ASTRAL PROJECTION/ OBE/ Soul Travel
Christians should have answers on the topic. It does seem though as though more and more people are asking more questions about occultism and occult related activity and phenomena.
Astral Projection is a
"practice in which one can consciously learn to leave the body through meditation and travel - in theory - to distant realms and spiritual planes. Here they can encounter beautiful experiences or may have very frightening ones"
Or at least, that is what people who practice it have been told, and tell others. At the very least, Astral Projection is an altered state of consciousness whereby a person is said to detach their spirit from their physical body, and are then enabled to travel to other places.
Essentially, its a drug trip without the drugs (though some are sometimes used by some people who practice this). The first thing that should strike us about Astral projection is that 1) it a practice regularly found among occultist, occultic textbooks, witches and true pagans and 2) it is a practice that Christians have historically stayed away from.
Soul travel is the same thing as Astral Projection or an OBE. The functions, purposes and methods are the same, and the forces being contacted are the same.
Two theories stand out about astral projection:
A) The person leaves their body and truly is spiritually elsewhere meeting spiritual forces, beings or entities which are NOT Jesus Christ or
B) The person has the impression that they are leaving the body, and what is really happening is that demonic spirits are tweaking their brains to make them think this is the case.
Either scenario is not good news for Christians. But thank God, He is more powerful than any other spiritual being around. Youre right to think that deep down something is wrong, because something is Very wrong.
The Bible does not discount spiritual experiences. However, the Spiritual experiences that Christians are told to seek are those which are seeking to understand the Trinitarian God through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit that dwells within Christians.
Christians are commanded to stay away from, and to forsake spiritual experiences which are not the express seeking of only the Christian Triune God. It should be said that those spiritual experiences that Christians are supposed to seek are those that agree with what the Bible teaches.
Even in matters of Spiritual Experiences, doctrine the right way of believing and following Jesus Christ is critical. I mention this because there are conversations on the internet floating around about those who are supposedly seeking a) Jesus Christ and b) a "Christian" Spiritual Experience, but the experiences described have a "catch" to them:
those very experiences, the manner in which they are practiced and carried out...are contrary to what the Bible says about how true Christians and sound Spiritual leaders are supposed to point others towards God. So it is Not ONLY our desire to seek
the right GOD out through our spiritual experiences that count; We must also seek Him in a manner that agrees with the Bible. That is why the Bible says:
John 4: 23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such [as those] to worship him.
24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
To worship Him, we worship Him in spirit and IN TRUTH.
Hard to tell the real from the fake ?
The reason for God's description of how we should worship him - in spirit and in truth - is because God wants us to know what it takes to please Him. Those who love God want to do what makes Him happy.
The same is true no matter what god is worshipped. The followers of any God will seek to make their gods happy and satisfied with them and their choices. That is why it matters so much...whether the God being worshipped is a good god with benevolent characteristics, or a cruel God with evil characteristics.
God loves us, but he also knows that humans can be fooled. He knows that our ability to discern on a spiritual level between a Spirit from God, and a spirit from the Devil can be fooled. (which is why we are told to Learn to discern (to accurately evaluate) the nature [good or evil] of spirits- even those who are operating within a Church meeting or service.
The basic problem - for us humans - is that while Satan does sometimes do overtly evil things, such as possessing people and tell them to go kill someone, most of the time he is more subtle than this, and appears as an Angel of Light, one who seduces others into believing that He is the Angel of Light.
This is directly relevant to Astral Projection. It is not the horror that many recoil from. In fact, It is the beauty of the experience, that leads many to conclude that they "must" have found truth. The fact is that those who feel that way are the demonstration that they are being seduced into believing that their experiences are "from God". That is exactly what it means to be deceived by Satan who appears as an "Angel of Light".
Galatians 1: 8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach Any Other Gospel unto you [other] than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed (eternally condemned).
Clearly, for Paul -writing in the Bible - to suggest that an angel should be eternally condemned, suggests that this angel (about whom he is speaking) would be delivering a false and counterfeit message, intending to deceive humans and harm them.
Part II
Satan makes his experiences seem so good, that people believe that they are experiencing the real thing. He is clever enough to make white seem like black, and black seem like white. Without the discerning power of the true Holy Spirit in us, and a strong knowledge of the Bible verses that can help us deal with these situations all are vulnerable to the deceits of Satan.
Whether the experience is "real" or not, certainly the conclusions that people have About their experiences in Astral Projection those are Very real. They draw conclusions and then base their spiritual beliefs on them. This matters, because it demonstrates that they are evaluating truth by their experiences. The Bible commands us to do the reverse: To evaluate our experience by the light of Gods truth as found in the Bible.
