I have found that many Christians reject the whole idea of abuse being on a scale as huge as it is in this country. More than that I have also noticed that many people in the healthcare professions do not accept the reality of abuse as it is. I read a news article about an eleven-year old girl who was beaten daily with an umbrella and starved until she died on Thanksgiving Day last week. She was abused in such a way that she was made to stand the whole time and had no way of going to the bathroom except upon herself and suffered terribly before she died. Her father and mother did this and the father denied all of it. The father called 911 when it was too late for the girl. TV and the press is in the process of helping to cover up such incidents for politically correct reasons. One boy of 14 bragged to his friends that he had a job in Arkansas and was going to another town to work for someone. He felt proud that finally he was doing something worthwhile and given trust. He was the child of a single parent and did not have a father. His Mom had given permission to him after talking to the man so that he would be able to go 40 miles away and spend the weekend with the man. At the end of the weekend the man called 911. The police arrived to see the boy gagged with his own underwear and the man standing there with the man's boyfriend masturbating. I asked a newspaper reporter if the story was being suppressed by the media and she said, "yes". Had the man been a heterosexual the story would not have been suppressed because the press does not want to cast homosexuals in a bad light. It is something similar to muting the violence of Islam by selling the story that Islam is a religion of peace and glossing over the facts about the scriptures of it. If people thought badly of some groups they might suffer oppression. Maybe. People do not like to look at the face of pain, the fact that there are some pretty terrible things that people do to one another.
I am including the following quote from a book by someone who has had years of experience dealing with spiritual warfare. I found what he reports especially germane in that I noticed that now we say there never was Satanic Ritual Abuse, it was all made up when it became public. Reading the book, The Courage to Heal, one gets the same impression that sexual abuse of children is not talked about very much, the child is not believed and it goes on silently everyday. Reading the book was difficult for me as I think it would be for anyone. The mind tends to balk at that kind of evil. I have read that some think all accounts of abuse are due to leading children into testifying because they were given leading questions to produce false memories. It is probably true that this has happened in cases against parents, but not every case. Someone who has been abused as a child may not have any memory of it. I remember a woman who was abused terribly and has no memory of it. A trial exonerated her father of the charges against him. Her sister told me of what happened and it was so severe that it is no wonder the woman does not remember any of it. The father has since died many years ago, the story is a dim memory in the minds of a few people that are still alive and for all practical purposes it never happened. But it did. There is no reason to think that there was any organized ritual abuse, no involvement of Satanists, just a father who wielded an extraordinary amount of power over his children. Those who manipulate others for their own reasons learn to control the person in a way that nearly guarantees that they will never be found out. People want to do what they want, when they want to do it, and how they want to do it and get the professional or familial recognition as being great people they think that they think they deserve. Society would like to present a nice face for the world to see and cooperates unwittingly. Men and women who were abused as children adapt to the abuse and act out in different ways that are unique. Generally boys act out by violent behaviors and girls act out by being promiscuous. I talked with a police officer on the Houston Police Department's team that specialized in these kinds of cases. She said that the typical person who perpetrates abuse as an individual or in rituals with others is likely going to be wearing a suit and tie and successful, clean cut and disciplined. One woman who was the wife of the most prominent and powerful man in their community found out that he had been sexually abusing her daughter and there ended up being a trial. As it turned out she was forced to leave the community, he was after all, powerful.
Demon possession is very rare and those who are possessed comprise a small percentage of the population. Demonic influence in the lives of people is thought to be rare as well. Many people would reject categorically that there are demons, that demons could influence a Christian if there are demons, or that Satan exists. I noticed something very significant about the subjection of people to horrible evil. In the case of the concentration camps of the Nazis and the Gulag of the Soviets there is a great deal of disbelief except by those who either experienced it first hand or liberated places where people were subjected to horror everyday. I do not blame people for wanting to deny that evil exists and make it all seem like a huge mistake, that it just seemed as though something horrible happened. A long time ago I would have thought people would be concerned that 300,000 people were discovered in mass graves in Iraq or that the rape rooms and people being fed into plastic shredders while alive would be considered a bad thing. For political reasons the leftists in Europe and the United States are doing what they can to make the evil done in Iraq a non-issue. Denial becomes a convenient way of continuing to do something without the expectation of consequences. If we ignore the fact that there are terrorists, enemies, or demons then they do not exist or if they do, they pose no threat. Part of it is the fact that people do not want to be involved in some greater evil by accusing people that are innocent. Part of it is the fact that if there is no right or wrong or that everything is from the same source then there is no objective reality of evil that might exist outside of our accepted definitions. Maybe if we confront evil we will find that we are capable of it. If we have been abused we are used to having to believe the evils perpetrated on us were things we deserved. It is easy to believe a lie.
