I learned, not only from the Bible, but also from personal experience, that supernatural power does exist. The question is, where is it coming from? Is it coming from a universe controlled by a higher unnamed power, the Devil, or God in Heaven? In the Bible God says there are two powers; one is good and one is evil. One comes from God in Heaven and the other comes from the Devil, who, along with his angels, have been cast out of Heaven and down to earth according to Revelation 12:7-9:
“Now a war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world–he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.”
And Job 1:7, “The Lord said to Satan, ‘From where have you come?’ Satan answered the Lord and said, ‘From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.'”
There are blatantly obvious worshippers of the devil in the form of Santanists or witches, but Revelation 12:17 shows that Satan’s greatest target are the people of God, “Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.” How can Satan cause people who say they worship God in Heaven, worship him instead? He has to use trickery and he knows how to use it according to 2 Corinthians 11:3, “But I am afraid as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.” He is the father of lies and there is no truth in him (John 8:44). The Devil can lure professing Christians towards him and away from God. Notice I said “professing Christians.” Just because someone says they are a Christian, does not mean they truly are (Matt 7:21-23). Only God can read our hearts and know who is truly a Christian and who will have eternal salvation (Jeremiah 17:10, 1 Samuel 16:10).
Where does this leave God’s people? Are we left vulnerable and unarmed? No! God tells us exactly how to stand firm in our faith to overcome the temptation of the Devil in Ephesians 6:10-18:
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, bust against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.”
If we do not stay close to God through proper Bible reading and study, prayer, being under the preached word, and communing with God’s people, we will be easy pickings for the Devil. If we are not familiar with what God says about good and evil we can be easily deceived by the Devil. How can the Devil do that? First of all, if you do not know anything about the Word of God you will believe whatever feels or appears good to you, and the Devil loves that. His easiest target is someone who does not properly read and study the Bible. This person is also more likely to blindly believe what they are told, especially if someone has an authoritative leadership role.
Do you know how many professing Christians do not read the Bible? In 2021, approximately 29% of professing Christians have never read the Bible. To make matters worse, only 11% of professing Christians read the Bible daily, and 9% read it once a week. It is no wonder then, how and why professing Christians can blindly participate in occult practices. They do not know truth and do not do their research or investigate before participating in questionable things. The Devil can disguise himself to appear as something or someone good (2 Corinthians 7:14). So, if a trusted friend, a Christian brother or sister, church leader, or pastor suggests or begins to promote occult practices and you do not know anything about the Bible, you will be easily swayed to participate in the occult. The Devil can use someone that appears good to turn people away from God. One of the Devil’s greatest achievements is to infiltrate the church, cause division, teach a false Gospel, bring in occult practices, and turn people away from God.
What if the things they are doing appear to be good and help people? What if it makes you feel good, heals you, or has positive effects on your life? That would have to come from God, right? The Devil would not do things that appear to be good and from God, would he? Yes he would! This is how the Devil lures God’s people away from him, and I mean away. God says that we cannot be a Christian and also practice occult things in 1 Corinthians 10:21, “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of the demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.” You cannot have it both ways. That is called straddling the fence–having one foot on the side of evil and one foot on the side of good. Here is the kicker; you truly cannot have a foot in both worlds because that fence that you are balancing on belongs to the Devil. We must be 100% devoted to God, not 99.999999%, so we must be diligent and stay close to God.
Once you make the tiniest .0000001% turn away from God and towards the Devil, God says you are for the Devil instead of God in Heaven, and you will be more likely to continue adding more occult practices to your life. To turn away from what God commands in the Bible is to not trust him or have faith in him.
Some forms of occult practices disguising themselves as something good are:
- Any books written using an occult practice known as automatic writing (ie: Jesus Calling, God Calling, etc.).
- Psychics, Mediums, Fortune-tellers—even if they speak some truth
- Self-proclaimed prophets & prophetess’ in today’s times
- Speaking in tongues
- Healings performed by humans in today’s times
- Burning sage as a means to ward of bad/negative “energy” or “spirits”
- Reiki, or any kind of “energy” healer
- Any form yoga, even “Christian” yoga-Yoga is a spiritual ritual yoking yourself to occult gods.
- Enneagram–it was created by occultists using occult automatic writing
- Anyone who claims to receive audible messages from God in today’s times–even someone who stands in front of a congregation at church.
- Anyone who claims to do prophetic writing for encouragement–it is the same as automatic writing. (Refer to #1)
- Turning to crystals for power–whether using a crystal as a divination tool, or placing them around your house to ward off bad “energy,” etc. Crystals do not have supernatural power. They are stones created by God that the Devil is using to make people think that the stones have power to do good.
- Astrology
To participate in any of these things is to break faith with God. Breaking faith compares to a spouse cheating on their husband or wife. We would take a cheating spouse very seriously, wouldn’t we? It is such a severe offense that most marriages containing infidelity end in divorce. If the severity of a cheating spouse can end a marriage between humans on earth, imagine how much more serious God takes our commitment to him. God takes breaking the faith very seriously; so seriously that Jews in the Old Testament instantly died when they broke faith with God.
I urge you to take stock of your life, and pray for God to show you where you are breaking your faith with him. If your eyes have been opened to your sin against God, I encourage you to go before God in prayer, repent, and seek his forgiveness. If you come before God with a truly repentant heart, he will not turn away from you. He will forgive you. Nothing is too big for God to forgive. And finally, if you have not; come to Christ Jesus! Come!
To read more things like these and to read how God saved me out of occult, you can purchase my book, Heaven’s Joy: The Seeking and Saving of a Runaway Psychic, on my website, susanmcceldry.com
