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How Could I Have Been so Wrong?

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When I started to become aware that I might have to leave the religion of my childhood, Jehovah’s Witnesses, I prayed the same prayer over and over again: Father, please show me what is right and what is wrong, what is true and what is false. I was desperate for the gift of discernment because I realized I had been badly deceived for the majority of my life. 

How could I possibly have fallen for a false religion? Was I stupid? Gullible? Naive?

Well, yes and no. Yes, I was all of those things, but not any more than most people. The truth is that people of average to above average intelligence are perfectly capable of being duped. 

As explained in a blog post for Psychology today, we often believe people whom we trust, and that effect can be amplified if many of the people we trust all believe the same thing:

“Although the effect of believing something due to trust often happens when just one person we trust causes us to believe in something, the effect is magnified when more people around us believe. Being recruited into a harmful cult by a trusted friend can be difficult, but leaving a cult — at which point all of our close friends are believers — is far more difficult. And growing up in an authoritarian regime, where everyone we’ve met seems to believe a certain thing, makes it that much more difficult to resist believing it too.” – Why Do Smart People Fall for Stupid Ideas? | Psychology Today

I made an understandable mistake – I trusted my parents and the other spiritual leaders around me more than I trusted God. But just because the mistake was understandable doesn’t mean it was harmless. The Bible is clear about whom we ought to trust:

“Do not trust in nobles, in merely a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. His spirit departs; he returns to the earth; In that very day his plans perish. How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in Yahweh his God, who made heaven and earth, The sea and all that is in them; Who keeps truth forever; Who does justice for the oppressed; Who gives food to the hungry. Yahweh sets the prisoners free.”

We were not designed by God to live apart from him. We do not do well without God’s constant guidance. Yes, we have been given free will. The question is, how will we use it? When we make decisions based upon human reasoning and feelings, we often end up deceived and in a mess. But when we consult our heavenly Father about everything, things have a way of working out much better. 

When Jesus’s disciples asked him to tell them about the last days, the very first thing that Jesus said was this:

“And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.” – Matt. 24:4-5

I believe that we are living in the last days that Jesus was describing in Matthew 24, which means that there is a pretty good chance that we’re going to be exposed to deception. We recently saw a vivid example of the type of deception Jesus was referring to when multitudes of Christians believed false prophets who claimed that they knew the exact date of the rapture despite the fact that Jesus clearly taught that “…that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.” (Matthew 24:36) They were all sorely disappointed, and I pray that their faith has not been destroyed.

Now is not the time to get lazy about prayer, to think that we can reason things out for ourselves, or to start uncritically listening to random internet prophets. Now more than ever, we need God’s guidance and wisdom. 

I have learned that God has a strange way of teaching lessons. In response to my pleas for wisdom and discernment, you would think he would just give me wisdom and discernment. But instead, He has repeatedly led me into intellectually or spiritually confusing situations to show me how easy it is to get fooled and how important it is to trust in his guidance. Be careful what you pray for!

So, what have I learned? 

In a nutshell, we must truly love and submit to our heavenly Father. And we must have both God’s written word and his spirit. 

We need the Holy Spirit to help us to understand the scriptures. Many people, including Jehovah’s Witnesses, claim to follow the scriptures, and yet they are deceived. What is missing? True submission to God and to the guidance of the Holy Spirit is needed. Reading scripture with a personal agenda and without God’s guidance can be very dangerous.   

For example, I believe that Charles T. Russel, though he claimed to have studied the Bible with a pure heart, may have actually been studying with an agenda. He seemed determined to find something in the scriptures other than the faith of his fathers which so offended him. For example, the idea of the punishment of hell deeply troubled Russel, so he looked for another way to understand the scriptures. Similarly, another president of the Watchtower organization, Joseph F. Rutherford, seems to have come up with many doctrines that were based not on an honest exegesis of scripture, but on a personal agenda of his. 

Other groups seem to have the opposite problem. They claim to be guided by God’s Spirit or his angels, yet their supposed revelations are completely contrary to what God has already revealed in scripture. Paul wrote in his first letter to Timothy that, “… the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons…” Yes, demons speak too. We must take exceeding care that we listen only to the Holy Spirit of God, and not to any other spirit.

Mormonism is an example of this type of deception. Joseph Smith listened to a being who claimed to be an angel of God, but who offered revelations that were contrary to what God had already revealed in his word. Smith failed to “test the spirits.” – 1 John 4:1

So, what are the hallmarks of a true teaching of God? 

First of all, God has already revealed truth in scripture. The apostle Paul wrote that “all scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be equipped, having been thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17) The Bible can be regarded as a sort of spiritual guard rail – its truths, once read, properly understood and believed, can protect us from deception. For that reason, instead of letting someone else tell us what the truth is, it is imperative that we carefully and prayerfully read and study the Bible for ourselves.

Another hallmark of the truth is that it will produce good fruit:

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness, self-control.” – Galatians 5:22-23

““Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.  You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, in Your name did we not prophesy, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name do many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’” – Matthew 7:15-23

Obviously from the text above, even those who claim to follow Jesus can be deceivers. Is the person you are listening to teaching Biblical truth and producing good fruit? Are they doing the will of the Father? Does their speech reflect love, joy, peace, and all the other qualities produced by the Holy Spirit? Is their life a testament to Biblical principles?

Jesus’s disciples loved Him, but they often allowed their own desires to trump what Jesus said, which shows that even true followers of Jesus can be led at times by the wrong spirit. When Jesus’s disciples, John and James, wanted to call down fire over a village of Samaritans who would not receive Jesus, He said this: 

“You do not know what kind of spirit you are of, for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” – Luke 9:55-56

John and James were being influenced by a spirit of vengeance and destruction. If two of the disciples that were closest to Jesus could fall for a deception like that, how much more vulnerable might we be if we act out in our flesh instead of letting the Spirit of God guide us? 

Something similar happened to Peter, as recorded in Matthew 16:21-23:

From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”

Peter was under the influence of the wrong spirit. He refused to accept the hard truth of what Jesus had just revealed to him. How many of us have had a hard time accepting something God has revealed because it would mean a trial or a hardship for us? 

Many of the Pharisees of Jesus’s day were under the influence of the wrong spirit. They seemed to think that they were the guardians of ultimate truth. They had the scriptures and the only correct interpretation of those scriptures, or so they believed. And yet this is what Jesus said to them:

“And the Father who sent Me, He has borne witness about Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form.  And you do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that bear witness about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life. I do not receive glory from men; but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves. I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the only God? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”

The Pharisees loved the accolades of their peers more than they loved God and his truth. They refused to acknowledge the authority of Jesus, claiming that they knew better because they were educated and had the scriptures as their authority. 

What can we learn from this? 

The only way to arrive at the truth and avoid deception is through radical submission to God. True, deep submission to God can only come through true love of God. Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life…” If we love truth, we will love Jesus. And our love will bring us to submit to him, to take up our cross and follow him, and to put his will ahead of our own every time. In turn, God will lead us in the way of truth.

Let us pray as did David:

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me and lead me in the everlasting way.” – Psalm 139:23-24

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How to Talk About the Bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses

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I’m going to tell you a little story from my past, but before I do that, I want to explain to you why this subject means so much to me. I want Christians to learn how to effectively evangelize JWs because I was a JW and because some of my most beloved family members still are. They have completely cut me off. I cannot speak to them. But you can. They come to your doors all the time, seeking to talk about the Bible with you. Please don’t ignore them or shut them down. They need what you have, and some of them have family members like me who are waiting for you to show them the truth.

Okay, on to my story:

When I was a JW, I delighted in engaging in online debates. I belonged to a discussion forum that was mostly about pop psychology, but which had a section just for discussing religion. A JW friend and I decided to create a discussion thread titled, “Ask me anything about Jehovah’s Witnesses.” We got a LOT of questions. Most of them were pretty predictable: “Why don’t JWs celebrate Christmas, Birthdays, Easter? etc. Why won’t JWs stop knocking at my door? Do JWs think that they’re the only ones who will be saved? Those all were very easy questions to answer. But a few brave Christians decided to challenge us on the deity of Christ. I was prepared with an arsenal of JW literature on how to prove that Jesus is not God. I’m afraid the Christians did not fare well. And there were even a few who said they were attracted to our way of worship. I felt very proud of myself, until….the apostates started coming. At that point, I jumped ship. Most Christians, unfortunately, are easy targets for JWs. Ex JW Christians, however, are a whole other beast.

Christians, you need to learn to reason like a seasoned Christian ex JW if you want to talk scripture with Jehovah’s Witnesses. JWs don’t think like you, and, generally, they are more prepared than you. I realize there are some Christians who have gone to seminary or studied a lot on their own. But for the rest of you, you probably have some learning to do before you will be effective in a Bible discussion with JWs. 

The most important thing to get clear in your mind is this: What is your goal? Why do you want to talk about the Bible with a JW? Is it because you want to prove that you’re right and they’re wrong? Or is it because you care about their spiritual welfare? Is it out of pride or out of love? Unless your motivation is pure love, the endeavor will be pointless from God’s standpoint. The apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13: “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.”

In my last post, I wrote about why JWs are so resistant to change. JWs are taught to completely shun former members. So, they know very well that if they discover that JWs do not have the truth and feel the need to leave the organization, they will probably lose every person they know who is a JW, very often all of their family. They have everything to lose and only one thing to gain: Christ. Christ is more than worth “the loss of all things.” But most JWs think they already have Christ. So they are unlikely to feel motivated to question the doctrines of the organization that is likely holding their family and friends hostage. Just remember that if they do begin to question, it will cause painful cognitive dissonance, something most people try to avoid. If they are able to make it past that hurdle, then they will be faced with the biggest dilemma of their life: Do I pretend to believe something I know is not true? Or do I jump ship and risk the loss of everything and everyone I’ve ever known or loved?

If out of sincere Christian love you have taken some time to learn about JWs, you now understand more about how they think and what they have to lose, and you also feel secure in your ability to skillfully defend your faith, you are ready to learn how to talk to a JW about the Bible. And remember that if you are successful, you will need to disciple and support that JW through a very difficult transition.

How to begin? 

JWs are taught to view non-JWs as potential students. They want to teach you what they know. They do not want to be taught by you. So act like a student. Ask sincere questions, the kinds of questions that will be difficult for them to answer. 

At the beginning, it’s important to avoid the subject of the Trinity or the deity of Christ. Nothing turns a JW off faster than the subject of the Trinity. It has been drilled into them over and over that the Trinity is a wicked, pagan teaching that dishonors their God, Jehovah. You can return to this subject once you have made some progress in other areas. 

Start with low lying fruit. JWs are taught that Jesus’ second coming occurred invisibly in the year 1914. This is the easiest doctrine to get them to question because most of them don’t understand it to begin with and it’s ridiculously easy to prove that it is incorrect. If you can get them to see the error of this one doctrine, everything else comes tumbling down. It’s like pulling that one Jenga block that’s holding it all up.

Charles T. Russel, the founder of the Watchtower organization, set many dates related to the end times and second coming, all of which turned out to be wrong. But the one date the organization never let go of was 1914. In the beginning, it was thought that Jesus would come, rapture all the faithful Saints, and set up his Kingdom on earth in that year. When that did not happen, instead of admitting that he had been wrong, it was taught that Jesus actually HAD come in 1914, only it had been invisible. It was taught that Jesus came to “inspect his temple”, or the worldwide body of Christ. Once that inspection was complete, apparently sometime in the year 1919, Jesus is said to have determined that the International Bible Students Association (which eventually became Jehovah’s Witnesses) was the one and only organization that was found to be adequately doing the will of God. For that reason, it was determined to be the “faithful slave” of Matthew 24 and Luke 12, the one and only “channel of communication” of Jesus Christ to mankind.

