The Spiritual Realm is Real and Active - How Evil Spirits Attach Themselves to Christians

 

I guess the next logical topic to discuss regarding the spiritual realm after having written about how to clear people and property of demons is to talk about how we as believers open ourselves up to demonic attachments in the first place through the things that we participate in. As I have stated previously, it is my understanding that a true Christian cannot be possessed by a demon. The reason for this is that we already have a resident in us in the form of the Holy Spirit. Part of my defence of this position is Matthew 12:43-45 which states, “Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. 45 Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation.” The unclean spirit takes occupation of the soul that has been cleaned but has not been otherwise occupied. The presence of the Holy Spirit is itself a bulwark against the presence of evil spirits.

That being said, as I have also stated elsewhere, a Christian can have evil spirits attached to them through their actions and the places that they go, and it is these attachments that I taught you how to remove from yourself and others in my article on engaging in spiritual warfare. Unfortunately, our western understanding of Christian doctrine is severely lacking especially in regards to the spiritual realm. While western Christians have no problem believing in God and His angels, there are some who deny the existence of the devil and his helpers. There is no logical reason for this since the Bible clearly tells us that these entities are real and are a threat to us, yet this is still the reality. 

I blame this largely on the fact that many western Christians barely ever open their Bibles to read it for themselves. We attend church and we listen to our pastors teaching on the familiar and easy passages over and over again, but we 'fly-over' all the parts in between. I have once considered that there are maybe 100 short passages that most pastors will ever preach on through their career, which leaves vast swathes of the Bible untouched by those who only open their Bible on Sunday mornings. 

I wonder, have you ever read the entire Bible from cover to cover? I suspect that many, maybe even most North American Christians have not read every word of the Bible. This is supposed to be our manual for life. There is even a large segment of christians that believe that God does not speak to us anymore but that everything we need is to be found written in the Bible, yet they have not read all of it even once. I get it that men like to tackle projects first and refer to the manual or instructions only when they are stuck, but for people who claim to love God, there seems to be a real aversion to reading His instructions for our lives. Hosea 4:6a tells us that, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." We are relying on men who were trained by other men, who were trained by other men (ad infinitum) to tell us what God is trying to tell us. If even one man got that message wrong somewhere along the line and nobody has challenged that, how can we know that what we are learning is correct? Have you ever challenged your pastor on something that he said because you are aware of other Scripture that is contrary to his teaching? I have, and I have no formal theological training; I have simply immersed myself in God's Word.

What really concerns me is the naivety of modern Christians to how the dark powers of this world have influenced us in our thinking, and it has been so easy. One of my biggest of my "small" small peeves is how yoga has penetrated the church. Yoga has been presented to the Americas as a purely physical exercise; a way to improve our flexibility and to relax our muscles and our minds. This is even something that has entered our schools' physical education curriculum. My youngest encountered this in their gym class a number of years ago and had the good sense to excuse themself from the class. Only one other student in their class had the same good sense. I sent the gym teacher an email with my concerns about this facet of the curriculum, laying out for him how this is a form of eastern mysticism and it should not be taught to the young minds of our children. The teacher stated that he himself is a Christian as well, but he completely dismissed my warnings as being entirely false. He believes that there is no spiritual component of yoga and that there is no reason why he should not be teaching it to the students. I warned him that he will answer for his actions some day, but he entirely dismissed my concerns, as did the principal of the school as well.

I don't want to dive too deeply on this here, but for those of you who are practising yoga yourselves, you need to be aware that each pose and even each facial expression are designed to mimic and to channel "gods" of the Hindu religion. You don't have to take my word for it, search it up. This is not hidden knowledge; knowledgeable practitioners of yoga, especially from India, are entirely forthright in their assertions that yoga is a spiritual practice first, and a physical practice second. I just searched the phrase "yoga, channelling gods" in my search bar and here are just the first few articles that popped up; "The Spiritual Connection Yoga Poses Named After Hindu Gods", "10 yoga poses that offer worship to Hindu deities", "Hindu Gods Every Yoga Teacher Should Know". But I'm sure there is no spiritual worship involved in the poses of yoga, after all, these article are only written by people who have devoted their lives to yoga; what do they know?

