Beware — Charismatic Occultism
(translated from Ukrainian)
False spirituality is advancing on Christian ranks on a broad front. The enemy is striving with all his might to enter the Church. To achieve this, he presents “gifts” and feelings that are very far from the Cross of Golgotha to Christians who have lost their cross. A gospel without the Blood and the Cross, but filled with miracles, apparitions, and sensation is undoubtedly a “novelty” of Satan and a harbinger of the last days. According to the words of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit convicts the world of its sin. (John 16:8) The false witness spirit proclaims “love” and complete freedom of action, generously dispenses its “presents,” and develops in its victims a narcotic craving for emotions and experiences.
In evangelical Christianity, this so-called new movement has been termed the “charismatic awakening.” Since it seduces the elect from the path of faith (2 Cor. 5:7) into a realm of soulish experience — “sweet” sensations and experiences, along with supernatural power — there is every reason to call this movement occultism. As some researchers of the charismatic movement note, the matter is complicated by the fact that this phenomenon is very similar in its outward manifestations to the workings of the Holy Spirit.
Being carried away into the atmosphere of the false spirit, people rejoice, even for a time abandon their sinful habits, and their talk is only about God, salvation, etc. And few are those who understand that this is merely a soulish dimension. “Deliverance” from depression, drug addiction, alcoholism is, as a rule, temporary and is explained by the fact that the demons of this or that sin yield their place to this strong spirit, which impersonates the Spirit of Christ. But it cannot enter a pure heart; it finds a place where there is a scent of the leaven of sin (Dan. 11:32), where repentance was hypocritical — for the sake of earthly benefits (1 Cor. 15:19). It also deceives the simple-minded or those weak in the word of faith (Rom. 16:18).
At this time, the Church of God must show vigilance and firm faith to stand against the “new movement” in the full armor (Eph. 6:11). Its rapid spread and undoubtedly sad consequences are not accidental at this hour, but are foretold by Scripture (Rev. 12:9) and confirm the truly lukewarm state of modern Laodicean Christianity (Rev. 3:14-19).
A tragedy with a happy ending, or the sailboat called “the old deception”
«Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God (1 John 4:1).» Does the Word of God go forth from His mouth in vain? Has this warning ever lost its significance for Christians? And has it not grown a hundredfold now, when the “apostasies” have become visible? And false christs and false prophets offer signs and wonders (Matt. 24:24) and lead the elect astray in masses?
A sister in the Lord, Elena Samoylova from Donbass, has a bitter but instructive experience in this regard. What this short, cheerful young Christian woman with an inquisitive gaze went through seems to her like a terrible dream. And it is hard to believe that her kind eyes, which now radiate joy in the Holy Spirit, were quite recently covered by a veil of hatred toward those who loved her, pitied her, and wept over her before God as a captive of the so-called “charismatic awakening.”
“Pharisees! Pharisees! Collective farmers! What can they teach people? They close the entrance to the Kingdom of God to the world with women’s head coverings”—something boiled within her as she sat at one of the meetings of the church in the city of Rovno. But this was the malice of a beast losing its prey. She did not leave the meeting or walk out, even though the spirit demanded: “Get out of here, there is nothing for you to do here.” She had come here from the distant mining town of Kirovskoye, longing to be forever freed from a terrible captivity. And the Lord, through the prayers of the Church and the serving brothers, set free the heart, soul, and body of this captive, who could have been called “naïve.”
— Not just naïve, — Elena clarifies. — That word would actually remove my responsibility before God. My guilt in walking into this soul-destroying ruin is very great. It all started because I had not fully died to the world. I loved the Lord, that is true. But I still wanted to please, if not people, then at least myself—my former self, Alena. I could not imagine how I could do without cosmetics, jewelry, short skirts. Besides that, I was an activist in the city amateur drama theater. I knew I had to leave the stage, because a born-again Christian cannot play the roles of worldly people. But I was so drawn to the theater… And then, it turns out, there is a wonderful, “fresh” Christianity that guarantees salvation in heaven (?!), while simultaneously proclaiming a “winged” phrase: “God does not look at the outward appearance; God looks at the heart.” Now I know what kind of god actually does this, what kind of spirit permits its victims to wear earrings almost down to their waists and make cutouts in dresses to expose the body. And I did not want to hear that this is “foreign” attire (Zeph. 1:8). I am gravely guilty before God. It is clear that with such thoughts and convictions, I was found very light on God’s scales, and therefore the “new current” effortlessly swept me up as well.
— Sister Elena, tell us how you were “carried away” by this current from your home church?
