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Warnings
The study of the occult can become oppressive and
should not be taken lightly. Any contact
with, even studying, the occult can progressively
draw a person into a fascination with the occult and
place him in a vulnerable position.
God warns us of Satan's overt and covert attacks:
"Satan disguises himself as an angel of
light." (2 Corinthians 11:14)
"Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your
adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring
lion, seeking someone to devour."
(1 Peter 5:8)
Because of this very real danger, we need to teach
our children to keep their distance from anything
remotely connected with Satan and his power.
Instead we are told to
"Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Draw near to God and He will draw near to
you." (James 4:7, 8)
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What Is the Occult?
The occult is real, not imagined or made up.
We are in a spiritual battle
"against the rulers, against the powers, against the
world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual
forces of wickedness in the heavenly places."
(Ephesians 6:12)
The occult refers to secret knowledge and practices
involving the supernatural. Occultism has been
rapidly growing in its influence and
acceptability. Read many informative articles
on the
Christian
Answers and
Spotlight
Ministries websites.
Wicca (another word for Witchcraft) and Paganism are
now recognized "religions" listed and described in
manuals for chaplains in the U.S. military and
correctional services.
The list of 78 occultic practices on Christian
Answers'
website
will open your eyes to the many forms of the
occult. Some examples are astrology, magic,
spells, enchantments, charms, sorcery, wizardry,
witchcraft, divination, fortune-telling, mediums,
spiritism, necromancy, familiar spirits, wizardry,
seances, channeling, clairvoyance, and spirit-guides.
The occult is also a part of yoga and transcendental
meditation (a form of yoga). In an
online
article about yoga, Dave Hunt says, "the
greatest yoga teachers all declare that the
repetition of a mantra is a call to that god (i.e.,
the demon it represents) to come and possess the
meditator."
Any time a person gives up control of himself,
except for a deliberate yielding to the Lord, he
opens himself to be taken over by the control of
Satan. This can include some martial arts,
some "Christian" (non-biblical) forms of meditation,
hypnotism, and Theosophy.
Man seeks and hungers for a power higher than
himself. When he refuses to accept the true
God, he is open to the alternative power of Satan.
All real super-human power is either from God or
Satan. There is no neutral power, nor is there
any good power that comes from Satan (e.g., there
are no good witches). This should be
remembered when encountering attempts to call good
"evil" and evil "good," to blur the lines between good
and evil (the so-called gray areas), or to condone
choosing a "lesser" evil as a way of avoiding
something "worse."
____________________________________________
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____________________________________________
What Does God Say?
God has zero tolerance for the occult and treats it
very seriously.
"There shall not be found among you anyone who . . .
practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens,
or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a
medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the
dead. For whoever does these things is
detestable to the Lord." (Deuteronomy 18: 10-12)
"You shall not . . . practice divination or
soothsaying. Do not turn to mediums or
spiritists." (Leviticus 19:26, 31)
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Does It Affect My Family?
Both children and adults are being constantly
exposed to the pervading presence of the occult in
books, movies, and games.
Even the seemingly supernatural power in some
religious experiences need to be identified.
"But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times
some will fall away from the faith, paying attention
to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons."
(1 Timothy 4:1)
"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the
spirits to see whether they are from God, because
many false prophets have gone out into the
world." (1 John 4:1)
When studying pagan cultures, be aware that many
ethnic objects and practices are actually satanic.
We must take the occult's presence in our homes and
children's lives seriously. It is not just
innocent fun. We never know where a very
little influence or involvement can lead.
____________________________________________
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What Should We Do?
1. Teach Your Children What God Says about
the Occult (see above)
Do a Bible study, reading and discussing the
Scripture passages in this newsletter and others
that are chain-linked in your Bible (or use a
concordance).
2. Identify the Occult in Your Home
As an exercise, identify and list any occultic
influences in your home. They may come mainly
through books, gaming, movies, and music.
•
Fantasy in Books and Movies. Writers such as
C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, while accepted by
many Christians (read
online
article), can provide an initiation into the
genre of fantasy. As the line between
acceptable and unacceptable fantasy keeps being
pushed further and further, this can lead to many
works of dubious value and potential danger, still
being rationalized by "good conquering evil."
On their
website,
Spotlight Ministries points out "A big area where
the occult realm is making headway these days is the
whole realm of fiction and fantasy. Young
people, especially, are being drawn to witchcraft
and other areas of the occult initially by becoming
interested in fictional aspects of it. From
this, the jump into the real world of the occult is
an easy, more familiar one to make."
•
Gaming. Many video games involve the occult,
even though the "good" occult is fighting to conquer
the "bad." A good rule for games is that a
child should not pretend to do something that would
be wrong to do in real life.
