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Ever feel like someone is constantly looking over your shoulder? That there is a presence in your house? You may hear sounds or feel a cold chill in the air now and then. Perhaps, you see a shadow out the corner of your eye. You sense someone is behind you, and you quickly turn to see – nothing. It could be your imagination, or it could be a monitoring demon.

If you look up “monitoring spirits” on AI you’ll read this: “Monitoring spirits are supernatural entities that are believed to watch over individuals or families to track their behavior, actions, and decisions. They are believed to be present in different cultures, religions, beliefs, traditions, and superstitions. In some cultures, they are seen as guardian angels, while in others, they are seen as demonic spirits.”

Of course, this definition of monitoring spirits is politically correct, the woke definition of something that seems otherworldly. But the Christian understanding of such phenomena is quite different from that of a paranormal investigator. The Christian viewpoint is that these beings are never benign. They are demons that don’t necessarily enter people but hang around them, watching their lives and reporting back to higher-up demons. They may be taking spiritual notes on your life to detect possible openings for an attack. Their activity is never friendly or innocuous.

First Peter 5:8 speaks of the devil and demons walking about, encircling our lives, like a roaring lion seeking prey. These kinds of demons may not attack directly, but they will attract other evil spirits who pick up on the surveillance. Because Satan is not omnipresent, he can’t be everywhere all at once. Hence, his emissaries monitor certain individuals to assess which temptations and fears that person is most vulnerable to.

Other than the obvious sense of something following you, how else can you tell if there is a monitoring demon? You may sense them if you indulge in a moral weakness, like pornography or uncontrolled anger. They may lurk if you are smoking weed, over-indulging in alcohol, gaming with occult characters, gambling at the casino, or being promiscuous. They watch for unrepentant sin in your life, rebellious behavior not confessed, or white lies you have told.  Monitoring spirits hang around to see if you have a spiritual opening that constitutes a legal right of entry into your soul.

Monitoring demons exploit spiritual problems which go unresolved, like constant brushes with danger or death. They may target with an unusual number of physical diseases and bodily illnesses. Monitoring spirits keep you under pressure with constant oppression hoping that you will fall into temptation so they can report your weakness to a bigger and nastier demon. If you sense something is monitoring you, it is time to step up your spiritual tempo. Do some fasting. Increase your time in God’s Word. Get back in church. Memorize Bible verses. Seek deliverance prayers. Take spiritual action before a monitoring spirit hands over his job to a worse demon which enters your life and calls your soul his home.

You may have a dangerous demon that you never expected would attack you. Among those who show interest in deliverance, they tend to focus on evil spirits most commonly thought of. This includes demons such as Lucifer, Leviathan, Jezebel, and Beelzebub. But often the spirits that hold people in bondage are related to emotional states of the mind. And because they are unsuspected, they are dangerous. Take for example the spirit of offense.

Here’s how Jesus addressed this matter Luke 17:1-3 – “It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.

Offenses, where minor injustices or outrageous insults, have a debilitating effect. They cause bitterness, anger, hate, division, and strife. Offenses cause disruptions in an individual’s mind as well as the larger body of Christ. Just as the spirit of fear can be a gateway to other more powerful demons, so it is with the spirit of offense. Offenses may make you feel that you’ve been wronged, and this may lead to acts of revenge, witchcraft spells to curse them, or even murder.

When someone offends you your first response should be to forgive them. Unfortunately, that’s not how human emotions are wired. When offended we often make a list in our thinking of all the ways we were right, and the other person was wrong. The next step is to find ways to strike back. Initially, those ways aren’t violent or necessarily evil. We simply justify responding to an offense because we have an inflated sense that we need to protect integrity. It’s really our ego that we are trying to protect. In the name of defending our reputation, we may go to unreasonable lengths that’s harmful to the person who offended us.

Stop for a moment and take inventory of all the people who have offended you. Then, follow the path of forgiveness as Jesus taught in the sermon on the mount. One of the most difficult passages of scripture is Luke 6:27-28: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.” As Romans 12:21 says, “Overcome evil with good”. Plotting in your mind to counter an offense often leads to thinking about how the other person can be hurt so we get even. That’s the devil’s way of corrupting our emotions and opening the door to the demon of offense.

