Rooting Out the Occult

Have you ever read a horoscope, played with a Ouija board, or gone along with Halloween "just for fun"? This teaching goes through Deuteronomy 18:10–14 and shows that every one of those practices is on God's list, and doing them out of ignorance still opens a door to the enemy. A 2,000-pound bull can be led anywhere by the ring in his nose, and a believer can be pulled where they never meant to go, much like Rachel with the idols she hid in her camel saddle. The root is rebellion (1 Samuel 15:23), and our part is to repent and renounce, get those things out of our homes, and close every door! Listen in, and let God show you anything that has given the enemy a hold, so you can say that the enemy has NOTHING in you.

What is Peggy Joyce Ruth?

Peggy Joyce Ruth, aka "the Psalm 91 Lady" is author of a variety of Psalm 91 book titles with over six million copies in print. She taught a weekly Adult Bible Study for more than 35 years in her church in Central Texas as she shared how to make God’s Word your final authority. Known for her easy-to-understand style of communicating the Word of God and warm storytelling, Peggy Joyce's heart is that her books and teachings will bring you into the same freedom from fear she experienced and help you put God's Word to work ​in your life.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 00:00

We're going to be talking today about Rooting Out the Occult. Now, we're going to talk about the occult. And since this is the day that a lot of the world is celebrating Halloween, we need to look into it. Now, there was a trucker who used to come through Central Texas on his route, and he was overheard talking to another trucker who was new in the area. He was stating, just as a matter of fact, that this particular area was number seven per cap in its availability of drugs and the occult.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 00:28

Number seven in all of The United States. Now, that was a pretty shocking statement. Now, we have been praying over our state in the spiritual realm for a long time because, sadly, there are a lot of people, even Christians, who are playing around with the occult. And many are doing it out of just flat out ignorance. I've noticed that so many people that play around with this holiday, they're just doing it out of ignorance.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 00:49

So today, I want us to focus in on those things that come under the category of occult. Now, that's why I've entitled this Bible study Rooting Out the Occult. Now, it's possible to have some open doors giving Satan a right. So, I'm believing that we're going get some doors closed to the enemy today. Now, my husband and I worked with cattle, and if you've ever seen a bull with a ring in his nose, you're never going to forget this analogy.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 01:13

You can pull on that ring and literally make that bull go wherever you want him to go. You know, you can leave that bull around against his will. And he weighs over two thousand pounds. But you can lead him around, and some people literally have some things in their life that give Satan an open door, and those things are like a ring in their nose. It's like that ring's there, and Satan just grabs hold of that ring and pulls him in the direction he wants them to go.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 01:36

And that's a scary thing. But there comes a time when we're led around against our will. And so that's what I want us to see get stopped today. Now, the ruler of this world has come, and we want to be able to say, just like Jesus did, He has absolutely nothing in me. He has no ring in my nose.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 01:54

Now, since this is a season of extreme spiritual warfare at the end of October, it's a good time for us now to look at rooting out the occult. Now, I think this may shock you how many of God's people ignorantly have an open door in this area. Now, in Joshua 20 four:two and three, God called Abraham out from his father's idolatry. And so he left, and he he took him to a new country. Now, some of us are being called out of some idolatry that maybe we're not even aware of because it's just been easy.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 02:23

It's been familiar. Sometimes our parents have been in some stuff that they they didn't even know was wrong. And in Genesis 31, Abraham led his children to serve the one true God. And Jacob, Abraham's grandson now, was known for serving the one true God. He followed his grandfather, Abraham.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 02:42

Now, he and and his brother Esau, they had had a falling out. They had a huge falling out to the point that Esau wanted to kill him. So Jacob went to live in the land of his mother, and he ended up now marrying two of his uncle's daughters. And then he worked for his father-in-law, Uncle Laban, for fourteen years in payment for his daughters, Leah and Rachel. Now, Jacob had been with Laban twenty years in all, and Laban had never treated him fairly.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 03:08

It had been really sad the whole time. So, Jacob finally, he decides he's going to slip away secretly with his wives and his children and just his own flock, what was his. But when Laban discovered that they were gone, he was furious. And so he pursued them until he overtook them in Genesis thirty one twenty six through 30. It says, Laban said to Jacob, what have you done that you have stolen away without my knowing, and you have carried away my daughters like you were taking them with a sword?

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 03:35

Why did you sneak away from me and not tell me? I would have sent you away with joy and songs and musical instruments.' I doubt that he would have done that, but at least that's what he's telling him now. But you did not permit me to kiss my sons and daughters farewell. You have acted foolishly. It's in my power to do you harm.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 03:54

But the God of your father... Now notice, he's not claiming the Jehovah God. But he said, the God of your father spoke to me last night and said, do not speak to Jacob, either good or bad. Now, you left because you longed after your father's house. So...

