Open Satanism In The Pulpit
A few years ago, between 1982 and 1984 to be precise, this writer was faced with the powerful pull of the teaching that a Christian needed to experience the ‘second work’ of the Holy Spirit after being born again, this time with a definite sign of speaking in ‘tongues’. [sgmb id=”4″]We were told you were not complete in the Lord until you had this experience. The teaching was the major draw in the very small Christian community in Lagos in those days. Who would not like to have what the Lord ‘designed’? There were prayers and fasting, self-sacrifices and self-denial to ensure I had the experience, just as so many people were teaching. But, months later, there were no answers from the Lord to my prayers.
Or, rather, the answer came in a very unexpected way. The Lord gave me a copy of one of Dr Kurt E Koch’s books, from where I can not now clearly tell. I probably bought it after a Sunday church service from one of the book vendors who peddled their wares on Sundays. I think the first book was the Devil’s Alphabet. I guess I finished it the day I bought it. I was back in the market the same week looking for more writings from the man.
Altogether I was able to read a few more of his books.
What came clear in his writings was a man who really loved the materials in the Bible and who had extensive experiences on the antics and modus operandi of the Devil. And the universality of Dr Koch’s experiences and stories and their uniformity throughout the Earth was unsettling, to put it mildly. The Bible has been correct and reliable all along: we are more on this terrestrial plane than the mere races of whites, blacks, browns or yellows that walk on two feet.
And, there really is no discrimination: black magic is an epithet. There is no colour whatsoever to the presence and power of the pretend god. The same sets of doctrines believed and practised by the ancient Druids, the Celts, the Babylonians, the Chinese, the Persians, the Arabs, the Alaks, the Innuits were believed by the Saxons, the Hindus and the Blacks of central Africa.
The phenomena of tongues, incantations,curses, omens, palmistry, astrology, death magic, charms, teleportation, witchcraft and sorcery were the same throughout the world: the differences in the practices were minor and, in most cases, very artificial. It is part of these phenomena oozing out in the forms of Tongues, incantations, curses and Signs and Wonders in the ‘Christian’ churches and fellowships I was now being asked to pray and yearn for in 1982-84!
The Enemy Fosters Tongues, Incantations, Curses
Satan has never been more successful in grafting himself into ‘Christianity’! You would not believe satanic tongues, incantations, curses are now re-christened and called fancy names to make them acceptable to gullible ‘Christians’.
What a coup!
The following is a cull from one of the books, Occult ABC:
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“Speaking in Tongues.
I am not concerned in this book with authentic experiences, but with the occult and demonic perversions of this phenomenon. I have met some Christians who occasionally pray quietly in tongues in their own private prayers. No one except their pastor knows about it. It is not even known in the church. I have no intention of devaluing the experiences of these loyal Christians, whose own life of faith and willingness-for-sacrifice puts their critics in the shade. But no one should therefore excuse himself with the familiar attitude, “Even if it is unauthentic with everyone else, it is genuine with me.” I have to say a decisive no to the tongues movement itself. Every year the number of negative experiences of which I hear grows.
Over a hundred books could be mentioned which deal with this subject. I cannot list them here. The most scholarly is the book The Psychology of Speaking in Tongues by John P. Kildahl. The tongues movement has brought about such confusion and division in the churches of the USA that the American Lutheran Church felt compelled to set up a commission to study the phenomenon. The commission consisted of Dr. Qualben, a psychiatrist, Dr. Satre, a theologian, and Dr. Kildahl, a psychologist. Their report makes some excellent comments on the question of speaking in tongues, but I find it somewhat lacking on the spiritual side.
In Germany, the publishing house of Hanssler has brought out Francis Schaeffer’s book Die neue Welle. Hubmer’s book I have already mentioned in an earlier chapter. Two of my books, The Strife of Tongues and Charismatic Gifts, deal with this subject. It looks almost as if the tongues and the so-called charismatic movements are the most dangerous weapon Satan uses against the Christian camp. It must, however, be clearly emphasized that within these two movements there are many true Christians who remain there because they lack the gift of discerning spirit. In this book I shall deal with only the demonic side. Let us begin with a quotation from Hubmer. “In cases where men like Johannes Seitz prayed with people who claimed to have been baptized in the Spirit, it often became clear through the frightful scenes which resulted that this baptism had a demonic origin.”
