JD, I would not mind at all.
Thanks, Ken.
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You know, Ephesians 6, with its sword and wrestling imagery certainly does suggest "direct engagement." About "casting a demon out of oneself," I would agree that is weird; rather one should renounce whatever sin led one into alignment with the will of satan, repent unto God, seek restoration with Him, and walk in trusting obedience.
Extrication from a long bondage under deception (see below) may take conscious renunciation, resistance to the devil (does not resistance indicate "direct engagement"?), and living according to the Word, and not sensations, etc.
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Matt,
Responding to your post #3:
I think the best book – besides the two above I mentioned, by Powlison and Leahy – is
War On The Saints, by Jessie Penn-Lewis and Evan Roberts. It was written after the 1904 Revival in Wales, and pertains primarily to deceiving spirits utilizing a) passivity, and b) wrong thinking in order to influence humans. JPL & ER were Calvinistic Methodists (as Martyn Lloyd Jones).
Many are put off by this book as Mrs. Penn-Lewis (the main writer) says in it that believers may be “possessed”. However, when one understands her use of the word to mean “under the effective control of” rather than “owned and utterly occupied by” it is easier to swallow. I have some caveats about the book, but later for them.
Let me give some examples: there is currently (it was especially big 10 years ago, but still is large) a movement variously called, The Toronto Blessing, The Holy Laughter Movement, The Pensacola Revival, The Renewal, etc etc. In this
counterfeit form of Christian spirituality there are actual demons who impersonate the Holy Spirit, giving (often bizarre) manifestations of psychic power and “presence”. Genuine believers – often Charismatics, but not always – who buy into this take into themselves a spirit which is not of God, but definitely a spirit. Some part of their being is being controlled by a demon. This is a type of possession. To see them is to know there is something amiss, and that what one is witnessing is not merely “of the flesh.”
If in combat with a man, I get him in a hand and arm hold so that he cannot move, or I can bring him to his knees if I wish, to all intents and purposes I “possess” that man’s arm, I have “effective control” over it, even though I do not “possess” the man. One could also say, “functional control.”
There are those, who being deceived about the means of guidance by God, allow “phenomena” of sensations or “lights” or “presence” to indicate God giving them directions, and when once allowed “in” more and more ground is sought.
To deny the possibility of deception because one is protected by God is, a) to be heedless of the warnings in Scripture about being deceived, and b) to be most vulnerable to it. Penn-Lewis’ Chapter 6 goes into this.
You folks here at PB perhaps think all believers are as doctrinally sound, psychologically mature, and spiritually discerning as we Reformed folks! But perchance some of you know that there are some wild and wooly scenes in the Christian camp across the land, and across the world, where genuine believers are subjected to bizarre and heterodox influences.
To briefly bring up another area (and then I must go, and not return till next week, as I need to devote myself to sermon preparation): some of us from the 60’s (“Woodstock”) generation who became genuine believers in the Lord Jesus fell under such inadequate teaching that we backslid for a while (some for a long while). And some reverted temporarily to psychedelic drugs, such as acid, mushrooms, peyote, etc. These are high-powered sorcerous potions, which bring one directly into the spiritual realm apart from the Spirit of God. We, as well as our non-Christian peers, witnessed and experienced many things in the spirit-world. The realm of psychedelia was as bad as, nay worse than, the demon-worshipping lands of Africa, Brazil, etc. We were a nation of sorcerers. Little has been told of it from a Christian perspective. I can think of one book, by Randall N. Baer,
Inside The New Age Nightmare (ISBN: 0910311587). He was a prominent New Age leader and teacher, who was converted. He has gone to be with the Lord.
More later.
Steve