The CIA estimates that there are 500,000 slaves in the United States with 45,000 people coming into the country annually to be enslaved. President Bush mentioned this at the UN and it drew no response other than puzzlement. The FBI captured and arrested people that were part of a sexual slave-ring and there was little said about it while most people were criticizing the Attorney General for deciding to enforce existing laws. The wails of fear about the Attorney General went up before he got into office. Why? He is a Christian. He cannot be trusted to enforce the law because he is a Christian. That really translates into the fact that people think he believes in right and wrong and that is wrong in society today. Moreover, people think they will have to give up some pet thing that is appealing to them. People will do a lot to retain power, gain power, and remain comfortable. This is human nature that becomes normative when the victims are relegated to non-human status, not important, and a stumbling block to get what they want, when they want, and how they want. Magic, divination, consulting spirits and having power from the supernatural is something like this. Demons are considered evil by a significant proportion of the population and the belief that they are evil interferes with satisfying gaining supernatural knowledge or supernatural power. Being able to predict the future or do something unusual strokes the ego. It sounds insane and it is. It is such a shocking charge, so unusual to many of us that someone might do great evil and that demons (spirits, familiars, spirit guides, ascended masters, et cetera) are involved that it may produce denial.
Some people have tried to reach out and found that there was no one whom they could trust. Lamentably there are many churches with pastors that will grow angry at or minimize the story that they are hearing if it involves ritual abuse, demons, or even abuse done by someone that everyone thinks highly of. I listen to Christian radio and have heard teachers nearly apoplectic saying that SRA, demonic influence, and other aspects of evil cannot exist. If there is not an exact reference that fits a Biblical account in a cookie cutter way, then it cannot exist. People who feel free to talk about it and know it is true are considered nuts by just about everyone. I remember talking to a social worker who knew someone who was familiar with Satanism and confronted it effects and performed exorcisms. She full well knew of the reality of it but her tone was a bit hushed and only talked about it on a need to know basis. People who specialize in evil whether they call themselves Satanists or not are good at it and people who know about them and know what they can do are an obstacle.
A man who propositioned an underage girl was quite intimidating and she called me. I called the police immediately and they came but were not able to do anything about him. It turns out that he had one of his girlfriend's daughters outside sweeping the parking lot sometime later. Other things seemed strange or off about the family. His girlfriend's brother came over one day and the guy fled begging a neighbor to let him in the house to escape getting a beating. Nothing came of it. In a year the police showed up again and found the girlfriend stabbed to death, having lost a contest of stabbing one another. There was no SRA involved, just ritual abuse and a murder. As Christians we often can do no more than pray. It is rare if we can actually find ourselves in a position to do anything to prevent or stop these kinds of things. Being there for people until they make better choices is important and does not seem flashy or exciting, but in my experience it may make all the difference in someone's life. I talked to a former witch who worked at a women's shelter over 20 years ago run by witches. The paradigm for her was Satanists (men) against witches (women), however accurate or inaccurate that might have been. She noted the fact that women would decide things were all their fault and go back into the same situation with their children and the abuse would start up again. Experts tell us that those who choose to leave and not look back and be healthy are rare. She noted the same thing. As Christians the thing to do is to be there for people and to be supportive and not compromise. Victims of abuse have learned compromise well and need to see healthy strength modeled. They need to see that like them we have no strength of our own eventually and learn that it comes from the Lord, not us. They need to be able to trust and know that the trust is not based on what they do but on how we are. Love and caring have to be unconditional and any falseness is readily recognized. People who have been abused are able to recognize falseness immediately, before we know we are about to be false. To those who have been abused severely they may do things to please us until they can get away from us if we are false. They expect to be let down, they expect hope to be false, they expect to be lied to by people and do not believe people for a long time. Christians have to be consistent and not to use false control over people. People who have been abused know more about pushing emotional hot buttons than anyone. Trying to control them is useless. I have seen it tried and it only works if they have no choice. If you are an advocate for someone, controlling behaviors will end your relationship quickly, or it will become more abuse only you are the abuser. Turning the other cheek comes to mind readily.
