Occultism: Not Superstitions, But Deceptions – Part 1 of 2

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Our culture is into occult phenomena like never before. Whether by internet, TV, movies, or music, the occult is underscoring more and more of our culture's values. Today, what this should mean to the committed Christian. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, it seems that occult elements are now so pervasive in culture that it's tough to avoid them.

Dave, it really is tough to avoid them and I want to say something else. I heard recently that if we could see demons, we certainly would do a lot more praying, and that most assuredly is the case. The fact that we can't see demons, we think to ourselves that the occult is just in certain places. We don't realize its pervasiveness.

We don't understand all that is going on. As a matter of fact, the Bible says that the whole world lies in the lap of the wicked one. So as a nation drifts from God, there's no doubt that occultism continues to grow. And there are many ways to get into the occult, and oftentimes people don't realize that the thing that they might be doing might be opening the door to influence from satanic spirits.

So even as we listen to this message today, let us listen carefully. Let us ask ourselves what the implications are so that we might be aware of what is happening and stand against the presence of evil. It is of interest, I think, that the two shooters of the Columbine High School were into Hitler and occult symbols. But it would be a big mistake if we were to think that occultism and demon worship and all the things that go with it, it would be a big mistake to think that somehow it's confined to some fringe teenagers who are deeply troubled.

The simple fact is that occultism, and that word means hidden, it has to do with a quest for secret knowledge and secret power in the spiritual world. Occultism is mainstream America. It's everywhere. It's in our schools. It's in our businesses. People believe it.

Books on it sell like hotcakes. And today we are literally inundated with occult phenomena. And it's not superstition, it is deep, deep rooted deception. Let's keep in mind that Satan always wants to take God's place. We've learned that as we've done this series of messages titled Seven Snares. We've learned that Satan wants to come along and entrap us. We've talked about alcoholism and such things as gambling and illicit sexuality and all of those trappings. And today we come to the occult. Let me say that Satan always wants to deceive us and he has as we shall discover about as many ways to deceive us as there are interests among Americans.

Many, many different ways. And all of his traps are hidden. Now you've heard me say this before in a different context, but it's not possible to catch a mouse with your bare hands.

At least it's very difficult. If you had a mouse in your apartment and you wanted to catch it, you wouldn't say to yourself, now what I'm going to do is I'm just going to be very fast and as soon as that mouse comes out, I'm going to grab it. No, because the mouse is scared of you. If you're going to catch a mouse, what you do is you lay a trap because a trap means that you remain hidden and therefore you don't appear to be there.

See, really you are, but it doesn't appear that way. And what Satan does is he throws out all of these traps, many of which we shall mention today. And many people think that because he is hidden, it's okay to become involved in some of the things we're going to be talking about. I'll tell you what Satan's method is.

This is very important. He wants us to do what he wants us to do and he wants us nevertheless to think it is our idea. Remember Ananias and Sapphira, they had no idea that this deception that they were going to pull off was hatched by the devil. Yet when Peter came to them and remember they had told a white lie, he said, why have Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? They did not know that Satan was in their kitchen that morning as they were sipping their coffee with a bagel. They didn't know that.

They thought this was their idea. So again, you see, Satan remains hidden as he puts ideas and inclinations into people's minds and hearts. Now what I'd like to do is for us to understand a couple of things when we talk about occultism.

The experts tell us that you can speak about four different levels. For example, there are the teenage dabblers. Teenagers become interested in the occult because it is the unknown. It has fascination. It is a curiosity among them. And so what you have is they get into it through drugs and through heavy metal music, through MTV, through rituals, and eventually they may end up even doing such things as mutilating animals, which is always an occult phenomenon. And then the blood sometimes is taken and maybe even drunk so that the power of that animal gets into your soul. Those are the myths that survive in today's occultic world.

And of course Hollywood is very anxious to oblige. You have such thing as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, whatever it is, deeply occultic. You have movies such as Practical Magic or The Craft. Now I want to tell you this, that if you watch that kind of stuff, it not only is impure, it is a doorway to the occult and Satan remains hidden.

You just say, well, I just thought it was good, clean fun. It's just silly superstitions. It's just that movie makers today can have all these special effects so that witches can have power and all the rest. I want you to know that that is not only the devil's play yard, it is his doorway into the dark world of occult phenomena and demonism. Why do young people get into it? One said I was so open and vulnerable to receive anything that could fill me up, anything that would make me feel valuable as a person. So I was open to receive whatever the devil had to give me or God or whatever. It did not matter to me, teenage dabblers in the occult. And of course, you also have self-styled groups that meet in covens. And I need to warn the young people that oftentimes teenagers are brought into these through deception. They are given free drugs, free sex, and sometimes then they are blackmailed if they are videotaped and somehow they are railroaded to become a part of these covens that exist in many, many different places. Then there are number three, the open ritual Satanists, the people who attend the first church of Satan and they're kind of upfront Satanists.

But then you have another group. They are the hardcore Satanists and they go about, they abduct children. They sometimes use teenage girls as breeders to produce babies that can be ritually sacrificed. According to the police, 40 to 60,000 ritualistic murders.

