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DELIVERANCE: The Occult
Why People Try The Occult
A mother who needed help in dealing with her family and physical healing for herself went to a fortune teller. This led to visits to spiritualist meetings for the same reason. Soon she had accumulated a good-sized library on the occult.
Slowly but steadily she found herself changing into a different person. There were personality as well as physical changes. She became oppressed and tormented by unclean and lying spirits. Physical difficulties resulted. Malfunctions began to occur in several organs of her body. By the time she came to me all the faith she had invested in the occult had disappeared and she found herself hopeless and helpless in its bondage. A couple was referred to me by a fellow minister. The story of the husband was shared in a very hesitant and strained manner.
Serving in the armed forces in the Orient, he had become involved with a family. They consistently practiced ancestral worship with all of its mystical rituals. Within a period of time he found it necessary to marry the daughter because of physical involvement. Both he and his wife came to the states when his time of duty was over.
For several reasons (none of which were important in the story) they were divorced. Soon after this he found himself doing and saying things that were totally unlike him. There were certain patterns to these personality changes, however.
He married his present wife after a time of living by himself. There was now a decided increase in frequency and intensity of these so-called "attacks."
After months of counseling both with the clergy and psychiatrists there had been no help. It was at this point that I became involved in the matter.
The human spirit in cooperation with evil spirits is capable of many activities and, of course, due to the personality of evil spirits it is always directed toward evil. It was evident after a short talk that each time he visited the child of his first marriage he came into contact with the Oriental mother. By words or action there was always an intent of influence directed at him. This identified the pattern of the attacks.
Following a verbal confession of commitment to God, there was prayer loosing him from this evil influence and a binding of any future activity. WHY PEOPLE TRY THE OCCULT
"Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired?"
"How would you like to have people look up to you because you have knowledge, strength and blessing they do not have?"
"Lonely?"
"Do you have a money problem? Learn how to create money thoughts and have finances flow to you."
Such statements as these are extremely interesting to people today. Personal situations and social conditions are causing many to have doubts and to seek solutions to their problems.
The occult promises answers. That is why it has such a strong appeal. Ignorance of how to tune in to life's forces is said to be the cause of the difficulties, and the supernatural can supply knowledge.
Education has failed to satisfy the total man. There are classrooms for his mind and gymnasiums for his body, but no provision for his spiritual needs.
Man desires that which is beyond himself. And anything that appears to be is considered to be from God or a "good source." It is the desire for information and guidance that usually motivates a person to seek the occult.
Metaphysical religions offer the complete development of menå‚ody, soul and spirit. Christ is set forth as the pattern or ideal (but not the Savior), and scriptural texts are appropriated. The Creator is recognized, and all human capacities are used.
The will (even the alienated will of the unregenerated) is called upon to produce the development of the person through levels or planes of spiritual growth and progress. Metaphysics or religious science is man-centered and, because of this, has great appeal. Its goal is to develop an individual into a superhuman like Jesus, the true man who was incarnated to give an example or pattern. The appeal is directed toward the self-improvement of the individual and promises to place him above those who are content with mundane matters.
I have carefully watched those who are involved with some program of spiritual self-development.
A young Christian man underwent a slow but constant change in his conduct. This change was discernable on his countenance. I lost contact with him. Then several weeks later I was called down to a skid-row mission in Chicago to rescue him.
"Brother, how did you ever get to this place?" I asked.
With his head in his hands, he said, "Well, I guess it started when I answered an ad from one of the mental thought religions. It promised the wisdom of the universe, and I couldn't see anything wrong with that since God made the world and all that is in it."
In the first lesson, this man was instructed to light a candle in an otherwise darkened room. Then he was to open his mind to the thoughts of the Great Mind that would flow into him as he would allow himself to receive them.
"A dark presence came into the room and overshadowed me one evening as I was following the instructions," he told me. "There was a feeling of tremendous power and mastery of self for a few days. But it was followed by a despair and anxiety so frightening that I became convinced I had committed the unpardonable sin."
In a rather methodical way, he planned to end it all. He could not bring himself to suicide, so he took a good sum of money and went down to skidrow, going from bar to bar flashing his bankroll, hoping some enterprising bum would kill him for it. It was at this point someone got in touch with me. I prayed with the young man, casting out the power of darkness in Jesus' name.
World conditions are such that people are seeking any means of escape from them or of guidance in the midst of them. They realize that politics have not legislated the answer, economy has not purchased the answer, and society has not produced the answer. So they decide that perhaps the spiritual can provide the answer. Consequently there is a search for present spiritual realities.
If a psychic can tell you your social security number, they reason, he ought to be able to help you as you live in this mad world. A card reader who tells about your cousin's sudden good fortune surely ought to be able to share some beneficial knowledge about yourself. A person who tells your past should be able to easily tell your future.
One attraction of the occult is that the diviners and psychics apparently have access to information and knowledge not available to other people. The spiritual seeking of the multitudes has popularized the occult. Publicity concerning its results and benefits has, in turn, drawn more seeking crowds.
The spiritual satisfaction that it has given to many people is readily apparent. It has produced devout disciples. And they are the least disturbed by the world conditions.
Occult involvement invariably means facing the teaching on death. Man has become death-conscious. He longs to see beyond the veil and has persistently sought to do so.
