The power of these incisive lyrics from Petra’s 1981 hit “Angel of Light” is rare in modern Christian music. The existence and influence of Satan and demons are so evident in today’s culture, and yet much of the world and the church are operating as if they do not exist.
Angel of light, I see you glow in the night But you only bring darkness to my soul Angel of light, You’re telling me wrong is right I won’t let your evil take control
They follow in your footsteps not knowing that you fell Bumper to bumper on the freeway to hell You lead them into wrong and you make it look so right You lead them into darkness and make them think you lead them into light But I know where you’re going, too bad you’re not alone If it wasn’t for the real light I might have never known
You got the clergy working overtime to widen the narrow way You’ve got politicians everywhere listening to what you say You’ve got false apostles teaching lies perverting the only way You’ve got principalities and powers waiting to obey You’ve got philosophies and vain deceits lying to deceive You’ve got hate, and greed, ungodly lusts in the deadly web you weave Somehow you’ve got so many thinking you’re not even there One look is all it takes to get them blinded by your glare.
When millions of people are taken up from the world in the rapture, what will the world think has happened? Those people who believe they are Christians and know Biblical end times prophecies will know the rapture has taken place, and they are those of the church in Laodicea.
“So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.”Revelation 3:16-18
Hopefully, they will heed Jesus’ instruction and repent and seek Him. But what of the unsaved? The enemy, Satan, undoubtedly will have a counter explanation ready for when that happens; after all, he has read the Bible too.
STAN’S STRATEGY: Not only are demons manifesting in the heavenlies as aliens, but they are also sending messages to many on earth, which reveals their true character. In general, the entities communicate that the earth will soon undergo a period of cataclysmic changes. The descriptions they give are of what transpires when God pours out His wrath upon the earth. However, these so-called “aliens” are nothing more than demons pretending to be from some other galaxy. Their messages, as we will see, consist of some basic ideas that are the diabolical mirror to the Bible. 1. Cataclysmic events will come upon the earth. 2. They will help us overcome those events. 3. They will take those that can’t or won’t evolve to the next level. 4. Those that remain get to evolve to the next level now. 5. A man from among us will be raised with special powers and knowledge.
We can safely conclude that some time shortly after the rapture, the demons will most likely appear to the world as the saviors of the world and will provide an answer for the disappearance of over 700 million people worldwide. Many believe that the aliens/demons will say that they were the ones who seeded the planet (were the Creators of man) and have returned to help in our hour of greatest need. The reason that most of the world will not immediately turn to the God of heaven and earth following the rapture is because the enemy has been conditioning people for just such an event. The rapture is certain in that God has clearly said it would come to pass; therefore, Satan (as the father of lies, cf. John 8:44) must have some type of event in place to deceive the world when the event occurs.
Sometimes the message is that the people evacuated will be resettled to another planet. Sometimes the “aliens” tell us not to worry about where the ones taken will go. And sometimes we see it is the bad aliens who have come to catch people up into their spaceships; those brave enough to resist will survive, as portrayed in the 2010 movie Skyline, whose motto is “do not look up” because those that look at the light will be taken. Jesus told us to “look up” (Luke 21:28) when we see all these things beginning to come to pass. Could it be that Satan has found a clever way to encourage people to do just the opposite?
In her book Aliens Among Us, Ruth Montgomery writes of how the “aliens” have communicated: “We are coming in great numbers, not with any intention of harm, but to rescue the earth from pollution and nuclear explosions”. Some like Barbara Marciniak, a popular New Age author and channeller, in her book Bringers of the Dawn, writes of messages she claims she received from extra-terrestrials from the star system Pleiades. She discusses the disappearance that is coming on the world. The people who leave the planet during the time of Earth changes do not fit in here any longer, and they are stopping the harmony of Earth. When the time comes that perhaps 20 million people leave the planet at one time, there will be a tremendous shift in consciousness for those who are remaining.
It should be clear that Satan and his legions are making great preparations to have a counter explanation once the rapture occurs. She also shares another “message” from the ETs regarding the rationale for why millions of people will be taken. If human beings do not change—if they do not make the shift in values and realize that without Earth they could not be here—then Earth, in its love for its own initiation and its reaching for a higher frequency, will bring about a cleansing that will balance it once again. There is the potential for many people to leave the planet in an afternoon.
New Age writer Thelma Terrell claims to have received messages from Ashtar, the leader of an “alien confederation,” concerning the evacuation of millions around the globe. Those familiar with the Bible immediately see that Ashtar is nothing more than the same demon from Bible times (Asherah/Ashtoreth) but with a message that modern man wants to hear. Ashtar has communicated that “Earth changes will be the primary factor in mass evacuation of this planet.” Therefore, because of the impending events coming upon the earth, the “alien” ships will come in close enough to lift people off the earth “in the twinkling of an eye,”—even the terminology is borrowed from the Bible concerning the rapture. Our rescue ships will be able to come in close enough in the twinkling of an eye to set the lifting beams in operation in a moment. And all over the globe where events warrant it, this will be the method of evacuation. Mankind will be lifted, levitated shall we say, by the beams from our smaller ships. These smaller craft will in turn taxi the persons to the larger ships overhead, higher in the atmosphere, where there is ample space and quarters and supplies for millions of people.
