But they did not tell me that

For the first thirty-nine years of my life I knew nothing about the Bible or God.  I was told something about Jesus Christ in my early religious upbringing, but what that personally meant for me I did not have a clue.  Neither did anyone else.  No priest, nun, pastor, ‘reverend’ or church-goer ever told me that the reason Jesus Christ came to earth was to show me who God was and, that this same God honestly loved me and wanted to prove such love, by offering a personal invitation to me to get to know Him – through Christ (Messiah).  They told me a lot of stuff – but they did not tell me that.

And guess what?  I was not Robinson Crusoe!  In the three and a half years I spent on the suburban streets as a public messenger of Christ, here in Melbourne, Australia, most people I spoke with had not heard of that either.  It mattered little whether they were Roman Catholic or Protestant, practitioners or non-practitioners, they had not heard the true gospel message.  They too were told a lot of stuff – but they were not told that.  When most did hear the message from me, they found it so extremely difficult to believe.  

Why were we not told?  I came to the conclusion that it was because the majority of the people who should have known the true message, had no idea themselves.  In other words, they did not personally know the God whom they claimed to be representing, serving and worshipping.  If it were otherwise, it would have shown up in their people.  What did show up in many of their people however, was a desire to know the future, a desire to unveil “hidden” knowledge, a desire for wisdom and a desire to exercise supernatural powers.

The God of the Bible tells us that’s what He’s all about.  That’s why He’s called the God of light.  He knows the future, He unveils “hidden” knowledge, He grants wisdom and He grants supernatural powers.  Far too many church-goers were ignorant of that fact and as a result, they sought to fulfill those four desires through the Occult – astrology, horoscopes, tarot cards, crystal balls, palm reading, numerology, telepathy, clairvoyance, dreams, black magic, white magic, sorcery, seance, levitation, Ouija boards, secret societies and more…………

Christians who practice these things are ignorant of the Bible’s teachings on this.  God condemns it.  He makes this clear to us in Leviticus 19:31, 20:6, 27;  Deuteronomy 18:9-14;  Isaiah 8:19-20;  Acts 13:8-11;  1 Timothy 4:1.  Occultism is from Satan the Devil.  Whenever I spoke with a person who came up with hidden knowledge of future events or operated with supernatural powers, I was never concerned if what they said was true or not, I was more interested as to how they gained such knowledge or power.  In other words, what was the source?

When Moses demonstrated the miraculous before Pharaoh in Egypt, so did Pharaoh’s men.  But the source was very different – one from God, one from the devil.  And nothing has changed three-thousand, four-hundred and sixty years later.  The problem is however, because of rampant biblical ignorance, too many Christians see everything in the supernatural as coming from God.  Quite a substantial percentage of my ministry was given over to people who were either presently or formerly involved in occultic practices.  They did not share this knowledge up-front, but it came out as I was helping them get released from sickness and inner turmoil.

One of the by-products of occultic practice is chronic sickness and not only does it manifest in the practitioner, but in their children as well – even long after mother or father has departed this earth.  It was not uncommon for me to be sitting with old people who had never been involved themselves, but a parent or guardian had been and now they were suffering as a result after all those years.  It’s true what the Bible says about the sins of the fathers being handed down to the next generations.  That power has to be broken over their lives and only Jesus can do it.

Motivating every occultic practitioner is a demon and just like his master, he is a deceiver with only one objective and that is to steal, kill and destroy and he doesn’t care how that takes place.  Whether he comes across as an angel of light in a church setting or a smiling, soft-spoken guru in some-one’s shop or home, it’s all the same to him – death is death – whether it be quick or slow.  Usually it’s slow, with people suffering for years in physical pain and spiritual/mental torment.

Chronic allergies, alcohol dependence, arthritis, asthma, breakdowns, cancer, curses, depression, drug dependence, fear, gluttony, heart attacks, insanity, obesity, oppression, restlessness, schizophrenia, sexual perversion, torment – these were some of the by-products (not the root causes) of an occultic practitioner and/or their children that I ministered to.  Having said this, not everybody who has these diseases gets them as a result of occultic involvement or inheritance, but I have found that it’s a great place to start when helping people to get released.  Participation in idolatrous “religious” worship can also bring about similar things.

