TO CHEW ON: "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them." Ephesians 5:11
Mike Leehan in his book Ascent from Darkness, does exactly that (exposes the "works of darkness"). Mad at God after his divorce, he decided to give himself to the dark side. For the next about 20 years he lived as a servant and worshiper of Satan. In his book he tells about that life:
- He describes how he repeatedly cut himself as part of his ritual and fasted to gain spiritual power.
- He discloses his mission: to sow confusion and mayhem within churches. Some of the things he did were carry copies of the Satanic Bible so he could plant them on church premises, seduce women, attend small group Bible studies to introduce unbelief and doctrinal error.
- He tells of numerous incidents when he had spiritual insight into people, sensing their spiritual protection or vulnerability.
- He describes how he felt and acted around Christians. For example, he found it impossible to sit in a worship service and often blacked out when in conversation as he channeled spirits.
- He shows us the terrifying side of spirit possession—the spooky nights filled with demonic phenomena and his ever-present depression and obsession with death. He was preparing to compose a suicide note to one of his kids the day he called out to God at a men's retreat and was miraculously delivered.
Why read such a book? Perhaps it's not for everyone, but it certainly opened my eyes.
- It showed me the fearful price that Satan exacts in loyalty, obedience and servitude.
- It showed how Satan's promises are lies.
- It illustrated, by contrast, the light, life, freedom, and joy we have in Christ—things it's easy for us to take for granted, until we've experienced (vicariously, through reading about it was experience enough for me) what life on the dark side is like.
- It provided an insight into what may be behind many of our society's bizarre and self-destructive behaviours (like rampant suicide, the prevalence of cutting, the spirit of lust that has taken down not only lay-Christians but many pastors too) and gave clues as to how to minister to demonically oppressed people.
- Mike's spiritual zeal for and commitment to the dark side put me to shame as I compared it to my zeal and commitment to Jesus.
PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for the freedom, peace, joy, cleanness and wholesomeness available to me because of Jesus. Help me to live with a greater awareness of darkness, and to guard myself against it. Amen.
MORE: Why share such a story?
Here, in Mike's own words, is why he told his story:
"I have learned the only thing that evil can take over is darkness. Darkness invades our lives when we shut out the light of God's love. But where there is light, there cannot be darkness. Light pierces darkness and illuminates the truth.
We must realize that we are in a world that is spiritually intertwined. There is more to our existence than the obvious. We must open our eyes to see the spiritual realm, which is very real and very powerful. And we must learn the weapons of our adversary, not only to avoid becoming ensnared by darkness but to be able to reach into that darkness to rescue others, like me, with the light. We are instruments of change. We are powerful vessels carrying an eternal cargo of either life or death.
The reason for sharing my story in this book is to demonstrate the power of God over Satan and to show how merciful a God we have in heaven. To give Him the glory and praise, and to demonstrate the power of love over fear, to show the love our Father has for us, to let God's light expose the darkness—but mainly to facilitate the hope that by reading this story, people might turn to the King of Kings!" - Mike Leehan, Ascent from Darkness, Kindle Location 3462 (emphasis added).
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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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