Dabbling in the occult
Today on Choosing Peace, you’ll read about a car accident, a pair of earrings, books and much more. I thought we’d start digging into The Armor of God in part 2, but no. All in due time.
Speaking of time, we’ll be going back in time today—to the early 2000s, the late 80s and then back to the 60s. Golly.
Playing with fire
Twenty-plus years ago, I worked for an advertising company. One of my coworkers was a young writer; I’ll call her Monica. Back when she was in college and was driving drunk, Monica was in a very serious car accident. Several surgeries later, she walked with a cane; and deep scars were visible on her arm and face. Other scars weren’t visible, but we could hear them when Monica was cussing loudly at someone on the phone.
There was darkness in her story. You could see it as Monica walked and you could see it in her eyes.
The exception to the rule
We’ve all heard the expression, “If you play with fire, you’re going to get burned.” I understand that sentiment, but let me tell you somepin. (See this post for more about somepin.)
God’s protection reaches through fire.
Protected in the fire
As I reflect back on my life, I can’t begin to comprehend the extent of God’s protection—because I was less than careful. I was reckless. I was foolish. I was gullible. Until I wasn’t.
Before I became a Christian, I worked as a caseworker for Child Protective Services for 10 years. In this post, I called that job Boot Camp, and I explained why I needed it so desperately. Back in the 80s, I’d visit clients in the housing projects at 5:00 in the afternoon—after the drinking in the parking lot was well under way. Not smart. When one of my clients was high on crack, she murdered a client of one of my colleagues. They were fighting over a pair of earrings. One day, I took a girl out of town to the state penitentiary to visit her mom, who was also in prison for murder. Later, the girl tried to stab me with a pencil she found in the back seat of my car. Yep. Those were the days.
And God protected me more than I can fathom.
The 60s to the 80s
Here’s some back-story from my life. I was born in September 1963, three days before the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, when four girls—age 11 to 14—were murdered. Two months later, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. The year I turned 10, Roe v. Wade exploded on the scene.
The sleepover standard
Growing up, dabbling in the occult was a Sleepover Standard. It was called the Ouija Board. And every house—Christian or not—had one. Little girls at sleepovers across America would sit in a circle with our hands on the Ouija Board and we’d ask questions or conjure up spirits of the dead. We thought it was a game.
It wasn’t.
Now Walmart sells a wide variety of Ouija Boards. Way-to-go, Walmart. That’s mighty big of you.
The darkness
When we invite the devil and his friends into the house through the Ouija Board or other dark avenues, the forces of darkness will fight to keep the ground they’ve gained. And they’ll do whatever’s necessary to expand their territory, don’t you know.
They masquerade. They lie. They entice.
As a teenager, my mom only said no to one movie I wanted to watch on television: Helter Skelter, about the Charles Manson murders. I was shocked that she said no. She never said no.
Books, music, movies and the occult
I read dark, creepy books, like Sybil, Go Ask Alice and Mommy Dearest. We all listened non-stop to pop and rock music. The Cars. Van Halen. Journey. My senior year, I started going to rock concerts. Soon after that, it was the slasher movies. Those were terrifying. As young adults, my friends and I went to psychic fairs and had tarot cards read. I even had a private, spirit guides reading one time. It was entertainment.
Or so we thought.
And now, there’s a whole Paranormal channel on Discovery Plus. Beware.
The other side
What does God have to say on this subject? Plenty. Here’s an example.
When you have come into the land which the LORD your God gives you, you shall not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one who practices divination, or tells fortunes, or interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or who casts spells, or consults a medium or a familiar spirit, or inquires of the dead. For whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD. And because of these abominations the LORD your God is driving them out from before you.
Deuteronomy 18:9-12, New Heart English Bible
Playtime and dabbling
My point is this. The occult was playtime when I was in elementary school. Seriously. It was. So what came after that was just par for the course. The door was wide-open for decades, and the darkness slithered on in—not just into my life. Into America. Dark books. Horror movies. Serial killers. More and more dabbling in the occult—marketed as entertainment—with crosses and pictures of Jesus and Mary sprinkled around to make people feel better. We thought it was a game. But it was deadly serious.
The mix
I went to church three times a week and sang about God; then the rest of the week, I sang with Aerosmith, The Eagles, Led Zeppelin, Queen and The Rolling Stones on the radio. Our church’s youth group was an interesting mix of true believers and wild teenagers. I sat on the fence, with one foot in each group.
Or so I thought.
Trapped in the snare
Our preacher’s oldest son became a lifelong drug addict. He was cute in high school. His recent mug shots aren’t so cute.
Some people never escape from the darkness.
Impact
We didn’t understand how the images, the words, the lyrics corroded our minds and twisted our living. We were immersed in 70s and 80s American culture. And the culture told us what to think. The constant message was sex, alcohol and/or drugs, and rock & roll. And it was sick. A sick time. A sick place. Public school. Parties. Trashy movies. Trashy magazines. The attack of the culture. The almost-constant barrage.
And there was darkness.
