Demons & The Occult (2)

What is good to know, isn't it, that Jesus is our deliverer, our Savior, the one who delivers us not only from sin, but also from the bondage to Satan and his power, his tyranny over us, even when we were bound, when Satan had us bound Jesus, set us free. That's good. Songs tonight about the victory that we have in Christ, and we'll be talking about that some. Hopefully, we'll get that far tonight, talk about that some tonight, and also the next couple of weeks as we finish up our study that we've been in on demons, which is the end of our study on a broader section or subject of angels. Good angels, then we talk about Satan, and now recently we've been talking about evil angels or demons. And so last week we began talking about the occult, and I want to try to finish that tonight if we can, if we can't, that's okay, but I'd like to finish that up tonight and move on to kind of finish our study in the next couple of weeks, hopefully. But we defined the occult from the Latin word, which means hidden or secret, mysterious, concealed, and so the occult refers to those phenomena that transcend our senses and really are involved in the supernatural world. They are not our natural senses. They go beyond that to the super, what's called the supernatural world. And we described the occult. There are basically three major categories that are found in the Bible. One was divination, and that means to foresee or for tell the future or for tell fortunes, and we saw a number of different ways that's referenced in the Bible. The second form of the occult is magic, and that's not slight of hand, innocent magic. This is the accomplishment of results that are beyond human power by the appeal to supernatural power, particularly of a demonic kind. And then the third kind of the occult category is spiritism, and that is the use of a medium to make contact with the spirits of deceased persons. And we saw that the Bible seems to indicate that it is not the actual deceased person that you make contact with. It can really happen, but it's not the deceased person. You can contact somebody, but what it is is it's a demon or what the Bible calls a familiar spirit that works with a medium to impersonate, if you will, people who have died. So that's what the occult is all about. Now I want to kind of fly through these next few points, and I don't want to squelch any questions if you've got some. You know, just raise your hand if I don't see that, jump up, start jumping up and down, holler, and get up on the pew. I'll eventually calling you, but I'm just going to kind of run through these next few things. The display of the occult. It's a popularity. The occult has been popular among pagans for centuries, but there's been a recent spike of interest in the last 30, 40, 50 years in America through new age philosophy, the channeling of spirits and the tremendous interest in angels and the angelic world, not all which is bad, of course, but has a tendency to slip over into the occult. But I think Hollywood is a big reason for the fascination and interest in the supernatural with all of the whole genre of movies, of the paranormal, and the horror genre which really focuses on the supernatural of an evil kind. And I think Hollywood really has popularized the notion of the occult. That's why it's one of the reasons why it's so popular. It's promotion, well it is promoted certainly in the movies and also through new age philosophy and interest in the angelic world, but why is it so captivating? Why has it touched seemingly a nerve in our culture in this day? I think there are several reasons why it has promoted so much. And that is because of a sense of inadequacy on the part of many people, a sense of impersonalization in our society where people are seen as numbers that come up on a computer screen and are not seen as personal. You can't call and get anybody on a phone anymore. You get a machine, go through a phone tree, which is absolutely frustrating because you can never find the right number that you need to get to the right information that you need. And so everything is just impersonalized and depersonalized. And then there's the fact that science cannot give real answers to the meaning of life. Science may explain how things happen but doesn't give really answers to the deeper meanings of life. And so people are left wondering what is the meaning, what is purpose and meaning in life. And then when you couple all of that that sense of inadequacy and impersonalization and science not being able to really give answers to life. When you couple that with bankrupt religion, religion promises to give you the meaning of life. But when it is not biblical, when it is false, when it's bankrupt of all of its power, that leaves people empty. And when people put all of those things together, they are attracted to anything supernatural that promises power, that promises interpeace, that promises some kind of knowledge beyond what we can gather with our senses. And then we are attracted to people in the climate in which we live that I've just described. So I think that's one of the reasons why the display of the occult is on the rise and seems to be more popular. Any questions or comments about that before we move right on? Okay, the derivation of the occult, where did it come from? Well, it does have pagan origins. Archaeologists have found evidence of the occult and dabbling in the spirit world as far back as ancient Sumeria and Babylon. It was very popular in Egyptian culture in the Caldian