Last updated: February 2022
After a time of personal praise & worship last weekend (15 Dec '18), I heard in my spirit the words resist not evil. I did a search on this online and found an article on this teaching from Matthew 5: 39, which I read (http://biblecenter.de/bibel/cbc/resist.php; accessed 2018). Sadly, the very next day I did the opposite of this teaching when I went to see my mother in her room. I let rip on all the people that had wronged me; I cursed those that were oppressing me; and I threatened to take my life if the constant harassment* in my place of birth did not stop, adding that I would go to heaven because I am saved! *E.g. using sorcery/witchcraft to get their own way, a lot of which is done covertly, especially through food and drink (including water) that has been tampered with, (the "remote control" triggers), and in the astral/spirit realm while we sleep, and monitoring all I, as a former expat, say and do even at home; like a swarm of flies circling around your head day and night and following you around, and like the ominous feeling of being stalked. Traditional, pre-Christianity beliefs and practices are still very much alive here (https://thenerveafrica.com/9817/an-american-lady-is-traveling-to-lagos-nigeria-to-become-an-ifa-priestess; accessed 2019). I stormed off and IM'ed a few people about what I had been going through and how I had reached breaking point. Angrily, I reminded God that this was not the abundant life and freedom he had promised me in his word (John 10: 10; Galatians 5: 1), in fact, what I was experiencing was pretty much the opposite. But strangely, the next day, I felt energized and more optimistic. I don’t know why as my circumstances hadn’t changed, I just did. And as I recall another time last year (2017) when I cried out to God to take my life and went to sleep hoping he would, only to wake up the next morning somewhat surprised he hadn’t, I realize that ending my life isn’t God’s will for me. God doesn’t want his children to give up and check out of life before he calls us home; that is not God’s plan for us (Jeremiah 29: 11; Romans 8: 28-30; John 16: 33; 1 John 4: 4; Psalm 116: 15 - in the Tanach (the Stone edition) the word 'precious' is aptly translated 'difficult'; Philippians 3: 13-14). I can well relate to the words of Paul the apostle in 2 Corinthians 5: 8-10: I am not afraid to die for then I would be with the Lord, in fact for this reason I welcome it, but I too must labour to please Him by running a good race (Colossians 1: 10-11; 2 Timothy 4: 7).
On another occasion, while I was praying in the early hours of the morning (26 Aug '18) for God to avenge me, I heard the word forgive in my spirit, to which I replied, without speaking, I can’t, and continued praying for God’s judgment on my enemies. I was soon perplexed about whether that was the voice of the Holy Spirit or the enemy (Luke 4: 1-13) wanting to be let off the hook, to stop me praying. This is why the discerning of spirits (1 Corinthians 12: 10; 1 John 4: 1) is so important y’all. Then I realized that as long as I was preoccupied with retribution, I wasn’t free or open to hearing from God. Furthermore, my eagerness for vengeance might actually delay God’s judgment according to Proverbs 24: 17-18. I guess God just doesn’t want his children preoccupied with settling scores - that’s His job (Deuteronomy 32: 35; Romans 12: 19; James 4: 12). Ours is to trust and obey. And so I find myself at a crossroads, do I submit to the Lord’s teaching not to retaliate (Matthew 5: 39-48; Romans 12: 17-21) or do I continue to resist and accept whatever may be pending the outcome of this decision?
Today (14 Jun '19) I had a eureka moment when it dawned on me that what I have been going through must be a trial. I have either been handed over to the "tormentors" due to unforgiveness (Matthew 18: 34-35) or I am developing the ability to hear in the spirit realm, which is indeed like hearing voices, except they have no power over me. The secret is learning not to respond, like flogging a dead horse, and thus not yielding to them; in other words to "resist not" (Matthew 5: 39) in this case is to ignore or pay them no mind. Their goal is to guide and eventually govern you and, like most things in the spirit realm, they require your cooperation whether consciously or not. To this end their relentless attempts is a ploy to get you to engage with them and once you do, it can become a slippery slope where they keep goading you, which can take a toll on your mental and emotional wellbeing. Rather than engage in conversation with these spirits, saturate your own spirit with the word of God by speaking it to yourself (2 Timothy 3: 16-17), replacing their deception with the truth of God's word (John 8: 32), and thereby thwarting their agenda.