Stop talking about the devil! I’ve heard that for most of my ministry. I will stop talking about the devil when I’m dead or when the Lord comes. Why am I so adamant about this? For most of my ministry, I’ve been told that I give glory to the devil by talking about him too much. My response has been, “I have to talk about the devil a lot because most preachers say so little about Satan.” I have to make up the theological deficit of information about the devil and his demons because Satan is such a neglected topic in most churches. But my thinking is much deeper than that. Here are some reasons I refuse to be quiet about exposing the devil and demons.

First, the Bible isn’t silent on this subject. In the nearly fifty books I’ve written I often refer to Scripture regarding the devil so I’m not going to duplicate that in this short blog. But consider this. No one talked more about the devil then Jesus. The instances in God’s word are too many to cite but consider these passages:
MATTHEW 16:33 – “Get behind me Satan!”
LUKE 10:18 – “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.”
JOHN 8:44 – “You are of your father the devil.” (Speaking of the Pharisees.)
JOHN 10:10 – “The thief (Satan) does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.”
JOHN 8:44 – “He (Satan) was a murder from the beginning.”

Second, from Genesis to Revelation, the devil and his demons are the subject of Bible writers:
MOSES – Genesis 3:1-15 (“the serpent was more crafty than any of the beasts of the field”)
UNKNOWN WRITER/BOOK OF JOB – 1:6-12 (Satan came before the Lord to tempt Job)
THE APOSTLE PAUL – Romans 16:20 (“the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet); 1 Cor. 7:5 (“so that Satan will not tempt you”); 2 Cor. 11:3 (“Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning”); 2 Cor. 2:5-11 (“Satan might not outwit us”)’ 2 Cor 12:7 (“messenger of Satan”); Ephesians 6:11-16 (putting on the armor of God against the devil); 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 (“the coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works”)
THE APOSTLE JAMES – James 4:7 (“resist the devil”)
LUKE IN ACTS – Acts 5:3 (“Satan has filled your heart”)
THE APOSTLE PETER – 1 Peter 5:6-9 (“the devil prowls about like a roaring lion”)
THE APOSTLE JOHN – 1 John 3:8 (“the devil has been sinning from the beginning”); Revelation 2:8-17 (the angel to the church of Smyrna about the “synagogue of Satan”); Revelation 12:7-9 (“Michael and his angels fought against the dragon [Satan]”); Revelation 20: 1-6 (“He [the angel Michael] seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil, or Satan, and threw him into the Abyss”).

Third, Satan and his demons are more active than ever. Revelation 12:12 is a precursor of our times:” Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.” There is more, much more, in Scripture about the devil, including all the synoptic Gospel instances in which Jesus cast out demons. My message to pastors and seminaries is this: Don’t blame me for an over-emphasis on speaking about the victory of Christ over Satan. Up your own game. It’s my critics who are imbalanced when it comes to neglect of the subject of Satan. I will not stop talking about devil until the Lord takes me home or Satan is sent one last time to the pit!

What is a paradox of demons? Let me describe want I mean.

Many of you have come to understand that sincere Christian can be attacked by demons, and you have been criticized by other Christians for expressing this belief. I want to explain this matter in a way that will help you. Behind this denial that Christians can be demonized, is something I call the “paradox of demons.”

Why are many Christians hung up on the idea that some followers of Christ might have demons and need an exorcism? I recently came across a book that helps explain this dilemma. The book is entitled “Perplexing Paradoxes.” The author states that a paradox is something which sounds absurd to most people but has a valid argument. The author states, “One is confronted with a paradox when a statement based on valid reasoning, sounds unacceptable.”

The statement that Christians can have demons certainly meets this definition of a paradox. There are valid reasons why many devout Christians believe that those who are saved are sometimes specifically targeted by Satan. But if you voice that opinion in the average evangelical church, you’ll be met with immediate opposition. You will be branded extreme or unbiblical, not because what you believe is absurd. You’ll be opposed because your belief represents a paradox that American Christians have trouble grasping.