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 04:07

But why have you stolen my gods? Okay. That was a little phrase that we need to pull out and look at. Now, this shows us that Laban was an idol worshiper. Now, thank God Jacob was not an idol worshiper.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 04:19

He served the one true God. He loved the Lord with all of his heart. So, feels sure that no one in his family has touched those idols. In fact, he's so sure that he actually sets up a curse in the spiritual realm for anyone who could be found guilty of that. And in verses 32 through 35, Jacob says to Laban, I left secretly because I was afraid that you would take your daughters away from me by force.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 04:42

But anyone with whom you find your gods, let him not live. Okay? He's making a pretty stern statement here. If you find your gods, it's because he's so sure he knows he loves the Lord with all his heart. So he's so sure there's no idols with him.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 04:56

And he says, Point out anything you have that's yours and just take it. For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the idols. So sad. So Laban went in. He went into Leah's tent.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 05:07

He didn't find them. Then he went to Rachel's tent. Now, Rachel had taken the household items and had put them in the camel's saddle, and she sat on them. So Laban searched the entire tent, but he could not find them. Now, Rachel thought that she was pretty clever.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 05:21

You know, she probably, Woah, I got by with this. My father didn't even know that they were in here. She got by with the fact that she had hidden her occult practices. But, we're going find that it appears that it opened the door to her death. How sad that she went against the blessing that she could have had from her husband if she had him.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 05:42

And maybe she did love God. Maybe she listened to him to a point, but she still didn't turn loose of the idols that were in her life. Now, I want to show you something very interesting now. Jacob had the blessing of no miscarriages in his family, even to the extent he had protection over all the animals. It tells us in verse 38 that for twenty years, he said, that I've been with you.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 06:04

He said, even your goats didn't miss carry. So, I mean, he's realizing. He looks and he sees the protection he's had, and he knows it's from God. But he said, Sadly, we're going to see now where the protection was lifted from the one who dabbled in the occult practices. We never see where Rachel repented.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 06:22

So, had already had one child, but with Rachel's next child, she dies in childbirth. Now, there had never been a miscarriage for twenty years, but this hidden sin got her out from under God's protection. And when that happened, then the enemy came and stole when no repentance was made. If Jacob had even known what she was doing, he could have gotten her to repent. So this is a sad story to me.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 06:45

Let's go now and see what happened in the life of her firstborn son and how that curse even passed down. Now, in Genesis forty four, years have passed and Joseph, this is Rachel's son, first son, who had been sold into slavery in Egypt now by his 10 brothers. He spent a lot of time in prison. You know, he's he's really wanting to be out of prison. And now, he has been taken out of prison, and he's become second in command to Pharaoh.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 07:13

He's been promoted, and he's the one now that's stirring up all the grain for the famine. Now, his brothers have come to Egypt to get grain, and they don't recognize Joseph, But he recognizes them, and so he decides that he's going to find out if their hearts have changed. I just want to show you now the the one thing in his life now that goes contrary to God's word. We really can't find hardly anything in his life that goes wrong. But in Genesis 44, when Joseph's brother came to Egypt to buy grain, they don't recognize their brother Joseph.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 07:44

They don't know. I'm sure now with his head shaved and he looks like the Egyptians. So, he's going now to test them to see if they have changed from their evil ways. So, he had his servants put their money back in their sacks, and he also had his silver cup put in his brother Benjamin's sack. Then, he has his servants follow them and look in their sacks, and they find the money, and in verse five, it says, They also find the cup with which he drinks and with which he uses to practice divination.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 08:13

That, to me, hurt my feelings. It made me sad. Now, we see that curse passed down from Laban, then it passed on down to his daughter Rachel, and now a little of it has passed down to her son Joseph. Now, Joseph had always been the one person in the Old Testament that seemed to have a flawless track record with God. And remember, he was the one who fled temptation when Potiphar's wife, years before, had tried to entice him into sin.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 08:38

So, the scary thing is that the occult can happen even to a very spiritual person like Joseph, because Joseph loved the Lord. He truly loved God. And it got transferred over to him without his even knowing it. Now, we have to be careful because he refused to compromise all through his life, even to the extent of going to prison for something that he didn't do. But, after being there living among the Egyptians, he got accustomed to their ways.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 09:05

And even though he stayed totally true to his God, Jehovah, we still find that a little bit of the occult practice now of Egypt had begun to slip in on him, him, until it finally then seemed like an acceptable, normal thing to do. Now, a person can become desensitized until divination doesn't even seem wrong. Even Christians must be listening very carefully to God because occult practices can be very subtle at times. And if we're not careful, they can slip in. That's why we need to be constantly in tune with God.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 09:35