Russell based his calculations for the date of 1914 on the prophecy in Daniel about the “7 Gentile times.” The explanation for this teaching is extremely complicated and convoluted. But what you need to know is that Russel believed that Christ would come at the end of the “Gentile times,” which, according to the book of Daniel, would last 2, 520 years and would begin at the destruction of Jerusalem. Their critical mistake, other than the obvious one of date setting, was that they used 607 BCE, the assumed year of the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon, as their start date for the 2,520 years. But that date is supported by almost no one other than JWs. Most Bible scholars set the date for the fall of Jerusalem at 586/587 BCE. 

But more important than the fact that the date was wrong was the fact that Russel was trying to set a date for something that Jesus clearly stated no one would know, not even He Himself:

“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.” – Matt. 24:36

Further, Jesus warned about those who would try to deceive by claiming that He had come invisibly: 

“Therefore, if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them. For just as the lightning comes from the east and appears even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.” – Matthew 24:26-27

Jesus’s second coming will not be hidden. It will be obvious to all, just like a bolt of lightning.

JWs also teach that only 144,000 anointed Christians (all JW of course) will go to heaven. The rest of mankind, the so-called “great crowd of other sheep”, has the hope of living forever on earth, as long as they become baptized Witnesses and carefully listen to and obey the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses. I find that many JWs feel uneasy about this doctrine, and it is very easy to disprove. 

There are just two main passages of scripture that are used to teach this doctrine. The first is found in John 10:16 where it says, “And I have other sheep, which are not from this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.” It is claimed by JWs that these “other sheep” are the same group that is spoken of in Revelation 7:9-17 called the “great crowd” or “great multitude”. It is taught that this “great crowd of other sheep” is not part of the new covenant with Christ (Luke 22:20), which means that they do not have Jesus Christ as their mediator. It also means that they are not permitted to partake of the communion bread and wine during the annual memorial of Christ’s death celebrated by JWs around the time of the Jewish passover. The only hope for this group lies in their willingness to attach themselves to the “anointed class” of JWs and follow their lead. The governing body of JWs, of course, are all of the anointed class.

This is all utter nonsense, of course. 

The two groups spoken of in John 10:16 are Jewish and Gentile followers of Jesus Christ. He was announcing his intention to bring the Gentiles into his sheepfold, which is exactly what happened after his death and resurrection. (Acts 10) The passage has absolutely nothing to do with two classes of Christians, one going to heaven and one not, within the organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses. 

The interpretation of Revelation 7 is easy enough if you simply look at the entire context of the verses. The 144,000 are obviously a group of Jewish followers of Christ, if you want to take the passage literally. And the great crowd spoken of starting in verse 9 of chapter 7 is a group of Christians who have been martyred during the “great tribulation” and are standing before the throne of God in heaven. 

What I find funny is that JWs seem to get the interpretation of this chapter of Revelation exactly backwards. They say that the 144,000 is a heavenly class and that the great crowd is an earthly class when, in fact, the text makes it clear that the 144,000 are on earth and the great crowd is in heaven.

This is an incredibly destructive doctrine for several reasons. The first is that it creates a two tier system of salvation that is completely unscriptural and sets the stage for the kind of totalitarian governance that we see within the Watchtower organization. It is an oppressive doctrine. And most importantly, it forces JWs to disobey a direct command of Jesus Christ regarding communion, “do this in remembrance of me.” – Luke 22:19. So serious is this command that Jesus said “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.” – John 6:53 

The governing body of Jehovah’s Witnesses bars the vast majority of JWs from the table of the Lord. They are like the scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’s day, of whom He said: “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.” – Matthew 23:13

JWs teach many false doctrines besides the two that I just covered. But if you can get them to acknowledge the falsehood of just those two, they are well on their way out of the organization. 

But keep in mind this one thing: if you can argue a JW into the kingdom, then they can most likely be argued out of it. They need something more than intellectual assent to the true gospel. Paul wrote in Romans 10 that “if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, leading to righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, leading to salvation.” 

That kind of belief does not come from the intellect. It develops when the Spirit of God speaks to the spirit of man, as Paul stated in Romans 8: “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,” This happens when we have a genuine encounter with the Holy Spirit. 

How can we help JWs to have that type of encounter? Pray for them. Let the light of God shine through your speech and actions. Pray with them if they will let you. Be patient and never forget that this could mean their life. 

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How Christians Can Talk Jehovah’s Witnesses

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Many years ago when I was still a Jehovah’s Witness, I was going door to door with my mother offering literature. At one door, an older lady asked us to come into her house. I thought I was going to have a chance to give her my presentation, but she stopped me and said she didn’t want to hear it. What she really wanted to do was to tell me about a few of the many encounters she’d had with the Lord. She told me story after story of having her prayers answered in obvious and spectacular ways. 

As JWs, we had been taught that members of “Christendom” (Christians) were deceived by the devil. Even so, I could not get this lady’s stories out of my head. I had a very hard time believing that she had been lying. My only option other than questioning my indoctrination, which I could not do, was to make myself believe that demons had been answering her prayers. 

That encounter lived rent free in my mind for a long time. Actually, I never forgot it, and when I eventually began to question my allegiance to the Watchtower organization, like a dormant seed, it started to grow. I wish I could thank that lady now. She didn’t have to invite us in and tell us her stories. She could have simply ignored our knock or told us she wasn’t interested. Instead, she cared enough to make an attempt to reach our hearts.

In case you didn’t know, the religion of Jehovah’s Witnesses is considered by many to be a dangerous, pseudo-Christian cult. The reason for that is two-fold. The first reason is that the level of control exerted over the faithful is extreme and, in some cases, even dangerous. The second reason is exclusive to Christianity. Jehovah’s Witnesses teach unscriptural doctrines that are so far outside what could be considered orthodox Christianity that it cannot be called Christian. They teach what most Christians would call “another gospel.” (Galatians 1:8) Many question whether or not JWs are even saved.

For JWs, waking up is dangerous. Depending on how long they have been associated, they stand to lose what to them may feel like everything they hold dear – their worldview, their family, and possibly all or nearly all of their friends. They are taught that dissidents, called “apostates”, are spiritual poison and must be completely shunned, which is why, if they have any doubts, they will often hide them at all costs. I remember feeling like I was bound and gagged. Once a JW is either expelled from the organization, called “disfellowshipping”, or formally disassociates themself, they are treated as if they had died, or worse, as if they had never even existed in the first place. This is unimaginably painful, often leading to severe mental illness or even suicide. 

My Christian friends often ask me how they can talk to JWs in a way that might help them to wake up. First, remember what they stand to lose and be gentle and kind. Second, they probably won’t listen to you unless they are already questioning. If they are not ready to be intellectually honest, any effort at waking them up will probably prove fruitless. In that case, pray for them.

If you think your JW friend might be open to hearing you, try giving your testimony. (Revelation 12:11) Very rarely does arguing doctrine help, but it does happen. (I will write a future post on how to discuss doctrine with JWs.) Most JWs are well-trained to frustrate the average Christian with their labyrinthine eisegesis of the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures. A die-hard JW will reject even the most biblically sound, well-thought-out argument because they are conditioned to believe that no one can understand the Bible except for the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses. But it is much harder for them to reject or explain away your encounters with God.

The above approach is my favorite because it bolsters faith in God. If a JW loses faith in the Watchtower organization before they have had a genuine encounter with God, they almost inevitably become atheist or agnostic. In fact, it has been estimated by some that up to 90 percent of ex JWs are unbelievers. So, if you decide to use any approach other than giving your testimony or discussing the Bible, do everything you can to help them hang on to their faith in God.

What kicked my own awakening into high gear was the Covid lockdowns. The emotional manipulation and spiritual abuse perpetrated by the leadership became so painfully obvious during that time that I finally felt that I had to question my beloved organization. Most JWs will not be able to question their indoctrination until they can clearly see that the organization is suspect and may not deserve their trust. They will defend the interpretations of the organization to their dying breath unless they at some point are able to see the humbug behind the curtain, the flawed, imperfect, and even devious men behind the impeccable facade.

If you decide to try to show a JW the truth about the organization, make sure that you stick to the facts. There is a lot of unprovable conjecture on the internet about the Watchtower organization. But hard, verifiable facts are available. JWs are extremely suspicious of outside information about the organization and will almost inevitably dismiss any negative information as “apostate lies” unless you can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that what you are presenting is true. Even then, they may either claim you are lying or that your source is biased and unreliable. And again, emphasize that just because the Watchtower organization is untrustworthy does not mean that God is.

Making JWs aware of their own history can also be a good way to wake them up. If the foundation is rotten, the building cannot stand. For many, all it took was to read some of Charles T. Russell’s original works and the scales fell from their eyes. Russell, the founder of the Watchtower organization who fancied himself a prophet of God, was very fond of setting dates for the second coming of Christ, and every date that he set was wrong. This made him a false prophet. For more on the history of the Watchtower organization’s many bizarre teachings and doctrinal flip flops, see jwfacts.org.  In fact, that website is a treasure trove of information, not only on Watchtower history, but on all things JW.

Can you imagine being immersed in a reality that is really a mirage? Can you imagine then waking up to that fact? Can you imagine the disorientation and pain? The movie The Truman Show was an amazingly applicable parable about just that. There is a quote from that film that I find especially apt for helping people to understand JWs, especially those who were brought up in the organization. It is this: “We accept the reality with which we are presented.” That is true. But what happens when that reality starts to crumble? It can be both exhilarating and terrifying.

My Christian brothers and sisters, next time the JWs come knocking, maybe think twice about hiding in the back room or telling them to get lost. They are precious to God, and they need what you have. They are trapped and silenced in a cruelly seductive and demanding system of psychological control from which it is very difficult to escape. Many of them are genuinely seeking God, and what they have been taught by the organization really seems true to them. They deserve your love and compassion, not rejection or cruelty. “It is for freedom that you were set free.” (Galatians 5:1) JWs need the freedom that you probably take for granted. The most loving thing you can do is to learn how to speak to them effectively. And if your efforts are rejected, pray, pray, pray. Give them time. Give them grace. It could literally mean their lives.

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The New Age: Compatible with Christianity?

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In my last post, I wrote about practices and behaviors that can open the door to demonic oppression. One such door, the New Age, has become so commonplace and accepted in our culture that I felt it would be a good idea to devote an entire post to discussing it. What is the New Age? A Wikipedia article defines it this way:

“New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars consider it a religious movement, its adherents typically see it as spiritual or as unifying Mind-Body-Spirit, and rarely use the term New Age themselves. Scholars often call it the New Age movement, although others contest this term and suggest it is better seen as a milieu or zeitgeist.

