by Cowboy Bob Sorensen
Years ago, I had a fascination for occult-related things. Even though I was a Christian (albeit with a weak theological foundation), I studied and thought I could do a "white magic" thing and be a force for good, or something like that. I never had an out-of-the-body experience, saw a ghost, encountered a UFO, or anything like that. God delivered me from occult involvement, but my studies from a Christian worldview have been beneficial at times.
This is a very broad topic, and scores of books have been written on it. I have to confine myself to a few comments on some of these subjects.
Every once in a while, I have some odd coincidences happen in my life. Sometimes I think God is trying to get my attention. In this case, I had recently written and posted my review of the movie Alien Intrusion: Unmasking a Deception. The movie makes a very strong case (using science, theology, and more) that personal encounters with and supposed abductions by alleged aliens from outer space are actually demonic interactions. A day or two later, I was scanning the Page at Why?Outreach and saw an article about what is often called astral projection. What startled me is that this 2015 article mentioned several things supporting the case that aliens are demonic beings. I had to saddle up and ride. Well, type, actually.
My perspective includes personal studies as well as material from Alien Intrusion. I will be focusing on the article "Astral Projection Unveiled: The Demonic 'Astral' Realm".
If you study on it, stories of hauntings, alien abductions, other occult experiences seem to happen when people are in an altered state of consciousness. That is, falling asleep, drowsy, partially awake, under the influence of drugs, and so on. Indeed, the UFO/alien discussions include the idea that aliens are transdimensional — they go to and from another dimension. That seems plausible, and is consistent with demonic activity as well. It seems that the boundaries between the physical world and the spiritual get blurred at these times.
Astral projection is common in New Age and other occult circles, and there is a great deal more to it now than when I was doing my studies. The way I understood it, out-of-the-body experiences were usually things that "just happened", but some folks learned how to control it. Nowadays, there is a great deal of mythology surrounding the practice, including uninformed opinions and conforming to a group.
We have to be mighty careful when listening to testimonies of people who have had experiences, especially when they are posted online. Investigators have contact with people, and ask about alcohol, substance abuse, history of mental illness, and so on before proceeding. Online, you can have a range or reports that include sincere narratives and people under demonic influence. Kind of hard to tell who is on the level. Also, people may be sincere but very wrong in their interpretations. Don't get me wrong, many people do have experiences with demons, but they may have been mostly formed in their minds. Not imagined, not faked, but placed there.
Supposedly, you can travel with your spirit guide, feel love, build temples, participate in occult practices, make "friends", and more. Sometimes, something comes back with you and affects your waking world. This would be more likely when someone has been tampering in the occult.
One thing in common between "alien abductions" and some aspects of astral projection is paralysis. This may be sleep paralysis, but in detailed examinations, this particular paralysis is indeed of demonic origin.
Another aspect of astral encounters is sexual. People have reported being raped and having other bad experiences in psychic realms (and there is a sexual aspect in so-called alien abductions as well). This is compatible with the idea that the Nephilim of Genesis 6:1-4 were demons who were having sex with human women. (I will not enter that debate here, there are several schools of thought on it.) Also, Satan and his demons hate God and God's people. Sex is a gift of God, so it makes an odd kind of sense that they would corrupt and pervert it.
Something else that alien encounters and demonic astral projection experiences have in common is that they stop at the name of Jesus. The article linked above makes it sound like a token to make such activity stop, but I disagree with the way this is handled. Calling on the name of Jesus may have some effect, but can backfire. Acts 19:13-17 tells of some people trying to drive out demons in the name of Jesus, but they were not "walk the walk" Christians, and had a very bad experience. The authority of the believer does not have much power when attempted by people who only have an intellectual assent to the gospel.
I had a problem with the way demonic possession was presented as a side effect to astral projection. Possession is generally not something that "just happens", whether doing astral travel or something else. It begins when a kind of door is opened, and Satanic influence is being cultivated through occult activity and rebelling against the Word of God. (An individual's family history, such as occultists in someone's ancestry, can have an impact as well.) From what I've learned, demonic oppression and influence are more common than possession, and oppression seems to precede possession.
I can tell you about some people who claim to be former Christians, then grew in hatred of God, blasphemed by calling God a liar, attacked God's Word and his people, and grew increasingly angry and bitter. Some of these are indeed demoniacs. Galatians 5:19-20 tells us that various forms of rebellion, including idolatry and witchcraft, are closely related.
People have had encounters with demons in various guises, there is no real question about it. Like with alien experiences, many people keep this to themselves and need to be delivered from them. I hope that people who need help will repent of all occult involvement and turn to saving faith and commitment in the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, this is a very serious issue.
Also, I recommend reading this article that appeared the day I began writing this. (Here we go, another odd coincidence on this subject.)