Now, Joseph even said to his brothers, Did you not know that such a man as I could certainly practice divination? So, it appears that he's not even aware that there's anything wrong there. And it's almost as if he's justifying his right to mingle into this pagan practice. He's lived among the Egyptians, and it appears that one of their pagan practices now has influenced But divination is an abomination to God. And there's never a time when it wasn't an abomination, and it's still an abomination today.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 10:07

And sadly, a lot of people don't realize that. A lot of people are mixing things in that it's an atrocity and God's not pleased. Okay, now I want you to take these three scripture references down, because they clearly spell out what occult practices are. And they also let us know exactly how God sees these practices. It's in Deuteronomy 18 ten-fourteen.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 10:30

So, mark that in your Bible. This scripture doesn't mean much until we really clearly look into the Hebrew and find out what some of these terms mean. So, Deuteronomy 18 ten-fourteen, There must not be found among you anyone who makes his son or daughter pass through the fire, or anyone who uses divination or uses witchcraft. There must not be anyone who is an interpreter of omens or a sorcerer or one who casts a spell. There must not be anyone who is a spiritist or an occultist.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 11:04

For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord. You must be blameless before the Lord your God. So, God spells out clearly all these occult practices and warns against them. Now, we're going to find out that these terms spelled out on this list take in all the things now that are going on in our world today. We find every one of them, not just going on in a few people, but it's going on in masses of people.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 11:31

Now, if they were called to be blameless in the Old Testament, how much more were called to be blameless under our new covenant after Christ has died for us, after He gave His life for us? Okay, let's break it down now. In verse 10, For a child to pass through the fire, we think, Well, why on earth does that mean that they let the child pass through the fire? Well, a lot of people read that and they think, Well, that doesn't make any sense. Well, that's child sacrifice.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 11:54

And we think, Oh, we certainly don't do that. Well, listen. Abortion is certainly the greatest sacrifice of children that the world has ever known. They've never had child sacrifice like we have it today. And then next, it talks about the one who uses divination.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 12:09

Now, divination is the means of getting information or getting guidance now from a demonic source. And that's strictly forbidden. Okay, now that takes in channeling, it takes on spirit guides, it takes in fortune telling. Look how many people do fortune telling, you know. It takes in seances.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 12:28

And I thought, you know, how many people have gone to a fortune teller and they say, Well, I just did it for fun. I didn't mean anything by it. We can't mess with the occult. We can't mess with the things of the enemy and do it just for fun. Now, there are a lot of things that fall under the heading of divination, and none of them are just for fun.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 12:46

They're all very serious. Next, it names one who practices witchcraft. Now, many times we interchange the terms witchcraft and divination, but witchcraft takes in much more of the enemy. It means to hold another person in a spell or to control another person. And we see that happening in our world.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 13:06

Now, are ways in which a person can hold another individual under their control, under a witchcraft hold, or some people call it a soul tie. It can be a soul tie, where they make a person feel obligated to do certain things, sometimes without saying a word. They're not even saying what they want them to do. But, there's such a witchcraft hold that it causes people to do their bidding. And it's called a soul tie.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 13:31

Okay, next is one who interprets omens. Palm readers fall here, those who read tarot cards, reading their tea leaves. So many people, I I mean, hear people all the time, well, they read the tea leaves and they say they're doing it just for fun. Astrology, reading one's horoscope. How many people can hardly wait to get the newspaper and get it open so they can read their horoscope?

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 13:54

Having your fortune told. A lot of people do that and they say they're just doing it for fun. Now, all of these are very present practices in our world today. So, this is not just Old Testament. This is definitely in our world today.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 14:07

Now, just because someone does one of these things on occasion just for fun, it doesn't keep it from opening the door to the curse. We think, Well, I did it for fun. There's no big deal about that. It opens the door every time. Okay, next, sorcery comes from the same Greek word that our word pharmaceutical comes from.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 14:27

And a sorcerer is one now who uses drugs to bring on a trance. Now, I want you to think about how many people are taking drugs today. It's unbelievable. Most everyone that if you get to them and talk to them, you'll find out at some point in time, even if they're not on drugs today, they'll have a time when they just tried it out, you know, just for fun, they said. Okay, but do we realize that it's condemned by the Bible?

