The Spirit World: June 2012
Table of Contents
The Spirit World
“Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. ... We wrestle ... against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” (Eph. 6:11-13). Much of the Western world has been blessed with the gospel and the light of God that it brings. That light has worked against the power and rulers of the darkness, so that Satan tends to work as “an angel of light” in Christian lands. But where there is heathen darkness, his power and working is more directly seen and felt. As the Western world is going back into heathen darkness, rejecting the knowledge of God, so the evil part of the spirit world is becoming more evident in its activities, including demon possession. We should not treat it lightly; we need to be sure to put on the whole armor of God to be able to withstand the working of the enemy in this evil day.
Trina’s Deliverance From the Power of Darkness
We had not been long in the house of Bill and Liz when a happy young girl bounded in without knocking before entering. She obviously felt at home with our host while she told them of the day’s events. I thought she must be part of the family, but soon learned that she lived next door with her mother, sister and grandmother. Later during our visit we learned of the struggles this thirteen-year-old girl had experienced with the power of darkness. Thankfully, through the power of prayer and the Word of God, she was able to resist the persistent attacks of the enemy. Her story is real, and we give it as told to us, except for changes in the names of the individuals involved.
The Beginning of the Story
The story begins the first week of October 2011 when at 11:00 p.m. Bill and Liz received a loud, urgent knock at their door. Upon opening the door, they were confronted with a desperate elderly lady who implored them to come next door to help them. She said something awful was happening to her young granddaughter. After looking to the Lord in prayer, Bill and Liz went next door, where they found many people celebrating a birthday, with music and dancing. The grandmother led them to the room of her granddaughter and left them alone with her. Upon entering the room, they saw their young neighbor, Trina, sitting on her bed holding hands with a friend. It soon became apparent to them that spiritual darkness was in the room. The two girls on the bed were oblivious to all that was going on around them, and Trina was relating to her friend some communications from an unknown source. She said to her friend, “Don’t get off the bed, for if you do, the spirit of a woman dressed in red will enter into you.” Recognizing that some spiritual enemy was at work, Bill began reading in a loud voice various scriptures that concerned the Lordship of Christ over the power of darkness. While he read, Trina continued speaking to these unseen spirits. Bill and Liz then prayed very earnestly for Trina and her friend. This went on for about two hours. Finally, Trina cried out and said that the spirit wanted them to open the window so it could leave. Liz opened the door leading to the patio while they continued praying. Shortly afterward, Trina returned to normal; she was tranquil and acted like herself. Bill and Liz realized that Trina did not know the Lord as Saviour. They spoke to them about the Lord Jesus as the One who was able to deliver them from the power of darkness, and then they retired to their house, very thankful to the Lord for His victory in the battle.
The Night of October 27, 2011
As the end of October drew near, it brought a heightened crisis in Trina’s life, for it became apparent that the evil spirit was not willing to relinquish his hold on her. Fifteen minutes before midnight Bill and Liz were again summoned by a frantic knock on their door. The grandmother said that Trina needed help; she was once again being tormented by the evil spirit. After a short word of prayer, they went next door and found Trina’s mother and her aunt sitting on either side of the bed firmly holding her arms so that she would not hurt herself. Trina was fighting wildly against the two of them, because the spirit wanted her to commit suicide. When she saw Bill and Liz enter, she said, “Why did you call them?” Bill began praying in a firm, loud voice, and as he did so, it prompted a heightening of the spiritual battle, but he continued praying until the struggle subsided and Trina began acting normally. Before leaving, they again reminded Trina and the rest of the family that they needed to turn to the Lord as the only power that could free them from this oppression of evil spirits. They invited the family to come to their house to read the Word of God with them.
During the following week, Trina came, and they read the Bible together. They began with the first chapter of the Gospel of John, verses 1-18. The verses were an immense help to her, but she was still fearful that the spirit might return. Whenever Bill and Liz would leave their house, she was even more afraid. She considered them as her safety net in these encounters, because they brought relief and strength to her. The next attack was not long in coming. It was to be the deciding battle when she would realize her need to submit herself to the Lord Jesus and resist the evil spirit, armed with the Word of God.
The Night of November 4, 2011
Bill and Liz had just returned home when at 11:00 p.m. they were again called by the weeping grandmother for help; Trina was again possessed by the evil spirit. They found Trina being held tightly by her mother. She was trying to keep Trina from hurting herself as she violently scratched her body because of a burning sensation on her skin. This went on for quite some time and made them realize that an evil spirit was trying to enter into her. Once again Bill began quoting Scripture, followed by prayer to the Lord Jesus for deliverance. With this Trina began relaxing from the struggle with the evil spirit that tormented her. As she slept briefly they took advantage of the calm to inquire from her mother about Trina’s friends, problems at school, contacts and programs on the Internet, as well as a visual check of her room and closet, pictures on the wall or anything that could be a connection with evil spirits. A few suspicious objects were found, and though they did not seem to be very significant, the family removed them from the house.
After about thirty minutes, Trina began to wake up and cry out loud. She spoke with another voice, a low guttural voice that sounded as if it were coming from her stomach. It sounded horrible! There was hatred and anger in her voice; on her face appeared an evil smile. The oppression of it made them feel they should call another Christian friend to help them in prayer, even though it was 1:00 a.m. While explaining to the other family the urgent need for prayer, they held their cell phone close to Trina’s mouth so they could hear the horrible sounds and know the reality of what was happening. The other couple could not come immediately but promised to pray for them in their home. Realizing that their resource could only be in God, Bill and Liz stayed in the room with Trina until the early hours of the morning. During this time, she carried on a dialogue with the unseen spirit that tormented her. Here are some of her words:
“My mother loves me; you say she does not love me.”
“You say my mother fusses at me all day long. No, my mother loves me and corrects me for my good.”
“You tell me that if I kill myself you will give me everything. You are a liar, for you have given nothing to me, only darkness, and you say I must kill myself.”
“I am reading the Bible with my neighbors, and I have learned that Jesus loves me. He is light and life to me. I want Jesus. I don’t like you; leave me alone.”
“Jesus told me how to become a child of God.”
Victory
At 4:00 a.m. they were all exhausted. Finally, when Trina slept, Bill and Liz decided to go home to get a bite to eat and take some rest. At 8:00 a.m. the grandmother knocked on their door. Nervously she said that Trina was awake and she feared the spirit was going to return to torment her. In spite of being very tired, they prayed to the Lord and then went next door to see what was going on. There they found Trina, not at all agitated, but with a peaceful smile on her face as she greeted them warmly. It was worth being wakened up one more time to see that smile and rejoice together with them for the Lord’s deliverance. He kept Trina from the power of darkness.
Since that series of crises until now, Trina has not experienced another bout with evil spirits. She is dedicated to following the Lord Jesus, her Saviour. She continues to attend weekly Bible studies in the home of Bill and Liz. She is very close to Bill and Liz — like a daughter. When we saw the bright smile on her face as she conversed with us, one would never have guessed what she went through.
We share this true story as the Western mind tends to reject anything it cannot see, including the existence of the “spirit world.” There is a spirit world, both for good and evil. While we need not fear evil spirits, “because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world,” yet we must not give any room for the enemy to work. The denial of the existence of the unseen world is like an open invitation for evil spirits to fill the void. See Luke 11:24-26. With subtlety they deceive the human mind. They are the principalities and powers which rule in darkness. But God has forewarned us of their tactics. “Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:11-12).
D. C. Buchanan, March 2012
Satan’s Power Today
Ever since the fall of man, Satan has been acting in this world to dishonor God and to deceive man. He is very versatile, and his tactics are many-sided. With his vast experience, he is able to appeal to every kind of natural man. Another has put it very aptly:
“To the psychologist he says, ‘I will give you new knowledge and understanding.’ To the occultist he says, ‘I will give you the keys to the last secrets of creation.’ He confronts the religionist and the moralist with a mask of integrity and promises them the very help of heaven. And, finally, to the rationalist and the liberalist he says, ‘I am not there; I do not even exist.’ ”
While Satan was, no doubt, very active before the flood in the time of Noah, he has been even more diligent since then. He could not deny the power of God as displayed in the flood, but afterward he sought to attract man to himself by mimicking God’s power. Various forms of idolatry and false religion sprang up, but all with a common basis: The power of Satan was behind them. When man saw power, Satan saw to it that it was attributed to him, and not to God. Man thus gave up the knowledge of God and embraced what was false. He indulged in such things as superstition, mythology, strange sacrifices, the casting of spells, the consulting of oracles, and many others. An additional result was that he sunk down into a level of sin that probably exceeded what had been present before the flood. (Sodom and Gomorrah are an example of this awful debauchery.) All this was supported by a display of Satanic power, combined with a constant thread of tragedy and death, that kept man in fear and, at the same time, in awe. Such was the condition of things for much of the world’s history since the flood.
The Light of Christianity
Those of us who have grown up in so-called Christian lands have, at least in the past, been largely protected from such influences, because the light of Christianity had driven out these heathen influences, or at least pushed them underground. This quotation describes it very well:
“Now the light of Christianity has banished all these specters of evil in their obvious and direct power. But it was not so when the Scriptures were written. The public mind was full of them, though philosophers began to speculate and to scorn, and many became weary of them. Still, habits were all formed on them. When Paul healed an impotent man, they were going to offer him sacrifice. ... If he were stung by a viper, vengeance would not suffer him to live, and when he received no harm, they changed their minds and said that he was a god. This system was connected with power, and when they saw this power, they still attributed it to what were devils, and not God.”
When Christ was first preached, John could say, “The darkness is passing, and the true light already shines” (1 John 2:8 JND). However, there was decline very quickly, even before the apostles had passed away, and thus we find in the later epistles various allusions to the evils of darkness that had been pushed aside by the preaching of Christ. We thank God that He gave revivals from time to time, to counteract the decay. A most significant revival came when, less than two hundred years ago, God raised up men to restore the truth of the church. Not only was a full gospel preached, but at that time many precious truths were recovered — truths that had not been known and enjoyed (except perhaps by a very few) for centuries. All of Christendom benefited from this recovery, but especially Western Europe and North America, as the atmosphere of Christianity pervaded these lands. Laws were based on scriptural principles, and the Word of God was publicly read and honored. Surely Satan continued his evil work in spite of all this, but public manifestations of demonic power were relatively few, and those who were involved in it did so largely in secret. Most people were churchgoers, and likewise the Lord’s Day was respected by the vast majority.
The Changes of Today
In the last forty years, however, we have seen a tremendous change. In most so-called Christian countries (if we can even use the term!), it is only a minority that attend a religious service on Lord’s Day. The Word of God has been banned from schools and from public life, and its principles are openly challenged and flouted. Coupled with this, the manifestations of Satanic power are becoming more frequent and visible. There is a renewed interest in such entities as séances, Satan worship, witchcraft, clairvoyance, occult healing, yoga, attempts to contact the unseen world, and much more. Those who are involved in such things are quite open about it; there is no shame connected with these practices anymore. The popular music of today is rife with Satanic overtones, while various clubs and orders devoted to the occult are flourishing.
As always, violence and immorality go hand in hand with all of this. Someone has remarked that left to himself, man has only public opinion and his lusts to govern him. As the power of Satan becomes more and more evident, public opinion declines, leaving only man’s lust, which results in ever-increasing degradation. Even children and teenagers now talk about things that were unknown to them only a few years ago and are involved in crimes formerly committed only by hardened adults. As we write this article, an eighteen-year-old girl in the U.S.A. is being sentenced to life imprisonment for the unprovoked and premeditated murder of a nine-year-old girl — a neighbor of hers. In her diary, she described the experience as “pretty enjoyable.” After committing the murder, she apparently then proceeded to go to a youth dance at her church.
How Has All This Come About?
We have already commented on what is obvious, namely, that God and His Word have been given up, and Satan has quickly responded to fill the vacuum. When the truth of God is known and then given up, it is invariably true that “the last state of that man is worse than the first” (Matt. 12:45). “If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matt. 6:23). We know too that God has prophesied all this in His Word, telling us that “in the last days perilous times shall come” (2 Tim. 3:1) and then detailing for us the awful moral character of that time. However, there is another reason for the decline — one that we Christians must face. Once again, let the words of another speak to us:
“The church’s energy and power are in grace, in God. If it is only a delivered body, it is a weak one. It must be a delivering body to be a preserved one, because that is the power of God’s presence in Christ and in Christianity. ... Whether it is a gathering of saints or an individual, if there is not energy of positive testimony which acts on others, there is decline. ... False teachers, corruption, apostasy, antichrists, etc. begin to appear in the waning light of the church. This decline of the church is the capital source of the evil, although not the only form it takes. If the delivering power is once enfeebled, the old suppressed evils rise again, modified perhaps to suit the case, but the same.”
