Celebrating Halloween is a Christian Thing?
By Shaila D Touchton
Oct 31, 2008 - Traditionally, it was known as All Hallow's Eve, when the dead were remembered. Over time, it became cultural. For Americans, it became commercialized. Unfortunately, the emphasis on this commercialized holiday has shifted from the little cowboys and Indians to a much more evil and pointed attraction to all things hideous and pagan. Satan has undoubtedly made this commercialized holiday into something that has subtly focused on dressing kids up as ugly demonic creatures.
Samhain. Many believe the festival of Samhain to have been the beginning of the Celtic year. At Samhain, farmers brought livestock in from summer pastures and people gathered to build shelter for winter. The festival also had religious significance and people burned fruits, vegetables, grain, and possibly animals as offerings to the gods. In ancient Celtic stories, Samhain was a magical time of transition when important battles were fought and fairies cast spells. It was a time when the barriers between the natural world and the supernatural were broken. The Celts believed that the dead could walk among the living at this time. During Samhain, the living could visit with the dead, who they believed held secrets of the future. Scholars believe that Halloween's association with ghosts, food, and fortunetelling began with these pagan customs more than 2,000 years ago.
All Saints' and All Souls' Day. Many of the customs of the pagan Celts survived even after the people became “Christianized.” In the 800's A.D., the church established All Saints' Day on November 1. About two hundred years later, it added All Souls' Day on November 2. This day was set aside for people to pray for friends and family who had died. People made many of the old pagan customs part of this Christian holy day. Some people put out food for their ancestors or they left a lantern burning in the window so that ghosts could find their way home for the night. Through the years, various regions of Europe developed their own Halloween customs. In Wales, for example, each person put a white stone near the Halloween fire at night and then checked in the morning to see whether the stone was still there. If it was, the person would live another year.
Halloween in the United States. Many early American settlers came from England and they brought various beliefs about ghosts and witches with them. In the 1800's, many immigrants from Ireland and Scotland arrived in the United States and introduced their Halloween traditions. Other groups added their own cultural influences to Halloween customs. German immigrants brought a vivid witchcraft lore, and Haitian and African peoples brought their native voodoo beliefs about black cats, fire, and witchcraft.
We recognize that this can be a very controversial topic. Some Christians view Halloween simply as a day to dress up in a costume and have fun. Other Christians regard Halloween as a satanic holiday designed to worship evil spirits and promote darkness and wickedness. So, who is right? Is it possible for Christians to participate in Halloween without compromising their faith?
Halloween, no matter how commercialized, has almost completely pagan origins. As innocent as it may seem to some, it is not something to be taken lightly. Christians tend to have various ways to celebrate or not to celebrate Halloween. For some, it means having an “alternative” Harvest Party. For others, it is staying away from the ghosts, witches, goblins, etc., and wearing less evil or pagan costumes, e.g., little princesses, clowns, cowboys, super-heroes, etc. Some choose not to do anything, electing to lock themselves in the house with the lights off. With your freedom as a Christian, you are at liberty to decide how you react.
Scripture does not directly speak at all about Halloween, but it does give us some principles on which we can make a decision. In Old Testament Israel, witchcraft was a crime punishable by death (Exodus 22:18, Leviticus 19:31; 20:6, 27). The New Testament teaching about the occult is clear. Acts 8:9-24, the story of Simon, shows that occultism and Christianity don't mix. The account of Elymas the sorcerer in Acts 13:6-11 reveals that sorcery is violently opposed to Christianity. Paul called him a child of the devil, an enemy of righteousness and perverter of the ways of God. In Acts 16, at Philippi, a fortune-telling girl lost her demon powers when the evil spirit was cast out by Paul. The interesting matter here is that Paul refused to allow even good statements to come from a demon-influenced person. Acts 19 shows new converts who have abruptly broken with their former occultism by confessing, showing their evil deeds, bringing their magic paraphernalia, and burning it before everyone (Acts 19:19).
