Sexual Immorality and Other Personal and Social Consequences of Occult Involvement – Part 3

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

In occult/Eastern philosophies there exists a host of spiritual rationalizations which allow both the leader and disciple to sidestep their own immorality, failures, or greed. The blame for any resulting sin or disaster can be placed upon the interference of “malevolent spirits,” the necessity of “karmic justice,” spiritual “testing,” or the failure of other people to properly “attune” themselves psychically as instructed.

Sexual Immorality and Other Consequences of Occult Involvement – Cosmic Rationalizations

In occult/Eastern philosophies there exists a host of spiritual rationalizations which allow both the leader and disciple to sidestep their own immorality, failures, or greed. The blame for any resulting sin or disaster can be placed upon the interfer­ence of “malevolent spirits,” the necessity of “karmic justice,” spiritual “testing,” or the failure of other people to properly “attune” themselves psychically as instructed. Carolee Collins refers to one case where “ascended masters,” speaking through a medium,

…maintained that members of this entire inner group were over the centuries constantly reincarnating into different relationships with each other…. And so each of them in turn had been mother, father, sister, brother, aunt or uncle, wife or husband, to all the others. And because Karen had at one time or another been legally wed to each of the men in the congregation, no one would dare to castigate her if she now slept with most of the good-looking ones. The wives, and Karen’s husband, were told that it was their karma to endure whatever life handed them, and if the prettiest girl in the crowd got most of the goodies, that was their tough luck.^[1]

Raymond Van Over confesses:

This is danger number one: occultism offers ready and convenient means by which those already disturbed—or those on the borderline—can justify or rationalize their neurotic needs. The deeper their involvement in occultism, the more likely it is that such people will utilize its teachings and symbolism in a psychotic way.^[2]

And so it has always been. For example, Current Opinion of June 1914 (Vol. 56) had the following editorial commenting on Dr. John Raupert’s book, The Dangers of Spiritualism (1901):

Throughout the whole of his experience he obtained proofs that the character of these spirits is immoral and of blighting influence upon their victims. Although for a time they dictate high moral principles, especially to those who indulge in automatic writing, these invariably degenerate into sinister, blasphemous, or obscene suggestions. Hints are thrown out that morality is a matter of conventionality, that certain instincts are implanted in us in order to be gratified. Mr. Raupert asserts that he has known many women ruined utterly in body and soul by these debasing immoralities, urged upon them when their will-power had been destroyed by opening the doors of their mind to evil suggestion.

The ravages of such an experience upon the nervous system are well known to those who investigate the causes of insanity. The growth of a morbid tendency among persons addicted to amusements of the mediumistic sort has long been familiar to psychologists. The subconscious associations seem to usurp the functions of the normal processes in those addicted to a haphazard pursuit of “black magic.”^[3]

The “Shanti Nilah” spiritual retreat center in Southern California is another illustra­tion of sex and the occult. Headed by a psychic healer and the well-known spiritist Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross (the famous authority on death and dying), the center attracted negative publicity for its many tales of sexual promiscuity—ostensibly with spirit entities or, in other words, the phenomena known historically as the “incubi” and “succubae.”^[4]

Perhaps this is one of the most unsavory activities in the area of occult sexuality: sex with “male” or “female” demons. This has a long tradition in witchcraft and other forms of the occult, and regardless of how it is done, the experience is reported as a physical one. John Weldon has talked with a former witch who experienced such phenomena personally, while she was clearly in a waking state. It is also mentioned by Drs. Koch, Unger, Vallee, Fodor, and many other researchers.^[5]

For example, witch Doreen Valiente in An ABC of Witchcraft Past and Present discusses one case she personally knew of, noting, “Psychic researchers have encountered similar phenomena, sometimes with the added horror of alleged vampirism.”^[6]

There are also reported cases in Catholic monasteries. Dr. Vallee observes that “the most remarkable cases of sexual contact with nonhumans are… in the archives of the Catholic Church” and he proceeds to list examples.^[7] Given the claim that (according to Investigative Reports TV series “Sins of the Fathers”) widespread homosexuality and, to a much lesser degree, pedophilia exist in some Catholic seminaries and among priests today (25 to 50 percent of priests were estimated to be homosexually inclined), one can only wonder if this phenomena has already returned.^[8] There are also cases of sex with alleged UFO occupants (e.g., the Villa Boas, Shane Kurz, and Cordelia Donovan incidents), which essentially parallel the incubi-succubae.^[9]

Psychiatrists rationalistically view these experiences as sexual “dreams,” but this does little justice to the data, especially when people report them in a waking state.

Dr. Koch comments on this bizarre experience and supplies examples from his own counseling ministry.

We now come to discuss [spirit] phenomena in the form of sexual experiences, which is surely the most repellent area of pastoral work. There are, namely, some severely troubled people who have nocturnal sexual [spirit] experiences, and are tormented by them. This is not a matter of “wet dreams” or of the sexual hallucinations of schizophrenics, but of experiences in a waking state. In the history of religion this phenomenon is known as incubi and succubae. These are male and female seducing demons. In the Bible there is such a story recorded in Genesis 6:4. There we read how sons of God united with daughters of men. This would be the phenomenon of angel marriages.

