Deuteronomy 12
These are the rules and regulations that you must diligently observe for as long as you live in this country that God, the God-of-Your-Fathers, has given you to possess.
2-3 Ruthlessly demolish all the sacred shrines where the nations that you’re driving out worship their gods—wherever you find them, on hills and mountains or in groves of green trees. Tear apart their altars. Smash their phallic pillars. Burn their sex-and-religion Asherah shrines. Break up their carved gods. Obliterate the names of those god sites.
4 Stay clear of those places—don’t let what went on there contaminate the worship of God, your God.
Well! In case you have been confusing God with Santa Claus, these verses should wake you up quickly. Look at the orders: “Ruthlessly demolish ALL the sacred shrines…wherever you find them. TEAR APART their altars. SMASH their phallic pillars. BURN their Asherah shrines. BREAK UP their carved gods. OBLITERATE the names of those god sites…Don’t let what went on there CONTAMINATE the worship of God, your God.” God isn’t playing around, and the Israelites had better follow all His instructions or else.
5-7 Instead find the site that God, your God, will choose and mark it with his name as a common center for all the tribes of Israel. Assemble there. Bring to that place your Absolution-Offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and Tribute-Offerings, your Vow-Offerings, your Freewill-Offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. Feast there in the Presence of God, your God. Celebrate everything that you and your families have accomplished under the blessing of God, your God.
Why doesn’t God want the Israelites to use the sites where idolatry previously took place? Destroying the shrines and idols does nothing about the demons. Demons are territorial and these sites will still be packed with demons just waiting to attach to the first person foolish enough to initiate worship there. God wants the Israelites to establish worship in spiritually clean locations. Eventually, God selects Mount Moriah in Jerusalem, perhaps because that is where Abraham nearly sacrificed Isaac. Who knows but that Abraham’s act of obedience all those centuries ago has hallowed that area, even though the Jebusites have since taken it over.
Around the world, many places are not spiritually neutral. Years ago, in one town in northern Ghana, there was a series of tragedies in a small part of the town-one young lady bled to death after a botched abortion, a respected elderly teacher broke his neck in a road traffic accident, and one high school student died mysteriously. When I began praying over the situation, God showed me a fetish tree swarming with little demons. Upon asking our friends from town, we learned that vision was true; there had been a fetish tree near the spot where these tragedies took place. When missionaries wanted a site for their new church, the local people gladly gave them the site that the fetish tree had previously occupied; after all, nobody else wanted it! Sadly, that church had taken over the ground but evidently assumed they had dealt with the demons by cutting down the tree and burning the stump. They were wrong. The situation required much more prayer and fasting before the demons could be routed.
We have lived in Memphis, Tennessee, Charleston, South Carolina, and New Orleans, Louisiana. All three of those cities served as centers for the slave trade in America. In each of those cities, the spiritual atmosphere can change from block to block, with some places feeling clean while others carry a spirit of oppression or other spirits that are even worse. Speakers coming to the church we attended in Southaven, Mississippi would describe seeing spiritual black clouds over Memphis that would become darker the closer they got to town.
In New Orleans, I used to ride a city bus to my classes at the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in the Central Business District. One street we traveled skirted the French Quarter, and the side of the bus nearer to the French Quarter felt cold like the grave. Going back in history, New Orleans served as a dumping ground for moral degenerates from eighteenth century France. All kinds of evil have existed in the French Quarter since its inception.
When we moved into one house, we swiftly realized that part of the house felt fine while another part felt spiritually disturbing. While praying, my husband discerned a spirit of abortion. We concluded that at some point, one doctor occupying the place must have been performing abortions in one of the bedrooms. We also realized that items such as keys and other things would go missing at that end of the house, only to reappear as soon as we prayed to cut off a spirit of confusion.
Can these sites be cleansed? Yes, with a great deal of persistent prayer supported by fasting. But demons may leave for a short time, only to return later. One church we attended in New Orleans would send two large bus loads of men out on “Nehemiah rides.” These prayer warriors would go to some of the worst crime spots in New Orleans while the women of the church would back them in prayer. The police soon learned that when these men prayed, the crime rate in the targeted areas would drop for at least two days or more. The police were so impressed that they would ask for the list of locations for the prayers ahead of time and then quietly show up to help protect those praying. One night, a drug dealer who was about to leave a housing development to go sell drugs came under such conviction that he leaped out of his car, rushed into the center of the prayer circle, and gave his life to Christ immediately. The problem was that when the group moved to a different location for their next prayer session, the spiritual climate of the previous location would revert after a few days.