culture, Babylon, Medo-Persia, those empires, certainly found its way into the Greek and Roman worlds. And so it came down really into modern society through those cultures into Europe and so forth. But also the great religions of the East, in India, China, Japan, focus on a lot of mystical, pantheistic ideas of spirits that control the elements of nature and really opens the door to demonic influence. And then in Africa there is a lot of animism, also in South America, animism which really is spirits that control even inanimate objects like trees and rocks and so forth. And all of that really has a demonic origin. So whether you're talking about Eastern religion, the animism of Africa or South America, or the new age of the Western world, which is based upon old Babylonian teaching, it all has its roots in the occult. And so it's, it, they're pagan origins all over the world. But that's not the real origin of the occult. Is it? The real origin of the occult is satanic. It is, there are satanic origins. And I think this is very important for us to see the ultimate source of all false religion and of all interests in the spirit world beyond what God has revealed in His Word. The interest of that really is Satan's continuing attempt to replace God. Remember his fall was brought about by pride when we looked at Satan himself. He looked at Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 and we saw that in those passages Satan desired to replace God to take over God's throne. And when he was unsuccessful in that, he was cast out of heaven, but he has had that desire and that ambition ever since the beginning. And so how did he appeal to mankind in the very beginning? How did he appeal to Adam and Eve? His very first point of temptation was to tempt them with a knowledge and power beyond what God had revealed. Has God really said you shouldn't touch up every tree in the garden? No, no. God's hiding something from you. You will not die if you eat that fruit, but you will become like God knowing good and evil. God's withholding some kind of secret knowledge, some kind of inside knowledge from you and that is exactly the appeal of the occult. And so Satan has been pulling that number on humanity ever since Adam and Eve. That's where it all started. By enticing man to believe that God had something or there was something out there beyond what God had said in his word that we should know. There's something in the spirit world. There's some inner knowledge, secret power. If you just go beyond this curtain, then you'll be able to find it. He's been doing it ever since Genesis 3. And we find that that will increase in the last days. Remember for a symbol before one in the last days, perilous times will come. Men will give into doctrines of demons and seducing spirits. And it will find its culmination in the antichrist. Remember last couple of weeks ago we saw Second Thessalonians 2 where he will be in dude with all kinds of power to do miracles. And to do all kinds of unimaginable things that will tap into Satan's power. So where did the occult come from? Well, it has its roots in pagan religious practices that goes far back as history goes. But we know it actually goes further all the way back to the Garden of Eden. And we know it goes back further than that actually with Satan's fall and his desire to replace the place God. So, it's a fantastic origin. Is really the derivation of the occult. Questions there? Comments about that. Bill? Yes. Yes. All the pagan religious ideas have come from that interest. That interest, that fascination with what's beyond this world that was placed into the heart of man by Satan, attracting us to go beyond what God had said to find something else that God hidden from us. That really finds its roots in satanic temptation. Tina? That is a great question with demons being able to perform miracles. How do we distinguish between what's real and what's satanic, what's of God, what God's power is doing and what Satan's power is doing? Well, there are a couple of tests in the Bible. In the Old Testament, in Deuteronomy 11 and 18, if you read those two chapters where God tells Israel to stay away from all kinds of witchcraft, sorcery, divination, all those things, he says, here's a test you can give. If they lead you away from God, then they are not of the Lord. That's obviously satanic influence. So, the question has to be asked by us. Whatever power is being promoted, does it lead us to the Lord or does it lead us away from him? Does it lead us to a person who is a cult-like figure or to some other religion that does not promote Jesus Christ as the Son of God? So, that's one question they ask. The second thing the Bible says that in first John 4 is we are to test the spirits. So, we're to give them a test and the test we're to give them is what do they teach about Jesus Christ? And that is a key thought. Satan hates Jesus Christ. And so, any spirit that does not teach that Jesus Christ is God's Son, God who came in the flesh, who died for us and rose again and is coming again, you know, the doctrine of Christ, that's a good test. Any time that someone supposes or promotes themselves of having healing power or any other kind of power, that's a good test to give. What do they believe about Jesus? And so, the test of does it take us to God or away from God? Secondly, what do they believe about Christ? And then the third test would be, is it biblical? Is what that person is teaching biblical? Because we have to weigh everything by the word of God, what God's word teaches. So, that