So, should a Christian celebrate Halloween? Is there anything evil about a Christian dressing up as a princess or cowboy and going around the block asking for candy? No, there is not. Are there things about Halloween that are anti-Christian and should be avoided? Absolutely! Parents, if you are going to allow your children to participate in Halloween, make sure you keep them from getting involved in the darker aspects of the day. If Christians are going to take part in Halloween, their attitude, dress, and most importantly, their behavior, should still reflect a redeemed life (Philippians 1:27). There are many churches who hold "harvest festivals" and incorporate costumes, but in a godly environment. There are many Christians who hand out tracts that share the Gospel along with the Halloween candy. The decision is ultimately yours to make. God's view on the subject is clear: "Be Holy, as I am Holy" (1 Peter 1:16). "God is light and in Him is no darkness at all" (1 John 1:5b).
God commands us to have nothing to do with anything that smacks of the occult, devil worship, or involvement with the spirit world through the use of mediums, séances, Ouija boards, horoscopes, tarot cards, channeling, etc. He considers all of these an abomination (Deuteronomy 18:9-12; Isaiah 8:19-20; Galatians 5:20; Revelation 21:8), and those who involve themselves in such things invite disaster (Acts 19:13-16).
More about the Author: http://www.gotquestions.org/
Source: Narrow is the Path
Is America just having a bad hair day?
By Julie Lucas
Sorry, folks I promised you a dissertation on the demonic effects on nations and people groups but Satan and his band of thugs pulled out of their hat one of the oldest tricks of the trade: “I’ll keep you busy so you won’t be any use to the kingdom of God!”
I know many of you think I am a complete weight around the neck of God, while the rest of you who actually know me are saying that it really doesn’t take much to distract her and you would be right. One good re-run of Frasier and I’m down for the count! Seriously folks, Frasier comes on several times a day….I’m useless!
Let’s move on past my vacant stare as the boob-tube pours out its intoxicating elixir into what I would like to share with you: Satan’s affects on nations and people groups. As we draw closer to the next election I would just like to remind my Christian friends….regardless of who wins, GOD IS IN CONTROL! For the purposes of our nation and nations around the world, God is NOT at any time ignorant to the schemes of what His enemy is up to! We sometimes are ignorant of what it is, but God has His plans for redeeming His chosen people Israel and Satan has a central, albeit antagonistic, role! As we spiral closer to the “end of days” we will only see more national anarchy and discord on a global scale.
Let’s begin with a verse that no doubt you’ve seen and heard here before…
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 6:12
This struggle in the “heavenly realm” is what I would like to address. Satan is nothing if not a megalomaniacal nut bag on the verge of having a seething terrible two year old temper tantrum if the world doesn’t bow down and worship him. He will maneuver in what ever way he can to get this to happen. This is clearly evident in Revelation 12:17….
Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring—those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus. Revelation 12:17
It is Satan’s desire that all of us serve him. He doesn’t really care whether you realize it or not, his desire is to have you. If you want to bow down to the God of “VA Tech football”, he doesn’t care; he still has you right where he wants you. God’s desire is that you free yourself from Satan’s grip so that you can fully and completely enjoy your life, unencumbered by the chains that Satan puts on all of us. Sadly, unless you have been on Jesus’ side of the fence, you don’t really know what freedom is….but I digress again…
The Old Testament (OT) has many examples of kings and so called religious leaders that are evil, leading their weary nations down the wrong road. I don’t plan on going into detail about all of them; you can pick up a bible and read the OT accounts for yourself. I would like to add here also that if you are not on God’s side, you are on Satan’s side by default. Not picking this day “whom you shall serve” is a clear indication of your lack of knowledge and ignorance to God’s kingdom. Let’s move on…. How will you know that God is with a nation, people group or a national leader?
Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Matthew 7:17-19
What does that nation produce? I am NOT talking here about gross national product…
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23
It doesn’t take a great deal of research on this topic to determine that there is not a nation in the world that completely fulfills this standard…just as there is no individual person that could possibly fulfill this standard all the time regardless of their mood and circumstances. All of us have our bad hair days, just as nations have their bad days. But, as a nation are we willing to go the extra mile that it takes to overcome the bad and restore it to good?
As a nation, we fought hard to overcome slavery and it has taken a toll. The sin of slavery that marks this beautiful nation lives on today in the animosity and grief of the black man and woman. Had our forefathers trusted in the sovereign God that they so eloquently purported, then the civil war may never have happened… but as history stands, much blood was shed in the name of freedom for all!
How does one recognize a nation that has a demonic stronghold (that’s Christianese for the majority of its people serve demons)? Take a look at its fruit…does it espouse love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control? Does it love mercy and justice? Does the man or woman in office promote any of these qualities for themselves and their country?
We could go down a rabbit trail here about nations that go to war as being absent of any of these qualities, but to put this ideological dog-pile of philosophy to bed; peace that supports tyranny, injustice and out right cruelty only serves Satan….you get the idea? Countries that oppress its people, leave them uneducated, starving and hopeless is a country that is ruled by Satan and his emissaries. Nations that seek justice for their people, attempt a better quality of life for everyone, make every effort to allow it’s people to pursue their God given right to freedom and seek God’s face on an individual and national level is a nation that will see prosperity, favor and success.
What does God desire of you….of your nation?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8
Ain’t nothin’ minor about those “minor” prophets, my friends!
‘God v. Satan’ on the History Channel
By Julie Lucas
Oct 20, 2008 - The History Channel did an exceptionally abysmal job at presenting ‘God v. Satan’ in any accurate or biblical light. They conjured up the same ole, same ole that has been circulating the liberal university religious departments for years. Nothing new or true!
God is the big old ogre in the sky who exacts his revenge on everyone who doesn’t bow down and worship him. When those of the Jewish persuasion fail to do so, it is to no fault of their own they begin to question their faith and perhaps do what any normal human person would do; move on to something more tangible and sensible.
Satan of course is pitted as God’s unfortunate adversary who just simply didn’t want things to go as they always had and he steps in to show God and everyone else that he can choose his own path. And encourages us to simply choose our own path as well.
In the defense of the History Channel, they did a good job at portraying the end of times and putting into order the events of Revelation. But this is where we have a serious parting of the ways.
Since this whole theme of Satan and his minion’s happen to fall conveniently into the topic of “Demonic Awareness”, I would like to shed some biblical truths onto this silly little attempt to get ratings at the expense of uninformed Christians.
Satan has always played a pivotal role in the Old and New Testament. However, it was in the New Testament that Jesus shone the light on demonic forces and passed along a bit of “power” to expel these things that made it very different and unlike the Old Testament. In the OT we were “held prisoner” to the whims of Satan. However, as the book of Job makes perfectly clear, Satan only has the power that God gives him to directly affect the life of a person God deems as Holy. Everyone else (those God does not hold in esteem or Holy) is open season. God chooses a group of people as His own: He calls them the “seed” of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob…a.k.a. the Israelites.
Fast forwarding to NT days, we as gentile believers are engrafted into this family and we also receive the same protection and covering as the “holy” Israelites. However, because most Christians have not been taught that we have the right to solely occupy our own bodies free of demonic debris or even that there are things that can inhabit our bodies at all, we live our lives in complete and total ignorance of this fact. Some Christians are even told that they have received the “inoculation” of the Holy Spirit which keeps out permanently any demonic spirits, so feel free to live your lives as you please knowing darkness and light can not live together. Missing the point completely, that if you go against what is holy you too can again become a demonic host. Hence, the serious warning in the bible against what is called in modern day Christian circles as “back sliding”.
