Not so long ago, I noticed something very strange. Each day about the same time, I would start to get a feeling of fear. I would begin to worry and no matter how good of a day I was having, I would find myself feeling down until the feeling finally passed. Sometimes it passed quickly; sometimes it went on for the remainder of the day or night. The only way I can describe it is that it felt as though chains were being wrapped around my chest and slowly tightened. The fear and worry I was experiencing was not allowing me to live my life. I often said to myself, “If things are going better and I can see that there is nothing to worry about tomorrow, then I will allow myself to be happy. I’ll allow myself to love my family like I should. I will put my whole self into worshiping the Lord. But if things are not better, I’m just going to hold back and keep worrying until I can find a good place to take a break and allow myself to be happy maybe for a day.”

After dealing with this feeling for so long, I just assumed it was part of my day, maybe even part of my makeup – who I was. For my whole life, I’ve always fretted and worried about one thing or another.  Then, as I felt that awful feeling coming over me once more, my chest tightening, a feeling of anxiety setting in, suddenly my eyes were opened. I put my hands together and I began to pray. I told the Lord that I knew that he had not given us a spirit of fear. I knew this because he has told us this in his Word many times, so therefore the spirit that was coming over me each day couldn’t be from him. I prayed that he would bind this spirit that was seeking to oppress me in Jesus' Name.

Immediately, I felt the presence of the Lord and I had a feeling that I was doing what I was supposed to be doing. The worry left and the heaviness of my heart lifted. I had just recognized that there was something spiritual trying to keep me down and whatever it was, knew that I had recognized it and exerted my authority over it.

Did that same spirit try to come over me again? Yes, it did, but each time I was able to say, “I know you and I serve a master who is greater than you.” And not only did it leave, it had to leave.

I know you’ve probably heard this verse many times before, but Ephesians 6:12 tells us: "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."

There are many spiritual battles taking place each day in our lives. There are spirits we cannot see that are responsible for many of our feelings. The two things we must do are to recognize these spirits and then use our authority over them.

When we recognize that a feeling is not from God, then our eyes are opened to what we are experiencing and who we are confronted by… Sometimes you want to say to yourself, “Why didn’t I realize this before?” Also, when our eyes are opened, we grow closer to the Lord, because we realize what side we are on. We realize the love of Jesus for our souls and we also realize the hatred Satan has towards us as he seeks to destroy us.  We must keep our eyes open and be alert.

I’m sure you remember in the Bible the man Jesus encountered who described himself as being “Legion.” This was a man who was tormented by what Jesus called “Unclean Spirits.” 

Mark 5:1-9 says:

And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him no, not with chains: Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him.

And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones. But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him, and cried with a loud voice, and said, what have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God that thou torment me not.

For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.

The Bible doesn’t tell us very much about the man’s background. If he had a family, maybe a good job at one time or even how he came to be possessed with these spirits, but it does tell us what a miserable state of mind the man was in because of the unclean spirits. He was tormented constantly and tormented so much that he had to be bound but could not be bound with chains – A complete loss of self-control and an overwhelming anger. He dwelled among the mountains and tombs – a need to be isolated from everyone else. He cried day and night – feelings of pain and self worthlessness. He cut himself with stones – a need to self-inflict pain.

These unclean spirits were working on this man, just as they are working the same way in the world today on individuals. There seems to be a system among them.

Another thing we can see with the man who had the unclean spirits is that the spirits recognized Jesus right away. They knew who he was and they knew the authority he had. They feared him and threw themselves down and begged his mercy. And when Jesus told them to go, they had no choice. When Jesus stepped on that shore, he broke up their party and put an end to their plans for that man’s life… Just as he was able to give that man a clear mind and a free spirit then, he is still able to do so today.

Another example in the Bible where the unclean spirits recognized the authority of Jesus is in Acts 19: 13-16:

Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests which did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are ye? And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

The evil spirits recognized three things here. They recognized the Authority of Jesus, the recognized the authority Jesus had given to Paul and they recognized that the exorcists did not know Jesus as their personal savior. To the exorcists, he was no more than just a magic word, they had no authority over the spirits and you see just how dangerous it was for them not to know Jesus personally.

The evil spirits are cunning and they know the history of God and they know the history of men. They also know their destination and whom they are subject to, here in this world and in the spiritual world as well. They exercise their rights all the time and will take what they can get… Know your authority!

Paul also follows the example of Jesus and sets an example for us when dealing with evil spirits in Acts 16: 16-18:

And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:

The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, these men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.

And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the Name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.