I do not mean murders of infants that the number would be that high, but 40 to 60,000 ritualistic murders take place in the United States every year. And that's the end result of deep committed occult involvement. I want you to take your Bibles and turn for just a moment to 1 Timothy chapter four and then we shall be looking at another passage as well. 1 Timothy chapter four where the apostle Paul tells us what's going to happen at the end of time and you'll notice he says 1 Timothy four, the spirit clearly says that in the latter time some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Now, is it the demons that actually do the teaching of the deception?

Of course not. Remember, Satan always remains hidden. He's not there. We're talking about traps where he is invisible.

How does it happen? Such teachings come through hypocritical liars. You know, it's one thing about the Bible.

When you read it, you never have to say, no, what is he really saying? Scripture says that it comes through hypocritical liars. Now, in some instances, those liars might not know that they are lying.

They might actually believe this stuff, but there are a lot of people out there who know the hollowness and the emptiness of the occult and they go on promoting it anyway, maybe because of financial reasons or they need to justify their own lifestyle and these doctrines are disseminated all throughout our country today and I don't want to exaggerate but practically everywhere. And you'll notice it says, their consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. Why is it that there is no compassion? Why is it that some of the eastern religions are unbelievably cruel? And I've seen it with my own eyes.

Why? It's because they are past feeling. The Greek word is cauterized. You know, when you have something that has been burned and it's healed and there's no feeling left. What a description of these false teachers that come to us with wonderful theories, but actually they are Satan's teachers. Now what I'd like to do in order that you might understand what it is I'm talking about is to give you some of the traps that Satan has in today's society.

Many others that we will not even mention. When Pastor MacLeod was here last fall, he preached on the occult and he listed 40 different kinds of involvement. When the service was over, we asked all those who would like to go for counseling who've had occult involvement to join us and there may have been 30 or 40 people that came that night. He and I went through the list again and asked people whether or not there was anyone who had practiced this and anyone that has practiced this and to our amazement, though we should not be amazed, all 40 of those traps were represented that night in a meeting that had far fewer than are here this morning.

So we're talking about things that specifically apply to, if they don't apply to you, they most assuredly apply to the person who is sitting next to you or perhaps who is sitting ahead of you. I mean, there is occultism everywhere. Now I'm not going to list those 40 because that would take too long.

What I decided to do this morning and the message was made up last night, but it was reviewed this morning and prayed about earnestly this morning. What I decided to do is to categorize it in terms of certain categories that will just help us. For example, one is to acquire hidden knowledge. That's one category. Here we can put astrology, automatic writing, crystal gazing, coffee grounds reading or tea leaves, divination of all kinds, including witching for water like some of us used to ignorantly do out on the farm, fortune telling, palm reading, numerology, Ouija boards.

That's not a complete list, but all of those are saying, I want some hidden knowledge that's not found in the Bible, but I want to have hidden knowledge about the spirit world. Second category is power. Here we're talking about witchcraft, the power to have curses, astral projection, black magic, levitation, mind sciences. This category has to do with power and then the whole health fad. One day, Satan said to God, basically, yea, all that a man has you'll give for his life.

Isn't that true? There are some people who say, I want to be healed so badly that I would rather be healed by the devil than die. Well, I want you to know today, I'd rather die than to be healed by the devil. Now listen today, we live in a day of, what shall we say, holistic medicine.

Doesn't that sound good? A day in which people say, well, you know, we are not just physical entities, we are spiritual entities and that's absolutely true. And then they go off onto eastern ideas of God that we will mention in a moment and in eastern notions and people say, well, you know, we're just into spirituality. And so you have today a holistic medicine sometimes using crystals or there is a book entitled awakening the healer within. After all, if you are your own God, you're your own healer. Now folks, I don't know how to say this to you more clearly than I'm going to say it now. So if you forget everything else I'm going to say today and I don't want you to, but this is the one line that I don't want you to forget.

Everyone with me at this juncture. Any kind of spirituality that is not based on Christ and the Bible is a cultic period. And so you have out there all of this great emphasis on spirituality and people say, well, he's a deeply spiritual person, but he's not into Jesus.

He's not into the Bible. He's in this metaphysical world on his own, making his own contacts. I want you to know today that if he, no matter how deeply spiritual, no matter how much it's helped him, no matter how much healing it has brought, he is part of the occult because there are only two spirits in the world. There's either God, the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who can be only contacted through Christ or there is the vast network of demonic spirits who do good things, who give people health, who even heal them whenever possible to deceive them and to make them think that they're into something that is very profitable and good. That's why the whole healthcare industry oftentimes is inundated by new age, demonic thinking.

Number four, there's the wealth category. Remember Napoleon Hill, think and grow rich. He wrote another book entitled a grow rich with peace of mind in which he says that while he was writing, six disembodied spirits came to him and told him what to write and that his views would change the nature of American business. What was it that these six disembodied spirits told him to write? Whatever the mind can believe, the mind can achieve and there you get into the whole mind science thing that's seen on television. PBS carries lectures on it thoroughly and totally occultic and demonic and nevertheless we live in that kind of an age. So just think of it.

