THE TALISMAN! --Animism & the Sphinx     DFO 1369         23/1/79

         1. THERE'S MORE TO TALISMANS THAN SUPERSTITION! That's why the Lord didn't like gods & goddesses in graven images, because the evil spirit frequently accompanied the graven image. A talisman is an idol, it's a picture, a token of something.
         2. Animism is probably the World's most widespread religion. Any religion in which they worship inanimate objects, such as trees, stones, images, & the spirits that are supposed to inhabit these objects, is generally known as animism. It's the thing which God attacked almost the most, the thing He hated the most outside of hypocrisy & self-righteousness.
         3. The World itself worships mostly the THINGS that can be SEEN, although there are wicked spirits behind these things. (Eph.6:12) Materialism is really the major religion of the World, & animism is just a form of materialism, the worship of things. Everybody who is not a true believer in the true spiritual God is an animist!--In the broadest sense of the word. He worships the creation, things, instead of the Spirit, right? (See Ro.1:25.)
         4. One of God's greatest interests is to get you to believe in the unseeable, the unseen. "For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are unseen are eternal." (2Co.4:18) So one of the Devil's main lines of business is to keep you from worshipping & believing in the unseen God, the spiritual God, & to get you to worship the things that you can see, the creation, the material Universe, rather than the Unseen!

         5. SOME PEOPLE GOT REALLY FLIPPED OUT BECAUSE URI GELLER COULD BEND SPOONS WITHOUT TOUCHING THEM, but he wasn't doing the bending! They call it psychokinesis, the power of the mind, mind-over-matter.--That if you concentrate strongly enough you can shatter a window, bend a fork, stop the hands on a clock, move objects across a table, etc. You say, "Well, what's that got to do with animism?" Well, what is the creation of God that man worships the most?--Man!--Himself!
         6. This was the Devil's first attack in the Garden: To get Adam & Eve to worship themselves. What did he tempt them with?--"And ye shall be as gods!" (Ge.3:5)--You'll be such a god you can even worship yourself, you'll be so powerful & so smart! And that's exactly where man is today: Man worships himself most of all!
         7. All this yoga, transcendental meditation, whatever you want to call it, is a very clever counterfeit. It's a subterfuge, a phony false front. They start you off thinking that you're worshipping yourself & your own mind, the "real you." Yoga, for example, starts off in the physical, with positions & exercises that are good for your body.--But you wind up inviting demonic powers to enter in & take over! That's what nearly all the Oriental religions are!--They are demonic!
         8. And even many people who have gotten into the spiritual through the Oriental religions still think they're worshipping their own spirit or their own mental power through meditation, yoga, etc. But they eventually discover that they get into another spirit, the world of demon power. Of course, the Devil doesn't always expose himself right off the bat.--Some of his manifestations will be marvelous & create wonder. But what good does it do?--It's just for show!--The Devil showing off what he can do--supernatural things, miracles, bend spoons, stop clocks, etc.
         9. Even the Catholics get into this, with images that cry & pictures that bleed. You say, "Well, they're worshipping Christ, so didn't God do it?" Does it really inspire the worship of Christ & of God, or just of that particular image, that idol or that picture? Beloved, to me it is a deception & a form of animism & graven images, a form of idolatry.
         10. So I am convinced that God hated idolatry & idols not only because of the demon spirit or evil god, pagan or heathen god which those idols pictured or represented, but which some of them possessed!--I don't like to talk about the Devil's business, but if you don't recognise the Enemy's work, how are you going to get the victory over it? Unless God reveals what's wrong, how are you going to recognise who is behind it & what it is, how are you going to pray?

         11. LAST NIGHT I ASKED GOD TO TELL ME WHAT WAS WRONG WITH DAVIDITO.--All of a sudden, after visiting Timothy's four children who have wet their beds nearly every night of their lives until the ages of four, five & six years, he suddenly started wetting the bed nearly every night! You say, "Well, that happens to a lot of children!--So what?"
         12. Before he went & played with Timothy's children, David had not wet the bed in how long? (Sara: A year! He was two-&-a-half years old when he was trained.) He might have wet the bed once in a great while, occasionally, very rarely for some unusual reason.--But he went months & months without ever having an accident.--A whole year!
         13. Now you can call it whatever you want--psychological association, imitation--but I am convinced that almost everything that happens to David is very spiritual. And having only just met those children & having been with them for only two days, to pick up such a habit from them in such a short time was very strange!
         14. Who unpacked the big radio? Wasn't I there when you were cutting the cord & unwrapping it, & something slid out of the box first & hit the floor?--A picture of Tim's daughter Maeve! (Dora: He saw the picture at the dinner table & it was like a shock to him! Then he took the picture & wouldn't let go of it.) Who put that picture in the box?--We don't even know how it got in there! That is really strange.
         15. The picture had a very strange influence on him! I don't even really remember it falling out of the box, somebody told me afterwards. But if you asked God, "Lord, what's wrong with David that he's wetting the bed? What's the problem?"--And you had the feeling that maybe it was something spiritual, & instead of getting the kind of answer that you might expect, you suddenly saw a vision of that radio box turned upside-down & this picture fall out--what would you think?--Hmm?
         16. All I know is that when I got desperate with the Lord last night & asked God what was wrong, I saw the picture slide out of the box onto the floor, as clear as I see you right now, & from a different angle from which I emptied the box. And not with these ears but somewhere in my mind or something, the words came just as clear as anything: "It's the talisman." We don't even know how it got in the box!