Essentially, the Occultic movement is antichrist.  The spirit of antichrist despises Jesus Christ.  It despises His biblical followers and it despises the Jews.  Most certainly the antichrist spirit depises the Jews because they gave us the Bible as well as Christ.  The Bible is the only book to reveal mankind’s problems and it is the only book to reveal the Solution to mankind’s problems.  But that truth has been rejected and covered up.  It has been replaced with anything and everything (“Christian” or otherwise) that this diabolical spirit can come up with – all of it greatly appealing to the human nature.

That’s exactly what we see with Adam and Eve.  They rejected God’s word and replaced it with the word of a liar and usurper.  They became their owns gods, so they thought.  The late Derek Prince taught:  “Antichrist” is a Greek word of two parts “anti” and “christos” (the anointed one).  “Anti” has two meanings in the Greek language.  Each one of them applies to this title.  The first meaning is “against” and the second meaning is “in place of. ”  So first of all, it is against the true Christ and secondly, it is in place of the true Christ. 

In most professing “Christian” churches throughout the world we see the “against” part in action.  You can talk about God, but if you talk about the true biblical Lord Jesus, many seethe with anger, others are offended.  That’s the antichrist spirit in operation.  He seeks to eliminate the true Jesus and replace Him.  I agree.  Too often in my church experience, He’s been replaced with some wishy-washy, anaemic, religious, cardboard cut-out.  The antichrist spirit doesn’t deny God – only Jesus, who is the Son of God, which means, “God in the flesh” or “God in human form.”  As I ministered to church-going people I found that most of them had no clues as to who the true Jesus is.  They had never been taught.

For the most part they had been taught that God was to be feared and obeyed and the only way that they could possibly achieve this was through strict adherence to the demands and commands of His so-called leaders and their doctrinal teachings.  None of the people I spoke with ever felt that they were measuring up.  As a result, guilt motivated them to work harder at it.  Some would go to church every day, and still they felt that they were not measuring up.  So, the spiritually starved among them, along with the spiritually curios, they sought elsewhere for their fulfillment, little knowing that it was their leaders who were failing them.

Prior to coming into accurate biblical knowledge about God, I too dabbled with the occult.  I had purchased some books and attended seminars, and had put into practice the methods and techniques suggested and within a few weeks my thought processes were changing rapidly.  All good stuff, so I thought.  I truly began to think nothing was impossible for me.  I had spent many years kidding myself that I had my life “all together” but alone with my thoughts, I knew otherwise.  See my post:  But they still have a god.

Two things became clear for me when I came into accurate biblical knowledge about God.  Number one:  God loves us.  When we read of a command to avoid some practice, God has a reason for that and we don’t really need to know what that reason is.  The fact that He has spoken should be enough.  Number two:  God wants each one of us to be free from all that is offensive to Him and harmful to ourselves.  That’s what any parent wants.  I do not deny that occultic practices don’t bring results.  They do.  But such practice is offensive to God and harmful to us and our children.

Satan lied to our first parents when he told them they could be gods.  They paid a high price for their choice of false belief and practice.  Nothing has changed.  Satan is still telling that lie today to us, their children, through the occult.  Those who believe him and practice the same lie, they too are paying a high price – even if present appearances are to the contrary.  Jesus Christ paid a higher price when He came to right those wrongs.  He also came with ultimate power and authority, ultimate knowledge of the future, ultimate “hidden” knowledge, ultimate wisdom and ultimate spiritual powers.

The message from the Lord Himself is this.  We can be participators with Him in those four things – but only according to His will, His ways and in His time.  Added to this, when a person chooses to believe Christ and act upon His word in faith, it is not too long before he or she also begins to experience ultimate reality.  “Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.’ “  Isaiah 46:9-10.