Years ago, I had a fascination for occult-related things. Even though I was a Christian (albeit with a weak theological foundation), I studied and thought I could do a "white magic" thing and be a force for good, or something like that. I never had an out-of-the-body experience, saw a ghost, encountered a UFO, or anything like that. God delivered me from occult involvement, but my studies from a Christian worldview have been beneficial at times.
This is a very broad topic, and scores of books have been written on it. I have to confine myself to a few comments on some of these subjects.
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| Credit: Pixabay / Karen Smits |
My perspective includes personal studies as well as material from Alien Intrusion. I will be focusing on the article "Astral Projection Unveiled: The Demonic 'Astral' Realm".
If you study on it, stories of hauntings, alien abductions, other occult experiences seem to happen when people are in an altered state of consciousness. That is, falling asleep, drowsy, partially awake, under the influence of drugs, and so on. Indeed, the UFO/alien discussions include the idea that aliens are transdimensional — they go to and from another dimension. That seems plausible, and is consistent with demonic activity as well. It seems that the boundaries between the physical world and the spiritual get blurred at these times.
Astral projection is common in New Age and other occult circles, and there is a great deal more to it now than when I was doing my studies. The way I understood it, out-of-the-body experiences were usually things that "just happened", but some folks learned how to control it. Nowadays, there is a great deal of mythology surrounding the practice, including uninformed opinions and conforming to a group.
We have to be mighty careful when listening to testimonies of people who have had experiences, especially when they are posted online. Investigators have contact with people, and ask about alcohol, substance abuse, history of mental illness, and so on before proceeding. Online, you can have a range or reports that include sincere narratives and people under demonic influence. Kind of hard to tell who is on the level. Also, people may be sincere but very wrong in their interpretations. Don't get me wrong, many people do have experiences with demons, but they may have been mostly formed in their minds. Not imagined, not faked, but placed there.
Supposedly, you can travel with your spirit guide, feel love, build temples, participate in occult practices, make "friends", and more. Sometimes, something comes back with you and affects your waking world. This would be more likely when someone has been tampering in the occult.
One thing in common between "alien abductions" and some aspects of astral projection is paralysis. This may be sleep paralysis, but in detailed examinations, this particular paralysis is indeed of demonic origin.
Another aspect of astral encounters is sexual. People have reported being raped and having other bad experiences in psychic realms (and there is a sexual aspect in so-called alien abductions as well). This is compatible with the idea that the Nephilim of Genesis 6:1-4 were demons who were having sex with human women. (I will not enter that debate here, there are several schools of thought on it.) Also, Satan and his demons hate God and God's people. Sex is a gift of God, so it makes an odd kind of sense that they would corrupt and pervert it.
Something else that alien encounters and demonic astral projection experiences have in common is that they stop at the name of Jesus. The article linked above makes it sound like a token to make such activity stop, but I disagree with the way this is handled. Calling on the name of Jesus may have some effect, but can backfire. Acts 19:13-17 tells of some people trying to drive out demons in the name of Jesus, but they were not "walk the walk" Christians, and had a very bad experience. The authority of the believer does not have much power when attempted by people who only have an intellectual assent to the gospel.
I had a problem with the way demonic possession was presented as a side effect to astral projection. Possession is generally not something that "just happens", whether doing astral travel or something else. It begins when a kind of door is opened, and Satanic influence is being cultivated through occult activity and rebelling against the Word of God. (An individual's family history, such as occultists in someone's ancestry, can have an impact as well.) From what I've learned, demonic oppression and influence are more common than possession, and oppression seems to precede possession.
I can tell you about some people who claim to be former Christians, then grew in hatred of God, blasphemed by calling God a liar, attacked God's Word and his people, and grew increasingly angry and bitter. Some of these are indeed demoniacs. Galatians 5:19-20 tells us that various forms of rebellion, including idolatry and witchcraft, are closely related.
People have had encounters with demons in various guises, there is no real question about it. Like with alien experiences, many people keep this to themselves and need to be delivered from them. I hope that people who need help will repent of all occult involvement and turn to saving faith and commitment in the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, this is a very serious issue.
Also, I recommend reading this article that appeared the day I began writing this. (Here we go, another odd coincidence on this subject.)
After attending a screening of our movie Alien Intrusion: Unmasking a Deception, David H. wrote in with the following question.To read the response, click on "Can spirits manifest physically?"
Just a question: I saw your movie tonight, and was interested by its explanation for many alien/UFO phenomena as being spirit-based. But I don't understand how UFOs: (1.) can be tracked on radar and (2.) similarly recorded on film and in photographs while still being spirit-based? And some of them are recorded as performing very complex high-speed maneuvers. How can this be possible for spirit-based entities?Gary Bates, CMI-US CEO and writer/producer of Alien Intrusion, responds: