The Bible presents the devil as a real, living entity who was once a powerful angel in the courts of heaven but who was cast down to earth because of his pride and wickedness.  Satan also has a host of demons who do his bidding and carry out his plans against the people of God. In addition to the demonic, there are men and women who have entered into covenants with Satan and who actively participate in Satan’s plans. These men and women function as witches, warlocks, Satanists, and sorcerers.  These are reasonably interchangeable labels for individuals who partner with darkness.  Just as Jesus has his disciples, Satan does as well.  Many Christians also believe the idea of witches, warlocks and sorcerers actually wielding power is fictional.  They consign those notions to Harry Potter and the tales of King Arthur. 

We know from Genesis, that the world before the flood became a cauldron of evil. If the “sons of God’ in Genesis 6, were fallen angels who married the “daughters of men” and spawned the Nephilim, evil and satanic practices had made their way deeply into the human gene pool. The Tower of Babel, which was erected to reach into the heavens, became the sight for Babylon which them became a byword in scripture for evil, rebellion and occult practices.  Those occult practices were built on centuries of demon worship.  Those practices spread out into the world so that wherever idol worship emerged, those who served those idols were knowingly or unknowingly partnered with Satan.  Now there is a proliferation of occult practices around the world and even in America. Go into any secular bookstore and you may see a larger section on witchcraft than you seen on Christian writings. 

We have numerous references in scripture that reveal the reality of the “dark arts” having genuine power. When Moses confronted Pharoah and demanded that he let God’s people go, Pharoah demanded a miracle from Moses.  At Moses’ direction, Aaron threw down his staff and it became a snake (Ex. 7:8-13).  But, we are told Pharoah summoned his sorcerers.  They threw down their staffs and they turned into snakes as well. When Aaron struck the Nile with his staff, the water turned to blood. Pharoah’s sorcerers did the same thing by “their secret arts.”  When Egypt was struck by a plague of frogs the sorcerers duplicated the miracle.  By the fourth plague, a plague of gnats, the sorcerers could not match what Moses was commanding and testified that the “finger of God” was producing that plague. My point here is that, although God has much more power than the enemy and those that serve him, they do have some authentic power in the supernatural realm.

In Numbers 22, the king of Moab called on a sorcerer named Balaam  to place a curse on Israel so he might defeat them in war.  God forbade him from doing so and sent an angel to kill him if he would not relent from declaring the curse.  The curse would direct demonic powers to afflict Israel.  God took the threat seriously and acted to prevent it. 

God has spoken very specifically about occult activities in scripture:

“Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord, and because of these detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you” (Dt. 18:10-12).

“Do not allow a sorceress to live” (Ex.22:8).

“I will destroy your witchcraft and you will no longer cast spells” (Micah 5:12).

“Both of these will overtake you in a moment, on a single day: loss of children and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and all your potent spells” (Isa. 47:9).

“…all because of the wanton lust of a harlot, alluring, the mistress of sorceries, who enslaved nations by her prostitution and peoples by her witchcraft” (Nahum 3:4).

In these verses and others, God acknowledges the reality and power of witchcraft, although his power is much greater. In Acts 8, we are introduced to Simon the sorcerer who had practiced witchcraft in a Samaritan city for some time.  We are told that he had amazed the people with his sorcery and was held in high esteem in that city.  The people even called him The Great Power of God.  That alerts us to the fact that some witchcraft may be attributed to the hand of God. In Revelation 22, we are told that those who cannot enter the city of God to eat of the tree of life are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, murderers and idolators. 

When I was a kid, witches were cast as evil. In Walt Disney films like Snow White, the witch was ugly and malevolent. But in recent years, Satan has led an effective PR campaign to open the door for the notion of good witches (Bewitched, Charmed, etc.) and good sorcerers (Harry Potter).  Wicca has taken on a respectable aura claiming it only empowers women and any incantations evoked by its members only produce good. Culture has drawn lines between white magic and black magic (good and bad). Eastern religions, psychics, tarot cards, horoscopes, etc.it seems  have all been assigned a neutral or acceptable status by society. 

Scripture, however, makes no differentiations.  Anyone reaching into the spiritual realm who is not calling on the Holy Spirit is partaking of an unholy spirit whether they know it or not.  The tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden, represented a supernatural,  alternative source of wisdom and knowledge…a source that excluded God…which is the definition of occult practices.   Concerning psychics, mediums and necromancers, God asked why man would inquire of the dead rather than inquiring of the living God. 

Satan’s strategy from the Garden until now has been to get men to seek life, power, revelation, wealth, significance, direction, etc. from any source apart from God. When I see believers dabbling in these things or letting their children choose “good witches” or “good sorcerers” as role models, I cringe.  

Satan is real and so are his demons.  Witches are real and so is witchcraft.  Some dabble in it while others are fully immersed.  Either approach opens up a believer or their children to demonic deception and influence.  As the world gives approval to these “God alternatives,” I believe we need to be clearer with the lines we draw for ourselves and our children.  Because something is a work of fiction, does not mean it does not convey values and perspectives that bleed over into the non-fiction world.  Without trying to impose some legalistic line of lists of movies and books to cancel, let me encourage you to pray about these things and ask the Lord to show you where to draw the line. 

