TEN YEARS IN HELL-MY TESTIMONY
BACKGROUND
Let me give you some background. My name is Scot Ashcroft. I am 60 years young. I accepted the Lord when I was 18 years old. I was called to the Five-Fold Ministry and served as an Assembly of God Pastor and Associate Pastor for 13 years in Iowa and Minnesota years. I was married in 1979 and after 16 years of marriage in 1995 my marriage and pastoral ministry ended. I went through a divorce in 1995. Through mutual friends and I know the divine will of God I met Ginelle at a Christian Concert and we were married in 1996. She is an amazing woman. We have five wonderful kids and eight awesome grandkids.
As a teenager, I became OCD (Obsessive/Compulsive). I couldn’t concentrate or relax. I am the guy who had to touch his nose a thousand times a day. I believe this is how I coped with issues at my home growing up. I remember this just starting to take over my personality until just a few years ago. I was super insecure. I couldn’t look anyone in the eye unless it was a close friend who I knew well.
THE PRAYER THAT CHANGED MY LIFE
In the summer of 2005, I had one of those epiphany moments. It was like I had just woke up and I was 47 years of age and took a long look in the mirror and what I saw was not pretty.
I had failed at marriage, at ministry, financially; basically, at everything in life that mattered. I felt like a complete loser and I had pretty much lived that way. I didn’t want to stand before the Lord and say “I’m sorry I didn’t get to really know you Lord and I’m sorry that I didn’t accomplish anything of real value. I didn’t know how he would say to me “well done thou good and faithful servant.”
Out of desperation and total frustration, I prayed a very dangerous prayer that would forever change my life. I prayed “God whatever you have to do to change me, please do. Give me a vision of heaven or hell; just spare my life.” I thought I would get this nice little ten-minute vision or dream, and it would motivate me, and I could share this with others. Little did I know what I was in for. It was either the smartest or the dumbest thing I had ever prayed. This prayer literally opened the door and gave God permission to allow me to have this experience.
I didn’t go to hell; but I had what I would describe as ten years of hell on earth. These ten years would become my crucible and test my faith to its very core. I would not come out the way I went in. This perfect storm hit in November or 2005; I became deathly sick. I was also in horrible pain. This would last for over a decade. It was a nightmare. I could barely work. I couldn’t think or function. I would throw several times a day nearly every day. If I knew what I was getting myself into I am not sure that I would have signed up. But God knew. He didn’t make me sick; but he did used this trial to change me. I just wanted to get out of the pain. It just consumes you. When I sat down I was in pain. When I stood up I was in pain. When I laid down, I was in pain. Folks, that doesn’t leave many options.
But I am so glad that I didn’t quit. I had no idea what had hit me. I didn’t connect that prayer and the horrible circumstances at first. God would reveal that to me later. I had just a taste of what hell would be during these 10 years.
When people would ask what it felt like I would tell them this. It’s like having the flu, mono and arthritis throughout your whole body. I also had chronic fatigue. Ever been driving home late and your brain is so tired you can’t even think: that’s how I was for 10 years.
I had to be very careful because if I moved just wrong I would pull a muscle. Now if this was for a week or two it would have been bad, but for ten years. I was cold much the time; winters were awful. I was either sweating or freezing. I was constantly aware of drafts. I had to sit in the center or to the left in auditoriums because if I turned my head to the left even a little bit for too long I would get migraine headaches. If I carried in a gallon of milk from the car my arm would hurt for a couple of hours. It hurt to sing in church because of the weakness in my back muscles. Even talking was difficult and took extra effort. I was constantly evaluating: can I do this or that and what will it cost me if I do it in pain dividends.
I wouldn’t sleep through the night because my muscles would tense up. So, I would wake up every hour or two. So, I wasn’t getting any recuperative quality sleep. Many nights I would wake up and I couldn’t breathe. It was finally diagnosed as a very bad case of Fibromyalgia with Chronic Fatigue as well as migraine type headaches. Then when you combine that with sleep deprivation and the side effects of the medications that I was taking, I felt like the walking dead; here I was in horrible pain; couldn’t think straight; and always tired. I had a list of about fifteen or more things wrong with me at times. During this ten-year decade I hardly went anywhere, because traveling was very painful.