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 14:52

The Bible condemns it. And yet, look at how many, many people today are taking drugs. Now, so many people say, Oh, there's nothing wrong with smoking a little bit of weed, smoking a little bit of marijuana. What's it going to hurt? Well, God forbids it and He calls it an abomination.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 15:07

And so, if God forbids it, then we know it's a sin. Verse 11: God forbids casting a spell. Okay, that takes in now hypnosis. So many people do hypnosis. They have hypnosis parties just for fun.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 15:20

Know, some medical science uses hypnosis and says it's okay. I wouldn't want to do that. I mean, I think that's playing too close to the line. But it's dangerous and it's forbidden to relinquish one's will over to another person. Okay, next, consulting a medium.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 15:36

That means going to a fortune teller. It's like going to a seance or consulting with a familiar spirit. And the Bible tells us it's an abomination. It's an abomination. He very clearly says that.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 15:48

Next, he talks about a spiritist. That's one who practices white or black magic. Doesn't really matter. There's people who are being interviewed on TV, and they call their occult practicing white magic. They think it's okay because they're not calling it black magic, they're calling it white magic.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 16:04

And that means that they use the occult powers to supposedly work good things. That's a lie. That's a deception. It's kind of like the old movie Samantha on Bewitched years ago. That was totally satanic, but they made it funny.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 16:19

Everything that she would... And so everybody loved that series. And I have to admit, I didn't know better back then. And I watched some of those. But it's wrong.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 16:30

So, as we grow older and keep seeking God, He starts showing us these things that we've played around with that are evil and wrong and bring curses. Now, there's no such thing as using white magic to do good things. That's just a joke. A house divided cannot stand. Now, God says that it's all an abomination.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 16:50

He calls all of it an abomination. Okay, next, it talks about one who calls up the dead. Now, we're forbidden to make an attempt to contact or talk to someone or call up someone who's dead. And now, I'm hearing that that has become just a fun game that people do. It's not a fun game.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 17:08

Now, if you'll look up what all these words mean, you're going to find that it's all the terminology for the modern New Age practices. And that's what we're calling it now: New Age practices. But New Age practices will fall into one of these categories on the list that God says is forbidden. Now, it may be called New Age, but it's really not new. It's as old as the Bible, and it's still an abomination to God.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 17:31

It was an abomination back then, and it's an abomination today, and it brings a curse. Okay, Leviticus nineteen thirty one tells us not to turn to a medium or a spiritus. Don't turn to them. It says, Do not seek them out, or you will be defiled by them. In other words, you'll be cursed.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 17:47

It'll bring a curse on you. Deuteronomy 18 ten-fourteen lists out things that are detestable to God, and he just names one right after another. The first renames anyone who uses divination. Number two, anyone who practices witchcraft. Number three, anyone who interprets omens or or a sorcerer.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 18:07

Number five: Anyone who casts a spell. Number six: A spiritist. Number seven: One who calls on the dead. Number eight: Anyone who does things that are detestable to the Lord. I mean, he just makes a list.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 18:20

You can go right down the list and he's saying all these things are an abomination to him. And verse 14, the Lord your God will not allow you to do any of these things. He doesn't just say, oh, you might be careful around it. No. He doesn't allow us to do those things.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 18:35

Now, Exodus twenty-two 18 tells us that a witch will not even be allowed to live. I didn't know that was in the Bible. When I started studying this, I thought, Oh, my goodness, that's pretty strong. Not even allowed to live. So that shows the seriousness about what we're talking about.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 18:50

Hosea four six says that God's people are destroyed. Number one, for lack of knowledge of God's word. Okay. In other words, that means not knowing what the word says. And just because we're ignorant of the Word, that's not an excuse because He gives us the Word to let us know what's right and what's wrong.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 19:07

So, if we're ignorant of the Word, we better get busy and get into the Word. Or number two, it says, they're destroyed for rejecting or not obeying the Word. In other words, knowing the truth but not doing it. And both will destroy whether we don't know it or whether we know it and we do it wrong. So, ignorance is not an excuse.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 19:27

Anytime we have pagan practices mixed in with our activities, we're playing around with the occult, so we're on very dangerous ground. Very dangerous ground. Now, I'm amazed at how many pagan customs that just a a lot of Christians ignorantly mix into some of their holidays. It's amazing how Satan sees to... If we're gonna have a holiday, he kind of makes one of these pagan customs seem interesting, seem fun, you know, but it's so dangerous.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 19:54

Now, since today is Halloween, we as Christians need to know that Halloween is a satanic holiday. Never has been a Christian holiday. Now, we were told this when our children were young because we didn't know. And we let our children go trick or treating up and down the street. We didn't know that it was a holiday that was forbidden.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 20:13

So, Jack and I started investigating because somebody told us, Hey, that's satanic. We thought, Woah! And so, we started investigating. And we were young, didn't know. But it didn't take a lot of searching, when you get in the Old Testament, to realize that the Bible easily proves that Halloween was purely satanic and pagan.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 20:30

We knew then that in obedience to God, as well as for our children's spiritual protection, we knew that we couldn't participate in Halloween again because God said, If it's an abomination to me, have no part in it. He doesn't just put those words in as a suggestion. I mean, he's given us a command here. And he showed us that there is no harmless or innocent side to Halloween. And when I went in this store the other day, it didn't just have a few little Halloween knickknacks.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 20:57