When it comes to demonic spirits and their disastrous hold over man kind, the lessons to be learned are without end. I could declare this “Demonic Awareness” year and still never completely cover everything a person needs to know to protect themselves and their families against unwanted intrusions (don’t panic, I won’t declare this “DA” year!). I will however, try to shed light on current conditions, theology, false teachings, and future forecasts in my best attempt to uncover the workings of Gods first and foremost enemy. And much to the surprise and disappointment of the History Channel, that is NOT YOU!!!!
This week as we are quickly approaching Election Day (Nov 4 th), I would like to discuss the demonic powers over nations, governments and people groups. This aspect of “Demonic Awareness” is often understandably overlooked in “deliverance ministries” due to the tragic and personal consequences they have when moving into us average hosts. But to not understand their effects on nations, communities and people groups is a disservice to our faith in addition to being an often misunderstood aspect of demonology!
Continue to join me this week for more on “Demonic Awareness” month!
A Word to the Wise Leaders
By Julie Lucas
Oct 16, 2008 - As Halloween quickly approaches, churches put Hell on display with their “Last Chance House”, “Hell House”, “Heaven’s Gates, Hell’s Flames” and many other dramatic attempts to scare folks into heaven. Pastors and church leader’s, please take a gentle piece of advice from someone who has studied, researched, taught, witnessed and is extremely familiar with demonology; “scaring” someone is not the best approach to getting someone into the kingdom of heaven. For some (not all, mind you) but for some this approach can lead to the inhabitation of the “demon of fear” specifically or other seriously obnoxious spirits and can in many cases make a person’s spiritual condition worse.
Teaching on the topic of demon’s and hell through a program such as “Demonic Awareness” would be far more beneficial to your congregation or to teach a “FREE and open to the public” seminar on “Spiritual Awareness” that can help you cover all the the bases. Believe me, this is a subject that desperately needs to be taught in AND outside of the church in a more accurate and biblically based way. This type of teaching helps people to understand the spirit world without being afraid of it. Demonic spirit’s only have the ability to “haunt” us when we give them permission to do so; albeit many of us are clueless as to how that permission is granted. This ignorance on our part is exactly what they like in order to keep the upper hand.
Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest. Proverbs 26:2
Our culture here in America accepts openly the occult, witchcraft, and all sorts of abominations to God. In fact, our silly and irresponsible society doesn’t have any idea what is or isn’t an abomination to God. I really feel that if people actually knew what they were opening themselves up to they would shun those activities like the plague. How often have you heard (or taught) a sermon on horoscopes, contacting the dead, watching violent or graphic movies, tarot cards, Ouija boards, palm reading, tattoos, séances or simply putting some piece of “art” from a local import store in your front yard, back yard, garden or inside your house? Some of these activities are a neon sign to evil spirits; “hey we have a fresh host here!” Pastor’s TEACH on this!!
Our church members are in most respects no different than their neighbors down the street; ignorant to the schemes of Satan. Most have been taught that if you are a Christian they can’t really bother you. Additionally, our church is not making leaders out of our congregations, but little mindless sheep, with the inability to really give a “reasonable defense for the hope that lies within”. 1 Peter 3:15
Let us as leaders in the Christian community be diligent to ALL the things of God. Not ignoring for one minute the enemy or his clever schemes because we are frightened or lack the understanding of the subject. This portion of God’s kingdom needs our attention NOW or we risk as a church and a nation losing the victory that Jesus died for us to claim!
If you are a Pastor or church leader and you would like to conduct a “Demonic Awareness Seminar” in your church or to the general public and you would like some great contacts, teaching materials or books that can help you out, please contact me at the email address below and I can get you the necessary tools to be successful in your endeavor! It is my main mission in life to get people engaged in spiritual warfare and accurately understanding the role of Satan, our enemy, in this struggle for spiritual victory! Even the smallest and insignificant victory for the enemy is still a victory. Satan knows he has lost the overall war for our souls as Christians; however that does not deter him in the least in side lining us in the battle or attempting to get us to fall in order to keep others from seeing Jesus in us! It is to this end we need to be vigilant!
Contact Julie Lucas at jclucas@TidewaterCrossSection.com
Take Every Thought Captive!
