"Evil is back." Cover
of The New York Times Magazine
(6-4-1995)
"Your constant crusading against sin makes everyone feel
guilty. We've voted to let you go." A cartoon
showing board members looking accusingly at their director.
"Remove God from a throne in the sky and place
God where God is -- in everything we call good, in that which we call evil and certainly
in that which we call the human mind.
It is time we begin to see God not as other but as ourselves."
[1]
Deborah Turner-Bey, Creation Spirituality
"We are of God . . . [but] the whole world
lies under the sway of the wicked one."
1 John 5:1
Years ago, I picked up a free magazine called
Well-Being
Journal in a health food store. I threw it away a few days later, but I may never
forget a comment I read. Apparently, the author had received this bit of wisdom
from her inner guide: "Many people believe in evil, sin, and dark forces.
It is your purpose to teach the opposite which is
the Truth: there is no devil, no hell, no sin, no guilt except in the
creative mind of humankind."2
That people believe this lie suits the devil just fine. He has always tried to blur
our view of evil and our sensitivity to sin.
While the evidence for supernatural evil multiplies all around us, more and more
people deny it. Sure, they may believe in cosmic forces and bad vibes. But sin or Satan?
They don't fit the new paradigm.
In October 1995, our local school district held a large public meeting to discuss
Halloween festivities. Most parent were angry at some proposed limitations on the
traditional in-school celebration of a
"harmless holiday." Why worry about the small minority who felt offended by its
ancient link to a dead religion?
Only a few minority voices were heard. A former
Wiccan priest explained that the old Celtic witchcraft that gave birth to Halloween
is anything but dead. Flourishing in today's pagan revival, it has become an official
religion with tax-exempt status.4 A few parents shared their concerns
about programs that compelled children to celebrate occult themes. They knew well that
pagan symbols and occult amusement were desensitizing children to a fast-spreading
subculture obsessed with death, spells and black magic -- not just at Halloween but all
year long.5
The majority booed, jeered, and refused to listen. "These are religious
objections to secular events," declared the president of the board, Phil Faillaice.
Everyone seemed to have forgotten that a different minority had, only nine months earlier,
banned Christmas songs as offensive to their
beliefs. But times have changed. By the end of the evening, the pro-Halloween group had
won its case, and the media spread the "good" news from coast to coast.
"We have the holiday back again," declared Bay Area witch, Zsuzsanna
Budapest. "These pagan calendars are imprinted in our genes. They cannot be taken
away."6
"It's hard to give up a good party," added Daniel Melia, UC Berkeley
professor of Celtic languages. "Satan is
a Christian notion. This is a pre-Christian celebration."
He is wrong about Satan. The Old Testament mentions Satan fourteen times, and that
doesn't include all his other names. From beginning to end, the Bible shows how Lucifer
has always been stirring rebellion against God and hatred for His people. But then as now,
the good news outshines the bad: the evil one
could never cause more trouble than God would allow.7
The clash between two cultures at Halloween is part of the war raging in the
unseen, and the enemy's strategy hasn't changed since the Old Testament days when God
warned, "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness." (Isaiah 5:20)
Year after year, Satan keeps on trying to trick us into believing the opposite. As
Bibles gather dust, his influence multiplies.
Remember how Pat was "delivered us from the power of darkness" and
transferred "into the kingdom" of God?
Before
she learned God's Word, she had no resistance to Satan's lies. Now she knows with the rest
of us that "we are of God, and [that]
the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one."8 Satan's influence is no small force to reckon with, and we had better know the
enemy we face each day:
"For we do
not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against
the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual
hosts
of wickedness in the heavenly places."
(Ephesians
6:11-12)
Those who don't love God, cannot "stand firm" against the "wiles of
the devil."9
As Ephesians 2 warns us, they "walk according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience . . . ."
Anyone not part of God's kingdom will be swayed by Satan's armies which have
fine-tuned their skills. That's why there is evil in the world -- and why it intensifies
when people turn from God's love to Satan's seductive evil.