Finally there are people who have been destroyed to the point that recovery is a lifelong process with little progress noticeable. A little girl named Rose had been subjected to an incredible amount of abuse in the ten years that she had lived on this earth. Her father was extremely abusive for her whole life. Her mother was diagnosed with cervical cancer and little time left and due to lack of funds was at home. One day the father demanded sex and she refused all of this going on in front of Rose. In the usual abusive manner he escalated the rage within himself and ended his tirade by stabbing the mother's vagina repeatedly and she died as a result. Another little girl introduced Rose to me in the hospital. The other girl was her only friend and it was because Rose proved to be impossible to get along with, was not able to talk well, and cried or moaned for no apparent reason. I didn't know it, but my visit was announced to Rose beforehand and Rose was on her best behavior, eager to see me. She drew roses and while doing this was able to remain calm and engage in conversation. I still have the rose that she drew for me. I also know that the care she needed would probably not be provided on a continuing basis. She was unable to care for herself and would face a lot of challenges due to the abuse. Abuse, Satanic Ritual Abuse, and the demonic are not curiosities of vain imagination. People who have been abused live in the expectation that under circumstances that they may not be fully aware of that anyone may cause harm to them. Every 17 seconds a woman is being beaten in this country by a significant other. Beatings usually last more than 17 seconds and that means someone every second of every day of every year is being abused violently.
Why is this in a place where you can read it? I cannot tell you the ultimate answer of course. I can say that I want to make sure that abuse is not a funny subject to me and neither is demonic influence that comes from abuse. We know very little about how things work between us and the other side in areas such as details. We do know enough to put enough of the picture together so that people can make better choices. I am not interested in demonic influence unless it is part of the presenting problem or becomes a factor. Those who know a lot about this counsel that the first thing is to consider the person as they are and consider the physical and psychological factors involved. Eagerly looking to find the demonic at the expense of caring about the person is not good. If the demonic is more important than the person, we are just helping out the abuser to continue the abuse or helping the demonic if it is there as an influence. It is my conviction that the Holy Spirit should unfold things, guide our walk, and dictate what we are about in any human affair. This is especially true if there is any demonic influence. Reason, understanding, knowledge, wisdom and being surrendered to the will of God have to be what we have on our part to give to a person so the Holy Spirit can gain the outcome as a victory for that person. Maybe my part is a brief encounter that seems meaningless as far as having a good result as far as I can tell. I never know. If I can tell that my presence is a detriment at any point or my part is over, then that is it. If it is possible for someone to be more whole as a result of my being around, then that is the good. If we cannot be trusted with small things then why would we expect to be trusted with big things? Being a servant of the Living God does not mean being in charge, it means being a servant. Offering servanthood to another is a great gift to offer and it means being able to offer unconditional love, hope, and faith to another. These things do not come from us.
Below is an except from the book by Dr. Ed Murphy.
We are witnessing a terrible revival of child mutilation and sacrifice in our day. Later in our study I give a major case study of my deliverance and counseling ministry with a missionary who is an adult survivor of Satanic Ritual Abuse in which her Satanist father attempted to offer her in sacrifice to Satan.
We are also witnessing an organized satanic conspiracy to refute the accounts of child sacrifice in the U.S. and other parts of the Western world. This is a satanically inspired cover-up. Dozens of children have come forth testifying how they were tortured into submission to wicked satanic leaders. They also were made to participate in the sacrifice of other little children to Satan.
Adults converted to Christ from Satanism and satanic cults have told horrible stories of child sacrifice. Major television news programs have given shocking revelations of the practice. Adult survivors have appeared on talk shows telling the horror of child sacrifice which they witnessed or were forced to participate in as children and young people, even as adults. The books by Wilder (1992) and Friesen (1991) document these horrors. Other references in the bibliography at the end of this book and in the chapters on child abuse tell where more information can be obtained.
The revival of paganism in America will only increase unless a nationwide Christian revival occurs to break the back of this demonic evil. In the meantime, let us use every weapon at our disposal to help save our children from this ultimate evil.