By Julie Lucas
October 14, 2008 - There is a great book written by Joyce Meyer called The Battlefield of the Mind! It goes into great detail about how the battle for your very soul begins in your mind: mind over matter so to speak. If you haven’t read it, it is worth a serious peek even if you are not a Christian!
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 Corinthians 10:4-5, emphasis mine.
Why does Paul admonish us to take “every thought captive”? Because Paul knew all to well the “schemes of the devil”. (2 Corinthians 2:11) Satan’s schemes are really not a big secret if you KNOW what you are looking for. First and foremost all sin begins in the mind. It is a challenge to our senses; the thing that we already know to be true but because we have seen others behave in that way or we feel we have some justification for our own behavior, we act against the laws of God.
God says that He has written His law upon our hearts and for Christians we have a helper to remind us when we are behaving badly. Most of the time we are pretty clear we are not acting according to the way God would want us to, but we say to ourselves: “I will repent later, but for now let me get my little piece of flesh”! What ever that “piece of flesh” might be….an angry outburst in order to get your way, a little white lie in order to avoid the truth, a little exaggeration in order to make a point, just another purchase on the credit card when you don’t have enough to pay the last bill, one last fling with your lover before you go cold turkey…. My point to all this is it begins with a thought, a simple temptation that begins in the mind! Then you follow it with some justification in your mind or you might even get your friends to help you justify your actions, then you follow through on the thought and then “sin” moves in. Yes ladies and gentleman, this is how easy a demonic spirit can get in.
God said to Cain while he was contemplating murdering his brother and we all know how well that story turned out: “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it." Genesis 4:7, emphasis mine.
I think it is appropriate to say that in this particular verse we can safely substitute the word “demon” for the word “sin”. Once the demon is in it wants to get and maintain a strong hold. It will tempt you now to a degree that you will have very little ability to fend off on your own with your own will power. This “thing” will keep you awake at night, it will give nightmares, it will give you dreams of encouragement to sin, it will make you attracted to others that will encourage you to continue in this sinful behavior, it will make you physically ill if it doesn’t get it’s way….you name it, it has the ability once it has gained access to your body to do just about anything it wants. (Alcoholics always say “I can quit any time I want” and I think they generally believe that…until the actually try)
Of course if you are a Christian, and yes my Christian brothers and sisters, you sin too and some of you habitually sin. This means that you most likely now have a demonic spirit in there somewhere. The good news is that you have the Holy Spirit on your side and hopefully inside too. (Just a side note: It is a false teaching that a Christian can not have a demon, we will go into this in a later posting. The Holy Spirit and a demon can dwell in the same body, just not very peacefully, which may be why some of you Christians out there are always on the edge of a nervous breakdown and have no idea why! Now you know and it is time to do something about it!)
Begin your extermination process with repentance, this is where it all starts and follow it with a good heavy duty dose of spiritual warfare. You can command it (or them) to leave in the name of Jesus. You have the authority to do so. If it refuses to leave, as some of them occasionally do, continue with fasting, followed by a constant bombardment of bible reading (out loud, if possible), praise and worship music, and if all else fails contact a deliverance minister. There aren’t many legitimate ones out there, especially in this area, but DO NOT GIVE UP! For those who may have had them in there for a long time it may also take a long time to rid your self of these vermin. Quite frankly, some of them have never been confronted and may completely freak out. Remember that if they are freaking out, threatening you or worse making your life miserable, then they know their time is limited so don’t stop confronting them and don’t give up! Keep at it!
