Don't let anything from the occult in your home- and here's why.

Welcome to the second edition of the Weird Stuff in the Bible newsletter! I do this newsletter to expand and expound on topics that were in the weekly podcast episodes, and so if you’re receiving this, I’m going to assume you listened to Episode 63: Altars, Idols and Spiritual Gates.

In this episode, I dug deeper into some of the research I’ve been doing on spiritual gates, trying to prove a connection between these portals into the spirit realm and the altars that seem to be associated with them.

Now, I did not set out to do a podcast on spiritual warfare. It just seems that when we shine a spotlight on the strange things in scripture, we find ourselves learning about spiritual beings and how they operate. And when we do that, the question quickly becomes: how can I protect myself from them?

And episode 64: Closing the Gates of Hell (releasing Wednesday, February 19) will put a button on this topic for a while. I have so many other ideas I want to explore on the pod. But while we’re here for a couple more weeks, there’s a mind-blowing story I’d like to share from Bill Scott, who has been a guest on this podcast before.

Rabbit trails: What was under the bed?

If you missed Bill’s guest appearance on the podcast last fall, you can revisit it here.

Bill shares a story in his book about how he took in a young woman named Roxanne, who was caught up in the occult. It also turned out she was possessed by demons, and the book details the hair-raising experiences Bill and his wife had while caring for this girl and trying to help her become set free.

Bill gave me permission to share one of these experiences from about halfway through his book, when Roxanne had left their lives for a time, and yet demonic manifestations and disturbances continued in their home. Literally hearing noises, having light switches flip on and off, seeing dark presences and hearing voices. They prayed and prayed, yet could not figure out how to get them to stop.

Come to find out, before Roxanne had left their home, she had left some items under her bed. These items had created an “open door” to demonic activity in their home. I will now (again, with permission) share a passage from his book:

The Lord was obviously telling me that there was something evil under Roxanne’s bed. I walked into the guest room where she had stayed and reached under the bed without even bending over to look. My hands immediately found and pulled out a bunch of Roxanne’s witchcraft paraphernalia. I found a robe she had worn as a witch in the coven, some books, jewelry, and a few other things that I couldn’t identify, but seemed to be part of her dark past.

It was 3:00 a.m., but this couldn’t wait for morning. I had to get everything that had anything to do with Roxanne out of my home immediately.

What do you do with objects that are consecrated to Satan? Put them in a big black trash bag and take them to the dump? That didn’t feel quite “permanent” enough. I took everything to the back porch and grabbed some items from the garage.

First, I smashed the jewelry with a hammer. if the neighbors had looked out their window and seen me hammering away in the moonlight, they would have thought I’d gone certifiably crazy. I put the fragments in a trash bag.

Next I got Roxanne’s robe and placed it on the grill. I poured lighter fluid on it and lit it with a match. The flame was as bright as you would expect, but the robe wouldn’t burn. I watched as the fire continued to burn, but still nothing was happening to the robe.

I might have known next to nothing of satanism and witchcraft, but I believed that divine words had divine power. So I stretched out my arms over the fire and prayed, in a loud voice: “In Jesus’ name, you will burn!” At that very second the flames shot up and engulfed the robe. It seemed to disappear in a flash. It was like a movie producer had created special effects to make this moment incredibly dramatic, though I was witnessing a real event in real life.

Bill next details how the demonic activity stopped after this night. He continues:

I learned that night that any open door in your life, whatever form it takes, can provide access to demonic activity. Yes, as a child of God, I had the authority to command demons to leave my home. But if Satan is given the opportunity to return, he will.

…I believe the materials under Roxanne’s bed, and the presence of her car in our driveway, gave the demons access to our home and caused fear, anxiety, distress, and even physical pain.

You can get Bill’s book The Day Satan Called: A True Encounter with Demon Possession and Exorcism, from Amazon. It’s full of stories of the supernatural and the things he experienced.

Coming Soon in Weird Stuff in the Bible

I wanted to share this story because it fit so well with the end of episode 63, in which I also shared a story about a family who brought a mask back from a missions trip to Africa. It is my belief that objects like these cause gates of hell (portals for demons), and that these are the exact types of gates Jesus told us to wage war against.

Like I said, this Wednesday will have one more episode about the portals/spiritual gates subject, and then I’d like to focus on some “random” topics for a bit.

In next week’s Rabbit Trails newsletter, I’d like to share four ways that gates to hell are opened. I didn’t quite have time to include that in the episode itself.

And I’ll also explain why despite the popular cartoon, all dogs DON’T go to heaven.

Thanks for being subscribed! I continue to work on the website, which I envision as a resource for Christians to get all kinds of articles that explain odd and confusing passages in the Bible. When WeirdStuffInTheBible.com is up and running, you all will be the first to hear it!

-Luke

(PS: These emails contain an address at the bottom for New York. I don’t live in New York, but I think it’s the address for Beehiiv, the company I am using to send these newsletters. And I literally can’t figure out how to get their address off the template. But if you need to get in touch with me, send an email to [email protected]. Don’t try to come to my house because that’s actually Beehiiv’s house. Or hive, I guess.)