The demons who are posing as “aliens” will try to convince mankind that they, in fact, are the saviours. The demons/“aliens” need to reassure those left behind that they in fact are the ones getting the better deal since then the aliens will return for “the children of all ages and races. The implication is that those taken were not part of the “children of all ages and races”. Do not be concerned nor unduly upset if you do not participate in this first temporary lift-up of souls who serve with us. This merely means that your action in the plan is elsewhere, and you will be taken for your instructions or will receive them in some other manner. Do not take any personal affront if you are not alerted or are not a participant in this first phase of our plan. Your time will come later, and these instructions are not necessary for you at this time.
The website Gateway to Oneness speaks of one named Cristah, the light worker, who receives messages from Ashtar. Cristah relays Ashtar’s message: “those who do not believe, will be left in the 3rd dimension,” and “those that are not of the light must stay and learn here in the 3rd dimension.” Cristah adds that Ashtar “says that the fate of earth’s inhabitants” will be handled on an individual basis.” The idea is that the disappearance of millions around the globe will be due to them being left in the third dimension, and those that then find themselves on the earth have transitioned to the fourth dimension.
Ashtar has been leaving messages with other channellers as well in order to make sure that his message is heard and spread. Johanna Michaelson is a former New Ager who is now a Christian. In her book Like Lambs to the Slaughter: Your Child and the Occult, she writes about the well-known New Age guru John Randolph Price, who also receives messages from Asher (a variation of Ashtar). Michaelson relays that, according to John Randolph Price, as many as two billion people could be wiped off the planet. This seemingly refers to the trials coming upon the earth versus the evacuation, nevertheless, the impact will be “we told you so” once the events begin to occur.
In his book Corrupting the Image – Angels, Aliens and the AntichristRevealed, Doug Hamp provides many other New Age gurus’ messages that convey a similar message. In summary, the messages from the “aliens” and the New Age are clear: major earth changes and cataclysms are coming upon the earth. As a result, many will be removed from the earth in the twinkling of an eye by the “aliens” or will remain in the third dimension while everyone else moves into the fourth dimension. The rapture is certain, and Satan has prepared for the event through the movies and through channellers receiving messages from “aliens” about the impending event.
“The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.” Genesis 6:4
The Hebrew word Nephilim comes from the root naphal meaning to fall. Gesenius in his Hebrew Lexicon notes: “Those who used to interpret the passage in Genesis of the fall of the angels, were accustomed to render Nephilim fallers, rebels, apostates.” The Greek Septuagint (translated approximately 270 BC) translates the word as “the giants” (oi gigantes). This same word was used in classical Greek literature to refer to men or creatures that were half god and half man.
Jonathan M. Hall in his book Ethnic Identity in Greek Antiquity notes that gegenes in fact means “earth born”: “From the time of the Iliad, Erekhtheus was treated as a son of the earth, and Herodotus calls him gegenes (“earth-born”)” “gigantic” or “monstrous.” In Greek mythology the Giants (from gegenes) were the children of Heaven (Uranos ) and Earth (Gaea ) (though some would argue that their father was Tartaros (the hell pit). The giants of Greek mythology, or Gigantes (the earth-born) as they are called in the Greek tongue, were a class of oversized and ofttimes monstrous men who were closely related to the gods. Consider also Kekrôps, who according to Apollodorus (iii. 14. § 1, &c.) was the first king of Attica, was known as “a gêgenês, the upper part of whose body was human, while the lower was that of a dragon.”
If the translators of the Septuagint didn’t want us to think about demigods or men of enormous stature, they sure picked the wrong word! However, if by gegenes they understood hybrids between fallen angels (“the gods”) and women, then they chose the perfect word to describe these ungodly and unnatural creatures which parallels the biblical description of the sons of God (from the heavens) coming down to earth and fathering children. Considering the exposure those Alexandrian Jews must certainly have had to Greek literature and the numerous stories of giants; we would be completely ignoring their testimony if we were to understand the word as anything other than creatures who were hybrids of fallen angels and humans—who were also of colossal stature. In fact, in Greek mythology, these giants were sometimes thirty feet tall! If the translators had wanted to merely indicate that these men were the offspring of the godly line of Seth and the ungodly line of Cain, they should have chosen a different word.