I mean, it had horrible images. I mean, statues in there. And I was shocked when I saw it. And I thought, It's not like it was even when our children were going trick or treating up and down the street. You know it's satanic now when you see these things.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 21:14

So he showed us that there's no harmless or innocent side to Halloween. It's a satanic holiday. Now, conformity of the world has such a pull on all of us. You know, I mean, we're in this world and there's different things in the world that pulls us in different directions. So too often, what happens is we compromise.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 21:31

We don't stop it. Because sometimes a parent won't stop anything because their children's already in it and they don't want their children to feel deprived. They think, Well, all the other kids are doing it, and I just don't want my kids to have to feel deprived. I don't want them to feel like they have to miss out just because they're a Christian. It is shocking how many parents think that.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 21:50

But just because it's tradition doesn't mean that you can't stop and say, We made a mistake, and then repent and stop that pagan holiday. That's the responsibility of every parent, because every pagan practice is going to have evil consequences. Now, our kids were both pranksters, so, you you might wonder how Jack kept his two kids from getting into rebellion, because that seemed like a fun thing for kids back then. He prayed a lot about that, And he spent the biggest part of the next year letting the kids be a part of his research. And I thought that was wise.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 22:22

He didn't just go in and check it out. He went in and he would sit down with the kids at night and let them read out of the Bible with him. And then, had them mark their scriptures in their Bibles, how it violated God's Word completely, and how God had warned the children of Israel. It told how there was a danger in participating in these pagan celebrations, and how God had told them to have nothing to do with the witchcraft and the serious repercussions when Israel ignored the warnings. Okay, then it wasn't just an area where the kids felt deprived, where, Oh, here's a rule from mom and dad again: Thou shalt not.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 22:58

You know, they didn't feel that way when they saw it in their own Bible, marked it in their own Bible. It became their conviction then as much as it was ours. And so, I really recommend this to parents. Don't just search it out for yourself, but get your kids in on it. Let them help you search it out.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 23:14

Let them mark it in their Bibles. And interestingly enough, when we took Halloween completely out of the picture, the thought did cross my mind, Oh, that was... The kids had fun going trick or treating, you know, and I hate they have to miss that. But the minute we took it out of the picture, Thanksgiving took its proper place. It was amazing.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 23:33

We hadn't paid that much attention to Thanksgiving before that. And all of a sudden, Thanksgiving became so important, and the decorations and celebration of Thanksgiving then became the Christian's way of celebrating the fall the harvest time. And that's when you can let your kids help you bring in decorations for Thanksgiving. But up until then, Halloween just tried to overshadow and tried to diminish then all attention to Thanksgiving. Now, Thanksgiving is our Christian holiday to celebrate God's goodness, to celebrate how He's protected us, to celebrate His provisions.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 24:06

You can go back and see how the early Americans celebrated their first Thanksgiving. And, oh, they made a big deal out of it and they had not had food through the winter. But now, they took as much food as they could spare and they made a big feast. And Halloween became very big to America. But we need now to not let it get overshadowed again.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 24:29

We need to realize Thanksgiving is God's celebration for us, to just be thankful for all the wonderful things that he's done for us. So it's our reminder to be thankful for God's goodness. Now, so many times when our soldier boys are in different countries, many times they'll be given a leave. And on their day off, sometimes they'll take a tour of a Buddhist temple or they'll take a tour of a Hindu shrine or something like that. Because it's just interesting to them.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 24:54

Oh, my goodness. Let me go see what they're doing. And more often than not, these boys have no idea that they're walking into a nest of demons. They have no idea. Several years ago, my husband, Jack and Angie, they were taking this man through deliverance who was having a lot of mental problems.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 25:12

And he had been in the service, and he just... Life wasn't working for him. Well, during that deliverance, there was a weird foreign chanting that he started doing, and it made your skin crawl. Well, after the deliverance, he was suddenly able to receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit. And then he related this story.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 25:31

He said he had visited a Buddhist temple when he had been in the service. He said that the same strange chanting while he was in that Buddhist temple had come on him. And he said he had remembered, That was strange. Where did that come from? And here it came out in his deliverance.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 25:45

Of course, this was years and years later, but he was able to get released from that. I remember his whole appearance changed, his facial features changed. And even though now he saw no harm in playing around with an afternoon of innocent sounding fun back then, he didn't realize the torment that it was going to open him up to that he lived in for years. He did get set free and he said he wanted to go and tell all of his friends that he had been in the service with. When you start your day praying and you put your armor on, then Satan can't just jump off on you.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 26:19