Experience is not the standard by which Christians judge or evaluate truth. Gods truth is the basis by which we evaluate our experiences. But if a person is not truly born again, and does not know better, then what other choice would they chose, except to use their spiritual "experiences" as the basis through which to understand "truth" ? They have no other choice. Or at least, none that they know about.
One of the difficulties with these experiences is that their seduction is so complete, that many people never recover from them, and continue to insist that they are good.
Those involved in Astral Projection describe all sorts of encounters with everyone from past historical figures to their spiritual teachers and mentors, to people they knew who had died, to Extra Terrestrials.
The Problem is that it is impossible for a physical body to remain alive without a soul being there to inhabit it.
That is why Paul says
II Cor 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
9 Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.
because Paul knew that when Christians are absent from the Body (that is when they die) , they are present with the Lord.
This raises the obvious point: Christians are only one of two places: either in their bodies while they are alive, or with the Lord after they die.
So, if the soul of a person is traveling around the Galaxy during Astral Projection, then what or Who is the force that is keeping the soul of that person connected to their body, to prevent death ?
The short answer would be, and is: Satanic & evil Spirits
But that would lead to the next question: Why would Satan have an interest in preventing someone from dying ? He would not. But he cannot affect this outcome. God is the one who decides when to take the physical life of a person, and Satan cannot set nor control that time.
That is why the Bible says in Hebrews:
Heb 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
Because this time of death is an Appointment, a scheduled event.
Since Satanic beings are very good at the illusion of goodness, the illusion of what is real, and the illusions of different spiritual experiences, it makes sense that some of those demonic forces would be lending some of their malefic talents and energy...in making sure that humans substitute the false reality of their spiritual experiences for the Truth of Jesus Christ and salvation through faith in Him alone.
The challenge in talking with those who are into Astral Projection, is that - sometimes - they believe that all of their experiences negate almost anything which is shared with them. Many of them feel as though they have a superior knowledge of life, the universe and the future because of their experiences.
Because of this, they tend to experience the answers of Christians as being something which is merely "perceptual" because that person has not had the "benefit" of Astral Projection.
Astral Projection is very much what the Shamans (witch-doctors) describe in their experiences. Among the indians, this would be known as a Vision Quest.
It seems that those who experience Astral Projection are able to do so ONLY because of using Spiritual connections to demonic forces that are absolutely forbidden in the Bible and strongly warned against.
There is a strong basis to doubt that the person - who is doing the Astral Projection - is actually traveling outside of themselves, though it seems very real. The truth is that these are evil spirits [while giving the impression that they are good] that are possessing people or controlling their minds, and firing the neurons and synapses to ensure the "full experience".
The template/perception through which Astral Projection is experienced can only be described as demonic even though it may not feel that way. Works of evil do not always FEEL evil. In many cases, they can seem right, because those persons who accept contact with demonic forces are deceived. Their perspective is skewed (altered & misguided), but they cannot perceive this.
Satan and his forces are willing to loan us some of their spiritual force if only this will serve as a basis to keep us either eternally lost or prevent us from serving Jesus Christ. Remember the goals of Satan: a) ensure a person does not come to know Jesus Christ personally, and b) ensure that if they do, that they never spend their lives serving the Lord help them to waste their lives, so they will not be effective in helping others to either become saved or grow spiritually.
Opening ourselves up to the Occult can have serious consequences in our lives, since this is a spiritual stronghold that Demonic Forces can use to interfere in our lives and attempt to harm us. That is why the practice of contacting these forces and seeking them out (through Astral Projection/ Mediums/ Tarot Cards or other means) is forbidden.
As someone else pointed out here, Leviticus 19: 31 does apply:
31 Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.
The pre-mechanized world in the West recognized that there was an old concept of the "Familiar Spirit". It was a spiritual entity (a demon) that people went to and were seeking contact with in order to seek guidance and advice. The concept of a "Familiar Spirit" is a recurring them in ancient pagan cultures such as Ancient Egypt and Babylon, and is also something that the Bible forbids. And yet, this is the practice of what is taking place when people use Astral Projection to contact their "special families" and "friends" in the Astrally projected world. Those contacts and "astral friends" are "Familiar Spirits", which is exactly what a demon is.
Part III
Incidentally, this is also what can happen to people when they are either praying "through" the dead or to the dead, as happens in both in some of the rituals of the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches. Praying to the "saints" or through the saints is praying to the dead.
