False religions or occult involvement is an open invitation to demonic influence in our lives. This is true with anything we put faith in or practice that is not true to the Christian faith.

Involvement in the Occult

We once worked with a woman in her thirties who was having difficulty with confusion, insecurity, difficulty in making decisions, fear, and anxiety. We sked her if there was anything in her past that included any involvement with the occult. She was raised in a Christian home, but she and a neighborhood friend had read a book on witchcraft when she was fourteen years old. She had identified very closely with the character in the book. She thought on the book frequently and had taken some of the things in the book to heart. We prayed with her. She asked forgiveness and renounced the witchcraft. She began shaking, and immediately it was gone. She began to think more clearly in her daily life, and her fear and anxiety were alleviated.

“There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead.” (Deuteronomy 18:10–11)

Examples of occult activities: Ouija board, tarot cards, palm reading, astrology, blood pacts, or games with demonic characters. Also consider organizations that include taking oaths, Fraternities, Sororities, Masonic lodge, astrology, black/white magic, Dungeons and Dragons, , New Age medicine, Ouija board, psychic healing, sorcery/witchcraft/Wicca, séances, table lifting, and the like. Some of these can have curses that pass through generations.

Occult Items in Your Possession

I received a call one day from a man who had suffered an apparent heart attack. He was struck down at work and rushed to the hospital. The medical staff put him through a battery of tests and observed him for a considerable time before releasing him. They couldn’t find anything wrong with his heart. When describing the event, he said it felt like a serpent had wrapped around his heart. He said it felt like his heart was being choked or strangled. I asked if he’d been involved in any occult activity recently. It turns out that he was remodeling a woman’s house who died before he could finish the work. Fearing he would not get paid by her family, he took several loads of storage from her basement. Among the items he took and stored in his basement were occult books and a Ouija board.

Even gifts from someone involved in occult activity can bring anxiety, fear, depression, health problems, spiritual attack, torment, and bad dreams. We should be rid of any object that could keep us tied to such a person spiritually.

We have found ministry much easier if we have seekers renounce involvement in false religions before the ministry begins. I do admit that we occasionally lose a seeker at this time, because not all agree with the importance of this process. Some have had family members in one of these organizations, and they felt it would be rejecting the family member to renounce something their father or grandfather believed in. Some have even been current members of one of the groups we list (see list on the next page).

In our search for truth, many of us have explored a variety of spiritual experiences. These experiences may have established beliefs and values that are not true to the Word of God. We also may have opened ourselves to occult practices or demonic activity. Other religions, cults, and spiritual teachings have elements of truth in them, but they use these partial truths to lead us into deception.

One lady was a long-time member of a Christian cult church. After being saved, she was quite disturbed by the many lies she had been taught in the church. She began consuming the Bible, going back-and-forth between the Old Testament and New Testament, following every reference between the two. She hungered for the truth.

In my book is a complete list of questionable organizations which are outside the Christian faith, but it can serve as a guide to help you identify the nature of organizations that contain questionable teachings.

You don’t need to renounce visiting a mosque or attending a lecture held in a Unitarian building or taking a class in yoga exercise. If you are open, the Holy Spirit will reveal to you any area that needs to be addressed. If something stands out, but you are unsure, it doesn’t hurt to renounce it anyway. It is necessary, however, to renounce any previous or current involvement with satanically inspired occult practices. Renounce any activity or group which denies the diety of Jesus Christ, offers guidance through any source other than the absolute authority of the written word of God, or requires secret initiations, ceremonies, or covenants.

Redemption from the Occult or False Religions

Confess and renounce each involvement by praying aloud the prayer for renouncing false religions, cults, secret societies, and the occult. Repeat the prayer separately for each item you or an ancestor were involved in on the above list, or any not included on this list you are aware of:

You may confess and renounce each involvement by praying aloud the following prayer, repeating it separately for each item on our list:

Lord, I confess that I have participated in ________________.

I ask for Your forgiveness, and I renounce ________________ in the Name of Jesus.