THE NEW IDOLATRY
Charismatic Witchcraft, Deliverance Ministry, and Other Counterfeits
Elder Pamela Sheppard LMSW
Pam
Sheppard Publishing
10 Greenwood Drive, Suite 356
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Greenbush NY 12061
The New Idolatry
Copyright 2011 by Pamela Sheppard
All rights reserved
To protect the privacy of the individuals referred to, names of persons and other details and circumstances have been changed.
Unless otherwise noted, scripture quotations in this publication are from the King James Version.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1: What’s New About Idolatry? 5
Chapter 2: Charismatic Witchcraft 15
Chapter 3: Up Close and Personal 39
Chapter 4: Cultural Witchcraft 67
Chapter 5: The Conspiracy of
Deliverance Ministry 91
Chapter 6: Demonic Copulation 139
Chapter 7: The Alien/Devil Connection 157
Chapter 8: Overcoming Strong Delusion 179
Chapter 9: Judgment Has Already Begun! 197
CHAPTER ONE
WHAT’S NEW ABOUT IDOLATRY?
I find it amazing that in this age of cyberspace, weather upheavals, economic instability and crisis, the “new” side of idolatry is that moral, ethical, law-abiding citizens whether born again or not, “are living without God on their minds.” Skillful, intelligent and proficient in the ways of the world, the spiritually blind who practice the new idolatry are so exasperatingly ignorant, --- so much so that they provoke God---, perhaps more than those who sin boldly in complete knowledge of their blasphemy: For it is written, “Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come upon thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.” (Rev.3:3) Spiritual blindness is the reason why Jesus warned the Laodiceans that He would “spit them out of His mouth:” thou KNOWEST NOT that though art wretched, and miserable, poor and blind and naked.” (Rev 3:17)
So this book is about “knowing” and “watching.” Certainly none of us know all of the divine plan. According to Donald Grey Barnhouse, “Somewhere along the line we are going to find a question which causes us to admit that we do not know all the answers and that we must abandon ourselves to the full tide of faith, trusting God that understanding shall be ours in some future day.”1
Well, I believe that enough understanding is available today for those who are willing to repent by admitting to and taking responsibility for becoming seduced and ultimately entrapped by some facet of “the new idolatry.” Whether through the deception of fallen angels---ascended masters or other religious devils---the deceived have either tasted or completely digested blasphemous spiritual food that has caused them to unwittingly dine at Satan’s table. A divine vomit session awaits us all.
Regardless of the theological argument whose sole purpose is to contradict the gospel of Jesus Christ, those entrapped by the new idolatry have advocated in thought, word or deed a belief in an impersonal God; endless improvement in the hereafter through reincarnation; men are not lost sinners in need of divine mercy; Christ was divine only in the sense that all humanity is divine; the cross was not intended to be a sacrifice for sin; the Lord’s resurrection was NOT in body but was a mere spirit manifestation; the Lord really didn’t rise from the dead as he was merely comatose in the first place; and most deadly, that we are saved by our own works and not by divine grace.2
Generally, idolatry is perceived from the perspective of overt sin and iniquity towards God in the worship of other Gods, defying God’s first commandment, “thou shall have no other god’s but Me.” The occult, Satanism, witchcraft and its charismatic religion and cultural counterparts, freemasonry and secret cults and societies, the throne of homosexuality, the addictions and 12 Step Program’s ‘higher power’, and all other groups and religions where Jesus is not divine and the Holy Ghost is denied---the new flair to an old thing is actually the delusion and the deception of it all. For the irony is that most of today’s idolaters are completely oblivious to the fact that God does not accept their worship of Him but instead, they are actually worshiping one of Satan’s fallen angels, namely the one who calls himself “Jesus Sananda Immanuel.” If Miatreya is the Anti-Christ, then Sananda is the false prophet depicted in the book of Revelation.
In her recent book, Occultist Etta D. Jackson succinctly explains what New Agers actually believe:
“ The Presiding Head of the second department of the World Teacher, the Head of all religions of the world, who is also the Master of Masters of the angels. He is the Great Being whose consciousness has become intelligence, who the Christians call the Christ, who those in the Orient know as the Lord Maitreya and as the Bodhisattva, and is the One who the Mohammedans look for under the name of Imam Madhi…..The World Teacher directs the activities of different schools of thought in all the great religions through the medium of a group of Masters and Initiates. The Master Jesus (Sananda Immanuel) is director and inspirer of the Christian Churches, and he and the Master Kuthumi oversee this department of the World Teacher on the Physical Plane, bending the mind towards an occult understanding of Christ Principles.”1
Besides Maitreya, even though Sananda appears to be second in command among Satan’s fallen angels, other devils and demons play a significant role in what occultists refer to as “the Christ consciousness.” With unsuspecting churchgoers, Jesus Sananda, aided by a dissemination of religious anti-christ devils and demons under his command have resorted to an all-encompassing deception in order to engender covert worship from unquestioning worshippers. By corrupt, clandestine means, Jesus Sananda has impersonated Jesus Christ of Nazareth within every organized church, with no exceptions. Sananda’s strategy continues to be to make use of counterfeit manifestations of the spirit as a means to infiltrate the minds of churchgoers to endorse false practices, false doctrine as fed to them by the deception of false prophets.