As a form of Western esotericism, the New Age drew heavily upon esoteric traditions such as the occultism of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, including the work of Emanuel Swedenborg and Franz Mesmer, as well as Spiritualism, New Thought, and Theosophy. More immediately, it arose from mid-twentieth century influences such as the UFO religions of the 1950s, the counterculture of the 1960s, and the Human Potential Movement. Its exact origins remain contested, but it became a major movement in the 1970s, at which time it was centered largely in the United Kingdom. It expanded widely in the 1980s and 1990s, in particular in the United States. By the start of the 21st century, the term New Age was increasingly rejected within this milieu, with some scholars arguing that the New Age phenomenon had ended.” – New Age (Wikipedia)

Many New Age concepts and practices, including certain types of health treatments, are directly connected to false religion and to the occult. I believe that allopathic medicine can also be physically and sometimes even spiritually dangerous, but I will write a separate post about that. Here I will focus on practices and healing modalities that are associated with the New Age.

The Bible is very clear about how God feels about occult practices and false religion:

“There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices soothsaying or one who interprets omens or a sorcerer, or one who is an enchanter or a medium or a spiritist or one who inquires of the dead. For whoever does these things is an abomination to Yahweh; and because of these abominations Yahweh your God will dispossess them from before you.” Deuteronomy 18:10-12

“I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. You shall not take the name of Yahweh your God in vain, for Yahweh will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.” – Exodus 20:2-7

I have compiled a list of practices that are often associated with the New Age which I believe to be potentially spiritually dangerous. I could write a book for each one of the practices I will mention in the following paragraphs, but for the purposes of this post, which is to warn other Christians about dangerous practices that can open doors to demons, I will keep my comments brief while providing links to videos and articles which provide more information on each individual practice.

I used to justify my involvement with yoga by telling myself that I could unhitch it from its pagan roots and just call it “stretching and breathing.” But I changed my thinking after I discovered the stories of ex-yoga practitioners who found out the hard way that they had opened doors to demonic oppression. Here are a few examples:

  1. Ex-Yoga Instructor Tells All – Is Yoga Demonic?
  2. Yoga Got me Demons
  3. Danna Weiss: Exposing Yoga for What it Really Is

I also practiced meditation and mostly found it quite relaxing. But I was not connecting the dots, because while the practice was relaxing in the moment, I kept on getting sicker and sicker both physically and mentally. There is a proper, biblical way to meditate which involves intense focus on God and on the teachings of the Bible. Transcendental meditation is dangerous because the goal is not connection with God and his truth, but total emptying of the mind. After I watched the following video, my experience with meditation finally made sense: Proof Meditation is Dangerous and Demonic (The Shocking Truth)

I allowed myself to be influenced by friends to use crystals in an attempt to heal my body and mind. I had several quartz crystals and an obsidian. Many people dismiss the use of crystals for healing as pseudoscience and feel that any results people may obtain are due to an overactive imagination. My experience was that they had a definite effect, but so do many of the “energy healing modalities.” What is the source of this supposed healing effect? I thought it could be explained scientifically through an understanding of quantum physics. But when I read about how New Agers use crystals to get into contact with the spirit world, I threw my crystals away. Crystals are beautiful creations of God. There are crystals in heaven. But there is no evidence that crystals have any real healing properties. And because crystals are often used in ways that could pose a spiritual danger, I have elected not to use them.

  1. Do Crystals Have Supernatural Powers? Video by Everett Roeth
  2. What Does the Bible Say About Crystals?
  3. Thoughts on Gems, Stones, and Crystals by Marcia Montenegro
  4. Crystals Healing: Stone cold facts about gemstone treatments

When I was recovering from a nervous breakdown and medication withdrawal, I had what I called my “healing toolbox,” and in that toolbox was my favorite method of combating anxiety and depression: affirmations. I had been heavily influenced by the writings of Louise Hay, who promoted the principles of “the law of attraction” or “manifesting.” Proponents of the law of attraction teach that we create our reality with our thoughts and words. According to them, if I want a new car, all I have to do is say that I have that car over and over and eventually, the car will manifest into my life. No need for hard work. No need for prayer. This philosophy attributes godlike qualities to humans and erases our need to submit to our creator. For detailed discussions of the problems associated with the law of attraction and how to differentiate what the bible teaches about the power of the tongue vs the law of attraction, see these videos:

  1. Should Christians Use the Law of Attraction?
  2. Manifest Your Reality! The Law of Attraction Debunked

Another practice that I am very familiar with is acupuncture. Not only did I receive acupuncture, I also studied acupuncture meridian charts so that I could learn how to use acupressure at home. Although I was very invested in the healing philosophy behind acupuncture, the undeniable fact that it is deeply rooted in the ancient Chinese religion of Taoism made me rethink my involvement with it. There is no denying that bodywork such as massage or trigger point therapy can be very beneficial, and acupuncture/acupressure can seem very similar to these types of therapies. I think we just need to be careful about how we conceptualize what we are doing and make sure that it has nothing to do with false religion or the occult.

  1. Is Acupuncture Demonic?
  2. The Tao and God: The Way of Man and the Way of God
  3. The Religion of Life Force Energy

In my last post, I described how God showed me, much to my surprise and dismay, that homeopathy is a dangerous healing modality. Here is an excerpt from that post:

One night, I had a vivid dream that woke me up to a pitfall I had been unaware of before. In the dream, I was being followed around by a big, ugly, scary-looking man. I came up to a bookcase and pulled out a familiar-looking book about homeopathy that I had used for years to help me prescribe remedies. I told the ugly man that I knew a lot about that book. Immediately, he attacked me, and then I woke up. I knew the dream was from God and that it meant something. As soon as I began to ponder the dream, in my mind I heard God say, “Get rid of all of your homeopathy books. Burn them!” I could hardly believe it! I had begun to understand that I had been involved in some ungodly health practices, but I was shocked to find out that homeopathy was one of them. I asked the Lord for confirmation, and I found it in this video. So, I took everything I had that was related to homeopathy, hundreds of dollars’ worth of books and remedies, and got rid of them. I tried burning a few of the books, but they were difficult to burn, and I ended up trashing most of it. After that, the knocking and tapping in my room stopped for a time, but I still had a long way to go.

What is homeopathy? WebMD explains:

“A basic belief behind homeopathy is “like cures like.” In other words, something that brings on symptoms in a healthy person can — in a very small dose — treat an illness with similar symptoms. This is meant to trigger the body’s natural defenses.

For example, red onion makes your eyes water. That’s why it’s used in homeopathic remedies for allergies. Treatments for other ailments are made from poison ivy, white arsenic, crushed whole bees, and an herb called arnica.

Homeopathic doctors (who also are called “homeopaths”) weaken these ingredients by adding water or alcohol. Then they shake the mixture as part of a process called “potentization.” They believe this step transfers the healing essence. Homeopaths also believe that the lower the dose, the more powerful the medicine. In fact, many of these remedies no longer contain any molecules of the original substance. They come in a variety of forms, like sugar pellets, liquid drops, creams, gels, and tablets.”

I was introduced to homeopathy by a family friend when I was about 13 years old. From that time on, I used it often to provide relief for things like colds, coughs, and menstrual cramps. At the age of 16, I went to a homeopathic physician for the first time for relief from low energy and gastrointestinal problems. The treatment I received from her felt like a miracle. I gained a healthy amount of weight and saw multiple health problems disappear in a matter of a few weeks. I became a true believer in the power of homeopathy and eventually studied it extensively myself in order to be able to effectively treat myself and my family. But in addition to the successes I experienced, I also had strange and frightening experiences, especially when experimenting with very high potency remedies. In spite of that, I was attached to my understanding of homeopathy and felt quite shocked when God told me to stop doing it. But once I did some research on the occult origins of homeopathy, I understood much better why God was leading me away from it. To learn about the history and philosophy of homeopathy and why it can a problem for Christians, check out the following resources:

  1. Homeopathy, the Occult, and Beyond by Marcia Montenegro
  2. New Age Medicine: Homeopathy by David Brown

I used to go to a Naturopath who used applied kinesiology and “remote” energy healing techniques. Applied kinesiology is, according to Wikipedia, “a pseudoscience-based technique in alternative medicine claimed to be able to diagnose illness or choose treatment by testing muscles for strength and weakness.” According to chakraconsiousness.com, a remote healer is “an Individual who assists in the healing of someone at a distance. A remote healing session may be done when the practitioner and client are both individually anywhere on earth.” My Naturopath treated me and my son with both types of techniques. Applied kinesiology and remote healing are inherently spiritual and, for obvious reasons, could theoretically open people up to spiritual deception and possibly demonization. Jesus is the only one who we ought to look to for spiritual healing.

  1. How Demons Come in Through New Age Energy Healing
  2. Muscle Testing: Repackaged Divination
  3. Why I No Longer Muscle Test

I was introduced to sage burning while visiting a friend who engaged in this practice. It is not something that I ever got into myself, but I feel it’s worth mentioning, as it’s a very common practice among those who have been influenced by the New Age. The origin of sage burning is decidedly pagan, and it cannot be mixed with Christianity. It will invite demonic spirits into your surroundings rather than repelling them.

  1. The Truth Behind Burning Sage and Other False Spiritual Practices
  2. Exposing Burning Sage: My Story & What Happens

Christ Consciousness is a New Age philosophy that can sound deceptively like Christianity. I have never believed in this philosophy, but I have seen people I know fall prey to it. Some proponents of this philosophy claim to be Christian and use scripture to explain their beliefs. But what is it really? Is it scriptural? Gotquestions.org defines it this way:

“The Center for Christ Consciousness’s website defines Christ consciousness as “the highest state of intellectual development and emotional maturity.” They go on to claim that “Jesus achieved this [higher state of being] in his human life, and was given this term [Christ] before his name as the recognition of his achievement of this spiritual status. This path is open to anyone regardless of their religious tradition if and when he or she is open to become a living vessel of love and truth on the planet and actively strives to attain it.” Another site defines it this way: “Christ consciousness is the state of awareness of our true nature, our higher self, and our birthright as children of God.” It does not take much research to uncover the ancient roots of this idea. It is the same man-centered philosophy that is behind most religions.

So-called “Christ consciousness” has been known by various names in history, such as Jainism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and most Eastern mystical religions. More recently, Deepak Chopra has popularized the “christianized” version of this same pseudo-spirituality. The danger in this latest version of mysticism is the use of Bible verses and Christian terms, which can easily lead astray those who don’t check the Scriptures for themselves.”

Check out the following resources for more information:

  1. What is the Christ Consciousness?
  2. Exposing Christ Consciousness
  3. Christ Consciousness Debunked by Jesus

The following is a list of New Age belief systems and practices that I have had little to no experience with, but which are also worth mentioning, as they are very mainstream in our culture.

  1. Reiki – Reiki Healing is Not What You Think
  2. Astrology – Why I Quit Astrology and Turned to Jesus
  3. Chakra balancing and chakra meditation – Should Christians Open Thier Chakras? Ex-Hindu Tells All
  4. Feng Shui – What is Feng Shui?
  5. Psychics – A Psychic’s Road to Salvation
  6. Tarot readings – Tarot is Evil! Ex-Tarot Reader Tells All
  7. Dowsing – What Does the Bible Say About Dowsing?
  8. Hypnotherapy – Dangers of Hypnosis
  9. Amulets and talismans – What Does the Bible Say About People Who Use Amulets
  10. Pendulums – God Forbids Crystal Pendulums

My hope is that by bringing to light how these practices originated and what their potential spiritual effects can be, any Christian who is involved in any of this, or is thinking about whether or not it would be wise to become involved, would do their own research and, most importantly, take this subject to God in prayer.

