ALternatives to the Lord God

The spirit world

Pharaoh the king of Egypt was the servant of the gods and the magicians and sorcerers of Egypt were the mouthpiece of the gods. The magicians and sorcerers delivered the messages of the gods and the onus was on Pharaoh the king to carry out the orders of the gods. There existed a mutual understanding Pharaoh the King and the magicians and sorcerers in Egypt. The magicians and sorcerers existed at the whims of Pharaoh the king while at the same time Pharaoh the king knew that the magicians and sorcerers had the power to turn the people against him by citing misfortunes and calamities as the displeasure of the gods. The gods of Egypt were the most powerful gods on the earth and by virtue of this Egypt was the superpower of the day and the power of Egypt was ascribed to the gods of Egypt.

Moses and Aaron appeared before Pharaoh the king of Egypt in dramatic fashion with demands from YHWH the God of the Hebrews. The demand of YHWH the God of the Hebrews was to allow the people of Israel to travel into the unoccupied territories to do sacrifice and to worship. Pharaoh the king of Egypt had never heard of YHWH the God of the Hebrews and he made it clear that he had no regard for YHWH the God of the Hebrews and he would not accede to the demands of YHWH the God of the Hebrews.

Pharaoh the king of Egypt had the power to command the magicians and sorcerers of Egypt but he could not perform the feats that the magicians and sorcerers could do. Pharaoh assumed that the same thing was applicable to Moses because Moses gave commands to Aaron. In Moses then was a rival leader, in YHWH a rival god to the gods of Egypt and in Aaron was a rival to the magicians and sorcerers of Egypt.

Pharaoh the king of Egypt got the opportunity to see displayed the supernatural powers with which the gods empowered their servants as the magicians and sorcerers of Egypt and Aaron the spokesman for Moses went head to head in a battle of wonders and miracles. When Moses later entered the battle then neither Pharaoh the king of Egypt nor the magicians and sorcerers of Egypt had any response and so the gods of Egypt were defeated and put to shame.

It was not long after this that the Lord God through Moses forbid the people of Israel to consult witches, wizards, necromancers, persons with familiar spirits, enchanters etc. The command was for persons with familiar spirits was to be executed. The persons with familiar spirits were those persons who made claims that they knew how to contact the dead and so were open for consultations. The familiar spirits were spirit beings who were familiar with the voice, habits, attitudes, character, etc. of individuals and these spirits would imitate the dead and sometimes the living. The witches, wizards, enchanters, necromancers made claims to be able to contact the world of the dead, the unseen, predict the future etc.

Today the world of the unseen is denied and ignored because we live in a world that demands scientific proof and tangible evidence. It is a world that seek to abandon religion and the belief in the existence of God. It is also a world that declares that life is short and comes with no guarantee so whatever you desires to do, don’t wait but do it now.

The Bible indicates that the Lord God desires to set up a kingdom of priest and kings that is holy and to manifest his goodness to the world. It is the desire of the Spirit of the Lord God to have the bodies of man as the temple out of which he operates. The Bible is also clear that there are intelligent spirit beings that also desire to occupy and control the mind and bodies of man. These intelligent spirit beings offers an alternative to the Spirit of God. The deeds and actions of these intelligent spirit beings are counter to and opposite the deed of the Spirit of God.

The Bible does not explicitly state how these spirit being came to be without bodies or how they exist but these spirit beings exhibit intelligence and personality. They can and occupy the mind and body of man and in some instances enter and leave at will or sometimes take up permanent residence.

There were and are gods in many forms and shapes and the demands of the various gods differ. There were some gods that demanded that humans be sacrificed. The ancient people of Israel were not immune to this and got caught up in this practice. This was never the intention or demand of the Lord God of Israel.

In the psalms it was declared that this practice of human sacrifice was really sacrificing to devils and this made the powers at work behind idol worship demonic.

The goal of these spirit beings is to provide an alternative god to the Lord God and to direct worship that belonged to the Lord God to someone these gods. In a similar way to the Spirit of God occupying the body of man and controlling the mind of man these spirits seek to imitate the Spirit of God but in doing the opposite.

King Saul may have been stung by the rebuke of the Prophet Samuel when the Prophet Samuel told him that disobedience was a sin comparable to witchcraft because later we are told that he killed all the witches and those possessed by familiar spirits. However, King Saul was to later find a witch that had a familiar spirit for consultation because he stopped hearing from the Lord God. This is listed as one of the reasons for King Saul’s death.

There are a number of passages in the Old Testament where it is recorded that the prophets of the Lord God were challenged by kings and other prophets. The claims of these prophets were that they spoke on behalf of the Lord God. There were also the instances where Baal was declared to be god and the prophets of the Lord God threw down the gauntlet. Prophetic competition to prove which god was the real God. The loser sometimes faced death and the possibility of being labeled as working in conjunction with devils.

The prophets Elijah, Miciah and Jeremiah faced these challenges and there were times when there were the contests of the prophets to see which prophecy would come true. There were also two notable case when Elijah the prophet rebuked King Ahazariah for consulting Baalzebub the god of Ekron instead of consulting the Lord God of Israel. The prophet Isaiah also rebuked the people of Israel for consulting witches and mediums (Those who mutter and peep) instead of consulting the living God. At this time the people of Israel were seeking advice from the dead.

In the New Testament demon (evil) spirits recognized and readily submitted to Jesus. These spirits were responsible for causing various ailments and illnesses and Jesus was involved in exorcising demon spirits. In the Old Testament the command was to execute persons working in conjunction with spirits but in the New Testament Jesus has empowered believers to drive out and exercise authority over demon (evil) spirits.