28. SPANNERS IN THE
THINKING PROCESSES
How Demons Create Mental Bottlenecks
With a Biblical Dictionary of Demonic Entities
On more than one occasion I have been talking with extremely gifted and intelligent people about very elementary principles of the Gospel and have been greeted with a blank stare. Quite often it is as though they never heard you at all. And their answers can be so off topic as it were that you are left to wonder if in fact you were talking about something completely different.
Now were this an isolated phenomenon doubtless some simple pshycological explanation could be offered, such as a lack of concentration, day-dreaming, anxiety about something else, etc.. But I have seen this phenomenon so many times now in people who have cultic or occultic involvement that this has prompted me to do some serious research and to ask other questions. Is there something blocking their hearing or is there maybe some block in their thinking processes?
As in all diseases there seem to be different levels of 'infection', from the mild to the chronic. Over the last year I have been involved in a Mormonism Discussion Board and I have noticed this phenomenon over and over again. You can present overwhelming and incontrovertible evidence from their own history using their own leaders and sourse materials that completely and without ambiguity disproves something they believe to be true and they will act as though you were either persecuting them or that you never said what you did.
I have performed a number of experiments with these people using some very simple examples. Each time they have ignored my answers I have simply reposted the same material. The result has been astonishing - either a total ignoring of the post, an answer that has absolutely nothing to do with the post, or - after several postings - torrents of abuse, character assassination, or accusations that you are persecuting them. And the Mormons are not alone - I have noticed the same reflexive behaviour amongst Jehovah's Witnesses, Catholics, Wiccans, and (of course) Satanists. In all cases I have been mild, non-judgmental, and straight to the point.
And another interesting phenomenon: no matter whether you are defeated in an argument (as one sometimes is) or whether you are overwhelming in the right, either way their belief is strengthened. No matter how many times you dismantle their false thinking, the result is a stronger testimony in what they believe.
Now I debate frequently with Christians from other denominations about issues we are not always agreed about but never have I felt "righter" or "truer" when they have shown something up to be false. My pride my cause me to be irritated for a while but I take valid criticisms seriously and spend time working on the conflicts they may create with my personal beliefs. I can truthfully say that without exception I have changed some belief of mine at least once a year. Repentance - whether theological or moral - is a mandate that every Christian is given by His Master. We are to be constantly changing, displacing darkness with light, error with truth.
I have been involved not only in ministry to Mormons and others in the cults over the years but also to those involved in Wicca and other occult practices, and I have noticed the same phenomenon only it is far more exaggerated. I have met some very erudite and intelligent satanists who are masters of wordsmithery and yet when you start talking about the Truth, a trigger is set off and they become wholly irrational, usually letting loose a flood of obscenity. Now I know that it is demons who cause them to do this but not until recently did I begin to appreciate how demonic entities cause blocks in the thinking process.
Biblical Christianity is, above all, about REALITY. It is not about obscure, untestable esoteric mysteries, or mythical gods and goddesses, but about the realtity of what is going on around us. And whilst Biblical Christianity certainly has its mysteries and esoteric doctrines, it is at its core about the world we live in and objective reality. Every observable phenomenon and every known provable scientific fact can be accommodated by the Biblical Christian paradigm. There is no phenomenon which the Bible - God's Word - cannot explain once sufficient digging has been done. Once we start ignoring the realities around us the chances are they we have slipped off the Way and onto a spiritual sideshow where unseen forces are able to confuse, manipulate and ultimately control. It its core, the occult is about ILLUSION. But behind the illusion are very real demonic entities.
The Secret of Dark Control
Unlike Yahweh-Elohim, the Lord God of Israel and Creator of the Universe who is omniscient - knowing all things - Satan and his demonic cohorts are not. Like a good intelligence and spy system, they rely for their operation on a complex network of 'informants'. They have been around for a very long time and know human thinking processes very well. They are also very knowledgeable about history, languages, politics, and every activity of man. They have been watching us for thousands of years. They can speak every known language, including Hebrew, and through their possession of sinful men and women, are able to absorb their knowledge. To be sure, as there are different types of human with different abilities, there are also different kinds of demon, some more intelligent than others. In the same way that our own society has a hierarchical structure, with presidents and prime ministers, generals, politicians, and others at the top and simple manual labourers at the bottom of the pyramid, Satan and his demonic cohorts are organised for different jobs according to their prostituted abilities and intelligence. And in the same way that one country spies on another both from within (e.g. spies planted in enemy territory) and from without (e.g. intelligence collecting centres), so Satan works both from without (the whispering of demons outside our bodies) and within (the whispering and manipulation of persons from inside their bodies owing to possession occasioned by deep sin).
In the same way that a country's spy network is complex, so do is the satanic heirarchy. Some demons have great power and controlling influences, others are weak and mere irritants by comparison, like the HIV virus which destroys and the housefly which annoys. All have a rôle to play.
One lady I know of, who was literally brought up in Satanism as a child and who went through the hell of getting pregnant from her warlock father and being forced to kill and even eat parts her babies, who murdered her grandfather, and took part if many ritual sacrifice - BUT WHO IS NOW SAVED AND DELIVERED FROM SATAN FOR EVER (Hallelujah!) - recalls in her deliverance the demonic heirarchy which had such a strangehold on her. For the deeper one descends into wickness, the more powerful demons take control, until one is nothing more than a total slave. Those deep into satanism normally lack the power or will to make the decision to be delivered until someone intervenes in prayer for them and sustains them in much prayer during the deliverance.
