Things that go Bump in the Night

Quite often, when the subject of the devil arises, I’ll hear Christians say, “Don’t talk about the devil. It exalts him.” Huh? This confuses me. Speaking about Satan does NOT glorify him in any way, especially when the discussion revolves around his schemes, tactics, and how to defeat him. When Christians discuss Satan, it establishes our power against him. We have the power to defeat him. He would love for you to believe it exalts him so that you don’t share (or teach) how easy it is to have victory over his tactics.



This Halloween, more than ever (it seems), there has been much talk about whether or not Christians should celebrate a pagan holiday. I’m not going to get into all that—I know, you must be greatly disappointed that I won’t be beating this dead horse! Instead, what I am going to do is talk about how cute and funny it is to play with the devil (sarcasm)—that is, ghost séances, Ouija Boards, haunted houses, witchcraft, etc.



If you've read my book, “Spiritual Warfare, My Battle” then you know I grew up in a haunted house, and how my family exasperated the situation by tapping into the spirit world looking for answers.  



Here are a few excerpts from my book about the dangers of playing around with spirits (AKA demons):  

 

I had more experiences than anyone else in our house. I’m not sure why this is, but I did seem to have a stronger fascination with the supernatural happenings in our house and wanted to know who was there and why … and how. My friends and I would get out the Ouija Board to try and communicate with the entities and ask them questions. In return they would give us messages.



I had a friend who became obsessed with talking on the Ouija Board, not only at my house, but she’d take it home with her and talk for hours in her room. She said it was usually the same “spirit,” but sometimes someone else would talk to her as well and that particular spirit was not kind. That spirit would threaten her and it wasn’t long before she started experiencing noises, shadows, and hearing voices in her room or outside her windows. But believe it or not, it didn’t scare her enough to stop using the Ouija Board.



One Saturday evening, a group of my friends and I were hanging out at my house and we all decided to play with the Ouija. We put our hands on the pointer and it immediately started to move, just as it always did. It’s almost like they were all around, watching and waiting for us to call on them. My friend who’d become obsessed with the Ouija was present as well. After we’d asked several questions she said, “This is strange, but when we ask a question, the answer is what I’m already thinking in my head. It’s like they’re reading my mind.”



I responded, “Let’s ask a few more questions and you think of an answer and see if we get the same answer from the spirits.” We asked several more questions and sure enough, the Ouija Board would spell out exactly what was in her head. We decided we’d test this a little more, so we had her clear her mind and look away from the board. I told her, “Just picture blackness and blank out all your thoughts.” We asked another question while she kept her head turned away and her thoughts clear. The answer we received on the Ouija didn’t make any sense to us.



After a minute she asked, “What did it say?”



“Blank,” we all answered in unison.



She got this horrified look on her face and said, “I was repeating the word ‘blank’ to myself trying to keep my mind clear.”



We wondered if these entities were capable of reading our minds. As eerie as this sounds, I was even more intrigued and determined to find out the answers to my many questions. All the while, the ghostly activity increased around me. Of course it did, we were all feeding it and encouraging it, and the scariest thing of all, listening to it and believing it. Ghost séances became the thing to do at our house.



Our friends would come over and want to table knock or use the Ouija. Sometimes, during these séances, we’d hear knocking on the walls or our candles would burn out. Some of us even had our hair pulled on several occasions. We’d run out of the room screaming and laughing, then go back and start up right where we’d left off. It was a game to us. Nothing more than a game. But when it was time to sleep, that was another story. That’s when it wasn’t so funny anymore and the terror set in.



On one occasion a friend spent the night with me. In the middle of the night, she frantically woke me up screaming, “Look, look!” She pointed to the other side of my room. I struggled to focus my eyes in the dark, but it didn’t take me long to notice what she was pointing at. I saw a large black shadow moving across the wall making its way to my side of the bed. We scooted ourselves across the bed in the opposite direction until we ended up falling onto the floor. We immediately crouched down and peered over the top of the mattress to see where the shadow was, but it had vanished. We were terrified as we slowly climbed back into bed, where we ended up staying awake in fear for several hours. Talk about sleeping with one eye open!



As my brothers and I, along with our friends, grew older, ghost hunting lost its excitement and we moved on to other things, but our “ghostly friends” continued to hang around. They lingered, probably anticipating our interest in them to return. They wanted attention. They wanted to deliver more messages to us and to terrorize us some more.



At this point, we’d grown weary of them and wanted them out. It wasn’t funny anymore and they were becoming bothersome to us. We were growing up and were no longer intrigued by them. We had college or jobs and they’d be waking us up in the middle of the night or scaring us when we were trying to relax in the evenings.



The house was a little less active when we didn’t have company. I believe our boredom with these entities created boredom for them as well. We weren’t reacting to them in terror, as we once had, and we never enticed or paid attention to them anymore. In fact, I’d grown so accustomed to them waking me in the night by slamming my desk doors and opening and closing my dresser drawers that I’d wake up and yell, “Stop it. I’m trying to sleep. Get out.” I can recall many times waking up to a racket in my room and shouting, “Shut up,” then I’d roll over and go back to sleep. I know this sounds crazy, but we became so used to hearing noises, it just became a way of life.