Among the ancient peoples we can point to such conceptions too. The Babylonians and Assyrians had myths of so-called night maidens (ardat lili), which continued in Jewish tradition as lilith. In the Christian era this motif of demon marriage continued. In the Legend of St. Antony, the devil appears in the form, among others, of an enticing woman. The theme continued in the popular beliefs of the middle ages. In The 6th and 7th Book of Moses it is reported (6,6) how the demons make sexual assaults on people at night in the form of beautiful maidens or young men. In our day the phenomenon is constantly appearing in pastoral interviews. A few examples will illustrate in a striking way the mental distress of those afflicted.

Ex. 84—A woman often experiences nocturnal visitations. In a waking state she sees five wild boars charging at her, with intent to violate her. The woman cries loudly for help. Her husband finds it hard to calm her. He does not see the boars; he only hears strange noises.

Ex. 85—A friend of mine who was a missionary in China reported similar things among the Chinese. We have here a problem well known in the history of missions, that of fox-possession. Girls who are by day perfectly normal psychologically, and go about their work quite regularly, are at night sexually plagued by apparitions. Figures appear with the head of a fox. As soon as the figure draws near, the fox-head changes into the handsome face of a man. These girls suffer dreadfully from these nocturnal visitations. It is worthy of note that girls who turn to Christ are delivered from this. Christian Chinese girls are not subject to this affliction.^[10]

Thus, he emphasizes, “From the pastoral point of view it is significant that faith in Jesus Christ puts an end to these sexual [spirit] apparitions.”^[11]

Dr. Unger also observes:

Perhaps the most terrible and revolting form of demonic oppression is what is known in the history of religion as incubi and succubae experiences. This is the assault by an unclean spirit upon its enslaved victim for the purpose of sexual lust. Both men and women have been attacked and molested by “seducing male and female demons.” Such fully established phenomena show that angelic-human union, a major cause of the flood (Genesis 6:1-4; cf., 2 Peter 2:4; Jude 1:6-7), has its parallel in occultism today.^[12]

In another account described by Dr. Fodor:

Twice she had a waking experience at night of an unbelievably more frightening nature. She was visited by an incubus—a phantom or demon who behaved like a man and felt like a corpse. She saw no face and was paralyzed with fear^[13] (see example in footnote).

Notes

1. ↑ Carolee Collins, “Reincarnation as Alibi” in Martin Ebon, The Satan Trap (New York: Doubleday and Co., 1976), pp. 135-136.
2. ↑ Raymond Van Over, “Vampire and Demon Lover” in Ebon, The Satan Trap, p. 107.
3. ↑ Thanks to Edmond Gruss for this article.
4. ↑ John Weldon, Psychic Healing (Dallas: Zola Levitt Ministries, 1991), pp. 20-21; cf. Human Behav­ior, Sep. 1977, pp. 18-27. The Los Angeles Times, Oct. 15, 1979, and several other newspapers carried an exposé of the purported sexual activity. See also Frances Adney, “Hope and Reincar­nation: Elisabeth Kubler Ross and Life After Death” SCP Newsletter, Aug.-Sep. 1982.
5. ↑ Nandor Fodor, An Encyclopedia of Psychic Science (London: Arthur Press, Inc., 1934), p. 234; cf. W. B. Crow, A History of Magic, Witchcraft and Occultism (Abacus, 1968), pp. 248-249; Jacques Vallee, Passport to Magonia (Chicago, IL: H. Regnery Co., 1969), pp. 116-129; Merrill Unger, Demons in the World Today (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 1972), p. 32.
6. ↑ Doreen Valiente, An ABC of Witchcraft Past and Present (New York: St. Martins, 1973), pp. 200- 201.
7. ↑ Vallee, Passport to Magonia, p. 117 (cf. pp. 116-129).
8. ↑ According to the Arts and Entertainment Network Investigative Reports series “Sins of the Fathers” (Jan. 1993), 400-500 Catholic priests have been charged with pedophilia and sources cited on the program estimated 25 to 50 percent of priests were homosexually inclined. See the book Lead Us Not Into Temptation by Jason Berry (New York: Doubleday, 1992).
9. ↑ John Keel, Our Haunted Planet (Fawcett Gold Medal, 1971), p. 161; Hans Holzer, “The Strangest Case of All” (Chapter 8), The UFONauts. A number of cases have been listed in the British journal. Flying Saucer Review.
10. ↑ Kurt Koch, Christian Counseling and Occultism (Grand Rapids, MI.: Kregel Publications, 1965), pp. 162-163.
11. ↑ Ibid., p. 164.
12. ↑ Unger, Demons in the World Today, p. 32.
13. ↑ Nandor Fodor, The Haunted Mind (New York: New American Library, 1968), p. 180. Many people today are skeptical of the very idea of the incubus/succubus under the assumption that spirits cannot assume tangible form. But the history of the occult shows this to be false. In addition, there are many incubus/succubus experiences associated with poltergeist phenomena. Robert Curran’s book The Haunted: One Family’s Nightmare recounts a contemporary example of an incident with a succubus (a devil that rapes a man). In this case, Jack Smurl of West Pittston, Pennsylvania, who had moved with his family into a house inhabited by a poltergeist, was attacked by a succubus. Smurl described the succubus as a woman “around 65 or 70” with “serpentine-snake-like scales” who paralyzed him in some way, had sexual intercourse with him, and left him covered with a pungent, sticky fluid. The demonic nature of the poltergeist was seen not only in its stench, but also in its destructive ability, its desire to harm people, its aversion to Christian items, and also in its sexual activity.