Funny Moments
Along the journey there were some funny moments. One night, a few months into this trial, I was lying in bed and I saw these objects above me. Ginelle asked me what was wrong. I told her there were several demons in the room and I was going to have to deal with them. She reached over and turned on the lamp on her nightstand exposing the demons; which turned out to be several helium balloons that said, “Happy Birthday” That’s right, I almost performed an exorcism on my Happy Birthday Balloons.
I became a Bed Pilot and Screamed like a Junior High Girl. You are probably thinking what is that all about. I rarely dreamed during this 10-year period. The few times I did it was either a demonic attack or one of those dreams like you were being chased. My muscles would tighten up so bad sometimes. I remember one-night dreaming about a show I had watched, and I was being chased along with this guy from the show. I knew I had to help him. The bad guy was about to grab him. The bad guy was to the right of me, so I cut hard right and just as I grabbed him, fantasy met reality. I heard Ginelle say “No Scot”, and tried to grab me as I flew off the bed and hit my head very hard on my night stand. This happened several times. We finally decided to move the night stand to protect it from me.
This is my granddaughter Samantha’s favorite one. One night I am sure I was having a bad dream. I sat up and started screaming like a Junior High Girl. No offense to Junior High girls: but I have a baritone voice, so screaming in a high- pitched voice like a Junior High girl well this wasn’t normal for me.
One night, I was really struggling and had just had it. Ginelle said “why don’t you go out in the garage and just yell at the devil.” “Tell Satan where to go! “Take your authority! So, I took her advice and went out in the garage. I remember praying for a while and then getting real fired up in my weakened state. I went running out of the open front door of the garage and yelled “I rebuke you Satan, you loser, in the name of Jesus.” What I didn’t take into consideration was my next-door neighbor Tony was pouring a little strip of cement on the side of his house just a few yards away. I am sure it must have been a surprise for him. Later, I would share my testimony with him and his wife Mariah and they were so supportive. Tony mowed our lawn several times. They were very kind to us.
FIVE ATTEMPTS ON MY LIFE BY DEMONS
Two of these attacks happened during Bible College at North Central University in Minneapolis, MN. When these attacks happened, I thought why would the devil attack me, I am a nothing, a loser. That’s how I really thought of myself. I wasn’t any threat to his kingdom. I was a Spiritual Wimp.
The first attack took place in November of 1977. I had come back from an early class and had a break before my next one. My roommate John wasn’t there. I was alone. I got up on my top bunk. I lived at the far end of the fourth floor of the Men’s Dorm. I was just sitting there thinking and relaxing; fully awake when I felt this cold evil presence come into the room. I was petrified and paralyzed with fear. I never said anything but something very strong grabbed my hands and turned them towards me and was beginning to press them toward me to choke me to death. I finally blurted out; I can still remember the words “Rebuke you in the Name of Jesus.” I couldn’t get out the first word I, but it didn’t’ matter. Thankfully these demonic presence was gone.
Years later, as I reflected on this, I thought what would have happened if I hadn’t rebuked the devil and he had been successful and killed me. I can just see the headlines now. “Man chokes himself to death.” “The perpetrator and the victim were one in the same=News at 10.” It certainly wouldn’t’ have been good press for the school.
The second attack on my life and those with me was during a winter storm and the roads were very icy. Roger was driving, and his wife Mary Jo was in the front passenger seat. I was in the back seat. There was basically no traffic. This was in downtown Minneapolis. Then one of those giant city snowplows came across and Roger, who was an excellent driver, try as he may couldn’t stop because of the icy conditions. We collided.
The driver of the snow plow was at fault. Roger’s car needed repairs, but we were all right. The driver said that he didn’t really expect to see anybody out and spaced the red light out and went through it. I think he had been up all night. He said he saw us out the corner of his eye and was going to pull the lever to raise the front blade. He thought he could get it up and we would have cleared it and there wouldn’t have been a collision. He went on to say that something stopped him and if he didn’t get it up high enough it wouldn’t have been good. At the time, it didn’t really register again; I was just glad that we were all alright.