But when we put ourselves in a wrong place, or when we entertain ourselves with satanic in Satan's territory, what we're doing, we're opening the door now in the spiritual realm to satanic warfare. And so many people do that, but they do it innocently. They don't know what they're doing. But that's why we need to get in the Word. We need to know what the Word says.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 26:41

God has made it very clear in His Word. Now, is important. Satan will often use obvious evil in the occult to divert our attention and deceive us, to keep us looking at some of the lesser evils. And he'll point out the lesser evils, and we'll think, Oh, I don't want anything to do with the bad ones, you know. I don't want anything to do with child sacrifice or satanic rituals.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 27:03

But sometimes people don't realize just the little innocent looking things. They can open doors to really big things, and people don't realize that. We can't open the door to anything because it always leads to something bigger. Now, then, with our attitude focused on the obvious occult activities, sometimes Satan can slip in these little subtle New Age ideas, and people don't even notice it in comparison. I thought after Walt Disney died, there seemed to be a shift, and the Walt Disney movies were filled with the occult.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 27:35

It made me so sad. And a lot of people would go to a Walt Disney movie, and they'd say, Well, it's just a Walt Disney movie. You know, what's wrong with the Walt Disney movies? Well, Disney often featured whole movies on the occult, like The Black Cauldron. If we had time, I'd name some of the movies that came into Walt Disney after Walt Disney died.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 27:55

And it comes from practices in the Eastern religion that they took in. And yet, some of these things were portrayed doing the same things that Christ did. That's what was sad. Satan tries to take the things of Christ and move it over in the satanic world, so we'll accept it. Now, I haven't seen this in all Superman movies.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 28:14

Most of them, I think Superman was just a good guy fighting evil. But the time came in one of the Superman movies, it shocked me, because Superman's father said he so loved the world that he sent his only son to die for the world. And I remember thinking, Lord! And what was sad, it was so subtle, that a lot of Christians saw that movie and they didn't think anything about it. I mean, it just kind of went right past them.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 28:39

So, he brings these things in in just a subtle way, but they'll destroy us if we don't see what it is and take authority. It's subtle, but it's seductive and it's very dangerous. Now, a person going through deliverance has to truly repent from all occult involvement in order to get true deliverance. We took a lot of people through deliverance, and we thought, why is it not working? Know, it just seems like there was a blockage.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 29:02

And many times it's because they were hanging on to some of these satanic ideas because they thought, well, that's no big deal. That's not gonna hurt anything. Listen, we don't want anything that does not line up exactly with God's Word. Ouija boards, psychic games, Dungeons and Dragons, games like that. You know, we have to be so careful.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 29:21

Levitation. Most of the time, it was things a person got involved in when they went to a party, had a big party, and somebody had seen this and they introduced it. And it was sometimes at a friend's home done in what they said was fun. But it's satanic, so it's all dangerous. And the sad part, even parents will sometimes defend these things out of ignorance.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 29:42

We were shocked when we were young and our children were young and we were teaching the Sunday school classes, and we were shocked at how many parents were in favor of some satanic things because they just didn't know better. When Jack taught the sixth grade boys' Sunday school class was years ago in the Baptist Church, and some of the boys asked what he thought about the Ouija board. It was right after Christmas and some of them had gotten a Ouija board for Christmas. And he told them that those Ouija boards were of the occult. Now, he didn't make a big deal about it, but he said, really is not God.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 30:13

And it made some of the parents furious. And so, they went to the pastor, and even the parents were insisting on their child's right now to play the game. I mean, they were almost demanding it. And I thought, Why would a parent pick up something like that and demand that their children be allowed to do it? But it's because of the enemy's deception.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 30:34

In Deuteronomy 18, it strictly forbids seeking any kind of guidance from the occult, even if we think we're just doing it for fun. And that's what I hear so often, Oh, we were just doing it for fun. That's become Satan's phrase in the mouth of so many parents. It's forbidden. I don't want a show of hands, but I want you to be honest with yourself because it's shocking to find out how many Christians will read their horoscope and they say, We're doing it just for fun.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 31:01

It's just for fun. That's not fun and games. It's evil and it has evil consequences. Now, as a Christian, we shouldn't even know or care which sign that we were born under. But you'll be around people and before it's over with, they'll tell you which sign they're born under.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 31:17

Well, I was born under the sign of da da da da. Signs of the zodiac should be detestable to us. We should say, I don't even want to know which sign I was born under. Now, this is important. Demons don't ever tell the whole truth.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 31:30

They don't ever tell the whole truth. Sometimes they tell just enough to suck people in. But you're going to find out it's not going to be the full truth. And so you don't ever want any guidance from a demonic source because they give just enough truth to suck us in because it's just that much deception. Now, in Deuteronomy seven twenty six, it says, You shall not bring an abomination into your house.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 31:51

