The Power of This Age
Overcoming Witchcraft, a people at risk
One of the pernicious things in this age that prevents Believers in Christ from dealing with spiritual warfare issues is the mental images Hollywood has placed in our minds. The preconceived ideas of witches in pointy hats and half-dead sorcerers sitting in the middle of candle-lit pentagrams often prevent Christians from fully recognizing the warfare we are in.
I’ve dealt with spiritual attacks in my life, I grew up in a county that had a rather large contingent of hidden occult people. Went to school with a girl who claimed she was a Satanist. And even had a whole family of witches for next-door neighbors. Rarely did I ever see anything that even hinted at what we have seen in Hollywood.
Because of the lack of outward imagery, of what we think we should see. Many Christian leaders have presumed that occult issues do not exist. Because of this bad thinking, they fail to realize that they most likely have had at least one family of witches in their own congregation at any given moment. I don’t say this in theory, I say it as a fact as this is something I have seen firsthand more than once. If your congregation is moving forward in the things of the Lord, I can confidently say that not everyone in your congregation is who you think they are. I’ve seen it in Baptist Churches and I have seen it at MorningStar Ministries when I was on staff.
But at this moment I am not talking about dedicated witches who are members of covens. Today I want to start off by spending some time looking at Charismatic Witchcraft and how many of us have either walked into it unknowingly or have been on the receiving end of it from fellow believers. Does that statement shock you?
The Basics
Witchcraft, a Seed.
There was a period of time 15-plus years ago that I used to teach various classes using Morningstar teaching material, namely the overcoming series. In this, there was a definition for witchcraft, “Witchcraft is the use of any power other than the Holy Spirit.” Or at least I should say, this definition I am using is to the best of my memory as I promptly tossed all of Rick’s books in the trash when I left.
After going through a deconstruction and then a reconstruction of my faith in Christ I strongly feel that this definition is incomplete. So perhaps by the end of this writing, I will be able to deliver a far more accurate definition for you.
“For rebellion is like the sin of witchcraft, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.” 1 Samuel 15:23 Here in this scripture is an important key. In this place, the Lord is rebuking King Saul and warning his people at the same time about the outside world as to what to watch out for. It is interesting that the context for all of this was one of God’s leaders failing in his duties, kind of like what we are seeing now.
The desire of the Father is for the bride of his Son to be free. However, we live under free choice. Free to live, love, or walk away from it all, in this we will prove the true intentions of our heart. During our days on earth, there are other voices speaking in your ear, calling you, enticing you to other things. So subtle are these voices the majority of us have fallen several times, unaware of the spirits behind the voices.
In the view of many people, the attacks are meant to build on each other until you are totally broken. This is what is called the “fog of war.” Even though some people believe that there is a certain order to these attacks. I can tell you that they can come in any order. The purpose is to break you down, and disconnect you away from a faith-filled life and into rebellion.
For quick context, a short usable definition for rebellion is anything that disconnects you from the will and the heart of the Father.
Rebellion can often be found in the subtle forms of compromise to temptations. This is the home of vain imaginations, peer pressure, and social conformity to fit in. In this case, Discouragement, Confusion, Depression, Despair, and Withdrawal are not necessary for demons to hit you with, if you are already giving in to temptations. It has often been said that a good defense is a good offense. So let’s start addressing some of the basics.
Rebellion is like a seed, it often starts small and grows. In this way, it has similar characteristics to faith. Before any outward physical expressions take place, there is a thought process taking place in the mind. These processes are easily planted via movies, music, conversations at work, school, social media, odd dreams, and more. This is because your ears and eyes are the primary gateways for the demonic to implant its seeds.
Once in place, this seed grows. Just as a mustard seed of faith can become the biggest plant in the garden, this noxious weed can grow, expanding and choking out the life of the entire garden. This is because it is an aggressive reprogrammer of your thinking. Does this mean that the implantation of this seed must take place before you get hit with Discouragement, Confusion, Depression, Despair, and Withdrawal? No, it does not, in fact, if you are not accepting this seed it may be necessary that the demonic hits you with these so that you will accept. So let's take a couple of examples so that you understand the seed process.
Example #1 Before marriage you were a person who dated several people. Now you are in a loving, committed relationship but you keep having dreams about your old lovers. Ignoring them you see a romance movie here, a talk show there and slowly you start to entertain the idea, “What if I had married so and so instead?” Now the vain imaginations of your mind have led you from entertainment to detainment. Your mind is captivated by the root of a seed that has now grown.
