TEACHING: FREEDOM FROM DEMONIC INFLUENCE — IDOLATRY, REBELLION, AND RELIGIOUS WITCHCRAFT by Dr. Josimar Salum

TEACHING: FREEDOM FROM DEMONIC INFLUENCE — IDOLATRY, REBELLION, AND RELIGIOUS WITCHCRAFT

by Dr. Josimar Salum

In every generation, the battle for the hearts of men has always centered on worship—who we worship, how we worship, and whether that worship is rooted in truth or deception. While many today may reject the notion of idolatry or witchcraft as ancient or irrelevant, the Scriptures reveal that these spiritual elements remain deeply present, often hidden behind religious practices, cultural traditions, and even in Christian rituals void of the Spirit of God.

In this essay the spiritual foundations of idolatry, rebellion, disobedience, and the subtle forms of religious witchcraft are exposed as infiltrated even in modern expressions of faith. 

Rooted in the unchanging Word of God, this study will bring light to hidden strongholds, reveal the danger of man-made traditions, and call every believer to a deeper walk of holiness, truth, and total submission to the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is not merely an academic study—it is a call to repentance, to discernment, and to freedom. As we open the Scriptures, may every form of darkness be exposed, and may the truth of God bring lasting deliverance to those who seek to worship Him in spirit and in truth.

Let the Word speak. Let the Spirit convict. Let Christ reign.

1. Worship Belongs to God Alone

God created man in His image to be like Him and serve Him in all things (Genesis 1:26-27). True worship is not limited to external rituals or internal emotions—it is the complete surrender of life, words, and actions to the LORD. 

As Jesus declared, “The true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23-24). When this devotion is redirected to anything or anyone other than God, it becomes idolatry—a violation of the first commandment (Exodus 20:3)—and opens the door to demonic influence, for “the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God” (1 Corinthians 10:20).

“Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image… Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God.”

— Exodus 20:3–5

2. Idolatry Is Spiritual Adultery and Servitude to Demons

In the Bible, idolatry is often tied to spiritual adultery—God sees it as His people turning their hearts away from Him:

“They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger. They sacrificed unto devils, not to God.”

— Deuteronomy 32:16–17

People may not bow to statues today, but they may idolize money, power, people, traditions, or religious symbols, and these can become spiritual gateways to the influence of demonic spirits.

3. Rebellion and Disobedience Are as Witchcraft

Rebellion and disobedience are not minor sins—they are likened to witchcraft and idolatry in God’s sight:

“For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.”

— 1 Samuel 15:23

When someone rejects God’s word, chooses their own will, or clings to tradition over truth, they are operating in a spirit of rebellion—which aligns with the spirit of witchcraft, which seeks to control and resist God.

4. Religious Rituals and Traditions Can Be Demonic in Nature

Even within Christian settings, when people engage in empty rituals, traditions of men, or acts that lack faith and truth, they may unknowingly practice forms of witchcraft—offering external religious actions while their hearts remain far from God.

“This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”

— Mark 7:6–7

“Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”

— 2 Timothy 3:5

God does not want religion—He desires a surrendered heart, led by the Holy Spirit, not by tradition, superstition, or fear.

5. Path to Freedom: Repentance, Truth, and the Holy Spirit

a) Repent of Idolatry and False Worship

“Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.”

— 1 John 5:21

b) Submit to God’s Word and Authority

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

— James 4:7

c) Reject Christian Traditions and Rituals Not Based on Christ

“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men… and not after Christ.”

— Colossians 2:8

d) Be Filled with the Holy Spirit and Walk in the Light

“If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”

— 1 John 1:7

   Conclusion: Only Jesus Sets Us Free

   Freedom from demons, idolatry, rebellion, and religious witchcraft comes only by the truth of Jesus Christ:

   “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

— John 8:32

   To be truly free, one must renounce all false worship, repent from rebellion, reject religion, and walk by the Spirit of truth, fully submitted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

#ASONE

True worship...

This is true worship if he is working for Jesus

True Worship ...
Josimar Salum

 True worship happens when you are working in all areas of life with joy and contentment.  Doing for Jesus and not for men!

 To worship is to serve people.  It does not serve God who does not serve people.  The true worship of God is not the singing in a church, but the service to people everywhere.  “For the Son of man came not to be served unto, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

 The Ministry of the Word is the ministry of obedience, of works, of service to others.  It is not about the one who shouts, 'Lord, Lord', but who does the Father's Will.

 It's feeding Jesus, it's quenching Jesus' thirst, it's hosting Jesus, it's dressing Jesus, it's visiting Jesus, it's seeing Jesus when He is in prison.

 In fact, it has nothing to do with Jesus, but one who is hungry, thirsty, foreign, sick and imprisoned.  If we do not serve these we do not serve Jesus.