The author of the book I just referred to also states that most paradoxes elicit surprise and disbelief. If you’ve ever told your born-again Christian friends that you believe Christians can be demonized, you know what I’m talking about. They may stare at you with perplexity, or even anger.

For those of you who understand deliverance and realize that Christians can be, and often are, tormented by demons, let me break down how to understand this paradox.

1. The statement that Christians can have demons isn’t a wild-eyed assumption. It is founded on a clear understanding of Scripture and empirical observation. The reasoning of deliverance ministers is valid, yet it sounds unacceptable to most Christians. That is what creates the paradox — something is verifiable but sounds contradictory to accepted Christian teaching. A paradox.
2. The book I just cited also points out that a paradox creates a sense of surprise and disbelief. Anyone who does deliverance knows this observation well. Tell the average American churchgoer that Christians can have demons and they look at you like you’re crazy or a heretic. They are shocked that you would believe such a thing. They don’t understand the paradox of true spiritual warfare.

I just pointed out that a paradox exists when the idea expressed is valid, but the hearer can’t accept it. Consider these examples that validate how someone who is devoted to God can be demonized. The demon possessed man in the synagogue described in Mark chapter 1 was a godly Jew. Those who witnessed his demonic manifestation knew him as man of faith and a devout follower of God. Yet his demons violently reacted in the presence of Christ and spoke through him. The daughter of Abraham in Luke 13 was a devout Jewess but had been possessed by demons for 18 years. The demons physically afflicted her, even though Christ gave her a title of spiritual honor—daughter of Abraham. Both Mark 1 and Luke 13 represent valid premises for believing that those who have faith in God can also have demons. But, as mentioned earlier, drawing these conclusions seems unacceptable in most Christian circles. The contradiction between obvious fact and a contrarian belief is a paradox.

Far too many Christians today are caught in this paradox of demons. They think that by insisting no truly saved person can have a demon they are defending the faith. Instead they are paradoxically consigning victims of the devil to further torment by denying them the help of deliverance. The Bible is full of enigmas which are paradoxes. Remember Second Kings, Chapter two, when the prophet Elijah cursed the children who mocked his bald head? Immediately thereafter two bears came out of the woods and tore 42 of the youngsters into pieces. Talk about a paradox! Don’t dismiss what you don’t understand. Millions of Christians worldwide who do deliverance are setting demonized Christians free in the name of Jesus. Before you condemn them, be careful. Your paradox will find you out.

How do curses target your life? This spiritual process of evil isn’t as simple nor as direct as you may think. It has taken me decades of ministry in spiritual warfare to understand what I’m going to share in a few words. But before I begin, we must dispel the theological myth that curses can’t affect Christians. I methodically demolish this faulty supposition in my book entitled “Curse Breaking” and in the courses of Bob Larson University. The premise for what I’m about to say is this: Generational curses may affect Christians to varying degrees, especially lukewarm Christians who don’t take proactive measures to break curses.

Curses operate in these three basics ways:
1) A direct attack from bloodline evil caused by recent ancestors.
2) Spiritual land mines, traps set for the unsuspecting generations to step on.
3) Curses that skip a generation so they aren’t obvious to directly link them to the origin.

Let’s break down these three ways curses operate one by one.
1) BLOODLINE EVIL: Curses passed down by ancestors can originate in the distant past or more recently. The more obvious curses are those in the family bloodline remembered by living descendants. These are the easiest curses to break because they can be historically verified. Become aware of the serious sins of parents, grandparents, and great grandparents by speaking with all living ancestors, including extended family members. Find out if there is extreme evil within family memory. A list should be made of who did what in the event that their actions possibly opened the door to demonic
incursion. Renounce such evil deeds immediately.