Clearly, the battle lines were drawn long ago with Satan’s agenda unfolding and simply coming more into focus as time goes by. The fake Jesus has done mind unbelievable damage to the endtime church, as religious devils and demons have consistently pulled the church away from the authentic gospel to an alternate one, which of course is no gospel at all.2 Sananda’s influence is more obviously apparent among the Mormons, the Catholics, the Christian Scientists, the 7th Day Adventists, the Jehovah Witnesses and other so called Christian churches where the word of God has been changed, by some, tremendously, by others, ever so slightly. Simply put, each of these Christian sects has perverted the gospel in one way or another.
Yet practically every organized church on earth today has perverted the gospel of Jesus Christ of Nazareth by spreading the false teaching that salvation is in the hands of man’s choice and not the sovereign choice and gift of God the Father. In fact, every believer who came to Christ by either responding to an invitation to Christian discipleship in a church or repeating a sinner’s prayer while watching television has been drawn into Christianity by Sananda. Check your language. If you frequently declare “I accepted Jesus,” your soul has been contaminated by the new idolatry.
Impersonation of Jesus Christ of Nazareth by Jesus Sananda Immanuel and the others is either with or without the cross or without the resurrection or at times, even without both.3 The horrifying result is that untold millions of church worshippers believe that they are saved when they are not. A recurring horror is that when they pray to the Father in the Name of Jesus, it is not Jesus Christ of Nazareth who hears and responds to them. In fact, He does not know them.
Without a worshiper’s understanding of the cross and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, the true Father God allows Satan to receive prayers made in “Jesus” name. Consequently, prayer and worship has been imperceptibly commandeered by the fake fallen angel, who calls himself “Jesus.”. A devilish religious invasion into the doctrines and practices of the organized church is the worst form of the new idolatry, with spiritually blind, yet faithful Christian churchgoers in communion with a table of devils. More on this crucial subject in Chapter 9.
While nominal Christians expect that the Lord is going to “rapture” them during the tribulation even though they are lukewarm and spiritually blind, the New Agers are awaiting “a rapture” as well. However, occultists believe that those who will be “taken off of the planet” are not God’s best among mankind but His worst. In fact, a warrior fallen angel who is known as Ashtar boasts that he and his command are prepared to evacuate and relocate the “less developed” among us. 4
Freemasonry is certainly at the root of every facet of the new idolatry. History reveals that practically all of the founding fathers of America were freemasons. The dollar bill boasts the symbols of this Satanic secret society. Yet another of the many proofs of freemasonry’s deep influence upon the American culture and mentality is the Statue of Liberty. This colossal statue was fashioned after the goddess Ishtar. Ishtar was the ancient Sumero-Babylonian goddess of love and fertility. The statue was conceived by Freemasons, financed by Freemasons, built by Freemasons and installed by Freemasons in a masonic ceremony. Its maker was a freemason, Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi.5
Several Masonic defectors have exposed the deeper things of freemasonry in various books and articles. From a personal perspective, the denomination I served was overrun with freemasons of the Prince Hall Lodge in high leadership positions in both the pulpits and the pews. In fact, if you trace the history of most denominations you will find freemasons among its founders. In “Come Out of Her, God’s People,” and “Faces of the Religious Demon,” I expose the ramifications of the infiltration of freemasonry in the African American church and the backlash of destructive plagues that have overtaken the family members of ministers and laity who are freemasons. Cisco Wheeler, a former freemason within the Illuminati, has exposed the secret agenda for church membership. In a transcribed radio interview, Cisco chillingly uncovered how by becoming part of the church as an ordained minister, a leader of youth groups, and a friend and associate to church elders and the board of directors of Pentecostal churches, her father spread freemasonry into the churches:
“In the late forties, the Illuminati wanted to infiltrate the churches because they understood the power of God within the structure of the church, and they had to find a way to infiltrate the church to break down that spiritual strength within the church, the power of the Holy Spirit that works within the church. They (the Illuminati) had to find a way to infiltrate that, and they wanted to bring the world into the churches so that the churches wouldn’t be so strong spiritually. That was part of my father’s job. In order to do that, my father married my mother who was not Illuminati, but she had a very strong religious background. My mother was that perfect example for the world, that perfect wife for the church to set examples for other young women in the church. When my father married her, that was his way to infiltrate the church through my mother.”6
With Cisco Wheeler’s father as only one freemason among perhaps thousands or even millions brainwashed with the same mindset of church infiltration through marriage to a Christian woman, it is interesting that idolatry obtained a foothold in the church by the late 40’s. Similarly, it was in the late 40’s that alien encounters became a matter of public and governmental attention, dealt with in more substance in Chapter 7.
Another facet of the new idolatry is that its captives are not able to read the signs of the times. For example, I perceive that we are no longer living in the season of conversion. In spite what you watch on Christian television, this is not an age where the masses are turning to Christ with their whole hearts. Face it. We are not converting the world regardless of how big of a crowd a mega preacher can draw either in the US or abroad. As quiet as its kept, no where that I can find in the bible does it read that God’s people are expected to convert the world or “win an unsaved soul to Jesus.” No. All we were commissioned to do is “tell the story” or “preach.” Conversion is God’s thing, not ours. Those who believe what we preach are saved. Those who do not are damned. Simple yet made so complicated by Christendom.
When the story has been told, the Lord said: “and then, the end.” (Matt 24:14) I believe that we are close to “the end” which follows that “the story has been told.” We’ve done our job for the last 20 centuries or so. What we seem to forget is that Jesus warned about what we are supposed to do in the last verse of the parable concerning the wise and foolish virgins. The door was shut on the foolish virgins because “they were not prepared.” The Lord warns: “Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.” (Matt 25:13)
Notice, the Lord did not say “you know neither the year or the month,” but only the day or the hour. Consequently, this book is most definitely about watching. To the 7 churches, Jesus said “watch.” In the cited parable, Jesus said “watch.” The New Idolatry is also about preparing yourself for His coming by helping you to “clean up your spiritual house.”