— Our church (of Evangelical Faith Christians) was calling us—“Let us pray that we do not allow the spirit of error into our ranks.” At the time when we heard about charismatics, I had been baptized with the Holy Spirit with speaking in other tongues, but I was not yet a member of the church—I had not yet had water baptism. I will not mention any names; I do not want to blame anyone for anything. Let this account be my confession before God and people. To everyone—believers and non-believers—I want to say: the false charismatic movement is occultism disguised with evangelical doctrines. False charismania is a deadly danger. I will tell of my guilt before the Lord and about the spirit to which I allowed myself to be deceived.
We (mainly the youth) wanted revival and greatly desired that people would repent and come to Christ. Rumors reached us that such revival was already everywhere, but our church was as if on an island. Someone said that in Torez, the meetings were very blessed. We went there. As we approached the meeting place, we heard deafening music. “How could they decide to hold meetings next to a disco?” I thought. But it turned out that the loud, rhythmic music was thundering not at a disco, but in the hall where the brothers and sisters had gathered. My heart contracted from what I saw: the atmosphere hardly resembled a Christian one, but I calmed myself because during the “service” one of our group had a vision. Someone, like Christ, was embracing the hall.
One of our brothers began jumping along with the locals. The “anointing” from the hands of the local brother began. I also went forward for the “blessing,” and at that moment my doubts vanished.
After the trip, our youth and some of the older, newly converted members stopped attending meetings at our home church. We gathered in apartments, but the serving brothers would find us and ask us to return, not to cause division. “You will grow moldy in your pharisaism,” we slandered, “while we have fresh air here. Come over to us…”
Soon we had a presbyter and four leaders—all women. We preached Christ, who forgives everything, wherever we could. The spirit of falsehood spoke through us to the people: “Receive Jesus.” And people received… the one who was in us. We gave what we had. And what did we have? Not the Savior, but a spirit of error. Meanwhile, our countrymen “repented.” They were interesting Christians. They supposedly received Jesus Christ but did not come out of the world, continuing to live in sins. The spirit generously gifted us and them its “gifts” and promised even more later. It never entered our minds that an unrepentant and uncleansed world cannot receive the Spirit of the Comforter (John 14:17). In general, we considered this coming forward to be repentance itself.
— Sister Elena, please tell us more about how this spirit manifested at your meetings?
— I’ll put it this way from the very start. We all wanted “power,” and in an easy way. No one wanted to crucify their flesh (Gal. 5:24) or cleanse themselves from worldly filth (1 John 3:3). The spirit not only did not demand this but, on the contrary, through prophecies (and we had very many of them) constantly emphasized: “God does not look… God does not demand…” We had other tongues, we had “healings” and “casting out” of demons. And from those who doubted the truth of this new teaching—myself included—they cast out the “Spirit of Pentecostalism and religiosity.” They drove it out of me, but, glory to God, they did not drive it out. Though my mind was darkened, the Lord did not abandon me. And I could often hear His voice. But I thought it was merely doubts, and I prayed: “Lord, take them away…”
It was not long before we noticed that the “healed” and “cleansed” people were ending badly. And when we saw it, we closed our eyes. What could we do? Admit our madness? Pride did not permit it. The main thing valued in this false awakening was quantity—the number of those who repented, but in reality, the number of deceived souls. The state in which they became church members interested no one. That would come later. But in the beginning, it was different. In the beginning, when the spirit had not yet fully revealed itself, we would run to the “leaders” to confess almost every sin. Understandably, not every sin, but the ones we wanted to be freed from. Over time, this personal brokenness was replaced by a formal collective confession. Our leadership needed numbers. This was explained by what was said at almost every meeting: “Tithe… and above the tithe…” It got to the point where we would place a plate of offerings in the middle of the room, stretch our hands over it, and pray: “God, we gave You what we had. And You return it to us thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”
The spirit raised me up as a “leader” too—a youth leader. It was said: “I have appointed you…” Evidently, God’s spark had not yet been fully extinguished in me. So I proposed: “Let us study the Word of God…” We prayed: “Father, open our minds to understand Your Word…” My friends very quickly grew tired of this: “You will turn us into Pentecostals,” they complained, “organize candlelight evenings for us, or lead us into the forest, or to the beach.” “What do you mean, to the beach!” I was surprised. “You will undress there and tempt one another. And I will be responsible for you before God. No, that will not happen.” “No, there we will praise God.” I disagreed, and they complained about me to the elders; after that, they arranged a “cleansing” for me.
We indeed had many prayers for cleansing, and there was indeed a need for it. For example, one sister had epilepsy. She received “healing” from our spirit, but soon “stole” the husband of another sister. After that, her seizures began happening several times a day.
