need some answers please

[ilovejesus]

hello everybody,i am new on this forum. i thank god i found it. i am hopeing someone can help me with some answers.i am a christian,and i have strayed from god,i never forgot about him i just have not been listening to him for a while.BUT,, as everyone knows he will get your attention one way or another. what i was wondering is does anyone have any scriptures or anything that will help me with the matter at hand. someone i love very much has had contact with a person that calls himself a wicca, i am not sure that is spelt right,but he is a witch.he has told this person that he can put thoughts and ideas in thier head,it is about to drive them crazy. the person who i love is also a christian, we have prayed and it has helped but anymore info. some of you may have would be ablessing. thank ya'll for your time. may god bless you.

[Whitehorse]

Yes, absolutely. The first thing I would advise is that your friend be skeptical of the claims; it is in all likelihood an attempt to gain some sort of control over your friend, if only by causing fear, if for no other reason than the witch's own entertainment and feelings of personal superiority and power. He wants your friend to be afraid of him. This should be totally, completely, and utterly rejected. Fear of man is a trap.

Your friend should take every opportunity to simply trust and rest in God. He'll deal with this blokester, whether it's a power trip or he really is targeting your friend. God will not be mocked. If anything does happen to your friend, it is entirely under the control of God, and God will use it to bring your friend even closer to Himself, if he persists in trusting God. As it is written:

We live by faith, not by sight. II Corinthians 5:7.

It is also true, however, that people who practice these pagan religions can invoke demonic spirits to cause severe, vexatious grief to a Christian, but never outside the will of God. Christ is stronger than any demon, and your friend has the Holy Spirit living in him. So if your friend has indeed been targeted, these things should soothe him:

1. God often uses these circumstances, as painful as they are, to prepare His people for great ministry or to cleanse away sin. While the witch is increasing his own sin, God will use it for good in your friend, if he allows the witch to indeed invoke evil spirits to attack your friend, who may just as easily be under the protection of God.

It is written: To keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. II Corinthians 12: 7-9

2. Jesus was tormented by satan in order that He might be a sympathetic high priest to us. If this does end up happening to your friend, it may be God is putting him through the same school as Jesus and the apostle Paul, for it is written:

As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water. At that moment heven was opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, 'This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.' Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. Matthew 3:16-4:1

So we can see from this that as soon as He was publically commissioned, He was led into the desert to be tested: He was tempted with suicide, worshipping the devil, and disclaiming His own divine powers to break the prophecy He was fulfilling with His fast, and thereby denying His own divinity...with divine powers.

And for what purpose did Jesus Himself suffer these things? As it is written:

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in every way, just as we are-yet was without sin. Hebrews 4:14-15

Have your friend be sure to remember the promise attached to this verse: Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.  Hebrews 4:16

The Bible also gives us an example to follow closely: During the days of Jesus's life on earth, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverent submission. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from what He suffered, and, once made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek. Hebrews 5:7-10

(In case your friend is a young Christian, this does not mean Jesus ever sinned, as we know from the other scriptures. It means that He increased day be day in the testing and levels of obedience to which He would be called, ultimately to the cross, and He was prepared to carry out these missions through suffering. If your friend suffers, he must see it as an honor, embrace the role God is calling him to, get sin out of his life, and completely trust God to remove the situation when the time is right and your friend has stood the test. There are very stern warnings against falling away under pressure. If your friend slips into doubt, God will help him but if he continues in doubt, God will not reward it and He may make his situation worse.)

3. Thoughts that are rejected cannot hurt your friend, and he has an incredible weapon that the witch will never have! As it is written: For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. II Corinthians 10: 3-5

4. Praising God is a powerful weapon. David employed it a lot because it in itself is an act of faith.

5. The armor of God can be found in Ephesians six. I have pulled pages and pages and pages of verses on this chapter out of other areas of scripture. Let me know if your friend wants me to, and I will post some here.

So what should he do? Read the Bible and godly literature constantly. Make changes in his life to accomodate a lot of alone time with God. Read with care, pray before reading and ask for insight. Root any and all sins out of his life. Pray constantly, and fervently. God *will* hear and answer. Play and sing praise music a lot. Be sure that every assault only leads him closer to Christ. Find and write down promises and helpful verses out of the Bible. Believe on them. Get rid of doubting thoughts-they can be very destructive. God does not reward unbelief, but He adds punishment if His aid goes unused, because unbelief will eventually destroy. Do what Jesus did when He was assaulted: answer every evil thought with the scriptural antidote, and then do what that verse says. He'll be just fine. Ask if you need anything. I'll pray for him. But in all likelihood, the witch is just a blokester who wants to intimidate him. If your freind has been casting pearls before swine, he should stop.