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Closing Doors to the Demonic

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In my last post, I wrote about my personal experience with spiritual warfare and deliverance. I had unwittingly opened a lot of doors to demonic oppression, and it took a while to discover what they were, get them shut, and receive freedom.

Christians should not need deliverance, but they often do. Why is that? When asked the question, “Can Christians have demons?” Pastor Don Dickerman has said, “If they want to open a door, they can have anything they want.” What he means is that if a Christian invites the demonic in by engaging in spiritually dangerous thinking or practices, they should not be surprised if they end up needing deliverance.

So, the question is, what practices might be considered spiritually dangerous? I touched on this in my last post, but I want to go into greater detail in this one.

Paul warned fellow Christians that they should not “give place to the devil.” (Ephesians 4:26-27) How might a person do that? Living a carnal life, given over to the works of the flesh, is an open invitation to demons. The term “the works of the flesh” refers to practices that God disapproves of. Here are some scriptures that list attitudes and behaviors that God hates:

“Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” – Galatians 5:19-21

“There are six things which Yahweh hates, even seven which are an abomination to Him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked thoughts, feet that hasten to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who spreads strife among brothers.” – Proverbs 6:16-19

“You, my son, listen and be wise, and direct your heart in the way. Do not be with heavy drinkers of wine, or with gluttonous eaters of meat; For the heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe them with rags.”

“There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices soothsaying or one who interprets omens or a sorcerer, or one who is an enchanter or a medium or a spiritist or one who inquires of the dead. For whoever does these things is an abomination to Yahweh; and because of these abominations Yahweh your God will dispossess them from before you.” Deuteronomy 18:10-12

“I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. You shall not take the name of Yahweh your God in vain, for Yahweh will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.” – Exodus 20:2-7

From these scriptures, we can create a list of practices that can open doors to demonic oppression:

  1. False religions such as Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Scientology, Mormonism, Christian Science, and Jehovah’s Witnesses.
  2. Sorcery or witchcraft, which includes many things which have become common in our culture including some of the more obvious such as: satanism, wicca, seances, ouji boards, fortune tellers, Freemasonry with all its offshoots, tarot cards, astrology, books about magic (including Harry Potter, sorry guys), satanic music (especially heavy metal and death metal), casting of spells, spirit guides, palm reading etc. Some less obvious but more insidiously dangerous practices are Yoga, transcendental meditation, use of crystals for healing and spirituality, law of attraction, Christ consciousness, hypnotism, burning sage for spiritual cleansing, third eye, energy healing including reiki, acupuncture, and homeopathy.
  3. Antisocial and narcissistic behaviors and attitudes such as pride, divisiveness, hatred, rage, jealousy, envy, lying, and abusive speech.
  4. Sexual immorality and uncleanness, including sex before marriage, adultery, and pornography.
  5. Addictions and obsessions, which are a form of idolatry.
  6. Gluttony, drunkenness, and drug abuse.
  7. Murder, including abortion.

Having practiced any of these things does not automatically mean that you have a demon. But they are invitations, sort of like walking down a dangerous street at night with an expensive watch on. It’s just not safe, and you shouldn’t be all that surprised if you get mugged.

Jesus taught an important principle of spiritual warfare when he said this:

“You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not murder’ and ‘Whoever murders shall be guilty before the court.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ shall be guilty before the Sanhedrin; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.” – Matthew 5:21-22 (LSB)

Murder begins in the mind. A person might come into agreement with a hateful thought, and then another, and then another. Soon that person is consumed by hatred to the extent that he begins to make plans to act on his hate. Or maybe there are no plans. But given the right opportunity and circumstances, the person will suddenly strike out and a murder happens. It all started in the mind. The murderer came into agreement with thoughts that were not of God, and this gave opportunity to the Devil. (Ephesians 4:27)

This is how demons get in. They are opportunists. All they need is for you to agree with them.

So many of the evil things that humans think and do have to do with a lack of trust in their Creator. When we fail to trust God, we are disagreeing with him and agreeing with the enemy. Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in Yahweh with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.” This is the truth. If you trust Him, he will make your paths straight.

Choosing sin usually starts with unbelief. We don’t believe God will take care of us, so we may try to control our own destinies through witchcraft and other aspects of the occult. Or we don’t think God wants to heal our trauma, so we decide to self-medicate with sex, food, drugs or alcohol. Maybe a girl gets pregnant out of wedlock, and because she has no trust that God will care for her and her child, she believes that her only option is to have an abortion.

Interpersonal problems also begin with a lack of trust in God. If a person has no relationship with God, they will not understand that the source of all love is their heavenly Father. So, they will put other humans in the place of God, expecting them to love and comfort them in a way that only God can. When people inevitably let them down, they might resort to control tactics and abuse to try to get what they think they need. This is how lying, verbal abuse, and manipulation of all kinds gets started.

All false religions are based on the idea that we have to earn our salvation. This is a lie and also betrays a lack of trust in God. It says in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, so that no one may boast.” A false religion full of rules and rituals can be a comforting substitute for true faith. But in the end, it yields nothing but frustration and alienation from the true God. And like any other form of agreement with the enemy, it opens doors to demonization.

Trauma and unforgiveness can lead to demonization. This is one of the most despicable things demons do – enter a person at the time of their being abused or assaulted. It’s not fair. It’s not their fault. But demons that have entered in this way usually remain because of unforgiveness. In my church, we probably see more cases of demonization because of unforgiveness than for any other reason. One of the hardest things you might ever have to do is to forgive someone who has assaulted or abused you or someone you love. (Matthew 6:14-15) What might make it easier is to understand that forgiveness does not mean you are saying that the abuse was justified. No abuse is ever justified. It also does not mean that you have to reconcile with that person and be their friend. It just means that you have decided to let go of any need to get revenge or to hang on to hateful thoughts. (Romans 12:17-21) You let go of that person completely and give them to God. This requires a tremendous amount of trust in God. But it frees you and it takes away any legal right that a demon might think it has to keep tormenting you.

The way to close demonic doors is to come out of agreement with the enemy and into agreement with God. Then act on it. Paul wrote to the Corinthians that we need to take our thoughts captive:

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the tearing down of strongholds, as we tear down speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ…” – 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

The next time you feel anxious or depressed, ask yourself, “what lies am I believing? Am I trusting in God with all my heart? Do I really believe he loves me and is taking care of me? Have I relied on something other than God to help me and save me? What have I relied upon? What might I need to cut out of my life? Who do I need to forgive?”

You might have to make drastic changes in your thinking and actions in order to get free. Those changes might hurt at first. But Jesus was clear that it is better to endure temporary pain than an eternity of separation from God when he said this:

“But if your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.” – Matthew 5:29-30

It’s relatively easy to purge your home of objects related to false religion or the occult, and it’s necessary. (Acts 19:19) It is much harder to part ways with people who have been harming you, but it is also necessary. (2 Corinthians 6:14-18; 2 Timothy 3:1-5)

What is hardest is to change patterns of thought that have led to sin and possibly to demonization. It takes determination and persistence. Thoughts can be like mosquitoes. You can bat them away, but they’ll only come back unless you kill them. The way to kill pesky, lying thoughts is to replace them with the truth. Fill your mind with what the scriptures say about God and about how he feels about and treats the people who love him. Pray for the wisdom to understand it properly. Memorize it. Declare it aloud, especially when lying thoughts come. For more on mind renewal, see Freedom in Christ.

Closing demonic doors is the first step to deliverance and freedom. Once the doors are shut, you can command any demons that might have been bothering you to leave in the name of Jesus. If you love and follow Jesus, know who you are in Christ, and are in right standing with God, they know they have to leave upon your command. Have faith, do not doubt, and wield your God-given authority:

“Now the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” And He said to them, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you.” – Luke 10:17-19

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Deliverance

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(All scripture citations are taken from the New King James Version of the Bible)

“We think caged birds sing when, indeed, they cry.” – John Webster

The enemies of God like to “kill, steal, and destroy.” (John 10:10) In my last post, I wrote about the freedom that Christ Jesus has given to his followers and explained how to experience and hang on to that freedom through strong faith in the promises and truths found in the scriptures. But some people find that even after coming to Christ and putting their faith in Him, they still feel as if they are under attack: depressed, anxious, angry, and stuck. Why is this? Often, it is because of unresolved trauma and deception from their past, which I believe was the case for me.

I am going to share my own very personal story of deliverance, knowing that it will likely bring much criticism, because I believe that true stories are powerful. I want others to experience the freedom and joy in the Lord that I have come to know. I want you to know that if you love Jesus, you do not have to live your life in continual struggle and defeat. There is freedom to be had right now, not sometime in the future.

After leaving Jehovah’s Witnesses and giving my life to Christ, I finally began to feel safe. I finally felt some measure of peace. But it wasn’t long before I started having episodes of deep depression. The intensity of these episodes did not make sense. They seemed to suddenly come out of nowhere. One day I got some clarity about this when I got fed up with what I was feeling and shouted, “get off me, Satan!” By the next day, I felt as if a massive weight had been lifted. The depression and heaviness disappeared, poof! It was replaced by a sense lightness and peace.

I wish I could say that that was the end of my battle, but it was just the beginning. The night that it was announced at the local Kingdom Hall that I was “no longer one of Jehovah’s Witnesses,” the spiritual warfare I had been experiencing intensified greatly. The enemy does not like to lose people, and he will fight tooth and nail when someone begins to escape his grasp.

Involvement with false religion is a major open door to demons. As a Jehovah’s Witness, I thought I had been serving the God of the Bible by serving the Watchtower organization. I was completely ignorant of the fact that I had been deceived by “doctrines of demons.” (1 Timothy 4:1) I thought that by my involvement with the organization, I had total protection from demons. But in fact, it was quite the opposite. Just like many occultists, I was not conscious of any overt demonic opposition while I was in the organization, although I was experiencing an enormous amount of anxiety and depression. It was not until I tried to leave and serve Christ that the wheels fell off and I was able to see the truth.

The warfare intensified even further when I started going to church. I had been taught as a JW that all Christian churches were demonic. Although that was something I no longer believed, the demons used that indoctrination to try to deceive me into believing that going to church was making me demonized. Saturday nights, I would often not be able to sleep at all so that it was extremely difficult to drag myself to church the next day. Sunday nights after church, I would wake up at around 3 AM and experience a barrage of negative, fearful thoughts. I would also sometimes hear knocks and taps in my room. For a short time, the deception worked, and I quit going to church thinking that it was making God angry.

What helped me was to hear the stories of other Christians who had experienced similar warfare after coming to Christ. Often, they had a background in the New Age, witchcraft, or in a false religion similar to the one I left. (See the testimony of Naela Rose) I started to realize that now, just as was the case after I officially left JWs, my experiences were not evidence that I was angering God, but that I was angering the demons.

That knowledge gave me the strength to fight hard. I decided that no matter what, I would not allow the demons to stop me from meeting with other Christians. But they were not giving up. I experienced all manner of attack – the nighttime attacks continued, my car broke down in multiple and bizarre ways, and I got hurt over and over in ways that made no sense. All of these things can be chalked up to coincidence if you take each incidence on its own, but taken together, it formed a bizarre pattern that could not possibly be blamed on chance.

