Chapter One
Spiritual
DiscernmentThe woman's voice on the other end of the line sounded eerie and
mystical. She had sought help from a Christian psychiatric hospital
that had referred her to us. This divorced woman and her eight-year-old
daughter lived alone, trapped in a world of darkness. The
small girl's father was a Unitarian pastor; but prior to that he had
been an African witch doctor in a tribe known as the Leopard
People. The now-abandoned single mom had extensive knowledge
of the occult; and although she testified to having been recently
born again, torment still lived inside the walls of her home.
At her request, we visited her home. Cats fearfully scurried
from under our feet as our small prayer team approached the
apartment door. When the attractive woman opened the door,
we were introduced to an atmosphere that almost took our breath
away-it felt electric with evil.
Once inside, two large cats cowering near the refrigerator
hissed at us, then disappeared within seconds. The electrical
power began to flash off and on until we commanded it to stop.
To the right of the front door was a 10-foot bookcase filled with
religious, heathen and occult books. After we had been invited to
sit down we began to discuss her problems.
She explained that her daughter was being harassed in the
night by nightmares and apparitions. The child would awaken
to see ghosts in her room. (The ghosts actually were demons
appearing in the forms of an old African-aboriginal man and
woman.) The concerned mother stated that at times the child
would leap on top of the dressers and move about like a leopard.
This precious little girl would sometimes wake in the morning
with humanlike bite marks and claw scratches in the middle of
her back. One night, the frightened girl awakened her mother
several times, complaining that the flies had bitten her. Each
time her mother turned on the lights and searched the room but
found nothing. The next morning when she opened the window
shades, she found a mound of dead flies piled on her daughter's
windowsill. This did not surprise us-we know that Satan is
sometimes spoken of as Beelzebub, the lord of the flies (see
Matt. 12:24-32; Mark 3:22).
It was clear that the enemy had been given authority to operate
in this home. As we prayed and asked God for wisdom and
discernment, we waited for the Holy Spirit's direction. At times
the demonic reality was almost palpable. Spiritual impressions
from the Lord (i.e. "the word of knowledge" [1 Cor. 12:8]) came
to our team members as we cleansed the atmosphere with
prayer. All at once, as though the team were acting on the same
inspiration, we stared at the wall of books-her huge library on
the occult. We explained to the young mother that the books
and the artwork were acting as bait for the demons. (As flies are
attracted to dung, demons are attracted to darkness.) Her library
was an open invitation that attracted demonic spirits and gave
them legal right to defile her home and harass her and her child.
These books were like a welcome mat to the unseen demonic
world, communicating that they had the woman's permission to
stay. Such items and artifacts may seem harmless, yet hold significance
to satanic spirits.
We urgently appealed to the mother that she discard the
books, even offering to help her get rid of them. She refused. She
lamented about the money she had invested in the books. We
begged her for the sake of her daughter to spiritually clean the
house, but she turned a deaf ear to us. Sadly, we were unable to
go any further. We lovingly explained that we had no authority
to help her because of her unwillingness to remove the ungodly
books. Our insight as to why the child was harassed involved the
occult materials and her mother's unhealthy attachment to
them. These occult materials were also symbols of contracts the
mother had made with the enemy.
We need only look to C. Peter Wagner's account of the power of
idols in the ancient city of Athens to see why this woman's attachment
to her library served as a welcoming gesture to the devil.
The only place in the Bible where we find the phrase
"given over to idols" (from the Greek kateidolos) is where
Luke describes Athens in Acts 17:16. Athens was the idol
capital of the ancient world, possibly comparable to
Kyoto, Japan, today. The literature of that day describes
Athens as a forest of idols in which it is easier to find a
god than a human being. Certain streets had so many
idols that pedestrian traffic was difficult. One observer
estimated that Athens contained more idols than the
rest of Greece combined!
Because idols themselves are only made of wood or
stone or metal, some are not concerned about their presence.
These idols, however, were not just any piece of
wood or stone or metal. They had been carefully and
intentionally crafted by human beings as forms in the
visible world through which the forces of the invisible
world of darkness were invited to control the lives of
people, families and the city as a whole, locking the people
in spiritual darkness. That's why we read that Paul's
"spirit was provoked within him" (v. 16).