[a.b.]

Hi!  I hope things are looking up.  Here's 3 points to ponder:

1.  Have you reunited with Christ since you strayed?
     How is that going?

2.  Has your friend renounced all the works of the devil?
     your friend must take full responsibility for their own
     soul.  They must deliberately choose to believe God's
     Word, go to church, pray.  If the fear persists, fasting
     is a great way to get the devil off your back but even
     this must be done in faith.  Your friend must choose
     to have faith in God or continue to be afraid.  Your friend
     must choose to talk to their pastor for guidance.  They
     must choose to read the Bible on their own, along with
     any Biblical literature that speaks on this subject: Neil
     Anderson has written great books on breaking all types
     of bondage of the devil.  Your friend must choose to
     stay in fellowship with strong Christians and forsake
     friendship with witches.  Joshua in the Bible told Israel
     "Choose ye this day whom you will serve, as for me and
      my house we will serve the Lord"

3.  Don't take on the burden of worrying too much because
     then you will be making an idol out of your friend's
     dilema.  It will become an obsession; you must avoid
     that.  After you pray for them, refuse to carry it
     around.  Each day say a prayer and commit your friend
     to God.  Then resist worry and it will flee.

[Whitehorse]

a.b., I agree that a knowledgeable and qualified pastor can be amongst a few good resources, and good literature is another great idea. (Precous Remedies Against Satan's Devices by Thomas Brooks is another excellent work.)

I would simply add this: Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2

I'm confused by the idolotry statement; it would seem idolotry is worship of an idol-a god raised above God Himself. But since He has commanded that we love our neighbors as ourselves and carry each other's burdens, I don't think even the most zealous concern could be idolotry, but love-a fulfillment of Christian duty.

Amen to not associating with the witch anymore-I think that's a wise observation, and I like the idea of his staying in fellowship with strong Christians-amen!

[a.b.]

Well Whitehorse, I hope this is a great day in the Lord for you.
I really enjoyed reading your last message.  If I may, let me clarify some of my statements.

When I used the term idol, I used a word that God gave me when I was overly concerned about my mom and sisters (forgive me for using a word that may not apply to you; it was a way for God to get me off the mental merry-go-round that I was riding).  I was putting too much thought into helping them fix their problems; I was overdoing it.  When I washed the dishes, I was mentally laboring over the crisis, when I went to bed, when I got up, when I shopped for groceries, when I read my Bible, when I prayed, when I went to church...I think you get my gist...I would pray about it, talk to the family, and still think and think and think.  The Lord let me know that I was worrying and not trusting him. I didn't think I was worrying; I thought I was just thinking of ways to get thru to my loved ones.  I needed to realize that my conversations with my family and my constant thoughts were not the way to break the stronghold, but the power of God is.  So God wanted me to stop focusing on the problem so much and commit it to him, the Problem-solver.  He instructed me to look up Psalm 37:4, then look up key words of this verse in the dictionary, then write it down.  This
set my heart free from worry.  

After the Lord opened my eyes to this, I began to understand
a great principle.  It was this:  If I pray about the important
things of my life and leave it in God's hand each day, then my
mind is not so cluttered and I will be able to hear the Lord's next instruction for the situation.  While I am worry free, I can
just praise him and as I am communing with him, he talks to me and gives me insight on the problem that I never would have thought of on my own.  He brings songs or scriptures to mind that I can share or he will give me a creative way to show my love and concern.  This truth sets me free everytime
I yield to it in the midst of any crisis.

Whitehorse, you are right to share your friend's burden.  Just
be careful that it does not become excessive.  Commune with
God and he will give you the next step.  If  He doesn't tell you
the next step for 10 days, then just continue to pray and leave the burden with him each day until he gives you something to do.  He will inspire you, telling you when to call
and when not to call, what to say, when to say it, how to say
it, what scriptures to share, or pray for them on the phone, or
go to a play or concert in the church community, and so on.
God loves to see his children showing his love and concern; he
just doesn't want us to be overwhelmed with any problem.  He
enjoys watching you grow stronger in trusting him and weaker in trusting your own abilities.  

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him...
AB

[Whitehorse]

Oh, I see what you're saying. Amen-trusting in the Lord is great advice! I went through a big stage of that, too! Thank you for a great observation!