Do we need to know how the "spiritual realm works"? Hello? The Whole BIBLE is a SPIRITUAL BOOK!! I have heard some teachings that border on new age, beliefs about spiritual portals and things like this, spiritual dynamics etc etc. This is not the language the bible uses. Those are not new age, they are biblical. A 'portal' is another word for 'door' or gate'. These things are spoken of in the Bible. When the angels go up and down the Jacobs ladder, there is a 'portal' there. When Elijah was taken up to heaven, when John experienced the content of Revelation, it was simply 'entering in' to, going through to. Check out Ps 78:23, John 1:51, Rev. 4:1-2.
Regardless of whether they are not Christian or not, you are borrowing occult terminology and beliefs that they once held when they were not Christians, and accepting it as fact of the spiritual realm. You give God very little credit here. The people that come out of the occult have nothing to gain by revealing the secrets of the kingdom of darkness. They do it after much prayer and not lightly because there is most often a threat of death from those with which they used to associate for revealing such things. It truly is only the power of the Blood of Jesus that protect them. Witchcraft and the occult is I believe based on 95% deception, 5% spiritual reality ( I exaggerate to make my point). You are wrong on this. The whole of our existence is spiritual. The early church taught these things, but when Constantine stepped in and changed things in the 2nd century, many of the core teachings of Christianity were not only set on the 'shelf' but have, until recently, collect so much dust as to be unrecognizable. If they convince people that these demons are real and actually do the things they claim to do, that puts people in bondage to these spirits,NOW you're getting the idea! Look around you! So you see all the depression, the mental illness, the poverty, etc?? THAT is people in bondage or under curses. Not one of those conditions is what God has ordained for any made in His image. which may be nothing more than mind control or trickery. And just WHO do you think is behind mind control and trickery?? Right! Satan! So when an occultist or ex-occultist talks about "watcher spirits" that they learnt or had familiarity with whilst in the occult, makes no difference, that is still knowledge of evil which they acquired. Scripture does not specify and so we can not limit. When they become a Christian, they are supposed to renounce all of that, They DO!! not retain it and use it as useful information for Christian deliverance counsellors etc. Says who? Just because they renounce it does not mean that their minds go blank and they forget their experiences. God uses them to minister to others that are still trapped in the same clutches that they used to be in. Are you stipulating what God can and cannot use as He desires to set people free?
I fail to see the connection between watcher spirits living in crows and owls as you describe, and the word watchman in the bible which can refer to soldiers watching the gates, as they did, or take upon an intercessory/spiritual warfare meaning. Soldiers watching the gates. YES! Satan, mimicking, also send his minions to watch. Satan cannot read our thoughts. The only way he can know if his tactics are effective is to SEE or HEAR what goes on. He cannot be everywhere at once, so he SENDS those in his army out to do his bidding.
If they acquired this info. about satan whilst they were unsaved, it is likely to be unreliable and wrong. No, it isn't wrong. It scares you. It is unfamiliar to you because you've not heard these things before**. But understand that these people LIVED these things, used these things successfully. It was a part of who they were at that time. Did they live a deception? Yes. But the deception was that they would gain power by serving one created, rather than the Creator. But because satan always mixes in a bit of truth to make the lie more appealing, they were able to manipulate and control (witchcraft) man by their workings of the spiritual realm.
**Consider that God desires to teach YOU these very things. He wants to tweek your curiosity. He orders ALL of our steps. Do you think the info I'm sharing is to benefit those in the kingdom of darkness? No Way! It is to help those like yourself become stronger and bolder and more of a threat to the kingdom of darkness!! I want to see you do some damage!!
I respect your qualifications but in practice, is this really all necessary? I support overseas missions in India who encounter witchdoctors, some whole villages are under these witchdoctors spells. Hence the NEED for spiritual warfare and deliverance. In fact it is mostly mind control rather than actual spiritual power. No, it is witchcraft. Jezabel was a witch and she was ALL about controlling those around her. Demon possessed people that are so fierce they are tied in chains like dogs. These missionaries are not trained in spiritual warfare as you describe, they have no degree in spiritual warfare or prophetic ministry, they are simply messengers of the Word of God and carry the Gospel, yet the witchdoctors cannot touch them because of the Holy Spirit and God's angelic protection. YES! SEASONED men of God DOING His Word!...Just like Jesus! Furthermore, they are able to deliver people from demonic spirits in the name of Jesus. They know the authority they have in Christ, nothing more, nothing less. Do they need to know about watcher spirits and owls/crows with devils in them? Do they need a degree in spiritual warfare? I have seen so called "deliverance manuals" which contain names and types of all sorts of evil spirits.. is it necessary ? No. You don't need to know that something is a spirit of this or a spirit of that. That is knowledge of evil. For the most part, you are correct on this. But Faith in the US is quite different, sadly, than it is in 3rd world countries. Because they are so poor, it is much easier for them to truly believe in God and His word. Sadly, as I'm sure you've seen here at home, people's faith is often a faith of unbelief rather than a faith of power and overcoming, having His word written upon our hearts from which we can draw upon at any given moment. Many profess to believe, yet they suffer and are not the overcomers God created them to be.
Do we need to know how the "spiritual realm works"? Hello? The Whole BIBLE is a SPIRITUAL BOOK!! I have heard some teachings that border on new age, beliefs about spiritual portals and things like this, spiritual dynamics etc etc. This is not the language the bible uses. Those are not new age, they are biblical. A 'portal' is another word for 'door' or gate'. These things are spoken of in the Bible. When the angels go up and down the Jacobs ladder, there is a 'portal' there. When Elijah was taken up to heaven, when John experienced the content of Revelation, it was simply 'entering in' to, going through to. Check out Ps 78:23, John 1:51, Rev. 4:1-2.
