Silas
Beloved of All
Thank you for sharing so openly about what you have been walking through. It takes honesty to describe harassment that has lasted for years, to name the occult background, and to speak plainly about the demonic character of what you have experienced. I thank God that you have renounced involvement in new age and witchcraft and have turned back to Christ. Salvation is through Jesus Christ alone, and it is only in Him that we have forgiveness, protection, and authority over the enemy. Your decision to leave those practices behind and to cling to Jesus is the right foundation for everything else.
What you are describing is not strange in the biblical sense. Scripture says all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. This world is in rebellion against God, and when you align your life with Him you will find yourself out of alignment with the world. Peter tells us not to think it strange concerning the fiery trial that tests us, as though something unusual were happening. Persecution has always been part of the life of faithful believers. History shows that when the church is pressured, true faith is revealed and strengthened. The wheat is separated from the chaff, faith grows, and love among believers deepens. God even uses the pressure to move His purposes forward, as He did when the early believers were scattered from Jerusalem and carried the gospel into Judea and Samaria. Your suffering is not a sign that God has abandoned you. It can be a place where your faith is refined and your dependence on Christ becomes clearer.
You also describe very real spiritual opposition. The Bible presents demonic spirits as intelligent beings who can influence, deceive, and torment, and who at times speak and act through people. They are not all powerful. They are created beings under God's authority, and God sets limits on what they can do. When Jesus cast them out, they cried out and fled at His command. Scripture reminds us that greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world, and it asks what fellowship light has with darkness and what harmony Christ has with Belial. That is why your instinct is right to question whether certain relationships should be restored. Some relationships are inappropriate by biblical standards, and sex and intimate partnership belong only within the lifelong covenant of marriage between one man and one woman. Living together or pursuing closeness outside of that design, or maintaining ties that pull you away from Christ, will be a stumbling block. It is wise and biblical to pray for those people to be removed from your life rather than to pray for reconciliation where reconciliation would mean compromise. Light does not make peace with darkness by joining it.
You mentioned that the harassment began while you were involved in the occult and that you first tried to handle it through those same means. That would naturally give the enemy more ground, but the answer is not to return to those things. The enemy's aim is often to drive people back to what once enslaved them. Turning to Jesus, resisting the enemy in His name, and remaining Christlike under pressure is the path God honors. You have noticed that when you bring these things to prayer, the harassers flee. That is consistent with what Scripture teaches about prayer and about demonic powers being forced to retreat before the authority of Christ. Continue to resist, continue to walk in purity and obedience, and continue to bring everything to God in prayer.
God knows how to deliver the righteous. He delivered Lot when he was oppressed by the wickedness around him, and He has promised to deliver His people from every evil work and to preserve them for His heavenly kingdom. Deliverance does not always look the same. Sometimes God removes the trial, sometimes He sustains you through it, and sometimes He uses it to make you stronger and to display His faithfulness. In your case you have seen Him begin to answer your prayers to remove these individuals from your life. That is an encouragement to keep praying in that same direction, asking for complete separation, for the harassment to cease, and for protection over your mind, your home, and your steps.
I am praying with you that God will completely stop this harassment and cause these individuals to leave you alone. I am praying that every plot formed against you to cause emotional distress, including what was planned to overshadow your graduation in May, will be canceled and come to nothing, and that your graduation will be marked by peace and joy rather than fear. I am praying that God will guard your heart from any pull back toward occult practices, that He will surround you with healthy fellowship where your faith can grow and your love can abound, and that He will use even this painful season to deepen your trust in Christ and to make you more like Him. May the Lord keep you, keep your garments clean in His sight, and keep you watching for Christ with confidence that He is your protector and judge, and that He will deal justly with those who have troubled you while He preserves you as His own.
What you are describing is not strange in the biblical sense. Scripture says all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. This world is in rebellion against God, and when you align your life with Him you will find yourself out of alignment with the world. Peter tells us not to think it strange concerning the fiery trial that tests us, as though something unusual were happening. Persecution has always been part of the life of faithful believers. History shows that when the church is pressured, true faith is revealed and strengthened. The wheat is separated from the chaff, faith grows, and love among believers deepens. God even uses the pressure to move His purposes forward, as He did when the early believers were scattered from Jerusalem and carried the gospel into Judea and Samaria. Your suffering is not a sign that God has abandoned you. It can be a place where your faith is refined and your dependence on Christ becomes clearer.
You also describe very real spiritual opposition. The Bible presents demonic spirits as intelligent beings who can influence, deceive, and torment, and who at times speak and act through people. They are not all powerful. They are created beings under God's authority, and God sets limits on what they can do. When Jesus cast them out, they cried out and fled at His command. Scripture reminds us that greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world, and it asks what fellowship light has with darkness and what harmony Christ has with Belial. That is why your instinct is right to question whether certain relationships should be restored. Some relationships are inappropriate by biblical standards, and sex and intimate partnership belong only within the lifelong covenant of marriage between one man and one woman. Living together or pursuing closeness outside of that design, or maintaining ties that pull you away from Christ, will be a stumbling block. It is wise and biblical to pray for those people to be removed from your life rather than to pray for reconciliation where reconciliation would mean compromise. Light does not make peace with darkness by joining it.
You mentioned that the harassment began while you were involved in the occult and that you first tried to handle it through those same means. That would naturally give the enemy more ground, but the answer is not to return to those things. The enemy's aim is often to drive people back to what once enslaved them. Turning to Jesus, resisting the enemy in His name, and remaining Christlike under pressure is the path God honors. You have noticed that when you bring these things to prayer, the harassers flee. That is consistent with what Scripture teaches about prayer and about demonic powers being forced to retreat before the authority of Christ. Continue to resist, continue to walk in purity and obedience, and continue to bring everything to God in prayer.
God knows how to deliver the righteous. He delivered Lot when he was oppressed by the wickedness around him, and He has promised to deliver His people from every evil work and to preserve them for His heavenly kingdom. Deliverance does not always look the same. Sometimes God removes the trial, sometimes He sustains you through it, and sometimes He uses it to make you stronger and to display His faithfulness. In your case you have seen Him begin to answer your prayers to remove these individuals from your life. That is an encouragement to keep praying in that same direction, asking for complete separation, for the harassment to cease, and for protection over your mind, your home, and your steps.
I am praying with you that God will completely stop this harassment and cause these individuals to leave you alone. I am praying that every plot formed against you to cause emotional distress, including what was planned to overshadow your graduation in May, will be canceled and come to nothing, and that your graduation will be marked by peace and joy rather than fear. I am praying that God will guard your heart from any pull back toward occult practices, that He will surround you with healthy fellowship where your faith can grow and your love can abound, and that He will use even this painful season to deepen your trust in Christ and to make you more like Him. May the Lord keep you, keep your garments clean in His sight, and keep you watching for Christ with confidence that He is your protector and judge, and that He will deal justly with those who have troubled you while He preserves you as His own.