2) SPIRITUAL LAND MINES: A spiritual land mine is a ticking time bomb of evil consequences. It lies in wait for some unsuspecting individual in the bloodline to step on it and activate its evil. It’s not something anyone in your family may be aware of. It could be a family secret that no one wants to talk about, or no one knows about. Ask the Lord to bring into the open extreme evil that family members have done, a curse that could be waiting to strike an unsuspecting person in the bloodline. These are curses you can’t break specifically because you don’t know for certain what they are. Leave them in the
Lord’s hands to be dealt with and to be removed from your path. Remind the devil that he won’t be allowed to attack you because there is something in your spiritual DNA you know nothing about.

3) SKIPPING CURSES: I sometimes have people say to me, “I don’t have any bloodline curses in my life because all the ancestors I know have been godly.” That is wonderful. But what about the evil of ancestors hidden from your knowledge? I’ve discovered from experience in spiritual warfare that curses sometimes skip one or more generations. They can’t land on the intervening generations because these ancestors walked with the Lord. Suppose that your parents, grandparents, and great grandparents have all been devout Christians. But what about other ancestors going back further? In our book “Curse Breaking” we teach the importance of renouncing all the evil of every ancestor going back to Adam and Eve, and everyone in between. Why take the chance that you may not be aware of a curse because it hasn’t fallen on someone in living memory? For example, if I speak to someone in India, I remind them that going back far enough they have Hindu ancestors. If I speak to someone in Africa or of African descent, I remind
them that it’s almost certain that they have distant ancestors who practiced witchcraft. The same concerns should be regarded by people with Irish ancestry, Nordic ancestry, and European ancestry, etcetera. Each ethnicity has it’s own unique evil.

There is no perfect and complete way to break every curse in your family bloodline. So, when you pray to break curses make your declarations contingent on what you do know and ask the grace of God to cover with the blood of Christ what you don’t know.

The ESV version of Genesis 4:7 says this: “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” The Living Bible puts it this way, “It can be bright with joy if you will do what you should! But if you refuse to obey, watch out. Sin is waiting to attack you, longing to destroy you. But you can conquer it!” Think about these words when you pray over the evil curses of your bloodline.

Demons always say three things to me:

1. I’M NOT LEAVING.
2. I HAVE A RIGHT TO STAY.
3. HE/SHE WANTS/NEEDS ME.

Before I explain the logic behind this countering of what demons say, let’s first deal with the issue of vocal, demonic manifestations. Among those who practice deliverance there are differences of opinion. Some follow what I call “old school” deliverance which taught that you should never allow a demon to speak. If it does utter something, the deliverance minister should tell the demon to keep quiet and come out. We instruct the opposite in Bob Larson University. I don’t have time in this blog to develop the entire thesis behind commanding demons to speak. In Bob Larson University I back up this position scripturally and emphasize the importance of pressuring indwelling demons to vocally confirm their presence. This happened with the demon possessed man in the synagogue, referenced in Mark chapter 1, and spirit of Legion in Mark Chapter 5.

One more thought. This blog presumes that Christians can be demonized, and the manifesting demon is an illegitimate squatter, where he doesn’t belong. He’s just a holdover from the host’s pre-conversion condition.

In addition to the scriptural paradigm of deliverance set forth in the gospels there are practical considerations concerning demonic utterances. Having demons manifest and subsequently interrogated in a proper way reveals what can’t be known objectively through any other process. By forcing demons to reveal how and when they entered, and their current stronghold in the life of the host, the deliverance minister has a factual basis upon which to proceed. My experience with many thousands of documented exorcisms gives clear evidence that knowing the time and place of demonic entry can be crucial to a successful deliverance process. Much more information about this approach to deliverance is available on our streaming platform XDUNAMIS.

Having said this let me now refer to the three most common things demons say to me when they are interrogated. 

I’M NOT LEAVING: I don’t ever recall a case of deliverance when a demon started responding by saying, “Now that you found me, I’m ready to leave.” The nature of evil spirits is obstinance and rebellion. They may also contend, “I’ve been here too long.” Whatever the exact words, demons don’t give up without a fight. They do not start the deliverance process by raising the white flag and surrendering to the power of Christ. The response to satanic stubbornness should always be the same: “You are leaving in the name of Jesus and you will be cast out to the Pit.”

