"He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters." (Matt 12;340)

"The good man out of his good treasure brings forth what is good; and the evil man our of his evil treasure brings forth what is evil. And I say to you, that every careless word that men shall speak, they shall render account for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned." (Matt 12:35-37)

And He said, "Are You still lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is eliminated? But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man." (Matt 15:16-20)

How we use our thought life and imagination is what defiles us, not by whether we eat with unclean hands or not. Brothers and sisters, you must see clearly from these passages that we are to serve Christ in our use of time and in our meditation and thought life. To do otherwise is to automatically be entertaining demonic spirits, to open ourselves up to the influence and control of demonic spirits and to serve Satan. There is no in between. You are either with Jesus or you are not.

In Jeremiah 14:14 God reveals to us that false visions are the same as divination, as witchcraft. A false vision is any vision which we ourselves conjure up or that we receive from an evil spirit rather than from the Spirit of God. The Lord tells us that whenever we initiate a vision through our own imagination, that because it does put us into contact with the spirit world that it is no different than divination or witchcraft. The Scripture clearly forbids and condemns witchcraft: communicating with the spirit world. God clearly commands us that we are not to contact the spirit world. Moses writes:

"As for the person who turns to mediums and to spiritists, to play the harlot after them, I will also set My face against that person and will cut him off from among his people. . . . Now a man or a woman who is a medium or a spiritist shall surely be put to death. They shall be stoned with stones, their bloodguiltiness is upon them." (Lev 20:6, 27)

"There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For whoever does these things is detestable to Yehovah; and because of these detestable things Yehovah your Elohim will drive them out before you. You shall be blameless before Yehovah your Elohim." (Deut 18:10-13)

Spiritualism, Sorcery, witchcraft, the casting of spells, palm readers, fortune tellers, mediums, diviners, psychics: all these crafts require contacting the spiritual realm for their power and ability to do these things. God in these passages clearly tells us that they are abominations to Him, that we are not to have anything to do with these things. They are abominations to Him because these contacts with the spiritual realm are contacts with devils and demons, not angels or the Holy Spirit of God. All these things are the result of self taking the initiative to contact and communicate with the spiritual realm. It does not matter the method or means, God says we are not to do it. Not only does the Bible make clear that we are not to contact the spiritual realm but makes very plain that those who refuse to repent of these practices and surrender to and live for Jesus will not inherit the kingdom of God:

"But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." (Rev 21:8, Gal 5:19-21)

Not only are we not to do it, but if a spirit takes the initiative to contact us we are to test that spirit to find out whether he is truly an angel from God or the Holy Spirit. The Apostle John writes,

"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; and this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world." (1 John 4:1-3)

If a Spirit cannot confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, God in the flesh born of the Virgin Mary: Jesus Christ of Nazareth who died on the cross and rose from the dead, that spirit is not from God but a demon. You are to reject it and command it to be gone in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

Our spirits are not to be accessed by us or by any evil spirit. On this side of heaven our spirits are only to be accessed by God’s Spirit alone by His initiative, not by ours. That is why Hebrews 4:12 tells us that the moment we turn to Christ that He immediately begins the work of severing between our soul and spirit.

Satan tries continually to get access to our spirits so that he can access our souls and control our souls and bodies for his evil purposes. Because of the fallen condition of our soul and flesh and their bondage to sin, if we access the spirit world we will not be able to resist the temptations that come with that access. Our spirits have tremendous power like the angels who are called ministering spirits. As long as our soul and flesh are in their fallen condition, God does not want us accessing or using our spirits for any reason. He wants us to walk by faith, not by sight; faith meaning that He is a good God who cares about our needs who will not leave us as an orphan, but will come to us in our need at the right time.

This brings us to the issue of meditation. Meditation in the Bible, unlike all occultic practices, is an active practice, not a passive one. Non-Christian Religions teach their disciples to blank their minds, to open them up to the spiritual realm in order to communicate with evil spirits. They are also taught to do this to gain control over their spirits by the practice of visualizing the spiritual realm or whatever it is they want: fame, money, sex, anything but God’s Word and will for their lives.

How does one know if he or she has control over their spirits and are in contact with the spiritual realm? By whether you can see evil spirits and are in constant contact and communication with evil spirits. If you are, you need to ask the Lord to sever between your soul and spirit, break the link between your soul and spirit and to seal this break with His blood.

Are there any other ways that Satan gains access to our soul through our spirits? Yes. Through sin. Sin automatically gives Satan access to our souls. When we sin, we need to immediately confess it to God, thank Him for His forgiveness through Jesus’ death and shed blood and then ask Jesus to sever between our soul and spirit and put a shield of His blood their so that neither you or Satan can access your spirit. This is why Solomon wrote in Proverbs 4:23-27,

"Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life. Put away from you a deceitful mouth, and put devious lips far from you. Let your eyes look directly ahead, and let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you. Watch the path of your feet, and all your ways will be established. Do not turn to the right nor to the left; turn your foot from evil."

Therefore, when the Bible talks about meditation it is not referring to the blanking out of one’s mind or by trying to contact the spiritual realm or to the practice of chanting and visualization. When the Bible talks about meditation it refers to actively using our minds and intellect to study and meditate on God’s Word. God speaking to Joshua in Joshua 1:8 states,

"This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate⁵⁶ on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success."

The Apostle Paul wrote in Colossians 3:16,

"Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God." (See also 2 Tim 3:16-17)

The only way we can keep out the infestation of demonic influences in our lives is through filling our hearts and minds continually with God’s Word and will for our lives. When we do this then we will have victory over Satan and success in our lives.