| Free from the occult ! A few years ago I was caught in the seductive net of occultism. At first this practice responded to an authentic spiritual search in our family. We wanted to understand the sense of man's existence. DARK UNIVERSE
Our search took the form of cartomancy which is divination by playing
cards (tarots, etc...). All my childhood I saw my mother read these
cards. At times I could see my future. But even though my mother was
well-know as a fortune-teller she never saw that her son would become
a preacher of the gospel. " God's ways aren't our ways, " say Isaiah
55 : 8. Then my mother because to use a crystal ball and to read palms.
She made predictions from dreams, by looking at photos, and even exercised
an influence in people's lives, etc... OFFICE FOR CONSULTATIONS Our family had serious financial difficulties and was sliding towards a break-up. My father was out of word. My brother was becoming violent because of alcohol and drugs. As for me, I got it all out of my system in a martial arts club. I participated in high-level competition. I got rid of my violence but bitterness and hate filled my heart. Even though I was a champion in karate, I lived in permanent fear. To make ends meet my mother opened a consulting office and began to be involved in spiritism. That is the belief that it is possile for the living to contact the dead. In the beginning we thought we were speaking to beloved family members, now dead. My aunt tried to contact her husband who was killed in an automobile accident. Occultism overwhelmed us like a passion. My brother was still dissatisfied after investigating several religions and cults and finally pruchased a Bible to search for the truth. He ame home one day and discovered that we were practicing spiritism. He raised a lively opposition aind said that the Bible, God's Word denounced such things. WORSE AND WORSE After a good beginning things began to go badly. Strange things that we couldn't explain happened in the house. I was continually scared. I felt like I was coming apart. Loneliness made me face my psychosis. My suffering had a spiritual source. I needed a spiritual remedy. I wanted to be free and not locked up or medicated...For sometime I had become convinced that is wasn't the dead who responded to us but demons, those evil powers. We were manipulated by lies. Later, when I became a Christian, I found in the Bible that the devil is the father of lies. Jesus, himself, said that there is a great gulf between the dead ans the living : and one can't cross it... When I saw my six-year old sister following the same phat I was on, I became convinced that these occult powers were without pity and only wanted our destruction. Finally the dat came when I was literally attacked by the powers of darkness, an experience that horrified me and pushed me toward suicide. But at the crucial moment, instead of killing myself, Il fell to my knees in the middle of my bedroom, crying out to God that if He existed to save me. GOD'S APPOINTMENT After this first prayer to God, I left the house. As I was wandering in the streets I met the same group of young Christians three different times. I realized that God was responding to my prayer so I went to one of them and opened up to him about my problems. He read me a text from the Bible and the authority of God's Word went straight to my heart : " Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord ". I was convicted of sin and I knew I was under a curse because of sin. A POWER ENCOUNTER So that is how I ended up going to a service where the gospel of Jesus Christ was preached. I was overwhelmed. I understood that in addition to being a sinner because of my involvement in occultism, I was also a sinner by nature. But also learned that only Jesus Christ could forgive my sins ans allow me to participate in his divine nature. He was risen, alive ! " Sir I want you to pray for me, because He who is in you, is greater thant the who is in me ! " I said to the preacher. I asked forgiveness from God for all my sins and I accepted Jesus as my Savior and Lord. God's love filled my life like refreshing waterfalls. The fire of my torment went out. A supernatural peace filled me from head to foot. I was totally free ! I knew that I had become a Christian, that I was forgiven, and that I had eternal life. I was finally free! I went home and shared the gospel with my mother. She disn't know her son anymore. I Had left the house totally depressed just a few hours ago ! Then I ran to my brother's house to share the Good News with him. I ran across him hurrying to our house. He had prayed for us regularly. We went back home together, tears in our eyes and our hearts full of joy. TOWARDS A TOTAL DELIVERANCE We
were converted (or saved). That means we turned our back to sin and
we seized by faith the forgiveness in Jesus Christ that is offered at
the cross. By our repentance we broke all the pacts, contracts, and
oaths that we had consciously or unconsciously concluded with the world
of darkness. My mother was delivered from her spirit of divination.
We all consecrated ourselves to God, placing our faith in the authority
of the Holy Scripture. We also had to make an exterior break with our
past. We destroyed all our occult objects : books, amulets, objects
of superstition, idols, holy water, good-luck charms, images of the
saints, medallions, etc...
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