I HAVE A RIGHT TO STAY: The second thing demons claim is the right to remain in the host. This must immediately be challenged by demanding that the evil spirit declares what right he has. On occasion the demon may speak truthfully and have some kind of right which the host must then cancel by renunciation; however, usually this is a false boast. For example, the demon may say, “I have a right because of the ungodly life this person lived.” That would immediately be countered by reminding the demon that the person seeking help is a child of God and has repented of their past. Having failed the first attempt to claim a right, demons usually move on to a second or third reason. It’s obvious they are trying to bargain and have no legitimate means to stay. In the rare case where the demon does have a right which hasn’t been cancelled by the blood of Christ, the deliverance minister simply needs to lead the supplicant in prayers to nullify that right.

HE OR SHE WANTS OR NEEDS ME: Having failed to establish a legal right and admitting that their boast of remaining has no logical grounds, a desperate demon will then try to claim they can stay because the host wants or needs them. I have heard demons argue on this basis in several different ways. The evil spirit may say, “This person is so damaged and weak they can’t survive without me giving them strength.” Or the demon may argue. “He or she has never known life without me. I have been there since birth manipulating their decisions and emotions and they are incapable a surviving on their own.” Such arguments are easily countered by scriptures such as 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 – “When I am weak, then I am strong” because the grace of Christ is “sufficient” (verse 9).

To summarize, Christians can be demonized. Their demons may try to cleverly avoid expulsion by disingenuous and unbiblical reasoning. Quickly countering the false claims of evil spirits undercuts their reasoning and falsely claimed rights. Remember, demons are liars. Jesus explained in John 8:44 that the devil “was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.”

What is meant by the spirit of manifestation? In the ministry of deliverance, we speak of a spirit manifesting. By this we mean the demon expresses itself through the mind and body of the host in some recognizable way. It could be a look, a thought in the mind, spoken words, or some musculoskeletal expression. We describe this as the evil spirit “manifesting.” What then is the spirit of manifestation?

 The short definition is that a spirit of Manifestation claims to give the host the power to manifest some existential reality. It could be money, romance, power, or healing some sickness. Anything the person wants. Of course, the one manifesting, usually an individual enamored with New Age beliefs, doesn’t think the power to create a reality is evil or demonic. To them it is a visible form of wishful thinking. But embracing the idea of creating reality through the power of the mind opens the door to demons. One of those demons could be what I call the spirit of Manifestation—a demon I’ve dealt with!

In recent decades this idea of manifesting reality by the power of the mind has taken many forms. One variation is Norman Vincent Peale’s “power of positive thinking.” Another would be the writings of Napoleon Hill about how to “think and grow rich.” I don’t have time to analyze both thinkers, and I admit that much of what they said has some value. Not so with Rhonda Byrne who penned the “bible” of the manifestation movement entitled “The Secret.” Her 2006 self-help book, made popular by television personality Oprah, was based on pseudoscience. She claimed that by thoughts alone anyone can influence the objective circumstances of life.

Byrne had borrowed her ideas from the teachings of Wallace Wattle who wrote “The Science of Getting Rich” in 1910. Wallace was an advocate of metaphysical spiritualism at the turn of the 20^th century and was part of the occult New Thought movement. He had followed the thinking of the German philosopher Hegel who was trained in Seminary but eventually became a harsh critic of Christianity and a student of hermetic occultism. Another leader of the creative thought movement was Helena Blavatsky, a Russian spiritualist who helped to start the Theosophical Society. She got her ideas by adopting Hindu and Buddhist concepts. In Tibet she learned to spiritually communicate with the so-called Ascended Masters of Higher Consciousness.

All these advocates of manifesting the power of the mind taught what has become known as “creative visualization.” All one must do is form a mental picture of what one wants, and unseen energies will work to make it happen. This concept makes no room for biblical prayer to a sovereign god. As 1 Peter 4:11 says, “That in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever.” Manifesting reality is self-indulgent, magical thinking in which everyone becomes his own god with superstitious silliness. Worse yet, it opens one’s soul to possession by the demon of Manifestation. This demon then attempts to invent what appears to be created realities in keeping with the selfish motives of the creative visualizer. The spirit of Manifestation is a demon of mind control that surreptitiously tries to weave its thoughts with those of the host. If you’ve tried to create mental realities or studied “The Secret” then you may have this demon, and you certainly need an exorcism sooner rather than later.