I hadn’t thought about that day it probably over thirty years. Then I was working out on an elliptical machine at the local YMCA. Then just out of the blue, I had this quickening to my spirit and I saw in my mind that scene again. The Lord spoke to my heart and said “remember when that driver of the snow plow was going to pull that lever to lift the front plow, I sent an angel to stop him. That’s why he couldn’t do it. If he would have followed through all of you would have been decapitated.” So, Satan was trying to take me and my friends out with one swipe.
During this ten-year period, there were two other attempts on my life by the enemy. The third attack came in the fall of 2011. I had a demon manifest. I was sitting in the living room and could hardly move.
Then this old guy who looked like he had just escaped from a mental hospital appeared and kept saying, “I am going to take you to hell with me.” This was one of the worst periods of pain and fatigue and sickness of all. I tried to call out to my family who were in the bedroom “help” and all that came out was a whisper. I finally mustered up the energy and strength and rebuked the demon in the name of Jesus. He left right away. I asked my family members, but they hadn’t heard anything.
The fourth attack God revealed to me recently. I had written this off as just bad behavior. This happened when in May 2011. I was working for Dominos Pizza, and was delivering. I was headed to a resort. I was right behind this really nice-looking expensive Volvo with four guys who appeared to be in their early 20’s. There vehicle started slowing down like they were having car trouble or something. They waved me by. As I started to go by I could see from a glance they appeared to be very well dressed. The thought came to my mind “probably some rich kids staying at the resort that I was going to.”
As I continued to pass they sped up so I couldn’t pass. So I thinking “what is this-what’s going on? I’d slow down they’d slow down; I would speed up and then they would speed up. I am in the other oncoming traffic lane unable to get in front or back of them. Then I see a car coming; it is still quite a way off. I am thinking “they have had their fun; now they will surely let me in front of back of them. But no they keep this deadly game going.
It begins to sink in quickly that they don’t give a rip if I and this other vehicle hit head on and we are badly injured or probably killed. This was a highway with higher speeds. So I begin to cry out to the Lord and he brings back to me an old TV show; one of those detective type shows from the 70’s or 80’s that I had watched. So I look over at the driver of the other car and I lift my leg up have that serious clenched teeth look on my face like I am going to gun it (pedal to the medal). So I quickly throw my body forward to fake him out and gun it for just a moment. He buys it and kicks it down too, and I slam on my brakes and go right behind him and the oncoming car just clears me. Then these four guys take off about 100 miles per hour. I am sure they didn’t want me to get their license plate. Again it was the devil trying to kill me.
The fifth attack came in May of 2014. I was delivering Pizza for Dominos. This took place basically in the same area as the fourth attack. As I reflect back; it is obvious to me that that the 3rd 4th and 5th attacks came right after one of my three healing collapses when I was weak and very vulnerable. I came around the corner of a highway. I can still remember it as if it were yesterday. The road was straight then. All of a sudden, this white car coming in my direction started coming over into my lane. He was to my left still. Logically, you always go right towards the ditch and try to go around him. The Lord spoke to me and said swerve to the left and you will miss him.
Now if this wasn’t the Lord and I did this and he corrected himself back into his lane we would have hit head on. I hate to admit this, but I was so worn out from the years of this trial I thought about not doing that. It would just be over; all of it. At that moment I chose life over death, and I decided to obey the Lord’s leading and swerved and missed him. Our eyes met, I do believe it was the same demon who was in my living room. It sure looked like him. I am grateful for God’s mercy. So think about that the same stretch of highway in two attacks and the same demon that was in my living room was also driving the white car. Coincidence, I don’t think so!
WHY WAS THE DEVIL TRYING TO KILL ME?
Why was the devil trying to kill me? Now I know why! It’s not because I am anything special or more important than any other person, it was the message God had given me. He had called me to teach in four areas. I believe these are weak areas in the church especially here in America. He wanted me to teach people how to be healed and walk in Divine Health. He showed me how a person can be set free from any addiction. He showed me how to activate the Power of the Holy Spirit in one’s life The final area was Discipleship Evangelism or as I call it Witnessing for Wimps. These covered four main areas: Health, Deliverance, Power and Boldness. He let me practice on myself hundreds of times in the area of Divine Healing until these areas were strong. He showed the answers were in the Bible. That by meditating on the Promises you can change your circumstances.