is the third test. It does what they teach correspond to the Bible. Now, by saying that, I'm not suggesting that it's always going to be able to be easy to tell what is the evidence of God's power from what is Satan's power. But those three tests will weed out most of the issues, most of the false teaching, occult kind of practices. Anything else? All right. Let's talk about just briefly the domination by the occult, the extent of the domination. There seem to be a few stages of domination by the occult. Sometimes there is just a simple interest. And that is kind of the opening of the door, a step into a world where you get fascinated and you want more and more and your experience may be a little bit of reality. You think reality, some power, some evidence of something really happening and it pulls you in more to the point that now there is legitimate demonic influence on you. And if that continues and it's not stopped, obviously the progression then is to demon control. And what seems to be, and we'll talk about some of the evidences of it in the moment or some of the ways it happens, what seems to be very innocent, dabbling in the occult is really Satan's bait kind of enticing you come over this way. And you take that bait and then you pulls you a little further and then a little further and before long you are absolutely under the control of demonic power. And the effect of that domination can be lots of things. Obviously lack of interest in the word of God and in spiritual growth, a change in your character, a change in your mental and emotional state, and even supernatural powers can develop when you get deep into this. It's medium abilities, the ability to foretell the future or at least seem to be able to the ability to seem to be contacting the dead and so forth to have some kind of supernatural power. Again, as we said earlier with demons, not every illness is caused by demons. And so not every mental disturbance, not every physical illness is caused by demons. But the potential is there that they can inflict those things. And so that can, if one is dominated by a demon under the control of a demon, then certainly those kind of manifestations may well be there. Remember, if you have questions about what that looks like, remember the story in Mark 5, just read through that story again, all the evidences, we've looked at that story several times in this study of the man in the tombs of God, the supernatural strength that he had, the self-inflicting torture on himself, his recognition of who Christ was, all of that kind of thing. The causes of domination, what causes a person to come under the domination by demons or the domination of demons working through the occult? There are three things I just want to mention. One, I'm going to call inheritance. And I want to be very careful with that bondage to the occult is not transferred from generation to generation. I'm not suggesting that. You don't inherit it like you inherit a pocket watch from your father. It's not that. What I am saying is if someone's parents are involved deeply in the occult, then there is much more possibility of the presence and power of demons in their children's lives. The influence of the parents may actually lead the children to follow in their steps with the same kind of practices, the same kinds of interests and involvements and so forth, or even be drawn more to that because of the presence and power of demons in the household. That's what I mean by inheritance. I don't mean that you automatically inherit it through somebody's will. The second cause of the bondage to the occult is experimentation. And I want to focus on this one for a little bit because it's very dangerous. Experimentation. I've already hinted at it that Satan, first of all, tempts you through seemingly innocent experimentation. And then that leads to deeper and deeper types of involvements. Dabbling with the occult through games that highlight occultic type behaviors and and beings, dabbling in those kinds of games, dabbling in in the world of sayances or mediums or even transcendental meditation. Now there's a big difference between TM and the kind of meditation the Bible talks about transcendental meditation puts your mind in a neutral state where you're open to any suggestion that comes in. Remember what Jesus said about a house being swept clean, the demons leave, or they're not bothering it. They see that it's empty and so they move back in. Our minds, the Bible, the Bible when it talks about meditation and renewing of the mind is never to put your mind in a vacuum. It's always to focus your mind on biblical truth. The renewing of the mind comes through the word of God. The focusing of our mind on biblical truth is is biblical meditation. It's not throwing your mind in neutral. So you have to be careful even about those kinds of things. And I want to be careful with this one, but even the martial arts. And we have some guys in our church that are involved in martial arts, but they are very careful to distinguish what they do from the eastern religion that is deeply steeped in Hinduism and pantheism, which basically is taking control of the inner energy that is in the world. The inner energy that is flowing through us and that energy, that inner life energy really is taught to be the same kind of energy in all other life forms and even inanimate forms. So it really is Hinduism. It's Buddhism. It's pantheism that God is in all things. And so we have to learn to harness and channel that energy. You have to be very careful about