Thousands of witches covens operate in America currently.  Colleges promote classes on Eastern religions and practices (including healing practices) that invite demonic spirits into a person’s life. Some get involved out of curiosity while others are looking for something to provide power and control for their lives.  Others dabble just for fun.  Whatever the motive, the outcome is a real and threatening connection with Satan and those who serve him.  We should not be silent on this matter as the church or as parents to our children.  God considers every aspect of the occult to be detestable and so should we.  Please be aware and wise in relation to every form of the occult, regardless of how it is packaged. 

Reading through Genesis once again, I was struck by God’s call on Abram.  “The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Gen. 12:1-3).

In essence, God commanded Abram to cut ties with everything that defined who he was.  We don’t know with certainty, but it was likely he and his family had significant standing in his community.  Like all of us, his sense of significance was rooted in his culture, his relationships, and his reputation.  God was calling Abram to give up everything that had defined him and that had given his life significance and security to make a journey where he had never gone before. 

I’m not sure what motivated Abram to walk away from his country, his people and his father’s household, but thankfully he did. Perhaps, it was simply an uncommon wisdom that chose the greater thing. Look at the promise.  If you will walk away from everything that anchors you to this world, I will make you great in heaven. I will bless you and the world through you.  I will make your name great and your descendants uncountable. God was offering Abram a new identity, a greater identity than he had ever known.  But to take on this new identity, he had to surrender everything that defined who he was before his encounter with God.

In the same way, Jesus calls each of us to uproot ourselves from this world to seek his kingdom: 

“Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Mt. 10:37-39). 

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matt. 6:33)

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt. 6:19-21).

For us to find greatness in heaven and to receive the true riches of the kingdom, we must be willing to walk away from country, people, households, riches, and reputation rooted in this world. Too often, we want to maintain our love and status with the things this world offers and simply tack on our identity in Christ.  We think we can keep one foot in the world and one in the kingdom, but Jesus declares we cannot serve two masters.

I typically cringe every time a celebrity “comes to Christ” and suddenly is given celebrity status by some Christian leader.  It typically ends poorly and reflects negatively on our faith because they bask in the limelight of their “new life” in Christ for a while, but then are entangled in the same old sins they had been walking in before.  Part of the failure is that no one has been discipling the new believer and no one has told him/he that, compared to Jesus, they must hate their old life and old ways. 

In all of this, I’m not saying that a believer must walk away from any measure of success or influence they have achieved in the world, but must be willing to do so if God calls them out of that. Certainly, if they are involved in careers and pursuits that are sinful, they must give that up and trust God to provide as they build a new life in the kingdom.  

Here is our self-check.  Are we investing in our spiritual life and eternity in heaven significantly more than in this world? Like Abram, have we uprooted ourselves from the world and planted ourselves, our identity, and out significance firmly in heaven? Am I more concerned about how God views me or how people view me, especially those who don’t follow Jesus? 

I have seen a lot of successful people who see themselves as faithful Christians but who pursue wealth and the accolades of this world much more that serving in the kingdom. For some, if they were judged on the basis of their Facebook posts, there would be little indication that thy had made the body of Christ and the kingdom of heaven a greater priority than all the pleasures offered by the world. God wants to be our greatest desire and not simply an afterthought when it is convenient.  From time to time, we may want to evaluate how far we have left the world behind and how far we have travelled in our journey with Christ. 

Our God is a jealous God.  He wants to bless us but not share us with the gods of this world. I believe he wants to bless us and others through us as he did Abraham.  He wants us to produce spiritual descendants for the kingdom of heaven.  He wants us to trust him in the journey by holding loosely anything that is anchored in this world.  We may not recognize how tied to this world we are, so I encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit and spiritual friends to point out any blind spots so that we might surrender those to the Lord as well.  Ultimately, like Abraham we will choose who we trust in and what we trust in.  Hopefully, we will make the same decision as Abram did when he encountered God.

But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you.

Luke 11:20

One of the spiritual skills we need to develop is the capacity to recognize the moves of God in our lives on a daily or even hourly basis.  In the Luke passage quoted above, the religious leaders had witnessed the hand of God right in front of them but did not recognize it as such.  Jesus was casting out demons, but the religious elite attributed the deliverance to Satan rather than God.  Even Pharoah’s magicians recognized the finger of God when Aaron struck the dust of Egypt with his staff and turned the dust to gnats (Ex. 8:19), but the Pharisees and Sadducees missed it.  In those moments of deliverance, Jesus not only pointed to God but made it clear that the power of the Father could flick a demon off with his finger as if swatting a bug.

One of the great faith-builders of a believer is the recognition of how often God speaks to them in various ways or intervenes for them in small ways as well as great ways on a regular basis.  King David took note of God’s intervention on his behalf and drew on that record when he needed an upgrade in faith. When Saul questioned his ability to face the Philistine champion Goliath, David responded that, as a shepherd, God had delivered him from a lion and a bear and believed God would do the same for him as he faced the enemy.