Worship is not about lifting your hands in a worship service, it is about serving people with your hands.

 This discourse of serving and worshiping God in the Church does not match what He wants.  Our songs and praises serve God only if accompanied by a life of service.  Without this we are only religious.

Worshiping through words, praise and dance is entertainment, we feel good to do, and God loves to see His children happy.  But worshiping is a daily life, all the time, doing anything as being for Jesus and serving all the time according to our ability.  No weight.  Without guilt.  With joy.

 #ASONE

“ONE” by Edmund de la Cour

John 17: 20 – 23                                                       February 23, 2014

“ONE” 

Edmund de la Cour  Email:  pastor@pocassetbaptist.org

         In our culture, the idea of unity is a lot like ideas about love.  Love is warm and fuzzy.  When people speak of love, images of cute and cuddly toys float into the mind.  And, just as with the idea of love, the majority of people in our culture understand unity to be something that is weak and feminine and not manly or strong.  Hollywood has redefined love so completely that not only America, but also the whole world has fallen into the grip of the cynical and self-serving promises of desire.     

         As Christians, you and I know that is a lie.  Love is not an emotion or a feeling.  Love is not a wild and unrestrained flood of hormones.  Instead, you and I have come to know love is a conscious decision.  Love is a hard choice that we get to make, and once we make that choice, its consequences carry on throughout life.  We can easily fall in and out of lust or like, but love is a decision.  When we decide, when we choose, to love we are placing the needs of another ahead of our own needs.  Love means death to self-possession and the promotion of someone other than you.  Love is hard. 

Unity is hard also, and just as with love, unity requires making conscious choices.  When we choose unity, we are choosing to remain in unity even when there are squabbles and differences of opinion.  Unity does not happen apart from genuine love.  As with love, unity is counter-intuitive.  As with love, choosing to stay united often makes no sense.  We must choose to set aside our pride.  We must choose to leave our prejudices and preferences behind.  We make those choices for a purpose greater than our own happiness. 

Our greater purpose is the Kingdom of God.  This is what it means to be a Christian in life-changing and practical terms.  We are now focused on Jesus.  We are focused on obeying His Word and allowing His love to live in us.  We organize our lives around the Gospel of grace and we aim ourselves toward the Kingdom of God.  These may be big ideas and big concepts, but that’s the Gospel.  God intends that we learn how to live the Gospel we say we believe.  If that’s not where we are in the way we think, we are still not Christians.  God intends that we be the church and not just go to church. 

As a church, we have made a choice to follow Jesus.  That is what Christian churches do.  Although we try to be sociable, we are not a social club.  It costs a lot to be a member of a church that follows Jesus.  Following Jesus means making decisions that are like the decisions Jesus made, and look what that cost Him!    Loving people the way Jesus loved people is a conscious choice, but that’s what we’ve decided.  To be part of our church means you are willing to make those hard choices to love and to live in unity.  It doesn’t mean you’re promising to be perfect; it means this is the intent of your life.

In our church, when you and I agree to be in covenant, we are saying, Yes to God.  Yes, I will stand shoulder to shoulder with you in agreement with God’s purposes for us as a church. Yes, I will also live my life purposefully.  I will reach for the goal of seeing the people of Cape Cod come to know the love of Jesus in a personal way.  While many of my friends may focus their lives on drama and on the small and petty things of life, I choose to fix my attention on Jesus.  I choose to focus on matching the needs of the hurt and broken with the Savior who died for them and who rose again to bring the life of God to bear on the brokenness of this world. 

Our text is John 17: 20 – 23.  This is a paragraph taken out of the context of Jesus’ prayer to His Father just before His arrest, and overheard by His disciples.  Here is where Jesus prays for you and me.  He does not pray in difficult to understand images.  He doesn’t pray that we will be free from hard times or persecution.  He doesn’t ask God to make it so we can experience financial prosperity.  But He does pray for unity among those who have decided to follow Jesus.  He prays toward that very specific purpose.

         Unity in the body of believers ultimately leads to lost people being found by God.  That is the target Jesus is aiming for in His prayer. All around us lost people are dying without the Savior.  All around us a world full of people is living who have no clue there is a God who cares for them.  Each one of them is targeted by the love of God.  You and I live in a target rich environment.  When you and I choose to live in conscious harmony with each other, we are living so that “the world may believe that You have sent Me.”  We are in agreement with Jesus’s John 17 prayer.  God answers the prayers of Jesus!  The purpose of the Christian’s life is to glorify God and God is glorified when lost people see Jesus in us and, as a consequence, they come to know God and are saved.