What I can hear or discern are the reactions and, at times, words of persons that I cannot see, what Derek Prince calls 'persons without bodies', and what I now know to be familiar spirits (they function as demonic chaperones, spirit guides that are a counterfeit of the holy spirit, in particular, marine/water spirits); sometimes they are gleeful and endorsing my thoughts and actions, other times they are mocking, objecting and even menacing, sometimes a whimper (fearful), sometimes a snarl (threatening). By projecting their thoughts and feelings onto you, they seek to manipulate you into doing what they want and, more importantly, to tie or connect your thoughts and emotions to theirs, thus fostering soul ties and dependence on them that's not healthy. I have noticed that they can also keep quiet deliberately in order to see what you would do without their prompting. Whether approving or disapproving, to me their presence is always unwelcome, intrusive and wearisome; I guess their intention is to keep you connected by any means, including wearing you down. It feels as though you are being watched all the time but you cannot see who by and it is important to note that although their promptings, which at times can be very strong, is internal, it is not coming from within you (except perhaps in the case of the demon possessed); that's what makes it so oppressive (cf. 2 Corinthians 3: 17; read my post on The Spirit Man for some pointers on discerning between spirits). To many who have no concept of the spirit realm as well as those with a more sinister agenda this will all sound like the onset of a mental disorder, and I have for some time been intrigued by the field of Psychiatry (1 Corinthians 2: 12-14). Can you imagine if psychiatrists, psychologists etc. actually believed what their patients told them was real instead of just a derangement or figment of their imagination, how this would revolutionize the field? If they understood what "losing your mind" really means, and the modes of operation of familiar spirits to reinforce and maintain strongholds manifesting as destructive patterns of behaviour such as OCD and suicidal tendencies, playing along to the beliefs of the medical profession so that the patient never actually gets healed? The spirit is the gateway to the mind. If they can control your spirit, they can control your mind. By not co-operating with these territorial/familiar spirits (Ephesians 6: 12; which people can also send to their targets), despite provocation (and trust me, they will provoke you to know what pushes your buttons and to sensitize you to their stimuli; a lot of the local people who are led by these spirits behave in the same way), but instead praying and meditating on the word of God, I am enabled to free my spirit and consequently my mind from their influence so that I am not controlled (con-formed) by them (2 Corinthians 10: 3-5 ; Ephesians 6: 13-18; Romans 12: 2; Philippians 4: 6-8).
On another occasion, while I was praying in the early hours of the morning (26 Aug '18) for God to avenge me, I heard the word forgive in my spirit, to which I replied, without speaking, I can’t, and continued praying for God’s judgment on my enemies. I was soon perplexed about whether that was the voice of the Holy Spirit or the enemy (Luke 4: 1-13) wanting to be let off the hook, to stop me praying. This is why the discerning of spirits (1 Corinthians 12: 10; 1 John 4: 1) is so important y’all. Then I realized that as long as I was preoccupied with retribution, I wasn’t free or open to hearing from God. Furthermore, my eagerness for vengeance might actually delay God’s judgment according to Proverbs 24: 17-18. I guess God just doesn’t want his children preoccupied with settling scores - that’s His job (Deuteronomy 32: 35; Romans 12: 19; James 4: 12). Ours is to trust and obey. And so I find myself at a crossroads, do I submit to the Lord’s teaching not to retaliate (Matthew 5: 39-48; Romans 12: 17-21) or do I continue to resist and accept whatever may be pending the outcome of this decision?
Today (14 Jun '19) I had a eureka moment when it dawned on me that what I have been going through must be a trial. I have either been handed over to the "tormentors" due to unforgiveness (Matthew 18: 34-35) or I am developing the ability to hear in the spirit realm, which is indeed like hearing voices, except they have no power over me. The secret is learning not to respond, like flogging a dead horse, and thus not yielding to them; in other words to "resist not" (Matthew 5: 39) in this case is to ignore or pay them no mind. Their goal is to guide and eventually govern you and, like most things in the spirit realm, they require your cooperation whether consciously or not. To this end their relentless attempts is a ploy to get you to engage with them and once you do, it can become a slippery slope where they keep goading you, which can take a toll on your mental and emotional wellbeing. Rather than engage in conversation with these spirits, saturate your own spirit with the word of God by speaking it to yourself (2 Timothy 3: 16-17), replacing their deception with the truth of God's word (John 8: 32), and thereby thwarting their agenda.