I think we often adopt the view that God inly intervenes in big moments of crisis when we are facing the giants of death, cancer, persecution, job loss, divorce, etc.  But God provides our daily bread. Any loving Father wants to bless his children in multiple ways.  In David’s 23^rd  Psalm, he praises the Lord for providing abundance in the midst of his enemies and being led through the Valley of the Shadow of Death. But he also he speaks of being led daily to green pastures and still waters.  There is that sense of thanksgiving for his “daily bread” which, perhaps, we take for granted as an ordinary experience of life.  David clearly saw God’s hand in that.  If you believe God provides the ordinary blessings of life on a daily basis, it is easier to believe when giants are knocking on the door.

I heard a preacher say that whatever we are thankful for, heaven provides more of.  That makes sense.  As a parent, I know that when my children were truly thankful and delighted about something, I found ways to make sure they received more of that.  When they had an attitude of entitlement or indifference, I wasn’t so motivated to provide special blessings.

I want to have faith that God is the source of every good thing in my life, so I notice those things and give thanks for those things throughout the day.  Some may think it foolish but I thank God for sunrises that reveal his glory, for sprinkles of rain in a dry land, for parking spaces that are handy, for cars that start, and squirrels that make me laugh. Although my health isn’t perfect, I thank him for the health I do have.  Noticing the hand of God in my everyday life gives me faith for the moments of crisis that come. 

Believing that he is orchestrating my day, makes me more sensitive to encounters with people that may need encouragement or a prayer.  It makes me mindful that I am representing Jesus to those I connect with throughout the day, so I treat them a bit better and speak a better word to them.  Every time I have faith that God is blessing me and revealing himself to me through the “ordinary” circumstances if life, I have more faith for the “giants” that raise their heads from time to time.  My awareness and thanksgiving help me see God as a good God who loves me and consistently wants the best for me.  When hard times appear, I remember that he is not the author of the pain in my life, but is still a good God who will walk me through the fires. 

Let me encourage you to begin and end each day with an eye toward seeing the finger of God in your life.  Most often he is subtle like the “still small voice” in Elijah’s cave.  But when we train our hearts to notice even the “little kisses” from heaven, our faith and our peace will increase. 

“So, as the Holy Spirit says: ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.’” (Heb. 3:8)

I think we all go through seasons of hearing God more or less clearly.  Hearing God’s voice is an integral part of being led by the Spirit and being led by the Spirit is essential to a relationship with Jesus.  Paul wrote, “Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God^” (Rom.8:12-14). The corollary to that statement is those who are not led by the Spirit are not sons of God.  If those things are true then we must guard our hearts against the condition of hardening. The hardening of a heart is dependent on our responses to the voice of God as he speaks to us day after day.  He speaks in many ways and we want to stay alert and submitted to his voice when he presents himself to us. Two primary things can cause us to push back on God’s voice or ignore it all together:  sin and woundedness.

The most obvious is unrepented sin.  Because God is committed to making us into the image of his Son, his Holy Spirit will push us toward repentance whenever sin begins to take root. Paul warns us, “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire” (1 Thess. 5:19). It is possible to quench the fire and influence of the Spirit in our life.  Indifference towards the Kingdom and indifference towards sin can harden our hearts so that we no longer feel the promptings or the leading of the Spirit.  The Bible speaks of calloused hearts that no longer respond to God.  It is the idea of skin becoming so thick that it loses its sensitivity to those things that prick or rub against it.  Our hearts can lose their sensitivity to the Spirit and to the voice of God as well.

Scripture declares in another place, “It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tastedthe heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace” (Heb. 6:4-6).  The writer of Hebrews is issuing a practical warning for every believer.  

He is not saying that God will no longer forgive but, in essence, we are told that we can resist the Spirit of God long enough that we will lose our capacity to repent.  Our hearts may become so calloused and hard, that even the promptings of the Spirit will no longer touch us.  By our own choices, we can develop a kind of spiritual neuropathy so that we can become numb and oblivious to the pricks of our conscience and the voice of the Father. When we nurture sin, we must push back on the promptings of the Spirit and, as we do, we lose sensitivity to his leading, Hardened hearts do not make good receivers for hearing the voice of God.  

Although sin heavily contributes to hardening, emotional scars may also hinder our hearing.  Many of us have been deeply wounded by life. As a result, we have developed extensive defense mechanisms to guard ourselves from being wounded again. We become emotionally guarded and distrustful. We are rarely open and vulnerable even with those closest to us. We still keep our deepest fears, hopes, and feelings to ourselves because fear rejection.  We work hard to stay in control of every situation in order to feel safe. We may even succumb to the temptation to lie and manipulate to avoid blame or rejection of any kind. 

When wounded, we may view God with the same suspicion and distrust. We are not open with him.  We offer partial confessions and tend to be inauthentic before the Father. We shy away from being honest about our fears, our unbelief, our lust, our bitterness and so forth.  We may fear his rejection and correction so we don’t truly want to hear his voice.  As we anticipate rejection from others, we may anticipate it from him as well so we keep our distance and have little faith that he will say “yes” to our prayers. 

If your heart has been hardened by life so that you are guarded, distrustful or controlling, ask God to dissolve those strongholds and give you a softened and responsive heart to his love and his Word. If you are choosing sin over a relationship with him, then repent. God is aware of your brokenness and your fear and is willing to heal those hurts. He is aware of your sins and eagerly forgives when we sincerely seek his forgiveness.  Remember, time is your enemy.  As we resist the voice of God for whatever reason, our hearts are becoming hard.  That is why the Spirit pleads, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts’” (Heb. 3:8)

Blessings in Him.  