Another story from our time in New Orleans: We moved into an apartment on the West Bank, across the Mississippi River from the Central Business District. Shortly after arriving, we realized there was an evil presence in the apartment. We never knew what had happened but we assumed that someone had been murdered or had committed abortion in the apartment. Having had some previous experience with such things in Ghana, we began leaving the radio on all day. We learned that the demons didn’t care about classical music or even Christian “light rock.” Once we reached home, it would take about 2 hours before the evil presence would leave the apartment. But when we left the radio tuned to a station that played sermons about the Blood of Jesus and old-time hymns, the demons were gone when we returned home.
Why does God keep insisting that the Israelites destroy everything devoted to idols? Demons have attached themselves to these items, and keeping these things will invite demons to attack, particularly if those items are taken into people’s homes. One missionary of our acquaintance was instrumental in breaking up a horrible cult several years ago that involved kidnaping of young women and repeatedly raping them. The symbol of this cult was a cow horn; unfortunately, our friend took that object back to America when she retired and exhibited it when she was speaking in churches. Although our friend thought she was celebrating God’s triumph over Satan, in fact, she was carrying a cult object that needed to be destroyed. Several local pastors communicated with her, begging her to destroy it. We even stayed overnight with her and convinced her it should be burned; however, unfortunately, the wind was quite high that night and there was no means of burning the thing properly. Once back in America, our friend suffered several health problems, and we felt many of these problems stemmed from her refusal to destroy that cult object. We can only hope that someone destroyed it after her death.
George Otis Senior wrote several excellent books in the 1960’s -1990’s. Otis was the General Manager of the Lear Jet Corporation and became a millionaire before age 35. During extensive travels, Otis had many opportunities to visit various pagan places of worship, but God stopped him. In one of Otis’ books, he documented how God dealt with him about visiting idolatrous temples and carrying home souvenirs of dubious spiritual origin. While watching a parade of priests celebrating a Shinto holiday in Japan, Otis became convicted that those men were demonically possessed and God queried him as to why he was even taking part in the celebration by witnessing their performance. Otis also realized that he was not being careful in his choice of souvenirs and that he might be accidentally introducing demons into his home by the things he had brought from his travels. I found Otis’ teachings to be quite valuable; in fact, we had an experience that bore out Otis’ warnings.
When we returned to America from Ghana in 1990, our household things were mixed in with those of another returning missionary family. We wound up with a weird carving of a traditional drummer with a strange hair style that was not common at that time in Ghana. Neither of us remembered anyone giving us that carving, and we soon found it upsetting for other reasons. In some horror movies, the eyes of portraits supposedly follow the unsuspecting person around the room. In Ghana, many chief’s palaces will have a jar, a shield, or something else with a face picked out in cowrie shells, the idea being that every visitor is being watched. In the Celtic traditions in the British Isles, there were ware stones, stones that watched people and then transmitted information to those controlling the stones. Gradually we became aware that this carving made both of us intensely uncomfortable, for we felt it was spying on us, that someone in Ghana was watching us through this carving. After moving the carving from our living room into my office, we decided the only safe thing to do with it was to pound it to pieces and to burn the pieces. The spiritual atmosphere of our home lightened significantly once we destroyed that carving.
One final story: I grew up in an old farm house where several tragedies had taken place. There were rumors that the house was haunted, and these were likely correct. But in the late 1950’s a Christian radio station began broadcasting in our area, playing excellent sermons and old-time hymns that spoke of the Blood of Jesus. After a few years, the spiritual atmosphere of the house changed, and I could feel a deep peace when I entered the house.
If you think God’s warnings in this chapter are only for the ancient Israelites, you are sadly mistaken. God does not change and His Word stands for all time. Do not mess with demons or anything that might have demons attached. And if you find a souvenir or a new purchase disturbing, do not ignore that feeling! God might be trying to keep you safe. Destroy whatever it is and gain your freedom.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Lord, many people might think I have told these stories to gain attention, but You know they are true and I am telling them to caution others. Help us to live holy lives and to flee from anything demonic. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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