Gradually, the Lord clearly showed me the path to freedom. He began to make me aware of the reality of demonization and how to find deliverance. I repented of anything I could think of that I had done that was related to occultism. I got rid of books that I had that were related to New Age practices such as meditation and yoga. I also got rid of crystals that I had used for healing. After that, I thought I was done purging. But there was one more health practice that the Lord himself had to warn me of personally, since I had not even considered that it could be dangerous.

One night, I had a vivid dream that woke me up to a pitfall I had been unaware of before. In the dream, I was being followed around by a big, ugly, scary-looking man. I came up to a bookcase and pulled out a familiar-looking book about homeopathy that I had used for years to help me prescribe remedies. I told the ugly man that I knew a lot about that book. Immediately, he attacked me, and then I woke up. I knew the dream was from God and that it meant something. As soon as I began to ponder the dream, in my mind I heard God say, “Get rid of all of your homeopathy books. Burn them!” I could hardly believe it! I had begun to understand that I had been involved in some ungodly health practices, but I was shocked to find out that homeopathy was one of them. I asked the Lord for confirmation, and I found it in this video. So, I took everything I had that was related to homeopathy, hundreds of dollars’ worth of books and remedies, and got rid of them. I tried burning a few of the books, but they were difficult to burn, and I ended up trashing most of it. After that, the knocking and tapping in my room stopped for a time, but I still had a long way to go.

One night, I prayed for help and relief and for God to provide someone to teach me about deliverance. The very next evening after I said that prayer, I was at church and a group of loving brothers and sisters surrounded me and prayed for me. I began to cry intensely and uncontrollably. I was feeling deep guilt and shame for the way I had raised my children. I was also in a lot of pain. One brother mentioned that he thought I might need deliverance. I realized in that moment that God had answered my prayer.

Although ultimately that couple did not feel able to directly help me with deliverance, they gave me a book and directed me to a church where I could find help. That book was Break Free by Vlad Savchuk, and the church was his church, Hungry Generation in Pasco, Washington. I knew about pastor Vlad, but I was afraid to go to his church. I had heard scary things about Pentecostals and about Hungry Generation in particular. My friend tried to reassure me, but I was not yet ready for something like that.

I knew I needed to find help, though, and although I was not ready for Hungry Generation, I thought maybe I could find some Christians to help me privately. Through Torben Sondergaard’s ministry, The Last Reformation, I found two ladies who were willing to take me through some deliverance prayers privately. The day that they prayed for me, I do not believe I experienced any true deliverance, although the process I went through may have set me up for what happened three days later.

For weeks, I had been slowly throwing away all of my old JW literature. I had an enormous amount of it, and I had been gradually adding it to the outdoor trash can week by week. The day that I went to those ladies for prayer, I had not yet been able to get rid of all of it. In fact, that day was trash day. When I returned home, the outside bin had been emptied, and I was ready to toss the rest of my literature. As I was throwing things in the bin, I hesitated when I came to my old New World Translation Bibles. I figured it would be fine to keep them since they’re just Bibles. But as I pulled them out of the box, I distinctly heard in my mind, “NO!” But even then, I doubted that the NO could have come from God. I convinced myself that it was okay to keep them.

That night, I woke up from a nightmare at 3 AM feeling sick and anxious. I was under attack again. I was so frustrated that this was still happening after I tried so hard to get delivered. I asked God to show me why he was allowing this attack to happen to me. In my mind, I saw the Bibles. I saw myself receiving one of them at the first annual meeting of Jehovah’s Witnesses that we had been able to attend in our Kingdom Halls via video link. I saw how worshipful I had felt about the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses and about the newly revised Bible that we called the “Silver Sword.” The Lord was showing me that the organization had been my idol and that those Bibles represented my idol. I also knew by that time that the NWT is a very bad translation. There are many problems with it, but probably the most serious issue is that the translators made terrible translation decisions that reflect their denial of the deity of Christ. (Click here for a playlist of videos on the problems with the NWT.)

I was completely aghast. I actually argued with God, “But they’re BIBLES, Lord!” All I heard from him was “NO!” So that morning, I dutifully marched those Bibles out to the trash bin and threw them in. It was a little painful, if I were to be honest. Just a couple hours later as I was sitting in on a Zoom Bible study, I started to feel very nauseated. Soon, I was in the bathroom throwing up. This didn’t feel like a normal illness. I had not eaten anything that could have given me food poisoning and I did not have a fever. I felt sort of panicky as everything came out. Sitting totally drained on the bottom of my shower, I started to form a question in my mind about what had just happened. Immediately I clearly heard in my mind, “this is your deliverance.” Again, it was hard for me to believe that it was the Lord speaking. I had expected someone to lay their hands on me and I would maybe manifest a little and then be free. But this happened at home in my bathroom, completely spontaneously, apparently in response to my intense desire to be free and probably even more, to my willingness to rid myself of all vestiges of the bondage to idolatry and false religion in which I had lived my entire life. I thanked the Lord. I think my exact words were, “if this is really deliverance, thank you Jesus!” He said to me, “Never again follow anyone but me!”

I experienced quite a lot of relief from demonic attack after that experience. But soon, the Lord started to speak to me about going to Hungry Generation. For about 4 months, he never stopped trying to get through to me. I continued to resist out of fear and because I felt very happy and comfortable in my church. I didn’t want to have to start over in a new church, 45 minutes away from where I lived. I had already been rejected and shunned by my entire family and all my JW friends. I was just barely getting established in a new life and feeling like I had been given a new family. I just could not believe God would uproot me again. But when I said, “Lord, don’t you want me to go to my church?” He gave me a firm NO.

But when, after a period of time of feeling relatively free, I had a vile nightmare, I realized that maybe I wasn’t really done with deliverance. I also noticed that I was having a very difficult time being respectful to my husband. Then, I caught two severe viruses in a row and was sick for two months straight. So, I finally gave in and decided to go to Hungry Generation, not to the Sunday service, but to the deliverance service that they hold once a month, hoping that if I went just once and got some more deliverance, that I would be able to stay at my old church.

On the drive to Pasco, I felt the Holy Spirit on me, showing me that I was doing the right thing. I really did not believe that anything was going to happen to me. But as I stood in that prayer line, I asked God to show me why He had me there. When the minister came and laid his hand on my head, I immediately started shaking uncontrollably. It felt as if my bones were going to come out of their joints. When he demanded that the demon inside of me speak out and answer his questions, I felt as if I was receiving clear answers in my mind, so I spoke out. It said that its name was Jezebel and that it had been in me since I was a baby. It said that it had ruined my health and my life. I don’t know if it was telling the truth about any of that, but what I do know is that something evil was in me and that that night it came out. It wasn’t long before I felt all the strength leave my legs and I fell down. I was declared free and sent into a room for counseling. (If this sounds bizarre, just remember the account where Jesus interrogated the demon who called himself Legion at Mark 5:9)

As you can imagine, I was very shaken by that experience. Afterwards, I felt like I’d drunk an entire pot of coffee. On the drive home, I asked the Lord, “Am I done now?”, and he said “no!” I asked him how much involvement he wanted me to have in that church, and he responded, “Total.” Even then, I thought maybe I could try going to both churches. But in the end, I had to obey the Lord and devote my time and energy to Hungry Generation.

For some people, deliverance seems to happen gradually, like peeling layers off of an onion. I have been one of those people. I think the reason for this is because demons hang on to us through mental strongholds, ways of thinking that are not in agreement with God’s truth. As we heal and bring our thoughts into agreement with truth, this removes whatever hold the demons have had, and they have to leave upon command. I had a lot of mental blocks which could only be dismantled through the process of renewing my mind. (Romans 12:2)

After my experience at prayer line, I actually experienced increased spiritual warfare for a time. The demons that I had given place to and which had not yet left me were angry and restless, likely knowing that I was on a journey that would ultimately lead to their ousting.

The friend and teacher that I had prayed for months earlier appeared the day that I stood up in church and shared my testimony. Ann Chojnacki is a mighty woman of God who answers the telephone prayer line for Hungry Generation. She has a passion for bringing people to Christ, praying for them, and building them up in the faith. She asked me to visit her in her home so that she could help me spiritually. This she did, praying for me, letting me talk, and helping me to understand my position in Christ. This considerably accelerated my spiritual growth. I also received more freedom through her prayers.

I enrolled in Hungry Generation’s Life Class, which is a 6-week-long discipleship program that ends in a three-day retreat where we received additional instruction, encouragement, inner healing, and deliverance. My experience there was beautiful. I received another deliverance when a friend laid hands on me and prayed that ungodly soul ties would be cut. Since I had received deliverance prayer the night before and nothing had happened, I assumed I was not in need of any more deliverance. But this illustrates the importance of pinpointing issues. As soon as she started praying, I instantly started to shake and cry and lose strength in my legs. Later, I got filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues for the first time. I can’t even describe the joy of that moment! The only thing that comes close is the joy a mother feels when she holds her baby for the first time. It is pure love!

Many have objections to the idea that a Christian could have demons. My question for those people would be this: since Jesus commanded his followers to cast out demons, from whom, then, do you cast demons out? I would submit that a Christian can have whatever they open themselves up to. It would be pointless if not dangerous to try to cast demons out of unbelievers unless they were willing to accept Christ before or immediately after deliverance because the demons are usually unwilling to leave a person who has given them permission to stay, and if they do leave, they will often come right back. It’s like a revolving door. But those who disagree feel that their objections to the ministry of deliverance are scriptural, ignoring or recategorizing the lived experience of Christians who have been through demonization and deliverance. I want to take a close look at two of those objections and scrutinize them in the light of scripture.

Objection #1: A Christian cannot be possessed by a demon because he is already possessed by the Holy Spirit.

This objection seems to be based on the fact that many translations of the Bible use the phrase “demon possessed” to translate the Greek term, daimonizomai. Literally, it means “demonized.” It does not signify ownership, but partial control of an aspect of a person’s life. A Christian cannot be possessed by a demon because he is, or ought to be, possessed by the Holy Spirit. But a Christian can be demonized, which means that there is some aspect of their life that is being unduly influenced by a demon or demons. How could this be?

Paul warned fellow Christians that they should not “give place to the devil.” (Ephesians 4:26-27) How might a person do that? Living a carnal life, given over to the works of the flesh, is an open invitation to demons. (Galatians 5:19-21) Some of the works of the flesh include:

  1. Sexual immorality, including sex before marriage, adultery, and pornography.
  2. Occultism, including certain New Age practices such as astrology, reiki, and yoga.
  3. False religions.
  4. Antisocial and narcissistic behaviors such as rage, jealousy, envy, and abusive speech.
  5. Addictions, which are a form of idolatry.
  6. Getting high or drunk.
  7. Murder, including abortion.

One of the most prevalent ways that Christians give place to the devil is through unforgiveness. Jesus was very serious when he said that we must forgive in order to be forgiven. (Matthew 6:14) Very often, when a person needs deliverance, but no progress is being made, it is because that person harbors unforgiveness in their heart towards someone. When true forgiveness is expressed, that opens the way to freedom.

Objection #2: Holy Spirit and an evil spirit cannot exist in the same vessel.

2 Corinthians 6:14 states “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?” This scripture is often used to teach the idea that a Christian cannot have a demon. But is it saying that light and darkness cannot coexist? Or is it saying that it should not? Can a Christian be unequally yoked together with an unbeliever? Of course, it happens all the time. Should they? Absolutely not! So, this scripture cannot be used to defend the position that an evil spirit and the Holy Spirit cannot exist in the same vessel. They shouldn’t, but they can. If it were true that the Holy Spirit could not coexist with evil spirits, He would have to leave the earth entirely, as it is overrun with evil spirits.