There are still numerous denominations that hold the position that the Holy Spirit no longer does miraculous or supernatural acts through God’s people and that God no longer intervenes in the affairs of men in miraculous ways.  In other words, these churches teach that since the end of the first century, the Holy Spirit no longer activates the gifts of prophecy, tongues, words of knowledge, miracles, healing, and so forth given to the church.  Since those days, we should no longer expect angels to visit men with messages from God, or bodies of water parting for God’s people, or angels being sent out to defeat the enemies of God without a battle.  According to these denominations, for the last 1900 years or so, God has answered prayers through natural means rather than supernatural.  There have even been books written in the past ten years railing against the deception of supernatural spiritual gifts and the supernatural intervention of God in our circumstances.

I was part of one of those denominations for two decades.  Our people loved God and they loved the Word of God.  They prayed.  They worshipped.  They served.  I have no reason to doubt they were saved.  There was a common denominator among many of the people I fellowshipped with, however.  They all felt as if there was something “more” they should be experiencing, but were not sure what it was.  It just felt like something was missing.

I believe the missing piece was the opportunity to experience God, not just know about God.  If you think about it, the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation is a record of men and women encountering God in supernatural moments. Something happened to them outside the natural order of things.  God walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden.  God directed to Noah to build an ark.  God visited Abraham with angels and promises of a son to be born long after it was physically possible for Sarah.  Then we have Moses and the burning bush, the ten plagues, and the parting of the Red Sea.  These kinds of moments are recorded throughout the Old Testament. Visions and dreams, angelic visits, supernatural victories in war, deliverance from fire and lions, supernatural provision, and so on.  

In the New Testament that theme continues.  E very encounter with Jesus was supernatural…God in the flesh.  Healings, raising the dead, supernatural catches of fish, demons being dispatched, and storms being quieted with a word.  After Jesus returned to the Father, we see tongues of fire on Pentecost, jail breaks facilitated by angels, more healings, deliverance and people raised from the dead.  The church is given the spiritual gifts of healings, tongues, miracles, words of knowledge, prophecy, etc. and was instructed to use them for building up the body of Christ. 

The notion that God revealed himself to his people through miracles, visions, and angelic visits from the beginning of scripture to the end and then suddenly stopped the flow of power and supernatural encounters to his church seems unreasonable and out of character for God. In scripture, the very thing that propelled Gods’ people through each crisis was the expectation that God would move in some miraculous way to deliver them.  That attitude is what the Bible calls faith and without faith it is impossible to please God.

nterestingly, we see the Apostle Paul in Athens in Acts 17.  He is invited to speak to the intellectual elites of the day by sharing the gospel on Mars Hill.  Paul gave his best explanation of the gospel, perhaps using the learning and training he had received at the feat of his mentor, Rabbi Gamaliel, when he was growing up.  A few responded, but not many.  Paul was disappointed.  

His next stop was Corinth, and when he wrote his first letter to them, he recalled their initial encounters.  He said, “When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power” (1 Cor. 2:1-5).

It seems after his experience on Mars Hill, he put away intellectually persuasive arguments and rhetoric and began preaching a simple gospel…but with a demonstration of power.  In other words, he still preached but then enabled those who heard the word to actually experience God through the exercise of spiritual gifts…a supernatural moment.  The pattern of Jesus had been to preach the coming of the kingdom of God and then to demonstrate it through healing, deliverance, miracles (loaves and fish), and sometimes calling people back from the dead.  We can safely assume Paul did the same. After all, a gospel without power is no gospel at all.  

The “more” that most believers are looking for is an experience with God, not just more knowledge about him.  That is the biblical pattern from Genesis to Revelation and should still be our pattern in the church.  Can spiritual gifts and claims of miracles be abused?  Of course. They were abused in Corinth, but rather than telling the people to stop using the gifts or that the gifts were fraudulent, he simply instructed them about how to use the gifts as God intended.   Many believers suffer from a faith that is devoid of power.   Rather than confronting the attacks of Satan they are instructed to simply endure the attacks.  Without the use of the divine (supernatural) weapons that Paul describes in 2 Corinthians 10, we cannot confront spiritual forces.  Therefore, those who believe that God no longer intervenes or that the Holy Spirit no longer imparts power, simply have to take what Satan is handing out.  That is not the character of God nor should it be the character of his people. 

Let me encourage you to seek more experiences with God…biblically balanced and tested.  Those experiences will always have some supernatural component because God is supernatural. And remember that God is interactive not simply observational.  He always has been.  He has always extended the invitation to experience him whether at a burning bush, the Tent of Meeting, or through his Holy Spirit living in us,. So let’s accept the invitation and find the “more” we are looking for.
  

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

Therefore come out from them and be separate,says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. (2 Co 6:14–18).


To some of us, this section of scripture sounds like the Old Testament injunctions for the Israelites to keep themselves separate from Gentiles and all their practices. They were not to marry Gentiles (non-Jews), they were not to eat with them and certainly not to worship their gods or participate in activities that honored those gods. There were, of course, foods that were considered unclean and numerous circumstances that would render a Jew unclean for a season, such as coming into contact with anything dead or diseased.

