Friday, February 17, 2012

Spiritual Doors of Our Mind

By Pastor Michael Frisbee

Many people assume that you have to participate in a physical action of some kind, like a séance or Ouija board session, to open a doorway or portal into ourselves for the demonic to come through. The truth is that people can create doorways by just their thoughts, or through reading or watching materials involving the paranormal. This usually occurs when a stressor happens in one’s life, weakening the person’s resolve or character. The Enemy, Satan, and his demonic minions will use that weakness to set a trap and the person will agree to the bait. The thought and then action to follow seems harmless enough. Sneaking a look at those porn pictures that popped up in an innocent web search, reading occult material about wiccan spellcraft, etc. The enemy can disguise itself as a guardian angel or spirit guide, deceiving people easily since they are fallen angels and can appear as “angels of light”. Before people realize it, the demonic has access to into their lives.

2 Corinthians 11:14, "And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light."

It is critically important to understand how the enemy works, so that we can prepare and arm ourselves to stand against demonic schemes. Paul said that they were not ignorant of Satan's mechanisms - this is something that many churches today cannot claim:

2 Corinthians 2:11, "Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices."

What I have discovered regarding demonic spirits is that they always present some kind of “golden prize” to get someone to allow access into their lives. These can come in the form of specialized knowledge (mind control, divination), supernatural powers, healing (through New Age or occult powers), or even a forbidden sexual pleasure. Our Lord, Jesus Christ, warned us that even evil thoughts can ruin us, leave us vulnerable to spiritual infestation:

Matthew 15:19-20, "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man..."

When demonic spirits gain access to our spirits, they have access to our emotions, our thinking, our will. Here is a list of the more prevalent demonic spirit types and how they make themselves “appealing”:

New Age Spirits (Yoga, Reiki, etc) - Energy healing along with increased mental and physical health are offered to you, when in reality it's only bait to land you in bondage. Again, when you partake in these practices, or seek energy healing, you open yourself up to these demonics.

Sexual Perversion Spirits – You are enticed into the world of forbidden pleasure. If you begin to indulge in these pleasures, you give notice to the demonic realm that it's okay to feed you more pleasure in that area of life. Once the demonic spirit of lust or sexual perversion takes control, it becomes an obsession, even an addiction. It then becomes very difficult to resist the strong pull that this demonic has you.

Rebellious Spirits - This demonic seems to take your side and whisper to you, "You need to stand up for your rights…I’ll do that FOR YOU!" This demonic is looking for you to say, "Yes, I need you to do that!"

Divination Spirits (fortune telling) – This demonic gives you supernatural secrets into the future that others do not have access to. The truth is, only God knows the future, not even Satan has this power. The demonic can only manipulate others to force the prophecy to come about, but it will never be quite as spoken. Only God’s prophecies come to bear in perfection. If you begin to seek this sort of power, they are letting the demons know that they are welcome.

It drives me crazy when I see Christian parents that willingly and openly allow their kids to get all caught up reading and watching the Harry Potter books and movies. This opens the children up to occult spirits, letting these spirits know that they are interested in what the occult has to offer. It gives them LEGAL RIGHT to move in on the child and I have been witness to the destruction it can bring, just not in the child’s life, but the family overall. Horror movies, vampire movies, demonic movies, television shows, etc – all these things, all these media, Satan has come to use effectively to gain access to us.

Automatic Writing - This demonic offers gorgeous 'out of this realm' writings you wouldn't otherwise be able to produce. Let us never forget that demonic power is very expensive and lands you in bondage. When you seek this forbidden ability, you open yourself for the demonic to enter.

Occult Spirits - The lure of supernatural power and knowledge of the unknown. When you seek such occult power and knowledge, you open yourself to these demonics.

Bondage Spirits - You may think it's best to make/take a vow, in order to help you stay motivated to do or not do something, however, the Bible is clear that oaths can bind the soul (see Numbers 30), and it's not uncommon to find situations where someone has demonic spirits that entered in through vows that were made in the past. Rash vows can be forgiven (Leviticus 5:4-11), and must be renounced verbally. I also recommend verbally breaking the vow in Jesus' name and declaring it void by the power of the Blood of Jesus.

Addiction Spirits – This demonic often promises an escape from the reality while trying to cope with your life. When you turn to escapism, it can open you up to addictions that grow into a bondage and it seems nearly impossible to break free (without deliverance that is).

Witchcraft & Warlock Spirits – This demonic offers supernatural power to 'gain revenge' againstsomeone that has harmed you. This can be very appealing to somebody who has been rejected or hurt in this world. When you begin placing curses or seeking to learn about witchcraft, or even seek to have a witch place a curse for you, it allows the demonic entry into your life. God's Word tells us not even to seek somebody with occult power, lest we become defiled ourselves:

Leviticus 19:31, "Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God."

When we ignore the Word of God, turn a blind eye to it because it becomes unpopular or problematic to follow it, we fall away from God’s protection and grace. We begin to fall prey to our fractured and sinful nature of our flesh, and it overwhelms the spirit within us, and we start having a hard time hearing the Holy Spirit speaking to us. When this happens, we open ourselves up to the demonic, and soon we start finding our lives spinning out of control. We have to keep our focus on God, continuously read His inerrant Word, and faithfully grow our relationship with Christ through daily prayer. Only in Christ can we live demonic-free!