I know many similar examples. For those who had no prior spiritual grounding, only contact with the false charismatic spirit, “repentance” quickly ended in intensified debauchery, and for some—in a psychiatric hospital. And these people found themselves back in the world. Mainly those who separated from the true church “stand,” because they know the deceit as they need to. And this unites them. Without this minimal knowledge, the group of false charismatics would have scattered long ago. Consider for yourselves what this “new wave” represents and what “doctrine” it brings.
One sister’s mother had died long ago, and she grieved for her. The spirit said: “Pray for your mother. It has not yet been decided where to send her; she can still be saved.” Another sister wanted to marry a young man who had attended our meetings a few times. Something was wrong with their documents, and the registration was delayed. The spirit said that it permitted them to live as husband and wife, because registration is for people, but for it, this has no meaning; it gives them love, so let them live. Many things were permitted to us, but this surprised and disturbed us. And some said: “If they can, we can too.” The world was greatly tempted by this.
This is how this spirit showed itself. Under its anointing, women taught, distorting Scripture, that sisters could cut their hair. But the greatest thing I could not comprehend was the “fallings.” I didn’t know what it was, because I myself never fell—only once, when someone pushed me hard on the forehead. Also, I was surprised by the indecent laughter in the midst of serious conversations. They said it was “holy” laughter, but I doubted this very much. The heaviness on my heart grew heavier and heavier.
— How did your exit from captivity begin?
— I will tell you. But before that, a few words about how I saw the changes in our meetings. Initially, we sang good psalms, though the music was pop-style. Then guests from other cities began visiting us, and they laughed at these songs. Gradually our “praise” devolved into repeating one, at most four, lines of some text, for example: “Jesus—King of Kings, Lord of lords, Glory, Alleluia.” I knew then that to summon unclean spirits, it is not essential what words you repeat—you could even say “winter—summer, winter—summer”; the main thing is the melody to which you sing this composition, which must carry a percussive rhythm. After some time, human nature is filled with a spirit of occult ecstasy. A person groans and writhes from bodily pleasure, cries out that it feels good to their mind, that they have united with god. And no one cares which god they have united with, or what “peace” they have received…
In a word, I had seen many things at the charismatic meetings that filled me with fear. I was falling more and more into despair. What was to be done? How to go on?
One day at a meeting, there was a sister who had previously attended our first church. At that time, the topic of foot washing was being discussed. Suddenly, this sister stands up and loudly says: “The Lord commands me to open the Bible and read these words: ‘How long will you wander, O backsliding daughter?’ (Jer. 31:22)” What she read seemed, in the opinion of those present, completely out of place. Some looked at the sister with condemnation. I, however, felt bewildered. Then the sister stood up again and read the same thing. This time, the word I heard seared my heart. I understood. This is for me. The Lord must have seen that I was ready to hear His voice, and He began to speak… I was stirred…
In a dream, I saw a vision that was impossible not to understand in a sound mind. A scene opened up: a beautiful blue sky, and over the earth floats, as in a fairy tale, a ship under sail. It sparkled all over with gold, pearls, and diamonds. Suddenly, this sailing ship stops, its side opens wide enough, a gangplank descends, and I hear a voice: “As it was in the days of Noah (whoever entered the ark remained alive), so it is now: whoever ascends this ship will be saved!” Crowds of people appeared from somewhere on its deck. And then everything stopped. Someone raised the gangplank, closed the side. The sailing ship again sailed over the earth. I look—and below, towns and villages drift by. So beautiful… When I lifted my eyes and looked at the ship again, I was plunged into fear. What is this? The radiance of the ark had dimmed. The sails turned out to be rotten, the boards—of decayed wood, even worms were visible… Everywhere—mold, rust, filth, and dried bloodstains. The ship turned out to be very old. And something seemed to speak within me: “all this is a very old deception…” “God, what should I do?” I looked at the people—they noticed nothing; for them, everything remained as it was at the beginning, just like for me. But then I saw a few souls—bewildered and frightened. And the truth was revealed to them. Meanwhile, the sailing ship flew on. Where to? I look—the earth opens up before us, collapsing terribly downward, to where eternal fire boils. And the ship flies right into the center of the blazing abyss. Suddenly, from the fiery depths, a black-black structure begins to rise. It appeared multi-story. Completely black. Glass, bricks, windows, and doors. It rose to the surface from the earthly fissure. Something resembling a black skyscraper. And from it, in all directions, black barracks crawled out, like the claws of a crab. Very quickly, they filled the whole earth. Before the skyscraper was a square, and all of us, having left the ship, found ourselves on it. A few others and I saw all the horror of our situation. The rest saw nothing terrible.