Although those laws were suspended under the New Covenant (bacon is back on the menu!), the principle of separation for the sake of holiness has not set aside. God is a holy God and his Spirit that lives in us is the Holy Spirit. In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, he emphasizes this principle. In a city known for its idol worship and temples to false gods, this reminder was necessary. A great number of those in the church at Corinth were Gentiles who had placed their faith in Jesus but who also had families, friends, and employers who were still unbelievers. Contact with unbelievers was not forbidden, but certain kinds of relationships were forbidden for believers.

Paul describes these relationships as relationships in which two people are “yoked” together. In an agricultural society, everyone understood the concept of “yoking.” Two animals were bound together by a yoke. Where one went, the other was forced to go. When one stood still, the other was greatly hindered from moving. Under the Law of Moses, it was forbidden to yoke different kinds of animals together, such as a horse and an ox. That was to picture the principle of separation between God’s people and others. A relationship in which yoking occurs is a relationship in which two people are bound together by covenants, oaths, and/or influence such as a marriage. It may also extend to business partners or other relationships in which people are tied together by oaths such as in Free Masonry.

In a culture that emphasizes inclusion and the tolerance of all kinds of lifestyles, the church has begun to compromise and has allowed the culture to reach into the church. Many believers think nothing of marrying an unbeliever or an individual from another culture who worships other gods. Many believers never connect their faith with their business practices or associations they belong to.

But Paul was clear. If a person does not belong to Jesus, he belongs to Satan. He is part of darkness not light, wickedness not righteousness. He has the spirit of disobedience in him, rather than the Spirit of the Living God. If we enter into a covenant with that person we, be default, are entering into a covenant with Satan and he has full access to the believer through his or her relationship with the unbeliever. Paul’s injunction is not a recommendation for who you should or should not marry, but is a command. God is a jealous God and does not willingly share his people with those outside our covenant with him.

As a covenant people living in the midst of a depraved culture, we need to love the lost but avoid being yoked with them. Of course, I have known Christians who married unbelievers who later came to Christ. That does not suspend the command. I have known drug dealers and Satanists who have come to Christ, but that doesn’t commend drug dealing and Satanism. We always think we can win those people to Christ, but what we are doing is giving Satan open access to us if we enter into a covenant through some formal act, some oath, some promise or some intimate association with unbelievers.

Of course, we will be accused of bigotry and intolerance if aren’t willing to accept and engage with every person around us, but God knows his children and those that belong at his table. He is quite willing to adopt more children and give them a seat, but those who do not have his Spirit within them, are not his. Part of our problem is that we fail to see ourselves as different from the world and set apart in Christ. Being sons and daughters of God with his Holy Spirit living in us can seem abstract if we simply know about God without experiencing him. Since we “feel” the same as others, we assume being “yoked” with them isn’t problematic.

Perhaps; we need to spend some time asking God to show us who we truly are in Christ and how we need to “come out from among them,” so we can experience the Father in his fullness. This not bigotry or hating, it is reality. If I point out that a child is not mine because he belongs to other parents, would that be an act of hate toward the child or simply a recognition of who belongs to whom? So it is in the kingdom of God.

Let me encourage you to spend some time this week reading over the passage above, asking the Spirit to give you an understanding of it, and asking him to give you a clearer sense of who you are in Christ. Jesus challenged us to be Holy, even as our Father in heaven is holy. Knowing that we are set apart from the world and seeing ourselves through than lens is the first step in being what God has called his to be.

We know the idea of curses in the 21^st century sounds like superstition or something belonging to the realm of fiction.  Most individuals don’t take the notion seriously, including most Christians.  I would venture that the great majority of pulpits in America have never issued a sermon on the topic and very few Christian counselors or healthcare providers would ever role that out as a possible source of a client’s torment, failures, or illness.

However, it is a very biblical topic and a serious reality that often needs to be addressed.  The first mention of a curse pops up only three chapters into Genesis.  When Adam and Eve sin, a curse is pronounced on the serpent, on the earth itself, on the man and on the woman.  The curse calls for supernatural power to produce and maintain some kind of negative consequence for those under the curse.  The serpent would crawl on his belly (he was apparently upright before the curse); the woman would experience great pain in child bearing (both in the birth process and in the raising of children), the earth would produce thorns and thistles and the man would have to scratch out a living on the face of an earth that would resist his touch rather than cooperating with it.

In Deuteronomy 28, God promised abundant blessings for obedience, but then offered half a chapter of curses for disobedience that would be released on Israel if they rejected God.  In numbers 22, we encounter a man named Balaam who was a sorcerer. The king of Moab went to Balaam and asked him to place a curse on Israel so that he might defeat them in battle.  His words were, “For I know that whoever you bless is blessed and whoever you curse is cursed” (Num. 22:6). The king had witnessed his work on numerous occasions and had seen the results.  God nearly killed him to prevent him from issuing the curse because Israel was blessed.  One lesson from the account is that God took a curse uttered by a sorcerer seriously. 

In essence, a curse is an authoritative word that directs spiritual forces to produce negative results in a person’s life…poverty, persistent illness, relationship failures, oppression, loss, untimely death, etc.  When a curse is operating it seems that nothing ever goes right, even when the people involved are doing the right things.  A curse may fall on a nation, a group, a generation, a family, or an individual. There may be numerous causes for a curse but I only want to focus on witchcraft in this blog.