GETTING READY!
Beside watching, I believe that close to the end of the church age, there is yet another season: a time of preparation. Watching is the first step to that preparation. We must be very watchful because Satan has planned a deception of cosmic proportions. “It won’t be just a false doctrine, a defective world-view, or one of the tragic “isms” so prevalent today. It will include a comprehensive global leadership backed by supernatural powers and capabilities that will overwhelm the imagination of the world at large. And it will be authenticated by miracles---great signs and lying wonders.” 7 When TD Jakes first became well known through television, he had a slogan that is timely for today, namely, “Get ready, get ready, get ready, get ready!” He repeated it very quickly. So do I with this book. With this book, I am saying to the remnant of God’s people, “get ready, get ready, get ready, get ready!”
CHAPTER TWO
CHARISMATIC WITCHCRAFT
DEFINING THE TERM
Taken separately, the word ‘charisma’ in the thesaurus and the dictionary use synonyms such as charm, allure and dynamic glamour. Once attached to the word ‘witchcraft,” at the highest point on the spectrum, religious charisma embodies a hypnotic magnetism akin to a form of magical suggestion which can be abusive if practiced by people with a self aggrandizing motivation.
In his book “Christian Counseling and Occultism,” the author quotes German Professor Paul Diepgin in his definition of magic. Magic from a religious or spiritual perspective is classified as the true meaning of witchcraft. Witchcraft is manifested according to two distinct types: black magic and white magic.8
Black magic is Luciferian worship, obviously practiced in the invocation of Satan, devils and demons for the purpose of persecution, vengeance and death spells. White magic uses the names of the Trinity, bible verses,---particularly the psalms---and other religious symbols to invoke, prosperity, health and healing, protection, destiny and purpose, romance, finances and fertility.9
In a nutshell, like New Age mysticism, charismatic witchcraft is the practice of white magic. For the sake of comparison, consider how both a new age practitioner and a Charismatic Christian would approach a typical problem, namely, a woman seeking to stop the infidelity of a lover or husband. From the occultist, the woman might be required to purchase a defense enchantment like burying her man’s shirt at full moon, while pronouncing a curse or a magic formula seven times. As the shirt wears out and disintegrates in the ground overtime, so also will the man’s love for the other woman fade and dissolve.
Both the occultists and those deceived by charismatic teachings rely on the credulity and readiness of those they counsel and advise. In like manner, charismatic witchcraft might approach this classic problem from a variety of religious perspectives, with the twist that God is made amenable to the woman’s plans. Supernatural dreams and visions labeled the discerning of spirits, a word of wisdom, a word of knowledge and prophecy, intercessory prayers of “binding and loosing” and the taking of scripture out of their natural context and applying them to the woman’s personal agenda are the primary methods of choice.
In this instance, the woman might be advised to pray over her man’s side of the bed, anoint it with oil or holy water, name it and claim it by sending forth evil prayers against her man’s lover, in unsavory ways un-befitting to Jesus Christ, and pray controlling, manipulative prayers to change the man’s behavior. Rather than deal openly with the issues of infidelity, sin and spousal abuse, Charismatics are infamous for seeking “the supernatural solution.”
Mysticism
Charismatic witchcraft is akin to mysticism. What is mysticism? Mysticism is the sensual expectation of a relationship with God and dealings with the spirit realm. By sensuous religiosity, mysticism seeks a climactic epiphany quite similar to a sexual orgasm. Mystics want to know God intimately through their physicality. In other words, mystics want to see, touch, feel, and be one with God NOW. The mystic asks “Why can't we feel God? See Him? Go deeper and deeper with Him, into deeper levels of intimacy?” 10 What they don’t perceive is that we know Him by faith. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. Faith is a substance that transcends the senses.
The mystic does not accept the fact that our salvation is not yet complete.—that the only aspect of our being that is saved or “born again” is our spirits. The hunger "to know and be known" is good, but coupled with the discontented impatience, and a low or distorted view of scripture, and you have a mystic. The mystic relegates the work of the Spirit to the level of sensual manifestation. People are trying to feel God. Charismatic believers tend to be mystical. The mystical application of charismatic witchcraft is to teach people to look for the anointing, the "force of faith and grace," the power to heal, and the activity of God through physical sensations. As a result Charismatic Christians are tuned into "tingling," seeing a "radiant glow," expecting to tremble, to feel electricity, and a host of other supernatural manifestations.11
Charismatic Witchcraft Parallels To the Occult
Success, prosperity, self actualization, man as a god with a small “g”, altered states of consciousness, and various associated esoteric techniques embraced by new age occultists also serve as the foundation of the charismatic movement.
“If a witch doctor came dancing down the aisle with his paint, feathers, fetishes, and rattles, most evangelical churches would have enough discernment to attempt to convert him, and if that didn’t happen, to put him out. But the same witchdoctor, minus the outward adornments of his occultism, dressed in a clerical collar or a business suit, with a PhD in psychology and teaching ‘success principles’ allegedly from the Bible, would we welcomed and listened to intently.”12
Anthropologist Michael Harner, one of the world’s leading authorities on shamanism (a modern word for witchcraft), lists the new names under which the basic elements of ancient witchcraft are now widely accepted in today’s world and church: visualization, hypnosis, psychological counseling, positive thinking, positive speaking, (confession) and Eastern meditation techniques.13
In the early 70’s, as an atheist psychic medium and astrologer, once I became born again, it is not surprising that I would be magnetized to and seduced by the charismatic movement simply because of its familiarity to white magic. So from a personal perspective, I know better than most that the tools of charismatic witchcraft have an esoteric source. Even a congregate worship service professing to be Christian church is very similar to tribal worship of ancient deities.