What I can hear or discern are the reactions and, at times, words of persons that I cannot see, what Derek Prince calls 'persons without bodies', and what I now know to be familiar spirits (they function as demonic chaperones, spirit guides that are a counterfeit of the holy spirit, in particular, marine/water spirits); sometimes they are gleeful and endorsing my thoughts and actions, other times they are mocking, objecting and even menacing, sometimes a whimper (fearful), sometimes a snarl (threatening). By projecting their thoughts and feelings onto you, they seek to manipulate you into doing what they want and, more importantly, to tie or connect your thoughts and emotions to theirs, thus fostering soul ties and dependence on them that's not healthy. I have noticed that they can also keep quiet deliberately in order to see what you would do without their prompting. Whether approving or disapproving, to me their presence is always unwelcome, intrusive and wearisome; I guess their intention is to keep you connected by any means, including wearing you down. It feels as though you are being watched all the time but you cannot see who by and it is important to note that although their promptings, which at times can be very strong, is internal, it is not coming from within you (except perhaps in the case of the demon possessed); that's what makes it so oppressive (cf. 2 Corinthians 3: 17; read my post on The Spirit Man for some pointers on discerning between spirits). To many who have no concept of the spirit realm as well as those with a more sinister agenda this will all sound like the onset of a mental disorder, and I have for some time been intrigued by the field of Psychiatry (1 Corinthians 2: 12-14). Can you imagine if psychiatrists, psychologists etc. actually believed what their patients told them was real instead of just a derangement or figment of their imagination, how this would revolutionize the field? If they understood what "losing your mind" really means, and the modes of operation of familiar spirits to reinforce and maintain strongholds manifesting as destructive patterns of behaviour such as OCD and suicidal tendencies, playing along to the beliefs of the medical profession so that the patient never actually gets healed? The spirit is the gateway to the mind. If they can control your spirit, they can control your mind. By not co-operating with these territorial/familiar spirits (Ephesians 6: 12; which people can also send to their targets), despite provocation (and trust me, they will provoke you to know what pushes your buttons and to sensitize you to their stimuli; a lot of the local people who are led by these spirits behave in the same way), but instead praying and meditating on the word of God, I am enabled to free my spirit and consequently my mind from their influence so that I am not controlled (con-formed) by them (2 Corinthians 10: 3-5 ; Ephesians 6: 13-18; Romans 12: 2; Philippians 4: 6-8).
I am hoping that the next stage of this metamorphosis will be the ability to see in the spirit realm. A few days later (16 Jun '19) I was writing lyrics for a new song when the Bible verse 1 John 4: 16 came to mind. I felt a sense of dismay as I read the second part of it; there I was thinking that I was doing well just by ignoring these troublemakers when God wants me to go the full distance and "abide in love"! Again I wondered if this was not the enemy and his agents (John 8: 38-44; 2 Corinthians 11: 12-15; Matthew 7: 15-20; 2 Peter 3: 15-16) manipulating Scripture to serve their own ends, and prayed for confirmation that I had heard right. After all, if God is love, love must be discerning (Philippians 1: 9).
Yesterday (2 Aug '19) in the midst of growing animosity towards my enemies, I heard the words revile not in my spirit and recalled 1 Peter 2: 23. But, I replied wryly, it's fun reviling back. Today (3 Aug) I asked the Lord what is the point in hearing them in the spirit, only to ignore them? I don't want to hear them, I would rather hear from God. Perhaps He wants me to know what it's like for others because this phenomenon began for me only recently (2019) in Nigeria, although I had previously sensed that other people could hear my thoughts (at first while I was studying in Ireland 2014-15). However, I have since noticed an important distinction - although they can hear my thoughts, they can't actually read my mind i.e. to know what I'm thinking without being told. Overnight (1 Sept '19) I was mulling over how people can actually hear my thoughts without "breaking" the spiritual principle found in 1 Corinthians 2: 11, which says "For who among men can know the thoughts of a man except the man's own spirit that is in him?". The Holy Spirit brought to my mind something I had not noticed before - the words "for who among men" and "spirit that is in him" suddenly stood out - as if to confirm what I've been wondering all along: the "persons" that can know my thoughts are not "ordinary". Human beings can project their spirits out of their bodies through astral projection (https://destee.com/threads/astral-projection-for-beginners.52642/; accessed 2019), in fact, much of their "psychic" ability is derived from watching you directly or indirectly in the astral/spirit realm. They can communicate with one other, human spirit to human spirit (mind to mind) and with other spirit beings who relay thoughts and information to them (e.g. Acts 16: 16-18), just as the Holy Spirit knows our thoughts and can relay the things of God to us (2 Kings 6: 8-13; 1 Corinthians 2: 10-16). Therefore, when it comes to spiritual or supernatural knowledge there is always a go-between or intermediary, which is a spirit!