Targum Jonathan translates Genesis 6:4: “Schamchazai and Uzziel, who fell from heaven, were on the earth in those days.” Shamchazai and Uzziel were fallen angels that we saw in the Book of Enoch as the ones that took the daughters of men. Targum Jonathan specifically adds “who fell from heaven” to testify how they understood the word Nephilim. Targum Onkelos similarly translates the verse: “Giants were in the earth in those days; and also, when, after that the sons of the mighty had gone in unto the daughters of men” (Targum Onkelos, Genesis 6:4). The interpretation of this verse is very consistent in the ancient witnesses: Demons came down from their habitation and took wives and from their sexual union came a race of giants which were hybrids: half-man and half-demon.
If one should ask how there could be Nephilim afterward when they were all destroyed in the flood, the answer is simple: the fathers of the Nephilim were demons. While it appears that the demons that crossed the line when mingling with humans were thrown into the pit, other demons must have taken women and had Nephilim with them after the flood. As a result, we discover Nephilim in the land of Canaan when the children of Israel came to take possession of their Promised Land. Upon seeing the Nephilim, they lost faith that God could win the battle for them and so they were taken back to the wilderness where they wandered for another forty years. When they came back to the land forty years later, the Nephilim were still there but the children of God trusted God that He would empower them to destroy them all.
Nephilim = Anakim. “And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim)” (Numbers 13:33)
Anakim = The Emim.
Rephaim = Emim. “The Emim formerly lived there, a people great and many, and tall as the Anakim. Like the Anakim they are also counted as Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim. (Deuteronomy 2:10-11)
Rephaim = Zamzummim = Anakim. “It is also counted as a land of Rephaim. Rephaim formerly lived there—but the Ammonites call them Zamzummim— a people great and many, and tall as the Anakim (Deuteronomy 2:20-21a)
Og, King of Bashan = Rephaim. Og the king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim(Deuteronomy 3:11)
Bashan = Rephaim. “All that portion of Bashan is called the land of Rephaim “(Deuteronomy 3:13)
Sihon of the Amorites = Rephaim = Amorites. “For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites” (Numbers 21:26)
Og, King of Bashan = Rephaim = Amorites. His land and the land of Og, the king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who lived to the east beyond the Jordan (Deuteronomy 4:47). “What you did to the two kings of the Amorites […] Sihon and Og” (Joshua 2:10)
Goliath and his brothers = Aimnakim = Rephaim “At Gath, where there was a man of great stature, […] and he also was descended from the giants [Rephaim, LXX reads: from the giants,], (2 Samuel 21:20).
“Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite [Gath]. […] at Gath, […] he also was descended from the giants [Rephaim, LXX reads: giants, .[…] These were descended from the giants in Gatt (1 Chronicles 20:5-6, 8)
“In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim (Genesis 14:5)
“In the land of the Perizzites and the Rephaim” (Joshua 17:15)
“For you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the Lord said” (Joshua 14:12)
“The name of Hebron formerly was Kirjath Arba (Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim) (Joshua 14:15).
After the battle, which Abram led to rescue his nephew Lot, God showed up and promised to Abram that he would have a son and would inherit the land. He mentions something very interesting concerning the Amorites: “for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete” (Genesis 15:16). Notice that the reason that his descendants will come back in the fourth generation is because of the iniquity of the Amorites, suggesting that the Amorites, who were Nephilim, were performing great wickedness in the meantime.
After Israel received the Law at Mount Sinai. Within a year, God led them up to the border of the Promised Land and God specifically mentioned that His Angel would go “before you and bring you into the Amorites […] and I will cut them off.” (Exodus 23:23)
We find that the Amorites were still in the land into the time of Judges from the passage “do not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell” (Judges 6:10).
The fact that God commanded the Israelites to destroy man, woman, and child becomes logical if we understand that (as the text says) all people in the land were not merely sons of Adam but were a mix between the sons of God (demons) and human women just like in the days of Noah.
“The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them” (Numbers 13:29-33)
The Nephilim are the reason why the children of Israel did not possess the land right after leaving Egypt. The presence of the Nephilim disheartened the spies who consequently gave a bad report despite God’s assurance that He would destroy the Amorites.
“Therefore, understand today that the LORD your God is He who goes over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and bring them [the gigantic inhabitants] down before you; so, you shall drive them out and destroy them quickly, as the LORD has said to you.” Deuteronomy 9:3
“Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was as strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit above and his roots beneath.” Amos 2:9
In the next post, we will look at ALIENS AND DEMONIC DECEPTION IN THE LAST DAYS
Much of the information in this post is extracted from Douglas Hamp’s book Corrupting the Image: Angels, Aliens, and the Antichrist.