The following is taken from Dr. Bob Larson’s QUICK GUIDE TO CULTS, the section on Buddhism. The entire teaching is available exclusively on our streaming platform XDUNAMIS. What follows is a portion of the teaching on how to get free from Buddhism.

With more than 500 million adherents, Buddhism is the world’s fourth largest religion (behind Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism). Its numbers in North America are estimated to be 30 million, and that doesn’t include “cultural” Buddhists who don’t formally identify but who practice the meditation techniques of Buddhism. The traditional Asian image of Buddhist monks with saffron robes and carrying begging bowls may be foreign to the Western mind. But the concept of joining a cosmic flow to abolish the ego goes down well in an age that has turned inward. While many Christians have focused on the dangers of witchcraft and Satanism, Buddhism had steadily gained far more adherents with its deception of offering inner peace through the negation of one’s ego. Those who look to the East for spiritual answers often find Christianity’s promise of heaven less attractive than Buddhism’s mystical, impenetrable “truths.” To many spiritual seekers, problem solving by constructive action appears less desirable than the subjective quest for nirvana.

Ironically, Tibetan Buddhism, one of the most complex forms of Buddhism has become increasingly popular in the West, thanks to the influence of one man: the Dalai Lama. After the Pope, he is the best-known and most widely recognized religious figure on the planet. He has become the de facto leader of mystical spiritual seekers.

But the faith he represents is an ancient and esoteric brand of Buddhism. Padina Sambhava, a famed pagan exorcist, introduced Buddhism to Tibet in A.D. 747. His reputation so impressed the king that the entire land soon was following his blend of Hindu and Buddhist beliefs mingled with spells and secretive tantric ceremonies. Devotees preceded acts of sexual union with the ritualistic consumption of wine, meat, fish, and parched grains. They instituted a priesthood of lamas (superior ones) and designed prayer wheels with inscribed litanies. Mantras and mandalas (mystic diagrams) were also adopted. Tibetan Buddhist mantras were believed to possess a sound able to induce transcendent experiences. The same with the popular New Age so-called Tibetan “singing bowls.”

Mandalas, circular, geometrically designed cosmograms of the universe, were also used as an aid in worship. They are now common interior design items in the West, along with the ubiquitous Buddha heads or seated Buddha statues that adorn many upper scaled homes. The center of the mandala was thought to be a focal point of the universe. Adherents of Tibetan Buddhism were taught that merely glimpsing a mandala could start them on the road to nirvana.

Tibetan Buddhists also developed the legend of Shambhala, an imaginary kingdom of enlightened citizens, the Asian version of the fabled Atlantis. This central Asian civilization was said to be the spiritual inspiration of the entire world. Their “warriors” were believed to be people of compassion and awareness who still serve as models of Tibetan Buddhist aspirations.

Zen is the Buddhist variant best known for paradoxes and imponderables such as, “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” Most people would easily recognize this riddle without knowing either its purpose or source. This conundrum, and seventeen hundred others like it, is known as a koan, a paradoxical question concerning imponderable thoughts. The perplexity posed by the koan is designed to lead the mind toward intuitive truth. In the world of Zen, logic and reason are taboo. As one Zen practitioner put it, “Be nothing, think nothing.” Zen may be defined as concentration with an empty mind.

While the precepts of Buddhism may not be based on specific theological doctrines, the inherent Buddhist worldview that results from such non-Christian meditation causes the meditator to see himself as an integrated part of the whole. Buddhism presupposes that only one essence exists and that we are all somehow part of this one essence (monism). This teaching is contrary to the Christian assertion that the God, the Eternal One, created the world and man out of nothing. Thus, no part of this material existence is part of God. There is an eternal distinction between the Creator and the created.

The inherent contradictory nature of the anecdotal koan in Buddhism conditions the devotee to reject reason and logic and instead rely on mystical experience to test truth. Buddhism is an egocentric search for subjective authority while inherently denying any objective authority for morality.

