52_Understanding Your Enemy.pdf

Volume XIV, Issue 2

L EGACY

OF D EREK P RINCE

Understanding Your Enemy

Somewhere in every one of us is a deep longing to make contact with

the unknown, with some “higher power”—something greater or

wiser or more powerful than ourselves. This is true at all levels, from

the teenage girl reading her horoscope, to the witch doctor in some

remote tribe who has never seen a white man, to the scientist

probing outer space and seeking to discover the secrets of the universe.

t was God who placed this longing within us,

but His archenemy, Satan, has devised a way to

divert seekers into deceptive, evil systems that

bring them into bondage to himself. These deceptive

systems can take countless different forms, but the

generic name for them all is the occult .

The word occult is derived from a Latin word that

means “concealed . ” The power operating through occult

practices comes from Satan, but most people caught up

in them do not know this. They have been enticed by

claims that make them appear highly desirable.

Scripture calls turning away from the one true God to

false gods “spiritual adultery.” Thus, the Bible’s warnings

against immorality and adultery also apply to involvement

with the occult. The “strange woman” described in

Proverbs vividly depicts the lure of the occult. The tragic

end of those who permit themselves to be enticed and

deceived by her is described in Proverbs 7:25–27:

Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways,

Do not stray into her paths;

For she has cast down many wounded,

And all who were slain by her were strong men.

Her house is the way to hell,

Descending to the chambers of death.

Scripture emphasizes that the victims of this “strange

woman” are strong men. Satan hates such men. Strong

men become vulnerable when they place their confidence

in their own strength and in their past successes.

T HE T EACHING

Volume XIV, Issue 2

Two Main Branches

This is what makes fortunetelling

so deceptive and dangerous. A

person who has a python spirit can

actually channel supernatural

knowledge concerning the past or

future. This measure of truth is the

bait on Satan’s occult hook by

which he seeks to capture and

enslave his victims.

Most people want to know what

the future holds. Fortunetelling

caters to this desire. But God

requires us to “walk by faith, not by

sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7), not

knowing what the future holds but

trusting His unfailing faithfulness.

There may, however, be times when

God will give us some sovereign

revelation concerning the future,

without our desiring or seeking it.

When He takes the initiative, the

result will serve His purposes.

Another way many people are

exposed to divination is through

horoscopes. Casually scanning

“your” horoscope in the newspaper

with an unguarded mind can

expose you to demonic influence.

Here again, many Christians are

deceived. They consider such

activities harmless, not recognizing

the snare. I ministered to a Chris-

tian woman once who needed

deliverance from a spirit of

divination. She could not under-

stand how such a spirit could have

entered her. As I questioned her,

she eventually acknowledged that

she read her horoscope

occasionally in the daily

newspaper. She was shocked to

realize that she had opened herself

to a demon of divination.

Another potential door-opener

for demons is involvement in the

martial arts. The martial arts

originated in cultures permeated

with idolatry and demonic activity.

The other main branch

through which the occult operates

is sorcery. It uses various means

to make an impact on the physical

senses. Some of its tools are drugs,

potions, charms, amulets, magic,

spells and incantations.

Revelation describes two end-

time judgments of God by which

some sections of humanity will be

killed. Then it closes by saying that

the rest of mankind “did not repent

of their murders or their sorceries

or their sexual immorality or their

thefts” (Revelation 9:20–21). The

Greek word translated “sorceries”

means literally “drugs.” The NIV

renders it “magic arts.” The evil

actions here associated with sorcery

are murders, sexual immorality and

theft. Often addiction to drugs

opens the door to these other evils.

The two main branches of the

occult are identified in Scripture

as divination and sorcery.

Divination provides knowledge

through supernatural means about

people, events and situations.

Frequently it predicts future events.

The contemporary terms for this

are fortunetelling, psychic predicting

and extrasensory perception (ESP).

A clear example is offered by

the slave girl in Acts 16:16–22,

who was said to be “possessed

with a spirit of divination.”

Interestingly, the Greek merely

says “she had a python spirit.” In

classical Greek culture the

python was often associated with

the practice of divination or

fortunetelling. The modern term

for such a person is psychic.

This girl was the first person in

Philippi to discern the identity of

Paul and Silas. “These men are the

servants of the Most High God,” she

cried, “who proclaim to us the way

of salvation” (v. 17). Everything she

said was true, yet her knowledge

came from a demon. When the

demon was expelled, she lost the

ability to tell fortunes and her

masters lost their source of income.

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Volume XIV, Issue 2

In Deuteronomy 18:10–12

( NIV ), the Lord declares His attitude

toward occult involvement:

door. If anyone enters by Me, he will

be saved.” Again He said, “I am the

way, the truth, and the life. No one

comes to the Father except through

Me” (John 14:6). Many different

doors lead into the realm of the

supernatural. But there is only one

door that leads to the supernatural

realm of God. That door is Jesus.

Those who go through any other

door can enter a supernatural

realm—but it is the realm of Satan,

not of the one true God.