THERE WERE SOME COOL THINGS THAT HAPPENED
I would frequently call this ministry for prayer for healing. When I tried to call to have them pray with me for healing the call would not go through. I finally called Customer service. This was where they handled Book/CD sales, etc. I asked the young lady is something wrong with the Prayer Line and explained I had tried several times and I couldn’t get through. She said she would transfer me. Guess what, it didn’t go through. This happened day after day, until one day my lightning quick mind realized something. God was blocking my calls. He wanted me to trust him alone for healing; just me and him; since I was going to be teaching this to others I had to be able to do this myself.
After I was healed, I called the Prayer Line and guess what; it went through. I hung up probably from shock. I then called Customer Service and talked to another young lady and told her the story that I am telling you. She thought that was very cool and told me to go to their guestbook and make a record of this. Which I did.
I just came to the point; being a former reformed wimp my motto was “If Jesus can do I can do it.” (John 14:12) says “Verily, Verily, I say unto you the works that I do shall you do also.” I prayed and believe God that dogs would not be able to bite me. That God would shut their mouth like Daniel in the Lion’s den.
I delivered pizzas and had some very close-run ins with dogs. One time a dog put his teeth on the back of my leg and then unexplainedly let go. One dog jumped out of a neighbor’s yard that was higher than I was and right at me teeth showing. He landed about 15 feet behind me somehow. He must have needed glasses.
Then I was delivering one day, and the dog had just attacked the UPS guy and was friendly to me. The homeowner said how can the dog know the difference between the UPS guy and the Dominos guy. He doesn’t. God does because of the prayer I had prayed and believed for I was protected.
I didn’t have the money for repairs with all the medical bills, etc. I needed an alignment on my car. I had had a little accident and the car wouldn’t turn properly and it squeaked badly when I turned the wheel. My church and my parents had helped us financially. They were amazing. I drew a line in the sand and said Lord I am going to believe you for a mechanical miracle. So, I commanded the car to realign and anything that was damaged to be divinely mechanical healed. God did it and I give him all the glory. I am driving it today and it has never needed work done from that accident.
I didn’t stop with humans and cars. My granddaughter Samantha lives with us and she is a joy. She a 4 ½ lb. miniature poodle named Princess. We all love her. I thought if God can heal humans and cars he can heal dogs. He loves this little creature and I know he loves Samantha. So, I had prayed for her a couple of times for things and God had healed her.
Then she became very ill. She had basically all her vertebras in her neck and back out. She was in horrible pain. She was put on some medications. I was getting ready for church. Everyone else had gone. I observed her acting strangely. She was crashing into walls and falling over. She was having a major seizure or something like that. She was looking at me like help me! I thought about Samantha. I thought not on my watch. I gently put my hand on her and said Lord I know you love animals. You created them. I know you love Samantha a lot. I love her and this little dog too.
So, I took my authority and said "In the name of Jesus, I command these vertebrae to go back into place and anything else that is wrong be divinely healed now and this seizure to stop now in the name of Jesus." Bam it was over, and she was fine. All glory to God. It did happen again out of the blue when she wasn’t on any medications. She started crashing into the walls again. So, I took my authority and it was over just like that.
I would command bad weather away. I did this hundreds of times successfully. Jesus did it so I knew he promises I could do it. My wife travels quite a ways to work and back so I would take my authority. This didn’t eliminate all bad weather but much of it. God spoke to my heart once and said, “Scot you can’t eliminate winter.” I got a kick out of that. But anything and everything I could use my authority on I just boldly went after. This became my training ground.
THE TEACHING GIFT
I was told by a professional that I had no creativity. So, when I got sick, I asked the Lord to help me be creative. So, I started writing songs. I wrote 40 in 6 months. I submitted them to publisher. One publisher finally said you have song writing talent. That was all I needed to hear. Then God did something awesome; it’s like he took that song writing creativity and morphed it into a Teaching Gift. I already had a call into the five-fold ministry.