We are in a season of highly increased witchcraft (sorcery) in America. Some research suggests there are more practicing witches in America now than members of some major denominations.   I regularly encounter people who seem to be operating under a curse.…undiagnosable illnesses, spirits in their home tormenting family members, financial stress, relationship issues flaring up suddenly, etc.  In many of these cases, I have asked if there was anyone they knew who might be holding a grudge against them and who also was involved in witchcraft. In many cases, they quickly identify who that person might be – ex-spouses, ex boy friends are girls friends, an irritated neighbor, an angry former mother-in-law, estranged family members, etc.  Some have previously been members of a witch’s coven and had left under threats.  

Suspecting that witchcraft might be operating against them, we then made sure the person we were ministering to had forgiven any of those who had hurt them in the past and even the one who might be cursing them in the present.  We made sure they repented of any known sins they had not submitted to the cross – past or present. In the name and authority of Jesus, we then canceled any curse that had been established against them and canceled any demonic assignment made on the basis of that curse.  We then commanded any demonic spirit involved to abandon its assignment, leave, and never return.  You may even send the spirit back to the person who pronounced the curse. Finally, we asked the Lord to assign angels to keep any other spirits at bay that might try to enforce the curse again and to even prevent the witch from issuing the curse again.  This has typically made a marked positive difference in their situation.   

One thirty-five year old woman, in particular, had a wasting disease that could not be diagnosed.  She was told by doctors that she would die within a few months of they could not find the cause.  As we talked and prayed, she identified her sister’s former lesbian partner who held a grudge because the woman who was ill encouraged the breakup. The lady had been involved in witchcraft and we believe the Holy Spirit revealed her as the source.  We prayed, broke the curse, and her health turned around in just a few days.

When dealing with curses we often look at unrepented sins, generational curses, word curses spoken by family members or the individual himself, or witchcraft that the person has been involved in (tarot cards, psychic readings, fortune-tellers horoscopes, etc.).  These are definitely the first places to look.  However, we sometimes forget to consider that witchcraft might be in play, actively directing spirits toward another person.  As you look for sources of a curse, keep witchcraft in mind and ask the person if they know anyone who has been practicing occult arts that may also be holding a grudge against them. I suspect you may discover that scenario more than you may anticipate. 

The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 2 Corinthians. 4:4

Paul is the apostle who most often mentions spiritual warfare in his letters.  In his letter to the church at Corinth he gives an explanation as to why so many people do not respond to the gospel.  He simply says that the god of this age has blinded their minds. He means that Satan, through lies and deception, has rendered them incapable of understanding who Jesus is, why they need him, and what sin is … in their own strength.

Satan is called the “god of this age” because the world worships him.  He is not deity; he is not eternal; he is a “god” with a lower case “g.”  And yet he has beguiled and deceived the great majority of people who live on this planet.  What we need to recognize is that many of the people we care about who are lost and have proven to be resistant to the gospel, are not bad people…they are blinded people.  What is most important to understand is that they are blinded by supernatural forces, therefore, they will only be able to see by the supernatural power of God.  If we expect them to hear the gospel, analyze it by logic and intellect, and accept it because it is a superior way to live…they cannot. 

Later in the same letter to Corinth, Paul writes, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Cor. 10:3-5). Notice he uses the language of war…wage war, weapons, divine power, demolish strongholds, and captivity.  But notice also that the war is taking place in the arena of the mind…arguments, pretensions, knowledge, and thoughts. And remember that Satan has blinded their minds.

Before we share the gospel with a highly resistant friend or family member, we need to enter into a season of spiritual warfare on their behalf. A season of praying for God to remove their blindness and give them spiritual sight seems prudent.  As in most cases, demons are also involved in maintaining the deception and erecting strongholds (belief systems) that oppose God’s truth.  Each time we try to share some of that truth with an unbeliever, some demon is whispering an objection to what we are sharing.  A season of commanding spirits to be silent when we visit with that person will be in order and our declarations of God’s word over them will weaken the enemy.  Sharing God’s word with them in a non-confrontational way will allow the seed to begin to take root.  

Like any harvest, it will take time for the seed to germinate and grow so we must be ready for a season of warfare rather than a few days.  We may need to forbid the enemy from snatching up the seed as Jesus points out in the parable of the sower.   We may need to pray for the Holy Spirit to guard and water it, and we may need to persist in loving some unlovable people in our lives.  We also need to guard ourselves against unbelief and discouragement as well.  As we pray for the salvation of another, Satan will whisper in our ears that we are wasting our time and that the person we are praying for is beyond redemption. He will discourage us at every turn so that the strongholds keeping our loved one in unbelief will not be dismantled.

Paul clearly declared in Ephesians 6 that our struggle is not against flesh and blood but spiritual powers.  Spiritual powers must be confronted by spiritual weapons. In many cases, simply presenting the gospel or showing another person Jesus through our love may need to be accompanied by spiritual warfare that prepares the ground. Power is certainly in the gospel but it is also in prayer and the authority of Jesus Christ.  When we pray, power is released toward the object of our prayer.  When we declare scripture, God’s word is released to fulfill its purpose.  When we command spirits, the authority of Christ does its work.  