Question, when did the rebellion start? It started at the very beginning and it was offered each and every time you allowed your mind to play with the idea.
Example #2 You grow up in a Christian household. You read the stories, you hear the preaching, and you see the hidden actions of people claiming one thing but doing another. Within your garden of life, God has planted a core for justice, wisdom, compassion, and purity. But what you are seeing with your eyes and hearing with your ears from the elders above you does not match what the Holy Spirit has given you. So you go silent, self-protecting the garden within you, retreating to a world of movies, books, and social media. You watch the X-men, Avengers, or any other form of entertainment where humans have gained powers beyond the normal and you start playing with the idea in your mind of having the same powers. This fantasy land then starts to feed your core of justice, wisdom, compassion, and purity as you can now use your powers to help people and change lives.
Slowly you start the process of detachment away from your former life to a new life that is being programmed for you to follow. Social justice, and saving the world must now be championed as righteous indignation surfaces. Your tolerance for the hypocritical “pew sitters” who do nothing begins to erode until eventually, you walk out the door as an adult.
Question, when did the rebellion start? It started every time you responded internally to believers lying, and being hypocritical.
These are only two examples. Examples could easily be made for the abused child, the young school girl called a dog in class to be befriended by the wrong people. A popular boy at school who is hated at home. And the list could go on. Rebellion leading to witchcraft can happen in any home, of any religion, or even none at all. But since I am writing primarily to believers in Christ, let’s focus on just this area.
At the moment the seed of rebellion is allowed to remain, a drop of witchcraft is now within you. This is possibly one of the reasons for this prayer in Psalms. “Examine me, God, and know my heart; test me, and know my thoughts. See if there is in me any hurtful way, and lead me along the eternal way.” Psalms 139:23-24 CJB. The wording “hurtful way” in some translations is translated as Grievous, Painful or Wicked. It is wisdom for the believer to build a habit of asking the Holy Spirit to search your heart and bring to light anything within you.
Defense
If the seed of rebellion can be discovered early, then it can be uprooted with minimal disruption to your garden, allowing the light of Life to wither and kill its roots. By doing this you can avoid the bigger problems in life that rebellion will bring.
You will always be offered the seeds, and seeds will float in from the winds of life. Therefore it is always necessary to ask for the Holy Spirit to be searching you. Once discovered, repent. Although I am not a big fan of following a pre-designed form for prayer. I think it is necessary to give an example. Feel free to alter it because as you change in life, so should your prayer life.
“Lord, I am sorry for ____, take it away. I surrender to your love, your power, and by your name and blood, I say this sin is now gone.” The point of this prayer is loving submission to Him, identification of the sin, the Blood of Christ, and the agreement that it is now removed.
Offense
Even if you can not easily identify a person like a witch who has been ordering spiritual attacks against you. There is more than a fair chance someone has been doing this, even if they call themselves a Christian. This problem I feel is greater in Charismatic Christianity where teaching was weak and provided no solid biblical foundation for its members. These places prop up the ministry with hype and emotions to fill the void.
In this aspect, these places often take on the characteristics of Sardis in the Book of Revelation. “Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God. “Rev3:2. The point here is that they were living on the old stories when God moved among them. This keeps them moving forward as a ministry with a reputation for being alive. But the Lord of Life sees’ the truth that they are dead.
In this environment, witches easily enter, taking up places in the Prophetic and Intercessory teams bending believers further away from biblical foundations. These witches often become the very Jezebels and Ahabs who become firmly cemented in leadership, impossible to remove with their deep teachings and spiritual secrets. They become protected as everyone now seeks to honor them by protecting these “men and women” of god.
If you find yourself getting hit with Discouragement, Confusion, Depression, Despair, and Withdrawal. Or health, financial, and addiction issues. Your first response is often the wrong one as you assume one of the lies that is being whispered in your ear. The truth is, you are redeemed by the Blood of Christ and what is happening to you is not your destiny. Therefore, what I am about to say is not only confrontational but in some circles controversial as it messes with people’s ideas of warfare.
Break it and Flip it.