We see here that once again, this unclean spirit recognized these men and the Authority which was given to them by Jesus. The spirit in the girl followed them around, probably hoping for some sort of mercy from Jesus, just at the spirits that were within Legion did. But this grieved Paul, this aggravated him, and just like the spirits recognized him, he recognized the spirit in this girl as well… I can just see him turning to the girl in all boldness and authority and casting it out… The Lord gives us discernment for these spirits; we must use it to recognize them, just as Paul did.

If you read further down in these verses, you’ll see where the girl’s masters were angry with Paul because of him casting the spirit out. This ruined a good thing for them. They used the girl to make money by telling the future… This is another area we have to beware of.

When I was a teenager, I became curious about things that most teenagers do. One of those things was the supernatural. I had two very good friends who were quickly becoming interested in the subject as well. One began to study witchcraft and practice the rituals and another became involved with an Ouija board, which is a board used to contact spirits.

One of my favorite things to do was read; I love books and always have. I would sometimes take a trip to a book store with my friends and they would get their books on witchcraft and go through the new age materials. As I looked among the books, I noticed several on Dream Interpretation. I purchased several of these over the next few months and read up on the subject. I also purchased some other books on the spirit world and horoscopes and astrological signs were very big with me too; I was very curious about the supernatural.

One day, my mother noticed the books I was reading and had a talk with me about them. Her being a Christian and bringing us up to be Christians, I could understand the alarm and concern she had. I explained to her that I was just curious and wanted to know more about spirits and the supernatural.

One afternoon, she came in my room and brought me a book. She said, “If you want to know more about spirits, you need to read what the Bible says about them.” I looked at the title of the book and it was called “Satan is Alive and Well on Planet Earth” by Hal Lindsey. I told her thanks and kind of thumbed through the book, sure it was just going to say, “Kip, what you’re doing is wrong. You need to quit it and just start praying more and ask for forgiveness. Wake up boy!” But that was not it at all. As I read it, the book talked about some of the stories I’ve talked about here in this article. “That’s not in the Bible!” I thought to myself and I quickly looked up the scriptures. And, to my surprise it WAS in the Bible. I was used to hearing about David and Goliath, Daniel and the Lion’s Den and Jonah being swallowed by the big fish. All those stories I learned in Sunday school. I had never taken it upon myself to study the Bible in detail. There was so much I had been missing out on. My eyes were soon opened and something else also took place, I developed a strong discernment. Even today, if I walk into a book store and go down the new age isle, I don’t even have to look up to tell you where I am, the hairs on my arms will be standing straight up and I know I am in the presence of the enemy. I know that feeling very well and I’ve even been around some people who give me that same feeling, too.  I am thankful that my mother, a Christian, who took the time and care to point me in the right direction. In return, I was able to talk to my friends about what I had learned and what the Bible says about the direction we were going.

Leviticus 19:31 Tells us: Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.

I want to tell you one last story about a man named James Albert Pike.

Pike was a Bishop in the American Episcopal Church in California in the late 1950’s. He was a writer and one of the first religious figures to appear on television regularly. Bishop Pike had many remarkable talents and accomplishments in his life.

But, in 1966, Pike was saddened when his son, Jim, took his own life in a New York apartment building. From that point on, Bishop Pike felt as though he needed to contact his son to make amends. He began and tried a series of different methods to contact Jim from the other side, which also led the embarrassment of the Church.

Pike was persistent in his pursuit to contact his son and sought out the help of mediums and psychics. In September 1967, Pike even participated in a televised séance with his dead son through the medium, Arthur Ford.

After more and more of these séances, Pike was told by the medium he would no longer have to use him, Pike would soon be able to make direct contact with Jim himself.

In September of 1969, Pike was led into the Judean wilderness. Some stories claim he was there to follow the footsteps of Jesus and gather information for a new book he was writing, others claimed that there, he would be able to make a contact with his dead son, Jim. That it would be some sort of supernatural meeting between the two…When Bishop James Pike’s body was found, it was said by the locals that they would only have traveled in the area with the most skilled guides and never alone like Pike had done. They had no reasoning of why he would have wanted to go to such a dangerous area. Some stories claim he slipped and fell to his death while others say he died of dehydration and exposure to the sun, but it all means just one thing – Dead.  

The Bible tells us: There is a way that seems right to a man, but it’s end is the way of death.  And this is exactly true in the case of Bishop Pike.

Deuteronomy 18: 9-13 says:

When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord they God.

Two Things: 1. Recognize the spirits. 2. Know and use your Authority - Jesus Christ.