Pentecostal Influences of Charismatic Witchcraft
Uplifting, often energetic, rhythmic music with lots of percussion instruments, led by dynamic, “charismatic” personalities who prance, shout, run, strut, slide and even dance across stages and platforms are elements of a “worship in the flesh.” Charismatic, Pentecostal worship provokes an emotional, sometimes demonstrative response, an outburst of some kind. Extremely skilled at manipulating a crowd by stirring up the emotions, once sufficiently stirred, the characteristic outbursts are shouts, screams and similar outcries that will ignite an entire congregation.
Demons use these kinds of outbursts to counterfeit the Holy Ghost with nonsensical laughter, shouting, falling slain, rolling on the floor, running up and down aisles, and even throwing money at the feet of a prominent evangelist, and other forms of emotional frenzy.
Most of the demonically tormented people that I have counseled in the last ten years were active members charismatic and Pentecostal churches. Some of them were set free but others remain tormented. So it no longer comes as a surprise to me that some of them will never find relief from demonic torment. In pastoral counseling, it is an empirical fact that white magic practitioners who attend Christian churches are so shackled to the sin of idolatry, that release from demonic captivity is unobtainable without a thorough confession and renunciation of charismatic witchcraft. As a consequence, the spiritual pride deeply rooted in the charismatic movement remains the stumbling block as “God resists the proud.”
The Baptism in the Holy Ghost
Charismatic witchcraft practitioners have identified the speaking in tongues as the evidence that someone is born again. Yet I have found that those who are demonically tormented spoke in tongues, but under further examination, it was discovered that they were not saved because they never repented and they did not understand the resurrection of Jesus Christ. One hundred years ago, Jessie Penn Lewis warned the believers of her day not to seek after signs:
“Again, in connection with the seeking of ‘manifestations’ as an evidence of a believer having received the baptism of the Spirit, methods have been used to bring these about, that synchronize with the methods of mesmerism, and thus counterfeits have broken into the true church of Christ. In other cases, believers have had a true influx of the Holy Spirit into their human spirit, and through ignorance they have developed the psychic power latent in the human frame, and brought about mixture in their own life and service for God. If a chorus is sung over and over again, they can bring a meeting into a psychic condition, when those present become incapable of intelligent thinking, or any decisive action of will. Thus on a floodtide of psychic force in the world today the demons are carrying out their plans and purposes.”14
In a lecture concerning demonism and psychotherapy, German psychiatrist Alfred Lechler shed a somber light on demonic captivity:
“What then must we regard as the cause of demonic enslavement or possession? If we enquire closely from such people as bear the marks we have just mentioned, we very often find in their background the use of magic means such as are employed in black magic---acts of charming or being charmed, the sin of fortune telling or visits to fortune tellers and card layers, and participation in spiritist sessions. Black magic is much more prevalent than is ordinarily assumed…When we look into the Bible, we note that it too is well acquainted with enchantment. It is in Acts 19 described as a ‘prying art.’ (here we also find mention of magic books.)15”
“Together with spiritist activities, magic stands in a class of its own in relation to other sins, when it includes an appeal to Satan’s services or even a formal pact with Satan. The Bible speaks of this too (Isaiah 28:15-18). For by invoking Satan, man yields himself unequivocally to powers of darkness, in that he attempts by magic and the help of Satanic power to gain something that God has forbidden or withheld.”16
I must concur with the late Dr. Lechler, a German who practiced psychiatry before I was born. Five or more decades later, what I have found astounding is that in practically every case of demonic torment among my own Christian clients, a common factor is that 95 percent of them were not demon possessed BEFORE they went to a charismatic, “word of faith, non-denominational church.
Fetishes
Within the history of religion in general, fetishism is a form of magic, wherein an artificial object is revered and regarded as powerful enough to ensure protection. Likewise an amulet is a power-charged fetish for protection against magic and demons.17 Those who revere and depend on fetishes and amulets are in danger of transgressing the second commandment, namely, not to make any graven images. Even a cross suspended from a necklace has a magical meaning. Written in 1972, the passing of three decades reveals that the problem has progressively worsened:
“Many a Christian worker thinks so. It is evident here that Christianity has become infected with magic influences. According to the New Testament this intrusion of magic elements turns the Christian faith into a matter of materialism and idolatry. Pastoral experience shows in many cases how this superstition captivates men and subjects them to magical influences. It is not seldom that houses protected by fire charms and other fetishes and amulets become haunted. 18
Prayer and Charismatic Witchcraft
Even prayer can be dangerous because it descends into charismatic witchcraft when the one who prays seeks to control the lives of others. Soulish prayers of this kind energizes psychic power by projecting one’s thought on to the persons that they are praying for, by saying that such and such a person ‘shall’ do this or that. Such prayers make demands upon God to “make something happen. According to Jessie Penn Lewis,
“Every prayer should be directed Godward, and should never be a telling the Lord what to do for somebody else. We may pray that God will direct them what to do, but we ought not to say that they ‘must’ do what WE THINK is God’s will they should do, or even that they ‘shall not’ do what we know is wrong.”19
I observed in a video clip a vivid depiction of a charismatic witchcraft prayer offered by well known evangelist and associate of charismatic mega prophetess Juanita Bynum, Rev. Cindy Trimm. Before a congregation of at least a few thousand, Trimm walked up and down the platform, supposedly praying, bellowing loudly: “I decree this and I proclaim that.” With this esoteric, occultic prayer, rather than God the Father of the trinity, she really was addressing fallen angels.