that. So experimentation in things that can seem innocent, but which put you into the world of eastern religions and dabbling in the spirit world, that can get you started and get you started getting deeper. And then the third cause can be transference. And by that, I mean just close contact with a person with occultic powers, with demonic powers can open you up to their influence, to the desire to have that same kind of power. Again, it's not an automatic transfer, but the attraction is there through another person. And that can sometimes lead to then adopting the same practices and interest and so forth, which opens the world to demonic powers. So you see, the Bible is quite clear when it teaches that you just don't even get close to this kind of stuff. That you don't dabble in it at all. You stay away from it. That's very important. And we're going to see in just a moment how we're delivered from the occult. And it's some, I'll follow up on that. What I just said there. Let me stop for just a moment. Questions, comments before we talk about how we delivered from all this, John? Warren Jeffs. Is he the guy that had a bunch of wives kind of let a cult? Yeah. If I'm thinking of the same guy, it was kind of a break off of Mormonism. Yeah. I really don't know a whole lot about his story. So I don't really know the extent of which he was involved in occultic practices. I'm not sure. Can anybody help us there? Certainly. Yeah. And really any kind of cultic figurehead who gains that kind of control where people's minds and so forth. You have to wonder if there's not some demonic oppression and involvement in that. It's hard to know how much that's going. But I would suspect there's some of that. Yeah. But yeah, Jim Jones and the whole Jones town situation was a good example of that kind of mind control. Any kind of cultic obsession with controlling people and brainwashing them, anything like that that is opposite the word of God. You have to believe there's satanic demonic influence there. Yes, Carol? Okay. I want to go back to a couple things that we talked about a little earlier and not tonight, but a few weeks ago. And that was a deep subject. Yes. A Christian can be influenced by demons. If you were here the night that we talked about that, we talked about the fact that just because we have the Holy Spirit does not mean that we are not susceptible to the devil. We are not susceptible to demonic influence because we have the flesh, the simple nature. And just because we have the Holy Spirit doesn't mean we're not troubled by the flesh anymore. We still are. The issue with gaining victory over the flesh, as we saw, is the control of the spirit, not just the presence of the spirit. You see, a lot of people say Christians cannot be whatever word you want to use. Influenced, dominated, possessed, and we talk about the whole word possessed. That's probably the wrong word. The right word is control. And there's a spectrum of influence to the point that your mind and so forth is under the control. A lot of people say that can't be true of a believer because we're in dwelt by the Holy Spirit. Well, that's just not a right way to look at it. We're also in dwelt by the Holy Spirit, but we still have the simple nature. And the issue is not, well, I have the Holy Spirit now so that the simple nature is gone. Right? No, no. It's still there. But if you are under the control of the spirit, Galatians 5 says, then you don't, the simple nature is defeated. And I would say the same thing. If you're under the control of the spirit, then Satan's influence on you just hits a brick wall. He can't, he can't have influence and can't have control. But if you, if you're not under the control of the spirit, Satan can do a real number on you. He did on Peter, right? We saw it in Matthew 16 where he was suggesting something that Jesus could not be crucified and Jesus looked right at him and said, get behind me, Satan, because you're not thinking the thoughts of God. Satan had, had filled his mind with those thoughts. So it's not, it's not just the simple as well. I'm saved and I'm, had the Holy Spirit. And so I don't have to worry about demons. Yeah, you do. It's not quite that simple. The issue is not just the fact that I'm saved. The issue is the fact I need to be walking in the spirit in the power of the spirit. Now, let me add to that. The one thing we did see was that, that's different with an unsafe person. No demon can rob you of your salvation or your position in Christ. Romans 8, verses 38 and 39, where Paul lists all of those things that cannot separate you from the love of God in the very first one he mentions as demons. Well, it's death and then life and then he mentions demons a little bit later on cannot separate you from the love of Christ. So no demon can remove you from your position in Christ. But you can have trouble with him if you're not under the control of the Holy Spirit. Okay, that's a, that really deserves about a 40-minute answer. It's a great question, but it deserves more than I can give it right now. Yeah, I mean, there's a sense in which yeah, it's harder for a believer because for Peter 5, 8 and 9 he walks about his roaring lion seeking whom he may devour and he's attacking believers according to that passage. So he's after us. But that shouldn't, that shouldn't cause us to be spooked or, or feel like, oh, you know, he's, he's right. He's on, you know, we do have the protection of the Spirit of God. And all we need to do is yield to him and walk in the spirit and he defeats the