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    Tommy's Demons: A True Story of Spiritual Warfare and Supernatural Intervention
    Tommy's Demons: A True Story of Spiritual Warfare and Supernatural Intervention
    Tommy's Demons: A True Story of Spiritual Warfare and Supernatural Intervention
    Ebook135 pages2 hours

    Tommy's Demons: A True Story of Spiritual Warfare and Supernatural Intervention

    By TERESA JONES

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Terri Jones lost her brother Tommy on Christmas morning in 2007. After his death, she began having strange dreams and seeing apparitions. During the day, overwhelming feelings of fear and unusual cravings of drugs and alcohol started to plague her, and during the night she and her children were plagued by nightmares that were more real than most people can imagine.

    Terri knew this activity was somehow related to Tommys death, and she also knew that it was demonic in nature. What she didnt know was how to stop the spiritual attacks that were plaguing her home, her children, and her marriage.

    She sought help by visiting many different churches and seeking prayer and guidance from priests, pastors, and friends. Through this experience, Terri learned that angels of God are protecting us even in our darkest hour. Gods character is infallible and his faithfulness to us never wanes, even when our faith is at its weakestor even if our faith is non-existent.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWestBow Press
    Release dateJun 16, 2014
    ISBN9781490834078
    Tommy's Demons: A True Story of Spiritual Warfare and Supernatural Intervention

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      Book preview

      Tommy's Demons - TERESA JONES

      Tommy’s Demons

      A True Story of Spiritual Warfare and

      Supernatural Intervention

      TERRI PURCELL JONES

      Foreword by Rev. Father Calogero N. LaVerde

      Senior priest, ordained in 1970

      29225.png

      Copyright © 2014 Teresa Jones.

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

      Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

      Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™ All rights reserved.

      Author Credits: Terri Purcell Jones, Forwarded by Rev. Father Calogero N. LaVerde, Senior Priest, Ordained since 1970

      WestBow Press books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

      WestBow Press

      A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

      1663 Liberty Drive

      Bloomington, IN 47403

      www.westbowpress.com

      1 (866) 928-1240

      Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

      Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

      Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

      ISBN: 978-1-4908-3406-1 (sc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4908-3405-4 (hc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4908-3407-8 (e)

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2014906974

      WestBow Press rev. date: 04/11/2014

      Contents

      Foreword

      Prologue

      Chapter 1   Guardian Angel

      Chapter 2   Growing Up in Atlantic City

      Chapter 3   The Last Time I Saw Tommy Alive

      Chapter 4   Please Come Home

      Chapter 5   Tommy Liked My Speech

      Chapter 6   Strange Happenings

      Chapter 7   They’re Touching My Back and Saying Things, Mom

      Chapter 8   Deliverance

      Chapter 9   Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing

      Chapter 10   Sometimes Lonely, but Never Forsaken

      Chapter 11   Revelations, Visions, Dreams, and Miracles

      Chapter 12   God Is Kind

      Epilogue

      To my brother Tommy

      (Free at last).

      Tomobit.jpg

      "I have been all things unholy. If God can work

      through me, he can work through anyone."

      ~St. Francis of Assisi

      Foreword

      I met Terri on a Christian retreat where I served as chaplain; at the time, she was struggling with her faith and had a strong desire to get closer to Jesus. She later came to be my spiritual directee, and I helped her work through some of her spiritual struggles.

      Terri asked me to read this manuscript and to offer my thoughts about the writing. I agreed. I read it through quickly the first time. Then I went through it a second time to savor the thoughts expressed in—and the undercurrent theme of—the work. My first impression was that the title Tommy’s Demons did not adequately prelude the book’s actual content, as I found the writing to describe the author’s struggle with her own demons rather than her brother’s.

      When I brought this to Terri’s attention, she explained that Tommy’s death led to strange activity in her home, which is what initiated her search for a deeper connection to God. She felt that the title should stay, but she said that she’d add a subtitle to better describe the book’s content. She then added this: A True Story of Spiritual Warfare and Supernatural Intervention.

      This book, however, is not an autobiography; it is more appropriately described as a story of one soul struggling to get to Jesus from the darkness. For the ordinary person whose faith is a serious spiritual walk, this book is understandable and comforting. One can easily identify with Terri’s struggle—even those who have not personally experienced what Terri has gone through. This book will serve as a preparation guide to help you understand your own road to Jesus. You will find this book to be a spiritual gem.