The Christian’s Responsibility
As Christians, it is fitting for us to mourn over the condition of Christendom in these last days, when we consider the light to which such nations have been exposed and the depths to which they have sunk. It is sadly true that man has turned his back on the light and deliberately given up what God so graciously restored to him. The end of Christendom will be an awful judgment, for “that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes” (Luke 12:47). However, let us not be complacent in all this, taking satisfaction in knowing that we are not part of such moral collapse. If Satanic influences are now in the ascendancy, we must take some responsibility ourselves. It is not enough for us merely to lead good, morally upright lives and then to go to heaven at the end. No, we are left here to be living witnesses to the love and grace that saved us and brought us into the most wonderful blessing. Are we using our time, energy and material resources merely for ourselves, or are we using them for Christ’s interests down here? Are we “conformed to this world,” or are we like those of whom it could be said, “These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also” (Acts 17:6)? The “salt of the earth” is not meant to be kept in the shaker. As believers, we may well take heed to ourselves and ask whether we are merely delivered or we are deliverers.
W. J. Prost
Man Without God
Man driven out of the Garden of Eden was left to himself and became utterly lawless. The divine record is that the earth became filled with corruption and violence; in fact, it became so bad that God cleansed it by the flood, which destroyed man and his works. This is not the story of progress and development, but of retrogression and the increasing fruit of sin.
Romans 1 unlocks the secrets of those past ages when man sank further and further into moral and spiritual depravity. Fallen man was not left without a due witness from his Creator, “because that which may be known of God is manifest in [or, to] them; for God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse” (Rom. 1:19-20).
God judges man according to the measure of his light and privilege, and there was always the testimony of God’s creatorial power to be seen in His works: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge.” This is found in Psalm 19 where the psalmist goes on to add that these created orbs had neither speech nor language, but even without these their voice was heard by men. This left them “without excuse,” for they ignored the testimony of God in creation, which twenty-first-century scientists are also prone to do.
The Degeneration After the Flood
Romans 1:21 adds, “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful.” After the flood every man on earth had a definite knowledge of God; all that came out of the ark knew in a most remarkable fashion the power and judgment of God. This knowledge became traditional and was handed down from father to son, but, alas, they were not thankful to God. Has this no counterpart in the present day? How few there are that ever thank God for His creature mercies, or even lift their voices to Him in thanksgiving for the very food they eat. This is indeed a step downward.
Next, they “became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened” (vs. 21). Were they the only ones who let their imaginations run rampant? Is it not being done today, often under the guise of science? And “professing themselves to be wise, they became fools” (vs. 22). The vain conceit of man has always led, sooner or later, to the exposing of his folly.
Man, having given up the knowledge of the true God, invented gods of his own — gods of lust and passion. The unearthed evidences of crude and vulgar forms of religion only confirm the divine record, instead of proving an evolution in religion. A servant of the Lord once said, “Man gave up the knowledge that God was holy, and made gods of his lusts; he gave up the knowledge that God was good, and attempted to appease an angry God.”
Sacrifices to Demons
The degenerative process continued, for in a descending scale man went from the worship of images of fallen men to the worship of reptiles; he “changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and to four-footed beasts, and creeping things” (vs. 23). The finger of Satan is here apparent, for it was he who took the form of a serpent when he seduced Eve. He was leading men down from the worship of God to actual (though often disguised) worship of himself. Men worshipped idols, but behind them were wicked spirits: “The things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils [demons], and not to God” (1 Cor. 10:20).
In this corruption of religion lies the secret to the grossest immorality and the general debasement of mankind. They willfully gave up the knowledge of the true God when they had it and gave themselves over to become the tools of wicked spirits. Men were also seeking to communicate with the spirit world and to gain the favor of certain evil spirits, but, alas, they were taken captive by satanic powers. Debased spiritually and morally, they sank ever lower in their manner of life.
