A priest friend of mine came by to see me yesterday and he is concerned that if I do get in to speak with Charlie Manson during my upcoming prison ministry event that I will be in danger of, (as he put it), “Demon Transferral”, (demons currently possessing Charlie that could transfer to me).
Yikes…I was thinking more in lines of sending some Helter Skelter of my own back his way in the form of “Love of God Transferral” and quivering my eyes right back at him. (One of my employees told me that I should just stare at Charlie like I stare at him and my other employees when I’m hopping mad, and I should be fine.)
Actually demon possession is no laughing matter. It is as real today as it was in the day that Jesus walked the earth exorcising demons from tortured souls on many occasions. I do not doubt that Charlie Manson could be possessed and if he is, it could be dangerous being around those evil spirits. Those who’ve read my book, Miracle on Luckie Street, know that before I accepted Christ as my Savior, I was deeply involved in the occult and practiced black magic as a warlock for a period of time. Through this experience I personally evoked dark powers from among the underworld of demonic spirits to do my bidding and I actually saw things happen that there could be no other explanation for than demons exist and black magic works.
Today that makes me shudder to even think of it, albeit it is forty years later.
In fact I was discussing this issue with a friend just yesterday and I remarked that I have faced death numerous times in my life including staring down a gun barrel and thinking that the psychopath who had his finger on the trigger was going to shoot me at any moment, being caught far offshore in fierce storms and watching raging winds sweep huge waves over the bow of my boat and being convinced that it would sink it at any moment, being diagnosed with brain cancer and the doctor telling me that I might have three days yet to live, and riding in an ambulance listening to the blaring siren watching blood spurting out of my body covering the white clothes of the ambulance attendant as he worked feverishly on me trying to save my life after a horrific car accident and thinking that I would die at any moment.
After all of that and more I can truthfully say that today I have faced death first hand on many occasions and I’m not afraid to die, but I can say with equal conviction that I am definitely afraid of demonic power.
Why?
The Bible teaches that 1/3 of the angels of heaven were removed along with satan. We are not given a number and I surmise that is because angels are innumerable, meaning there are so many fallen angels we cannot even comprehend numbers that large. The Bible does tell us that angels are created higher than we are, meaning they have powers and attributes that we do not have. We are privy to several eyewitness accounts of various people who encountered angels throughout the Bible and in all cases that I can recall the witnesses were scared out of their wits and fell to the ground when they revealed themselves to them.
That is one large powerful army that we face.
And it is led by none other than satan, or Lucifer, who was created as the most powerful creature, beautiful and full of wisdom, the angel of light and music, and second only to God. As far as what has been revealed to us via the Bible his powers were not diminished when God removed him from heaven like a falling star.
The Bible states that the goal of satan and his band of not so merry men – fallen angels – is to destroy us and our relationship with God. It describes satan as a murderer and author of all lies whose lust for being God himself and his jealousy of God consumed and ultimately destroyed his godly peace and condemned him to eternal damnation.
Satan is powerful and should be respected and not carelessly written off. That is not to say that we should live our lives in fear of him or his army. Just the opposite we should boldly go forth claiming the superior power of God as our own. My priest friend hit the nail on the head when he advised me that before I entered that maximum security prison and walked into that cellblock with Charlie to put on the full armor of God.
Bingo! He hit the jackpot with that advice. Just as the Roman soldiers in the Apostle Paul’s day required physical armor to fight their wars, we Christians require spiritual armor to successfully fight ours today. Listen to the Spirit of God through the words penned by Paul as He describes the answer to our plight as we face the evil forces of the spiritual underworld:
Ephesians 6:10-20
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.
And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
James 4:7
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.