For more about my life from age 18 to 33, see The Prayer, part 6.
The turning point
The people sitting in darkness have seen a great light. Those living in the land and shadow of death, on them a light has shined. For to us a child is born. To us a son is given; and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:2 and 6, New Heart English Bible
When I was 33, God rescued me out of the darkness
and adopted me into the family of God.
The next year, I met and married Brandon. The week after I turned 39, our son Logan was born. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Lord Jesus.
Drink in this powerful, turning-point song by Ryan Ellis: “Son of David.” I can really relate to the words. Maybe you can too.
The school and the novel
Our son Logan attended a wonderful classical Christian school, so he read great literature—digging deeply into the characters and the meaning, participating in Socratic Seminars, writing essays and more. In addition to learning about a biblical worldview, he was taught how to think, analyze and reason.
Classical education students seek and find these three things.
Truth. Goodness. Beauty.
(As tempting as it would be to compare and contrast truth, goodness and beauty with sex, drugs and rock & roll, that’s not the point of this post, so let’s all do a Happy Dance and get back to Logan’s classical Christian school.)
The students read Frankenstein, and Logan recommended that I read it too. I had mixed feelings, but I read it anyway. What a remarkable masterpiece. It wasn’t remotely like the Boris Karloff Frankenstein movie we watched on Saturday afternoons growing up. The novel was absolutely brilliant.
Early warning and the Hollywood lie
The point of the book wasn’t to glamorize what Dr. Frankenstein did. The novel communicated these things very clearly: (1) Dr. Frankenstein’s involvement in the occult, (2) the evil of what he was doing, and (3) the horrific consequences.
Hollywood glamorized the story of Frankenstein and omitted the novel’s key teaching point: “Don’t do it!”
(Hollywood did the same thing with movies based on The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson.)
The author’s warning
In 1831, years after Frankenstein was published, author Mary Shelley wrote the introduction. This sentence explains it all.
“Frightful must it be, for supremely frightful would be the effect of any human endeavour to mock the stupendous mechanism of the Creator of the world.”
~ Mary Shelley
I think of Mary Shelley’s warning this way.
God gives the divine breath of life.
When a man tries to steal that authority—the power to bestow life—
he walks in the shoes of the devil and creates horrific evil.
The modern era and Satan U
Fast-forward to our modern era. Some scientists believe they can bypass God and actually be God.
Engineered food. Cloning. Melding man and machine.
Sit down, and if you dare, read this MIT article about a gizmo that reads your mind. Horrifying. Truly. And Hollywood glamorizes MIT in movies like Spider-Man: No Way Home. (Don’t see that movie.) The Puppet Masters in Hollywood want to convince our young people that MIT is the ultimate college destination. It is Satan U. Don’t go there.
You may be interested in researching Brain-Computer Interfaces—what some scientists are calling Augmented Consciousness. They’re talking up the concept, claiming that it’s all about helping people who have severe physical disabilities. But we’re talking about reading and transcribing people’s thoughts, as well as uploading data directly to people’s brains—both being dangerous invasions of privacy with horrifying implications when evil minds and hands are involved. This is not remotely okay. Beware.
Part 1
If you missed part 1, it’s a must-read about gender, The Good Way and more—including some very valuable resources—from Ben Shapiro, Mike Smith, Candace Owens and the good people at Expedition Bible.
To dabble or not to dabble
Obviously, we can’t dabble in the occult or in Christianity. Our souls aren’t party favors. This is serious.
When we reach the age of reason, we’re either on Satan’s Squad or we’re in the family of God—adopted as a son or daughter of The Most High God.
The SS
When it comes to Satan’s Squad—we’ll call them the SS—most of them don’t believe that’s who they’re working for. They think they’re self-employed. The problem sits squarely in perception. I get that. I really do.
Most of the SS peeps think, I’m a pretty good person. I’m just doing my own thing. I used to think that way. And I was sadly mistaken on both counts. I was also in terrible danger. My soul and my eternity were hanging in the balance.
Remember this, Peaceful Readers.
The occult is dangerous. And deadly.
Don’t play there.
Coming into the light
If you have a Ouija Board or anything like that, throw it away. Replace the darkness with God’s word. With truth. For more about how God rescued me from the darkness, read this post.
Let’s end part 2 with this powerful and important warning from God’s word.
Coming next: Well, I’m not sure if the dream and The Breastplate of Stupidity that I mentioned last time will be in part 3 or further down the road. This exploration into evil and The Armor of God intrigues me. It’s been very revealing. Come back next time. Until then, thanks for reading and for Choosing Peace.
Healing through truth and music
Peaceful Readers, I’ve found great healing in my life through the beauty and truth of God’s word and through music. I hope the truths and songs that I share at the end of each post will bless you too.
Truth from The Word: 1 John 1:1-9
Song for Healing: The day I published this post, I woke up with this song in my head, playing again and again. I knew I needed to switch out the original song for this one. It’s perfect for this post. Be blessed by “The Answer” by Ryan Ellis.