Think of it today, folks. You cannot have hidden knowledge. You can have awesome power if you get plugged into the right side of the occult and you can have health and you can have wealth and you can have it all and still be you without reference to God and without reference to the Bible.

Can you get a better deal than that? Now I have to ask a question of course and that is what's God's opinion of all this stuff? What's his opinion of those who would rival him and say we've got our own agenda and our own sources of knowledge, health and wealth. This is what he said to the ancient people who didn't have as many different ways to get into the occult as we, but nevertheless now then listen you wanton creature lounging in your security and saying to yourself, I am and there is none besides me. Makes me smile. How could the Bible be so accurate?

Isn't that exactly a picture of today? There is none besides me. Self-worship. God is talking about judgments and by the way this is Isaiah chapter 47. Isaiah 47 if you wish to turn, if not simply listen. God is saying they will come upon you in full measure. He's speaking about judgment in spite of your many source reason, all your potent spells you have trusted in your wickedness and you have said no one sees me.

Your wisdom and knowledge mislead you when you say to yourself I am and there is none besides me. Disaster will come upon you and you will not know how to charm it away. That's the Hebrew word. Say well there's nothing wrong with wearing charms. Why are they called charms?

Nothing will charm it away he says. A calamity will fall upon you that you cannot ward off with a ransom. A catastrophe you cannot foresee will suddenly come upon you. Oh I went to the fortune teller and she didn't tell me this was going to happen.

Yes I suppose so. Keep on then with your magic spells and with your many sorceries which you have labored at since childhood. Perhaps you will succeed. Perhaps you will cause terror. God is taunting them here. All the counsel you have received has only worn you out. Let your astrologers come forward.

Those stargazers who make predictions month by month. Let them save you from what is coming on you. Surely they are like stubble. The fire will burn them up. They cannot even save themselves from the power of the flame. Here are no coals to warm anyone. Here is no fire to sit by. That is all that they can do for you.

These you have labored with and trafficked with since childhood. Each of them goes on in his own error and there is no one that can save you. Does God have an opinion about these things or what? Well listening to the scripture it almost takes your breath away doesn't it? You think of God's judgment on occultism and yet in today's society we find that there are many ways into the occult. I'm holding in my hands a book I've written entitled Seven Snares of the Enemy. The subtitle is Breaking Free from the Devil's Grip and the final chapter has to do with occultism. It has to do with superstition.

It has to do with the deceptions of the spirit world. Now this is the second to last day we're making this resource available for you. For a gift of any amount you can receive the book entitled Seven Snares of the Enemy.

I want to tell you that oftentimes there is that one thing in our lives that stands between us and effectiveness and walking with God. I believe that this resource will be of benefit to you and to those around you. For a gift of any amount as I mentioned we're making it available here's what you do go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com or pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337. Because this is such an important opportunity for you I'm going to be giving you that info again but let me say this in a day of deception we must always know what God thinks about what is happening around us. Pick up the phone call us at 1-888-218-9337. Now even as you connect with us we want you to remember that we are dependent upon your prayers we are dependent upon your gifts.

Here's what you do go to rtwoffer.com. It's time again for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question you may have about the Bible or the Christian life. Today's question deals with some technicalities about spirit beings Dr. Lutzer.

Sharon emailed us and this is her story. My husband listens to you all the time. He is a Sunday school teacher a director of a prison ministry and he loves the Lord. In one of your messages you stated that Satan was an angel. My husband keeps saying he was not an angel but a cherub. I even heard him talking to the radio.

I couldn't believe that he had something to say in opposition to you it just doesn't happen. Well Sharon thank you so much for your email and would you tell your husband this that he is right in this sense that when the Bible speaks about the cherub or the cherubim which is the plural form it does not say expressly that they are angels but every theologian that I know puts cherubim in the same category as seraphim. These are different ranks of angels. Now you take for example the cherubim they are mentioned in the book of Genesis they are asked to keep the way of the tree of life later on they show up in the book of Ezekiel and other places in scripture and it seems as if they are always vindicating the holiness of God over against the pride of man.

So Sharon you tell your dear husband that he may be right that I cannot point to a text that says that the cherubim are actually angels but every theology book that I know puts them within the angel category because their description fits. Meanwhile tell your husband to keep talking to me on the radio whenever I make a mistake. God bless both of you and I hope that you'll keep listening. Thank you Pastor Lutzer and thank you Sharon for keeping Pastor Lutzer right on target. If you'd like to hear your question answered go to our website at rtwoffer.com and click on Ask Pastor Lutzer or you can call at 1-888-218-9337.

That's 1-888-218-9337. You can write to us at Running to Win 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard Chicago Illinois 60614. Running to Win is all about helping you understand God's roadmap for your race of life. Like the serpent that beguiled Eve, satanic substitutes for God look good, very good. Though they're popular the occult's teachings are the doctrines of demons. As believers it's vital for us to understand what the Bible calls sound doctrine. Did you know that the devil has doctrines? Next time on Running to Win don't miss an explanation of what the doctrines of demons are all about. Thanks for listening. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.