Friday, February 3, 2012

Paranormal Investigations – A Christian Approach

By Pastor Michael Frisbee

In my past articles, through scriptural application, I have proven there are no human ghosts to find out there. I have shown that doing EVP sessions in the manner for which the para-reality shows do it and hundreds of teams throughout the world mimick, is no more than a 21st century version of the Ouija Board.

I have shown, again through scriptures, that the real presence out there behind the intelligent haunts that are being experienced is the demonic. This sounds like I am seeing every case as a demonic case. I am not. Well over 85% of investigations of alleged activity can be easily debunked by means of natural explanations. Of those investigations where natural explanations cannot debunk the activity, well over three-quarters of those prove out to be of the residual variety, energy that was embedded by repetition of activity by a previous resident, or a massive out pouring of energy due to tragedy or intense emotions. Battle ground scenarios, residential homes with long histories, etc. Some unknown trigger sets the recorded energy into replay mode. But there is no intelligence behind the haunt. These are not human ghosts trapped.

The miniscule percentage of remaining investigations, will be one of which an intelligence is behind the alleged activity. This is when the danger becomes real, for it is not a human ghost as we have shown. It is a demon, seeking to confuse, to deceive, to draw us in. They can present themselves as angels and beings of light, or dark, oppressive, gruesome monsters. They present themselves as little girls that just want to play, or seeking their lost Mommy. They can pretend to be a guiding spirit to help you unlock the mysteries of life. They can present themselves as loved ones that have passed on, and tell you secret things that allegedly only they could know. Remember people, there is no secret in our life that is not wide open and exposed for those in the spiritual realm to see.

A few days ago I was asked, "Pastor, I am a Christian, and I have read what you have written. I want to help people, and I was wondering, how can I conduct an investigation that doesn’t violate the scriptures? When is it appropriate for me to do an investigation, especially if human ghosts do not exist?"

To conduct an investigation, on the aspects of, “scientific research to prove the existence of human ghosts” is simply human egotism. You ignore all that God instructs us to not do and what He informs us of regarding our disposition after death. Human ghosts do not exist – so why investigate at all?

There is a protocol and a justified reason for doing a Christian, Biblically based investigation. You are not investigating in this case to prove ghosts exist, but rather to ascertain whether an intelligent presence is at work, a demonic. The initial procedures are much the same:

1. Interview the clients; get a history from about 3-6 months before the alleged activity began.
2. Try to find any stressors that could be present in the client’s life.
3. Get a breakdown of the alleged activity and the general nature of the activity.
4. Get a medical history, are any of the clients on medication of any kind, or recently had any kind of invasive surgery.
5. Find out if the clients ever had a mental health evaluation done in the last 6-12 months, or if anyone is under the care of a mental health doctor.
6. Is there any history of mental health issues in the family.
7. What is the clients’ religious status, and what are their beliefs.
8. Investigate the background of the property and home.
9. Find out who the previous residents were, interview them.
10. Do a property review and seek out any kind of electrical, plumbing or mechanical explanation of the alleged activity.

Once all of this is done, you can determine if you have simply over imaginative people and explain to them the natural causes for what is being experienced, or if natural explanations do not, recommend an investigation to determine if an intelligent presence is there.

Set up your cameras to record in areas of alleged activity and with each, a digital recorder set to record. The difference here, YOU WILL NOT instruct any present spirits and so forth to come forward and speak into the red light. You are not going to sit in groups of two in a dark room and ask inane questions of whatever may be there.

You will however, do a scriptural/Biblical provocation. I only recommend this be done by those who are disciples of Jesus Christ, have been born again and walk in the spirit with Christ. I recommend two, but three is better. You will walk around the house, slowly and in lowered voices, pray the Lord’s Prayer, read from Proverbs and Psalms, read of Christ’s ministry, particularly when He excised demons from the afflicted, and read Ephesians 6:10-20. Keep doing this over and over. If you have a few or several Christians on your team, do this in shifts with different people. Your only direct communication with anything there, will be to command it, in the authority of Jesus Christ, to let itself be heard and known. Be sure that every so often, in a commanding and confident voice, state clearly, "By the authority of Jesus Christ and the anointing of His Blood, I command any demonic presence in this location to make itself known."

When it comes to the demonic, hearing God’s Word irritates, causes pain, and creates fear within them. They cannot but help respond to it. This is why it is critical non Christians not be present when this type of provocation is done, for they will lash out against those they can easily get to.

When you do your analysis, especially in reviewing the audio, listen carefully to what you do get. You will not here the usual half spoken, barely uttered meaningless stuff, but clear responses to the scripture being uttered. If you get this, you know that you do have a presence. This is now the point the real work begins. This is where counseling the clients, helping them back on a proper path with Christ, and then helping them to remove the presence from their home.

If a presence is found, a simple house blessing will not remove it. There will need to be a binding of that presence and casting it out. Only the Authority of Christ can do that. Once this has been done and the demonic removed, you can do a blessing and prayer of spiritual canopy. Help the family find a good Christian, spirit filled church community to attend if they do not have a home church already. Get them into a habit of reading the Bible daily and praying.

A Christian Paranormal Investigation team is there to bring peace and harmony to a client’s home, and remove the strife caused within it. The goal is to confirm a true presence, or to negate the fact one exists, and help the clients to come to terms with whichever reality comes to light.