Yet this is not the only and perhaps not the most significant
illustration of defilement. Let's look at what happened to Joshua
in the Old Testament. (The following is a loose adaptation of
Joshua 7; the fictional character named Elisiaph has been added
to the account.)
A Piece of Cake?
"Now sir, let's not overreact," suggested Elisiaph, General Joshua's
senior military adviser. "We can relax now and give the men a
break. Trust me-this one is going to be a piece of cake. According
to our reconnaissance, there's no reason at all for you to send the
entire Israeli army to attack such a small place as Ai. ["Ai" literally
means "a heap of ruin."] I suggest that a reduced force of 2,000 or
3,000 troops will be sufficient to utterly destroy the city."
So the next morning Joshua sent 3,000 troops to annihilate
Ai. To their surprise, the men of Ai were ready for battle. The
feisty troops of Ai killed 36 Israeli soldiers and chased the others
from the gate of the city down the slope to the stone quarries.
The dispirited Israeli army was forced to retreat like a dog with
its tail tucked between its legs.
Joshua was stunned when he heard the news. The Israelites
had only recently defeated the big city of Jericho, which now lay
in smoldering ruins. How could Elisiaph have so grossly underestimated
the military capability of a small town like Ai? Joshua wondered.More important-where was God? And what about the promises He had
made to them? God had clearly said,
Joshua, I am giving to you the land I promised Moses. I
will always be with you and I will help you as I helped
him. No one will ever be able to defeat you. So be strong
and courageous! Do everything Moses taught you. Never
stop reading the Book of the Law he gave you. Think
about what it says day and night. Obey it completely and
you will be able to take this land (see Josh. 1:1-9).
Joshua called together an emergency council meeting of
Israel's leaders. "Gentlemen," he said, "you will recall that Jehovah
God promised us that He would never leave us and that we would
never be defeated. Where do you suppose we went wrong when
that handful of untrained, ragtag men disgraced our troops
today? May I suggest, sirs, that we have a national emergency on
our hands? And we must get to the bottom of this-now!"
So Joshua and the leaders tore their clothes and put dirt on
their heads as a symbol of sorrow and repentance. They lay facedown
on the ground in front of the Ark of the Covenant and
cried out to God until sunset.
Then Joshua prayed:
Lord, did you bring us across the Jordan just so the
Amorites could annihilate us? If we had stayed on the
other side of the Jordan, none of this would have happened.
Frankly, I'm speechless. It is shocking to realize
that our army actually ran from their enemy today. Our
people are beginning to think that You can no longer
protect us. When our enemies hear of our humiliation, they are likely to become emboldened. They may even try
to surround us and wipe us out.
The Lord answered Joshua:
General, get up off your face! I'm not taking prayer
requests at this time. I told you that everything in
Jericho belonged to me. Furthermore, I told you that I
wanted the entire city to be destroyed. But instead, your
people have stolen and hidden some of the booty for
yourselves; and you've lied about it.
Because you've stolen stuff that was supposed to be
destroyed, Israel itself has been set aside for destruction.
I can't help you anymore until you do exactly what I've
told you to do. And that's precisely why your army could
not stand before its enemies today.
Tell the people that they'll never be able to stand
against another enemy until they rid themselves of the
abominable things that they've hidden. Tell them to prepare
for worship. Tomorrow morning, when they gather for
worship, I will identify for you the guilty tribe and point out
the guilty clan and the guilty family. And I will show you
the man who has stolen the forbidden things that have
defiled Israel and have broken the sacred covenant I have
made with you. That man, along with his wife, his sons and
his daughters, must be executed by stoning. Their bodies
and all of their possessions must be burned.
Early the next morning Joshua brought each tribe to the
place of worship. There the Lord identified Judah as the guilty
tribe and the clan of Zerah and Zabdi's family as the guilty clan
and family. He showed them that Achan was the man responsible
for violating Israel's contract with God.
General Joshua said, "Achan, is it true? Don't try to hide anything
from me. Tell me what you've done."
