Month: April 2023

When the temptation to sin seems overwhelming; when life goes terribly wrong; when horrible thoughts enter your mind; do you ever ask this question: “Is it me or the devil?” Or to put the question another way, “Is what I’m going through part of life’s challenges, or am I under demonic attack? There is no simple answer to this question, but I can give you some additional questions to answer that will give your life more focus about this dilemma.

1. WHY ARE YOU ASKING THE QUESTION? If it is out of misplaced religious guilt, that is one thing. If you have unconfessed sin in your life, this self-reflective inquiry could be your conscience talking back to you. Psalm 139:23 says, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts” (NIV). Confess your secret, willful sins to the Lord. If the thought that you are under demonic attack persists, reach out to a credible deliverance ministry for help so that someone outside your own self-reflection can ask more probing, objective questions. Wondering if your thoughts and actions are influenced by the devil can lead to a vicious cycle of self-condemnation. You need honest input from a mature Christian leader or counselor.
2. ARE THERE SELF-DESTRUCTIVE FAMILY PATTERNS THAT YOU ARE EMULATING? If you came from a solidly biblical Christian home that had healthy values, what you struggle with is less likely to be demonic in nature. On the other hand, if your family of origin was toxic with things such as alcoholism, drug abuse, sexual sin, domestic violence, or antipathy toward God, the chances increase that your problems is demonic. Being raised in a spiritually and emotionally dysfunctional home increases the probability that doors to the devil were opened in your life by unhealthy family dynamics. If, on the other hand, your upbringing was conducive to Christianity, and you are now in rebellion, it’s more likely that Satan is directly interfering in your life.
3. HAVE YOU BEEN INVOLVED IN PSYCHOTROPIC DRUGS, THE OCCULT, NEW AGE OR NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIOUS PRACTICES? If the answer is “No,” demonization is less likely. But if you have dabbled in Ouija boards, astrology, energy healing, tarot cards, yoga, eastern meditation, fortune telling, altered states of consciousness, mindful meditation, enneagrams, mind control, et cetera, it’s more probable that at least some of the torment in your life is the direct result of demons. If you have taken ayahuasca, smoked a lot of weed, tripped on LSD, DMT, or mushrooms your chances of direct attack from the devil increases dramatically.

I could write an essay or an entire book on answers to the question, “Is it me or the devil?” But you now have at least three areas of your life to immediately contemplate. If one or more of these factors is dominant in your life, don’t put off immediately seeking spiritual help from a trusted, credible source. Reaching out to someone who is inexperienced or doesn’t believe in demons attacking Christians will only make your situation worse. Check our web site demontest.org for more questions to pinpoint your problem. Contact our offices at boblarson.org for further direction. If your issue is spiritual, and if it is demonic, putting off getting the right kind of intervention will allow the devil even more latitude to destabilize your life. Conversely, dealing with your sins, taking an honest look at your family upbringing, and getting substance abuse and false religious practices out of your life will be big steps forward to freedom. Proverbs 28:13 says, “He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy” (NKJV).

Can you sell your soul to Satan? Some demonic cults say that you can. They even have rituals to accomplish the task. But are those ceremonies and pacts with the devil eternally legal and binding? Other people I’ve encountered think they can never be saved because in a foolish moment when they were younger, they wanted something. In desperation they told the devil they’d serve him if he’d give them a certain thing? Let state up front. Even after having encountered people involved in Satanism who have participated in unthinkably degrading demonic rituals, not one has ever truly sold his soul to the devil. Let me explain.

Jesus himself posed this question in Mark 8:37: “What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (KJV) We must put this comment in context. Christ was speaking to his disciples and emphasizing the importance of following Him without compromise. Just earlier in verse 34 Jesus made the well-know “take up you cross” analogy. Also, the next verse of this chapter, Mark 8:38, gives us a clearer meaning of what Christ meant: “For, whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of Him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

A proper exegesis of the Mark 8:37-38 statements, about exchanging one’s soul, clearly shows that Christ was talking about someone who was never saved, not a Christian who may have called on the devil in a moment of weak faith and mental confusion. Jesus is describing a rebellious person who willfully lives in sin. Such a person will not enter into heaven. This individual has not sold his soul to Satan in a diabolical pact. He has merely given up the hope of salvation by deliberately choosing to continue in sin in defiance of God’s love.

Still, I have met those who believe they made some kind of pact with the devil, spoken or unspoken. Consequently, they are tormented. If you are such a person, the solution is simple. As Romans 10:13 states, “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (KJV) No ifs, ands, or buts. Call and Christ will save you. If you think you made and agreement with the devil, consider these three points:

 1) If it was done before you were saved, the blood of Jesus canceled it when you came the Christ.

