WHY ARE CHRISTIANS SO AFRAID OF THE UNKNOWN?

From The Perspective of A Jesus Freak

Jesus followers get so freaked out when you bring up witchcraft, the occult, meditation, yoga, Harry Potter, and other stuff like that. You mention any of those things and it conjures up scenes from, well, the Conjuring, or Spellbinder, or anything else that gives you the heebie jeebies. Here’s the reality. As Christians, we shouldn’t be afraid of any of that stuff. What we need to do is see the issue clearly and look for a way to interject ourselves into the dialog.

THE ISSUE

A rising tide of witchcraft in America is not a direct result of some spirit growing in power throughout our nation. There are folks in the occult world and in Christendom that would have you think that but don’t. The reason why so many are turning to the occult is because the church is filled with fear instead of the Holy Spirit.

I feel like I need to qualify that last statement. When I say the church needs to be filled with the Holy Spirit, what I mean is that we need a greater manifestation of Him in our soul. 2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God will never give you the spirit of fear, but the Holy Spirit who gives you mighty power, love, and self-control.” We need to encounter more of that power, love, and self-control in our soul so that we can better represent Jesus on this earth.

People are looking for something outside of Christ because we aren’t giving them the real deal.

I spent 16 years playing in the dark, serving demons, because I was desperate for a supernatural encounter. If I would have seen the church walking in the fullness of Christ, that would have been enough to draw me. Unfortunately, all I saw was a powerless, fear-filled body. The same is true today. This world needs to experience a Gospel that comes with love-filled words and joyful power.

Jesus didn’t come to condemn the world and neither should we. People outside of Christ already know in their soul that something is off. They know they are not right with their creator and the deeper the darkness that they walk in, the greater their awareness of that.

JOINING THE CONVERSATION

If we want to capture the attention of a generation looking for a sign then we need to stop looking at the enemy and by enemy I mean dark spiritual forces. Learning more about some evil spirit isn’t going to change the condition of our hearts or the hearts of those drawn to witchcraft. What we need to do is get rid of the fear and ask God to wake us up to the power, love, and self-control He has already placed within us.

We need a deeper encounter with Holy Spirit so that we can go deeper with folks that are skirting with or fully engaged in witchcraft. If all we do is shake our head in judgement, point the finger of criticism, and release words of condemnation, nothing will change. In fact, the gap between Christian and non-Christian will only grow.

Holy Spirit is waiting for us to manifest His power, His love, and His way of thinking to a very hurting world.

People are drawn to the occult almost always because they want some kind of power. We need to present a gospel that isn’t a bunch of empty words but full of God’s amazing power to heal, save, and deliver. For years I resisted God but when I was finally ready to give Him my life, He showed up with power and that’s what caught my attention.

I also noticed a deep love coming from a place that I couldn’t see with my eyes. Everyone wants to experience that kind of love. If they don’t get it in a healthy way, the door opens for seduction to fill that void. There are a number of ways people hide from the lack of love, including witchcraft. Unfortunately, the hiding just opens doors into darkness that leads to more hiding, more pain, and greater isolation from people and God.

The church needs to do a better job of loving people the same way Jesus did. He didn’t have to go into the darkest parts of the world. People caught in darkness saw His light and ran to it. People flocked to Him in order to, first, experience His power, and, second, encounter His love. We are His body and we need to be the same. Unconditional love is one of the most powerful things we can give to hurting, lonely people.

For 16 years, I was deep in to the occult and witchcraft. One thing I noticed about myself and those around me is that we all wanted some kind of power and control. We were either trying to control a spirit entity to do our bidding or we were trying to control other people. I understand that not every person who calls themself a Wiccan will agree with what I just wrote and that’s ok.

In order to be effective in the occult you have to be dedicated. There is a certain amount of self-discipline that is required. As Christian’s, we need to be just as dedicated to building relationships with the hurting. We need to be in this for the long haul. We have to stop treating people like they are projects for us to finish. We need to have the kind of discipline and self-control that Jesus had in order to disciple the lost and hurting around us into the Kingdom.

DON’T BE AFRAID

Setting up all night prayer meetings to contend with some spirit is not going to turn this ship around. The darkness is not the problem so let’s not spend our time looking there. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t have all-night prayer meetings. Jesus prayed…A LOT! We should to. But let’s not get stuck, focussing on darkness. Jesus came so that everyone could have abundant life. Let’s get together to pray and release that life into our communities.

Jesus spent many hours in prayer but He spent even more time revealing the heart of the Father to those around Him. Our issue, as followers of Christ, is that we are not showing the fullness of God to a generation that is tired of hearing us say one thing but often doing another. We are the Body of Christ. Let’s better represent the one who is our Head.

It’s time to unleash the full gospel. America needs the power of God now more than ever.

You ARE the solution to people’s needs.

PRAY for Dad to let you encounter the hurting, lonely, and broken everyday so that you can show them who our Father really is.

Let’s not spend more time empowering the darkness.

Let’s rob the darkness by shining our light.

America can be saved and God wants to USE YOUT to get that done.

Here’s the thing. There will always be people that focus on the negative. Let’s not be that way. Let’s have hope for the future. Let’s use Jesus words to Jairus to encourage us.

But Jesus refused to listen to what they were told and said to the Jewish official, “Don’t yield to fear. All you need to do is to keep on believing.”
- Mark 5:36