Few understand Satan's schemes better than Valerie Duffy, the former witch whom you
met in Chapter 6. "The feast of Samhain (sah-ween) is an unholy Sabbath observed by
occultists worldwide," she explains. Freed from the demonic forces that once
controlled her life, she now lives in an "upstate New York" community that often
publicizes Wiccan coven meetings and "full moon" celebrations. Each October, she
fights -- and wins
10
-- a spiritual battle against oppressive forces that intensify their attacks near the
Wiccan holiday.
Valerie knows all too well why Neopagans love Halloween. The old Celtic
"sabbat" is their main feast -- a window of time when the walls between the
physical and spiritual worlds supposedly become thin enough to allow easy crossovers. This
was the time to catch up with one's ancestors and other spirits from the underworld.11
But don't think the Vigil of Samhain was just a fun holiday. The "Lord of the
Dead", Samhain himself, is no deity to laugh at. Valerie explains why:
"On October 31,
black-cloaked Druids bearing torches would go door to door to select humans
for their New Year's sacrifice to the Lord of the Dead. In return for the
child or infant, they would leave a hollowed turnip with candle light shining
through the carved face -- a satanic counterfeit for the biblical Passover."
In
the reveling that took place on that night to Samhain, the demons supposedly loosed for
the night would pass over the homes "marked" by the carved lantern. Those
families had provided the required gift or sacrifice. Other homes could be hit --
sometimes with sudden death.
The
children selected for sacrifice were tossed into a bonfire. The Druids called it a
bone-fire since only the bones were left. From the agonizing screams of the dying, the
divining priests would foretell the future of the village.12
Does the last statement sound familiar? Remember how the shaman or medicine man in
Disney's Pocahontas read the future in the smoke from his ritual fire. When you look
behind today's idealized images of the world's pagan religions, you find some awesome
similarities. Small wonder since Satan, the mastermind behind the Druid rituals, usually
repeats the same basic strategies wherever he works.
|
SATAN
|
|
Genesis
3:1-7
|
Twists truth to seduce God's people
|
|
1
Chronicles 21:1
|
Prompts
people to sin
|
|
Isaiah
14:12-14
|
Determines
to "be like the Most High"
|
|
Luke
4:13
|
Waits
for "opportune" times when we are vulnerable
|
|
Luke
8:12 |
"takes
away the word out of their hearts" |
|
Luke
13:16
|
Puts people in bondage
|
|
Luke
22:3
|
Can enter into those who reject God
|
Evil is
back
Throughout history,
whenever God's people would trade truth for myth, they slid back into decadence.13 Today we see the same downward
trend reflected in newspaper headlines such as these:
-
Senseless
Slayings Baffle Police
-
Phone Sex Industry... Going Overseas
-
Teen Gambling Is the Latest Addiction of Choice
-
Youth Sex Offenders Younger Than Ever
-
Racial Tension at Colleges: Shocking but Real
-
Teen Gangs Vandalize Suburbs
-
Girl, 14, Slays 2 Boys and Self
-
Nine Texas Children Admit Torturing Horse
Some of the most shocking stories deal with children who run wild. Lacking any
sense of shame, three teenage boys stabbed, strangled, and beat a 55-year-old man crippled
by multiple sclerosis -- then feasted on the spaghetti in his refrigerator. He
"didn't have a chance," concluded the Newsweek story. "The boys who
allegedly attacked him. . . were
ruthless."14
Girls are fast catching up with boys. In New Orleans, a 13-year old schoolgirl
pulled out a knife and plunged it into a classmate's back. "You name the crime, we
have it; you think about the worst scenarios and we have them here,"15
said Edward Cue, an official with California's "hard core" Youth Authority
school in Ventura.
The lack of remorse baffles law officers. Why are both children and adults losing
the old sensitivity to the horrors of evil? Why can't they tell right from wrong?
The New York Times cover story that declared "evil is back," raised the
same questions: "What does it mean? Violence?
Mindless wickedness? Malignant wickedness?"16
The answer is: all the above. People love evil. Children gleefully watch televised
death scenes that might have shocked hardened spectators in the old Roman coliseum. The
lure of cruelty, violence, and occult horrors sell some of the most popular children's
books as well as supermarket tabloids. By its mere exposure and availability, evil has
been reinvented. Now it feels good, not bad -- exciting, not repulsive.