Don't even bring it into your house, he says, lest you become cursed like it. But you must absolutely detest and abhor it, for it is a cursed thing. And so many people and friends that I've known will decorate their homes with Buddhas or maybe they'll decorate their homes with Zodiac signs, sometimes masks that have been used in satanic rituals, or little statues of foreign gods. I see this so many times, even in homes of Christians. Or sometimes they'll use some of the customs of the American Indians, those little symbolic things that they'll put in their house.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 32:25

God says, Don't bring it into your home. Deuteronomy seven twenty six. We need to mark that in our Bible. Do not even bring it into your home. Now, don't get a newspaper now.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 32:33

I don't think many people get a newspaper now. But Jack used to tear the horoscope. He'd go outside, get the newspaper, tear the horoscope out of the newspaper before he brought the newspaper into the house. And because he said, well, God says it's an abomination. Don't even bring it into your home.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 32:48

So, think we need to take these things seriously. That may sound a little strong, but God's Word is very strong against these things. Now, Satan deals with the mind. God deals with us through our spirit. And most of the occult activities are mind games.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 33:03

You find them in the computer. You find it on the Internet. We need to watch the things that we're seeing on the Internet today. Modern yoga practices. While sometimes focusing heavily on the physical aspect, but still utilizing the worship position.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 33:19

Some people will get into the worship position, you know, to get themselves in tune. And it carries the essence of an ancient spiritual tradition. And I'm seeing that a lot. You see it a lot in movies. Yoga meditation trains a person to go into intense concentration, to get in touch with their inner man.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 33:40

And they'll even tell you that. I'm doing this to get in touch with my inner man. The concentration and the relaxation, it lets all your defenses down. And, of course, that's exactly what Satan's wanting, for us to let our defenses down so we'll receive this in. He wants us to do that until we open up our mind and let these things come in that God says are forbidden.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 33:59

Now, you're even told to keep your mind open in a lot of these. Start noticing when they're fixing to take you into something like this and they'll say, now let... Keep your mind open. Keep your mind open. That should be a big sign.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 34:14

Woah, okay, what's going on here? It's a form of self hypnosis, and you open your subconscious to the demonic realm. And a demonic spirit in the form of wrong thoughts and wrong ideas will come into our mind. We're keeping our mind open to these things. And all we're doing is just we're opening the door and welcoming them in.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 34:33

You're told that you're relaxing, but instead, it's breaking down the subconscious to accept what the conscious mind would probably never accept on its own. And it's a soulish power, is what it is, which is in opposition to God's spiritual power that's made available to us by His Holy Spirit. I mean, we've been given the unbelievable supernatural things. Why is it that we turn our back on that and we go to some satanic thing that Satan throws in front of us and we're leaving the most supernatural thing in the world behind us? We're never to seek self power.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 35:10

All of what I just described can be subtle and done in ignorance. And I realize that a lot of Christians do all this and they do it in ignorance until they know better. But the truth is coming out in these end days. So, we need to see how the New Age converts in the New Testament, how they were led to handle their occult practices. I mean, God has the answers in the Word of God when we look for them.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 35:33

But this one, to me, was a big answer. So, you need to mark this in your Bible. It's in Acts nineteen nineteen. It says, Many who practiced magic brought their books and burned them before everyone. They came together.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 35:45

They didn't do it in secret. They just had a big bonfire. And, they calculated the value, which equaled 50,000 pieces of silver. They had put a lot of money into the occult practice, but they were willing to burn it. So, the Word of the Lord powerfully grew and spread.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 36:03

So, that lets us know if we get rid of these things, it's going open the door to the things that God wants to give us. Now, these New Testament believers, they handled their problem very dramatically, you know. They were willing to be out a lot of money in order to obey God. And sometimes we don't want to get rid of some of these things that we're decorating our house with because, oh, that was expensive. I paid a lot of money for that.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 36:24

You know? Well, they had $50,000 worth that they were willing to get rid of. So it's possible for Christians to be in trouble because they aren't studying their Bible to find these things out. They're not getting in there to even know what's wrong. And the Church is not teaching against it.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 36:40

It is sad, but you don't hear this being taught from pulpits very often. There are even some churches that have spook houses and Halloween parties in their church around Halloween time. So unknowingly, what they're doing, they're opening the door to demonic activity in their church and even their young members now. The church is teaching it to the members. Now, in Revelation two twenty four, the church at Thyatira was complimented by God for being ignorant of the deep things of Satan.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 37:09

Some people say, well, I want to study these things because I need to know... Have this knowledge. I need to know about these things. No. God complimented them for being ignorant of the deep things of Satan.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 37:19