Once Trimm loudly proclaimed, “ Father, I decree that the spirit of the Ashtar shall fall upon all the people,”---from one end of the congregation to another, the people fell slain in the spirit in what looked like ocean waves. Ashtar is one of the gods who calls himself an ascended master who channels messages through New Age mediums. Ashtar claims to be the military general of the fallen angel known as Jesus Sananda Emmanuel, the one I call “the Fake Jesus.” In fact, when Charismatics praise and give thanks to Jesus, Sananda is the one who receives the worship and the adoration because the fake Jesus is the invisible god behind the practice of charismatic witchcraft.
HISTORIC OVERVIEW
Unfortunately, the Pentecostals and Charismatics who claim that they are word people rarely ever study history. A part of rightly dividing the word of God is to interpret its meaning in accordant with the most relevant historical perspective. Nevertheless, those who submit to charismatic witchcraft preachers are taught to randomly select scriptures out of context. To discern the signs of the times, we need to understand what went on yesterday, particularly about a century ago.
It was a century ago that the seeds of charismatic witchcraft as manifested today were originally planted in the early 20th century. No different in the early 1900’s, the movement emphasized supernatural manifestations, spectacular crowds in the midst of deception, delusion and confusion. The speaking in tongues came to the forefront through the ministries of two men, considered the fathers of Caucasian and African American Pentecostalism: Charles Parham of Topeka, Kansas, and Parham’s black student, William Seymore. Seymore is credited as the leader of the Azusa Street revival in Los Angeles while Parham is the first to teach that tongues is the initial evidence of the baptism in the Holy Ghost, a dangerous false doctrine that has filtered through the Charismatic/Pentecostal religion for more than a century.20
Other charismatic leaders passed the baton from one decade to another, introducing an ever-increasing plethora of esoteric teachings in what is labeled as “moves of God”. By the 1970’s, authoritarianism was widespread through the predominant influence of what is referred to as the Shepherding/Discipleship Movement.
The domination and control of the sheep for the hidden motive of self aggrandizement of various church leaders paved the way to the suppression of God’s people through the teaching called “spiritual covering” and the rise of what is called the Apostolic Movement. Connected to the “fivefold ministry” teaching which dictates the ultimate power of the apostles, over the other ministry gifts and the church at large, the apostolic perspective presumes that apostles and bishops have the power to provide what is referred to as “spiritual covering” to all ministers and all church members.
Implicit to spiritual covering is the false teaching that God’s people cannot trust their own spiritual discernment or judgment for even the most mundane issues of life, defying the scripture where the Apostle John wrote that we all have an unction from the Holy Ghost, and as such, we need no man to teach us. ( I John 2:27) ) Consequently, domination, manipulation and control are intrinsically built into charismatic oversight---an open door for the sheep to be spiritually abused in their dependent reliance upon obtaining permission from appointed elders about practically every aspect of their lives.
“The abuse and exploitation occurring in groups where these hyper-authoritarian systems of governance are instituted come in various shapes and shades. In a nutshell, the ‘dumb sheep’ are taught they cannot trust their own judgment or ability to receive direction from the Lord for even the most mundane decisions of their lives, but rely instead upon the supposed transcendent wisdom and superior spirituality of their human ‘shepherds’’.
Typically, submitants must obtain the approval of their group gurus for virtually all domestic matters and decisions; matters of romance, such as who members date and marry; health and insurance matters, employment and career matters, and most of all, regarding every detail of members’ personal finances, which requires their leaders’ approval for practically every significant expenditure.” 21
Passivity and Charismatic Witchcraft
The passive condition of a churchgoer is when he or she becomes like a puppet, a robot, even a machine. Passivity can be obtained by a wrong interpretation of scripture. For example, consider a Christian woman who takes the scriptures that say she must “submit to her husband” which lead her to passively accepts persistent battery from her husband’s fists because she believes also that because the bible says that God hates divorce, she has no other choice but to submit to her husband’s every wish and demand, regardless of how demoralizing or revolting.
Some passive Christians are like helpless zombies, unable to take corrective action where necessary. On the charismatic side, good people have been deceived into accepting all things supernatural as “of the Lord’ and consequently, they have made ‘a voice from God’ as the deciding factor in every matter, both trivial and important. Passive believers have also suppressed their personalities to such an extent that they can’t distinguish their own persona from the demonic influences that bind them.22
Dominion Theology and “Joel’s Army” Movement
Yet another heresy crucial to the emergence of a spiritual humanism component of charismatic witchcraft is “dominion theology.” Crossing several lines with diversified applications, one central endtimes related issue is dominion theology’s supposition that Jesus Christ cannot or will not come back to earth until the organized charismatic church has taken control of the earth’s political and social institutions. Strongly connected to New Age thought, Charismatics teach that man’s self actualization is his personal pursuit of freedom in his progressive attainment of his own personal state of Christ like divinity. In other words, if we all develop our “Christ Consciousness” within, we will become “gods” with a small “g.”