Let’s unpack this thought a little.  In any given church, there may actually be very few people who are truly gifted in evangelism, gifted in sharing the Gospel.  I read somewhere that maybe 10% of the average church is gifted in sharing their faith.  Buttonholing people and passing out evangelistic tracts are decidedly not the point of what Jesus prayed.  The point of Jesus’s prayer is that unity, love, and harmonious relationships are in themselves powerful tools and they are mighty in the hands of God. 

Being one, living in unity with one another, is much more than everyone having the same political beliefs or the same tastes in music.  In the heart of God, being of one mind, being united has an overriding Kingdom purpose.  God’s purpose is for people to be touched deep within their own hearts by the love His children have for each other.  You don’t want to force or manipulate that kind of love.

Lots of people miss the point of unity, and so they continually argue over small differences and create unnecessary and sinful divisions.   By urging us forward, because Jesus prayed into this high value in the Kingdom of God, God is seeking to create a palpable sense of oneness in the Church that bears His name.  When unity is alive and active, when the church functions in unity of purpose, it is something is so powerful and so strong it takes your breath away.

You’ll notice Jesus didn’t preach this is a sermon; He prayed this as a prayer.  Unity is birthed in intimacy with God.  When our worship of God is real and intimate, love flows and unity happens.  When no one has to force us to sing and pray and declare God’s goodness, that’s when God is free to give His church the gifts of love and unity.  Intimacy in worship means we are no longer going through the motions of church, but we are actively and personally responding to what God is doing and to what God has done in our lives. 

Worship has very little to do with music.  Hymns, worship songs, piano, organ, or drums – they are irrelevant in the face of God.  What God is looking for are hearts on fire for Him.  Those hearts may be inspired by music, but they are not ignited by music.  Hearts on fire are fed and encouraged by the presence of God.  God’s presence comes when God’s presence is invited.  When you are alone in your room and you are reading your Bible, you can invite God to come into that room where you are.  Holy God, come here today!  Make yourself known and show us Your love for us. 

Let’s ask God to give us a desire for closeness to God.  You know, God is already looking for you.  He is already seeking to find you and to show you how to experience true intimacy in your worship.  When there is intimacy in worship, when the presence of God does not frighten us away, when there is intensity in our prayer, a white-hot passion for the presence of God is kindled and God is glorified.  When God is glorified, His people walk in agreement.

The primary reason why so few lost people are being found is that so few Christians are earnestly praying.  Few Christians pray.  The research has been done and that is a statistical reality.  We are so busy and so distracted by life that prayer can’t ever be much more than an afterthought for twenty-first century Americans.  Few Christians pray and so therefore love in the church is expressed anemically.  Love is anemic, and so rather than being glorified, actually God is belittled.  When God is belittled by lovelessness and by disunity, the world around us has no clue that it is loved, and no clue that God is real.

People of God, you and I are called by God to be life-sized pictures of what the rule and reign of God looks like right here in this town.  This is why God placed us here.  We are planted here for such a time as this!  When people look at us, they should not see pettiness displayed, but patience and love, mercy and long-suffering.

You’ve read Psalm 133 before, but listen to it again: <.v.>  For a very short psalm, this one is loaded with powerful meat!  If you are concerned with how God views unity and what our responsibilities might be to maintain that unity, here the Lord brings home some strong encouragement.  God declares that unity is “good and pleasant,” but that’s an understatement.  The picture David paints is of a man being anointed with holy oil, which is always symbolic of the outpoured Holy Spirit.  The anointing pictured is not the “little dab will do ya” kind of anointing we practice.  Here a ram’s horn is filled with oil and it is literally emptied on the head of Aaron the priest.  I don’t know how to measure the quantity, but it would have been enough to run all over his head, down his beard, and all over the collar of the robes he was wearing.  That’s not a thimble full; it’s a lot of oil.  That’s an abundance of anointing, there’s plenty of power, plenty of love, and abundance of blessing to be found when people live in unity.

Do you get the feeling God loves it when His people can live together with love and purpose and without bickering?

         There is one more picture for us in this short psalm.  We are given a picture of Mount Zion in Jerusalem, a place of desert dryness experiencing the kind of morning dew that happens on the moist seaward side of Mount Hermon.  In other words, unity brings unexpected blessing.  What if God were to accomplish something in our midst that is clearly impossible and completely unexpected?  Unity brings the effect of super abundant blessing that is given by God in response to the obedience of His children, living in unity together.  Unity opens the door for whatever God may desire to do.