And so he'll compliment us for our ignorance, and he'll bless us if we'll say, God, in obedience to you, I don't want any part of this. Mhmm. Now some people think they are to experience these things just so that they have the knowledge about everything. Well, that's the exact line of thinking now that caused Adam and Eve to fall. They just needed to know a little more, you know.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 37:39

There's some things God doesn't want us to have knowledge of or to even experience. Now, we're told to stay away from the dark things of Satan. That takes in a whole bunch of things. We're to be innocent in what is evil, the Bible says. Just be innocent in all the occult because that's all evil.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 37:56

Okay, now let me ask you, why is it that when we know to be innocent, you know, when we know not to have anything to do with certain music, when we know not to have anything to do with certain occult practices, not to have anything to do with our horoscope, not to have anything to do with occult holidays, certain books, you know, certainly a lot of movies. Why is it that we still want to fight to hang on to it? Something that's... It's just amazing that we'll fight to hang on to something that the bible says is totally displeasing to God and destructive to us. And I've often thought, why is that?

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 38:31

What is it in us? Well, one Samuel 15 lets us know what it is. So, I'm gonna end now with this. I'm gonna give you the root that has to be removed before we can submit totally to God. And God makes it so simple.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 38:44

There's a spirit that opens the door to the occult and the Bible tells us plainly what we have to do to get rid of it, to be free of the witchcraft. And it's in one Samuel fifteen twenty three. We need to mark that heavily in our Bible, you know, so that not only is it real to us, but if we're trying to teach it to somebody else, we can have the Scripture to give to them. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is the same as iniquity and idolatry. It says it all.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 39:14

Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. Stubbornness, determined we're going to do our own thing if we want to do it, you know, is the same as iniquity and idolatry. So, rebellion and stubbornness against what the Word of God teaches us opens the door to witchcraft. And it should be something that we absolutely put our hand up and say no. Now, there's nothing that can antagonize some Christians more than having someone stand up and say, celebrating Halloween is wrong, or this particular show is wrong, don't go to see it, or this music is wrong, it's not something that you need to listen to or let your children listen to, or reading one's horoscope is wrong.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 39:52

It's amazing. A person can say these things and it can make some Christians very, very angry. But any time that we're defensive now of any part of the occult, then we can always go back to that Scripture. We know rebellion is involved. Rebellion is involved.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 40:06

It says the sin of witchcraft, insubordination, stubbornness, self will. All these things are in that one scripture, and it's idolatry and our self will. And we have idolatry and self will on the throne instead of God's will. Now, to truly root out every little tidbit of the occult, we're going to have to face rebellion. We're going to have to ask ourselves, Do I have areas in my life where I'm rebellious?

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 40:32

And sometimes we don't want to look at that, but if we really want to know and we ask God and say, Lord, show me areas where I'm in rebellion, God will show us because it's the root under witchcraft. Now, Lucifer, according to Ezekiel 28, was created blameless. But because of self will, rebellion, and all these things, all that was found in his heart, and that rebellion traveled straight through the old sin nature of man all down through the ages. Boy, you can see it at every age. I mean, it didn't just happen in recent years.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 41:04

You can go back and find it way early on in the Old Testament. And it causes a person to defend their practices now, the practices of Satan. But God says, I want you to be holy as I am holy. And the only way that's going to happen is when we make a quality decision. We can no longer hide occult practices because when we do now, it becomes a ring in our nose, just like we talked about earlier.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 41:29

It can be a ring in our nose without our even knowing it, where Satan is just grabbing it and putting us in every direction he wants to take us. Now, God's answer is to face these things in brokenness and repentance. That's what he's telling us to do. The little guy that we took through deliverance that had been overseas going to those wrong places. I meant, when he realized that there was an answer, he was broken and he was very excited to repent.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 41:55

The only answer God gives is what? The only answer is repent and renounce. Repent and renounce. First Corinthians ten twenty one, we cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. We can't mix.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 42:09

The worst thing in the world that we can do is try to mix the two worlds. It never works. So, as a Christian, we can't afford to mix the things of God and the things of the devil because it is deadly. Father, in Jesus' name, I pray that every Christian will come to a place where they say, Lord, I don't wanna mix the things of the world. I don't wanna mix the things of the enemy and and put a little bit of it over in my worship of you, Lord.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 42:36

Father, I pray that you'll convict our hearts, that you'll write it in our hearts so that the minute that we get into rebellion, the minute we get into any kind of of disobedience, father, that we'll stop right then. We'll repent. We'll say, Lord, I wanna please you, not just in most of my ways. I wanna please you in everything, Lord. You are my God.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 42:58

You're my Lord. You're my source. You're my everything. And, Lord, I wanna be pleasing to you. And if we'll just pray that prayer and mean it, it'll turn our lives completely around to good.

Peggy Joyce Ruth: 43:07

In Jesus' name. Amen.