         17. WELL, AS WITH EXORCISM, THERE ARE TWO WAYS OF GETTING RID OF AN EVIL SPIRIT: You either exorcise the spirit in the Name of Jesus Christ & get rid of it permanently, or you get rid of the person.--Or talisman or picture or whatever it may be. I have a strong impression that there's something wrong with the picture, that it's somehow enchanted or charmed by somebody or something that's trying to cause us trouble. I got those words, "It's the talisman." It acted as a vehicle for an evil spirit.
         18. You say, "Well, I didn't know spirits had to have vehicles, I thought they could just fly through the air!" What happened when Jesus cast a legion of demons out of a man?--What did they ask the Lord to do? (Family: To cast them into the swine.) Why?--They have to have vehicles, they're like hitchhikers! They are associated with things or people or animals or objects or even places. (See "Chinese Spirits," No.273.)
         19. But don't let it worry you, you have power over them! And one way to get rid of an evil spirit if you can't cast it out of the person or thing or whatever it is, is to get rid of that person or that thing! You must command the demon to leave the house & the premises & not come back!
         20. The Lord showed me that picture, so maybe getting rid of it would help, just getting it out of the house. I hate to have to throw away your picture of Maeve, Tim, but I saw it as clear as I ever saw anything, & that was the answer as far as I'm concerned.

         21. SO, LORD, GIVE US WISDOM WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT. When we asked You, Lord, what the trouble was, You showed us as clear as anything that it was the talisman. It's a bad influence & has acted as a vehicle to bring the Enemy into this house, undoubtedly to teach us a lesson about these things, that they're real & they happen & we must be always on our guard, Lord, & aware, not ignorant of the Enemy's devices. (2Co.2:11)
         22. Thou spirit of mischief, we rebuke you in the Name of Jesus Christ! Depart from this house with that picture & be gone & return not hence again, in Jesus' name! And now, Lord, deliver this, Thy little child. We ask Thee to destroy the power of the Enemy that's afflicting & affecting David, Lord, & whatever influence this evil spirit, this spirit of mischief, has had, Lord, we ask You to destroy it in the Name of Jesus!
         23. It's a small thing, but I found that the Lord usually doesn't let the Enemy manifest himself in anything very big or extremely serious unless you are really out of His will or something. But He will allow him to annoy & bother you, like a spirit of mischief.--Like flies or mosquitoes, they are an annoyance & a nuisance!

         24. SO IT WILL PAY FOR YOU ALL TO STAY STRONG IN THE LORD & THE WORD & IN PRAYER & THE SPIRIT, & don't let the Enemy have any opportunities to annoy us or cause us any more mischief.--A mischievous spirit, how about that! Well, if a poltergeist can throw stuff off shelves, I suppose they can carry stuff from one room to the other!
         25. These little rascals keep trying to show you that they have power.--They want to take some glory away from the Lord, & sometimes it gets your mind off the Lord. So stay in prayer & in the Spirit & in the Word & keep your mind on the Lord! "Thou shalt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee," amen? (Isa.26:3) So please don't be at all fearful, because it's the Lord's house & we're the Lord's Family.
         26. I don't like to talk about the Devil very much. I don't like to give him that much credit or glory, but we need to recognise the fact that we're not just dealing with natural normal things.--We're dealing with things of the spirit! But praise the Lord, we have greater power & we have the protection of the Lord, so we don't have to worry!--Amen? (1Jn.4:4)
         27. So, who's afraid of a little picture? I'm not afraid of it, but I don't particularly want to have it around! You're not to be afraid of the Devil, but neither are you supposed to enjoy having him around like an unwelcome guest!--PTL!
         28. (Tim left us one month later!--Did he ever throw it away? He certainly did not put away his idols from his heart--Rachel & his family--for he soon left the Family & backslid!--What about you?)


Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family