We only have to consider what the God of the Cosmos says about what He created. He made all of the heavenly bodies on the fourth day of creation and the whole focus of their creation is to provide light, signs, and seasons for Earth. Humankind made in God’s image is the final and ultimate creation act. Human life is the only kind of life that God has created for eternal friendship and eternal glory. Human life is the only kind of life that has the necessary qualities to receive such blessings, and human life is the only kind of life that God has moved all of history to redeem at the enormous cost of God’s son, Jesus having to die to pay the price for our rebellion.
“And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.” Genesis 1:14-19
As Martyn Isles says in his excellent book Who Am I? Solving the identity puzzle, the above information about humankind should make us consider how we view the lives of those we encounter each and every day. Do we see the possibility of their achieving eternal life? We should, otherwise the Holy Spirit which all believers received on surrendering our lives to Jesus Christ will convict us to make Jesus known.
“And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” John 17:3
The only other intelligent life is spiritual beings. God created angels before He created the Cosmos. We also know that many angels rebelled against God led by Satan. This rebellion may well be because Satan and the angels did not want to serve God’s newly created beings – humankind. Satan had been a leading Archangel in God’s heavenly realm. These rebellious angels are now called demons and they are doing their utmost to destroy humankind. It is entirely likely that any sightings of aliens are demonic apparitions. This is confirmed by reports that when these beings are told to GO in the name of Jesus Christ they disappear.
A great article by S.A. McCarthy. He serves as a news writer at The Washington Stand.
Every doctrine that Christianity preaches, leftism preaches its own perversion of it. The love advocated by Christianity is rooted in absolute truth, in “Love Himself,” as C.S. Lewis once put it. Leftism advocates “love” unmoored, anchored by nothing more absolute than the weight of fickle feelings and emotions — though, when those emotions are felt, they do reign supreme.
Christianity upholds sacrifice as virtuous — the giving of oneself for the sake of love is the zenith of the virtue of charity. Christ Himself tells His followers, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Leftism also values sacrifice, but never sacrifice of the self, only the sacrificing of others. Abortion is the ultimate example of this warped anti-virtue: sacrificing one’s own child for… financial comfort, a career, no responsibility, or even just consequence-free sex.
Christianity mandates submission to the will of God, accepting His design no matter how painful or difficult. Again, Christ Himself prayed, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matthew 26:39). Leftism demands obeisance to the only god it recognizes: the self-centered self. Transgenderism is demonstrative of this: just as Christian martyrs have willingly suffered torture for the sake of their faith, so the confused, self-centered, and self-loathing suffer mutilation and torture for the sake of their own wounded and twisted egos.
Like the dominant Christianity of the Middle Ages, leftism even has its own office of the Inquisition. Those who do not toe the leftist line, who dare to question the new religion’s dogmas, are hounded out of the anti-church. The famed “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling is indicative of this. A multi-millionaire and self-declared feminist, Rowling was once a darling of leftist media and political activists. She supported the Labour Party in the U.K. and Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in the U.S. Yet as soon as she voiced her concerns over transgenderism, she became a “heretic” to the church of leftism, targeted for disbarment from all the institutions controlled by leftism.
Although leftism is a uniquely 21st century phenomenon, its fundamental principles are nothing new. In fact, God has been dealing with the motivating mindset behind leftism since before the world began. The chief and unifying tenet of the leftist religion — indeed, that of all its precursors and predecessors, also — is naturalism. When first Lucifer said, in the words of the poet John Milton, “Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven,” naturalism was born. Naturalism is the belief, the assertion that the creature can replace the Creator, that the peasant may, if he slays the King, rule in His stead. It is the hubristic declaration that “God is dead, I am god.”
Satan was the first to declare thus, in his immense pride, galled by the humility of God’s plan to become a man, to take on the form of a mere creature — “these disgusting little human vermin,” as Lewis called them in the character of Screwtape, a hateful demon. He has declared it ever since, leading countless souls astray. In the Garden of Eden, that was the temptation offered by the Serpent: “You shall be as gods” (Genesis 3:5). Throughout Scripture and, certainly, throughout human history, that has been the great temptation, the great sin: to be as gods. When Moses ascended Mount Sinai, after God led the Hebrews out of slavery in Egypt, that temptation reared its head and the Hebrews made for themselves an idol (Exodus 32). Even then, the Hebrews fell to worshipping the demon Baal, until the prophet Elijiah proved the supremacy of God and slayed the Baalite priests (1 Kings 18).
Whether in the twilight years of the Roman Empire, throughout the Middle Ages, into the age of discovery, or even now in the modern day, men are tempted to declare themselves God, to worship their own selves over the crucified and resurrected person of Christ, to adhere to their own principles or preachings as supreme. Leftism is simply the culmination of this evil, this unbridled, unrestrained pride, brought to the fore via political prowess and instituted in American culture via institutions long ago captured by the prophets of leftism: Marxists, communists, perverts, abortionists, eugenicists, atheists, relativists, and countless other little ideologues subservient to the Luciferian sin of naturalism.