Jesus made it clear that deliverance is for the children of God in his conversation with a Canaanite woman who wanted him to deliver her daughter from demons. Here is the passage:

“And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.” But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, “Send her away, for she cries out after us.” But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” But He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” And she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.” – Matthew 15:22-28

During his ministry, Jesus considered the Jewish people the children of God. (Deuteronomy 14:1) His death and resurrection paved the way for Gentiles (non-Jews) who believe on the Lord Jesus to be grafted into the rootstock of Israel and to be called God’s children. (Romans 11:17-18) As the children of God, we are entitled to the bread of deliverance. It is “the children’s bread.”

The casting out of demons was a prominent part of Jesus’s ministry. (Mark 1:34) And he commanded his followers to do likewise. (Matthew 10:8; Luke 10:17, 19) We have ‘authority over…all the power of the enemy,’ and we are expected to use that authority.

When I was a JW, I used to wonder, if Jesus cast out so many demons, why weren’t we doing as he did? It didn’t make any sense to me to believe that demonic activity had ceased since the first century. In fact, it seemed that it had only increased. It was a major revelation to me to find out that there are modern day Christians who cast out demons just as Jesus did, and that demonization is not, in fact, rare, but just as common nowadays as it was in Jesus’s time, maybe more. Although at first the idea of seeing a demonic manifestation made me very uncomfortable, I knew that Jesus dealt with that very thing all the time, and that his willingness to deal with it resulted in freedom and sanity for the people he ministered to. (Luke 8:35)

I am no longer uncomfortable with deliverance. In fact, I often pray deliverance prayers and command demons to come out in Jesus’s name. I have seen many demons cast out. Sometimes they manifest in ugly ways, crying, screaming, or causing a person to gag, cough, or vomit. Notice in the following scriptures that it was not uncommon in Jesus’s day for demons to cause a raucous as they came out: Mark 1:23-26; 5:2-13; 9:25-27; Acts 8:7. But once the person being prayed for receives their freedom, it is a beautiful thing to behold. There is such joy and relief. It is a miracle from God. If you would like to see a striking example of what I am talking about, watch this video.

People need deliverance. It is vital that as Christians, we receive our full freedom in Christ and that we also help others to receive their freedom. In my next post I will go into greater depth on how people can become demonized, how they can close doors to the demons so that they can be fully delivered, and how, afterward, they can remain free.

Related information:

What you Need to Know About Deliverance Ministry

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Freedom in Christ

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(Unless otherwise stated, all scripture quotations are taken from the Legacy Standard Bible.)

“So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” – John 8:36 (LSB)

Jesus said that he came to “set free those who are oppressed.” (Luke 4:18) What does that mean? If you are a follower of Christ, do believe that you have been set free? If so, from what have you been set free?

The apostle Paul wrote that “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:2) That means that because of what Jesus did on the cross, our sins are forgiven and no longer counted against us. For true believers, there is no condemnation, (Romans 8:1) and that means that we have eternal life.

When I was a Jehovah’s Witness, I never felt free of condemnation. The gospel we were taught was one of works, not of grace. So, many if not most of us felt the need to earn our salvation and, understandably, we never quit felt saved. This is because imperfect humans are incapable of earning their salvation and, on some deep level, most of us are aware of this. If we were capable, Jesus would not have had to suffer on the cross in order to provide a ransom to save us.

Jehovah’s Witnesses are not the only religious group that teaches a works-based gospel. Many Christians from many denominational backgrounds feel unsure of their salvation and their freedom. So, what if you know that you love God and that Jesus Christ is Lord, but you do not feel free? What if in spite of the beautiful thing that Christ did for us, there seems to be a dark cloud hanging over you? What if, although you know you are a Christian, it feels as if your mind is being assaulted with vile and condemnatory intrusive thoughts? What if, though you want very much to be holy, you have a particular sin that you just cannot seem to overcome?

In his letter to the Ephesians, the apostle Paul wrote about a war being waged by the Devil against followers of Christ. He said that in order for us as Christians to win this war, we must “put on the full armor of God.” (Eph. 6:11) The armor he spoke of is not physical, because our war is not physical. He said that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” – Eph. 6:12

This is primarily a war of the mind. Jesus demonstrated how to fight this war when he was tempted by the Devil in the wilderness right after his baptism. It is not won with physical weapons of war, but with truth. Every time Satan spoke to Jesus in an attempt to get him to compromise, Jesus shot back with the word of truth as recorded in scripture. The last attempt that Satan made to tempt Jesus was when he offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if he would fall down and worship Satan. Because of his authority as the Son of God, Jesus could rightly have spoken of his own accord. But instead, he chose to quote scripture: “For it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.” – Matt. 4:10

There are “spiritual forces of wickedness” that come against us too. In 2 Corinthians 2:11, Paul said that “we are not ignorant of his (the devil’s) schemes.” Paul was not ignorant, but many modern Christians are. This should not be. It is important that you understand how the enemy works so that you will be prepared to defend yourself and to fight back. Christians who don’t understand the need for their spiritual suit of armor or how to put it on can end up feeling oppressed and defeated.

What is the spiritual suit of armor? This is how it is described in Ephesians 6:13-17:

“Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. In addition to all, having taken up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one, also receive the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God...”

Without faith, the other parts of the suit of armor do not work. You must always speak the truth and have faith in the truth that we find in the scriptures, “doubting nothing…”(James 1:6) You must have faith that you are the righteousness of God in Christ and that you now have the power to overcome sin because Christ lives in you. (2 Corinthians 5:21) You must believe that you now have peace with God because of the shed blood of Christ, and that consequently, you also have salvation. (Romans 5:1; 1 John 5:13)

The only aspect of the spiritual suit of armor that is offensive rather than defensive is the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Believing and speaking the word is our most effective weapon against the enemy.

Just as the Devil called into question Jesus’s true identity, saying “if you are the son of God”, the enemy does the same to us. In order to win the war against evil, you must understand who you are in Christ. We are not left in the dark about that, the scriptures are very clear. You need only believe the word. (Luke 8:50) What does it say?

We are hidden with Christ in God:

“For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” – Colossians 3:3

We are heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ:

“The Spirit Himself bears witness with our Spirit that we are children of God., and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.” – Romans 8:16, 17

“Listen, my beloved brothers: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?” – James 2:5

You are a new creation:

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” – 2 Corinthians 5:17

Christ lives in you:

“I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

You are chosen, royal, and holy. You belong to God:

“But you are a chosen family, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;” – 1 Peter 2:9

You are created in Christ for good works:

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” – Ephesians 2:10

You are a child of God:

“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name…” – John 1:12

You are the righteousness of God in Christ:

“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” -2 Corinthians 5:21

You are a member of the body of Christ:

“Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.”

You are made alive with Christ and seated in the heavenly places in him:

“But God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” – Ephesians 2:4-7

You have authority over all the power of the enemy:

“Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you.” – Luke 10:19

You might be thinking that these statements sound too good to be true. You might be remembering all the mistakes you have made and wonder how you could possibly be the person that God says you are. It may help you to understand that humans are made in the image of God. (Genesis 1:26-27) We are tripartite – body, soul, and spirit. (1 Thessalonians 5:23) It is our spirit that has been perfected and which is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, but our souls are works in progress and our bodies await redemption. (Matthew 5:48; 26:41; 1 John 3:9; John 3:6; Romans 1:9; 8:15-16; Philippians 1:6; 3:12; Romans 8:23)

We are “hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:3) When the Father looks at us, he sees his Son. Our righteousness is not our own, it is Christ’s, and when we abide in the Spirit, we do not sin. (Romans 8:4-10) If we do sin, it is because we are in the flesh and not the Spirit. As soon as we repent of that sin, we are quickly forgiven because we are under the shed blood of Jesus Christ. (1 John 1:5-2:6)

The enemy would love nothing more than to steal your identity and cause you to question your authority. He uses your past mistakes and insecurities to sow doubt about what the Bible says is true of you. This is because he knows that if you are secure in your identity and know your authority in Christ, he is powerless against you.

So, when the enemy speaks condemnation and doubt into your mind, what can you do? Make sure that the word abides in you, and you will be able to overcome the evil one. (1 John 2:14) The word of God is “living and active.” It is the “sword of the Spirit.” It is always true, because God cannot lie. (Hebrews 4:12; 1 Corinthians 1:18; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; Titus 1:2) Believe God and do what Jesus did, fire back with the word. Use the scriptures above as weapons of spiritual warfare and say them out loud in faith, applying them to yourself. Say: “I am the righteousness of God in Christ! I am a new creation! I am seated in heavenly places with Christ Jesus! I am chosen, royal, and holy! I am a child of God! I am an heir of the kingdom! I have authority over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will hurt me!” No matter how strange it feels to say these things about yourself, know that if you are totally submitted to the Lord, it is true of you.

But what if you have a dark past that seems to have followed you into your walk with Christ? What if after believing and speaking the word over yourself many times, you still feel oppressed? What if you still feel that your sinful behaviors are out of control no matter how hard you try to change? What if it seems like the wicked intrusive thoughts won’t quit no matter what you do? This type of situation should be rare in the body of Christ, especially for those who are totally submitted to the Lord and know their identity and authority. But it is possible that you will need help from other Christians to be delivered from wicked spirits, especially if you are a new Christian who is struggling to grasp the truths I have presented in this post. (Mark 1:23-28; 1 Peter 5:8; Ephesians 4:27 – NKJV; Acts 8:7; 10:38) That will be the subject of my next blog post.


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The Advocate

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As a Jehovah’s Witness, I had done the forbidden. I had just read the book Crisis of Conscience by Raymond Franz. In the months prior to this, as I described in an earlier post, After the Org, my world had begun to crumble. My whole life had been built on the belief that the Watchtower organization was God’s one true channel of communication, and now I was having serious doubts. As I contemplated what I had experienced coupled with what I had read in the forbidden book, I had a powerfully vivid vision of myself standing on a cliff while it crumbled away underneath me. Even as I experienced the vision, I knew what it meant. I had based my life on an unstable foundation, and the only hope I had of being rescued from a precipitous fall as that foundation crumbled away was the faith that God would catch me.

The Holy Spirit speaks, and He had been speaking to me in many ways in addition to that vision. But as a JW, I didn’t have a clear understanding of who the Holy Spirit is. In fact, I had been taught that He was a what, not a Who. In my post, God, Who Are You?, I described the process I went through in order to understand the deity of Christ. That was the hardest obstacle for me to clear in accepting the doctrine of the Trinity. Once I understood that, it was not long before I was able to also grasp the role of the Advocate, the Holy Spirit.

Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that the Holy Spirit is God’s “active force.” To them, there is no person named Holy Spirit, but only an energy, or power, somewhat similar to electricity. But even as a JW, it was difficult for me to understand why, if the Holy Spirit was an impersonal force, was He called a He in the Bible instead of an it? (John 14:16) Why, if the Holy Spirit is only a force, was it blasphemy to lie to Him? Why was the Holy Spirit called God? (Act 5:3-4) It was easy for me to accept that the Holy Spirit is a person and is God. What had confused me was being forced as a JW to accept the idea that he wasn’t. It was a relief to be free of that nonsense. If you are confused about the role and nature of the Holy Spirit, I recommend the this video.