Folks, I am not proud of this, but I didn’t’ have the foggiest idea how to be led by the Spirit of God. I could have taken all my anointed reaching, etc. and it wouldn’t have covered one 8 1/2 by 11 sheets of paper. Then I started Praying in the Spirit and Meditating on the Promises of God’s Word. At first, it seemed like nothing was happened, but things would change. I kept at it and it began to grow and grow. I was getting insight into the Scriptures that amazed me. It was like God was downloaded it and then I had and instant understanding of it. This went from maybe one time a week to this happening several times a day now with amazing insights in to the Word of God given to me by the Holy Spirit. It’s amazing!
INTEGRITY
Folks, I was not a man of integrity. I had fallen so short in so many areas as I mentioned before. I was a wimp and a quitter. I made a commitment in my heart to be that man. I also wanted to know God intimately, I was gonna find out how to do that! I taught a Bible study for a few weeks at a church member’s home and felt I had to quit. I knew that I was approaching the area of divine healing and didn’t want to preach as a hypocrite.
So, I stated that if I didn't have it working in my life, if I wasn’t going to teach it to somebody else. I am not teaching or preaching or ministering to others unless I can do it myself! I was a seminar and I heard Lowell Lundstrom say “People want someone to deliver the freight. They are sick of empty promises.” That resonated with me.
I honed it (I sharpened what God gave me). God brought these preachers (these mentors) into my life. I learned the basics from them and then I made my own. Then I took hold of it and developed it and just went to town with the empowering and help of the Holy Spirit. Just me and the Word of God and the Inner leading of the Holy Spirit.
I received about six months into this trial; David Wilkerson's Newsletter. It was a prophetic word to me. It was a teaching around Jeremiah 29:11-13. “I know the plans that I have for you” I discovered the most powerful truth in that promise being fulfilled in my life or anyone’s was conditional. The condition was in verse 13. “If you will seek me with all your heart you will find me.” It comes down to this, if you seek God with all your heart you will find him and find what I did. If you don’t you won’t. Super Important!
SO HOW DID I MOVE INTO DIVINE HEALING?
I began to listen to Divine Healing Teaching. I found and typed out Healing Scriptures from the Bible and meditated on them a lot. The first thing I remember doing was this. I thought I will practice on my wife while she was asleep. I was laying and bed one night and my wife Ginelle was asleep. She was very congested. So, I just spoke to her congestion and said, "Peace be still." I don’t know if she even remembers that. Why I used those words, I am not sure. I just thought "she needed peace in her breathing." It worked, and she began breathing clearly. Later, her congestion came back and, so I did it again and it worked again.
The next thing, I tried was a ganglion cyst on my wrist. I had my doctor check it. So, my first thoughts were these when it came to the cyst. Does it look at it, do I not look at it? Do I keep speaking to it? What if it doesn’t happen? Maybe I should pray again. I struggled back and forth. About two weeks later I noticed that it was gone.
Then I had this large cyst on my chest. It was benign. So, I just spoke to it and commanded it to explode just before I was going to shower and it did just that; right in the shower. I moved on from there. This is how I got started with small safe areas that I now teach others to do the same. If you can get a headache healed, then onto the flu and eventually you’ll be ready for cancer or whatever attacks you. If Jesus can do it, so can I.
I practiced on myself hundreds of times starting with cysts; then headaches, pain, muscles, joints, etc. I commanded pain to leave and it obeyed me. This was a process and didn’t happen overnight. It took time! How do you learn to walk or be healed or do anything- you take baby steps and when you fall, you get back in the saddle and keep going!
THE HEALINGS AND THE COLLAPSES
I don’t have time to share all the things that happened to me. There were so many. I have had to condense it down to this. The first time I was healed I needed the help of my Pastor and a Phone Counselor from a Prayer and Healing Center and that was just fine. But after that I begin to realize that God was trying to take me to another level of faith since I was going to be teaching on this. That is to do this by myself.
In April 2011 prayed with my Pastor and a counselor and believed God for Divine Healing. It was at this point God gave me a choice: I could stop there and have a nice testimony and that would be the end of it or I could continue and help others. I wanted to help others and I wanted to be used by God. So, I chose the second option and pushed forward. I tell people the first five years were for me (to be healed) and the second were for you (so, I could teach you healing).
Every young minister and in fact, probably every Christian, has asked themselves this question. Could the Book of Acts-the New Testament Church happen today? I figured that I have come this far, and I might as well go the rest of the way. What did I have to lose? At a certain point, I asked God to open the book of Acts to me.