The current division in America is not ultimately a matter of Left versus Right, of Democrat versus Republican, of communist versus capitalist, but of good versus evil, of naturalism (in the form of leftism) versus Christianity, of the fallen angel Lucifer and his minions versus the crucified and resurrected Christ and the forces of Heaven. The war being waged over America at present is not a matter of differing political opinions but of diametrically opposed religions.
One side says that unborn babies, the most innocent of all persons, may be executed at will, torn apart and unceremoniously vacuumed out of the wombs of their mothers; that children may, on a whim, decide to ingest hormones foreign and unnatural to their bodies before subjecting themselves to irreversible surgeries so horrific that not even the most warped and depraved authors of the 19th and 20th centuries could have imagined them; that procreation is wholly unrelated to the conjugal act, that two men might sodomize one another and call it “love”; that sex-trafficking and child sexual exploitation are just the price to be paid for virtual images of increasingly perverted sex acts, readily available to young and old at the mere click of a button; that a nation has no sovereignty and must be subjected to millions of unvetted, unrestricted immigrants.
The other side says that innocence is worth preserving, that unborn children and their mothers must be cherished and protected from the evils of the abortion mill; that children must be raised to think and think critically, think well, think deeply; that the family is the basic and fundamental unit of society, that the very fabric of civilization would unravel without the family as its basis; that love necessitates self-sacrifice, not self-gratification; that nations have a God-given right to defend their borders and preserve the safety and security of their own people; that Christ is indeed King.
This present war is not between two ideological factions but between powers and principalities, between leftism and Christianity, between good and evil, and between God and Satan. “Choose you this day whom ye will serve… As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).
What happens when Satan is on the earth? Will he be physical – will we see him? Will he and the Antichrist become one? How can Christians prepare for those perilous times? Note what Scripture says, “Woe to you O earth and sea, for Satan has come down to you in great wrath“.
Watch this Nelson Walters video with Dr. Brock Hollet as they discuss what happens in this incredible time. Dr Brockett is the author of Debunking Preterism. He is a physician and psychiatrist as well as a Professor of Biblical Studies and Science at Southeastern University, Florida. Preterism is a belief that all of the prophecies that I would take as end times have been fulfilled around 70 AD.
“And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God... Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you,O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”” Revelation 12:9-10,12
“I did not believe there was such a thing as possession,” writes Peck in his book Glimpses of the Devil, where he records the above case of Jersey along with several other confrontations with possessed people in his psychiatric practice. But his encounter with the demon who decided to finally reveal itself in full to Peck during his session with Jersey changed his opinion.
While the demon in Peck’s first case he chronicles in his book hid for some time, the one in the movie Nefarious takes the opposite approach. “I am a demon” it right-from-the-start tells the atheist psychiatrist, Dr. James Martin, sent to evaluate the inmate that the demon possesses who is about to be executed on death row.
What follows is a dialogue between the demon and the psychiatrist, played by Jordan Belfi, that takes up the vast majority of the movie. It’s a conversation similar to the precision-styled dialogue with which the demon in Peck’s case spoke and is sprinkled with some of the best biblically-based demonology I’ve heard in any film whose theme involves the demonic.
“I am the most rational being you will ever meet”
My oldest daughter and I enjoy going to scary movies together. When she picked “Nefarious” for our weekend film outing, neither of us knew we were walking into a movie that would be so spot-on where demons are concerned.
About a third of the way through the film, I turned to her and said, “The writers must have gotten a Christian professor schooled in demonology to consult on this because it’s so accurate theologically.” I had completely overlooked the fact that the directors and writers of the film are Chuck Konzelman and Cary Solomon, the same team that produced God’s Not Dead, so it’s no surprise they did their homework.
The plot revolves around Belfi’s character assessing a murderer, who is about to be executed that evening at the prison, in order to determine if he is sane and therefore legally allowed to die for his crimes. The demon tells Belfi that its goal with him is two-fold: to have the person it possesses die in the electric chair (“because we have no need of him anymore”) and have Belfi evangelize the demon’s Gospel to the rest of the world.
Sean Patrick Flanery plays the part of the demon named Nefarious (along with “Edward,” the demon’s host) and does an outstanding job in the role. He transitions from the demon to Edward with perfect fluidity and aces it when it comes to delivering a hostile combination of contempt, arrogance, and maliciousness as the demon when conversing with and mastering Belfi’s psychiatrist.
Flanery’s character is on death row for 11 murders, which he claims Nefarious has committed: “Six convicted, one suspected, four that they don’t have the capacity to figure out.” When the skeptical Belfi questions Edward’s reason and rationality, the demon responds, “I am the most rational being you will ever meet” — a good reminder to us that the enemy adheres to a logical teleology in how he operates.