I should probably point out another one that just popped into my head right now but that I had never truly considered before, and that is the worship of "Mother Nature" or "Gaia", and this is most evident in the climate warriors that we see worming their way into power in all of the western democracies. Now I want to be very clear about something; the earth has been given to us by God and we are to be good stewards of it. The efforts to curb our pollution of the earth are admirable, but our current mindset is taking things way too far, beyond even what the science (another god) has told us for generations. I will have to write another article on this subject alone, but our preoccupation with whatever affect we think we can have on the planet would be entertaining if it weren't for the control policies that our governments are working to implement in their efforts to manage what we cannot manage, plus the acceptance of the cheering hordes of these control measures that are being foisted upon them. I know of one man in particular who is devoted to God, but he is so wrapped up in the efforts to affect our climate and to protect us from climate change that he has earned a reputation for being so preoccupied with it that it can actually become annoying to talk with him. I love this man, and he is no idiot, but he is focused on the wrong things.

There are several others that I will lump together for the sake of space. I am a staunchly conservative person. My views are such that I want to be left alone to manage my own affairs and I will leave others to do the same as long as their actions do not infringe on another person. Here is where I come into conflict with the more liberal leaning individuals in all manner of social justice issues. There is a push to act "compassionately" in regards to ESG, DEI and LGBTQ+++++++ issues. The position taken is that the efforts made to advance these issues are done out of a place of compassion while those of us who oppose these things are hate filled people. The opposite is the truth, because those who oppose these efforts are standing on the Truth. God despises the lifestyles of the LGBT community, His Word is very clear on this. The promotion of DEI principles is actually degrading to those for whom they are developed because it assumes that they are unable to compete with the other races on a level playing field and elevates skin colour and sexual deviancy above merit. ESG policies place the concerns of the environment, social fabric and the power of corporations to affect change above common sense and the will of the electorate. And the real problem is that all of these things not only can, but often do become the basis upon which people make all of their decisions. 

These are all corruptions of God's design for us, and I am convinced by the volatility with which people defend these ideas that these are also demonic strongholds. These systems encourage division among the people and classification into the desirables and the undesirables. Politicians pander to these groups because their very livelihood depends on remaining in office, so they want the votes of the most diverse group of people possible, and it seems that those who embrace one of these ideologies also embrace the others. It is unfortunate that christian voters are so enamoured by their own virtuosity and that of their preferred politician that they will vote to support the continuation and even the expansion of these policies, to their own detriment. I am strongly of the opinion that these are demonic attachments and that once one has taken hold of an individual, others are invited to join.

God's will and design for us is to love everyone and to seek the best for them. This means that when we see someone living in such a way as that which goes against God's will as is laid out in His Word, we are called to try to correct them. This is not discriminatory as the world calls it, this is acting in love. This is working to free others from their demonic attachments.

To the same end, false religions are extremely strong demonic attachments. The Bible tells us that there is only one God and that Jesus is the only way to God, and Paul tells us that if anyone preaches a gospel other than the one that he and the other disciples were preaching, then it is a false gospel. Galatians 1:6-9 reads, "I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!" 

Some examples of false gospels that are based on Christ yet manipulate its adherents and sway them away from Biblical principles are Catholicism, Mormonism and even movements within the Christian churches such as the prosperity gospel and "name it and claim it" theology. The best lies contain some truth, and these are some impressive lies. There is the nugget of truth that acknowledges Jesus as God's Son and professes His death and resurrection, yet that is where they start to diverge and leave the Truth of His teachings and the teachings of His disciples. The Holy Spirit is not a part of their theology, but it is instead a spirit of deception and blindness. Jesus Himself warns us in Matthew 7:13-14 to "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14 For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it."

We read the same types of warnings in other passages of Scripture as well. Luke 13:23-25 contains another warning from Jesus; "And someone said to Him, “Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?” And He said to them, 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able." Jesus is saying that there are those who will want to live for Him and will strive to be with Him in glory, yet they will fall short. It is not hard to understand that they will fall short by means of their own understanding as opposed to a failing of their own efforts. They will think that what they are doing is right, yet it will not meet God's standards. Again, we see in Matthew 23:28 where Jesus is speaking to the spiritual leaders of His day, men who should have known better because they spent so much of their time studying God's Word, yet Jesus says to them, "So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness." These men were acting in such a way as to be seen as the standard for others to strive for, yet Jesus calls them out that their outward acts are merely that, they were acts to appear righteous yet their hearts were far from God.

