(part 2)

Reincarnation, neo-paganism, understanding spiritual warfare, freedom from the occult, New Age teachings, drugs and mental illness, ...

God was there for me

God began to break through my spiritual blindness when I became pregnant with my son. I met my son's father under strange circumstances and my instincts told me to stay clear of this man. Yet a number of tarot readings, interpreted dreams and "coincidences" all pointed to him as my soul mate. Rather than listen to my head I listened to these phenomena and we were intimate. A few weeks later I found out he was married. A week after that I found out I was pregnant. It was then that I began to see how deceived I had been by all the psychic stuff. During the pregnancy, as I watched all my "friends" slowly drop away or turn against me, I started to reach out to the Lord. Once again I had no one else, but God was there with me. I still did not have a totally clear understanding of the spiritually and emotionally crippling effects the occult, mental illness and drug addiction had launched against me, but I was starting to realize I had gone off track. I asked the Lord for strength, guidance, an easy birth and a healthy baby. He answered my prayers. As much as each day was difficult, Jesus was with me every day of my pregnancy, and I could feel His presence making me strong and calm - keeping me positive and encouraged.

The grace of God

I continued to pray after my son was born. One night I found myself saying, "Thank you, Jesus, for dying for my sins and rising again." I was shocked at myself! I realized I believed in the risen Christ! I didn't understand how or when, but I now believed! From that point on God began to pave the way for me to come back to Christ. I know I am the prodigal daughter who has come back to the Father, after squandering my life in the world (See: Luke 15:11-24). I can now look back on my life and see where I went wrong, and I know it is only by the grace of God that I survived my time in the darkness. My heart's desire is to now be used of God to help others who do not know Jesus … especially those who are slaves to addiction or the occult. I am so grateful for what I have in Jesus: not only have my sins been forgiven and I have eternal life, but I am being filled with joy, peace, love, patience ... and slowly I am learning self-control.

Only one book is needed

The first thing God asked me to do when I came back to Him was to get rid of all my occult/ New Age / self-help based books. I could relate to the bible when it says in Acts 19:19; "A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas." A drachma was a silver coin worth about a day's wages. According to an insert in the New King James Bible, the total value of the scrolls would be about $364,000 of today's American dollars! It was difficult to give up my books and all the things related to my work as a psychic, but I understood that what Jesus offers us is greater than anything I could find in those books. Really, we only need one book to guide us in this life, and that book is the bible. We are to "have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales; rather, train yourself to be godly" (1 Timothy 4:7).

Is the bible truly the only book we really need to know about God … to know how we are to have right relationship with Him and others? The answer to this question is 'yes'! "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Jesus continues to work in me

Since I became born again, Jesus has replaced my old friends with a beautiful, sincere, loving and supportive Christian family (church). He has healed me of my addictions, including cigarettes, and is healing me of my addiction to over-eating. Food is still an issue for me as I use it to stuff my emotions down. I am also very overweight but I know God is working through me, and that in time this issue will be another area where I can testify about Jesus to others.

Many blessing if you turn to Jesus

I am here to tell you that anything outside of the Lord Jesus Christ is just a cheap imitation. There is only one living God who created all things. God has a plan for every single person on Earth. When someone goes to a psychic, they are ignoring God's plans and instead seeking the advice of demonic spirits. By putting our faith in demonology (psychic phenomena) we are opening ourselves up to occult powers, and turning away from the blessings Christ has planned for us. By inviting the occult into our lives we are sowing seeds of destruction for ourselves, loved ones and our children, and even potentially their offspring.

Drugs, witchcraft and mental illness

Mental illness, drug addiction and the occult are very much linked. The practice of taking drugs … drugs of course alter our perception … is a form of witchcraft. Indeed many pagan religions use drugs and altered states to connect to the spirit realm. Many people who have mental illness are well aware of the spiritual realm. They experience demons, angels and many other things as part of the confusion of the condition.

A dangerous and explosive cocktail

The devil convinced me that my illness was a blessing. This lie was aimed at my pride by convincing me my condition was a "gift". This allowed me to be in denial about the harmful effects it had on my life. The force of denial is so powerful, especially when your ego is being fed with status and glamour. Only the light of Christ can reach those who are so far gone in the dark. The combination of the bi-polar with the psychic realm and goddess-based beliefs (as well as drug use) was catastrophic. The sad thing is most of the people I came across who worked as psychics, healers, and people in the New Age movement were the victims of addictions and mental illnesses. Depression and anxiety are prevalent. As much as they claim to be helping others, when I looked beneath the surface there was always something else going on (greed, pride, selfishness, competitiveness).

The spider web of reincarnation

The bible makes it very clear that each person only gets one life and after that they must stand before God and face judgment and from that point onwards either heaven or hell is there destination. As a Christian I know that all my sins were washed away because Jesus Christ suffered for my sins on the cross and I will not be judged for them. There is forgiveness for sin. Reincarnation has a person going through many lives with no forgiveness for sin. The hope is that as you progress through your 'lives' you will slowly evolve upwards. In each life you are dealing with the actions you supposedly carried out in previous lives. This is referred as karma. Reincarnation holds out the supposed hope that someone may escape this process of going from life to life if they become a guru and reach 'nirvana' in one generation. Nirvana is a supposed state of blissful nothingness!

Dangers of believing in reincarnation

"… Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment …" (Hebrews 9:27). The danger in believing in reincarnation is twofold. One … there is no sobering fear of judgment for our actions before a Holy God when we die. Second … it encourages people to be completely self-serving. If every experience in life is just a lesson we need to learn then we are accountable to no one. We then rationalize ... what does it matter if we hurt others, betray our families and friends, and indulge our every whim. We can chalk these things up to just another experience to learn from. This is where the deception comes to play, and where the devil plays with our ego. For we are called by God to be more than our whims … we are called to be a reflection of His greatest Glory … Jesus Christ and His love.

True enlightenment

We are called to reach beyond our own selfish desires and strive to reach out to others in love and compassion. We are called to look into our hearts and lives, seek out our faults and bring them to the Lord for forgiveness and repentance. We are given one life on Earth in which to serve God, and it is only through understanding this that we reach true enlightenment … with Jesus as the source of light and truth in our hearts and lives. It is Christ who allows us to go beyond our human limitations and reach a level of existence greater than anything we could have ever imagined on our own.

My aim in life

"And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will" (2 Timothy 2:24-26). I desire to be a servant of the Lord and by His grace to reach out to others who are trapped in darkness.

MY JOURNEY TO LIFE …

Asking God to take control

It was in October 2004 when I finally gave up trying to run my life my own selfish way, and admitted to God that I had made a mess of my life and asked God to take over the reigns. I promised to do only as He wanted me to do.

The Alpha course and a praying mother