 2) If you did it in a weak or backslidden moment as a Christian, God’s grace is extended to you without limit for ANY sin of ANY kind. On a human scale we are to forgive seventy times seven (Matthew 18:22 — an infinite number). The Divine scale of mercy is much greater. Psalm 103:11 says, “For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear Him.” (NKJV)

3) If you think you made a deal with the devil, perhaps you were without full mental capabilities, such as stress, depression, grief over a death, momentary anger at God, the influence of any drug (including a doctor’s medication. Stop tormenting yourself. You didn’t commit an unpardonable sin.

Any agreement with Satan is automatically invalidated due to extenuating circumstances. Verbally cancel it. Declare it null and voice. Place it under the blood of Jesus and break such a curse. Then seek prayers of deliverance, healing, and exorcism to get mentally and emotionally free from any rash statements of the past. Our ministry is here to help.

In 2017 the Oxford English Dictionary, a linguistics standard for the English language, officially christened the word “woke.” The definition given was “to be aware of, and actively attentive to, important facts and issues (especially racial and social justice).” In response to that, three significant words have been used to achieve the woke goal—disparity, equity, and inclusion. When the word “woke” dawned on the collective consciousness of America it sounded harmless. Proponents of woke adopted disparity, equity, and inclusion as if these concepts were a religious liturgy, like saying “Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” People who mostly had no faith, certainly no Christian orthodoxy, made woke a rallying cry. It became the motto of economic, sexual, and political activism. But as bestselling author John Ringo recently said, “Go woke, go broke.”

Ringo was describing companies who use political correctness as a corporate strategy to success. Ringo argues that it doesn’t work. The public does not buy the artifice. Instead, most woke businesses have had massive income losses. Consumers consider the approach disingenuous. They perceive that brands going woke are only using the tactic to appear socially aware. But here is the problem that should concern every follower of Christ. Woke is about more than economics and justice. It’s also about sex, money, and political transformation. With its redefinition of meanings, woke has also targeted Christian, biblical values. Sadly, the woke trend has ensnared some Christian leaders. To them, I say, go woke, go spiritually broke.

Let’s focus on those three words—disparity (inequality), equity (fair mindedness), and inclusion (equal opportunity). The words and their definitions are good. Who wouldn’t want to fight for equality, fairness, and opportunity? But look closer and you’ll see that this tactic of redefining language has historically been a tool of despots and political strongmen. Using buzzwords for a hidden agenda isn’t new. Visit the Nazi concentration camp of Dachau, as I have, and you’ll be struck by the slogan above the entry to this compound of death, “Arbeit Macht Frei,” “work makes you free.” This is a blatant example of twisting the word “free” displayed at the entrance to one of the most horrific places on earth.

Consider again these three words I’ve cited.

Disparity—That is the sad history of humanity, but only Jesus can make the playing field level. The total elimination of social polarity is only possible through the cross where all men are declared sinners (Romans 3:23). And true parity is achievable only in the body of Christ, as Galatians 3:28 says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” Fight real injustices if you will. I am with you. But phony woke battles that lead to spiritual compromise of biblical truths is fake equality.

Equity — We know that institutions like slavery were not equitable and never could be. That is why a civil war was fought that cost 620,000 lives. We also recognize that full equity has not been realized for some. But now we are told that certain groups must pay the price of exclusion with reparations to achieve parity for others. That is social engineering, reverse racism, not compassion. Scripture constantly speaks of hard work, diligence, and steadfastness as the keys to upward mobility. Psalm 128:2 says, “When you eat the labor of your hands you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you.”

Inclusion—That woke word wants to cancel Christian biblical convictions. Prepubescent gender identity, aberrant sexual behavior, and ethics of life pertaining to abortion and euthanasia are part of the woke agenda. If you believe what the Bible says, the woke crowd says that you aren’t inclusive. You’re a bigot, a homophobe, a Karen, a racist—whatever epithet the proponent of woke wants to hurl your way. Christians need to be careful. In the name of compassion and non-judgmentalism they can be easily ensnared. Going woke could indeed be going spiritually broke.

In summary, seeking equity and inclusion without Christ is doomed to failure because man’s problem is sin, not lack of political enlightenment. The social gospel of the 60s resulted in eventual support of Central and South American dictators who oppressed their people. The motto of the eighteenth- century French Revolution, “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité” — Liberty, Equality, Brotherhood — led to bloody guillotines. The current adoption of woke culture by some evangelical pastors could lead the church in America down the road to serious spiritual compromise. That journey has already started in some churches. It must go no further. The words of Jesus in John 14:6 are words of exclusion, not inclusion: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”