3. Guide and Supervise
You may determine that some things are not really
occultic, but need to be explained and controlled.
•
Fairy Tales. Provide parental guidance to your
children when they encounter impossible or
supernatural things in fairy tales.
•
"Magic". Explain the difference between
"magic" tricks (illusions) and the supernatural
power of either God or Satan.
•
Limit Involvement. It is important to limit
the amount of time that a child is immersed in such
questionable reading, watching, or playing.
He should not read only fantasy or spend hours
playing a fantasy game.
4. Remove Objectionable Material and
Activities
You may need to do a purge of over-the-line or
too-close-to-the line items from your home.
•
Discuss. Talk about these items with your
children, explain why you believe it would be better
for them and please the Lord if they were removed
from your home.
•
Pray. Pray together to ask for the Lord's
wisdom and power to do His will. If your
children are unwilling to give up a questionable
activity, that might be a sign that it needs more
attention.
•
Completely Remove. The world derides "book
burning," but the Lord records in His Word for our
edification that after an evil spirit was sent out
of a man in Ephesus,
"Fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord
Jesus was being magnified. Many also of those
who had believed kept coming, confessing and
disclosing their practices. And many of those
who practiced magic brought their books together and
began burning them in the sight of everyone; and
they counted up the price of them and found it fifty
thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the
Lord was growing mightily and prevailing."
(Acts 19:17-20)
•
Of course, overtly satanic games such as the ouija
board and tarot cards must be strictly forbidden.
5. Fill Your Home with Godly
Influences
When we remove undesirable activities from our
family's lives, we must fill the vacuum with Godly
influences (see Christ's parable of the unclean
spirit who was banished, then replaced with seven
more wicked spirits in Matthew 12:43-45).
Fill your home and children's lives with:
•
God's Word — reading, discussing, studying,
memorizing
•
Good Christian music, such as the old hymns of the
faith. Check out music sold by
Sound
Forth or listen to Christian music
online.
•
Wholesome reading materials and images.
Everything in our lives should meet God's standards:
"Whatever is true, whatever is honorable,
whatever is right, whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute,
if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of
praise,
dwell on these things." (Philippians 4:8)
6. Arm Your Children with God's Word
Teach your children to resist Satan, his
temptations, and his power as Christ did —
with Scriptures that they have memorized.
"Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His
might. Put on the full armor of God, so that
you will be able to stand firm against the schemes
of the devil . . . having girded your loins with
truth, and having put on the breastplate of
righteousness, and having shod your feet with the
preparation of the Gospel of peace; in addition to
all, taking up the shield of faith with which you
will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of
the evil one. And take the helmet of
Salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the
word of God with all prayer and . . . be on the
alert with all perseverance." (Ephesians 6:10-18)
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•
Individualized Keyboarding teaches reading and
spelling skills as your child masters the keyboard.
•
Let's Write Right teaches reading/spelling as the
alphabet is learned.
•
Sequential Spelling builds self-esteem.
To try it before you buy it or for information on
dyslexia, visit our website. Free samples and
downloads. www.spelling.org/teachinghome.htm
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Helpful Resources
Online Information
Read many articles about the occult at
Christian
Answers and
Spotlight
Ministries.
Halloween - Trick or Treat? DVD
Informative DVD traces the pagan origins, history
and rituals of Halloween, one of the highest holy
days of the Pagan/Occult calendar of Druids,
Witches, and Satanists. The rituals seen in
this documentary are real (too graphic for young
children).
Order
online.
Good Book Alternatives
Order good character-building books for your family
to read alone or aloud together from the following
publishers:
•
Keepers
of the Faith
•
Faith
and Family
Books
•
Jim
Hodges Audio Books (Henty Books)
•
Preston
Speed (Henty Books in print)
Reviews from a Christian Worldview
You might not agree 100% with these reviews, but
they are a place to start and to alert you to
undesirable elements.
•
Plugged-in
Online. Reviews of movies, video/DVD, music, and
television.
•
Christian
Spotlight on Entertainment. Reviews of movies,
Christian films, television, and games.
____________________________________________
Conclusion
We need to recognize, but not fear, the power of
Satan and his demons, which is nothing compared to
God's power.
A Mighty Fortress Is Our God
"And though this world, with devils filled,
should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed
His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him."
"At the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those
who are in heaven and on earth and under the
earth." (Philippians 2:10)
"And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent
of old who is called the devil and Satan, who
deceives the whole world . . . Then I heard a loud
voice in heaven, saying, 'Now the salvation, and the
power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority
of His Christ have come . . . And they
overcame him
because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the
word of their testimony.'" (Revelation 12:9-11)
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