Since Zen has no God, the priests have no role of intercession for sin. There is no speculation on the nature of creation or the future of an afterlife since everything considered important is embodied in the experience of the moment. Meditation is the quintessential essence of Buddhism, liberating the meditator from all life’s miseries. Christians may see this process as a false perception of spiritual insight.

Those who have embraced the practices and beliefs of Buddhism, and what is popularly known as “mindful meditation,” have given themselves over to a diabolical belief system that is filled with openings for demonic forces. As an exorcist, I have discovered that some of the most powerful and most difficult demons to dislodge are those found in the many variants of Buddhism. Its meditative processes invite strong evil spirits of mind control to enter, and these demons take time and persistence to dislodge.

For the individual leaving Buddhism and seeking a personal relationship with Christ these ten steps are necessary:

1. Renounce Buddhism in general and any particular variant, such as Zen.
2. Break soul-tie connections with Buddha, an historical figure and also the name of the demon behind this system.
3. Renounce soul-ties with all Buddhist spiritual mentors, including instructors in what is known as dharma, the teaching and false eternal cosmic “truths” of Buddhism.
4. Renounce the variant of Buddhism you aligned with, Zen, Zazen, Mindful Meditation, Theravada, Mahayana, or the currently popular Pure Land Buddhism.
5. Discard all Buddhist texts, books, or paraphernalia, such as mandalas, singing bowls, bells etc.
6. Stop all focused breath meditation. Ask the Holy Spirit to remove all koans from your mind.
7. Renounce empathic meditation, taking unto yourself the pain and suffering of others. Christ alone is the one to whom we hand our pain. Claim the promise of Matthew 11:28 that Christ is the one who gives us rest.
8. Renounce every effort to connect with past lives.
9. Renounce any so-called “deity meditation,” a fast-track way (especially in Tibetan Buddhism meditation schools) to obtain compassion by invoking what the Bible calls demons.
10. Renounce Samsara, the false Buddhist definition of attachment to pleasures of the world, and instead focus on 1 John 2:15, “Love not the things which are in the world.” Samsara is a diabolical substitute for the true Christian ethic of abstaining from the pursuit of ungodly indulgences.

Do these ten things and you will be on your way to freedom from Buddhism.

Is it possible for a non-Christin to be delivered from demons? It’s a common question I get. The answer is, YES. Having said that, I’ve got a lot of explaining to do. My answer raises other questions.

• Have I ever cast demons out of a non-Christian? YES.
• Is it necessary for a demonized person to have faith in Christ to be freed from demons? NO.

Having jarred your thinking, I’ll further explore this question. But before I delve into this deeper, let me add some qualifiers.

1. I would only cast demons out of a non-Christian if they are moving toward Christian faith and an exorcism could push them to the point of salvation.
2. I have commanded demons to leave a non-Christian on extremely rare occasions.
3. Exorcising a non-Christian is an aberration not a regularity.

Consider the account of Paul and Silas in Acts chapter 16. A woman possessed with a spirit of divination followed Paul for “many days.” There is indication that Paul prayed with this woman to become a Christian. She undoubtedly heard the gospel, but the Bible doesn’t specifically say that she converted. According to verse 18 the woman’s deliverance came when Paul’s patience ran out and he was, in biblical language, “greatly annoyed.” After that exorcism in Philippi, Paul and Silas were beaten by the magistrates of the city and jailed. You may make all kinds of suppositions about this biblical account, but nowhere does it declare the woman said a sinner’s prayer. We may conclude that once the demon was gone that she turned to Christ, or that during some point while following Paul she surrendered to the Lord, but that is an assumption.

Also, consider the ten lepers that Christ healed in Luke 17. Only one of the 10 returned to thank Jesus, and that man was a Samaritan, hated by Jews. Jesus said to him, “Your faith has made you well.” But the other nine were also healed, and there is no statement that they had faith for their healing. As students of Bob Larson University know, I make the case that all healing is deliverance, and all deliverance is healing. In Scripture leprosy is presented as a “type” of sin, a quintessence of the loathsomeness of evil. Yet Jesus cast out demons from nine lepers who had apparently not recognized him as the Messiah.