The Line of Faith
Nevertheless, there was a line of faith, in the descendants of Seth, which walked apart from these vices and lived and died in faith (Gen. 5; Heb. 11:13). This line narrowed down to Noah and his sons who went through the flood, preserved by God. After the flood, the line of faith came down through Shem, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, so that God always had some testimony among men. They were justified by faith, and God was later declared to be righteous in having passed over their sins — that is, after His beloved Son had died for sinners on the cross (Rom. 3:25). This was before Him from the beginning, for as soon as sin entered the world He spoke of the coming of the seed of the woman who would bruise the serpent’s head (Gen. 3:15).
After men had given up the knowledge of God and, insofar as they could, degraded the glory of the incorruptible God, He in His righteous government gave them up to uncleanness. Three times in Romans 1 we read that God gave them up: “Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves: who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections. ... And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient” (vss. 24-28).
Need we wonder that man lost the sense of propriety of wearing clothes and living in a civilized fashion? Take a man of this great twenty-first century and give him over to demonolatry, drug addiction and associated vices, and see what he becomes in a single generation.
The Corruption of Israel
Consider the favored nation of Israel whom God brought out of Egypt with great demonstrations of His goodness and might and what happened to them when they turned from the only true God to Egyptian idolatry by worshipping the golden calf. They “corrupted themselves.” When Moses came down from the mount with the tables of stone, he “saw that the people were naked, (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies)” (Ex. 32:25). They evidently adopted some of the heathen orgies at once. Think what a thousand or so years would do to any people. God had to warn His earthly people over and over against following the ways of the heathen, and when they departed from Him, they indulged in such hideous and forbidden practices as offering their own children in sacrifices to idols, behind which were demons.
The Degeneration
of the Present Time
That the world has advanced and that much of it has given up the grosser forms connected with religion is true, but it is in no small part due to the light of God that shone from His truth as revealed in Israel and later in Christianity, although obscured through their respective failures. Men dare not do in the light what they would avidly do in the dark. But the light of God is being again extinguished in much of the world through the advances of atheistic communism and through plain and outright rejection of divine revelation. As the influence of communism has waned somewhat over the past twenty years, we see this atheistic tendency manifested in a godless pursuit of money. Let the world be assured that “God is not mocked” (Gal. 6:7) and that this enlightened Western civilization is going to be given up by God to receive the devil’s lie in a day not far distant. “Because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth” (2 Thess. 2:10-12). God gave up the heathen world; He gave up Israel after they rejected their Messiah (Micah 5:3), and He will just as surely give up the people of today to gross darkness and all the results of it.
Let us remember that if any “speak not according to this word [the Word of God], it is because there is no light in them” (Isa. 8:20). It is not that they have a little light, but none at all. Remember too that “every word of God is pure” (Prov. 30:5). It is living and operative, and it pierces the inmost recesses of the heart, laying bare all its counsels (Heb. 4:12-13). Its entrance gives light and understanding to those who in simple faith accept it as it is in truth — THE WORD OF GOD (Psalm 119:130). It is that by which we may cleanse our ways (Psalm 119:9). All of it is inspired by God “and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect [or, complete], thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Tim. 3:16-17). Take your stand unflinchingly on it, heedless of the scoffs and jeers of the ungodly, and you will never be put to shame now or in the time to come. That Word will abide for eternity: “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but My words shall not pass away” (Mark 13:31).
P. Wilson, adapted
Satan’s Knowledge
With respect to the knowledge of thoughts, Satan does not know them intuitively, as God does, but as a spirit full of intelligence and subtlety, he discerns with the greatest clearness the motives of the heart; he has gained experience over thousands of years. However, I believe that he understands nothing of the power of love. He was able in his malice to raise up the Chaldeans and others, through desire of plunder, against Job. But not in any way knowing the purpose of God to bless him by this means, he did nothing but fulfill it. He did all that he could to get Christ put to death, but he only fulfilled the wonderful purpose of God for our salvation. However, when he has to do with the evil heart of man, the case is different. He can present objects to awaken lust. If we reckon ourselves to be dead to sin and alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord, he is not able to tempt us; at least, the temptation remains without effect. But if the flesh is not held as dead, then he can present objects which the flesh likes and suggest to a man the means of satisfying his lusts. Thus he put it into the heart of Judas to betray Jesus for a little money. But man is responsible, because without lust Satan could do nothing; he has nothing to offer to the new man, or if he offers anything, it only produces horror in the soul. The godly soul suffers as Christ suffered at the sight of evil in this world, and he overcomes as Christ overcame in the wilderness. But when the soul is not set free, Satan can indeed insinuate wicked thoughts, unbelieving thoughts and words of blasphemy in such a way that these words and thoughts seem to proceed from the man himself. Nevertheless, if the man is truly converted, we always find that he has a sense of horror at the things that arise in his mind, and we see that they are not really his own thoughts. If he is not converted, he does not distinguish between the demon and himself, as we find in the Gospels. But when he is converted, the entertaining of such thoughts is a proof that he has opened the door to the devil by sin (hidden sin it may be) or by negligence.
