“New Age” spiritual beliefs and practices have been popular in the United States for some twenty years. Historically, New Agers have kept their beliefs and practices out of the social spotlight. Their activities are more intellectual and personal in nature than the more open varieties of demonism. Studies reveal that more than 60% of American adults hold at least one of the following “New Age” beliefs. Some believe that “spiritual energy” can be found in physical things. Such things as rock formations, bodies of water, areas of the earth, even animals are believed to produce a certain type of spiritual energy that only New Agers can detect. Some use psychics who can tell them things that they have no normal way of knowing such as names, places, actions of people they (the psychics) do not know. Some New Agers believe in reincarnation, claiming that they have lived in a previous time. Astrology is a popular tool for determining what one should do based on one’s birth date. What is alarming about these supernatural activities is that they are often proved to be correct. I have seen them on television call out names of dead relatives of someone in the audience and tell them things about the dead person. Though the information is true, it is through demons that such information is received. Demons know what humans do not know relative to the past.

Only the leadership and power of God can protect us from the effects of such powerful spiritual beings. The key is to know what is happening in the spiritual realm and how to avoid being affected by those in “high places.” Knowledge, belief in and obedience to the Word of God provides the power and wisdom to remain free of Satan’s influence in this age of the naturalization of the supernatural.

An important factor in the supernatural mix is that there is money to be made, lots of money. What is known as the “Psychic Services Industry” reportedly generates up to two billion dollars per year for its psychic providers. This industry includes such other-worldly activities as tarot card reading, palmistry, aura reading, astrology, mediumship, as well as other types spiritual services. Items used in these demonic activities can be purchased on-line as well as in some stores. Use of these types of services by public personalities has helped to make them popular. It is reported that some 20% of Americans admit to having contacted a psychic or a medium at some point in their lives. Many do so regularly. Approximately the same percentage believe that their “psychic contacts” can communicate with the dead. Due to the proliferation of video-sharing platforms such as TikTok and YouTube, the popularity of the supernatural can only increase as such spiritual forces play a growing part of social life. I mentioned earlier the proliferation of after school “Satan parties.” Children’s books such as the HARRY POTTER series have opened up young minds to the world of wizards, sorcerers, etc. Familiarity leads to acceptability. We have only begun to see the effects of Satan and demons on the lives of their human targets, the vast majority of whom have no chance against them. Rather, they unknowingly welcome them into their lives as guests. So-called Christianity offers undeniable proof of that truth as God’s Word is daily slipping farther away from their reality and Satan and his gang fill the void.

One of the surest and most obvious signs of the presence of demonic activity is the popularity of the transgender movement. A recent survey within the upper echelons of higher education reveals that approximately 40 percent of Ivy League students claim to be either trans or queer. Undoubtedly, some are both. Sexual deviance is now considered avant guard–the cutting edge of sophistication. To be in the “in crowd” one cannot be straight. A straight, white male will soon be the most despised creature on earth.

The use of gender-neutral pronouns has become a badge of honor among those who lay claim to other-than-normal sexual identities. The movement invents ever more pronouns in order to distinguish more definitively within the group whose lettered identities expand regularly. A + at the end of the current letter salad indicates that more letters will undoubtedly be added. One of the more popular new pronouns is “fae,” “faer,” “faeself.” Fae is a pagan word meaning demon or spirit. Those transgender people using the “fae” words prefer to be known as demons.

A close relation to the trans people is the “two spirit” movement. These are people who believe that they have two spirits within them that cause their homosexual or transgender behavior. This movement now has its own flag and is being taught in the public schools in California and Canada.

Even more extreme than the trans identities discussed above are the “otherkin” or “fictionkin” movements in which people identify as animals or fictitious creatures such as lizards, dragons, vampires, etc. One man whose picture I have seen believes that he is parrot. Parrots have no external ears. Therefore parrotman had his ears removed. He also wears a large plastic beak on the front of his face. Some people who identify as cats have their teeth sharpened to points and have whiskers tattooed on their faces. Some have their ears carved into points. Satan himself is described in Genesis and Revelation as a dragon. Some people identify themselves as “dragonkin.”

The feelings, behaviors, etc. behind what has been described above have a powerful spiritual reality at their base. Satan and his fallen angels stand at the ready to invade the mind of anyone who offers them the opportunity. As the Apostle Paul wrote, we are at war with principalities and powers of the air (Eph. 6:12). Give them an opening and they will come in and, if not expelled, will take control. This is what has taken place in professing Christendom where false teachings and false “truths” have been taught and learned to the point that demons have entered the minds of salvation seekers and have taken control of the their victims. I see evidences of this when I show church people in the Bible they own that what they believe is condemned by God in print. With extremely few exceptions, God’s own Words are rejected in favor of “what I’ve always been taught.” Rejection of the Word of God is a sure sign of demonic control.

For this reason truth-seeking believers are instructed to have nothing to do with the forces of evil found in the Catholic/Protestant Religious System. Why? Because leaven affects the loaf. The loaf does not unleaven the leaven. Therefore we are told to “come out” of that “unclean thing” (religious system) and to not “touch” it. Recall that God told Adam and Eve not to even “touch” the forbidden fruit, that if they did they would die. They did and they died. They were created to live eternally in the Eden paradise. Sin caused their immediate spiritual deaths, then later their physical deaths. Nothing has changed. Read Second Corinthians 6:14-7:1. The world, including the church world, is filled with the walking dead.

Several things can open up the unsuspecting person to demonic influence. The following is a list of such activities: religious rituals, mind-altering drugs, contact with the occult, mass entertainment such as movies, books, video games, music, pornography, etc.

But the Lord is more powerful than Satan and his many angels combined. As I noted earlier, through the power of God within me I drove 33 demons out of a person at one time. Ten times that many would have left at my command BECAUSE OF THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. Without that power I would have had no chance against even one of them. Casting out demons entails more than faith and a deliverance calling. In Matthew 17:14-21 we find that a man has brought his son to the disciples to have them cast a demon out of him. They could not. Jesus did. They asked Him why they could not cast out the demon. He replied that “This kind comes out only by prayer and fasting.” Some demons are more powerful than others. Much prayer and fasting was required for Jesus to cast out that demon. The same held true for His apostles then and for His apostles today. Sometimes we do not know what type of demon or demons we are dealing with until they reveal themselves. Some argue, some refuse to come out. But if the true saint is prayed up and fasted up and is called to the Lord’s ministry, the outcome is sure. I never doubt the outcome of the confrontation.

Deliverance is the key to ridding people of demonic possession. However, the deliverance ministry is not for everyone. A prime example of this Truth is found in Acts 19:11-16 we find a group of men, called “exorcists” (demon removers) who believed that because Paul cast out demons in the name of Jesus, that they could cast them out simply by using Christ’s name. The end result was not what they expected. That episode emphasizes the fact that we must be spiritually ready, and called, to deal with demons. In the early days of my ministry I cast a demon out of a boy and, unbeknownst to me at the time, the demon left him and went directly into his brother who was sitting on the couch with him. The brother later manifested the same demonic acts his sibling had exhibited prior to being delivered. Lesson learned.

Bottom line: DO NOT ASSUME THAT WHAT SOME PEOPLE CAN DO, ALL PEOPLE CAN DO. REMEMBER WHAT JESUS SAID ABOUT PRAYER AND FASTING. Read First Corinthians 12:27-31. And do not be taken in by popular preachers and faith healers on television. They are not God’s people. They are imposters. Do not let their popularity or their “acts of God” fool you. Remember that Judas had the same ministry as the other disciples. Read Matthew 10:8 and Acts 1:15-17. L.J.