And I want to close this segment with a word from James, the brother of Jesus and the first leader of the Christian church in Jerusalem. In James 4:4 he admonishes his readers, "You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." If you are one who is embracing the social justice movement, which is merely a way to enslave one group of people to another in an apparent effort to make amends for having done so before, then you need to reconsider your allegiances. You are aligning yourself with the world. If your goals and the things that are important to you are not truly based on Scripture, then you may be walking on the wide road to destruction. Compassion is a good thing, but it can also be abused and used as a weapon against people. If you are a follower of Christ, I want to encourage you to examine your ways and the things which you are fighting for.

There are other seemingly smaller ways that we allow evil spirits to influence us, and by doing so, we give them permission to stay and attach themselves to us. Galatians 5:19-21 lists off things that are of the flesh, which is by definition contrary to the Spirit; "Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality [physical, sexual pleasures], 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities [hatred towards another, gossip], strife [conflict], jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions [disagreements, conflicts], factions [divisions], 21 envying, drunkenness, carousing [drunken riotousness], and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God." When we allow ourselves to engage in such things, we are reacting to the whispers of evil spirits to our minds and hearts. Our practice of these things grieves the Holy Spirit, but it is our choice to disengage from them. The Spirit will coax us to abandon them, but the choice is ultimately ours. In another article I have mentioned Frank Peretti's book series consisting of "This Present Darkness" and "Piercing the Darkness"; I think that Mr. Peretti had the gift of spiritual sight or knew somebody who did, and I believe that although the events that he writes about are fiction, there is a truth in his writings about the way that the spiritual realm operates. It should not be taken as a guide to these things, but it paints a picture of the hierarchies and operations that may very well be taking place.

As we open ourselves up to just one evil spirit, they will call others to join them. The more the merrier and also the more that there are the harder it becomes to break free from them. The above list is not comprehensive. I'm sure that there are many more things that will separate us from God and invite the attachments of evil spirits that will continue to drive a wedge between us and God if we are not paying attention. We need to be constantly on guard against these things. It takes such a very little bit to begin to work its way into our lives. Just like a wedge starts small and grows steadily larger, so is the same when we allow sin to enter our lives. It starts very small, hardly noticeable, but it will steadily grow and consume us if we are not vigilant.

If you have sought release for yourself or others from the burdens of demonic entities that have attached themselves to you or them, then you or they must make sure to change the things that you or they have been doing which have allowed those attachments in the first place, or you may end up in a worse state than when you first began. I cannot state too often or too strenuously that the Christian walk is not a destination but a journey. It is a journey rife with dangers and distractions. We can very easily be lead off the narrow path by just a single step. We may even feel comfortable with that first step, and then the next, and then the next, because we can still see the path that we should be on and we feel confident that we can and will return to that path right away. Then suddenly we realize that we have wandered far from where we should be and we can't even find our way back. 

We see this in society as a whole. The devil has gained his ground in what used to be considered a Christian country not by grabbing territory in great leaps and bounds, but rather through small concessions given on the grounds of compassion. We have become such a compassionate country that now not only do we allow marriage between people who are living in sin, we are also providing narcotics to those who hove become addicted to them and we are killing our own by the thousands and the tens of thousands through abortion and the made in Canada MAID program, with it's ever widening arms of acceptance into the program, including the push to admit "mature minors" without the knowledge of their own parents, never mind their consent. One day your kid will go off to school and later that day I assume that you will be informed that your child had sought the help of a doctor to end their own life. We have become a culture of death and destruction, significantly through carelessness at the ballot box.

Unfortunately, if Christians are going to win this culture war, it will take just as long to regain the lost ground, through incremental victories, as it did to lose that same ground. The only way to change that is for the country as a whole to return to God as we saw Israel do time and again, and God changed the land and healed it. This can happen, but only if individual Christians will take their faith walk seriously en mass. 

That is probably the overarching theme and goal of this blog. I want to encourage and draw Christians back to God, to commit themselves to serving Him with their whole being. I gain nothing from this blog. It is not monetized and it will not be unless God directs me to do so in the future; I do not know what His plans for my ramblings are. I also gain no notoriety for this, firstly because my readership is small and second because I am remaining anonymous. Nobody knows who to lift up if they felt the need to do so. I just want us to all do a better job of pursuing God.

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