His Tactics
Further, Satan is the prince of this world and its god, and he governs the world by means of the passions and lusts of men; he is able to raise up the whole world against Christians, as he did against Christ, and so try their faith. He can seek to mingle truth and error, and thus deceive Christians if they are not spiritual, and also, as the demon at Philippi did, to get Christians mixed up with the world in order to destroy the testimony of God. He can change himself into an angel of light, but “the spiritual [man] discerns all things” (1 Cor. 2:15 JND). Satan has but little power over us if we walk humbly, close to the Lord, following faithfully the Word of God, having Christ as the only object of the heart. Satan knows well that he has been conquered; therefore it is said, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). His influence in the world is very great through the motives of the human heart, and he acts on men through each other. Likewise, from the rapidity of his operations and actions, he appears to be everywhere. He employs a great multitude of servants who are all wicked, but in fact he is not present everywhere. Now God is really present, and if we are under the influence of the Spirit of God and the conscience is in the presence of God, Satan has no power. “He that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not” (1 John 5:18). However things may be with us, if we are truly the children of God, he will fulfill the counsels of God with respect to us; it may be by chastisement if necessary. But God knows all things; in the most absolute sense He penetrates everywhere; He orders all things — Satan’s efforts even — for our good, and if we are armed with the whole armor of God, the darts of the evil one do not reach the soul.
J. N. Darby, adapted
Witchcraft
Concerning witchcraft, some take for granted that there is no such thing. But it is a very convenient thing to the enemy, in the case of ignorant and superstitious minds, to do that which establishes his authority in a way most suited to their state, and he has done so the wide world over. I grant that much of it is imposture, but an accurate examination of facts shows a kind of power, which is not merely human, exercised over men. When this power is gained and in the hands of men, it is used to deceive and impose on credulity. But how came this influence all over the world? The devil — some mischievous, terror-striking, corrupt being — has got himself worshipped by means of some influence over men’s minds. That is a fact. Those who have carried on the mysterious influence and have been delivered from it have acknowledged the greater part to be imposture, but they have also declared that they were under an unknown influence at times. Take the history of the oracles. I doubt not corruption, but they existed, and there was a mysterious influence. So of various effects beyond human power. The cessation of oracles when Christianity began to prevail, the undoubted deliverance of persons laboring under certain distressing symptoms during and subsequent to the apostles’ days, and the fact of man’s universal sense of some superior agency (as shown in terror and evil that no righteous mind will attribute to the true God) all concur to prove that there is an evil power exercising a real influence over the bodies and minds of men. I do not doubt there is superstition and imposture, but the world’s history shows the existence of an unknown power acting on the minds and bodies of men — a power from which Christianity entirely delivers.
They have assumed that science has left all witchcraft, possession and the like far behind in the dark, and in the light they have, these things dare not show themselves. But they delude themselves. If men are complete infidels, trusting their puny reason, there is no need of superstition to dazzle them with what is false, for they are stone-blind already. But in the middle of their pretended light, phenomena like spirit-rapping, the putting people to sleep and taking their minds, in a certain sense, into possession, and the identical necromancy of which we read in Scripture are still seen. That there is a vast deal of deception I have no doubt, but they have not explained and cannot explain the half of it. Witchcraft is not gone.
J. N. Darby, adapted
The Truth About Halloween
Halloween is celebrated widely today, not only in America and Western Europe, but also in many other parts of the world. Customs vary from country to country, but many of the practices are similar. No doubt many people think little of its origins, and for this reason a warning is in order, as we see how Satan is using all this to his own ends.