And Satan grins.
Fictionalized evil separates people from the reality of human suffering, which is
just what the evil one intended. Many become spectators rather than participants in real
community life. Eventually, both real and imagined violence becomes significant only as
entertainment.
Some years ago, a car hit an elderly couple in a busy shopping complex. A crowd was
already gathering at the scene when I happened to come by. It didn't take long to see the
streams of blood from both their heads, yet no one had stopped to help or covered their
shivering bodies. I cried out for blankets or jackets, scarves -- anything to stop the
bleeding and slow the shock. Nobody responded -- neither men nor women. When I tried to
stop the bleeding from the woman's broken skull with a tissue from my purse, the
spectators just stared with blank faces. I called to the owner of the car for a blanket or
clothing. He didn't move. When I ran to his car and grabbed some dry cleaned clothes from
his back seat, he protested. I suppose he didn't want blood on his clean clothes. Eventually an ambulance came and took the victims away.
What happened to the Christian compassion that once built hospitals for the world's
hungry and sick?
The Bible mentions people who act like animals. "What's wrong with that?"
some might argue. "Animals are nicer than people."
Those who study animals see the harsh nature behind the soft fur, brown eyes, and
flattering media images. An anthropologist had been studying a group of monkeys for some
time when a party of chimpanzees invaded the territory.
"The results were devastating," he wrote. "During the hour-long
hunt, seven [monkeys] were killed; three were torn apart in front of me. Nearly four hours
later, the hunters were still eating. . .
while
I sat staring in disbelief at the remains of many of my study subjects."17
Were these animals evil?
No. Evil is unique to humanity. We alone are given a moral choice and God's Word to
help us resist temptation. Animals are expected to follow their natural instincts, but
humans are held accountable to God's standard. Ignorance of that standard doesn't cancel
the consequences for not heeding it. "They are without excuse," the Bible tells
us.18
America seems embarrassed to talk
about God's standard these days. We're ashamed of what He calls good, but we "don't
even know how to blush"19 at what He calls sin. No wonder evil is rampant and people are desensitized to evil,
horror and human suffering.
I stopped by a large bookstore one day and discovered a huge new display inside.
Startled, I stared at an child-sized open casket filled with vampire books. The wooden
casket was leaning against a large imitation stone altar. On it, stood an embellished
cross with candles on each side. In the center, displayed like a Bible, lay a large book.
Horrified at the mockery of Christianity, I checked the cover and found
Memnoch
the Devil, the latest top-selling vampire book by Anne Rice. On the gray
cathedral-like wall above the altar hung a cross. I hurried out of the store.
The
two sides of evil
Imagined horror not
only desensitizes us to God's good, it opens people to real demonic horrors and deadly
occult bondage. Yet, bad as overt occultism is, neopaganism is far more seductive and just
as effective for Satan's purposes today. Both paths link human minds directly to the realm
of demons. Both lead to the same devastating end. But all too often, neopaganism looks
deceptively light and kind.
Johanna Michaelson showed its enticing side in her eye-opening book
The
Beautiful Side of Evil. Her exploration into the realm of psychic surgery uncovered
demonic activities far more horrible than the diseases they supposedly healed.
Some years ago, I talked with a nurse involved with holistic medicine.
Jane and her husband had learned an holistic form of massage therapy that seemed to
relieve her back pain, at least for a while. Like the Chinese
ch'i
and the Hindu prana (taught at the Re-Imagining conference), a spiritual force would
flow
through their hands, bringing healing by balancing their energies. But as the time passed,
Jane grew more and more dependent on her husband's treatment. Each time he massaged, the
pain would fade. But the pain-free periods between massages grew shorter while the pain
that soon followed grew more intense. She became desperate for lasting relief.
Lying in bed one night, Jane sensed something dark approach her. Terrified, she
cried out, "In the name of Jesus, get out of here!"
The unearthly presence left, but Jane and her husband realized that something was
terribly wrong. What had they done to invite this kind of demonic manifestation?