When Jesus healed the blind he exercised authority and often cast out a spirit that was the source of the blindness.  Surely, when we want to free a spiritually blind person from their inability to grasp the word of God, we will have to do the same.  Blessings in Him.

From one perspective, the life of Jesus is a study in spiritual warfare.  From his birth, the enemy was targeting Jesus.  First of all, Satan incited Herod to kill all the males in the region of Bethlehem under the age of two in order to eliminate the possibility that one of them would grow to be a king who threatened Herod’s throne.  The fact that Joseph, Mary, and Jesus became political refugees fleeing to Egypt while Jesus was still a toddler also put the family in danger.  The fact that angels drew near to pronounce both promises and warnings in visions and in-person tells us that there was much afoot in the spiritual realm.

As Jesus began his ministry, God himself spoke audibly confirming that Jesus was his son in whom he was well pleased.  Then, after his baptism by John, we are told that Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit for forty days of fasting and temptation.  Some versions say that the Holy Spirit drove him into the wilderness.  This would be a difficult introduction to spiritual warfare launched by the public ministry of Jesus.  The language of the gospels suggests that he was tempted throughout the forty days, with an ultimate confrontation at the end.

At the end of his fasting, Jesus had a personal confrontation with Satan who challenged him to demonstrate his deity if he really were the Son of God. He was betting that Jesus had an element of pride and arrogance that would prompt him to demonstrate who he was when Satan questioned him.  After all, Satan was filled with pride and arrogance and would have gladly demonstrated his power if it had been questioned. The first two temptations…turning stones to bread and jumping from the pinnacle of the temple mount… were kind of a dare. In essence, the accuser was taunting Jesus with, “I dare you to prove who you are.”  

The last temptation was to take a shortcut to becoming king and ruling over the nations of the earth, whichis his appointed destiny.  Satan offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if he would simply worship Satan. The offer was to fulfill his rightful destiny without the cross and the suffering.  We all want “a crown without a cross” and Satan tempts us with spiritual short cuts all the time.  Jesus responded with the word of God in all three moments of temptation which is the ultimate way to resist Satan.

Later we see Satan manipulating Judas so that he ultimately betrayed Jesus.  In fact, we are told that Satan entered into Judas just before the final betrayal.  We can’t know for sure, but it seems likely that Satan was in Gethsemane that night whispering that none of us were worth what Jesus was about to go through. On that night, Jesus asked the Father if there was any other way.  Of course, the flesh in any of us would have been looking for an exit from the appointed plan but, perhaps, Satan was amplifying the moment and the fear Jesus was wrestling with.  Remember, Jesus was tempted in every way that we have been tempted, yet was without sin.  As Jesus resisted the temptation, angels came and ministered to him.

I am convinced that we, like our master, are in the midst of spiritual warfare ourselves much more than we recognize.  Failing to derail Jesus, he is busy trying to derail those who follow him.  The problem is in recognizing his activity.  The most effective demons are those who work subtly in our lives to move us out of God’s will inch by inch rather than in catastrophic ways that would immediately raise a red flag in our minds that we are under spiritual attack.  He takes his time, studies our vulnerabilities, looks for things in our life or bloodline that will give him a legal right to afflict us, and studies our wounds to see how to use those against us.  

The best strategies of the enemy leave us feeling as if life and time are simply taking their toll.  Our health issues, our discouragement that moves into mild depression, our insecurities that develop into generalized anxiety, our view of ourselves as victims and questions about God’s goodness or fairness seem to come up like weeds. We have thoughts that we know are contrary to God’s word and we wonder why we think that way. We wonder why we don’t have the faith we once did, why lustful thoughts seem to dominate our imagination, why anger or jealousy begin to define us, and why we can’t forgive certain people in our lives.

In many cases, we simply conclude that we are not spiritual; that we don’t love Jesus anymore and that God tolerates us but is not pleased with us as his children.  We become discouraged and often give up on our spiritual growth or our relationship with God all together.  The truth us, many times the fear, the depression, the bitterness, and the lust are not originating in us, but are demonic spirits constantly whispering those things that stream across our minds as though they originated in our hearts.  Then the accuser fills us with shame and discouragement and tries to convince us that we are beyond hope and that spiritual growth is out of our reach.

Certainly we need to recognize the thoughts that are contrary to God’s word and repent of them, but even more we should recognize the source of those thoughts as demonic and banish those demons from our presence by the authority of Jesus Christ.  Thoughts that persist in the face of repentance and prayer or that press in even harder when we resist, are most likely demonic affliction.  Until the demons leave, the thoughts will gain ground rather than fading away.  My experience has taught me that more of our struggles are spiritual than we think. When resisting thoughts, impulses, or destructive behaviors, we should assume first that a spirit is operating.  We should command the spirit to leave and then deal with the flesh through prayer, repentance, and the word.  We should command these spirits to leave as soon as we see a pattern of thoughts contrary to God’s word and will for us.  We should command them before we start to come into agreement with them. If we assume out thoughts are always our own, those thoughts may become a stronghold that will be more difficult to dismantle.