 In addition, Matthew 12:15 says that multitudes followed Christ and, “He healed them all.” Did all of them believe He was the Messiah? Of course not. And remember that many of these healings were also exorcisms. I AM NOT encouraging doing deliverance on non-Christians. In 99.9999% of deliverances, the attending minister should make every effort to lead the person to Christ before attempting an exorcism. Casting out a demon involves the faith of BOTH the exorcist and the supplicant, agreeing together. That can only happen if the seeker is saved! However, anyone seeking God’s mercy for deliverance, whether they have formally converted to Christianity, should not be forbidden to have prayers of deliverance. Forcing their demons to leave may be the proof they need that the devil is real, and Jesus is Lord. Take what I have shared and proceed with caution, remembering that Jesus said in Matthew 5:45, “He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” God is merciful and he doesn’t always play by our assumptive rules.

In my previous blog, which was the first part of this series, I explained the concept of soul trafficking. Be sure to watch that before proceeding here. I pointed out that spiritual soul trafficking allows someone to take your soul, your mind, and emotions, by deceptive persuasion. As I further explained, we see this with the New Age and in certain Christian circles. I cautioned that sincere seekers of God need to beware of forming a soul-tie with a convincing religious leader who offers simple solutions to complex moral and theological issues.

I could easily give contemporary examples of popular soul traffickers, many of them with large internet followings. Every day I hear from ministry clients about some new individual with a prophetic word or New Age insight that will solve every conundrum. What the sincere seeker doesn’t realize is that once that soul tie with the soul trafficker has been forged, it may be possible for a fragment of soul consciousness from the cult leader to be deposited in the mind of follower. This is a form of mind control well known to those in the dark arts of black magic. The acolyte becomes a mini-me who uncritically follows the directions of the trafficker in matters ranging from strict adherence to esoteric belief systems to control of everyday actions.

Another hook of soul traffickers is to offer quick spiritual insights, so called “instant karma.” To the adherent of eastern religions, this means no more transmigrating reincarnations. No need for endless hours stretching into weeks, months, even years to receive enlightenment. Hinduism has the concept of what’s known as “Shaktipata.” This is the instant transmission of spiritual energy and knowledge directly from a guru or Hindu god. It can be done by a look or touch, particularly at the center of the forehead, the third eye, one of the yoga charka centers. At this point, the consciousness of the guru is said to enter the disciple. A soul trafficking bond has been formed.

The Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the late founder and leader of the Unification Church Moonies, had an even more clever and deceptive method. It was reported that, when severing communion to cult followers, Rev. Moon would put a small drop of his own blood into the liquid. In this way he sought to embed in each participant a microscopic particle of his own DNA. Whether this happened, the soul-bonding intention was clear. An example of Soul trafficking.

Christians need to be aware of the mesmerizing effect of any so-called apostle or prophet of God who claims to know what no one else knows, and that leader wants to deposit his or her insights into you. If you experience such an appeal to exclusive information, whether it has political or eschatological implications, watch out. Serious spiritual bondage can result.

In summary, the purpose of soul trafficking is to gather around one leader a group of like-minded people who mimic the teachings of the leader, who in turn gradually veers away from Christian orthodoxy to “new revelations.” These new paradigms often include beliefs concerning the supernatural. The key is when the leader majors on a minor aspect of Christian thinking and teaches a formulaic means of achieving spiritual gratification–usually in the area of finances, healing, demonology, or End Times predictions.

If the leader is Hindu or Buddhist, the soul trafficker may present a way to instant nirvana or oneness with the universe. In the Christian world, the goal is often healing of every disease, quick financial abundance, and the solving of life’s conundrums with quick access to an answer from God, if the right procedures are followed. Of course, I am speaking in generalities here lest anyone take this concept of soul trafficking and turn it into a witch hunt condemning a ministry that one dislikes. But the warning stands.

As Second Timothy 4:2-4 says, “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables.” (NKJV)

Fables disseminated by soul traffickers.