Regardless of whether they are not Christian or not, you are borrowing occult terminology and beliefs that they once held when they were not Christians, and accepting it as fact of the spiritual realm. You give God very little credit here. The people that come out of the occult have nothing to gain by revealing the secrets of the kingdom of darkness. They do it after much prayer and not lightly because there is most often a threat of death from those with which they used to associate for revealing such things. It truly is only the power of the Blood of Jesus that protect them. Witchcraft and the occult is I believe based on 95% deception, 5% spiritual reality ( I exaggerate to make my point). You are wrong on this. The whole of our existence is spiritual. The early church taught these things, but when Constantine stepped in and changed things in the 2nd century, many of the core teachings of Christianity were not only set on the 'shelf' but have, until recently, collect so much dust as to be unrecognizable. If they convince people that these demons are real and actually do the things they claim to do, that puts people in bondage to these spirits,NOW you're getting the idea! Look around you! So you see all the depression, the mental illness, the poverty, etc?? THAT is people in bondage or under curses. Not one of those conditions is what God has ordained for any made in His image. which may be nothing more than mind control or trickery. And just WHO do you think is behind mind control and trickery?? Right! Satan! So when an occultist or ex-occultist talks about "watcher spirits" that they learnt or had familiarity with whilst in the occult, makes no difference, that is still knowledge of evil which they acquired. Scripture does not specify and so we can not limit. When they become a Christian, they are supposed to renounce all of that, They DO!! not retain it and use it as useful information for Christian deliverance counsellors etc. Says who? Just because they renounce it does not mean that their minds go blank and they forget their experiences. God uses them to minister to others that are still trapped in the same clutches that they used to be in. Are you stipulating what God can and cannot use as He desires to set people free?
I fail to see the connection between watcher spirits living in crows and owls as you describe, and the word watchman in the bible which can refer to soldiers watching the gates, as they did, or take upon an intercessory/spiritual warfare meaning. Soldiers watching the gates. YES! Satan, mimicking, also send his minions to watch. Satan cannot read our thoughts. The only way he can know if his tactics are effective is to SEE or HEAR what goes on. He cannot be everywhere at once, so he SENDS those in his army out to do his bidding.
If they acquired this info. about satan whilst they were unsaved, it is likely to be unreliable and wrong. No, it isn't wrong. It scares you. It is unfamiliar to you because you've not heard these things before**. But understand that these people LIVED these things, used these things successfully. It was a part of who they were at that time. Did they live a deception? Yes. But the deception was that they would gain power by serving one created, rather than the Creator. But because satan always mixes in a bit of truth to make the lie more appealing, they were able to manipulate and control (witchcraft) man by their workings of the spiritual realm.
**Consider that God desires to teach YOU these very things. He wants to tweek your curiosity. He orders ALL of our steps. Do you think the info I'm sharing is to benefit those in the kingdom of darkness? No Way! It is to help those like yourself become stronger and bolder and more of a threat to the kingdom of darkness!! I want to see you do some damage!!
I respect your qualifications but in practice, is this really all necessary? I support overseas missions in India who encounter witchdoctors, some whole villages are under these witchdoctors spells. Hence the NEED for spiritual warfare and deliverance. In fact it is mostly mind control rather than actual spiritual power. No, it is witchcraft. Jezabel was a witch and she was ALL about controlling those around her. Demon possessed people that are so fierce they are tied in chains like dogs. These missionaries are not trained in spiritual warfare as you describe, they have no degree in spiritual warfare or prophetic ministry, they are simply messengers of the Word of God and carry the Gospel, yet the witchdoctors cannot touch them because of the Holy Spirit and God's angelic protection. YES! SEASONED men of God DOING His Word!...Just like Jesus! Furthermore, they are able to deliver people from demonic spirits in the name of Jesus. They know the authority they have in Christ, nothing more, nothing less. Do they need to know about watcher spirits and owls/crows with devils in them? Do they need a degree in spiritual warfare? I have seen so called "deliverance manuals" which contain names and types of all sorts of evil spirits.. is it necessary ? No. You don't need to know that something is a spirit of this or a spirit of that. That is knowledge of evil. For the most part, you are correct on this. But Faith in the US is quite different, sadly, than it is in 3rd world countries. Because they are so poor, it is much easier for them to truly believe in God and His word. Sadly, as I'm sure you've seen here at home, people's faith is often a faith of unbelief rather than a faith of power and overcoming, having His word written upon our hearts from which we can draw upon at any given moment. Many profess to believe, yet they suffer and are not the overcomers God created them to be.
Gabriel came to Daniel's aid. So, IMO, they fought together. In the OT, the NT and the early church, angel activity was common and very well accepted. It is still common today, despite the fact that most people, when nailed to the wall, will say that they don't believe we should see angels on an everyday basis. Thankfully, God does not change and is not a repector of man, so we DO have the same angelic activity going on around today as back then....whether we see it with our natural eyes or not.
Maggie
Our knowledge of God, HIs character and His ways should always exceed our knowledge of evil. Our time spent in communion with God, in His word, in prayer, in worship, should fill our days. But when we do encounter evil, we should also be able to recognize it and deal with it.
M~