Halloween has its origins in a Celtic festival called Samhain that dates back at least 2000 years. The Celts lived in what is now the United Kingdom, Ireland and northern France, and they practiced an evil, pagan religion called Druidism. They celebrated their New Year on November 1, as this marked the end of harvest and the beginning of winter. For these ancient people, winter was a hard time; food was often scarce, and weaker people frequently died. Being very superstitious, the Celts also believed that the way into the unseen world was opened at this time and that the spirits of the dead were free to roam about. As a result, a festival was held the night before, accompanied with many unusual customs and rites. Bonfires were lit, and people dressed up in grotesque costumes, possibly to avoid being recognized by the spirits that were supposed to be out and about. Children evidently went around and begged for food (possibly the origin of the modern practice of “trick or treat”), while others practiced acts of mild vandalism, such as moving gates or fences and letting livestock out of their fields. (This may have been the origin of the “trick” aspect of “trick or treat.”) Others attempted to tell one another’s fortunes and to seek guidance and inspiration through contact with the spirits of departed relatives.
The Accommodation
of Pagan Practices
When Christianity spread to these Celtic lands, many of those who now professed faith found it very difficult to give up their heathen customs and festivals. Sad to say, pagan festivals were then often connected with so-called Christian holidays in order to make them seem more legitimate; thus Pope Gregory IV designated November 1 as “All Saints’ Day.” However, many pagan customs persisted. All Saints’ Day was also known in England as “All Hallows,” and since Samhain was celebrated the night before November 1, the celebration in Christian terms became known as “All Hallows Eve,” later shortened to “Halloween.” Space does not permit us to mention the origins of all the traditions associated with this festival, but such things as jack-o’-lanterns and telling ghost stories, along with superstitions about witches and the fear of black cats all evolved at various times, in conjunction with these festivities.
Big Business
Halloween was not widely celebrated in North America until the latter part of the nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries, when large numbers of immigrants brought the tradition with them. Its popularity increased, and during the last fifty years, Halloween has become big business. It is the second largest commercial holiday in the United States, eclipsed only by Christmas. Apparently 25% of the candy sold annually in the U.S.A. is sold around Halloween, and vast amounts of money are spent on costumes. In other parts of the world, some celebrate Halloween in this same “American” fashion, while others spend November 1 more soberly, visiting cemeteries and remembering the dead.
The Believer’s Attitude
What should the believer’s attitude be to all this? No doubt some view the whole thing as harmless fun, thinking little of the evil behind it. Others will allow their children to participate in some of the festivities (such as “trick or treating”) but shy away from anything to do with such things as ghosts and witches. Still others will not allow their children to have any part in it.
Satan’s Tactics
In the celebration of Halloween we see a progression of Satan’s tactics. What started out as a pagan carnival was then overlaid with a Christian title. Now the underworld aspect of the whole observance is rising to the top again, but it is being presented as fun. Witches, ghosts, evil spirits and more are passed off as amusing, played with on many electronic games and associated with adventure in such entities as Pokémon cards. Satan and his hosts are real! If the devil cannot frighten us, he will hold our hand and lead us down a candy-strewn path. (In this connection, it is noteworthy that those who practice witchcraft today do not view Halloween as a day of fun; for them it is a serious occasion, when they believe, as did the ancient Druids, that the spirits of the dead are released, and thus contact can be made with them.)
Not only the evil origins of Halloween, but also its present-day depravity should make every true believer recoil from it. “Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Eph. 5:11). Since God began to call men out of the world, Satan has used two tactics to try to spoil the work of the Lord. He uses violence and persecution, and he uses seduction. Both methods are being used around the world in 2012!
We need to have our eyes open and turned upward, and our hearts warmed by the Lord’s love and reaching outward.
’Gainst the giant-like might
Of our foes we can bring,
As our weapons of fight,
But a stone and a sling;
Should this have dismayed us,
Our souls it may cheer,
That called on to aid us,
Our Father will hear.