Another powerful scene involves the demon speaking to the psychiatrist about an abortion his girlfriend is about to undergo. The demon’s narrative includes Old Testament references to infants being offered up to false gods and is sickeningly insightful: “The Creator creates, and we destroy. And we do all of it through you. We always have. Did you forget your history, Jimmy? Even in ancient times, the arch-demon Molech was celebrated by tossing infants into flaming bonfires.”
The film, through the mouth of Nefarious, also provides good cultural commentary on the escalations of crime and malevolence seen in almost every news article today:
“Now there’s evil everywhere, and no one even cares … we achieved our goal. Slowly. With your movies, your TV, and your media. We desensitized you. Redirected your worldview. To the point that you can’t recognize evil when it’s right in front of your face. More to the point, James, you can’t even feel it when you’re doing it. As for winners and losers, whoa, whoa, whoa! That gets decided at the time of death. The exact numbers are a closely guarded secret, but there are more of you ending up in my master’s house than with the Enemy. A lot more, Jimmy.”
Is the movie scary? It depends on how you define ‘scary.’ There are no real jump scares, nor CGI or anything similar to tantalize you.
But if you understand the demonic, that’s really not needed. There’s a reason that nearly every time in Scripture when the natural encounters the supernatural, the former can rarely stay upright. I can testify to that with the two confrontations I’ve had with demons. Their presence alone makes your skin crawl.
Moreover, watching the demon terrorize, humiliate, and deprive the Edward character of everything in his life and then be ultimately responsible for his death and assignment to eternal punishment is the very definition of ‘horror.’
“Nefarious”is definitely worth a watch and beats the vast majority of demon-themed films where accuracy in the devil’s thinking is concerned. In a Hollywood way, it shows itself to be a good case study of Satan’s strategy with humankind.
That strategy can be difficult to see sometimes amidst the superficial layer of the culture wars that play out every day. M. Scott Peck noted in his time with his first demonically-possessed patient how her evil facial manifestations that he and others with him saw multiple times were never picked up by the video recorders capturing her and their sessions.
Speaking about how evil is sometimes difficult to see and detect, Peck quotes Malachi Martin who wrote, “evil moves cunningly along the lines of contemporary fads and interests, and within the usual bounds of experiences of ordinary men and women.” The movie “Nefarious” does a good job of reminding us of just how cunning the devil’s evil can be and how dull we can be to it even when it’s staring us in the face.
Robin Schumacher is an accomplished software executive and Christian apologist who has written many articles, authored and contributed to several Christian books, appeared on nationally syndicated radio programs, and presented at apologetic events. He holds a BS in Business, Master’s in Christian apologetics and a Ph.D. in New Testament. His latest book is, A Confident Faith: Winning people to Christ with the apologetics of the Apostle Paul.
In this video, Jordan Peterson talks about demons on the Daily Wire. If you’re familiar with Jordan Peterson’s work, you might be surprised by some of the things he says about demons. If you’re not familiar with Jordan Peterson’s work, then this video is a great place to start. In this video, Jordan Peterson discusses the dynamics of demons and how they influence our lives. He offers explanatory insights into the origins of demons, as well as their effects on our souls.
I have been a fan of Jordan Peterson for years. God has gifted this man with an intellect of the highest order. When I first watched him he was not a Christian so it has been wonderful to watch his journey to faith in the one true God.
The people around the table are all intellectuals but their understanding of demons differs widely; from the Jew who does not believe they exist at all to Jordan Peterson who to my surprise truly understands the dynamics of demons and how they influence our lives.
This video deserves wide distribution, make sure you send it on.
In a book he says is aimed at the well-educated with an interest in the subject, accomplished psychiatrist and professor, Dr. Richard Gallagher, delivers compelling findings from his decadeslong career to make a compelling case that demons and demonic possession are real phenomena.
“In my experience, the idea of demonic possession is so controversial and so often misunderstood that I want at the outset to establish some scholarly plausibility to the notion along with my bona fides,” the board-certified psychiatrist, who serves as professor of psychiatry at New York Medical and a psychoanalyst on the faculty of Columbia University, begins in the introduction of his book.
“Typical reactions to the topic reflect our nation’s polarization. Despite widespread belief in evil spirits in the United States and around the world, some people find the subject farfetched, even moronic. Yet others spot the devil everywhere. And so, here I detail my personal story and highlight the credibility of possessions while simultaneously offering some sober reflections on various exaggerations and abuses.”
He begins his narrative with the story of a troubled devil-worshiper named Julia who he concluded was possessed after an exorcist in the Catholic Church brought her to him for evaluation before attempting an exorcism.
