Cults
Lightening from the sky striking the earth could not have had more of an impact on my life. I was in the occult! What does that mean? I was not familiar with that word, and I had never heard it before.
Two ladies from Cedar Grove Baptist Church came to visit. Jenny, the minister’s wife and Margie one of the older members who always went along on these visits. They heard through the ‘church grapevine’ I was investigating things in the supernatural and wanted to talk with me.
Jenny was condemning, critical, and irritating with her comments. I did not invite these people. I found out later they were sent by my next-door neighbor who everyone regarded as the community gossip.
“What’s the occult?" I asked.
They both laughed. I didn’t see anything funny. The ministers’ wife seemed to know everything on the subject.
“It’s the devils domain. He will get hold of your life and do whatever he wants with you!”
Her explanation was downright scary. I didn’t have a clue as to where this conversation was going.
“What are you talking about?” I replied annoyed, “That’s not what I’m doing.”
“Yes, you are!” She shouted in an argumentative tone ready to do battle.
I didn’t have time for her judgmental criticisms. “Let’s take this up another day; I’ve got other things I have to do.”
Her persistence in attempting to persuade me and in ‘getting it right’ was very irritating. She was not about to give up on her constant explanations. In total frustration, I finally had to ask Jenny and Margie to leave. My children keep me very busy and needed my attention. I closed the door with a sigh of relief.
She had her nerve! How dare they say what I was investigating was of the devil. Those Baptists are all alike! They need to take off the blinders. If it’s not their way of thinking then it’s all wrong.
Growing up as a kid at Immanuel Baptist Church, I remembered the teachings that we were never to purchase any books unless it came from a Bible bookstore. I unconsciously followed that rule for 18 years. My spiritual education was limited. I finally realized if I never read any controversial books, I’d never learn anything new. I was determined not to let those two people in my home again.
Backing up a little, this story actually begins with a book given to me several months preceding this unexpected visit. My closest girlfriend gave me a book by Edgar Cayce. I found it fascinating. Not knowing any better, I thought to myself, is this what happens in the spirit world?
I began looking around for more books on the supernatural. I read about Jeannie Dixon. Both books seem to make sense to me. This had to be from God, after all, where else does the supernatural live?
Two weeks later, I received a phone call from Jenny. She said she had a very important book for me to read. I told her I was really busy. I did not want to be impolite. I was just not up to listening to her arguments again about the occult, so I tried to put her off.
After lunch, I got my youngest two babies down for their nap and heard a knock at the door. Oh no, just when I thought I would have some free time for myself there she is again. She’s not coming in no matter what! I said quietly to myself.
I opened the door a crack, trying to put on my happy face. “I did tell you I was busy today.”
She apologized and squeezed a little book through the door. “This book will explain what I tried to tell you last time we talked,” Jenny said.
Talked! I thought to myself annoyed, you talked and I listened.
I thanked her for the book promising I would read it while slowly closing the door. Looking up I said, Thank you Lord, she was not pushy today. I stashed it in the bookcase hoping to never see it again. Unknown to me God had a plan. This was actually a divine intervention. Several weeks went by and I received another phone call inquiring whether I had read the book.
Thinking to myself, “Don’t these people ever give up?”
I replied graciously, all the while gritting my teeth. I just did not have the time, but I promised I would read it later in the week. We chatted a little about the children and then she hung up. Thank goodness! What a pest!
To this day I have no recollection why I began reading, “The Challenging Counterfeit,” by Raphael Gasson. Maybe I was just curious and maybe God’s plan was about to unfold. I came to the conclusion it did fit in with my research into the supernatural.
This book centered on a psychic who could go into a trance and conjure up a spirit that would tell him things. I thought this was fascinating. Jenny thought it was from Satan. On her first visit Jenny said, “The devil appears in the disguise of light. He was the great deceiver and could make us believe something false is true.”
That explanation sounded like a bunch of baloney to me. I was just too polite to say it to her face.
I explained to Jenny and her friend I only investigated good spirits. Actually, I really did not know the difference between a good spirit and a bad one, but I pretended like I knew exactly what I was talking about.
Later that day, I made it a point to search out the Old Testament story of the woman called the witch of Endor who was used by Satan to conjure up spirits as written in I Samuel 28.
Okay, that’s a nice story, but I’m not calling up spirits it just doesn’t fit. I didn’t want it to fit because I firmly believed these people from the church were wrong.
As I read this book during my quiet time there was one entry I found especially interesting and disturbing. Two men, as the story goes, both had a spirit they could call up at will. They permitted this spirit to move inside their body, ‘take over,’ as in some sort of trance. This spirit then could speak through them. Our first man was a religious person and quoted Bible verses all the time. The other man poked fun at him and said his spirit was just as mean and ornery as his was.
I continued reading with a scowl on my face. I was puzzled. What did that mean?
It was suggested they both go into a trance and call up their guides letting them talk with each other to prove one spirit guide is no more religious than another. People were invited as a witness. Someone brought a tape recorder on so there would be proof of what each man had said. After both men woke from their trance the tape was played. One spirit guide was no better than the other. They were both evil. The astounding part was that these two spirits talked with each other and seemed to be friends.
As I read these words something astounding happened. Some unseen power-driven electric bolt of spiritual lightening hit me, as though someone had turned on a light switch. My mind became sharp and crystal clear. I felt a sense of freedom. I immediately understood what the two ladies from the church were trying to explain.
I was delivered from the occult. My thinking changed, my actions changed, I became a different person. God touched me that afternoon in a miraculous way. I had a strange sensation another adventure was waiting for me just around the corner.
Weeks later, I was introduced to the Holy Spirit. This revelation came through another book, "The Cross and the Switchblade.” But then, that's a different story.
* * * *
The Challenging Counterfeit, Raphael Gasson
The Cross and the Switchblade, David Wilkerson
Bible - New King James Version (NKJV) I Samuel 28:1-25
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