Through Andrea's deep despair and dealings with the occultic world, she sunk to self-mutilation. Andrea speaks of her experiences but shows there is a way out of the darkness.
The anger and the resentment
When I was twelve years old, I felt powerless, confused and angry. Up until that age I had been angry and resentful of my parents. I was always planning to run away. I believed if I could get away from my parents and all the chaos that went on at home I probably stood a good chance of being happy.
Did not receive what I was hoping for
I turned to Satan in hope of getting some sort of power. Instead I received confusion, depression and despair and I reached a point where I had tried to kill myself. I started contacting demons. At nighttime I would have strange visitations that filled me with fear. When I did manage to sleep I would have terrible nightmares to the point that I was too scared to sleep. I started to doubt my own sanity.
Opening up doors to deceit, confusion … despair
I started to experience times of unreality. This would come and go over the years and in these periods suddenly nothing seemed real except the thoughts in my head. This would terrify me, as I felt trapped in the void of my own thoughts. I knew I had gone against God by turning to Satan. In fact this was my intention as I blamed God for everything that had gone wrong in my life. I blamed Him for failing to protect me from my father's abuse, from the person who molested me, and for my mother's illness.. What I did not realise was that by intentionally turning to Satan via witchcraft, I had opened myself up to his most powerful weapons … deceit, confusion and despair with Satan's ultimate goal of my own destruction. Part of me realised I had ventured into something I did not understand but the door in my mind that I had opened to demonic influences was never fully shut until I became a Christian.
Occult … mental illness … drug addiction
Over the years I played with Ouija boards, contacted 'spirit guides' (not realising they were demons), read tarot cards and participated in pagan rituals in devotion to a false deity (the goddess). At the same time I suffered from drug addiction, mental illness, confusion, delusions of grandeur (thinking I was some sort of super human, goddess), depression, suicidal tendencies, anxiety and low self-esteem. Not to mention how I felt about other people. I was judgmental, suspicious of others, two-faced and selfish - though I never saw these faults in myself, just in everyone else! As I grew older and became more involved in New Age beliefs I could not see any connections between my work as a psychic, my drug addiction or my mental illness. My thoughts and my identity were very murky. I was in total denial about my drug problem. I considered myself 'spiritually superior' to others. As for mental illness I was in total denial about that too! Since I became a Christian, God has shown me how all these things are connected. Maybe you are involved in occult activities like witchcraft; spirit guides and psychic phenomena. If this is the case then I've written this section especially for you … please read on.
What is the Occult?
'Occult' is a word that covers a range of practices that all have one thing in common … they look to a source outside of the God of the bible for supernatural activity.
Dictionary Online defines the Occult as "Of, relating to, or dealing with supernatural influences, agencies, or phenomena … beyond the realm of human comprehension; inscrutable … available only to the initiate, secret … hidden from view; concealed."
The occult deals with supernatural influences, agencies or phenomena, which includes such things as spirit guides, New Age activities of healers, shamanism, witchcraft, outright demonology and Satanism. The things that are related to the occult are beyond our understanding. The word inscrutable means 'difficult to understand'.
A web of deception
By its very nature the occult is hidden from view, concealed … available only to the initiate … secret. Satan uses this secret aspect of the occult to weave his deception. Human beings like to (need to) feel special. God makes us feel special by loving us in all our shortcomings and reminding us that we are unique. It is our very uniqueness that makes us precious and essential to His plan. No one else can fulfill our role in God's great plan. The bible (God's Word) tells us that "In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will" (Ephesians 1:11). Satan attempts to imitate this in the occult by making us feel special, as we are part of a secretive, hidden realm.
Christian Counterstrike Series by Andrea Reincarnation, neo-paganism, understanding spiritual warfare, freedom from the occult, New Age teachings, drugs and mental illness, ... read about this series
Open and honest versus cloaked in darkness
People who are involved in the occult are convinced they have tapped into something that makes them better than others. Whether they consider themselves superior because of their knowledge (addicted to studying occult material), insight into others or the future (addicted to divination) or power (addicted to ritual/energy work), Satan has hooked into their ego and wheeled them in by the nose. The occult convinces its participants that they are involved in something very special, something they have to be initiated into, something that is kept secret from others in one way or another. Compare this to Jesus Christ (the Light of the World) who is honest and forthright about who He is and what you can expect from Him and His Father. There are no secrets in Christianity- it is open and honest all the way through.
We are special in God's sight
When you accept Jesus you do become part of something very special … you become part of the body of Christ! "You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light" (1 Peter 2:9, NRSV). How is that for special! But guess what … being part of the Body of Christ doesn't make you better than anyone else. We are all sinners and fall short of God's glory (See Romans 3:23) and need His grace. What separates us from others is we have realized our shortcomings and sins and our need of a Saviour. We have turned our lives over to Jesus and our sins have been washed away.