There are several examples in scripture where the evil intended for God’s people gets flipped back on the person who sent it. The most famous would be Haman’s plot to kill Mordecai in the Book of Esther. Therefore the most effective way of dealing with spiritual witchcraft attacks is to break it and flip it. Let me give you a prayer example.
“Lord, by the authority you have given me and your Blood. I break these witchcraft attacks sent against me and I declare that they be flipped back. That what was intended for me should fall upon the one who sent it.”
It is a well-known tactic in battle, that if the attacker is hit hard enough it will slow them down or stop any further attacks. Let this fog of war that is seeking to mess you up fall on them. In this way, witches will see the testimony of whose God is greater and they will learn that attacking the children of the Lord comes at a cost.
So, #1 identify any source of rebellion in you.
#2 Break it and flip it. In my own personal life, I can say this tacit has worked more than once. But you must remain vigilant with both parts of this.
External and Unexpected Sources of Witchcraft.
“For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.” James 3:16 Jealousy is not just over “stuff” because someone has something better than you do. It is a multi-faceted fishing lure designed to hook you and bring you closer to the plans of the evil one. This is because it is literally “…rot to the bones.” Proverbs 14:30
Many people at some level all want better than they now have. Unfortunately striving for the stuff of earth only creates a legacy of striving that will make the person feel hollow, and void even if they acquire what they have hunted for. When this attitude resides in Christian circles, especially in ministry. People will often become like candy, sweet to your face but rot to the teeth.
More than one modern minister of the Gospel struggles with Jealousy as they watch other ministers. This problem not only exists at these upper levels, but it even exists for the day-to-day believer just trying to make it through life. As we gain small victories, we get noticed by not only the spiritual realm but also by fellow brothers and sisters who have not gained victory. As crazy as this may sound, these fellow believers if they react in an unhealthy way to your victory can start accepting the seeds of rebellion.
If you find that your attitude against a fellow believer is changing, it might be best to have the Holy Spirit examine your heart. Because as you continue to harbor little thoughts against each other, the very prayers you pray for each other can become “tainted” with mixed desires. “For you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?” 1 Corinthians 3:3 This will cause you to begin to manipulate, deceive, and lie to others with false evidence to show that you are still moving forward in Christ. When in reality you have now run your ship of faith into the rocks, stuck and broken.
When the dust finally settles on all the craziness of IHOP, Bethel, MorningStar, and other places. I am confident that at the core it will be discovered that all the sexual predators and deceivers were but the outward manifestations of Idolatry and Jealousy empowering Charismatic Witchcraft.
“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:19-21
To sum this up, we Christians can trip each other up with the attitudes of our hearts. Learning to walk in true love, needs to be more than just a slogan to hang on a wall. This must also be submitted to the Holy Spirit for inspection.
Pitfalls
As I mentioned at the start I used to teach Morningstar's teachings on this subject. However. As the years passed I found myself on staff watching the hypocrisy in action, as many of us quietly asked each other. “How can a ministry that exposes such things so well actually be working in these things?”
This is a question I have pondered many times. But it was not until the other day when I was walking in the hills of North Idaho with my dog that the Holy Spirit explained it to me. “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3:18. Therefore we become what we behold. And if we do become what we behold then some of our books and bible teachers are unknowingly a problem.
When books are written exposing a problem, we behold the problem. Sometimes our emotions are engaged and we continue to research it further, becoming more irritated with the problem. As we slip further and further down this road we can take on the nature of the problem, becoming the problem itself.
Now to be fair, Rick is not the only minister who clearly displays problems that exist like Witchcraft. But the real problem is it is being displayed without real concrete solutions to the problem. With no outlet to solve the issue, we get locked into a continual cycle of beholding and absorbing. Many pastors only give generalities and religious platitudes for solutions. This is because the leaders themselves can see the issue, but have no solutions to give. It is my hope, and desire to give you real tools for real problems. Let me know how I am doing.
A Generation in Danger
Although occultic influences have always been around, they are increasing more each day now. If you're wondering who the devil is most likely to target. Then I suggest you do a Google image search, type in the word “witch” and you will find that the vast majority of images are teenage to early twenty girls. This is the primary demographic the devil is looking to recruit in this age. Not that he would refuse any guy who wanted to join him, but his primary goal is female.
Women will endure and serve under programs and evil authority longer than most men. Some people talk about “angry young men.” But to be honest I think a gang of angry young girls can be more vicious than a typical gang of men.