The Joel’s Army movement, also referred to as “the New Breed” has as its leaders as Rick Joyner, Paul Cain, John Wimber, Jack Deere, Rodney Howard Browne, Bob Jones, Cindy Jacobs, Rick Warren, Stacey Campbell Wesley Baker, Mike Bickle, Peter Wagner, TD Jakes, Morris Cerullo and a host of others who are the self-professed prophets--- the generals of “the New Breed.” These leaders claim that they lead an elite group of Christians who are an endtime army that will destroy the work of the devil. A superhuman race, the leaders claim that this endtime generation “will go forth and take the land for Christ.”23
At first glance, the warfare seems to be primarily spiritual in nature. As an invisible conflict between Christians and the unseen realm of fallen angels and demons, “we wrestle not against flesh and blood” is in keeping with the scriptures (Ephesians 6:10) However, Rick Joyner has publicly declared that the warfare is not only spiritual but natural, for the endtime generation intends to literally “take over the governments of every nation with force against all opposition as they “take back the land the enemy has stolen.”24 This rhetoric is extremely dangerous because it borders on outright sedition, completely rebellious to new testament scriptures. As such, it incites to riot both the youth and various fringe groups who have been indoctrinated into Christianity. The undercurrent is that people will become Christians, “or else.”
Taken from his vision, Joyner declares that demons are riding the backs of Christians and therefore, the primary enemy consists of “other Christians” who do not believe as they do and therefore, are not a part of Joel’s army. The collective rhetoric of these leaders is that they intend to cleanse the earth and all those who do not accept their authority will “be removed.” Like locusts, they are going to change the church from being passive and defensive to taking a militant and offensive posture. The new breed is to prepare the weak, complacent church to become a militant bride. 25
In regards to mainstream Charismatics, Dave Hunt, a bestselling Christian author, lays it on the line:
“Peale, Schuler, Robertson, Hagin, Copeland and others have brought into the church ancient occultism as part of the ‘signs and wonders’ and ‘prosperity’ movement foretold in Scripture. Many Christians now assume that our thoughts and words, not God, control our destiny---that we are little gods capable of creating our own world.”26
Along these same lines, there is very little difference between dominion theology and new age occultism, as demonstrated by the words of leading proponent Earl Paulk, the pastor of Chapel Hill Harvest Church in Atlanta, as compared to a message channeled through a new age medium. Note the similarities in the two statements:27
“Christ in us must take over the dominion over the earth. The next move of God cannot occur until Christ in us take dominion.” (Paulk)
“One by one, great awakened souls are coming forth who will become clearly conscious of their own mighty, inherent God Power and such as these will be placed in all official positions of government.” (This is a psychic medium’s message from a fallen angel)
POWER EVANGELISM AND CHARISMATIC WITCHCRAFT
Also in the 1980's, yet another movement appeared on the religious scene which made the Pentecostal/ charismatic false teachings even more appealing and dangerous. Why? Because this movement promoted the same, basic unscriptural doctrines held by Pentecostals and Charismatics while, in its inception, disclaiming any relationship to either of these groups, thus making it especially attractive to evangelicals and fundamentalists who did not want to wear the charismatic label.
The impetus for this new movement came largely from several widely circulated books and many lectures to evangelical groups around the world by Dr. John Wimber, founder of the Vineyard Christian Fellowship [now deceased, Wimber was never healed of his cancer, despite his supposed healing miracles ministry], and Dr. Peter Wagner of Fuller Theological Seminary Institute of Church Growth.28
Both men greatly influenced each other and, as they experimented with various teachings and practices related to "healing, miracles, signs and wonders," they soon augmented the Pentecostal and charismatic errors. They claimed that the exorcising of so-called "territorial spirits" was essential to complete the task of world evangelization; and, that God had re-established the offices of prophet and apostle with those supposedly holding these offices receiving direct messages from God for the church, and exercising divine authority over the church. The “territorial spirits” teaching also combined with the false teachings inherent in deliverance ministry, exposed in the next chapter.
This newest movement is often referred to as "Power Evangelism or the "Third Wave of the Holy Spirit." Ecumenical in scope and decidedly worldly in practice, the three so-called "waves of the Holy Spirit" (Pentecostals, Charismatics and Power Evangelism teachers) have now blended into a powerful coalition which has rapidly spread and become a political force to reckon with. These are the present day “Tea Party” antagonists to President Obama’s administration. Even more destructive from a biblical perspective, “the Third Wave” is a huge part of the religious monstrosity predicted by Paul to Timothy when he warned that in the last days, some would depart from the faith because they gave heed to doctrines of devils through the ministry of seducing spirits..29
The “Slain in the Spirit” Phenomena
A universally accepted experience to all Charismatics, after what I witnessed in the Cindy Trimm video clip, I suspect that the slain in the spirit experience falls under the domain of the fallen angel known as Ashtar. Christians have fallen under the power since the 1760’s. It was a common expression among the Shakers and also one of the signs of the ministry of Maria Woodworth-Etter (1844-1924), known as “the trance evangelist.” About 15 years before the Azusa Street Revival that started the Pentecostal Church, Etter began manifesting the phenomena in her meetings in 1885.30
The practice was not widespread in Pentecostal circles after Etter’s death, until the advent of another woman evangelist named Aimee Semple McPherson. (1890-1944). Founder of the Charismatic Church called Foursquare Gospel, McPherson died of a barbiturate overdose. 31
The next major figure to manifest the falling of multitudes in her meetings was not Benny Hinn, but Kathryn Khulman, one of Hinn’s mentors. In fact, I’ve hearn Hinn testify that it was at Khulman’s gravesite that he received “the power.” In the 90’s, John and Carol Arnott of the Toronto Airport Church laid hands on people and they fell. The first time I witnessed the phenomena on a “mega” scale was at the Kenneth Copeland Believers Convention held in Atlanta Georgia in October, 1983. However the first time was at my home church when a Pentecostal woman evangelist from Buffalo NY laid out our entire congregation on the floor, all except me.32
Even though I didn’t fall myself at that time, in the first 10 years of my ministry I longed for that same power, until I finally obtained it in the 90’s. For at least a decade, I not only laid my hands on people and most of them fell, I also could wave at a few, or look at them intensely and they would fall slain to the ground or slump in their seats, practically unconscious. What caused me to eventually question the phenomena was that as a pastor, I noticed that the members who passed out slain the most were the ones who also backslid the most.