“Before I encountered Julia, I had already seen about eight or nine cases of what I regarded as full possessions. I define those as cases where the evil spirit completely takes control of someone, such that the victim has periods when he or she has no remembrance of such episodes,” Gallagher writes. “I have since seen scores more such possessions and a much higher number of cases of oppression, which are far more common than possessions. Because of my involvement with the International Association of Exorcists, I have heard reports of hundreds more of each type, but that hardly implies they are anything but rare conditions, as I still know them to be.”
Gallagher highlights stories about the manifestation of demonic powers like levitation and remote viewing where possessed individuals like Julia can, for example, communicate what someone is doing and where they are doing it despite being a hundred miles away.
“Julia demonstrated to me very clearly that she could see, for instance, the chief exorcist at a distance [even though] he was 100 miles away,” Gallagher explained in an interview with The Christian Post at his home last Thursday.
“She could describe him to a tee and what he was doing which was unusual for his normal routine. There’s no way she could have guessed that. If one is familiar with occult literature, one realizes that there are occultists, people [who] have turned to dark arts who claim they have a third eye, and that they can see things from a distance, this is an analogous phenomenon,” he continued. “She had this paranormal ability to do that. And she was very clear as to where she got that ability.
“People have tried to study these things for years without reaching much in the way of a conclusion. Human beings don’t have those abilities on their own. They either get it from below or from above,” Gallagher added. “Julia recognized that and she recognized that she got these paranormal abilities from Satan himself.”
Gallagher explained that while he remains committed to science, he has found that all knowledge cannot be explained by science.
“I do want to emphasize in all that I write and say, that I am committed to science, that scientific methodology has immensely helped the human race,” he said. “But not all knowledge can be verified by lab experiments and that sort of thing. Most of what we’re talking about when we talk about religious truths, and certainly this field of the demonic, is essentially historical knowledge. It’s observations and observations about historical facts can be true or false, depending on the credibility of the witness, depending on how sensible seems the reports of these phenomena,” he noted.
“But that doesn’t make it unscientific because it’s historical. We talk about Washington crossing the Delaware …, most people would say that’s knowledge. And, in a similar way, these reports, of demonic phenomena and exorcisms and that sort of thing, it is a type of genuine knowledge, which is what the word science originally meant. It meant knowledge, it didn’t mean only the scientific method,” he explained.
“There are certain personality disorders which are consumed with feelings and thoughts of destructiveness for instance, borderline personality, but there are even people who are sociopaths, what we would normally call criminals, who deal with very evil and sinful tendencies all the time. I do not regard those people as possessed. Those people may be influenced as all human beings are, by temptation from evil spirits, but I don’t think we should go around acting like we can cure them with deliverance or that they have some serious possession.”
Despite all the mental health disorders with a brain-based foundation, says Gallagher, he still wants people to understand that the findings he records in his book bear witness to the existence of the demonic.
“I tell people, you don’t have to believe what Dr. Gallagher writes, you know, there are people who write these books and makeup stuff. My book was 100 percent accurate. All I did was change the names of people,” he said.
“Paul, when he went to Corinth, which is, I suppose, a little bit like a preacher from Kansas, going to San Francisco or something. He said, ‘Look, I saw the resurrected Christ. But you don’t have to believe me, there are 500 other people, most of whom are still alive, you can get their witness too.’
“And of course, many of those people suffered and died for their beliefs, including the resurrected Jesus. So, there are other psychiatrists who believe exactly the way I do, they’re just a little maybe more reluctant to speak out, or they just haven’t seen as many cases as I have. Nobody just has to believe my book,” he added. “Go out and learn about it from many other faithful people who have recorded their own experiences.”
Two stories of Duncan’s experience with the demonic are taken from the article Does the Devil Exist? in Patheos Evangelical JANUARY 11, 2022 by Duncan Edward Pile.
STORY ONE: My friends and I were in San Fernando, Philippines. It was our day off, so we decided to walk into town and share the Gospel with anyone who was interested. Ten minutes into the walk we came across a gathering on a street corner. It was the intersection of several dirt streets, with an open area of dusty ground and a small stand selling coca cola. Around us were rustic homes constructed from tree fibres.
We stopped and began to talk with the locals, and I was soon engaged by an old, staggering drunkard, wearing a large medallion – a carving of a snarling, demonic face. I’d seen plenty of similar items in the UK but they’d always struck me as harmless, gothic accessories. This was different. Just looking at it made me feel sick.
The old man grabbed my arm, and I immediately felt nauseated. Suddenly he wasn’t drunk anymore. I began to retreat but he came after me, seeking to touch me again. I became frightened. Every time his skin brushed mine I felt another wave of nausea and an intense sense of spiritual oppression. It was clear the old man was aware of the discomfort he was causing me. His eyes were cold and hard, staring at me with a hatred so intense it was palpable. He raised a bony finger before my face.