Scarier things started to happen. It wasn’t just lights turning themselves off and on, knocking or voices anymore. The noises turned to apparitions, which turned to flying objects. Now I don’t mean huge heavy pieces of furniture or glass flying through the air. Instead, they were little things that involved small incidences, such as being hit in the leg with a rubber band when you’re the only one on the room.



One night I’d wadded up a piece of paper and tossed it into the trashcan and it flew back out and hit me in the leg. Another time, a safety pin had been sitting on the television set and it twirled through the air so fast I couldn’t even make out what it was until it hit me in the leg. I thought, this is it! Now I’ve really had it! I’m not standing for it anymore! I stood in the middle of my room and yelled out, “Don’t you ever touch me again. You do not have permission to ever throw anything or touch me again.” That was twenty years ago and it’s never happened since.



I’d like to say these entities only bothered us while we were at home, but they actually followed us around. They’d show up at our friend’s homes when we were over there and even at some of our work places. And let me tell you, some of our friends weren’t too happy with the situation. They soon started reporting their own ghostly happenings while they were at home and we weren’t around.



I wondered if maybe these entities had attached themselves to some of our friends while they were visiting in our house. A lot of our friends were playing around with the Ouija Board and table knocking as well … opening their own doorways. Either way, it was an unsettling situation.  



Demonic oppression means to be burdened, tormented, suppressed or harassed by demons. Demons exert pressure on us in order to get us to sin and keep us engaged in sin, and they have the ability to blind us to God’s Word. Demons can gain access to us through our sins, which create an open door for them to reach us. When you sin, you attract evil and give Satan a stronghold over you. In a nutshell, sin opens doorways to Satan and attracts demons to you, which can then influence you.



Many people, even Christians, do not realize they can be oppressed by demons. As a result, they do nothing to stop this oppression, which leaves them at the mercy of the devil. This is what Satan wants, and he can get in your mind and deceive you to the point where you experience confusion and even false memories. It's much easier for him to wreak havoc in your life if you believe he has no power over you, which many people do.  



Who is Satan? Satan is an angel created by God who served as a cherub until he rebelled against Him. The original Hebrew term, satan, is a noun from a verb meaning to, “obstruct, oppose.” The name Satan is traditionally translated as “the accuser,” or “the adversary.” This is a title bestowed on a creature or being, rather than the name of it. This being would be referred to as “the satan”.

When you ask someone what the opposite of “good” is, they’ll usually remark, “bad.”

What’s the opposite of “light?” Most likely their answer will be, “darkness.”

The opposite of “God?” They’ll say, “The devil.”

That’s the wrong answer.



Satan is an angel, he is equal to other angels. He is less than God and limited by God. “I am God Almighty” Genesis 35:11. Satan is not almighty. The only reason Satan has power is because God allows him to have it. Psalm 103:19 tells us God is sovereign over all, “The Lord has made the heavens his throne; from there he rules over everything.” Satan does not have any power beyond what God permits him to have. Satan's power may be vast, but it’s limited.



Satan will do everything he can to disengage us from our God-given mission and get us to doubt God’s Word. When you feel yourself being overcome by negative thoughts or guilty feelings, know that these are lies straight from the enemy’s mouth used to get you to give up on yourself, give up on God and to keep you in the devils stronghold.



When I’m plagued with demeaning thoughts I turn on some Christian music or turn on one of my favorite televangelists. I will also pray and praise the Lord for His grace. And reading the Word works miracles as well. You don’t have to endure thoughts of hopelessness. You’re not powerless against them, remember? You’ve been covered by the blood of Jesus and you’re free now. “And set your minds and keep them set on what is above (the higher things), not on the things that are on the earth” Colossians 3:2.



As children of the Most High, we have victory over Satan, but we must stay in the Word. Ephesians 6 teaches us how to arm ourselves against the devil’s schemes.



 



Heavenly Father, I bind all of Satan’s tormenting spirits, messengers and strongmen their eyes blind and ears deaf in Jesus’ name. These demons cannot see or hear our plans, prayers or conversations. They cannot speak, influence, or gesture to us. They cannot cancel, alter or influence the plans God has for our lives. I bind them and command them powerless and unable to manifest in my presence or the presence of my family and anyone we’re around today. They cannot manifest in our homes, jobs, schools, cars, marriages, finances or anywhere else we go today or any area of our lives. Lord, I ask in Jesus’ name that you shut any doors that need to be shut and open any doors that need to be opened in the natural and spiritual realms of our lives and that no man or demon can reopen, shut or interfere with these doors. I cover these doorways in the blood of Jesus and declare the adversary be rendered harmless and powerless, unable to travel through these doorways in Jesus’ name, amen!