The Hammonds — Soul Ties

Description

Frank Hammond uses the term “soul ties” for bonds that form between people. He writes that before he and Ida Mae began using this term, they referred to such improper bonds as “unholy alliances” or “perverse relationships.” They encountered them regularly in deliverance ministry and regarded their power over a person’s life as something that should be broken.

Hammond clearly distinguishes good soul ties from demonic ones. Among the ties established by God he includes marriage, friendship, the bond between parents and children, and the bonds between Christians as members of the Body of Christ. In his teaching, good ties are based on love. Husband and wife are joined as “one flesh,” friendship can create a deep bond between people, a child should be bound to his or her parents by love, and believers are “joined together” in the Body of Christ.

Hammond describes demonic soul ties as a perversion of what is good and holy. In his understanding, they arise when a person crosses the boundaries for relationships established by God. He teaches that such an improper bond can become an avenue through which unclean spirits operate.

A particular place is given to ties formed through fornication and adultery. Hammond refers to 1 Corinthians 6:16: “the two shall become one flesh.” In his view, sexual intercourse outside marriage creates a bond that does not belong to God’s order. He also writes that passionate forms of sexual intimacy outside marriage can create improper ties and open a way for unclean spirits.

Hammond also identifies ties with evil companions. Referring to 1 Corinthians 15:33 and Proverbs 22:24–25, he stresses that a person who remains closely associated with bad company can be drawn into their ways. He therefore warns against ties that bind a person to people who lead him or her into sin and lawlessness.

He separately discusses perverted family ties. The bond between a parent and child is, in his view, good and necessary, but it should change as the child matures. If a parent continues to bind an adult son or daughter through control and possessiveness, what was once good becomes perverted. Hammond relates this to the biblical command for a person to leave father and mother and be joined to a spouse.

Among improper ties he also includes bondage to the dead. Referring to biblical periods of mourning, he teaches that a time comes to bring mourning to an end and let the deceased person go. He does not present a prolonged bond with the dead as a tie that should be maintained.

Hammond also speaks very strongly about improper ties within the church. He writes about cliques and groups that cause division, but especially warns about situations in which a pastor or another leader binds people to himself rather than to Christ. In his view, the purpose of leadership is to lead a person to Christ. When loyalty becomes bound to a human being above Christ, an improper spiritual tie is formed, and Hammond points out that cultic structures can also develop through such mechanisms.

A separate category consists of ties formed through occultism and idolatry. Hammond calls involvement in occult practices spiritual adultery. He teaches that a person who seeks forbidden knowledge, guidance, or power through divination, astrology, mediumship, Ouija, hypnosis, and other occult practices “joins” himself or herself to the source being used. He refers in this connection, among other passages, to Psalm 106:28, Hosea 4:17, and 1 Corinthians 10:14–22.

According to Hammond, an improper soul tie can create a spiritual channel of influence. He teaches that when God’s boundaries for relationships are crossed, a fleshly tie can become a demonic tie and allow similar spirits to operate between the people who are bound together.

When breaking demonic soul ties, Hammond begins with repentance before God. A person is to ask God to forgive every identified improper tie, confess that Satan no longer has any right arising from that tie, and then declare its destruction in the name of Jesus Christ.

Hammond stresses that this should be done specifically. With ties formed through sexual relationships outside marriage, he instructs the person to name each individual and verbally renounce the tie with him or her. He also calls for identifying improper family ties, ties with leaders or other people in the church, and ties formed through occult contacts. He then instructs the person to command, in the name of Jesus, all demons connected with those perverted ties to leave.

In Hammond’s teaching, therefore, the goal is not merely to name a soul tie, but actually to break it wherever it has been built on sin, lust, idolatry, or another violation of God’s order.

Sources

Frank Hammond — Soul Ties, Impact Christian Books, 1988; revised editions 1995 and 2011

Frank Hammond — Soul Ties: Righteous Soul Ties & Demonically-Inspired Soul Ties, Expanded Edition

Bible: Gen 2:24; 1 Sam 18:1; Prov 22:24–25; Ps 106:28; Hos 4:17; 1 Cor 6:16–17; 1 Cor 10:14–22; 1 Cor 12:24–25; 1 Cor 15:33; Eph 4:16; Eph 5:31