Well, I found out that I could lose something and quickly. I was attacked by the enemy and after six weeks I lost my healing. These collapses occurred two more times in 2013 and 2014. I would receive healing and after several weeks, I would be overcome. The pattern was always the same. It was very discouraging, but I was learning.
God showed me that my roots weren’t deep enough to weather the storm yet. He also showed me from Scripture in Hebrews 12:1-3 that I had taken my eyes off Jesus and got into fear and “fainted in my mind” as the King James Version puts it. I was just beginning to teach, and minister and the devil would cut me off at the knees with this one thought. “How is this gonna work out? What if this doesn’t work out and lead to the ministry God has shown me? How is God gonna do this? I doubted, and Satan dogpiled on me. Every time, I would lose my healing and go through another stretch, and the pain doubled.
Thank God in May 2017, I went through the last hurdle of this trial and God said it is over. I would never have to go through this again if I keep eyes on the Lord. Which I plan on doing. I am totally healed now.
I had to recondition my body. It’s what the Bible calls recovery. One Healing teacher, who has successfully prayed for tens of thousands of people for divine healing says, “when it comes to healing 95% of them are Divine Healing with a Recovery and 5% are Instant Divine Healings.” Instant Divine Healing are just that; instant. There is no recovery process and they are more miraculous. For instance you were blind and now you can see. Recovery Healings for example would be if you had the flu and you were over it but your body needed to recuperate its strength. Either way you are healed.
When I was healed, my body was trashed after ten years of this. For instance, I walked with a limp because on my right heel area had something sticking out. It might have been a bone spur. I don’t know. I am not limping anymore. I just stood on the promises and starting walking and I am not limping anymore.
THE MINISTRY GOD HAS GIVEN ME
I found out these Truths are Spiritual laws and Principles and they work in anyone’s life through the Promises. Those promises the Bible says are “always yes and amen; that “he is no respecter of persons.” Psalm 103 says that “he gave us benefits and that he heals all our diseases.” If that is true, which it is, then why isn’t it happening like it should be?
It’s a matter of learning how to receive and then being determined not to give up if you don’t receive it right away until you do get it. The bottom line is there is such a huge need out there for Healing and Deliverance from Addictions and we need the Power and Boldness of the Holy Spirit to accomplish this. God has given me a treasure map if you will and I have found that treasure. Now I want to pay it forward and share these life-changing truths with others and he has called me and equipped over ten years to do just that. I feel like I have multiplied in knowledge and confidence especially in the area of Divine Healing in the last year through the daily revelation God gives me and I will continue to grow in all areas. I am just grateful. I feel great compassion for people who are sick. I have been there. It’s not a good feeling!
Why is it harder to get people healed in America? This is a special calling for me; to touch people in America. In other cultures, they have nothing and just believe God with a childlike faith. They don’t have the pollution of TV. We live in a culture of unbelief. We fill our minds with junk. We view thousands of commercials about cold remedies. We think that is normal and we don’t think that affects us! This becomes our belief system-our norm. It fills us with unbelief. It just takes more convincing for our faith to become child-like that produces.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
God showed me showed me something very strongly just recently. I think you will appreciate this. This is what he spoke to my heart and mind. “Remember when you prayed for a vision of heaven or hell over ten years ago” (Remember, I thought I would get that 10-minute express downloaded version to my mind) He said, “I gave you both.” I showed you as much as you could take of what hell would be like and feel like” and used this as a change agent to transform you mightily” “I also gave you a vision of heaven. I showed you what heaven will be like as much as a human can taste of it on this earth.”
That is so true, and I am so grateful and give God all the glory. I have experienced what Paul and Peter did. I am not saying that I am even close to where they are; I am just scratching the surface. But I am doing the same things they were doing. I have proved what Jesus said, ‘the works that I do shall you do also.” In case you haven’t noticed I love doing this!!! I believe I was called to do this!!! I believe I was born to do this!!! I describe myself often from my heart “that I was the greatest of all sinners and am the least of all Christians.” And I mean that. Isn’t it awesome that God can take a wimp and change him into a Spiritual Warrior. If he can do that for me just think what he can do for you! All Glory to God!!!