What practices are classed as the occult?
Those who look to the occult are focusing on their desire for power or status to make up for their shortcomings rather than seeking God's grace and blessing over their lives.
What does the Bible say about the occult?
God makes it very clear that He does not want us involved in any occult activity.
"Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritualist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD, and because of these detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the LORD your God" (Deuteronomy 18:10-13).
According to this scripture the occult is listed as:
Sacrificing his son or daughter in the fire
Practicing divination (This means fortune telling, reading tarot cards, reading tea leaves etc) or sorcery. Taking drugs that alter our state of mind is a form of sorcery, as are some forms of New Age healing/energy work.
Interpreting omens (shamanism and some forms of dream interpretation)
Witchcraft or casting spells by 'black' and 'white' magic
Acting as a medium or spiritualist or consulting the dead. (This would include contacting spirit guides and Ouija boards that are really channeling spirits.)
God's clear instruction to us
The bible says that people who participate in these practices of the occult are 'detestable to the Lord' and that God was going to drive out these people before Israel because of them. (See Deuteronomy 18:12.) The bible says we must be 'blameless before the Lord your God' (Deuteronomy 10:13).
Seeking out the occult, whether it is for a psychic reading or becoming engrossed in the occult world, never happens by accident. These are intentional acts in which the person is seeking a supernatural experience outside the one true living God.
Arrogance and rebellion
Speaking to Saul who had been King of Israel Samuel the prophet said; ""For rebellion is like the sin of divination, 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). Trying to find out the future using occult methods is an act of rebellion, an intentional act of defiance against God. Idolatry is when we worship something other than the Lord our God and is related to arrogance. Arrogance comes about when someone thinks they are better than others.
The solution
People who get involved in the occult are worshiping a secret, supernatural world instead of Jesus and they become more and more arrogant and full of pride, as they get deeper into that shadowy world. This means God will reject them for God cannot stand those who are full of arrogance and pride. The solution to this arrogance is to humble ourselves before the Lord as all the glory is His, not ours. "For the proud will be humbled, but the humble will be honored" (Luke 14:11 NLT). In submitting to Jesus and confessing our sin of involvement in the occult and turning from it, God will wash our sins away.
God has not permitted you to enter ...
We must remain blameless before the Lord. Even though the occult may be happening all around us we are not to turn to it. "But as for you, the Lord has not permitted you to do so" (Deuteronomy 18:14).
In the end it leads to death
"There is a way that seems right to a man and appears straight before him, but at the end of it is the way of death." (Proverbs 16:23) We don't really understand all that is involved within the occult world. Those who are involved in occult activities will argue that they know exactly how the occult works. They will site rules, boundaries, and protection rituals. They will justify their behavior, belittle and mock anyone who says their behavior is sinful or demonic. They will often say that they don't believe what they are doing is satanic/sinful and therefore, because they don't believe it is satanic or sinful, it isn't. This is like saying "I don't believe the sky is blue, therefore, the sky is not blue!"
Do not turn away from God
The bible, which is God's wisdom, warns us not to turn away from the truth. "For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths" (2 Timothy 2:3-4). By turning away from the truth, these people are choosing the wrong path … a road that is sinful and will lead to their death unless they repent and turn to Jesus.
Do not give the devil a foothold
"Do not give the devil a foothold" (Ephesians 4:27).
If a person opens the door to the occult, chaos, confusion and destruction will be the result. Once the devil has a foot in the door, he will jam it open and then push it wide open. This will let in his legions of demons and before long you will find yourself in darkness and despair. The only way to close that door is to repent, asking the Lord to forgive you of the sin. Be specific; if you have practiced witchcraft then state it and promise never to go there again. Then get rid of all occult material and make sure you do not dabble with the occult in any form. God tells us that He is faithful and will forgive if we admit to sinning but if we are in denial about our sins, he is unable to reach us. "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives" (1 John 1:8-10).
By looking into supernatural sources outside of the Lord Jesus we are opening our minds and our faith to demonic influences. God wants us to look only to Him as our source of comfort, direction and purpose. God has given us a detailed account about who He is, what He desires for our lives and he wants us to make Him number one in our lives. You can find all this information in the bible.
Identifying the darkness
Satan, by his very nature, is a liar. (See John 10:10) Therefore, nothing he tells you can be trusted. Satan operates outside God's love, light and honesty. He tries to counterfeit all the good things God offers you, aiming at our weakness in order to exploit our vulnerabilities and entice us into the darkness. Without the light of God's truth, the devil's counterfeit and deception is murky and hard to identify. We must be willing to step out of the darkness into the light.
"This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God" (John 3:19-21).
