We have learned in
the previous blog that the root cause of religious OCD is legalism empowered by
the illegitimate power of witchcraft. The good news is, the moment we confess our sins to God and ask Him to forgive
us, He forgives us immediately. It is very important for us to grasp that. We
must understand that even though we have repented from legalism and are
forgiven, it does not necessarily mean all of our obsessive thoughts and fears
will go away instantly. It simply means that we have entered into a journey toward
recovery in which we cooperate with God to renew our belief system until all of
the lies and deceptions of the Enemy have been exposed and replaced with the
truth. The more the truth of the Word of God abides in our heart and mind, and
the more we learn to live a life of dependency upon Christ, the more peace we
will experience. As we ask Jesus to deliver us and to uproot the root and replace it with Himself; fear and anxiety will
eventually dissipate and be replaced with the abiding fruit of righteousness,
peace and joy in the Holy Ghost (see
Romans 14:17). And even though it is a process, we are forgiven and accepted by
God through faith in Christ’s work on the cross. It is of utmost importance for
us to realize that the righteousness that God prescribes is a righteousness
that is of faith (see Romans 1:17). Otherwise, condemnation will keep us tied
to legalism and we will not be able to completely walk away from it or make
lasting progress. I am planning to teach in future blogs on the difference
between the righteousness that is of faith versus the righteousness that is of works.
But for now, let us
go back to the witchcraft part. How did Derek Prince draw his conclusion that witchcraft
was the illegitimate power behind legalism? He drew it from Galatians 3:1:
O foolish Galatians! Who has
bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus
Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?
—Galatians 3:1 NKJV
We see in Galatians
3:1 that the apostle Paul used the word bewitched
to describe the state of the Galatians. Derek Prince pointed out in Lucifer Exposed that wherever we
encounter legalism, somewhere behind it is witchcraft. As I studied his book
along with the Scriptures and my own experience, I learned that the supreme objective
of witchcraft in the church is to hide the reality of the work of the cross,
Jesus Christ crucified.[1] We
know from the Word of God that rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft (see 1
Samuel 15:23). Prince stated in his book that “the illegitimate power that
supports rebellion is the power of witchcraft.”[2] In
addition to 1 Samuel 15:23, Galatians 3:1 also makes the connection between
witchcraft and rebellion, “Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the
truth”. And the last part of the same verse completes the puzzle, “before whose
eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified” We see here
that the apostle Paul describes not believing the truth about Christ crucified
as disobedience. Therefore, if we believe the message, we are regarded as
obedient; but if we won’t believe, we are regarded as rebellious. I am planning
to elaborate in future blogs on the righteousness that is of faith since
understanding this foundational truth is key to our victory.
I began to comprehend
what Derek Prince meant when he highlighted that what makes witchcraft so
dangerous is the fact that it is within the church and is working against the
people who are unaware of its presence.[3]
God had also shown me this sort of
witchcraft could easily be dismissed as
innocent and inoffensive. Thus, witchcraft was the main problem in the Galatians
church; they had returned to fleshly endeavors to please God; “they had
reverted to keeping all sorts of rules as a way of achieving righteousness with
God.”[4]
Witchcraft is not only an evil supernatural power, but it is also a work of the
flesh (see Galatians 5:20). Wouldn’t you agree that trying hard to please God
seems harmless and even righteous? The question is, are we trying hard in our
own might or in God’s might? Are we serving God to get saved or because we are
already saved through faith in Christ?
I believe it was a
year before God showed me legalism was my problem, but I can’t be certain on
the timing. Paul had decided to fast for me three days due to the seriousness
of my situation. As a result of his fast, God revealed to him three things. One
of them came through a dream. In the dream, we were in church. I was sitting in
a pew in the row in front of him, which allowed him to see better what was
happening to me. There were some suspicious church people who were
administering a questionable medicine to me, and I was visibly in a daze as
though under a spell. Even at that time,
God had been revealing the evil power of witchcraft that was at work in my
life. But during the time I was under the spell of legalism, I was not able to
grasp the revelation of what it really meant to us that Christ was crucified to
pay the price for our sins. I was constantly studying the Word, but I had a
hard time coming to the true knowledge of it (see 2 Timothy 3:7). The extreme
torment of it became unbearable. Legalism is a cruel master.
Although legalism
empowered by witchcraft was a new idea to me, years before I fell deep into
legalism the Lord had spoken to me very clearly about the satanic powers behind
witchcraft. It was during the time my mother was involved in the occult and was
a tarot cards apprentice (she later gave her heart to the Lord and repented
from her involvement with the occult and witchcraft). In a dream, the Lord had shown me my mom’s dog. The dog was crazy,
running aimlessly across the street. He looked like he was in a daze; he looked
like a zombie. His eyes wide open, he was running without clear direction—on
the street, off the street, on the street, off the street. As I watched this
disturbing scene, the Lord spoke to me and said, “They torment you, and they give you no rest.”
Now that I understand
witchcraft as the illegitimate power behind legalism, this dream from years ago
holds even more meaning for me. Certainly, after having suffered under the hard
taskmaster that legalism is, I can testify the spirits of witchcraft torment
you and they give you no rest for your soul. As far as what we are talking
about in this page, you become obsessed with your spiritual performance and
with your need to meet “God’s expectations”. You find yourself constantly under
a death sentence because every day your failures make you worthy of hell. You
keep thinking about how you need to change, how you don’t measure up; and it
seems like the more you try, the worse you become. . . .
The Lord willing, in
the next blog, I will share with you a tremendous revelation God gave me when I
asked Him what I needed to do in order to get better.
Until then, take
heart. I am sure you are now beginning to see for yourself that there is hope,
and that there is a way out.
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