enemy, whether it's the flesh or Satan. So it's not like it's inevitable that I'm going to overcome by Satan. It's not the potentials there, but it's not inevitable if you're walking in the spirit. Let's keep that balance. Okay, good, good, anything else. That's a good segue into the deliverance from the occult. There is a remedy to the oppression and the bondage of the occult. And that remedy is in the truth and the light of Christ and the gospel. And I want to say that very clearly. So how does one get delivered from the occult if to whatever degree you are, you find yourself attracted to it, influence by it, even bound by it. How do you get out of that? Well, let me talk first of all with the responsibility of the church, the responsibility of the church, and then we'll talk about the responsibility of the individual or the person, but the responsibility of the church is first of all to expose the demonic. That's what we've been doing in this study, exposing the demonic. And that starts with recognizing the reality and the activity of Satan and demons, not dismissing that, not saying, well, that's not real, that's, you know, that's superstition from a bygone age back in the dark ages. Exposing the demonic begins by recognizing what the Bible teaches about the reality of Satan and his demons and what they do, what their work is. And then we are to point out as a church, we're to point out error and expose the works of darkness. I want to read for you a passage in Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians 5 verses 8 through 14. Listen to these verses. Paul tells the Ephesians, remember Ephesus is the town where they came and brought their books of magic spells and potions and all that and burned them to get rid of the occultic type stuff. Well, that's the church. That's the town where he writing this church. And he says, he says, for you were once darkness. But now you are light in the Lord, live as children of light for the fruit of the light, consist in all goodness, righteousness and truth. And find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. Interesting the word secret would be used. Remember the occult literally means that which is hidden secret mysterious beyond the veil of our natural senses. Paul says, don't even mention those things in the sense of approval and being attracted to them. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible for it is the light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said wake up, O sleeper rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you. So we have a responsibility to point out the error of the occult and expose those works of darkness. That's what Paul's talking about there. And that's exactly what he did in Ephesus. And then we have a responsibility to positively see negatively we expose the works of darkness, but positively we have a responsibility to preach Christ as the deliverer from darkness and bondage. Whatever that bondage may look like Christ is the one who delivers us. Paul said that was his mission when he went into the Gentile territory went into where the darkness, where the gospel had not even penetrated. And so it's utter darkness spiritually. Look at how Paul described his ministry in Acts 26 in verse 18. This one's on the screen. Here's what he said. He was telling the governor. This is my ministry to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. That's what Jesus had told him to preach faith in Christ. So Paul describes his ministry that Jesus gave him as a ministry of opening people's eyes, turning them from darkness to light through the power of God and turning them from the power of Satan to the power of God. So it is preaching Christ as the deliverer from bondage that releases people from the power of Satan. So the church has the responsibility to do that. And it is the Word of God and Christ himself that is our hope. Nothing else. It is Christ and the Word of God that is our hope. That was enough for Paul. It's enough for me. And then we are not only to expose the demonic, we are to exercise a ministry of light. So we expose the demonic through the preaching of the gospel and the preaching of Christ, but we also exercise a ministry of light. And that ministry of light is first of all to test the spirits with discernment. Remember first John 4-1. Dear friends, 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. So we are to test the spirits, testing with those kinds of things mentioned earlier. Do they draw us to God or away from God? What do they believe about Christ and how do they measure up to the Bible? Those kind of tests are the tests we give to exercise a ministry of light. And then we need to be teaching believers how to live in the power of the spirit. If you understand the power of the spirit of God and what that means and how that revolutionizes your life, then you will not be attracted to other supernatural power. That won't be attractive to you. If you are caught up in the glory of God and the excellency of Christ and you understand the power of the spirit of God to transform your life, then you won't be attracted by the power of the spirit of God. You won't be attracted by the fake stuff and remember all of Satan's stuff is imitation. It's real power, but it's imitating God's power. So if you are really drawn to the real thing, you won't be attracted to the fake stuff. So the exercising of ministry of light is to help people see what it means to revel in the word of God and the glory of God and the excellency of Christ and the power of the spirit. Those