         God smiles when His children obey, when His children allow themselves to walk in His presence and power.  Those are not just pretty words.  When we close our worship time today, we will read Romans 15: 5 – 6, and because we want to use the Word of God to maximum effect, let’s hear that word now. <.v.>

         You know what?  Unity is hard.  Just like loving people who are weird, who are different – or who are exactly like us – unity requires a lot of work.  It all sounds lovely, it’s all fun and games until someone realizes that it takes“endurance and encouragement” in order for unity to exist and flourish.  Clearly, God wants His church to move through life as one body.  Church life is very much like married life – isn’t that the picture Paul painted in Ephesians 5: 21 - 33?  Marriage requires endurance and encouragement in order to flourish.  The deep mystery of the similarities between marriage and the unity of the Body of Christ are manifold.  We are the bride of Christ.  Marriage is a human relationship that is a living, organic picture of the relationship between Jesus and those He redeemed.  Think about it; it will take your breath away, too.  There’s a lot in the purpose of God for us that is breathtaking!

         Our job as Christians is to glorify God our Father.  That’s what it says in Romans 15: 6.  We are not to do this by ourselves, either.  For people who think they can just worship at home, alone, and stay away from the Body of Christ, Paul urges us to follow Jesus “with one heart and mouth.”  The Christian life cannot be lived successfully in solitary confinement.  The Christian life is lived in community and it is lived best when that community walks together in love and in unity.

         When we are united, we are all on the same page.  We are working together.  We are allied with one purpose and we are working with one heart.  We are not competing against each other.  The Kingdom is extended and God the Father is glorified.  Unity enables and empowers the Good News to touch the hearts of people who need God.  God wants His church to be one so that the world can discover God.  Can you think of a motivation that is greater than that?

Blessing: Romans 15: 5 – 6

“May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Partnering with God

By Dr. Paul Taylor

I spoke to you last week about the Greek word "poieo." It is a word that signifies partnership or working together. God longs to work with us. I want to continue to share about this Kingdom truth because it is crucial for us to understand the importance of working with God. Not simply doing things.

I believe I have shared with you before that early one morning as I was getting out of bed I heard the Lord say, "Paul, are you looking for Me or are you looking for something to do?" Immediately I knew He was speaking of Proverbs 8:34,35 Blessed is the man who listens to me, Watching daily at my gates, Waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoever finds me finds life, And obtains favor from the Lord;

It is so important to understand:

1. You were created to work with God!

It was in Genesis 2:5 that God said that there was no man to "till" the ground.

That word "till" means to work, labor, but also means to worship.

This is why it is so important for you to know your purpose because when you do what you were created to do, with God you are worshipping Him!

This is what poieo is all about!

It was then in Genesis 2:7 that God created man by breathing life, a mental disposition, the mind of Christ into dust and created man, a living being! Now here is the fascinating thing. Even after man was separated from God by sin, he still could "do" things. The tower of Babel is an example of that in Genesis 11.

This is why we have to be so careful to listen, watch and wait for God and not just look to do something. Man can do things without God, but you and I were created to work with Him.

Jesus restored what was lost in the garden due to sin when He died on the Cross. Before ascending to His Father He breathed on the disciples and they received the same life that was breathed into Adam (John 20:22).

Watch this. In Mark 16:20, after Jesus has ascended it says, "And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs." That word "working" is not poieo here, it is "synergenos", which is where we get the English word "synergy."

Synergy is a word of multiplication.

One person can accomplish some things and another person can accomplish some things, but together they accomplish more than the sum of what they could do by themselves. In other words 1+1 doesn't equal 2 with God! God says one can set to flight a thousand, but two can set to flight ten thousand! This is the way you were created to work with God and with man.

2. You have a choice whether you will work with God or choose to work alone! Philippians 2:12-16 shows us the power of choosing to work with God.

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. 14Do all things without complaining and disputing, 15that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, 16holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.

Notice "as you have always obeyed." Obedience is first and foremost! The working out of your salvation is not about you going to heaven or confessing your sins continually, but it is about understanding this restored relationship with God and how to work together as One! Look what happens!

"For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." The word "work" and "do" are the same and they mean to be active, efficient, be mighty in, and powerful! That is the advantage of working with God. Your choosing to work with God brings God great pleasure! The very next word is "Do!" Verse 14. That is poieo! Our doing should be the result of partnering with God! This is the synergy that we want to experience in life!

3. Finally, our choice to work with God produces a covenant with Him.

It is the restored covenant that God and Adam lived with. Verse 15 says, "That you may become blameless and harmless, children (sons) of God without fault…" Now we are back to the original plan that God had for each of us before the foundation of the world. This working together produces a covenant between a man and a woman.

Is it any surprise that God says, "It is not good for man to be alone?" Why? Because we were created to work together, with God, our spouse, and with others. In the Psalms God declares a blessing over those who dwell together in unity (Ps. 133:1).

So now you understand better why we need to work together with God. You were created to work with Him. Your choice brings great pleasure to God and great blessing to you. It brings covenant as you walk as sons of God on the earth!