“Jesus, what is this called?” I asked after my participant had a dreamscape vision of Jesus pulling their shame out of them.
“Boosh,” Jesus replied in the vision.
I pulled out my phone to research the word and discovered it was the biblical Hebrew word for shame.
Shame is a powerful force that I’ve dealt with in several people. Indeed, it has not been uncommon for me to have to help people release their shame to get demons out of them during an exorcism. Once, I even dealt with a demon whose name literally was “Shame.” Whenever he manifested, he looked exactly like what shame feels like. He looked heavy and sleepy. He could hardly keep his eyes open and was constantly falling asleep.
A healthy sense of temporary shame teaches us that we’ve done something wrong so that we can correct our mistakes and not make them again. But most of us overcorrect and make shameful lies our identity. This is especially true of us religious people. Our shame then tries to redefine us and keep us in that heavy, sleepy state. It also teaches us to be quiet about our shame so we can stay stuck in it.
I’ve also worked with people who have carried shame that never belonged with them in the first place. Many have been lied to.
A life of shame is not the life God designed for you. Unlike other spiritual beings, God wants to free you from shame through the power of forgiveness. There is so much more life for you in Jesus, but you’ll first have to forgive the hardest person to forgive: yourself.

Leave a reply to The Power of Identity: Lessons from Tolkien’s Incarnate Angels – The Exorcist's Bestiary Cancel reply