For example, I could wave my hand or blow a breath at one of them and he’d fall to the ground like a limp dishrag. Yet, before the day was over, he was drunk---and I don’t mean by the Holy Ghost. And there were several others that I observed who did not really abide in Jesus. So I humbled myself to the fact that from a personal perspective, this thing could not be godly. Searching for how the slain in the spirit practice might possibly fulfill Satan’s agenda, I have connected it to the importance of the altered state of consciousness. An altered state provides demons and devils the opportunity to “walk in” to our souls. Like yoga, hypnosis, TM, chanting, and other practices that induce an ASC, falling slain falls into this category. Fallen angels are on stand-by, patiently waiting for a Charismatic to fall slain. Once these entities spot an opening, they seize the opportunity to enter one’s soul.
Charismatic Divination
New age divination is a branch of white magic whose primary goal is to obtain secret knowledge, particularly supernatural insights into the future. Likewise, religious divination is the art of producing results beyond human ability and claiming that God Almighty is the source, when in reality, invisible superhuman entities manifested the results.
The difference between charismatic divination and occultism lies in the fact that generally the dreams, visions and prophetic messages of charismatic practitioners are usually spontaneous experiences, which “come over” or “overtake” the professing Christian without apparent preparation or mental volition on his or her part. For this reason, the gullible and unsuspecting assume that the supernatural information must be from God. On the other hand, psychics make use of omens, potions, amulets, tarot cards, the I Ching, tea leaves, crystal balls, Ouija boards and a plethora of other tools to interpret the signs believed to be in them to predict the future.
Charismatic diviners have the same purpose. They simply use tools that they claim are the nine biblical gifts of the Holy Ghost, particularly those labeled “the revelation gifts:” a word of knowledge, a word of wisdom and the discerning of spirits. What charismatic teachers fail to understand is that Paul wrote the Corinthian letter about these gifts without defining them or explaining any specifics as to how they operate. In fact, no texts in the Bible actually define these gifts.
Yet charismatic ministers like the late Kenneth Hagin and the late Oral Roberts have defined the gifts according to 3 categories. Beside the revelation gifts, Charismatics teach that the other 6 gifts fall under the categories of power ----healing, miracles and faith--- and the utterance gifts of prophecy, tongues and interpretation of tongues. It bears repeating that Paul provided no specifics in any of his letters on how these gifts manifest, other than to indicate that they do not operate by the will of man but of God only. As occultists obtain supernatural information according to their own wills, Charismatics believe that their power to predict the future only operates according to the will of God.
Nevertheless, the acceptable presupposition underlying all methods of divination is that certain superhuman spiritual beings exist, are approachable by man, possess knowledge which man does not have, and are willing upon certain conditions known to diviners to communicate this information to man. The word, in its etymological significance, carries with it the assumption that the source of the information is obtained from a supernatural being.33
THE HIDDEN MOTIVE
The demonic hidden agenda of both new age divination and charismatic witchcraft is simple, once experienced. Without a doubt, the disappointment endured by one who has received a prophetic message that obviously did not come to pass can be catastrophic. A case of occultism is a shocking example from a post World War Two period:
“A young woman whose husband was missing went to a card layer to find out whether he was still alive. The fortuneteller replied, ‘your husband is dead.’ The wife waited three months and again visited a card layer to find out about the uncertain fate of her husband. Again, the answer was ‘your husband will not return.’ She went home in despair, and turning on the gas killed herself and her two children. The next day, the husband returned from a Russian prison camp, and found the dead bodies of his three loved ones.” 34
Divination within the organized church community is also aimed at controlling the lives and destinies of gullible people. Pulpits are filled with diviners and soothsayers---“charismatic hype masters”---that have no other message but one that caters to our flesh. Like the occult card layers, the divination of old has progressively worsened in our time because the “church community” is flooded with countless pseudo-prophets as it sweeps across worldwide Christendom, it leaves some devastated people in its path.
As they prophesy presumptuously in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, declaring things that He has NOT spoken to them is comparable to New Age divination. As they boldly and confidently declare, “thus saith the Lord,” fallen religious angels are leading God’s people away from the truth. Any power or influence that seeks to control the future of others is unquestionably demonic.35 The Lord declared, “I will bring such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth it both his ears shall tingle. And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab; and I will wipe Jesusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down.” (II Kings 21:12,13)
CHAPTER 3: UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL
The vast majority of my clients for deliverance counseling have not only been wiped and turned over like a dish. Those severely tormented have disclosed that their ears tingled. At first, I assumed the ear tingling was a demonic sign. Perhaps in His great disdain for charismatic occultism, the tingling of the ears is God Himself, reacting to present day idolatry.