After a brief search, they found a pastor who helped them understand the occult
links to holistic healing. Like Valerie, they had to confess, renounce and stop all the
practices they had learned to trust. Guess what happened to Jane's back? God healed it.
When she chose to trust Him, He set her free.
Please don't think that all illness is demonic and can end so quickly. God can heal
any of us in a moment, but He seldom chooses the smoothest path for us. Sometimes
prolonged illness becomes our best opportunity to demonstrate His overcoming life and
peace to others.
The point of the above story is: what seems so good may prove very dangerous. It's
not easy to tell the difference. Without God's Word as our standard or reference point, it
is impossible. Remember, Satan counterfeits every good gift God has given us.
Nothing blurs that line more than today's popular angels. "What idea is more
beguiling than the notion of lithesome spirits, free of time and space and human weakness,
hovering between us and all harm?" asks Nancy Gibbs in
Time
magazine's 1993 cover story "Angels Among Us."20
"They're non-threatening, wise and loving beings," says Eileen Freeman,
publisher of a bimonthly newsletter called AngelWatch.
"They offer help whether we ask for it or not."21
Since angels abound in the world's pagan religions as well as in biblical history,
they fit the need for multicultural gods. Sophy Burnham, who has studied Buddhism and
Hinduism and written the two bestsellers, A Book of
Angels and Angel Letters blend the
"best parts" of many religions. "People are looking for hope," she
says. "In the media, we hear of so much horror and despair.
But angels make us know we are loved - these wonderful beings are protecting
us."22
And how do you contact these sweet feminine helpers? "It's simple," said
Ms. Burham. You simply "go inside yourself... Then you ask for what you need, you sit
back, and you wait. It will come."23
Today, it probably will. As Alma Daniels points out in her best-seller
Ask
Your Angels, everything has changed. Whereas in pagan cultures, only the shaman or
medicine man had direct contact with the spirit world, now everyone can be led by their
personal demon. As Ms. Daniel says,
"We stand on the brink of a massive change. On the one hand, we face
apparent global disaster, and on the other, there is the potential for the most glorious
spiritual transformation our species has ever seen...
"At this time of personal and planetary acceleration, previous rules and old forms
are being discarded. Contact with the angels, which
used to take years of meditation and dedication, is now available to all who seek it,
because the angels are closer to us, and more open to working with us on a conscious
level, than they have been in thousands of years...
"The angels aren't making contact just with special people, or in a secret way.
They are doing it openly, joyfully...
24
(Emphasis added)
"There was a time when I was on a quest for power, knowledge and alliance with
unseen powers," said my friend Jane Gorevin, an Oregon mother. "I discovered a
multitude of angelic beings within a spiritual hierarchy, each with distinct character,
area of influence and level of power. My mind and power was no match for these forces, but
God was! He enabled me to see behind the
seductive masks into the face of willful, malignant evil."
"Angels, both good and evil, have been present since the beginning of
time," Jane continued. "God's angels serve as ministering spirits to His people.
Fallen angels masquerade as caring helpers--but only until they accomplish their purpose.
In reality, they hate everyone, even each other. I finally renounced the forces of Satan,
then God showed me genuine love--something 'the angel of light' can never
counterfeit."25
Demons that masquerade as angels love to twist and distort God's truths and whisper
deadly advice into their subjects' ears. They are evil, not good, and we need to know the
difference. Use God's Word as your standard, and study the following chart.
|
Two
kinds of angels |
|
God's
Angels |
fallen
Angels
|
|
Accountable to God (Job 2:1)
|
Oppose God
|
|
Sent by God (Ex. 23:20)
|
Requested by humans
|
|
Respond to God's will (Psalm 91:11)
|
Respond to rituals (at
their
will) |
|
God chooses which angel (Matt. 18:10)
|
We choose our favorite angel
|
|
Fulfills God's will (Luke 4:10)
|
Fulfill our will (at first)
|
|
Speaks in the name of God (Luke 1:28)
|
Speak like us (if they choose)
|
|
Brings awe, respect, fear (Luke 1:11-13)
|
Appear friendly and natural like us
|
Did you notice the similarity between angels and the self-made goddesses in
Chapters 2 and 3? Remember that people who create their own deities usually imagine them
in their own image. No wonder, then, that today's angelic goddesses reflect their maker's
noble dreams and human cravings. Designed with a little help from the "angels",
they have become alluringly approachable.