Why be disturbed about the affairs of our world in turmoil, since at death you will enter into that spirit realm of which everyone is a part? There, all is peace and contentment. You may even be "born again" to live once more on this earth. Most occult masters teach that you have been here many times already. All these things are inviting to the lonely, anxious person who lives in this frantic world.
This desire to see beyond the veil has brought a renewed emphasis on spiritualism, which was begun in earnest after World War I, which took so many lives. Family members and friends were deeply concerned over the fate and conditions of those who had died or who were missing so far from home. If the spirit world could be contacted, time and distance would no longer be barriers.
Evil spirits will impersonate the dead to those who grieve after their loved ones. And, because they have watched them during their lifetime and know all about them, they will demonstrate ample proofs to confirm their deceptions.
There is an intelligent response from the unseen. But this response is not from the person represented but rather from the power of darkness. A lying spirit could certainly know or even learn enough of a person's life, conduct and character to represent him in even a detailed manner.
In their work of watching human beings, evil spirits inspire mediums to foretell not what they know about the future (for only God has this knowledge) but things they themselves intend to do. And if they get the person to whom these things are told to cooperate with them by accepting or believing their "foretelling," they try to eventually bring it about. By believing it, a person gives the evil spirit an opportunity to bring that thing to pass. However they cannot always succeed.
I have talked with those who have supposedly spoken to dead loved ones. They swear they recognized the voice (though it had an ethereal quality). Also, they say they were told things that only the dead person could know.
The word-famed psychic Jeane Dixon made a startling statement during an exclusive interview for a national newspaper.
"People dabbling in such things as the Ouija board often reach an evil spirit," she warned as she shared some incidents with which she was familiar.
Astrology received an unexpected endorsement a few years ago when a new translation of Matthew chapter 2 stated that there came "astrologers" saying they had seen Christ's star rising in the East. This recognition helped the cause of astrology greatly, although the translation did not refer to the occult but to the scientific.
One of the causes for occult popularity has been recognition by universities and learned societies. Courses offered in occult subjects range from astrology to witchcraft, and even a college degree has been given in magic! There has been unbelievable acceptance of these courses. Many times the enrollment is far greater than can be taken care of.
Testing programs and societies for investigation have brought the occult to the public. The average person is saying to himself, "If the scientists are accepting it, it must be so."
Scientific terminology is being used also as the vocabulary of the occult is shared with the public. "Prophetic sciences" is the name given to the various acts of divining. And there seems to be a magnetic attraction when a scientific name is spelled out since it is either in Greek or Latin and these two languages are old, familiar, trustworthy friends.
Along with the scientific recognition is the appeal of the occult because of religious terminology. The materials of the occult, whether spoken or written, are liberally spiced with easily recognized words familiar to those even remotely acquainted with the church. There are always glib references to Bible passages or statements identifying occult phenomena with holy things.
A young lady came to me for counseling. After listening to her story, I warned her to stay away from certain meetings and individuals. To her they were spiritual, because the people talked about God and even quoted the Bible. After further explanation, she could see that she had been snared by the devil, and what had appeared so holy and right had, in truth, been the works of darkness.
People are taking drugs because they are searching for something. People want that which will seemingly move them out of their natural realm into that which is beyond themselves and the confinement of the material realm.
From all the evidence presented it is certain that the drug user becomes more aware of the spiritual and less aware of the natural or physical.
"My son is a no-good bum, but he certainly is religious," a father once remarked to me. "Before the drug scene, he was clean and ungodly, and now he is dirty and extremely religious."
Most drug users do turn to the spiritual in one form or another. They have turned off the world and its messed-up condition and turned on to the supernatural. The hopelessness of their natural realm has been replaced by a hope in the spiritual realm.
Eastern religions, because of their mysteries and simple ritual, have appealed to most drug users. The active minds of the young readily undertake to memorize the charts and creedal commitments of the metaphysical religions.
The entire field of occult matters has great attraction for the drug user who becomes spiritually oriented. He wants to learn of tomorrow while being guided today. Man longs for revelation. He cannot be satisfied with the material side of life. Someday our relationship to the material must end, and there is great desire to learn of the unknown beyond.
Up to this point I have tried to cover the cause of the religious revival in occultism by presenting various reasons. The problems of life, failure in our educational system, the appeal of the self-help approach, world conditions, scientific recognition, religious terminology, and the drug situation are all prominent and contributing causes. So is a new interest in healing. However, the greatest cause of all is the failure of the church.
The Christian church has become a culture within a culture. No matter what its geographical or ethnic setting, it stands alone with its own distinctness. It has become a culture which must be accepted if one is to belong to the church.
The church too often has failed to present the power of the Gospel. Its adherents are doctrinal converts and not true Gospel converts. The standard is a mental relationship with God and not experiential. It is the exact opposite of the apostle Paul's declaration of I Corinthians 2:4,5, "And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God."
One of the advocates of Bishop Ford (the man who was supposed to have been in contact with Bishop Pike's dead son) said, "Many organized religions have systematically avoided dealing with their own spiritual foundations. You get the feeling they are embarrassed about their own supernatural beginnings. Most today are offices of social change and not cathedrals of spiritual awakening. People today are not impressed with rational explanations."
The church today is desperately hanging on to its customs and traditions, its liturgy and ritual which in themselves are far removed from the first century church. Excerpts taken from "Handbook on Deliverance" by Dr. Russell J. Meade (Copyright 1973 by Creation House).
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Last Updated: June 24, 1999
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