Satan loves to work in the shadows and make us just miserable enough, tired enough, and depressed enough that we assume it is just life in a fallen world. We then look to doctors and counselors for help when the underlying cause is spiritual.  Until the spiritual realm is addressed, no counseling or treatment will be sufficient.  Paul declares that our struggle is not against flesh and blood but spiritual powers. Let me encourage you to start there when life isn’t as it should be and God’s blessings always seem to slip away. When you recognize a pattern of ungodly thought, make sure there is nothing in your life giving the enemy a legal right to afflict and oppress you. After that, command the thought as if it is a spirit. Command it to leave and never return. If the thoughts weaken then the spirit has left and you and the Word can continue to renew your mind.  If the thoughts press in harder, then command harder until the spirit leaves. 

In 1 Samuel 13, we are told of an incident between the Prophet Samuel and King Saul, Israel’s first king.  In this section of scripture, we are told of a number of battles between Israel and the Philistines.  As they prepare for an upcoming major encounter, Samuel told Saul to take his troops, go to Gilgal, and wait for Samuel to come and offer sacrifices on behalf of Israel before going into battle.  Samuel told Saul he would come on the seventh day to offer the sacrifice (1 Sam. 10:8).  

In chapter 13, we are told that Saul was waiting at Gilgal on the seventh day.   His troops were terrified.  He was frightened and yet Samuel had not yet arrived. As the day wore on, some of Saul’s men began to scatter. Saul decided to take matters into his own hands and he himself offered the burnt offering and fellowship offering that Samuel was to offer.  Saul was not a priest.  He was not authorized to offer sacrifices and yet he did so out of fear of losing his army.  Of course, the moment the last billow of smoke drifted up from the offering, Samuel arrived. 

The text reads, “What have you done?” asked Samuel. Saul replied, “When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Micmash, I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the Lord’s favor.’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.” “You acted foolishly,” Samuel said. “You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command” (1 Sam. 13:11-14). Notice that Saul decided to take matters into his own hands, blamed Samuel, and then said he needed God’s blessing even if he had to obtain it through disobedience. His thinking was skewed like that throughout his entire life.

Ultimately, this event and others like it cost Saul his kingdom and his life. We could take numerous lessons from this passage, but the one I want to emphasize now is the principle of waiting on the Lord.  Saul had received instructions from the Lord though Samuel to wait at Gilgal until the prophet, who was also a priest, arrived and offered sacrifices.  Saul depended on his own abilities and the abilities of his men for victory.  As they began to leave, he apparently had no thought that God could give them victory regardless of their numbers.  In fear, he went ahead and offered the sacrifices rather than waiting on God’s man to arrive. Saul believed that God would honor his actions even though they were disobedient. Saul always felt that the end he wanted justified the means.

There was a test woven into this circumstance.  Would Saul obey God even when it began to look like obedience might cost him his victory?  In a similar incident later, Samuel would say to the king, “Does not God desire obedience more than sacrifice?”  The issue is whether we will trust God and be obedient when things aren’t going according to our time table or our presuppositions about life and what it should look like.

Satan is quick to show up and whisper that God is not going to show up so we must take matters into our own hands.  When that happens, a lack of faith rushes ahead and tries to engineer the outcome we are wanting.  That is not a good idea! Remember Abram and Sarai.

God promised Abram a son, even though Sarai had been unable to bear children.  I’m sure they got busy trying to fulfill that promise, but time passed and nothing happened.  In Genesis 16, we are told that Sarai decided the promise was not going to be fulfilled through her, so she offered her handmaiden to Abram and he fathered a child though Hagar.  From a natural, fleshly perspective that made sense, but it was something that could be accomplished apart from God. God often wants to do something supernatural in our lives that leaves no question his hand was in it.  That brings him glory, increases our faith, and builds relationship with him.  But I have seen many people who waited on a promise or a prayer to be answered for a while…but then decided to make the promise or prayer come to pass in their own way by their own efforts.  

The enemy was busy injecting thoughts that God wasn’t going to come through for them or didn’t care about the need they so desperately wanted him to meet.  So, they moved ahead only to find that the decisions and the outcomes they engineered were catastrophic.  Just as Saul went ahead with the sacrifices, they ran ahead on relationships, marriages, job opportunities, major moves, and so forth.  Just as Saul lost his kingdom, they found the things they engineered did not work out well.

Very often, Satan prompts us to run ahead and take matters into our own hands. God wants to do things by his Spirit.  Satan wants us to operate in the flesh.  Abram and Sarai thought they would help God fulfill what he had promised.  But the way the promise was fulfilled was just as important as the promise itself.  Abram got Hagar pregnant.  But then Hagar began to despise Sarai and flaunt her pregnancy.  Sarai became enraged.  When Hagar bore a son, he was not welcome.  Ishmael and Isaac became estranged brothers and their descendants (Arabs and Jews) have been fighting ever since.  

Certainly, we have a part in many promises, but waiting on the Lord can be a significant part of spiritual warfare because God is aligning all things to birth the answer to our prayer and his promise.  If we run ahead, some ingredient(s) that will make the answer amazing will be left out.  The answer will fall flat, lack flavor, be bitter, or be inedible all together. Satan will have taken the best part and we will be disappointed. Satan will then rush to get us to blame God rather than ourselves for not having the faith to wait.

As we pray for significant things, we may also need to pray for God to give us the patience and even endurance to wait on his answer.  His supernatural outcome will always outpace whatever we can do in our own strength.