In my blog yesterday I told about the nightly visitations I received from as far back as I can remember as a child all the way through the first 25 or so years of my life. A woman dressed in Bible garb would come into my room and watch me. You could never see her face. It was always blacked out. It wasn’t until I read Neil Anderson’s book, Bondage Breaker, that I realized that this was nothing more than a demon. But where did it come from and why did it pick me?
You have heard me talk many times of my Grandpa Distler who pastored for over 40 years and who ended his life as a Superintendent at a rescue mission in Salinas, CA. On the other side of my family, however, my Grandpa and Grandma Williams were not believers. My Grandpa Williams was an agnostic. We tried talking to him about spiritual things many times but there just was no interest. I can even remember writing my grandparents letters telling them about their need for Jesus.
My Grandma Williams experimented with different religions including spiritism and a unity religion that believed in reincarnation. I am told that her delving into spiritism produced some very bizarre occurrences at times when we were visiting at their house. My mom told me of the time when I was little and sleeping by myself in a bedroom at Grandmas’ house. They heard me scream and I came into their bedrooms crying and with a major bloody nose. I told them that someone had come into my bedroom and thrown me nose first against the wall. When my parents took me back into the room they were shocked to find blood from my nose on the wall across the room from the bed. Enough weird things happened that it ultimately scared my agnostic Grandpa to the point that he made my Grandma get rid of all of her books that were related to spiritism. There is no doubt in my mind that my grandmother’s delving into spiritism was most likely the root of my nightly visitations. Perhaps she had even assigned a spirit guide to me as one of her grandchildren.
I also believe I opened my life to demonic influence through my own dabbling into the occult. The occult is really anything that goes beyond the five senses. I was a big fan of horror movies, which is quite odd since they only added to my fear at night. I also played with ouija boards and was part of neighborhood sceances. As a result of all of these things, I had opened myself up to demonic influence which resulted in these visitations.
Anderson’s book helped me to see that Satan’s greatest weapon against me was fear and boy had he succeeded in my life. But once I understood the principle clearly of who I was in Christ and the authority I had in Jesus, I was able to renounce all of those footholds from my past and claim back the ground that I and even my ancestors had given up to the Evil One. Ever since then, I have never had such a visitation, and even if I did, I would know exactly what to do. James 4:7-8 promises that if we submit to God and resist the Devil that he must flee from us. By the way, both my Grandpa and Grandma Williams ultimately came to faith in Jesus Christ later in life. Hallelujah!
You have heard me talk many times of my Grandpa Distler who pastored for over 40 years and who ended his life as a Superintendent at a rescue mission in Salinas, CA. On the other side of my family, however, my Grandpa and Grandma Williams were not believers. My Grandpa Williams was an agnostic. We tried talking to him about spiritual things many times but there just was no interest. I can even remember writing my grandparents letters telling them about their need for Jesus.
My Grandma Williams experimented with different religions including spiritism and a unity religion that believed in reincarnation. I am told that her delving into spiritism produced some very bizarre occurrences at times when we were visiting at their house. My mom told me of the time when I was little and sleeping by myself in a bedroom at Grandmas’ house. They heard me scream and I came into their bedrooms crying and with a major bloody nose. I told them that someone had come into my bedroom and thrown me nose first against the wall. When my parents took me back into the room they were shocked to find blood from my nose on the wall across the room from the bed. Enough weird things happened that it ultimately scared my agnostic Grandpa to the point that he made my Grandma get rid of all of her books that were related to spiritism. There is no doubt in my mind that my grandmother’s delving into spiritism was most likely the root of my nightly visitations. Perhaps she had even assigned a spirit guide to me as one of her grandchildren.
I also believe I opened my life to demonic influence through my own dabbling into the occult. The occult is really anything that goes beyond the five senses. I was a big fan of horror movies, which is quite odd since they only added to my fear at night. I also played with ouija boards and was part of neighborhood sceances. As a result of all of these things, I had opened myself up to demonic influence which resulted in these visitations.
Anderson’s book helped me to see that Satan’s greatest weapon against me was fear and boy had he succeeded in my life. But once I understood the principle clearly of who I was in Christ and the authority I had in Jesus, I was able to renounce all of those footholds from my past and claim back the ground that I and even my ancestors had given up to the Evil One. Ever since then, I have never had such a visitation, and even if I did, I would know exactly what to do. James 4:7-8 promises that if we submit to God and resist the Devil that he must flee from us. By the way, both my Grandpa and Grandma Williams ultimately came to faith in Jesus Christ later in life. Hallelujah!
7 comments:
Hmm, that's kind of creepy! What did you mean that you did "scenenses" or whatever that was?
Kristen, a sceance is when you attempt to communicate to the spirits of the dead.
that was sooooooo wierd
I'm curious, Pastor Scott... you mentioned watching horror movies as part of your "dabbling in the occult." Do you believe that just watching horror movies alone could produce a demonic presence in one's life? Or would you consider that the "gateway drug" of experimenting with demonic influence? I have a few other questions about your opinions on spirits, but I'm assuming I'll learn more in church the next few weeks. I'm really excited that you're doing this segment, because my best friend is really interested in the spirit world. I've finally convinced her to come to church with me!
Hi Karla! Thanks for stopping by. I'm not sure if horror movies alone can be a foothold...I would suppose they possibly could be. For me, however, I think they played a part along with the other areas I dabbled in. Praise the Lord about your friend coming to church with you! That is what we are all about at Grace Church. We want to meet people where they are and help move them to where God wants them to be! Blessings!
What are your feelings about Harry Potter? Something that Christians should avoid or harmless entertainment?
To me, that is much like the Halloween Holiday. Each Christian is going to need to prayerfully consider it and follow the leading of the Lord in their life. It may not be the same for each person. For example, we always participated in Trick of Treat with our kids but we chose not to expose them to Harry Potter. We simply did not have the peace of God as parents in regard to Harry Potter for our kids.
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