W. J. Prost
Divination
The numerous references in Scripture to the various forms of occult science, as it is now called, and the strong denunciations against the Israelites’ having anything to do with it show that it was a dangerous reality, however much deception might at times have been associated with it. We read of it first in Genesis 41:8, when Pharaoh called for all the magicians of Egypt and the wise men to interpret his dream. All their resources failing, God’s man in the prison was called forth to show the dream, and this proved the occasion of working out God’s purposes respecting Joseph. Doubtless the above class of men were eminent for their learning, as were those at the court of Babylon, over whom Daniel was made chief (Dan. 4:7,9).
Among those in Egypt there were some at least who were able to exercise powers beyond what they obtained by human learning. When Moses was endeavoring by means of signs to convince Pharaoh of the power of God, the magicians of Egypt were able to turn their rods into serpents and to simulate the first two plagues with their enchantments (Ex. 7:22; 8:7). These plagues were “turning the water into blood” and “bringing up frogs upon the land.” This was beyond mere human power, and certainly the magicians did not work by the power of God; it must therefore have been by the power of Satan. We know not the nature of the enchantments used; the word is lat and signifies “secret, magic arts.” Satan can suggest what incantations to employ, if man is willing, and can exercise his powers as far as permitted by God. After the first two plagues, the power was stopped, and the magicians had to own, when lice were produced, “This is the finger of God.”
In Deuteronomy 18:10-11 there is a list of things bearing on our subject which were denounced by the Lord.
Divination — “Prediction”
A remarkable passage in Ezekiel 21:21-22 gives some instances of how the heathen divined. The king of Babylon had come to two roads, and wanting to know whether he should take the road to Rabbath or the road to Jerusalem, he resorted to divination. First, “he shook his arrows” (as it should be translated). Doubtless two or more arrows were marked each with the name of one of the cities, and, shaken in the quiver, whichever arrow was taken by the right hand decided which road was to be taken. Jerusalem fell to the right hand. Perhaps the king was doubtful, so he consulted with images — teraphim. It is not known how these were used for divination — compare Zechariah 10:2. The king still sought another guide — “he looked in the liver.” By certain set rules, the internal organs of a sacrifice were said to be propitious or the reverse. The king’s use of three sets of prognostications shows that he had no great confidence in his divinations; he may have been often deceived by them previously. How different from an answer from God vouchsafed to Israel!
Astrologers
Astrologers, habar shamaym, are “dividers of the heavens” for astrological purposes (Isa. 47:13). The word for “astrologers” throughout Daniel is a different word, ashshaph, and does not imply any connection with the heavens, but it is rather “sorcerers” or “enchanters,” as we read with reference to Babylon in Isaiah 47:9,12 where a multitude of sorceries and great abundance of enchantments are spoken of. Along with the Babylonish astrologers in Isaiah 47:13 are associated star-gazers, who may have prognosticated events from the altered positions of the planets in respect to the stars. To this is added monthly prognosticators, who probably drew their deductions from the moon. Connected with Babylon is also the word soothsayer, gezar, “to divide, determine fate or destiny” by any pretended means of predicting events.
In the New Testament, besides the case referred to of the damsel possessed by a spirit of Python, we read of others, such as Simon who used sorcery and bewitched the people of Samaria for a long time (Acts 8:9-11) and Elymas the sorcerer, a Jew who was met with in Cyprus, who perverted the right ways of the Lord (Acts 13:6,8). These used magical arts (called “curious arts” in Acts 19:19) and bewitched the people. Another word is used for sorceries in the Revelation, which refers to drugs, “to stupefy with drugs,” and then for any system of sorcery by incantations (Rev. 9:21; Rev. 18:23; compare Rev. 21:8; Rev. 22:15). Sorcery is classed with the grossest of sins and is also applied to the professing church in mystical Babylon. The same word is translated “witchcraft” in Galatians 5:20.
G. Morrish,
Concise Bible Dictionary
At the Feet of Jesus
Lonely? No, not lonely
With Jesus standing by;
His presence always cheers me;
I know that He is nigh.
Friendless? No, not friendless
Since Jesus is my friend;
I change, but He remaineth
True, faithful to the end.
Saddened? No, not saddened
By scenes of deepest woe;
I should be if I knew not
That Jesus loves me so.
Tired? No, not tired
While leaning on His breast;
My soul has full enjoyment
Of His eternal rest.
C.S.C. Panton