Soul fragmentation — Pat Holloran

Description

Pat Holloran describes soul fragmentation primarily on the basis of his own spiritual experiences, which he then connects with passages of Scripture. In “Fundamenty nadprzyrodzonego życia,” he recounts a vision in which he discovered a part of his own soul imprisoned in a place an angel called “the shadow of death and the grave.” This experience became his starting point for teaching about fragmentation and the restoration of the soul.

Holloran reports that he found himself in a dark valley surrounded by mountains. Numerous caves lay in their slopes, guarded by demonic guards. According to the explanation he says he received, dismembered parts of people’s souls were being held in those caves. He also learned that part of his own soul had remained in one of those places for a long time.

When he reached the indicated cave, he saw a figure there that he recognized as part of himself. He describes it as his soul — his emotions, personality, and what made him who he was as a person. It was chained to the wall, and the words “guilt and shame” appeared on the chains.

There was a wall between Holloran and the imprisoned part of his soul. After removing the dirt that covered it, he discovered that it was built of golden bricks. After the soul was released, he learned that the gold represented inheritance and blessing that had been stolen from his family across generations.

Holloran carried the released part of his soul out of the cave. He describes how, as he descended the mountain, it became more and more joined to him with every step. During that time, he declared who God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit were to him. When he reached the valley, he and the recovered part of his soul, according to his account, were once again one.

After this experience, he began searching Scripture for texts corresponding to what he had seen. He gives particular importance to Psalm 23:3 — “He restores my soul,” Psalm 142:8 — “Bring my soul out of prison,” and passages that speak about darkness, the shadow of death, prisoners, broken chains, and being brought into freedom.

Holloran then began asking why his own soul had come to be in such a place. He emphasizes that in his case he did not attribute it to a generational curse or to the iniquity of his ancestors. According to his account, the Holy Spirit pointed him to his own rebellion.

He describes a period in which he did not want to accept a prophetic calling, even though other leaders were drawing his attention to it. When he and his wife became convinced that they should leave their existing denomination and enter another ministry, he remained because of his previous attachment to that environment. Years later, he came to regard those decisions as disobedience to the direction he believed God had given him.

He also connects this experience with the subject of identity. Holloran writes that his identity should not be built on who he wants to be or how he defines himself. Referring to Colossians 1:27, he locates it in “Christ in us, the hope of glory.” In his own story, a false understanding of identity and persistence in his own choice were connected with disobedience to the direction he believed God was showing him.

Holloran does not, however, limit fragmentation solely to rebellion. In later experiences, he describes other spiritual places to which, in his teaching, parts of the soul can go.

One of these is the “Land of Forgetfulness,” which he connects with Psalm 88. He describes the case of a man who said that people constantly overlooked him, failed to remember his name, and behaved as though he did not exist. During prayer, Holloran saw in a vision a maze and small boxes bound with chains. He recognized the presence of a spirit of rejection and identified the chains as “worthlessness,” “condemnation,” and “guilt.”

After commanding foreign voices to be silent and declaring over the captive parts the value that comes from the work of Jesus Christ, the chains were broken in his vision. He then commanded the spirit of rejection and the demons working with it to leave. Holloran describes the emotions of the man for whom he was praying as reconnecting with his heart.

On the basis of this experience, Holloran described the Land of Forgetfulness as a place where, in his view, people who have experienced traumatic emotional events in relationships, especially in childhood, can be held.

A second place he describes is the “Land of Jackals,” which he connects with Psalm 44. Holloran presents it as a place where a person’s destiny is attacked and “gnawed at.” He teaches that a certain part of the soul knows the directives concerning a person’s destiny and is to submit to the person’s spiritual man so that what God has appointed for that person can be fulfilled.

According to Holloran, emotional, physical, or psychological trauma can bring a part of the soul to this place. He explicitly names sexual abuse and incest as events that can open a door to the Land of Jackals and bring a person’s soul there.

In ministry concerning this place, Holloran asks God to give orders to angelic warriors to enter the Land of Jackals, bind the spiritual powers pursuing the soul, and take the captive part to a place of refreshing. He then prays for the Holy Spirit to close and seal the door leading to that place.

Holloran therefore presents several different paths leading to fragmentation or captivity of a part of the soul. In his own case he points to rebellion and disobedience. In the Land of Forgetfulness he describes the effects of traumatic emotional experiences in relationships and of rejection, especially in childhood. With the Land of Jackals he connects emotional, physical, and psychological trauma, including sexual abuse and incest.

The spiritual response in his teaching also depends on what led to the captivity. In the case of his own rebellious disobedience, it leads to honestly acknowledging rebellion, rejecting false identity, and submitting it to Christ. In the Land of Forgetfulness, the action of rejection, condemnation, guilt, and worthlessness is broken. In the Land of Jackals, prayer concerns releasing the captive part and closing the entrance to that place.

In the prayer included in his teaching, Holloran asks Jesus to reveal where the captive part of the soul is located, remove the demonic guards, break the chains, and put the fragments of the soul back together. He then names rebellion, ungodly anger, selfish ambition, self-promotion, false identity, and hypocrisy as things to be brought under the feet of Jesus Christ.

The central picture in Holloran’s teaching is restoration. A soul fragment is not rejected or cast out like a demon. It is to be released from captivity and joined back to the person. The spirits holding it captive, by contrast, are to leave and be subjected to the authority of Jesus Christ.

Holloran also connects this restoration with recovering what belongs to a person’s God-given destiny and inheritance. In his own vision, the path by which he brought the released soul out of the valley led toward light that he knew led to Jesus Christ. It is ultimately in Christ that he places identity, deliverance, and the restoration of the soul.

Sources

Pat Holloran — Fundamenty nadprzyrodzonego życia, Wydawnictwo Dawida

Pat Holloran — Defragmentacja duszy, część 1

Pat Holloran — Defragmentacja duszy, część 2

Bible: Job 38:17–19; Ps 23:3–4; Ps 30:4; Ps 44:20; Ps 88:12–13; Ps 107:10,13–14; Ps 139:13–17; Ps 142:8; Isa 9:1; Isa 45:2–3; Isa 49:8–9; Isa 61:1–3; Luke 4:17–19; Col 1:27