Another way I know that I am dealing with territorial spirits is that when I pray in "tongues" (as in the spiritual gift of tongues see 1 Corinthians 14: 1-2), I discern in my spirit that the people monitoring me spiritually do not understand what I am saying, perhaps because speaking in tongues bypasses the mind unless the interpretation is given (1 Corinthians 14: 13-14). What I can also extrapolate or deduce from this is that their human spirits (and thus minds) do not understand a foreign language. By the way, thanks to colonization, English is widely spoken in Nigeria and, given the uncertainty from Brexit over Britain's relationship with the EU, Britain will likely turn to its Commonwealth partners, which includes Nigeria, for support. It is therefore highly probable that Britain, where I grew up and which I left finally in 2018 of my own accord, is also involved in spiritual monitoring aka "remote viewing" (for more info, see the YouTube video Remote viewing - top secret government projects). The role of these territorial spirits is to become familiar with you, through constant monitoring and observation, to know you so well that they can accurately predict and eventually control your every move (unconscious conformity, in other words, you can no longer think for yourself), hence the name familiar aka monitoring spirits; to use a militarily term, their assignment is to gather and disseminate "intelligence" concerning you. However, this information is not always reliable or true; it is often half-truths (Genesis 3: 1-5 & v.19 & v.22-24) or, in some cases, an outright lie.
We must recognize that when we became Christians, we automatically became participants in the war between the kingdom of light (God) and the kingdom of darkness (Satan). Furthermore, it is written that Satan is the prince or "god" of this world (2 Corinthian 4: 4; Ephesians 2: 2; John 14: 30 & 16 v.11; man forfeited his dominion through sin) and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one i.e. Satan (1 John 5: 19 WEB). Therefore, the world and its ways are naturally anti-God. The world's system is set up to undermine and break God's commandments as a petulant child takes pleasure in disobeying his parents, like a rebellious youth sticking two fingers up at the authorities. Examples range from the insidious practice of divination and witchcraft/sorcery, Sabbath trading, gay marriage, gender confusion, cross-breeding of different animals and plants, to seemingly inconsequential things like the use of blended fabrics made of different types of fibers (Deuteronomy 18: 10-12, Leviticus 19: 31, Isaiah 8: 19-20; Leviticus 19: 30, Exodus 20: 8-10; Leviticus 18: 22, Romans 1: 26-27; Genesis 1: 27; Leviticus 19: 19). It seems if God says no the world says yes and vice versa.
From my bible study on 1 John 2: 15-17 'Love not the world’, which the Holy Spirit brought to mind (5 Apr '19), I learnt that love of God as written in the King James bible actually means love for God! This helped to shed light on two important Scripture verses: Romans 5: 5 '...the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us'. For years, I have thought this meant God’s love for others - the "agape" kind of love - and bemoaned the fact that I was lacking in this area. Now I understand it actually means that the Holy Spirit gives us a love for God, which I do have (yay!); Matthew 24: 12 'And because iniquity (in some translations wickedness) shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold'. Again, I thought this was referring to love for others but I saw from the text that it can also mean that our love for God can grow cold because of the increase of wickedness or evil in the world. Indeed, this is a major reason that many atheists give for not believing in God - how can God exist when there’s so much wrong with the world etc. Well, 1 John 2: 15-17 also helps to explain this. The world’s kingdom is not God’s kingdom (at least not yet)! The world is currently under Satan’s domain. That is why Jesus taught his disciples to pray, 'Our Father which art in heaven...Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven' (Matthew 6: 9-10). The hardness of heart and lack of compassion towards marginalized members of society - the homeless, the jobless, the mentally ill, the weak and oppressed - is because the love of God is not in them: they do not love what/who God loves because they do not love God. People are objectified so that they lose their intrinsic worth and become only as good as what they have to offer or their last success - the work of their hands (Isaiah 2: 8; Psalm 135: 15-18). It's heartbreaking how people use and degrade each other. The world scorns the things God esteems and exalts the things he does not, and seeks to exert its influence on Christians. To answer Isaac Watts' question in "Am I a soldier of the cross?", emphatically no, the world will not help us unto God!
