Guardian

OCCULTISM is a worldwide menace. It is an evil that the believers must quickly stand up to combat. This is necessary and very urgent because of its threat to the spread of the gospel. It is the most formidable threat to the establishment of the kingdom of God on earth.

Unfortunately, today, these occult practices are already creeping into the church. Recently, I asked a young Christian man, born in a Pentecostal church, who his mentors were. And I was shocked to the marrow when he mentioned some notorious cultists. Why? Just because they have money and are connected to the people in government. My heart bled. This is just a sample of the extent the devil has gone to deceive our youths. I am so much worried about the next generation of the church. And what are we doing about this? Nothing! We are just busy with Jamborees, while the kingdom of Satan is consolidating everywhere in the society.

Yes, man’s lust for power, money and fame has made him venerable to this satanic onslaught. There are people that can go any length to get rich. There are others, who are crazy about power, political or spiritual, to control or even harm others. Yet, others want to be known everywhere, they want fame. Because of these, they have bowed down to Satan in exchange for these worldly temporal possessions. They refused to learn from our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, who overcame the devil in the wilderness. Why is God against occultism? This is because it is evil. It originates from Satan; the archenemy of God. And its practices totally violate the laws of God. The common activities you find in occultism are: idolatry, blood and human sacrifices, sexual perversion, deception, divination, sorcery and secrecy. All these are detestable to God. Let’s look at them one after the other:

Idolatry

Every form of occultism and false religion is idolatry. And God frowns at this; in fact, He told the children of Israel that it was His main reason for displacing the original occupants of the promise land — Canaan. To also show how detestable this is to God, in Exodus 20:1-5, it was the first item in the commandments He gave to the Israelites (by extension to all mankind). This commandment is very clear. God is saying that He cannot share His glory or worship with any image, creature or being in heaven, on earth or under the earth (waters). This instruction is so important that He pours it out just after introducing Himself. You noticed that?

Occultism questions the supremacy of God, so, when you worship objects, creatures, spirits, angels, prophets, the sun, the moon, the stars, Satan, principalities, demons and others, God said that you are questioning His authority and place in creation. And it is very detestable to him.  Satan is the head of every occultism practice and extends this through his demons and human agents. God variously warned Israel against idolatry. In fact he will always punish them each time they indulge in this by allowing their enemies to defeat them or send them into exile. You don’t need any idol. God said that you should worship Him through Jesus Christ. That’s all!

Rev. Agbo is of the Assemblies of God Nigeria. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it