Some examples follow.
Ex 201: In March 1975 1 gave several addresses in Dr. Kenneth Moon’s church in St. Petersburg, Florida. A missionary came to see me. He told me of a difficult pastoral situation. He was ministering in Orlando, Florida, to a woman who spoke in tongues. He pointed out to her that there are often spiritistic spirits hiding behind this gift of tongues. When she started to pray in tongues, the missionary asked her, “You spirit speaking in tongues, do you confess that Christ has come in the flesh?” At first there was no answer. He then commanded the spirit in the name of Jesus to reveal itself. Finally, the spirit said, while the woman was not fully conscious, “I belong to a church.”
The missionary did not leave it at that. “Which church?” he asked. “The church of Satan,” came the astonishing reply. Then the pastor commanded these powers in the name of Jesus Christ to depart. The woman became free by the power of God. To God be the glory!
Ex 202: I learned of a similar incident in a report from the Canadian revival preacher Bill McLeod. Rosteck, an American evangelist, carries on a pastoral ministry similar to mine. In Toccoa in the state of Georgia, there was a woman who continually started speaking in tongues at the prayer meeting.
There was no interpreter there. According to the instructions given in 1 Corinthians 14:28, she should have remained silent. The brethren asked her, “Please pray in English, so that we can understand you and pray with you.” “I cannot pray in English,” answered the woman, “I keep speaking in tongues.”
The brethren decided to carry out the test mentioned in 1 John 4. The brethren asked: “Do you confess that Christ has come in the flesh?” They received no answer. They therefore commanded the spirit which was speaking in tongues, “In the name of Jesus Christ we command you to answer us. Do you confess Christ?” Then came the amazing reaction. “No, I hate him,” cried the woman. The nature of her tongues speaking was revealed.
Similar things have been experienced by a Canadian missionary who worked in Borneo for ten years. He is the Rev. George A. Birch, whom I first met at a missionary conference in Java. We soon became friends, finding we were on the same spiritual “wavelength.” We met again when I was speaking in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. I have also received several letters from brother Birch, in which he has encouraged me to continue my work. Those who are called to fight against occultism and to attack fanatical, extremist practices find that they are open to many attacks. What I like about brother Birch is that he accepts genuine gifts of the Spirit and at the same time opposes human or demonic imitations.
Brother Birch has investigated twenty cases of tongues in Canada, nineteen were demonic in nature. In one case, the person speaking in tongues said, “You don’t need to test my spirit; I bring about the speaking in tongues myself.” (Emphasis mine)
One of the nineteen cases may be recounted.
Ex 203: Shirley came from a Christian family. As a young girl she came to faith in Christ, and a few years later joined a youth group called “Youth with a Mission.” All the members of this group, who belonged to a Pentecostal church, spoke in tongues — all, that is, except Shirley. Her friends told her, “As long as you have not received the baptism of the Spirit, you will have no power for witness.”
Shirley And Tongues, Incantations, Curses
Shirley prayed much for the gift of tongues. Then one day at a meeting of the Pentecostal church she went forward to the platform, holding her hands in the air. She received the gift of speaking in tongues. “Praise the Lord!” everyone shouted in joy, “Shirley got the baptism of the Holy Spirit.” Some time later, she heard about demonic imitations of the gift of tongues. At the same time she noticed that most of the members of the “Youth with a Mission” group were falling away. Some became drug addicts; one was sent to prison. None of them continued to follow Jesus. This made her doubts increase. She agreed to let brother Birch test the spirit that was speaking in tongues according to I John 4:2. As Shirley was praying in tongues, brother Birch asked, “You spirit speaking in tongues, do you confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh?” After he had repeated the question, the demon cried out, “No! No!” Thereupon brother Birch commanded it, in the name of Jesus Christ, to reveal its name.
