What the Bible Says about the Occult
“Doctrines of Demons
Pastors Bud & Betty Miller on the Occult
Where false religions and cult groups claim to be in harmony with Christianity but deny foundational Christian doctrines — such as the Trinity, or the unique deity of Jesus Christ, occultism deals with the hidden or secret works of darkness to attain personal power, and is characterized by a reliance on the supernatural produced by demons to achieve its ends. It is a sad and frightening fact that people are fascinated with the secret or “occult” things that God has condemned (Deuteronomy 18:9-12). One cannot see a movie like Harry Potter or read The Exorcist, which presents Satan unvarnished and portrays the truth about demonic possession in terms everyone can understand, without being plunged into the core of the occult. Ephesians 6:12 tells us, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness in high places.” The occult practices hidden things of darkness and promotes doctrines of demons. There has never been a time in history when the warnings against the dangers of occultism were more necessary than at the present. There has been a flood of Satan’s evil in the last few years as never before. He knows his time is short so he is out to ensnare all he can.
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils. I Timothy 4:1
The Real Dangers
The great scholar C. S. Lewis wrote, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors, and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.”
David Moore, a writer for the Gallup Organization, analyzes the American interest in the occult: “A recent Gallup survey shows that just about three in four Americans hold some paranormal belief–in at least one of the following: extra sensory perception (ESP), haunted houses, ghosts, mental telepathy, clairvoyance, astrology, communicating with the dead, witches, reincarnation, and channeling.” Just seeing all the demonic influenced movies and television shows our modern age is exposed to is strong proof of this unhealthy fascination. Some of the top rated television shows currently running include such titles as Teen Wolf, The Walking Dead, Supernatural, Mind Games, Pretty Little Liars, The Vampire Diaries, The Originals, Heroes, Grimm, Lost Girl, True Blood, Medium, Witches of East End, not to mention the continuous reruns of the Harry Potter movies, and former TV series like Charmed, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and The Witches of Eastwick.
I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me. Psalm 101:3
Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Proverbs 4:23
Today, there is a terrible spiritual vacuum that exists in which people are forced to live. Today’s society has turned from the living God and literally tuned into satisfying their immediate pleasures, underestimating the power of the media they are tuning into. Included in this is all the types of media that we watch or listen to in a given day or week. Music, television, magazines, newspapers, email, advertisements, gossip… We let that stuff into our brains! Are we being selective enough?
We should not be naive about this. There is programming going on. When we open our eye-gates and our ear-gates to the media around us, it gets into our brains. If enough gets in, it will make its way to our hearts. That is okay if we are only opening our gates to God-honoring messages. But most of us are not guarding the gates carefully enough, and bit by bit, we are filling our minds with things that do not honor God.
Multitudes of Christians and non-Christians alike are finding themselves suffering physical, mental, psychic and spiritual oppression, few realizing that it is because they have allowed themselves to become ensnared in the diabolical web of occultism which is under the influence and control of the powers of darkness. Such things as Ouija boards are not innocent things. They are dangerous things that must be faced by believers in Christ. Those who play with Ouija boards, try to levitate tables, read tarot cards, tea leaves, and their palms; the people who try to find out whether they are Gemini, Virgo or Scorpio, and what the paper said today about what tomorrow will be–these are the people who are flirting with the kingdom of the occult. And it is dangerous, because it reaches out to other dimensions and endangers the soul.”
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