We all want an accessible God who loves us as we are. The true God fits that need,
but the evil one is always trying to tell us otherwise.
His goal is to draw us to himself so that he, not the Holy Spirit, will guide our
thoughts and actions.. And since Satan can tailor-make his counterfeits to match Christian
as well as pagan wants, even committed Christians are vulnerable.
Deceiving
spirits
The shift from a truth-based
Christianity to a feeling-based spirituality has swung wide the door to deception. Today,
if a teacher or "prophet" majors in manifestations rather than biblical truth --
or if anyone suggests that you seek an experience
rather than a deep understanding of God through His Word -- beware.26
God wants you to delight in His presence, but seeking ecstatic
experiences
rather than oneness with His heart and purpose can lead to deception.
My British friend Tricia learned this lesson the hard way. During a time of
loneliness many years ago, she tried to visualize Jesus and
feel
His presence. But instead of meeting the biblical God, a demonic spirit came to her posing
as Jesus. As the months went by, she kept using visualization to invoke the actual
presence of what seemed to be a loving divine being.
The feeling that came over her "seemed not in the slightest evil," she
says. "It seemed full of love and peace."
At first, she couldn't believe that this presence might be deceiving her.
"What nonsense! Of course I can feel the
love of God!" she thought when a book she was reading suggested that the experience
could be demonic. "I wasn't prepared to
let it go," she explained later. "It already had me bound."
Tricia pondered the warnings as she kept reading the book. Yes, God desires her
love, but not just warm bodily feelings or ecstatic emotions. He seeks a love that is
committed to knowing His Word and serving His people.
Finally another experience confirmed her growing concern. "I lay in bed one
morning and the same presence came over me," she said. "Suddenly I felt as if I
were floating in the air. I don't know if I actually lifted off the bed or levitated, but
it certainly felt that way!
This surely isn't right, she thought. In
the name of Jesus, she told anything that was not of God to leave, and immediately the
sensation faded. The deceiving spirit never returned, and Tricia committed herself afresh
to the true God and His Word.27
Never will she forget the warning in 1 John 4:1:
"Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of
God."
Did you notice the similarities between Tricia's story, and those of
Pat and Valerie? (Chapters 3 and 6)
All
describe encounters with demons disguised as God.
What
made Tricia's story different was her relationship to God. She was already joined to Jesus
Christ and loving His Word. The counterfeit spirit inspired her through its outer
presence, not its inner guidance. Instead of enslaving her, the demon tried to block her
effectiveness for God. Pat and Valerie, on the other hand, were being trained as effective
servants for the domain of darkness.
Personal encounters with "Jesus" and "angels" are becoming more
common -- just as Alma Daniels predicted.
Even
in churches caught up in this movement, few take time to "test the spirits."
So when Marianne Williamson, who popularized
A
Course in Miracles, cloaks her occultism in biblical terms, church women listen.
"We spiritually reconstitute our lives by asking Him to enter us," she says
referring to a pantheistic God. "We ask Him into every situation . . . . to change
dramatically our orientation."28
Embraced by the Light
Few authors have changed our spiritual orientation more than
Betty Eadie who wrote
Embraced
by the Light. During her supposed "near-death" experience
[29]
she met a loving "Jesus" who appeared "more brilliant than the sun."30 With three "angels" as
her guides, she was shown an occult spiritual system that fused her Mormon and Native
American heritage with contemporary New Age teachings. Her supposedly
"Christian" experience contradicts the Bible on every point. Who do you think
was her source of "wisdom"?