      —Father Cal

      Prologue

      Tommy is my brother and seven years my senior; he’s the oldest of five children. In order of birth, there’s Tommy, Kathy, Eddie, Terri (me), and my younger sister, Valerie. We are all about two years apart in age. I never heard the expression spiritual warfare until after my brother’s death in 2007, which is when my difficulties began. My search for answers led me to discover this term. After Tommy died, strange activity began in my home. I knew that it somehow had to do with his passing, but I didn’t understand what it was or why it was happening.

      When all of this began, I went to a local nondenominational church and spoke to the head pastor. I didn’t tell him about the demonic activity in my home, but I told him about my family problems. After he prayed, he looked up, paused, and said, Spiritual warfare. I didn’t think much of it, because I had never heard that term before, but a few days later, a young woman came and sat next to me on a public bench and asked if she could pray for me. I said yes. She prayed to herself at first, and then, just like the head pastor, she looked up and said, Spiritual warfare.

      I thought, Wow, there are those words again.

      I didn’t want the people of my own town to judge me, so I went to a few churches outside of my community and tried to tell priests and pastors there what was happening. One prayed with me and then sent me on my way. I felt that he just wanted to get me out of there. Most of these priests and pastors said things like, Stress will make you believe something is real when it isn’t, or, You were probably just dreaming, because those types of dreams happen to me sometimes, too. The thing I heard most often, although phrased in many different ways, was, Here at our place of worship, we choose to focus on God and not the Devil. That makes sense, yes; our focus should be on God and not the Devil. However, the Devil was focusing on my family, and I needed help. I was hurt when I turned to pastors and priests for help, only to find that some of them don’t believe in the unseen world that they’re anointed to teach people about. Others believe in spiritual warfare but don’t want to stir up the Devil, so they ignore that side altogether. We Christians are expected to believe in God by faith, not by sight, but some of us conveniently ignore the dark side and pretend that it doesn’t exist.

      I would have liked to ignore that side, too, but I didn’t have a choice.

      I was also unaware of my God-given authority and how to apply it; I needed to be taught. Some things just can’t be ignored, especially when they are in your face, keeping you awake, night after night after night, until, finally, you’ve had enough!

      Death is tragic, but in many ways, Tommy’s death was a blessing to him and to me. People who refuse to believe in a better world beyond this one will have trouble understanding that it is a compliment, not an insult, to say this. Tommy is happier now than he’s ever been, and I’m happy for him. I use the word is because was would imply that he’s gone forever and that I’ll never see him again. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I will see him again.

      In heaven, Tommy is with Jesus. He’s now the person God created him to be.

      Tommy is the only father figure I have ever known. We had a dad, but his choices were not fatherly; they were immoral and destructive to everyone around him. Tommy’s choices were self-destructive and emotionally painful to our family, but he didn’t bring everyone down with him. Underneath his pain and bad choices, he had morals, which our father did not.

      Our dad died in May of 1997 when my oldest son, Kevin, was about a year old. Tommy loved and missed our dad; he had lived and worked with him and was closer to him than I was. I really didn’t know our dad very well, because, as we got older, my brothers Tommy and Eddie went to live and work with him, while Valerie and I lived with my mom. Kathy had moved out and been on her own since the young age of about eighteen. The last time I saw Tommy, he said, I miss Dad. I wouldn’t mind seeing him if I could. Looking back, I think he may have somehow known that he’d be crossing over soon and was possibly giving me some foresight.

      I know that Tommy hoped to see our dad over there, but I’m not sure if he will, because Tommy seemed like a person who knew God, but our dad seemed far from God. However, that’s between them and God, and I have no business meddling in such matters—just as Jesus told Peter not to meddle in matters that concerned John, a disciple whom Jesus loved.

      Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them and he said, Lord, who is going to betray you? When Peter saw him, he asked, Lord, what about him? Jesus answered, If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me. (John 21:20–21)

      What Jesus is saying here is not to be concerned with others and God’s purpose for them; we must keep our eyes on Jesus and stay focused on our individual purpose that God has preset for each of us.

      Even when Tommy was not in his right mind because of using alcohol or drugs, he still loved and protected his younger siblings—and he loved our mom very much. He was there for us as much as he could be. Nothing took away the real Tommy; he was always under there somewhere, crying to get out and wanting to be the person he was created to be. But, like most of us, he never quite knew how to

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