What was also hard was learning to distinguish and accept the voice of the Holy Spirit in my life. I had been taught that only the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses can hear from God. If I ever even hinted that I thought God was showing me something or telling me something, I saw instant alarm in the faces of my family and friends. I honestly don’t blame them. We were programmed to be suspicious of any supposed message from God if it had not come through the organization. But in spite of that, I somehow understood in my spirit that God speaks to each and every individual Christian.

Reading Acts was confusing to me. I had always assumed as a JW that when the Holy Spirit gave instructions to the first century Christians, as in Acts 13:2 where a group of prophets and teachers were told to set aside Barnabas and Saul for a special work, they were hearing an audible voice. They could have been, actually. But the verse does not specifically state that. I remember praying to God to help me understand how he spoke then, and how he speaks now. He answered that prayer, and though I don’t claim to fully understand the Holy Spirit and how he moves and communicates in the lives of humans, I do think I have learned a few things that help me navigate my life now as a Spirit filled Christian. I am going to try to be as specific and explicit as I can in explaining what I see in the scriptures and in describing how I learned to hear from the Holy Spirit, as this is something that would have greatly helped me with my initial confusion after leaving the Watchtower organization.

I believe there are four influences on the human mind – the world, the self (mind and emotions), the Holy Spirit, and wicked spirits. As a Christian, I want the dominant influence over me to be the Holy Spirit. But we have a fight against the influence of the world, (James 4:4) our fallen flesh, (Romans 7:22-25) and against wicked spirit forces. (Eph. 6:10-18) How can we know which influence is dominating our thoughts?

The Holy Spirit will never tell you anything that contradicts the word of God as revealed in the scriptures, but it’s also important to realize that we may believe that the scriptures teach something they don’t actually teach. It’s very important to know the scriptures and to read them prayerfully. (2 Timothy 3:16; Titus 1:2; Malachi 3:6; 2 Timothy 3:5-7) The Holy Spirit’s influence will produce certain personality traits such as love, joy, and peace. (Galatians 5:22-23) His voice convicts, leading to true repentance, but does not condemn. (Luke 13:5; Romans 8:1) On the other hand, influences other than God, whether it be the world, the fallen flesh or wicked spirits, will entice and tempt, lie, twist scripture, bully, and condemn. (John 8:44; Matthew 4:1-10; Revelation 12:10)

If the Holy Spirit produces grief, it will be a Godly grief. We might feel sadness in empathy for a person who is lost and/or suffering, a longing to be reunited with dead or estranged loved ones, or a sadness over personal sins. (Philippians 1:23; 2 Corinthians 11:28-29; 7:9-10; Matthew 23:37-39) We may also cry under the influence of the Holy Spirit simply because we long to be with our God, which reminds me of the lyrics to my favorite song by Rich Mullins, “If I weep, let it be as a man who is longing for his home.”

God is love. (1 John 4:8) Sometimes when the Holy Spirit is intensely present, He will produce happy tears because His love and all of His other beautiful qualities can be so overwhelmingly beautiful.

The Holy Spirit communicates through the scriptures, dreams, visions, and through what many call the “still small voice.” (2 Timothy 3:16; Acts 2:17-18; Joel 2:28-32; 1 Kings 19:12) He also communicates through other Christians, either through what they say or what they write. The most reliable way to hear from Him is by reading the Bible.

Often, God will use the scriptures to give a personal message that many would call a “rhema word.” Wikipedia explains: “Rhema (ῥῆμα in Greek) literally means an “utterance” or “thing said” in Greek. It is a word that signifies the action of utterance.” Some scholars make a distinction between the two Greek terms, logos and rhema, that are both translated “word.” Logos is seen as referring more to the written word, and rhema to the spoken word. For that reason, a “rhema word” is seen as a word that God is presently speaking to you personally as opposed to words on a page that are meant for any reader. In my story about my exit from the Watchtower organization, I told of the first clear rhema word I had ever received:

One day I took a walk and had a little talk with God. I very insistently told him that if I was wrong about the organization, I needed him to show me NOW, and I mean NOW. I told him that if I was wrong, that I was maybe making the biggest mistake of my life, and I didn’t want to do that. As soon as I got home, I decided to do my daily Bible reading. I wasn’t doing it to find any answers. It was my habit to read every day. I opened the Bible to where I had my ribbon, 2 Corinthians 11. When I came to verse 3, I started to suspect I was having a supernatural encounter. By the time I came to verses 13-15, I knew I had my answer. I had received a rhema word from God, though at the time I had no vocabulary to describe it. Here are the verses I read which spoke to my heart:

“But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a pure and sincere devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough…For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds…For you gladly bear with fools, being wise yourselves! For you bear it if someone makes slaves of you, or devours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or strikes you in the face.” – 2 Corinthians 11:3-4,13-15, 19-20 (ESV)

All at once, I understood the implications of the word I had just received. The Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses were false apostles. They were disguising themselves as angels of light. I began to cry my heart out. My whole world, my whole belief system, had come crashing down. And I knew that eventually, I was going to lose everything, including my parents, my friends, and my reputation.

I wanted to share that because it illustrates how vitally important it is to be able to recognize when God is sharing something with you. The Holy Spirit confirmed this word to me over and over in many different ways and receiving it was a turning point in my life.

Sometimes the Holy Spirit will reach you through the words of another person. This was the case for me when one day I was in unbearable pain and also feeling extremely depressed due to the long-lasting after effects of the Covid infection I had contracted months prior. I had been thinking about trying to find a local church to attend and had prayed God would show me where I could go. I had begun to listen to a local pastor’s sermons, and this day, after praying for relief, I decided to listen to him to take my mind off of how awful I felt. He happened to be teaching on the book of Isaiah and he read this: “You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, for in Yah, the LORD is everlasting strength.” (Isaiah 26:3-4 NKJV) The combination of that scripture and the pastor’s exposition of it dramatically changed the way I felt. I actually did feel peace, which was rare for me at the time. I often had prayers answered through the sermons of that pastor, and those experiences helped me to decide eventually to visit his church once I felt ready to take that step, which was many months later.

The Holy Spirit also speaks in ways that are more dramatic, such as through dreams and visions. I have had several dreams that I am sure were from God. I dream every night, but most of my dreams are inconsequential and nonsensical, like most people’s. But a few times I have had dreams that were so vivid and so full of dramatic imagery that I knew that they were not normal dreams. One of the most important of those dreams was about spiritual warfare. In this dream, I was running away from a tornado, but in my path was a massive cobra with its hood splayed wide. I couldn’t go around it, and when I came up to it, it bit me. But it turned out that it had no teeth and the bite did no harm. After the cobra bit me, I stepped on its head, and then my son also came and stepped on its head. In the bible, snakes represent evil spirits. God was showing me that although the devil may seem formidable and dangerous, he actually has no teeth and cannot hurt us permanently. This was also a vivid illustration of the fact that we as Christians have been given authority to “trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy.” (Luke 10:19 NKJV)

And now we come to “the whisper.” This is the most controversial and least reliable way to hear from God, because, especially for inexperienced Christians, it can be difficult to tell the difference between our own thoughts, demonically inspired intrusive thoughts, and God’s voice. The whisper is a thought in words that God plants in our hearts. Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” (John 10:27 NKJV) It’s absolutely vital that we learn to recognize that voice. We can do that through spending plenty of time in prayer and in the word. Remember, God will never ever contradict his own word. For example, the Holy Spirit will not inspire you to take revenge, to perpetually avoid Christian fellowship because of offense or a false sense of superiority, or to slander (revile, criticize falsely in abusive terms) another person, especially a Christian brother or sister, because those things are unscriptural. They are not of God. (Romans 12:18-21; Hebrews 10:24-25; 1 Peter 4:8; Ephesians 4:31; 1 Timothy 6:3-5) Inspiration to engage in some of these negative behaviors can actually be cloaked in a way that makes it seem like it could be from God. We shouldn’t underestimate the ability of the enemy to deceive.

Often, the Holy Spirit will remind me of a scripture at exactly the right moment, either to encourage, inspire, or convict me, or so that I can effectively minister to someone else. Other times, the Holy Spirit might give some type of direction. He might plant a person’s name and face in my mind and a burden to pray for that person. Sometimes I hear a simple NO as a warning to me not to proceed with something I had planned to do, or I will hear the word GO when I am contemplating a certain course of action. When I feel I may have heard something from God but I’m not absolutely certain it is from him, I wait on God to confirm it. He will often do this by repeating his message many times and in many ways: through the still small voice, through the scriptures, through the advice of trusted friends, or simply through life circumstances. And I know that if I make an honest mistake, thinking that something I heard that seemed good and scriptural was from God when it really was my own imagination, the Lord is faithful and honors my sincere desire to obey him, even if I was misguided.

The Holy Spirit gives special gifts to His people. (Acts 1:8; 2; 1 Corinthians 12, 14) Contrary to what I was taught as a JW, those gifts are, indeed, for today. I see them in operation on a regular basis, and it is wonderful to behold. The gifts of the Spirit is a huge subject and one I may address in the future in a separate post.

As this world descends more and more into the darkness, it is vital that we learn to teach our “ears [to] hear a word behind [us], ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ whenever you turn to the right or the left.” (Isaiah 30:21) We must know the voice of our shepherd. (John 10:27) He wants to communicate. He wants to show us the correct path, and we need him to. If you are not used to receiving direct communication from God, I implore you to seek his face. Get to know the voice of our loving helper, our advocate, the Holy Spirit.

Recommended reading: Buy at Amazon: Host the Holy Ghost, by Vladimir Savchuk Or download for free at pastorvlad.org

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God, Who Are You?

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“Why do Christians believe in the doctrine of the Trinity? We believe in it because we are forced into this view by the triune God.” – Dr. David Wood

When I was a Jehovah’s Witness, one of my favorite publications was what we called “the Trinity brochure.” I thought it showed how utterly ludicrous the idea of a triune God really was. It filled me with scorn for Trinitarians and for “Christendom” as a whole. To my young mind, “the facts” presented therein seemed undeniable, irrefutable. I had never been taught the difference between biblical exegesis and eisegesis. I didn’t know how to check sources or read things in context. I just trusted that the monolithic-seeming Watchtower organization, the “society,” as we called it decades ago, was backed by God and that everything they published was of the highest possible quality. That being the case, I assumed that the (anti)Trinity brochure really was the last word on the Trinity. And it was no wonder that I felt strongly about rejecting the Trinity. The organization teaches that those who teach the Trinity are actually the antichrist:

“For centuries, the churches propagated the doctrine of the Trinity, claiming that the Father and the Son are part of the same entity. The antichrist thus shrouds in mystery the identity of Jehovah God and Jesus Christ. ” – Watchtower 2015 6/1 p. 15

In my last post, After the Org, I described the gut-wrenching process of waking up to “the truth about the truth”, coming out of the Watchtower organization, and becoming a baptized, born-again Christian. One of the most difficult parts of waking up was the realization that I really did not know anything, and that some of my most cherished beliefs might actually be dead wrong. The Trinity was my biggest bugaboo of all. When I first ventured outside the organization to find Christian fellowship, I landed in an online forum full of disgruntled JWs. Many if not most of them were aware that the 1914 doctrine was false, that the beginnings of the organization were dubious, and that it was currently plagued by lawsuit after lawsuit related to child sexual abuse. But everyone there still believed the majority of the JW doctrines, including the Witnesses’ stance on the Trinity.