"Yes, sir, it's true," Achan answered reluctantly. "I'm the one
who sinned against the Lord God of Israel. While we were mopping
up at Jericho, I found a beautiful Babylonian robe, 200
pieces of silver and a gold bar that weighed as much as 50 pieces
of gold. I wanted them for myself, so I took and hid them in a
hole beneath my tent."
So Joshua immediately sent men running to Achan's tent to
retrieve the silver, the gold and the robe. They brought the
defiled items back and laid them before the Lord so that Joshua
and the rest of the Israelites could see them.
Then everyone took Achan, his sons and daughters, his cattle,
donkeys, and sheep, his tent and everything that belonged to
him, as well as the things he had stolen, to a nearby valley.
Once there, Joshua said, "Achan, you've caused us a lot of
trouble. Now you are in trouble."
The people of Israel stoned Achan, his family and his animals
to death. They built a fire and burned the bodies, along
with all the possessions and the cursed things that Achan had
stolen. They covered the ashes with a big pile of rocks. And that
place is still known as Trouble Valley.
Then God stopped being angry with Israel and gave them
the city of Ai (see Josh. 8:1).
Ten Lessons We Learn
from This Account1. God's Promises to Us Are Awesome!
Our great God is a promise-keeping God. He has literally given
us thousands of promises in His Word. Salvation is only the
beginning of God's promises. Beyond our salvation experience
there are countless treasures waiting for us to experience in
Christ, because God "has blessed us with every spiritual blessing
in the heavenly places in Christ" (Eph. 1:3). Furthermore,
We have everything we need to live a life that pleases
God. It was all given to us by God's own power, when we
learned that he had invited us to share in his wonderful
goodness. God made great and marvelous promises, so
that his nature would become part of us. Then we could
escape our evil desires and the corrupt influences of this
world (2 Pet. 1:3-4, CEV).
Have you realized that once you are born again, His nature
becomes part of you?
2. God's Promises Are Often Contingent
upon Our Obedience
In order for us to enjoy the benefits that God has promised, we
must trust Him and believe that He keeps His Word. His promises
are activated by our faith. However, many of God's promises
are conditional. They are contingent upon our obedience. We
call them God's If/Then promises.
With regard to our salvation, He's promised that "if" we believe
in our hearts and "if" we confess with our mouths, we shall
be saved (see Rom. 10:9).
With regard to His forgiveness of our sins, He has promised
that "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us
our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).
God had made covenant with Joshua and had given him
promises too. He promised to give him the land He had promised
Moses (see Josh. 1:1-4,15); to always be with him and to help
him, as He had helped Moses (see Josh. 1:9); that he would never
be defeated (see Josh. 1:5)
But with those three promises, there were three commands
or conditions: be strong and courageous (see Josh. 1:6); do every
thing Moses taught (see Josh. 1:7); read, meditate on and obey
the Book of the Law (see Josh. 1:8).
Achan had failed to do everything God had asked of him. He
had taken that which God had specifically forbidden the Israelite:
to take-things that God had designated for destruction-and he
had hidden the goods in a hole in the ground beneath his tent
Although the Lord doesn't indicate that a demonic power was
attached to the Babylonian garment, the 200 pieces of silver or the
50 gold shekels, God said these things were accursed and should
be avoided. Why would God want the Israelites to avoid these
things-unless they brought evil with them?
Therefore, the main idea of the biblical passages dealing
with this subject is that disobedience to Yahweh brings a curse
Such disobedience is inherent in the worship of alien gods (idolatry),
which is in fact the worship of demons, according to the
Old Testament (see Deut. 32:16-18).
3. Physical Things Sometimes Carry Spiritual Significance
Throughout Scripture we see evidence that physical things car
carry spiritual significance: the lamb's blood that God had the
children of Israel apply to their doorposts (see Exod. 12:7-13)
the Tabernacle, its furnishings and utensils (see Exod. 26-27)
water baptism (see Luke 3:21-22); the Last Supper (see Matt
26:28; 1 Cor. 11:23-25); miraculous handkerchiefs and aprons
(see Acts 19:11-12); healing oil (see Jas. 5:14).
Continues.