“In…your…HEAD!” he barked, stabbing my forehead with his finger. I ran, chased by his cackling until I found a group of friends. I ducked into the middle of them and squatted on my heels, arms wrapped tightly around my knees. I was literally hiding, utterly terrified.
I knew what I’d encountered. Back in the UK, I’d cast out a couple of demons. I knew the look in a person’s eyes when possessed. It’s like nothing else, but I wasn’t afraid of them until that moment. I believed they were defeated at the cross, and had no power other than that which we lend them, but I’d never encountered a person utterly given to possession – like the man in the Bible who had a whole legion of demons within him. Now I had, and the encounter had shaken me to my core.
My friends calmed me down, and a good look around told me the old man had gone, so I went to the Coke stand to get a drink. There was one customer already at the stand, and as I placed my order, I realised it was the same old man. I have no idea how I failed to spot him. He saw me and broke into a broad, nasty leer. He got into my space, and banging the heel of his palm rapidly against his chest, said:
“Why is your heart going boom boom boom?” For the second time that day, I ran, and this time I didn’t return.
STORY TWO: Some friends and I were ministering at a church in Manila. During a meeting a girl doubled over, crying out in pain. She was clutching her chest, just below her left collarbone. Everyone gathered around her, praying for her to be healed, but I was on the far side of the room and there was a ring of people between her and me.
One of the gifts of the Spirit is the discernment of spirits, and at that moment, I knew beyond human knowledge that her pain was the result of demonic oppression, rather than illness. I was filled with power and authority and knew I had to act, so I crossed the room, asking people to move aside. The ring of praying folk around her parted, and on reaching her, I placed my finger on her collarbone and said: “Go! In Jesus’ name.”
Instantly, she gasped, collapsing in relief. She’d been having these attacks for some time, and even had a diagnosis for them, but the pain was instantly and completely gone. This wasn’t a ‘out of ten, how do you feel?’, before and after kind of comparison, which can be manipulated to make something seem like more than it is. One moment she was in agony, crying out in pain, and the next she was completely free of pain. She was utterly astonished.
So, what to make of the above? Each situation can certainly be explained in modern terms. The old man might have been a master of human behaviour, and sensing my vulnerability, decided to prey on me. Or perhaps we were both deluded. Maybe there is no God, and no Devil, and human beings are capable of manufacturing all manner of intense inner experiences we then label as spiritual. Maybe we were both complicit in a mutual delusion, playing for imaginary teams in an imaginary game.
In the second scenario, perhaps my conviction was enough to persuade her she was set free, and the placebo effect resulted in the sudden cessation of pain.
It’s possible to explain anything away if you try hard enough, but why do we feel the need to do so? It is also possible that there is a God, and that evil spirits oppose him, seeking to harm the lives of those he loves.
The consequences of denying the Devil’s existence
The Bible gives us both warnings and advice about demons and how to cope with their attacks. Sadly many churches do not address this basic issue and leave their congregations open to demonic attack.
“Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” 1 Peter 5: 8-9
“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground.” Ephesians 6:10-13
The importance of spiritual warfare
When I pray for others, I rely on the leading of the Spirit to know how to pray. At times I know to pray for the mercy of God, at others for grace, and yet for others, I know to go to battle on their behalf, praying in power and authority against spiritual forces trying to harm them. This spiritual dimension is essential to the dynamics of effective prayer, and to Christian faith in general. I’ll tell you this much – if you’re going through trouble, these are the kind of believers you want praying for you. Good wishes and warm thoughts achieve nothing.
I fear we are busy pouring out the baby with the bathwater, reshaping Christianity in an image so far from the life and ministry of Jesus it becomes something else altogether. My prayer is that we are not so deceived by our own importance and cultural perspective that we deny the spiritual side of life, including the darkness we are called to resist. Where we’ve replaced spiritual activity with softly-spoken ponderings and general niceness, I pray we will get real.
In these last days before Jesus returns we know from Biblical prophecy that demonic warfare will only increase so we need to heed Paul’s warning to put on the full armour of the Lord daily to be able to minister in the power of the Holy Spirit gifts. Know full well that the world will hate you for being Jesus’ disciple. Torben Sondergaard and his team at Last Reformation Ministries were casting out demons from people on the streets of Denmark. Satan managed to make it look like Torben was doing something that was damaging particularly to children looking on and so the government made it illegal and a jailable offense. The situation became so intolerable for Torben that he fled to the USA. After an incredible time of ministry all over the USA making disciples of Christ that are prepared to reach out to their communities to make more disciples, Torben is now in jail in the USA on a trumped-up charge. It has been six months and he is still there. God of course has used Torben in jail to transform the lives of other prisoners but his testimony of what God has been doing to transform Torben Sondergaard will both challenge and inspire you. Take a look at my post New Year’s Greetings from Torben Sondergaard – Now six months in Jail posted January 4th, 2023.
LIVING ETERNAL NOW 