“Lucifer with three of his comrades,” came the reply. “Saul, Demetrius, Judas.” Then the voices cried out from the girl. “I hate you, I hate you.” The girl at once jumped up and tried to strangle brother Birch. This man of God put himself under the protection of Jesus Christ (Luke 10:19) and bound the demons in the name of the Lord. Then he commanded them, “In the name of Jesus Christ, tell us when you entered this girl.” “At that meeting of the Pentecostal church,” they replied, “on August 17.”
“What do you intend to do with her?” “We want to keep her back from the truth. That is why we took control of her tongue.” Brother Birch then instructed Shirley to declare herself free from these demons in the name of Jesus Christ. She did so. Then brother Birch commanded the demons to leave the girl, because she belonged to Jesus Christ. The girl was freed, and she gave God thanks and praise for her salvation and deliverance. You can see tongues, incantations and curses masquerading as special gifts from God .
Several facts become evident from this story. Demons speak in the first person. When they talk about the person whom they have possessed, they speak in the third person.
Those who try to gain spiritual gifts, e.g., the gift of speaking in tongues by force, come into the hands of other spirits. 1 Corinthians 12:11 tells us that the Spirit of God gives gifts to those whom He will. Paul also shows us in 1 Corinthians 12:29-30 that not everyone receives all the gifts. The gifts vary.
There are several points I regard as having great importance in brother Birch’s report. It sometimes happens that demons claim to be the Holy Spirit or Jesus. Thus they occasionally utter the name of Jesus. If one then commands them in the name of Jesus Christ to reveal themselves, they are forced to declare: “I am the unholy Jesus.” Another confession we have mentioned elsewhere, “I am the Jesus of Satan.” The name Jesus is not restricted to Jesus Christ. It is an ordinary person’s name, as we can see from Colossians 4:11, for instance.
A feature that causes both brother Birch and me grave concern is that demons will occasionally answer the test question of 1 John 4:2 in the affirmative. In this way they sometimes lead whole groups of Christians astray. This is the most devilish misuse of the word of God which Satan allows himself. I have discussed this with several experienced men of God. We know no answer, but we can see from the consequences that there are satanic counterfeits even taking this form.
I will close by mentioning another of my friends, V. Raymond Edman, formerly president of Wheaton College. He wrote the preface to my book Christian Counseling and Occultism, and invited me to speak at Wheaton College on a number of occasions. He divided speaking in tongues into three types: the gift of God, speaking in tongues as a result of suggestion or autosuggestion, and demonic speaking in tongues. This is the same division that I have set out in my booklet The Strife of Tongues. This makes it clear on the one hand that we do not, like some extreme theologians, confine all gifts of the Spirit to the first century. The Holy Spirit did not go out of business in the first century. But on the other hand, there are more cases of human or demonic imitation. That is the business of Satan.”
Pentecostals And Tongues, Incantations, Curses
The Pentecostal and Charismatic churches and fellowships in Nigeria and other parts of the world are gleefully doing the Devil’s work for him: they are attempting a re-write and nullification of the Bible everyday by their extra-biblical ‘revelations’, teachings on astral travel, ‘tongues’ and ‘words of knowledge’: beliefs derived directly from voodoo, idolatry and shamanism.
In many of the churches, ministries and fellowships the Bible is no longer the source of instruction and doctrine: medicine-men and –women masquerading as pastors, bishops and apostles have fully taken over. They pronounce tongues, incantations and curses on their unwitting audience.
We may now return to the finding on the sources and contents of the ‘tongues’ now prevalent in worship services: Brother Birch has investigated twenty cases of tongues in Canada, nineteen were demonic in nature. In one case, the person speaking in tongues said, “You don’t need to test my spirit; I bring about the speaking in tongues myself.
Readers must note the statistics of nineteen-to-one in the report: further probing in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ confirmed the actual words being spoken in some of the demon-inspired ‘tongues’ were pure curses on the Lord Jesus Christ.
If, as it is obvious, most of the so-called tongues are induced by demons, and some of them are curses rained on the name of God, you must decide how safe you are in every environment where ‘tongues’ are spoken.
BLASPHEMERS AGAINST THE HOLY GHOST
At the least these are blasphemers against the Holy Ghost: saying the Holy Ghost said something The Spirit of God NEVER said.