Ghosts, witches, haunted houses and other issues involving the occult are merely part of a fantasy world and are harmless fun, right?
Wrong, said several Alabama ministers who believe society is becoming more accepting of the occult. They believe the presence of demonic forces in our world is an issue churches need to start addressing. Their concerns are echoed by a Gallup Poll that found there has been an increase in belief in psychic, paranormal and occult phenomena during the past decade.
Chris Chambers, minister to students at First Baptist Church in Trussville, said programs like “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch” and “Charmed” that deal with the occult make it seem fashionable and have desensitized people.
“They don’t see it as harmful,” he said.
Chambers said he read several years ago about a student whose parents professed to be Christians yet purchased her a pentagram because they considered it OK.
“I think what we’re seeing now is that people don’t see the occult as being anything evil or anything bad,” Chambers said.
The Gallup Poll indicated almost half of Americans believe in psychic or spiritual healing and in extrasensory perception. It also found that a third believe in such things as haunted houses, possession by the devil, ghosts, telepathy, extraterrestrial beings having visited the earth and clairvoyance.
Murray Wilton, pastor of Southside Baptist Church in Huntsville, said America is no longer spiritually strong, making it “an ideal place for the operation of the demonic.”
“America is an ideal place for the demonic realm to hide because we have become a secular society,” he said. “Even the church has become secularized.
“Pastors need to undertake this issue seriously and not be fearful to teach on these things and learn how to pray and use God’s weapons,” Wilton said.
Richard Trader, pastor of Twelfth Street Baptist Church in Gadsden, said he believes the increase among individuals interested in the occult is due to their desire for something to believe in. He characterized that hunger as a search for “spiritual reality.
“Unfortunately, people are finding reality on the dark side of the spirit world,” Trader said. “There’s just a hunger for spiritual things and the occult is a spiritual thing, even though it’s on the dark side.”
Wilton offered one theory on the increase in demonic activity. He said the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe has dispelled darkness in those countries and the darkness is seeking a new place to hide.
“I believe that America is an ideal place for the cover,” Wilton said. “We are definitely seeing an increase in demonic activity that is now being made known.”
He cited Scripture from 2 Corinthians 10:3–4 and Ephesians 6:10–17 as passages that highlight believers’ battles against demonic forces.
Trader argued churches have gone too long without discussing the dangers of the occult.
“The church needs to address the reality of it and the fact that we’re in spiritual warfare,” Trader said. “I don’t think we can ignore it. I think we’ve ignored it too long and that there is spiritual warfare going on.”
And he said that resources for telling believers how to combat the dark side are readily available, with pastors having to look no further than the Bible for instruction.
The Gallup Poll also found an increase in the number of individuals who said they believe in the devil. The poll found 68 percent believe in the devil, up from 55 percent more than a decade ago in 1990.
But Chambers said he is also concerned people don’t appreciate how much power the devil has and his evil nature.
“He is a deceiver and people don’t understand that,” Chambers said. “They think he’s not that bad, so therefore they don’t fear him and what he can do to them.”
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