The next question you may be asking yourself at this time is: “How will I know they are ‘freaking out’ as you put it?” Well it is very simple, they will give you dreams that will apply to your particular situation, but they will be gross, sinister, scary or extremely real and/or erotic. They will give threatening or scary dreams about family members or loved ones. They will enlist unsuspecting family members, friends, co-workers or anyone else they can to put road blocks in your way to impede your progress and to keep you in bondage to sin or at the very least from you kicking them out all together! They may even attempt a full frontal, massive assault on you by making odd and supernatural things happen around you! Cars may quit with out any mechanical reason. Pictures fall off walls; things mysteriously fall off shelves or out of cup boards. At this, do NOT be afraid, in fact; be encouraged because you are having an affect on them. You have in essence got the little pests on the run! Also know that if things are happening OUTSIDE then they are NOT INSIDE! They have simply gotten “friends”, in their case I use this term loosely, to assist in scaring the wits out of you! Don’t be afraid, Jesus died so you could take authority over them and didn’t He say: “I will never leave you nor forsake you!” (Hebrews 13:5)
For those of you who are not Christians, this process of demonic deliverance is NOT for you. You will not be able to remove these things without the aid of the Holy Spirit. Your best bet is to limit any more infestations by avoiding sinful behavior, however this is not a fool proof plan since you probably don’t believe in sin in the first place or you have very little knowledge of what sin is exactly. Even as Christians we sometimes get hung up on semantics and are not always sure ourselves. This is where the Holy Spirit can be very helpful.
If you are not a Christian but you think you may have some demonic spirit issues, give your life over to Him, the One who can heal you, deliver you and free you from bondage. I don’t need to give you some special prayer on how to do this, you just need to talk to God. He will help you through what ever you need to know. Simply tell Him so and let Jesus be your guide. If you are seeking Him in earnest, He promises He will accept you! Then “go and sin no more, lest something worse come upon you!” John 5:14!
More on what a demon is and why they hate you!
By Julie Lucas
In our last article we covered: What is a demon? Let’s recap: A demon is an evil, malevolent spirit being which is the offspring of Satan or the Devil. A spirit being is a creature that can not be seen by the naked eye and has a body mass that can not currently be weighed or measured.
To expand on this thought a little, it has been proposed by many biblical scholars that demons are fallen angels. This is an incorrect teaching. There is and NEVER has been any indication that angels in any form prefer to live inside of a human body. Angels are a being that was created directly by God; this includes all the fallen angels. Angels have the ability to manifest their own human form, so why live in someone else’s? Demon’s were created and most likely descended directly from Satan and/or his angelic followers. I am not buying into the theory that these creatures are all Nephilim spirits; however I am saying that some of them might be Nephilim spirits just not all of them. They have found other ways to continue to create more demonic spirits. No expert in the field of demonology can say for sure how this is accomplished exactly but as the human population expands it goes without saying that the population of these creatures is also expanding.
The bible says that creatures procreate “each according to its kind” (Genesis 1:24) and this theory seems to have some biblical basis in that Jesus refers to the Pharisees and others that do not understand His words as belonging “to your father, the devil” (John 8:44). I don’t think Jesus is referring to the men themselves, but to the spirit beings that were in control of their actions, thoughts and behavior. Jesus refers to others in this way and in other biblical texts seems to be speaking directly to or about something other than the person in which Jesus is directing his dialog.
Really, demonic spirits that inhabit a human’s body and have some amount of control over their personalities and behavior is not that far a stretch. Only a few hundred years ago men did not understand cells on a molecular level or particles on a subatomic level, so who is to say that we at some point in our scientific endeavors may come to understand this other dimension of creation that is not visible to our naked eye? The more scientists explore our universe, the depths of our oceans and the intricacies of the human genome; it becomes readily apparent that we have only skimmed the surface of creation. Wouldn’t it be nice if we had an x-ray machine that could detect these little parasites and a pill to rid ourselves of them permanently? Just wishful thinking on my part….
Now that we have explored briefly what a demon is, let’s continue our discussion as to the universal purpose that drives them to do what they do and why?