How God hates our compromised religion (Malachi 1: 10-11; Revelation 3: 15-16). He is a great God and King (Psalm 95: 3 & 47: 7); he doesn't need our half-hearted, trumped up worship (Luke 19: 40; Psalm 8: 2)! It's time for the children of God to arise and to take their places in God's army against the forces of darkness that seek to suppress the knowledge of the truth and impose their evil agenda in and through those who yield to them. We need to know who we are in Christ and that we do have power over the enemy (Luke 10: 19) when we are led by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8: 14; 2 Timothy 1: 7) and clothed in the whole armour of God (Ephesians 6: 11-18). Christians who don't know the authority they have in Christ are like Walt Disney's housekeeper, Thelma Howard, who died without knowing she was a millionaire due to the amount of shares she had amassed over the years. Most likely, she was ignorant of the value of the shares Disney had given her and so sadly never benefited from them during her lifetime. Similarly, most Christians are ignorant of the riches of their inheritance in Christ (John 14: 12-13; Mark 16: 17-18; Matthew 18: 18-20; Ephesians 1: 3, 18-23 & 2: 6) and never live in the freedom (Galatians 5: 1; John 8: 36) and abundance of life Christ intends for us (John 10: 10). And sadly, like the original sin of Adam and Eve and that of Esau who sold his birthright for a bowl of soup, Christians all too often surrender their God-given authority (Genesis 1: 28) to Satan, through sin and rebellion, in exchange for the temporal pleasures and possessions of this life.
A house divided against itself cannot stand! I've often wondered if an alien force attacked the earth and the only way to defeat it was for people everywhere to unite, who would win? Such is the blight of division on humanity, a potent and effective tool used initially by God (tower of Babel, Genesis 11: 1-9; don't miss the fact that God thwarted their plans by dividing their tongues thereby preventing intercommunication), and emulated by man everywhere over the years to divide and conquer. As the body of Christ, we cannot advance if we ourselves are divided. Is it any wonder that church attendance is in decline when we are seen as hypocrites by the watching, sceptical world (John 13: 35; John 17: 20-21)? The amount of times I've been stabbed in the back by the selfish ambition of "Christians" only seeking their own self-advancement is deplorable. When we became Christians we agreed to certain things, whether or not we know it, including suffering and persecution because we live in a world that is naturally hostile to the things of God (James 4: 4; Luke 14: 27; John 16: 33; Matthew 24: 9-13). It is therefore imperative that Christians have each other's backs.
Moreover, the Bible's solution for dealing with oppression, abuse, trauma etc is not retaliation, suicide or escaping the body (via astral projection and formation of alternate identities aka dissociative alters or, in plain english, being fragmented) but living in the body by dying to self/ego, drawing strength from our union and identification with Jesus the Messiah (Ecclesiastes 9: 5; Matthew 16: 24-26; Galatians 5: 24 & 6: 14; 1 John 2: 17; John 15: 4-5; Colossians 3: 3-4). I am becoming more and more convinced that the life we live on earth and all that we go through is a test of faith in one way or another. This is God's way of doing things, as exemplified by Jesus - first suffering and humility, then ascension and glory (Isaiah 55: 8; Matthew 3: 13-15 & 23: 10-12; Hebrews 12: 3; 1 Peter 2: 21-23).
We have to train ourselves to tune out the clamour of the world which (under Satan's influence) goes to great lengths to keep us from feeding our spirits on the milk and meat of God's word, and instead to tune in to the small, still voice of the Holy Spirit (who speaks to our spirits, as do other spirits; 1 John 4: 1) through meditating on the Word (so we can know God's will and discern the Holy Spirit who does not contradict the Word of God; 2 Timothy 3: 16; 2 Peter 1: 20-21), prayer (strengthens your spirit especially praying in tongues; Ephesians 6: 18; Philippians 4: 6-7), fasting (helps to subdue the flesh/body thereby allowing your spirit to dominate but note the caveat, be sure to be led on a fast by the holy spirit see Luke 4: 1-2 as other spirits can also be fortified through fasting; Matthew 9: 14-15 & 17: 21 KJV) and praise (see Psalm 22: 3; 2 Chronicles 5: 13-14 & 20: 21-22; Isaiah 61: 3 for the power of praise!).
Although we are in the world, we not of the world (John 17: 16 & 15: 18-21) and are called to live differently (1 John 2: 15-17; 2 Corinthians 6: 17; Revelation 18: 4), to be salt and light and yet to cultivate a gentle, forgiving spirit, undefiled by evil (Luke 9: 53-56; Matthew 5: 1-16; 2 Corinthians 12: 9-10; Philippians 2: 14-15; Romans 12: 17-21). This is indeed a hard teaching and it is no wonder that Jesus was deserted by many. But along with the faithful remnant, I say, "To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (John 6: 68).
(NB. Apologies for the technical problems in the video but the explanation of how a familiar spirit operates is spot on)
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