Judging by the current outward fruit of the world. The powers of this age seek to crush children and mess them up. Girls in particular seem to get shoved down a road to produce anger, and rage at the core. Once this is in place the emotions can be used to drive the person in any direction the demonic spirit wants like same-sex relationships. These girls are empowered by demonic spirits who make them believe they have acquired real power.
By getting them addicted to power through drugs, sex acts, and total submission the girl seeks to go deeper to acquire even more power. At some point as the process continues, some girls start to realize they are now trapped in a very dark and scary world. These people have now gained through demonic guidance illegal spiritual access to realms that the Lord has not blessed.
But Christians in the past have done it.
Yes, in scripture God’s people have often had access to spiritual realms. But there is a serious difference between the Lord coming to you and taking on a journey. And people trying to get there themselves in any way they can. When people enter without the Holy Spirit, their eyes and ears are held hostage to whatever the demonic realm wants to program them with.
The only lawful access to the spiritual realm is by the invitation of the Holy Spirit. And let’s face it, we all like guided tours to places we have never been, and the spirit of God does it best. We are called to seek the face not the place as an old friend of mine once said.
Here are some facts from a 2014 Barna church study to ponder concerning our youth.
59 percent percent of youth raised in a church have dropped out.
35 percent of youth have a very anti-church stance, believing the church does more harm than good.
Christian youth are now the least likely age group of anyone to attend church later in life.
Now it is true that not every youth who leaves follows witchcraft. Some get involved in other religions. And some even get enticed to start embracing some of the teachings of the new age that has rebranded itself as a new type of “Christian Spirituality.”
So let’s take a quick look at some of the witchcraft groups out there that entice people to join them under the banner of being Christian.
Christian Naturists - a Christian nudists organization
Garden of Eden Church - yep, it’s a nude church.
Christalignment - Approved by Bill Johnson of Bethel Church. Christalignment offers topless worship sessions and spiritual readings for its members.
The Curious Club in the UK - possibly expanding into the United States like Charlotte NC. This self-help group will introduce you to a whole range of “spiritual experiences.” In reality, these experiences are guided pathways to demonic possession.
New Age and many others are just white witch groups who are masking everything under the guise of self-help, restoration of your inner soul, and the release of your inner goddess to become who you were intended to be. We are now living in a time when the lines between terminology have become blurred by wolves in sheep’s clothing. As a result, this war of words is currently being lost by true believers.
On one hand, the enemy is seeking to crush the children, and for those he can not crush, he seeks to corrupt. If they survive to adulthood then he plans to make them his foot soldiers. But on the other hand, he has had numerous Christian leaders that he has quietly subverted. By giving them fame, human influence, and a strong financial budget. These leaders fail to offer real help for the Bride of Christ. In reality, many who are now getting exposed before the Body are exactly what the Lord spoke against in Ezekiel 34. These are the bad shepherds who control, dominate, and destroy them at will.
If you understand the basic characteristics of witchcraft, then I suggest you read this chapter and look at the evidence presented. It would seem to me that these leaders most likely used witchcraft to control God’s people. And this is EXACTLY what we are now seeing reported by survivors of IHOP.
So with corrupted leadership on one hand and a demonic system seeking to scoop up the youth on the other, what can be done?
#1 “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6. The truth of spiritual warfare needs to be taught at the youngest ages. Please note, the Bible says “Train up a child,” it does not say raise up. Many parents seek to make friends and surrender their education to someone or something else. Your biblical mandate is to train the child, raising them up is a by-product of Love. If you have love then don’t worry about raising them, it will come naturally.
#2 “Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.” Ephesians 5:11. Don’t hide what going on. The reason this grassroots effort to bring justice to the victims at IHOP is working is because this scripture is being followed. The reason the grassroots effort to bring justice to the Todd Bentley victims did not work is that this scripture was not followed.
#3 “Do everything in love.” 1 Corinthians 16:14 If you do not hide the good and the bad from your kids. And you take the time to explain the hypocrisy they have seen. And teach them to pray for the hypocrite. Then they will see love in action, and things could heal because, “…love covers over a multitude of sins.” 1 Peter 4:8
So what is perhaps a better definition of Witchcraft? “Witchcraft is a rebellion away from the heart and purposes of the Father. Resulting in illegal access to spiritual power and forces that will manifest in time into manipulation and domination of other people.”