Satan will do all the damage he

can to humanity through

ideologies such as atheism or

humanism, but false religion is

an infinitely more powerful tool

in his hands. To this very hour,

the great majority of the human

race is enslaved by false religion.

As with other forms of the

occult, it is impossible to list all

the forms of false religion

currently being practiced. But

here are five of the main features

that characterize religions as false:

1. Religions that acknowledge a

plurality of gods. The early church

was surrounded by a polytheistic

culture, but in 1 Corinthians 8:5–6

Paul defined the Christian position:

earth (as there are many gods

and many lords), yet for us there

is one God, the Father, of whom

are all things, and we for Him;

and one Lord Jesus Christ,

through whom are all things, and

through whom we live.

Let no one be found among you

who sacrifices his son or daughter

in the fire, who practices

divination or sorcery, interprets

omens, engages in witchcraft, or

casts spells, or who is a medium or

spiritist or who consults the dead.

Anyone who does these things is

detestable to the L ORD . . . .

2. Religions that practice idol

worship. Idolatry is the first

specific sin forbidden in the Ten

Commandments and the one that

carries the heaviest penalties (see

Exodus 20:3–5).

3. Religions teaching that

human beings ultimately can be-

come gods. This was the original

temptation offered by Satan in the

Garden of Eden: “You will be like

God [or gods]” (Genesis 3:5).

This promise contains an

inherent self-contradiction. God,

who has created all things,

including the human race, is

Himself uncreated. It is logically

impossible for man, the created, to

become like God, the uncreated.

The created can never become

uncreated. Nevertheless, this

promise of becoming like God has

appealed to the self-exalting pride

of humanity in every generation.

4. Religions teaching that

people can achieve righteousness

by their own efforts. Again, the

The word translated “detestable”

is the strongest word in the

Hebrew language for what the Lord

hates and rejects. God places such

people in the same category as

those who sacrifice their children

to a pagan deity. It is hard for our

culture to realize how intensely

God hates all these occult practices.

False Religion

False religion is closely related to

the occult. Both promise what

appeals to us all—peace, power,

knowledge, access to God. They

claim to direct us to the light, but

they actually entice us into darkness.

How can we protect ourselves?

In John 10:9 Jesus said, “I am the

For even if there are so-called

gods, whether in heaven or on

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Volume XIV, Issue 2

appeal is to human pride. Proud

people are drawn to religious

systems that demand hard,

unreasonable forms of work and

even self-inflicted suffering. The

more rigorous the demands, the

greater the degree of pride a

person feels in fulfilling them.

5. Religions that offer esoteric

knowledge available only to a

privileged few. Access to this

knowledge usually requires some

special rite of initiation. In the

first century, the apostles were

warning their followers about this

form of deception. It was against

this error that Paul warned

Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:20–21:

rites. The basis of its faith, the

Bible, is an open book. All are

encouraged to study it.

False religion always appeals in

one way or another to human

pride. The Gospel, on the other

hand, emphasizes that we are

saved by the grace of God, which

cannot be earned, but is received

only by faith, which God Himself

supplies. In Ephesians 2:8–9, Paul

says this leaves no room for pride.

complex it is. There is no simple

way to define or describe it. You

might compare it to an octopus

with many tentacles, which it

fastens onto its victim. Just as the

victim is guarding himself against

one tentacle, another seeks to

fasten onto him from his blind side.

If you have been involved in the

occult or false religion—even

inadvertently or experimentally—

God wants you to repent of it,

confess it as sin, and seek Christ for

forgiveness, cleansing, and release.

And to make your break deliberate

and clean, any books or other

objects connected with the occult or

false religion should be destroyed.

For by grace you have been saved

through faith, and that not of

yourselves; it is the gift of God, not

of works, lest anyone should boast.

O Timothy! Guard what was

committed to your trust, avoiding

the profane and idle [or vain]

babblings and contradictions of

what is falsely called knowledge

[gnosis]—by professing it some

have strayed concerning the faith.

In 1 Corinthians 10:20–21, Paul

emphasizes that every form of false

religion is permeated by demonic

power and that Christians must not,

therefore, be involved in any way:

Adapted from Derek Prince’s teaching:

“They Shall Expel Demons,” available

at www.DerekPrince.org.

For further study, we

recommend Derek’s message:

Witchcraft – Public Enemy

No. 1

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The things which the Gentiles

sacrifice they sacrifice to demons

and not to God, and I do not want

you to have fellowship with

demons. You cannot drink the cup

of the Lord and the cup of demons;

you cannot partake of the Lord’s

table and of the table of demons.

Mormonism and Freemasonry

are two examples of religions

whose secrets are revealed only to

those who have passed through a

stringent process of initiation.

Christianity, on the other

hand, is open. It has no special

process of initiation and no secret

This brief overview of the occult

and false religions reveals just how

Derek Prince Ministries

P.O. Box 19501

Charlotte, NC 28219

704.357.3556

www.DerekPrince.org

ContactUs@DerekPrince.org

TL062

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