Many people see near-death experiences as opportunities to preview heaven. Few know
the darker side.31
In pagan cultures, shamans often "met" their personal animal spirit (spirit
guide or demon) during childhood near-death experiences which opened doors to demonic
spirits and visions. Apparently, Betty Eadie did. During a serious illness after her
mother, a "full-blooded Sioux Indian", had left her at a boarding school, the
girl slipped into a coma. While in this trance-like state, she saw a spiritual being whose
beard sparkled with light.32
"Most shamans receive an 'initiatory call' ... during a personal illness serious
enough to induce a coma (a form of trance),"33
wrote William Lyon in his biography of Indian shaman Black Elk.
Unlike Christian families who come under God's protection, tribal cultures are
driven by superstitions, fears, and rituals that buy protection from certain powerful
spirits or demons against more frightening ones. Today the same occult rituals merge with
all kinds of occult arts and teachings.
"Angels
are firmly rooted in the collective unconscious of the human race," writes Geoffrey
James, who looks at angels through the filter of Jungian psychology. "Their energy
can be tapped by practicing the Western magickal system of Angel Magic. . . a practical
application of the Cabal (or Kabbala, an ancient form of Jewish occultism), Tarot, and
Astrology."34
Evil is back by popular demand.
And
while, Satan, masquerading as 'an angel of light,' can only oppress Christians to the
extent God allows,35
he has all the rest of humanity to trap and train as counterfeit "ministers of
righteousness."36
Their main work is to turn people away from God and link them to the occult.
(Nothing fits their plan better than "Christians" who receive their lies and
proclaim them to others as prophecies from God.)
Most
of these "ministers" fit one of the following levels of service:
1.
Pagan priests, shamans, spiritists, and New Age teachers -- people who actively
seek to harness occult powers and lead others into the occult.
2.
Followers and supporters -- those who promote the new spirituality and
participate in its rituals.
3.
The deceived masses -- those who flow with the social changes and deny the
realities of God.
4.
So-called Christians without a personal relationship with Christ
-- those who
bear Christ's name but don't follow His ways. They serve Satan by discrediting Christ
outside the church and confusing Christians inside the church.37
Deliver
us from evil
Neither sin nor evil can be imagined away. Nor
is anyone immune to Satan's lies or temptations. That's why the apostle Paul
reminds us to "put on the whole armor of
God." When he looked at life's struggles from God's perspective, he saw how God used evil for His good purpose.
Realizing how pride could have blocked his
vision of God, he welcomed the pain that made him strong in Christ:
"Lest I
should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh
was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me. . . . I pleaded with the Lord three
times that it might depart from me. And He said to me,
"'My grace is sufficient for
you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore most gladly I will
rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I
take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for
Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.'" (2 Corinthians 12:7-12)
I understand what he is talking about.
Disappointments,
divisions, slander, and persecution often break our hearts and test our faith as we try to
serve our King. Yet they serve God's purpose,
for they help us see the malignancy of what God calls evil. Better yet, they also prompt
us to trust God rather than our feelings, to exercise the faith and discipline needed to
respond with love, and to make every effort to avoid the consequences of tolerating evil.39
Thus evil, when seen from His perspective, becomes a catalyst to make us strong in Christ,
not in ourselves.40
As we come to Him in humility,
gratefulness, and
obedience -- the exact
opposite of what feminism demands -- He reminds us that the hurtful things that touch our
lives keep us where we long to be: close to Himself at the foot of the cross. There, each
morning, we can give Him our lives, our minds, our plans, and all the struggles that would
distract and defeat us that day. Freed from the lures of resentment and self-pity and
filled with His life and peace, we can say with Paul,
"God forbid that I should boast
except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me,
and I to the world."41
Hidden in the true Jesus, we are ready to face evil in His strength. Like Jesus, we have
the Word of God, which "is living and
powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword."42
When we speak it in faith, it cuts through the veil of illusions, shows us the truth, and
frees us from the seductive pull of the particular evil that might have corrupted our
thoughts and defeated our witness:
For the
weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty
in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that
exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the
obedience of Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:4-5)
Notice the last part. New thoughts and arguments that oppose God's Word on every
point are driving the feminist movement. The next chapter will show where the
worldwide sisterhood is heading and why its victory would devastate, not save, the world.
Next: Chapter 9:
Mine is the Power?