kinds of things once they grab your soul, everything else looks cheap and dirty and imitation and fake and it is. And then we're to exercise a ministry of light by ministering to those who are in bondage. We don't shun them, we don't turn them away. We have a message of light and freedom to give them. Light to replace the darkness, freedom to replace the bondage. And again, that comes through the word of God and through Christ and the power of the spirit. So deliverance from the cult, the church has a responsibility, but let me hasten to say the person also has a responsibility to experience deliverance from demonic oppression. And this is true for all of us in here tonight. The church can do so much. The church can open the book and preach Christ. But if you do not take steps in your own personal life, then the preaching of the word and the excellency of Christ is just going to be, well, it's the seed falling on hard ground or falling on the ground that's choked out by thorns. See, there has to be an open and receptive heart. So what does that look like? The responsibility the person first of all is receiving Christ. That has to be the first step. That gives you the position and the power for deliverance only in Christ. Do you have the position and the power for deliverance from bondage? First John 5 teaches that very clearly. Look at these verses for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. So you got to be born of God, born of the spirit, new birth, faith, our faith in Christ. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. So when you come to Christ as the Son of God who came to die for your sins, then you give yourself the position and the power to have victory, to have deliverance. And then he says, that in verse 18, we know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin. In other words, not continue to live in the bondage to sin. The one who was born of God keeps them safe. Notice this one capitalized as Jesus. And the evil one cannot harm them. The evil one cannot harm you in the sense of undoing your new birth, undoing your salvation, doing you eternal harm by dragging you off to hell. He can't do that to a believer. If you are in the Lord, he cannot harm you in that way. So receiving Christ is the first thing. Second thing is confessing sins. Any occult involvement must be confessed as a sin against God. Okay, that's very important. Confess occult involvement to whatever degree it is that we talked about for experimentation, whatever it is, around it through family, whatever. Confess it as sin. And then thirdly, renounce the devil and his works. A clear break is necessary, especially if there's some packed or agreement with Satan. Satan may well claim his right to continue to influence unless there is a specific clear separation, a renouncing of the devil and his works. That's what happened in Acts 16. Remember when Jesus or when Paul encountered the sorceress, the lady who was telling fortunes, and then she's telling people to follow this man because they're pointing you to Christ and Paul did not want the approval of a demon possessed fortune teller. He did not want to be seen as being in links with that power. This is not the same power. And so Paul turned around and rebuked the demon in the name of Christ and cast the demon out of her. There had to be that complete separation renouncing of the devil and his works. Fourth thing, and this, I'm going to spend just a couple minutes on this, and there's a reason I'm kind of rushing to it. Remove occult objects and connections. If a person is going to have victory over occult bondage, this is critical. You have to get rid of everything that tied you to that world. You see objects of idolatrous worship or occult activity or magic spells, I'm talking about actual supernatural demonic type of magic. Those objects themselves are the invitations for demonic spirits to concentrate their powers on the people who own those objects. It's not that the power is in the object. It's the object is a doorway to the spirit, to the evil spirit. You say, well, that sounds kind of weird. Well, look at these verses and how clear this is in the Bible. Second Chronicles 14. Asa, King Asa, did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord is God. He removed the foreign altars and the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the ashera poles. I don't have time to explain all those objects that were used in idolatrous worship, but they were doorways into the spirit world of the occult. He commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and there will be his laws and commands. So along with that, what did he do? He removed the high places and incense altars in every town in Judah and the kingdom was at peace under him. So not only do you say, you need to get right with the Lord in your heart, he also said, get rid of the stuff that has been associated with your involvement in the occult. Same thing was true in chapter 23 verses 16 and 17 of second Chron. Jehoiata, who was high priest, then made a covenant that he, the people in the king, would be the Lord's people. Now what does that covenant look like? Just some nice little thing in your heart, like I'm going to change my ways from now on. No. All the people went to the temple of veil and tore it down. They smashed the altars and idols and killed, matten the priest of veil in front of the altars. What they did is they got rid of all the occult objects and even the high priest of that occultic religion. So they got rid of the stuff in Acts chapter 19. I mentioned earlier, Ephesus, where Paul was in Ephesus. And the people there after they got saved did this in chapter 19 of Acts. When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear. Oh, when what became known? This is right after the story of the demon possessed man that the Jewish exorcists tried to cast the demon out of him. Remember the demon said, we know Jesus and we know Paul. Who are you? And the demon turned around and the demon possessed man turned around and beat up seven of the guys who were trying to cast him out. Well, when this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. What they realized was there is true demonic power in our midst. So what did they do? Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed their evil deeds. There's the confession, the line of demarcation between where we are now in our past, a number who had practiced sorcery, sorcery, sorry about that little, little, armor foot going on there, sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. They brought their scrolls, the scrolls that contained their sorceries, their spells, their incantations, their potions, all of that stuff. They brought them and burned them. They calculated the value of the scrolls, told him about 50,000 trocmas. That's a bunch of money. One trocma was a day's wage, 50,000 trocmas. That's 50,000 days of wages. That's a bunch of money. This was some expensive stuff. So they removed all the occult objects. And you also have to remove yourself from the people that have gotten you involved in the occult. That's what Paul is talking about in second Corinthians chapter 6, a passage that's often misunderstood about separation. He says, do not be yoked together with unbelievers for what do righteousness and wickedness have in common or what fellowship can lie ahead with darkness. What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? In the context he's talking about the pagan idolatrous religious systems in Corinth. Don't mess with that stuff anymore. You came out of that, break fellowship with that completely. There's no harmony, no fellowship there. What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? He's not talking there about withdrawing from an unsafe neighbor. He's talking about getting away from the pagan religious systems. What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said, I will live with them, dwell among them. I will be there. God, they will be my people. Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing. Touch no unclean thing is a very literal reference to the pagan idolatrous symbols of their past religious life. Get rid of that stuff. Don't even touch it. Don't have it in your house. Get rid of it. Separate from all of those pagan idolatrous influences. I have a book in my library that is written by King James Only Guy. He says the NIV is the unclean thing. And you're not to touch, not even to touch the unclean thing. That is a travesty of Bible interpretation. Where do you get that out of this passage? It's not there. Paul is talking about idolatrous practices and the idols and fetishes and objects of worship they use in their pagan religion. Don't even touch that unclean stuff. Get rid of it. And so that's very important. If you're going to break the bondage of the occult, you've got to get rid of the stuff that tied you to it. And then just quickly, resting in Christ and resisting the devil, James 4.7 says it well. Submit yourselves then to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. There's the resting in Christ, submitting to the Lord and resisting the devil. And then submitting to Christ and cultivating the spiritual life is the last one that goes along with the one we just talked about. Submit to Christ and cultivating the spiritual life. Okay. Our time is up. But time may be for a five second question. Yes, Bill? I would say typically yes. There has to be some willingness, some allowance, some opening of a door of some kind. Certainly with the occult, you know, that experimentation, that interest, that fascination with what's behind the curtain, that kind of thing, that enticement of Satan to involve yourself in that unknown knowledge or power that's just out of control. That's just out of your reach. Same thing you did in Genesis 3. So yes, there has to be some kind of opening of a door. But now with what happened with Job, that was just an attack of Satan on his, his possessions, his physical health, things like that. That's different from a cultic interest and demonic spirits. So that was something that, you know, Satan and his demons can, can do. They can inflict physical damage. But with a cultic activity, I would say there has to be some allowance, some, I'm going to use the word invitation. Maybe through activity, interest, whatever, but there's some invitation of those that spirit will become our way. Okay. The kids are going to be roaming all over the property, looking for parents and grandparents. So we really, we probably should go. Let's pray. Father, thank you for our time together tonight. Thank you for your word, which is so clear about how to break bondage of a cult and demonic practices. Help us just to take you seriously. Believe your word and practice it and live it and live under the control of the Holy Spirit. Lord, help us to recognize that is our safeguard against the evil influences of Satan and his demons. So keep us close to you, Lord. Keep us mindful of walking with you and walking in your spirit every day. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.