Writing about the relationship of pain, power, and abuse, Drs. Wilder and Friesen make several observations crucial to our spiritual warfare study. Wilder says, "Abuse is the application of excessive power." For our study on child abuse in general, and sexual abuse in particular, Wilder’s description of excessive power applied against a helpless child is important. The use of such power, he says, produces pain, helplessness, and finally helplessness in the abused and "ultimately in the abuser as well."
"Paradoxically, most common abuse occurs when the person in power is feeling powerless," Wilder affirms. What a profound insight! He follows with a real-life illustration of a parent, the power person, who seeks to gain greater power over his crying child by applying excessive power. He smothers the child with a pillow until he almost passes out. The crying stops. This is the application of excessive power to gain power over the child’s life at that point. This is also physical child abuse, a criminal offense.
The parents stop the abuse, for the moment at least, when they see that they are now powerful enough to control the child. They will then go through a cycle of regret, recurring abuse, followed by more regret and more abuse. Wilder says that "most parents have only been partially seduced by evil and so only partially believe that they should control their children. As a result, they only partially abuse their children." This is not the case of those so fully given to evil they wish to completely control their children—their minds, bodies, wills, and spirits. This is the nature of extreme evil.
"The only way to succeed at such mind control," Wilder says, "is to apply so much power that pain, the fear of pain, and the desire for power in order to avoid pain line up with the lines of power. Here enters the calculated use of power to cause helplessness and pain in order to break the child’s soul."
Many cases of demonization are traceable to times of trauma, particularly involving assault by another person, either sexual or physical. That a person should become demonized on top of a trauma seems potently unfair, but who says we live in a fair world? Satan is the ruler of this world. Any world over which he rules will be an unfair world. "Demons are attracted to pain because 1) they ‘like’ the pain and suffering; 2) pain produces powerlessness which makes their offers of power attractive," Wilder notes. When Jesus had fasted, he was hungry, and guess who showed up?
The attitude of Wilder and Friesen differs from the common one held by Christian counselors, psychologists, and psychiatrists who often affirm they have rarely or never discovered demons in the lives of severely abused patients. Fortunately for the victims, that attitude is beginning to change in the U.S. As I examine the many counseling sessions I have had with Christians since I was first forced by the Lord into this ministry in the mid-1970s, I have concluded that in the U.S., at least, sexual abuse after occult involvement is the number one cause of demonization in the life of Christians.
Wilder says pain causes powerlessness. The abused wants the pain to stop. When it doesn’t, the victim feels powerless. "The pain of powerless feelings can make one long desperately for power," Wilder says. "Many a person watching a loved one die has had this experience. The solution to feeling powerlessness appears to be increasing your power." This is not a solution but a trap, Wilder says. "One good definition of evil should be: Correcting powerlessness by increasing your power." Common ways to achieve power are by "plotting revenge, holding grudges, feeding bitterness, passive aggressive retaliation, attempting to control others or oneself, and explosions of rage."
God is the ultimate source of all power, demonic or otherwise, Wilder affirms. Yet God is not primarily power. Consequently "it is an insult to His nature to offer power as a solution to our troubles. The first offer of power almost always comes from demons. It doesn’t matter whether this is power to heal, deliver, or get revenge. . . . Demons are power beings and they will always offer you:
1) power as a way to fix things;
2) enough power so you can give back more than you got;
3) enough power to damage you for handling it;
4) power if you give up something in return."
Wilder then makes a controversial statement, yet one deserving of careful consideration:
"People who seek power, even for healing, generally find it first from demons."
Building on what he has written under hurting children through abuse, Wilder continues, "Now that we have some understanding of power, pain and abuse, we can consider how evil people can use abuse creatively to get the results they want." Wilder gives the illustration of a disobedient two-year-old child. His parents want to gain total power over him. He must be taught to immediately obey on command.
They throw him into the washing machine with dirty clothes, calculating how long he can remain there without dying. After a few such treatments they get the power over him they want. When he begins to disobey they remark, "Do you want a good washing?"
Mild forms of torture like this "are enough to get some control of the child’s mind and body. To really control his soul, mind and spirit requires much more extensive and intense kinds of suffering for the child.
Edward F. Murphy, Handbook for Spiritual Warfare [computer file], electronic ed. of the revised and updated edition, Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997, ©1996 by Edward F. Murphy.