Evidence For the Devil – Secular Sources

By: Dr. John Ankerberg, Dr. John Weldon; ©2003

The fact that all spiritistically inspired literature opposed biblical teaching confirms the biblical view of spiritual warfare. Otherwise, why should godly spirits oppose biblical teachings at all? The spirits’ own teachings confirm they are not who they claim.

Evidence for the Devil – Secular Sources

Hostility to Historic Biblical Christianity

The fact that all spiritistically inspired literature opposes biblical teaching confirms the biblical view of spiritual warfare. Otherwise, why should godly spirits oppose biblical teach­ings at all? Their own teachings prove that what the Bible says of them is true (i.e., that they are not who they claim).^[1]

In our book Cult Watch we stated in brief that the evidence demonstrates that these “loving” spirits with their endless disguises—from “angels” to “aliens” to “nature spirits”—fit the category of the demonic. It can be shown that these spirits—despite their frequent use of religious words and claims to spirituality—promote sin and immorality, and endorse occultism. Some even promote criminal activity and such perverse rituals as necrophilia (sex with corpses). They also pervert and distort biblical truth, reject Christ and hate the God of the Bible, and purposely deceive those who listen—sometimes with sadistic intent. If the above can be demonstrated (as it can), what other conclusions may we arrive at other than that these creatures are deceiving spirits? Why should we listen to them?

Consider the teachings of the spirit entity “Emmanuel” as found in the text by Pat Rodegast entitled Emmanuel’s Book. Morally, Emmanuel teaches the permissibility and desirability of divorce (“incompatible” marriages); the possibility of “open marriage” (adul­tery); the permissibility of abortion (“a useful act” when done “with willingness to learn” for “nothing in your human world is absolutely wrong”); and homosexuality and bisexuality as normal behavior.^[2]

Emmanuel also demeans political leaders as ignorant and sick and teaches that the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust really chose to be murdered in order to grow spiritually. Thus, Emmanuel says that Hitler and Stalin should not be condemned too se­verely for they also are part of God.^[3]

One book by a psychologist/channeler having wide experience with channeling says that a common theme of almost all modern channeling is that because men are literally creators of their own experience, “There are no victims.” All personal experiences with evil are simply things we choose to create to “learn certain experiential lessons.”^[4] But are these teachings logical? Are they the kinds of moral codes man should live by? Are they good, ethical teachings in any sense? Can they be considered socially constructive? Are these ideas what we would expect from morally pure, divine, or highly evolved spiritual beings?

Or, on the other hand, are they what we would expect from evil spiritual beings? The fact is that such teachings are not the exception; they are merely representative of hundreds of other spirits’ teachings as reflected in occult literature today.^[5]

The Destructive Power of the Occult and the Testimony of Brilliant Thinkers

The personal damage to people’s lives revealed throughout the history of the occult is powerful evidence that occult practice links one to a world of evil spirits. This may explain why some of the most energetic minds of the modern era have accepted the reality of demons: They do leave evidence of both their existence and their nature.

The astute Cambridge professor C. S. Lewis said in regard to the existence of demons: “It seems to me to explain a good many facts. It agrees with the plain sense of Scripture, the tradition of Christendom, and the beliefs of most men at most times. And it conflicts with nothing that any of the sciences has shown to be true.”^[6]

Trial lawyer, philosopher, and theologian Dr. John W. Montgomery holds eight earned degrees, including two doctorates, and is the author of over a hundred books and articles. He owns one of the largest personal occult libraries in the country and is convinced “there is overwhelming extra-biblical data and empirical confirmation” documenting scriptural claims for the existence of a personal devil and demons.^[7]

If even veteran psychic researchers admit the following concerning our ignorance of the psychic realm, certainly there is no reason to reject the idea of demons outright: “In truth, even the most knowledgeable among us must admit that when dealing with psychic as­pects, we command no more than varying degrees of ignorance.”^[8]

Is the skeptics’ position really tenable? Dr. Montgomery argues that, in controversial areas especially, special care must be taken to objectively assess the facts of the matter, whether or not it is personally comforting: “We must ‘suspend disbelief,’ check out the evidence with the care demanded for events in general, attempt to formulate explanatory constructs that best ‘fit the facts’ and at the same time be willing always to accept facts even if our best attempts to explain them prove inadequate.”^[9]

Let’s offer a final illustration of why we feel we cannot ignore the possibility of a real devil and demons. It is a fact that all men everywhere believe that at any given moment, an invisible world of living creatures hovers about us (such as viruses and insects); indeed they even play an important role in the outcome of affairs on our planet, such as crop harvests and disease levels. Nevertheless, we rarely see them.