In her case, because she was so deep into Satanism, she was under the overall control of a demon calling himself Baphomet, whose name many know but wrongly assume to be synonymous with Satan himself. Under Baphomet was Malphas, Grand President of the Inferno, and beneath him Adramolek, keeper of the wardrobe for the High Council of Lucifer, who takes control of those who sacrifice little children. Under Adramolek came Asmondeus and Lilith, a male-female team, the latter of which is well known in Jewish literature as a baby-killer too. Under this pair were a female demon called Asteroth (spoken of many times in the Bible), Adacious (the Grand Duke of Hell), Ahman (an Egyptian who was in the hierarchy but had no control - those from a Mormon background will recognise him as the god the Mormons worship - Doctrine & Covenants 78:20; 95:17, a name which is used in Mormon mythology as part of the name of a city called Adam-ondi-Ahman - D&C 78:15; 107:53; 116; 117:8,11 - pronounced "Adam-On-Diahman" - or Adam-The Egyptian God On-Demon), Kali (Hindu goddess of destruction), Leviathan (mentioned by Job), Kabiri (a cohort of demons working together), Dagar, Flueretta (a Scandinavian spirit who is a leutenant-general from the pit of Hell), Marduke (from Spain), Ouroboros (an old Gnostic Spirit), Melusina (a half-breed from France), and finally, Abaddon (the Grand One, the keeper of the Abyss). Abaddon and Baphomet were in ultimate control, and did all the string-pulling. Deceit and shape-shifting are the tools of these beings.
Now we all the know the power of propaganda and how easy it is to plant ideas into weak and unprotected minds. Dictators have constantly exploited this weakness, not forgetting the advertisers. It is well known in psychology that painful experiences can act as blockages to the subconscious, particularly if they are associated with a particular thought or idea. But demons go one stage further than that: they actually manipulate our thought processes, like traffic policemen, distracting thoughts dangerous to their hegemony down different channels and especially towards thoughts highly charged with emotional content. Time and time again I have seen Mormons retreat to their "testimony" when confronted with evidence that undermines their faith, and occultists to power-charged invocations. These demons have a full-time job which is why once you are rid of them, the thinking processes become so much clearer.
So how do demons actually do this and get away with it? By being within you and posing as your own thoughts which we so often attribute to "inspiration". Inspired they are, only they are from the wrong source. I know one man who claims to be a "Christian" yet says that he is Satan - you can show him from the Scriptures that he cannot possibly be from Satan but he will be utterly deaf to what you say. He simply 'knows' it from within BECAUSE A VOICE HAS TOLD HIM SO. Sadly, in our atheistic society, such people are marked down as simply being lunatics with delusions and are treated with drugs and shock treatment that never work (and usually makes them worse, reducing them to vegetables - Satan wins this way too). (N.B. SOMETIMES 'voices' are from a fractured personality and psychological methods may be applicable, but in my experience this is very RARE and even then usually have some sort of demonic interferece somewhere along the line).
Have you every head voices laughing, mocking even? Have you ever felt that these couldn't possibly be 'you' or memories from films/movies you have seen? Sometimes you can hear them. Do you ever hear voices telling you to do things which go against all common sense, which deny reality, and which particularly contradict the morality and ethics of the Bible? You'd be surprised how many people have - the reaction is usually to shut up (for fear of being called a 'weirdo' or a lunatic) or to assume (fatally) that it is 'God', the 'Holy Spirit', or (if you aren't nominally a Christian), an 'Ascended Master', 'spirit guide', or the like. Nothing gives demons greater pleasure than to have those they control to believe they are GOD - it reaches down to deepest abyss of their egos. And of course this is what Satan has always wanted - to be God Almighty - so to be recognised as such by one who has been deluded gives him one of his greatest satisfactions.
I believe that there are alot of deluded Christians who act outrageously on the assumption that the power that controls them is God. All reason departs from them and they are not the least bit interested if their experiences contradict the Word of God, the Bible. For them, as with the New Age, experience is the ultimate reality. It isn't. Ultimate, objective experience cannot be obtained until a soul is wholly sin-free. And it is for this reason that we are commanded to constantly measure everything against the Scriptures.
I knew a 'Christian' lady who, while she was sitting in church, used to hear a voice inside her head 'preaching' to her so that she never heard the Minister. She was absolutely spellbound by this highly sophisticed and intelligent-sounding voice. But it taught her doctrines that were not biblical.
New Agers and occultists are frequently driven in their behaviour by these voices which they wrongly assume to be the spirits of the dead who have advanced far in their spiritual evolution. Some are shown dramtic visions which because they are so beautiful they assume MUST be the genuine article. Satan and his demons can create mental pictures as well as they can talk to you. They can also, if they are within you, create warm feelings or well-being (but which are usually defective in some loving element like sentimentality).
To discern these voices (which MAY, I hasten to add, be your own mind in idle mode) you need to know God's Word and to be born again to discern with your spirit. If you're being troubled by demonic powers, then please start taking steps to disarm them. First find out what God's Word has to say about them.
What the Word Says
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The "What the Word" says section is courtesy of Charles A Bennett, Dark Angels: The War for Your Soul (LDM Consultants, Inc., Lakewood, Colorado, 1996, ISBN 1-879553-25-2) and is highly recommended.
First created on 23 November 1999
Last updated on 23 November 1999
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