Christians - those who follow the teachings of Jesus - pray to God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. Non-Christians pray to just about anyone and anything else (or instead simply assert their own godhood).
By the way, praying to Mary would qualify as praying to the Dead, for a few reasons:
1. Mary was a human
2. Mary was never divine and never claimed to be
3. Mary died as a human and went to Heaven, where she worships Jesus
4. Mary is dead and there is No evidence that she can hear the prayers of anyone who prays to her. The reason is that the only prayers that make it to Heaven where God dwells are those prayers that are prayed directly to Him "through Jesus Christ" or "in the name of Jesus Christ".
( God does not view prayers to Mary as something benevolent or good willed. God views this as Competition and as a Detraction from worship that belongs to him)
This is a forbidden and occult practice. And while some have prayed to Mary and would claim that nothing has happened bad to them, other have prayed to Mary and have had all sorts of horrible things happen to them, as they found out that praying to the dead can often result in an answer from a demon, because that person has opened themselves up spiritually to the forces of evil.
Here is what a Very Old Spiritual Book - the Bible - has to say about malefic spirits, which are called "Familiar Spirits". These are evil spirits that attach themselves to a particular person or family or place.
Leviticus 20:
6 And the soul that turneth after such as have Familiar Spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people.
7 Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God.
(Lev 19:31 KJV) Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.
(Lev 20:6 KJV) And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people.
(Deu 18: 9-12 KJV)
9 When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.
10 There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire [child sacrifice], or that useth divination, or an observer of times [horoscopes], or an enchanter, or a witch,
11 Or a charmer, or a consulter with Familiar Spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
12 For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.
(1 Sam 28:3 KJV) Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him, and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. And Saul had put away those that had familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land.
[Saul now changes his mind]
(1 Sam 28:7 KJV) Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and inquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor.
(1 Sam 28:8 KJV) And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and he went, and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night: and he said, I pray thee, divine unto me by the familiar spirit, and bring me him up, whom I shall name unto thee.
(1 Sam 28:9a KJV) And the woman said unto him, Behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he hath cut off those that have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land:
(2 Ki 21:6 KJV) And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.
(2 Ki 23:24 KJV) Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD.
[Consequences from God to King Saul:]
(1 Chr 10:13 KJV) So Saul died (in battle) for his transgression which he committed against the LORD, even against the word of the LORD, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a Familiar Spirit, to inquire of it;
(2 Chr 33:6 KJV) And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.
(Isa 8:19 KJV) And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?
(Isa 19:3 KJV) And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards.
[Those who want to know more can look those up in the Bible and read the Context]
Part IV
How to respond to Astral Projection
How should we respond to Astral Projection ?
If we have been involved in Astral Projection or OBE or seeking Near-death Experiences, we should ask God for forgiveness for any of the specific actions involving Astral Projection or any other occult activity, that may have quenched the Holy Spirit in our lives, and ask to be forgiven of every word, thought, deed, and action that was/is a sin, and/or a violation of what God has told us to stay away from. We should specifically ask
to be forgiven of anything that would interfere in our spiritual walk with God, and anything that would either cause or allow Satan or his forces to gain a spiritual foothold
or stronghold in our lives. We should ask God to deliver us from those forces in the name of Jesus Christ. The great thing is that He Will forgive us as He has promised us in 1 John 1:9.
1 John 1:9 is God's promise to Forgive us if we ask Him:
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
We should pray the
If we have friends who are involved in Astral Projection, we should seek to inform them of its dangers, and pray for them both before talking with them, and after that the Holy Spirit would use the conversations to his Glory and that they would have a strong & permanent spiritual impact in opening the eyes of those who are still involved in it.
Those who have a concern about being able to pray this should begin by Praising God and asking God to help them pray this prayer that they may find personally difficult.
They should also ask for the Spiritual Protection of the Lord Jesus Christ during the time that they are praying and for the spiritual strength to be able to continue praying and to stay focused.
IF we have not already done the following, we should also pray to know God, and to have Eternal life. This is that prayer - how to truly have eternal life
Prayer Requests - What to ask God for
Books:
Books by Kurt Koch (Kregel) ABC of Occultism, Between Christ and Satan, etc
by William Schnoeblen
America: The Sorcerers Apprentice by Dave Hunt
New Age Nightmare by Ron Baer (On Crystals and other New Age stuff)
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Don't Let anyone tell you that Christians support Forced Conversions.
That is False. True Christianity is NEVER forced.
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