There are literally billions of creatures about us that we never see—in the air, water, and soil. Yet we know they exist, either by careful observation or the evidence of their visits.

It is a little strange that in a world where billions of creatures are not seen and yet be­lieved in, that men refuse to accept the existence of God, angels, and demons merely because they have not yet seen them—when, in fact, their “tracks” are virtually everywhere. Perhaps some people cannot see them because they rule out their existence to begin with; hence, their “tracks” are explained by recourse to other theories. But for those persons who observe both nature and religion carefully, the “tracks” of the invisibles are only too obvious.

Dave Hunt uses the analogy of the subatomic particle called the neutrino as an illustra­tion of the closed-mindedness the skeptic has toward the spiritual world.^[10] The neutrino is a particle that has no physical properties (no mass), no electrical charge, and is unaffected by gravitational or electromagnetic fields. A neutrino traveling toward the earth would pass right through it as if it simply did not exist. In fact, only one in ten billion neutrinos passing through matter the equivalent of the earth’s diameter would react with a neutron or proton!

Now, let us assume there are intelligent “neutrino” beings. They would, of course, not be able to detect our universe; to them it would simply not exist. A neutrino entity could, at the very most, suspect our existence from certain secondary effects. But he would undoubtedly be ridiculed by his fellow colleagues and could never prove his suspicions since his neu­trino instruments would simply be incapable of detecting our universe.

If such beings existed, we who live upon the earth might find it unendingly amusing that these entities would refuse to admit our existence merely because they could neither see us or detect us directly. Their philosophical and logical “proofs” of our nonexistence would make good party fare. And if it were possible that we could in some manner interact with their world (while they could not affect ours), no doubt humans would have a very merry time with any curious neutrino beings willing to investigate our effects or “prove” our exist­ence. To those neutrinos willing to dedicate their lives to our research, it would undoubtedly be most profound, with many disturbing implications.

The parallels here to the materialist’s unwillingness to believe in a spirit world and the parapsychologist’s eagerness to try and prove one exists is obvious. Both are caught, as it were, in a “neutrino trap”: The former’s closed-mindedness prevents his realization of another dimension; the latter’s curiosity and credulity permits unending manipulation. And note carefully how little a neutrino being could ever really discover about our world. All his time would be spent with the enticing and fascinating secondary effects that, at best, would constitute the tip of the iceberg. After all his painstaking investigation, after all the theoreti­cal constructs he could muster, he would remain infinitely ignorant about the real makeup of our world. He would know nothing of our physical constitution or abilities, our morality or civilization, our social structure and laws, our penchant for cruelty or wars.

The psychic’s dilemma is also obvious: He is the equivalent of a neutrino being poking and prodding a foreign environment, with absolutely no genuine knowledge of its inhabitant’s makeup and morality, or its world’s laws or dangers. A neutrino being was never meant to exist on an earth world, and neither is an earth being capable of exploring a neutrino world without courting whatever unknown hazards might be present. But to say evil spirits cannot exist, or that there is no evidence for them, is simply untenable by the canons of biblical, cultural, and empirical data.

In conclusion, a person would be hard-pressed to maintain that demons simply do not exist after considering not only the divine authority of the Bible and the testimony of Christ (who, as God, is an infallible authority), but also the consensus of history and religion, the testimony of active and former occultists, the phenomenon of spirit possession, the hostility to biblical revelation displayed in spiritistic literature, and the personal wreckage in the history of occultism.

In the end, one either trusts the spirits and ignores the facts, or trusts the facts and ignores the spirits.

Notes

1. ↑ See the companion article: “The Teachings of the Spirits.”
2. ↑ Pat Rodegast, Emanuel’s Book (Weston, CT: Friends Press, 1986), pp. 132, 198-201, 227, 232, 205, 161.
3. ↑ Ibid., pp. xx, 145, 88, 151, 208, 223, 228.
4. ↑ Kathryn Ridall, Channeling (New York: Bantam, 1988), p. 58.
5. ↑ See the companion article: “The Teachings of the Spirits.”
6. ↑ C. S. Lewis, Screwtape Letters (New York: Macmillan, 1971), p. vii.
7. ↑ John Warwick Montgomery, “Commentary on Hysteria and Demons, Depression and Oppression, Good and Evil” in John Warwick Montgomery, ed., Demon Possession: A Medical Historical Anthropological and Theological Symposium (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany, 1976), p. 232.
8. ↑ Martin Ebon, “Psychic Roulette,” Psychic Magazine, Dec, 1975, p. 58.
9. ↑ John Warwick Montgomery, Principalities and Powers (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany, 1975), p. 146.
10. ↑ Dave Hunt, The Cult Explosion (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 1980), pp. 15-16.