was obvious that the daughter was a little off. She had the whole blank stare thing going on and her clothes....well, less wasn't more in this case. She also had ribbons wrapped around her arms and waist.

Before Sis. Marisol got the Holy Ghost, she was very involved with the Catholic church and the demonic things that went on there. Sis. Marisol knew exactly what was going on with this young lady because she'd been through it herself. She'd had priests tell her that these ribbons were for protection against anyone that would try to cast a spell or practice witchcraft against her. Jazmin also had a necklace of the Virgin of Guadalupe (supposedly Jesus' mother). We had quite the odd altar call with Jazmin there, but after church some saints gathered around her and we began to pray. El Pastor asked her if she wanted to be delivered and she began to cry. She said yes she did, however, after a few seconds of praying she'd open her eyes, and with that creepy blank stare she'd say, "I see her! There she is!" We assumed she was reffering to the spirit she had. She said it's name was "Ades".  

Praying for Jazmin

Sis. Marisol did an awesome job of coaching and telling her to just concentrate on telling Jesus she wanted to be free. After a couple of minutes, Sis. Marisol motioned to someone to go get her some scissors. She began to cut the ribbons off of Jazmin, unraveling them from her wrists, stomach, and neck. She also cut the Virgin necklace off and when she did, Jazmin began to gag. And well.......you can imagine....

Cutting the ribbons off her wrists

Some of the ribbons and necklaces that Jazmin was wearing

Jazmin and her mother invited us over the next day to pray for their house. They knew they had spirits in their house, but said they wanted to be free of them. So the next day we went over and visited them. Jazmin came over and hugged all of us, saying she felt so peaceful and had slept through the night for the first time in years. She told Sis. Marisol, "You forgot to cut the ribbons off my feet!" As she led us into the house Jazmin pointed out her room. It has a chain and lock on the outside. She led us inside, sat in a chair and took her boots off. Sis. Marisol began cutting again, telling her that these ribbons were connected to spirits and to never wear them again. Jazmin spoke in a soft, child-like voice, agreeing with everything Sis. Marisol said.

The mother explained to us that Jazmin suddenly changed to this wild girl when she was thirteen years old. She had been seen on the road by our house throwing herself in front of the cars passing by. In the middle of our visit, Jazmin randomly told us that her dad had died, but that she was glad. Obviously something very wrong had happened and possibly was still happening in that house.

Removing the ribbons from Jazmin's ankles

El Pastor read them some verses against worshiping images and idols. Jazmin agreed whole-heartedly when my dad explained that there are spirits behind these idols.

‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

El Pastor told them that if they wanted to be free of these spirits, they had to get rid of the images on the walls. Jazmin pleaded with her mother right then and there to please take them down so we could burn them. She said she "didn't want to be like this anymore" and wanted to "get rid of them once and for all", but sadly the mom refused. She had plenty of excuses of why she couldn't get rid of them.

There was nothing more we could do after that. Jazmin had been delivered from whatever spirit she had, but unfortunately the damage had already been done. We were talking with them when Jazmin told us she'd be right back. A couple minutes later she returned holding a stack of papers and magazines. She showed us a picture cut out of a magazine of her "boyfriend", Justin Timberlake and her "sisters", Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. We all laughed and told her that wasn't true. She looked like a deer caught in the headlights for a moment, then adamantly insisted it was the truth. She then pulled out another picture of an immodestly dressed celebrity and said this was her. We looked at this picture, shocked. Jazmin was wearing the same type of boots, pants and half-shirt that this woman had on in the picture!!

Mary-Kate and Ashley, Jazmin's "sisters"

During this visit, she vacillated between reality and her created world of fame and "celebritydom". She informed us that she really was this famous woman in the picture she held, but that the reason she didn't look like her was because she was currently wearing colored contacts, had tanned her skin and dyed her hair. There was no use trying to convince her otherwise.

Just the other day, Lolita saw Jazmin on the street and stopped to chat with her. She had a baby a few months ago and Lolita asked how it was doing. Jazmin said it was doing well so Lolita asked when she could come over to see it and bring a gift. Jazmin giggled and responded, "Oh you can't, Justin Bieber will get mad!" (She claims he is the father).

Her and her brothers still come to church occasionally and it is always a to-do. Especially with the brothers. They stare at us with their mouths open and mimic what everyone else in the church does. Clapping, raising their hands, praying.......all with their eyes open. It is sad to see them and what the devil has done to their family. They are all grown adults, but have the minds of children. One of the brothers came to church just last night, sat on the front row and started ogling as usual. Unfortunately I was on the piano and got a terrible case of the giggles.

It is interesting, all the different kinds of people that we get to work with here. Of course, this has got to be one of the oddest, but still...there is no such thing as a hopeless situation.