As I was searching for articles and stories for a link to
what I have been learning in class, I stumbled across this story about
Spiritual warfare. The blog tells the story of two young women who go on a
mission trip and witness to a “traditional healer, or a witch doctor” in a
different country. The women write about the healer’s desire to claim that
Jesus was her Lord and Savior. However she could not get past the fear she had
of destroying the medicines, potions, and amulets that held her in spiritual
bondage to Satan’s influences. The healer also believed, due to her fear, that
Christ was not the one and only God. She allowed the girls to witness, pray,
and clean her house; but would not walk away from the witchcraft she practices
out of fear she would be killed. The woman believed that if she destroyed her
items of healing that her ancestor would come and kill her. The women kept all
the items she used for “healing” in one room of the house. The two girls wrote
how the smell from the room was overwhelming and horrific, making it even hard
to breath when in the room.
Click here for the whole story.http://www.mamelodistories.org/2009/06/18/guest-post-rebekah-mcinnis-on-engaging-in-spiritual-warfare/
When I first starting reading this story I quickly saw the
truth in what Dr. Neil Anderson writes about in his book “The Bondage
Breaker”. In this book Dr. Anderson
writes about how one can allow themselves to be controlled by satanic
influences by simply believing in the lies Satan tells. The biggest lie of all
that Satan would have us believe is that God is not all powerful, and that
Christ cannot give us the freedom promised in the Bible. This story is a great
and sad example of the truth behind Satan’s tactics. This “healer” wanted to
believe that Jesus was Lord of all but could not because of the lie she believed
in that she would be killed by her ancestors. This woman was completely bound
in her bondage to sin because of her belief in a lie, keeping her from allowing
Jesus to bring her freedom and hope. Another
example found in this story that Dr. Anderson writes about is how we look on
the outside but inside we are full of evil influences. This woman had her whole
house clean minus the room she kept her medicines and potions in and even
though this room was almost unbearable she still could not walk away because of
her fear.
One thing that I learn from reading The Bondage Breaker and
this story is how real spiritual warfare can be and if not careful how easily
you can found yourself wrapped up in something evil before you know it. At the
end of the story, one of the girls writes how before this trip she never believed
in the spiritual realm so literally. I must also confess that while I believe
in spiritual warfare I cannot say I whole-heartily believed it existed in such
a way as this story tells. However after reading this story and among others I
can now see how real it truly is. As Christians we are called to put on the
whole armor of God so as not to become a casualty to this very real war of
Spiritual Warfare. Sadly this woman believed in the lies Satan had been telling
her, even when she wanted to walk away. Fear and lies would not allow her to
let Jesus bring her the freedom He promises, as it is written in 2 Corinthians
5: 17 “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there
is freedom”.
This is very real and true. I think another way satan uses his lies is to keep a lot of people not believing in spiritual warfare. Along with the fact that he can only be in one place at a time, he does not want people to fight him or believe the truth so if he can make them believe he does not work within the world too much, he is helping himself and keeping people in bondage. It is so important to not dwell on, but truly understand the reality of spiritual warfare. This helps keep us prepared and ready to defend the darts of the enemy as well as ignite the truth of God who opposes the devil and has power over all evil and will win the battle!
ReplyDeleteThe article you described reminds me of some scholarly articles that I recently read about the relationship between stress, suffering, and religion. Many of these article found that those individuals who had spiritual objects experienced a greater amount of depression, stress, and anxiety than those who did not. Although I haven't thought about it much before, I am now curious about the control that demons have over us through things. It seems very relevant to today's culture, in which extreme importance is placed on the things we own and money. I wonder how much hold demons have on us through our materialism, as well as the blatantly spiritual things we possess such as good luck charms and similar things.
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