He was a very intelligent man. His IQ was 167 which is genius level. He easily obtained a PHD and was a university professor for a while. His future was bright, and he was probably due to make some great contributions to society and maybe even the world.

But he had a fatal flaw.

It was hard for him to relate to people to such an extent that he moved off into the woods and dwelt in a tiny cabin without any electricity or water for 25 years. During a 17 year period, this man turned against his family, writing them angry letters. He turned against institutions and individuals sending them packages containing explosives that killed three people and maimed others. He became nationally known as the Unabomber.

Recently, in an article that appears in Issue 411 of THE WEEK Magazine, this man’s brother wrote about his personal relationship with his infamous sibling.

“What’s wrong with my brother that he doesn’t have any friends?” he asked his Mom when he was 7 or 8.

“There’s nothing wrong with your brother,” was her response. “He’s different from you, but everyone doesn’t have to be the same. It’s okay to be different.”

“I know but … sometimes it seems he doesn’t like people.”

His mother, sensing he needed more assurance, sat him down and told him about something that happened before he was born.

“When your brother was just 9 months old—before he was able to talk or understand us—he had to go the hospital because of a rash that covered his little body. In those days, hospitals wouldn’t let parents stay with a sick baby, and we were only allowed to visit him every other day for a couple of hours. I remember how your brother screamed in terror when I had to hand him over to the nurse, who took him away to another room. They had to stick lots needles in your brother, who was much too young to understand that everything being done to him was for his own good. He was terribly afraid, and he thought Dad and I had abandoned him to cruel strangers. He probably thought we didn’t love him anymore and that we would never come back to bring him home again.”

“Son, your brother doesn’t remember what happened to him, I’m sure. He was much too young. But that hospital experience hurt him deeply, and the hurt never went away completely. One thing you must always remember is never to abandon your brother, because that’s what he fears most.”

You may have surmised by now that the man I am talking about is Ted Kaczynski, who is now serving a life sentence for his destructive crimes. His brother, who shared this experience, is David Kaczynski.

There are always reasons people manifest character flaws such as the case of Ted Kaczynski. Thankfully, most are not so destructive; nonetheless, they do cause damage to others and greatly affect an individual’s life. What a different history could have been written had this man received healing and freeing ministry through the Holy Spirit.

Is this man saved? I do not know, but I can tell you this, I have encountered many, many Christians who have almost as severe character problems. Are they saved? Yes. Do they have the Holy Spirit? Yes, in most cases. Are they trying to follow the Lord? Certainly, some are involved in the ministry.

How can this be?

It can be because of buried or hidden wounds caused by influences while in the womb or early childhood, such as the case of Ted Kaczynski. Some traumas come later, such as we are seeing with our returning military, but they still render damage to the soul and can destroy a life.

A man, who was a part of our ministry for a period of time, was greatly blessed with skills to do many things. He was so creative, he invented an attachment that integrated into a vehicle’s electrical system but was uniquely useful for work in remote locations.

Having the extra space at the time, I allowed this brother to set-up a shop to produce his product on our campus since he and his wife needed to move from a house that had been provided for them.

He was a blessing to our ministry by helping with remodeling and repairs around the campus. He also helped develop our video ministry at the time.

He was a very likeable, energetic man, and I grew to love him in the Lord. He and his wife had a vision for ministry they shared with me and were believing some day to see it fulfilled.

The brother asked me to minister to him about some of his constant problems, with his marriage, finances and other personal issues. During our second session of ministry, I discerned that this man had been rejected and mentally abused by his earthly father. When I asked him about this, he strongly denied any problem saying his dad was a good man and a minister.

Although, the Lord prompted me to bring this up again during our next time of ministry, the brother refused to accept my discernment and was somewhat angry about me insisting there was a problem. He refused or could not see it.

Along the way, problems in this man’s personal life and business began to come to light. Without going into great detail, I found this brother to be a skilled con-man. Come to find out, he had used his Christian title to seduce other believers to let he and his wife live in their houses, obtain parts for his product (but did not pay for them) and borrow money. It was obvious he had some serious personality defects.

One day, his pickup was repossessed while parked in front of our office. During one of our conferences, two men showed-up looking for a copy machine he has leased. They chided me about such Christianity they saw in this man.

The final straw came the day I received a phone call from a Christian brother who had sold this man parts for his invention and had not been paid for months. When he questioned what kind of ministry we were running here, I was grieved but asked him how I could help him. Another surprise came when he explained that there was sixty or so boxes of parts worth thousands of dollars that must be somewhere on our campus. I immediately went to look in the room I had provided for the brother’s business and, sure enough, there were the boxes of parts hidden behind some other materials.

Without delay, I called the Christian vendor, shipped the parts to him and went to confront this brother. I received nothing but denials and excuses. He became highly defensive and soon left our fellowship saying he and his wife had heard the Lord tell them that their time here was over, and they were move on to another ministry.
These are sad stories, I know, but I share them to reveal how demonic forces work in lives of believers and sabotage their personalities. Such personality defects can be evident in Christian believers as well as the Ted Kaczynski’s.

When the Lord comes into our lives, it is only the beginning of what needs to be done. Often times old habits, addictions and profanities fall away, but there is a deeper work the Holy Spirit wants to do. The type for this work is shown in the taking of the Promised Land or Canaan. Our soul, or personality, is our Canaan—the land of our mind, will and emotions. Deep into that land are giants that must be subdued and slain if we are to have dominion. There can be giants of pride, fear, lust, rejection, rebellion, grief, depression, selfishness… The list is almost endless. They don’t just go away because we are now a Christian. In fact, they sometimes grow more aggressive.

Remember, God did not remove the giants for Israel, but told them to take their weapons, attack and slay them themselves.

“When the Lord your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you,  and when the Lord your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them. Deuteronomy 7:1-2

Throughout the years of ministry, we have seen amazing breakthroughs in believers’ lives when the Holy Spirit has given us discernment about early, (and often times) hidden trauma and abusive damage. The Discernments  and Words of Knowledge have been keys to tremendous breakthroughs for  deliverance and healing.

The assumption has been that, when we give our lives over to the Lord, everything is taken care of automatically. Some even believe we automatically receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit. This is not so. Everything from the power of the cross and the written Word must be appropriated or claimed before it can take effect. The giants don’t leave us automatically. If this were so, all Christians would quite different. But others look at us and see very little change except, in some case, religious spirits judging and preaching.

Deliverance is execution of the authority given us through Jesus’ death on the cross. It is the spiritual application of the power that is in the shed blood of our Lord and deliverer. We have not been given something we do not need. We need this authority and power to obtain the full freedom Jesus promised.

Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.  John 8:36