Give me a moment. This is much more serious than a heart attack.
I was in a meditation, and Jesus was approaching. I could see him in my mind's eye, and suddenly I could see INTO him. He was all darkness--the complete absence of light--inside. And he was confused, disappointed. He hadn't wanted to be exposed--didn't expect it to happen, but he had no ability to stop it. The demon had been deceiving me for a long time, but it didn't know that it was being used by the power who had just enabled me to see it for what it really was. That power had WANTED, had even designed the demon's work to accomplish FOR the power what the power desired. The demon had yanked me around, and had itself been unwittingly yanked around by the power. I had been cultivated, entalented, and was now being harvested. It was not hard for me to see who was in charge.
Thus my first spiritual experience was an encounter with a deceiving spirit, a demonic entity, its reality and work being divulged to me. It had led me, misled me, influencing my thoughts to inquire into and to accept the occult and Eastern religious philosophies circulating at the time. I had gotten into them and into a kind of occult meditation--the stuff the deceiving spirit had led me into--and in this search had developed some spiritual or psychological skills and abilities. Apparently the power had decided, "Enough of that," and I was out of there.
What is more serious than a heart attack in this? It was revealed to me that there really is a Satan, a devil, AND HOW HE WORKS. This stuff is real. After I left that meditation I headed straight for my pickup truck. I was living in it at the time, and I had my old childhood King James Bible stored in it with all my other stuff. I opened to the concordance and looked up Deceive. Revelation 12:9 caught my eye. I read it and all of Revelation chapter 12. The deceiver of the whole earth. "Whoa!" I thought to myself. "That is real! THIS is real!"
The implication was clear: that world, the world of spiritual stuff according the the Bible, was and is somehow actual and real just like the Bible says it is. TAKE IT MORE SERIOUSLY THAN YOU WOULD A HEART ATTACK. Yes, that world would seem to be invisible, but it is playing hardball nevertheless.
That world isn't really invisible. You just have to learn to see it by how it works. I read the King James version of Revelation 12:9, "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." The Devil, Satan, deceives the whole world ALL THE TIME. That's YOU it is talking about!! You, your neighbors, your country, your politicians, your teachers and college professors, me, mom, dad--EVERYBODY. All of the time. We are HEARING deception all the time.
Deception. Speech. It is what we hear. It is not just the mental whispers of demonic influencers; it's the media--television, newspapers, newscasts and commentary, social networks, music--all kinds of perspective-forming output input into us leading us to discount God's commands. The satanic says, "God didn't mean it. You won't die. YOU lead your life. YOU are in charge. Get what YOU want."
We are to think well and to do well: "Whatever is good, just, beautiful, wholesome, of good report," & etc. We are to honor God, pray for our government, and not to judge one another. "There isn't a thing else to do but to preach Christ!" (Neville Goddard). DO YOU HEAR SOMETHING ELSE? Chances are very high that what you hear day in and day out from the media is the fruit of deception. Have you been hearing anything negative, critical, accusatory of yourself and others recently? It's Satan's darkness.
Listen to Victor Alexander's translation of Revelation 12:9 from the ancient Aramaic: "(And) cast [out] was that great dragon, that ancient serpent, That is called the outcast [maker] and Satan, That leads the entire world to oblivion--cast [down] over the earth, And his angels together with him, were cast [out.]" Satan is "the outcast maker." His deceptions are to make us outcasts! THAT's what we are hearing day in and day out--that which if believed and practiced will make us outcasts before God and lead us into oblivion.
Are you listening? Be hearing Christ instead. The darkness will not overcome Him. He's the REAL world, the one that will continue after all the darkness is eliminated. When I met that demon, discovered it was real, I shifted boats. Shift. Hear the good stuff.