It didn’t take long before I realized that the JW forum I was in felt wrong. One member in particular tried to help us understand that if the organization was wrong on 1914, which we all believed it was, there was no basis to believe it had ever been appointed as God’s one and only channel of communication to man, as it had always claimed. It had never had any real authority. It wasn’t long before that member was banned, which disturbed me. Why couldn’t he express his ideas? Actually, he had made sense to me. It was around this time that I decided to read the New Testament all the way through without my “Watchtower goggles” on. I was making amazing discoveries, which soon led me to another non-Trinitarian ex JW group. At least there, it was recognized that Jesus was of central importance and that it was okay for us to talk to him and thank him for what he had done for us. It was also taught there that there is only “one hope, one faith, and one baptism.” They helped me to understand the scriptures that showed that all Christians must be born again and that those who are will spend eternity with Christ in heaven. But something was still wrong. How could this tiny group of ex JWs be the only Christians in the world who were teaching the truth?

I began to search in earnest for a non-Trinitarian church to attend. I saw that Unitarian churches don’t teach the Trinity, but their disregard for the Bible as the inspired word of God was very troubling. I found all sorts of small, online groups that do not teach the Trinity, but it seemed that most of them were extremely works based and fixated on adherence to the Mosaic law. I saw that the group originally started by Charles T. Russel, the International Bible Students Association, was still active, but all the congregations were on the wrong side of the country, as was the case with other similar groups such as the Christadelphians.

It simply did not make sense to me that the Kingdom of God could be so impotent that the only vestiges of his true congregation were scattered so far and wide that it would be impossible for me to meet with any of them. Jesus said, “… on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it…” It seemed to me that either the gates of hell had actually prevailed against the congregation of God, or I was wrong about the Trinity. And if it was true that the Watchtower organization had never had any real authority, everything I had been taught had to be questioned.

It was then that I decided to actually consider what Christians had to say about their own beliefs. David Bercot, an ex JW turned Anabaptist, was the first Christian teacher I allowed myself to listen to on the subject of the Trinity. His video, Can Jehovah’s Witnesses Believe the Trinity?, explained the concept of the Trinity to me in a way I had never heard before. It was mind-blowing at the time. I left a comment on the video: “I already believe most of that. Why do we have to call it a Trinity?” The problem was that as a JW, I had had a wrong concept of the Trinity all along. Many JWs seem to believe that Modalism, the concept that Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Spirit are all the same person, is the Trinity. Bercot explained that Modalism, far from being the Trinity, is actually an anti-Trinitarian Heresy. He explained that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three persons who are in such perfect unity that they are actually one God. Now that made biblical sense to me.

Mike Winger was the first Christian apologist I listened to who had never been a JW. His video, The Trinity, Can We Defend it Biblically?, was very eye opening. It helped me to realize one inescapable truth: the Hebrews were not ever to worship any other God besides Yahweh/Jehovah. This was the very first of the 10 commandments. (Exodus 20:1-6) And yet, Jesus accepted worship. (John 20:27-28; Matthew 14:33; 28:8-9) And Father God says in Hebrews chapter 1: “Let all the angels of God worship Him (Jesus).” And in vs. 8: “But to the Son He says: Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.” God the Father is calling Jesus God and asking for him to be worshipped. JWs will try to explain these verses away by saying that nearly all modern Bibles have translated these verses incorrectly. Admittedly, I am not a Greek scholar. But when I checked the Greek for myself, it seemed the Witnesses were wrong. And the great thing about the internet is that if you’re not a Greek scholar, you can read or listen to someone who is, which is exactly what I did. In doing that, I learned about many, many areas where the New World Translation (the translation of the Bible specifically translated by and for Jehovah’s Witnesses) had been translated in ways that supported JW doctrine, but which did not reflect the meaning of the original languages.

Even as a new understanding about the nature of Christ Jesus was dawning on me, I had important questions. If Jesus is God, why did he pray to the Father? Why did he say “the Father is greater than I”? Why did Jesus say that only the Father knows “the day and hour” of the second coming?

I found that the answer to those questions is not that hard. Paul answered them in his letter to the Philippians:

“Have this way of thinking in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although existing in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a slave, by being made in likeness of men.” – Philippians 2:5-7 (LSB)

Jesus was fully God. But he was also fully man. He had “emptied himself” by becoming a man. He had voluntarily put himself in a position that was lower than that of the Father in order that he might live among us, experience what we experience, and eventually die a sacrificial death which would set us all free. He prayed to his Father because he needed to pray. Jesus remembered what life was like in heaven with his Father, which is why he prayed, “Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with you before the world was.” – John 17:5 (LSB) He remembered His former glory and knew that the Father would return him to that glory. Paul goes on to write of Jesus in Philippians 2:

“And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (NKJV)

Faithful Hebrews did not bow to any God other than Yahweh/Jehovah. The three young Hebrews, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego) preferred burning to death in Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace to bowing to a foreign God. (Daniel 3:8-18) So how is it that Paul felt justified in writing that “every knee should bow” to Jesus Christ?

Dr. Michael Heiser writes: “The ancient Israelite knew two Yahwehs—one invisible, a spirit, the other visible, often in human form.  The two Yahwehs at times appear together in the text, at times being distinguished, at other times not. Early Judaism understood this portrayal and its rationale. There was no sense of a violation of monotheism since either figure was indeed Yahweh. There was no second distinct god running the affairs of the cosmos. During the Second Temple period, Jewish theologians and writers speculated on an identity for the second Yahweh. Guesses ranged from divinized humans from the stories of the Hebrew Bible to exalted angels. These speculations were not considered unorthodox. That acceptance changed when certain Jews, the early Christians, connected Jesus with this orthodox Jewish idea. This explains why these Jews, the first converts to following Jesus the Christ, could simultaneously worship the God of Israel and Jesus, and yet refuse to acknowledge any other god. Jesus was the incarnate second Yahweh. In response, as Segal’s work demonstrated, Judaism pronounced the two powers teaching a heresy sometime in the second century A.D.”

We see the two powers in heaven concept throughout the Old Testament. This was something that I was able, with God’s help, to see as I read the Bible with new eyes even before I understood the ancient Jewish thinking. As a JW, I had never understood why, when the Angel of Jehovah would appear to them, the ancient Israelites would call him Jehovah. (Genesis 16:7-12; 21:17-18; 22:11-18; Exodus 3:2; Judges 2:1-4; 5:23; 6:11-24; 13:3-22; 2 Samuel 24:16; Zechariah 1:12; 3:1; 12:8). I knew that in Exodus 33:20, God had said to Moses “You cannot see my face, for no man can and see me and live.” I also knew that it said in John 1:18, “No one has seen God at any time.” There seemed to be a contradiction. How was Jehovah appearing to the patriarchs and to Moses if it is not possible to see God? It gradually dawned on me that the person who was appearing to them must have been the preincarnate Jesus and that Jesus was and is Jehovah/Yahweh just as his Father in heaven, who cannot be seen by mortal humans, is. Jesus had to be a visible, audible, manifestation of the God of heaven.

It seems that first century Jewish Christians understood Jesus to be the second Yahweh/Jehovah, the one who manifested as the Angel of the Lord. But why was this impossible for most of the Jewish religious leaders to accept? It seems that they had lost the forest for the trees. They were so focused on miniscule details about who they expected the Messiah to be that they missed him when he came. Alfred Edersheim explains: “Of course, there was the danger that, amidst these dazzling lights, or in the crowd of figures, each so attractive, or else in the absorbing interest of the general picture, the grand central Personality should not engage the attention it claimed, and so the meaning of the whole be lost in the contemplation of its details.”

He goes on to explain: ” …all that Israel hoped for, was national restoration and glory. Everything else was but means to these ends; the Messiah Himself only the grand instrument in attaining them. Thus viewed, the picture presented would be of Israel’s exaltation, rather than of the salvation of the world. To this, and to the idea of Israel’s exclusive spiritual position in the world, must be traced much, that otherwise would seem utterly irrational in the Rabbinic pictures of the latter days.” They failed to realize the grand scope of the Messianic hope and thus, instead of welcoming their Messiah, Jesus, with open arms, they rejected him, even accusing him of having a demon.

In a similar way, Jehovah’s Witnesses diminish the role of the Messiah. Although they understand Jesus to be the Messiah, they deny his deity, prohibiting his worship in direct opposition to the Father’s own words in Hebrews chapter 1. Even worse, they accuse worshippers of Jesus of being demonically inspired. Just like the first century Pharisees, they attribute the work of the Holy Spirit to the demons. (Matt. 12:31-32)

Once I understood all that I have just presented, John 1:1 began to make sense to me. That one text was probably attacked more than any other by Jehovah’s Witnesses. I was well-trained to argue against its clear meaning since it was the one most often used by Trinitarians to teach the deity of Christ. It was wonderful to finally understand that John 1:1 had not been mistranslated or misinterpreted. It means what it says, and what it says is so elegantly beautiful that it brings tears to my eyes.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.

There was a man having been sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the Light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the Light, but he came to bear witness about the Light. There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens everyone. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to what was His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has been ahead of me, for He existed before me.’” For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.” ~John 1:1-18 (LSB)

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Fear is the Real Killer

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I have experienced absolute terror. The fear went on for many months in varying degrees of severity. It wrecked my body and my mind.  What could possibly have been so fearsome?

I felt so sick that I thought I might die. But what turned out to be far more damaging than that sickness was the extreme fear. Because of my fear, I was unable to sleep.  Because I was unable sleep, I became sicker.  Because I became sicker, my fear became unbearable. Because my fear became unbearable, I lost even more sleep.  I began to have horrific panic attacks and became obsessed with the idea of slitting my throat with a kitchen knife.

Do you see? Fear is the real killer.

This so-called pandemic (panic epidemic?) has me worried, not because I think Covid-19 will kill me or my family, but because the news media is deliberately spreading panic and fear.  It is affecting my kids, and it breaks my heart.

Fear creates enormous stress. And stress, when chronic, can be very damaging. We don’t know if that damage is reversible. (1)  Therefore, it makes sense to try very hard to make an accurate assessment of risk so that we will be motivated to take effective action in order to increase our level of safety, and at the same time,  not give in to undue or prolonged fear.

Our creator knows that fear hurts our bodies, our minds, and our hearts. Therefore, he inspired Bible writers to record many reminders for us not to fear, but to have courage. Here is just one:

“Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will make you mighty. Surely I will help you. Surely I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” – Isaiah 41:10 (LSB)

God is telling us that our reason for courage is not because there is nothing dangerous out there, but because we can have his help just by asking for it in faith. He doesn’t want us to live in fear, but to rely on him.  He has even given us a reason not to fear death itself:

“He will swallow up death for all time, and Lord Yahweh will wipe tears away from all faces…” – Isaiah 25:8 (LSB)

What comes after death will be beyond our imagining:

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him.”- 1 Corinthians 2:9 (NKJV)

So do not fear what you are being told to fear. (Isaiah 8:12) Take reasonable precautions and rely on God for strength.

(1) Central effects of stress hormones in health and disease: Understanding the protective and damaging effects of stress and stress mediators  , European Journal of Pharmacology, volume 583, issues 2-3, 7 April 2008, pages 174-185.