The primary strategy of religious fallen angels is to build a solid, seemingly impregnable bridge between their targets’ propensity toward supernatural signs and wonders and a rather intricate, intersecting freeway of clever counterfeits of the divine presence and operations of God. With subtle suggestions, frequent, almost constant dreams and visions, coupled with outstanding predictions of the future, particularly about ministry, the goal is to cause the target to renounce God and the Christian faith.
With clever counterfeits of the Holy Ghost, religious demons had me in a spiritual noose. Since I believe that God has released strong delusion in the 70’s, I simply got swept into the trap along with other Christians, too numerous to fathom a count. As Paul warned the Thessalonians, strong delusion will cause even God’s elect to believe a lie. Since I was a psychic prior to my salvation, believing a lie was made easy. What is virtually impossible is to become “un-deceived” once ensnared. Yet, I am living proof that with God, “all things are possible” After almost 3 decades, I successfully escaped, with my faith in Jesus Christ stronger than ever. I believe that I have been victorious because of my love for the truth and the fact that I do not judge success and failure by the standards of the world.
Once saved in 1977, my charismatic deception began in the early 80’s when I was introduced to the ministries of the two Kenneths: Hagin and Copeland. These two men provided what seemed to be biblical explanations to some of the strange supernatural manifestations that I had already experienced, particularly travailing in the spirit. A power often gripped my spirit, brought me to my knees, where I wailed, moaned, groaned and sobbed out a river of tears while my mind was totally unaware of how or why these strange happenings occurred. Once I began to seriously study the audio taped messages of Hagin and Copeland and several others along the way, these teachers provided the confirmation that I believed I was looking for. I met both men face to face at their meetings. In the Hagin meeting of 1982 in Albany NY, I began to speak in tongues.
It is difficult to describe what I experienced. Inside my body, in the chest area, I felt like something inside of me flipped, twisted and turned. When the manifestations were particularly strong, water flowed from my eyes. Sometimes the feeling was so intense that I could not speak or even stand. Most of the time, I was bent over. For too many years, I was led to believe that this inner turmoil was God’s way of saying “Yes! Go for it. I’m with you, Pam. This is God. Don’t resist, but just experience this flow of My Spirit.” I accepted every chill and goose bump as a sign of what I believed to be “a quickening of the Spirit.”
As I point out elsewhere in this chapter, I also believed that I had a healing anointing because my hands often tingled and burned. Other times, it felt like I was electrified, as if struck by a bolt of lightning. For example, any time I stood in a circle holding hands on each side of me, I’d feel pain in my hands. The feelings in the hands caused me to function like a barometer, able to tell by touching if a person was demonized. Through charismatic teachings, I believed that “the feeling” was simply a manifestation of the gift of “discerning of spirits.”
When I laid hands on people to release them from their afflictions, their pain left their bodies and I could feel it enter my hands. When I declared such persons healed, most of the time, they were. There were also other times when I predicted the future and I was correct. This is the classic trick of the enemy to trap a Charismatic by a partial recognition of truth so that he or she will continue to ignorantly practice divination.
My eyes began to open in 2003 when one of my predictions did not come to pass. To make a long story short, I was hoping to reconcile with my husband even though his behavior was an obvious fact that he no longer loved me. One day, while sitting at the computer, the quickening of chills, goose bumps, eyes pouring out water, inner flips and tightness in the belly began, regarding my husband’s love for me. With this experience came a sentence: “ Your husband’s love for you is so strong, that you can have faith in it, as you have faith that the sun will also rise tomorrow. So trust in him.” By 2004, my husband was deeply in love with another woman. Consequently, for the first time, I began to question the source of these sensual, supernatural manifestations upon my flesh. With each question, the Lord answered me and I was finally completely un-deceived, fully released from demonic deception. In fact, I rarely hear from demons and devils these days.
My autobiographical work, “Come Out of Her, God’s People” provides the details of how I escaped charismatic witchcraft and New Age occultism. In retrospect, what I believe kept me entrenched in charismatic witchcraft were various incidents where I predicted events and situations that actually transpired. The most outstanding tool of my deliverance was the book “War on the Saints” by Jessie Penn Lewis. Unfortunately, countless of God’s elect have not yet escaped. It concerns me that too many have even died, still deceived. In this very hour, Christian women and some men continue to bombard heaven’s gates with prayers and fastings focused on a particular person as the “God sent one” to be their future spouses. It’s a trap of the enemy.
In every single case that I am aware of, every little coincidence about the “intended” served as a flashing sign from heaven that a casual acquaintance would culminate in a happy marriage, where the couple would serve the Lord together in ministry. Moreover, divination in the form of dreams and prophetic words received from Charismatic Christians were accepted and believed to be confirming signs. In most cases, those who anchored their faith in these kinds of predictions experienced devastating disappointment that shipwrecked their faith in Jesus Christ. In fact, demonic mockery is evident in several cases where “the intended” actually married someone else. Most of the emotional outcomes are tragically the same, including and not limited to severe depression, anger at God, and blasphemous thoughts and utterances.
So I know from personal experience that Charismatic practitioners are skilled at minimizing the similarities between divination and divine biblical prophecy, either intentionally or ignorantly blinded by the essential and radical differences between the two. Once born again, I came out of the New Age Movement in a few short years. Quite the reverse, it took me a few decades to realize that my former lust for supernatural information detrimentally served as a hindrance to my personal faith in God’s care and provision. Whether from God or from a religious devil assigned to me, I did not actually seek supernatural knowledge, but once it was obtained, I most definitely savored it. From personal experience, I know without a doubt that those who desire such power are susceptible to demonic deception. With supernatural experience as an overall charismatic expectation, it is predictable that counterfeits will continue to flourish.