Real witchcraft, questionable conspiracies

I'm still having this struggle with the reports done by Scott Johnson, that I hear at Sermon Audio from time to time. I'm sure there's no Christian teacher I've ever heard who doesn't at some point say something I have to reject for one reason or another, but I don't think I've ever had such an acute experience of conflict as I do with Johnson's talks, there being some subjects I think are interesting and important to know about and others where he goes off into unsupported conspiracy thinking to the point that what he's doing could be more of a danger than a help.

He recently did a talk on his own experiences of the supernatural, and that's always interesting I think, and useful too as more and more of us encounter the frequently denied or downplayed world of demonic activity. If you've never had such experiences and suspect none of it is really real, you may need to be prepared in case you do, or your faith may be seriously compromised. Do you know that if you are threatened by demons and call on the name of Jesus Christ you will be protected? It's true. I've had that experience myself and Johnson reports on the same kind of experience. I'm sure the Lord will teach any of His own in the heat of the moment even without any prior preparation, but it can't hurt to know about these things. They can be quite frightening and it's helpful to know others have experienced them. I had the experience of something trying to strangle me in my sleep once when I was visiting at a Christian charismatic ministry, and calling on Jesus and claiming His blood over me made it instantly stop. Something similar happened to Scott Johnson, only scarier as he actually saw what was attacking him.

Are UFO abductions real and in what sense? I don't know but as long as people have experiences they think are UFO abductions -- and I expect them to be some kind of demonic phenomena -- I think it's worth thinking about it. Such phenomena do seem to be growing in the world and Johnson reports on occultic knowledge of why this may be happening as it is. The whole world of witchcraft and satanic doings is quite real, and apparently increasing in influence as more in the West desert Jesus Christ, practice other religions which are demon-inspired and seek otherworldly "spiritual" experiences. This phenomenon has been growing in more of a public and mainstream way since the sixties at least. We should at least be aware of it and praying against it, praying that the Lord will restrain it, block their plans, and rescue people from it for salvation.

All this can start in apparently innocent "entertainments." The astrology column in the paper and in fact everywhere you go, such as the internet, should not be indulged at all because it invites some degree of demonic influence. I know this personally because of my own pre-Christian experiences with occultic practices such as astrology and divination through various "oracles" (the I Ching, tarot cards and the like). Is it safe to read books about witchcraft such as Harry Potter? Is it just good clean moral entertainment? Many Christians insist on this but I believe they are naive.

That's all one area of information I think we do need to know about, and I've said so before. Then there is this other area that has me cringing and concerned, the conspiracy thinking. Witches and practitioners of demonic religions are usually simply deluded and believe they are practicing something that's at least innocent and often good for themselves and for the human race. Usually. Some know there's something more sinister going on, but I think they are rare among practitioners. Scott Johnson has had encounters with Haitian practitioners of voodoo, on the other hand, and this is definitely sinister as it is about manipulating the spiritual world for benefits to yourself and for doing harm to enemies. Jesus Christ has power over all this too, of course, but the point is that there are some "religions" that don't bother with pretending to be helpful and innocent but are practiced with outright evil intent. Hindu-based Transcendental Meditation came to the West with the Beatles, presenting itself as a "scientific" discipline to achieve personal psychological and spiritual health and to rid the environment of crime. Voodoo and other raw forms of witchcraft don't bother with such pleasant delusions but promote criminal activity for gain and teach methods of killing your enemies and the like.

But when it comes to conspiracy thinking, ordinary people are being accused of a degree of outright evil that often exceeds the most satanic of the satanists. Do the people who work for "Big Pharma" really seek to keep us all sick so they can make money? Are they really intentionally withholding cures for cancer because they want to make money off all the drugs and treatments cancer requires? Does this scenario make any sense whatever? Aren't human beings born with a conscience or does it simply desert all those who go into pharmacy? Does "the government" really want to wipe out millions of us? Does the ordinary American pilot desire to contaminate his fellow Americans with "chem trails" of murderous substances? Do his higher ups? Who loads the stuff into the airplanes? Can a jet plane function with such stuff in its fuel supply? (The contrail is caused by fuel exhaust isn't it?) If it's jettisoned in some other way doesn't the pilot have to do it? How come it looks like an ordinary jet trail? How does it work anyway?

To be continued.