From somewhere, a handsome man in white appeared. “Christ! Christ,” the large crowd stirred. The stranger gracefully stepped forward, and everyone worshiped him, except for a few souls—and me, deeply frightened. He looked at us with contempt, pointed in our direction with his hand, and said to someone: “Destroy them…” I managed to jump aside, and that small handful of people were taken away… Finding myself around the corner of some structure, trembling, I looked at the square. The man in white was reveling in strength and power—all bowed before him. Suddenly, he turned his back to the crowd and stood like that for a while. Someone brought him a large cup that was smoking—no, boiling… “Blood,” it was revealed to me—“human blood.” He raised it to his lips and drank. A moment later, he turned back to face everyone. “A—a—ah…” a wave of horror passed through the crowd, and it froze. Before us stood a being with the face of a beast. It began to speak in a terrible voice: “Now you know who I am. And you will do everything I command. Drink.” He gave the terrible cup to someone. People began to drink and pass it to one another… An even greater horror seized me. I rushed to flee from this cursed place, but I saw no way out. The black “barracks-claws” kept blocking my path here and there; I felt like I was in a labyrinth. What were these barracks? I saw in them everything with which the world had enticed me and my charismatic friends. Cosmetics, jewelry, shameless clothing, posters with naked human bodies… I even saw that worldly, unclean book that I had desperately wanted to read but never did. These were barracks-workshops, a whole diabolical industry for producing what stimulates carnal licentiousness and pride in man. Now it was no longer needed by anyone, because those it was meant to deceive—had been deceived.
Charismatic Babylonian “Church” — Mother of Harlots
“God. Get me out of here.” I cried out. And suddenly Someone’s invisible hand (I knew it was the hand of Jesus) lifted me up and… I found myself in my charismatic church. And there the atmosphere was like before a wedding. A young girl preparing for marriage. Here comes the bridegroom. But what is this? He has a human torso and a hideous face… of a goat. When I thought they must become a couple, my whole being churned with disgust. And I hear a voice: “It disgusts you. Know then, it disgusts Me even more, and moreover — it pains Me. This is the kind of bridegroom you have chosen for yourselves. Go and tell all your friends about this.” The vision ended.
My companion fell silent. She was agitated. Without a doubt, what she had seen and experienced that memorable night once again stood before her in its dreadful reality.
“I rejoice that I can tell people about everything I experienced and saw,” sister Elena broke the silence, “I am guilty before them, because I persuaded them to board that ship. God, forgive me…” Tears were streaming from her eyes.
“What happened next? Did your friends accept your story?”
“Before going there, I had grave doubts. A spirit heavily troubled my consciousness. I asked God for confirmation that I understood everything correctly. And I received it twice. Then I ran to my people. I thought, first of all I will tell the pastor’s wife. And there I am before her. I just opened my mouth to speak when she stopped me: ‘Don’t tell me anything. I don’t want to listen to anything. You will not turn me from the path. That was a spirit speaking.’ I was horrified and hung my head… Then my friends asked: ‘What did you want to say?’ And I told them everything. They answered: ‘So it is.’ But they have no strength to leave this sailboat. What will become of them?
I went to my home Church and fell on my knees before everyone. ‘Forgive me.’ But even after that I could not attend services. A spirit filled me with contempt for everyone and everything I heard and saw, although, at the same time, I knew that truth was here. I agonized deeply. I knew: I needed cleansing, complete liberation from the power of the spirit… I got hold of Dmitry Berezyuk’s book ‘I Read the Soul Like a Book.’ This is how the Lord will help me!
I left everything and went to Kostopol. I found the House of Prayer. But as it turned out, there was no meeting. Brother Berezyuk was not there either. Everyone had gone to Rovno. I stepped out into the dark winter street. Lord, help. You see that I am alone, and I know no one in this city. I walked forward. I see a car ahead. I approach. I don’t know how I asked:
‘Are you going to Rovno?’
‘We were going, but the car stopped.’
‘By any chance, are you believers?’
‘We are believers.’
‘Will you take me to Rovno?’
‘We would, but the car won’t go.’ We prayed. The car started. That’s how I ended up in Rovno. And when they prayed over me — my enemy and I trembled. And then a scream, laughter burst out of me, I fell and… breathed easily and deeply with a full chest. And glorified the Lord. I want to glorify only Him. I do not know how He still had mercy on me…”
“Sister, do you have anything to say to the readers of ‘Evangelical Voice’ as a farewell?”
“To come out from under a false charismatic spirit is almost impossible. If not for the fervent prayers and fasts of my mother and of one brother whom I constantly called a ‘Pharisee,’ I think I would never have seen spiritual freedom. Do not enter this ‘stream,’ there is death.”
Finishing the description of our conversation, I thought: “It is good that this soul found an Angel-instructor, as it is written in Job 33:23-24.”
The conversation with E. Samoilova was conducted by V. Vykhovanyts.
Translated from Ukrainian by T. Nikolaichuk.
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