We have so far established that demon’s are the offspring of Satan and thus are continuing in the hatred of their “father, the devil”. If we look a little further into the verse: “And I will put enmity between you [Satan] and the woman, and between your [Satan’s] offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” Genesis 3:15
This hatred or “enmity” as the bible calls it was DELIBERATELY PUT THERE BY GOD HIMSELF! I emphasize this point for a reason. This enmity is there so we as God’s created creatures would not be lost forever; so that we could still be redeemed. If we would have become at any time Satan’s ally in this war for control over heaven, earth and everything in it then we would have, as a race of beings, been relegated to the eternal ash heap of eternal history, or the eternal “outer darkness” as the bible refers to it. Although we are a fallen creature too, we still yet have the divine spark of kindness that sets us apart from these fallen creatures. There is very little that any denomination or faction of Christianity completely agrees upon, but for those experienced in the field of deliverance (or exorcisms as the Catholic Church refers) they are universally in agreement that these creatures that once uncovered and exposed are driven by purely evil motives. They NEVER, EVER at any time have the well being of the person that they inhabit in mind. Their full and complete concern is living and continuing their existence through the person in which they inhabit. What sick and twisted little desire can they fulfill through your flesh? This, quite frankly is their entire game plan. Eventually, as the bible tells us, that Satan comes only to “kill, steal and destroy” (John 10:10) he will eventually take your life. The demon’s moving on to the next sorry host, usually a family member since they prefer things familiar.
Join us next time as we continue to uncover the secrets the enemy holds so dear in order to keep you and me and all of us in bondage to his schemes!
October is "Demonic Awareness" Month
By Julie Lucas
To offset the hyper-publicity of all things “Halloween” this time of year and in honor of all my Lord and Savior has done for me, as always I dedicate the month of October to exposing His enemy and Satan’s silent, but deadly practices. I declare this month to be: Demonic Awareness Month! I ask that you and your church join me in teaching biblically accurate information concerning the kingdom of darkness. I will include a list of books and teaching materials that can assist you and your church in learning how to recognize the workings of the Devil and be victorious in this area of discernment.
I will begin by saying that I will make an attempt not to repeat some of the articles from last year, however, some thing’s simply need repeating.
Let’s begin with answering the question: What is a demon?
A demon is a spirit creature who was NOT created by God. The bible calls them the offspring of Satan. “And I will put enmity between you [Satan] and the woman, and between your [Satan’s] offspring and hers;” (Genesis 3:15) How Satan accomplishes this procreation process is a mystery to me and the bible is silent on the matter. Some have hypothesized, because it is discussed in the ancient book of Enoch, that they are the disembodied spirits of the Nephilim from Genesis 6:4. That may account for part of them, but certainly not ALL of them. Their numbers are great and continue to increase. So to answer this very tricky question; no one really knows for certain except God and Satan, but what we do know is that they are spirit in nature, meaning that they are not visible to the naked eye or have a body mass that can not be weighed or measured.
Spiritual beings can only be seen when they manifest themselves in some way, however not all spiritual beings have this capability. Angels, for example, can manifest flesh (see Genesis 19 for more details), however demons can not. They can manipulate objects in our environment but their favorite game is to simply just mess with your mind. Their entire game plan is to tempt you into sin, thus gaining entrance and a home inside your body. Why they prefer living in our bodies is also unclear, but it is very apparent that this is the environment to which they crave. I guess the alternative which would be hell is not as appealing to them. As cruel as they are to humans, these spiritual parasites are as cruel if not more vicious to each other. God has put boundaries on them by the presence of the Holy Spirit in this world, however, in the absence of that Holy Spirit, the evil to which they can perpetrate and are subject to is not even remotely close to any horror that we could comprehend with our feeble minds.
Continue to join me this month as I explore the depths and depravity that God’s enemy will go to keep you in bondage to his parasitic offspring and ignorant of his malevolent plans. We need to be completely knowledgeable of how Satan can harm us “…in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we [Paul was speaking to his followers] are not unaware of his schemes”. (2 Corinthians 2:11)
Don’t let this month pass you by without learning how to recognize the tell tale signs of the enemy’s schemes and how you can be victorious over these seething and malicious creatures!