Willow Tree, Essential Oils & Other Accursed Objects
by Pastor Dean Odle
October 22, 2013
Part 3 of the Spiritual Warfare Series
Sadly, many Christians do not really understand the importance of taking God’s Word seriously and obeying it. Instead of reading and being led by the Holy Spirit, they have been taught by people who appear to be “spiritual” and knowledgeable of the Scriptures but in reality they are just blind guides. Some of these teachers may have even obtained degrees from Bible colleges and sound very sincere, but they simply neglect teaching the entire counsel of God’s Word. At some point these blind guides (some pastors, professors and Sunday school teachers) may have decided that they knew everything they needed to know about the Bible and/or they believe that their denominational doctrines and traditions are superior. This mentality is very dangerous and has derailed sincere believers and destroyed many baby Christians along the way.
The Lord Jesus made it clear: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by EVERY WORD that proceedeth from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). That means that EVERY WORD in the Bible is important for life. God did not waste His time or words and we need ALL of the truth found in the Bible. Apostle Paul, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit put it this way, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:” (2 Timothy 3:16). This includes the Old Testament Scriptures, in fact that is all they had. Paul addressed this issue in 1 Corinthians 10:1-10 when he stated:
“Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.”
Thus, the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul made it clear that even the Old Testament stories and laws are examples for us today to teach us how we should live. This doesn’t mean we are under every aspect of the Old Testament law, but rather that we learn principles for living as we study the Old Testament and compare them to what the New Testament demands. As we study the Bible thoroughly we discover which Old Testament principles carried over into the New Testament and which ones did not. For example, under the Old Testament law, they had to keep Saturday as the Sabbath, but now (according to the book of Colossians), we are not held to keep any particular day of the week as a Sabbath. However, the principle of not forsaking a day of worship with fellow believers is clearly taught in the New Testament (Hebrews 10:25). So we see an Old Testament principle carried over in the New Testament.
In Deuteronomy 7:25-26, the Lord God Jehovah gave His people a serious command about not taking pagan images unto themselves or into their homes. In fact, they were not even to desire or take the gold or silver that might be incorporated into the image. This command was plain and simple and carried a dire warning. And in the book of Joshua, we see what happened when an Israelite disobeyed this command.
“The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the Lord thy God. [26] Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine HOUSE, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing.” (Deuteronomy 7:25-26)
“And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout; for the LORD hath given you the city. And the city shall be accursed, even it, and all that are therein, to the LORD: only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it. But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated unto the LORD: they shall come into the treasury of the LORD” (Joshua 6:16-19).
“But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against the children of Israel… And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men: for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them in the going down: wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water…And the LORD said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff. Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you. Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow: for thus saith the LORD God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you” (Joshua 7:1 & 10-13).
So, we see that God gave specific instructions to Israel on how to destroy the demon-worshipping stronghold of Jericho. When they obeyed God’s written Word and His prophetic direction, they saw His mighty power bring down the walls of Jericho and the battle was easily won. However, the Israelites were defeated in battle at the next evil city. What changed? What opened the door to let the enemies of Israel kill 36 of their God-ordained soldiers? It was the sin of just one person. Achan disobeyed God’s Word and took some of the clothing and gold (objects that seemed harmless) from the city of Jericho. His disobedience and the presence of those accursed objects in Israel’s camp opened the door for the Devil to defeat Israel. As a result, thirty-six innocent warriors who may have had wives and children waiting for them at home lost their lives. We see through this story that some spiritual issues ARE literally matters of life and death and they affect others.
Not surprisingly, we see this Biblical principle of accursed objects carried over into the New Testament. In Acts 19 it says that the Apostle Paul spent two years preaching the Word of God in the city of Ephesus and establishing a church there. God set people free from demons and performed miracles as Paul preached the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was so powerful that even his clothing had the transferred anointing of the Holy Spirit on it enough to drive demons out of people.
In response to those miracles, many people in Ephesus repented and turned from their occult pagan practices. They brought their occult books and paraphernalia together and burned them. This was a glorious testimony of their life change but we must ask this question: As new, baby Christians, how did they know to get rid of their occult objects? One might say, “They just knew it instinctively by the Holy Spirit.” This might be true, but don’t you think that maybe Paul preached to them the above verses from Deuteronomy? Remember, the New Testament had not yet been written and the only Scriptures that the Apostle Paul had at that time was what we now call the Old Testament. I believe that Paul taught the new converts at Ephesus the principles set forth in the Bible, they obeyed them and God blessed them abundantly there.
In another New Testament passage, the Apostle Paul wrote, “What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing? But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils” (1 Corinthians 10:19-20). In other words, it is not the physical object that is anything, but instead what people have made them by incorporating them into acts of worship to demons. And Paul was clear that if Christians compromised with these things that they were “fellowshipping with devils.” In 2 Corinthians 6:15-18 he added, “And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” So, again the New Testament teaching is that we are not to even touch anything from pagan idol worship or anything considered spiritually unclean by God.
My Own Experiences
Many times in my own life, I have experienced the warfare that comes from some unclean object finding its way into my home. One Christmas a family member gave me a statue of Jesus. It was made out of olive wood from Israel, but there was one thing wrong with it. The style of the sculpture resembled much of what is seen in Roman Catholic art. Now some people would think nothing of it, but since Roman Catholicism is a false religion[1] and one of the Ten Commandments forbids graven images of anything, I knew I had to get rid of it. But because I did not want to offend my well-meaning relative, I just pushed it under my bed for the moment without saying anything.
The next morning I got up and went work. When I returned home, I sat down on the bed and immediately began to get extremely sick. It hit me like a freight train. Fever and shortness of breath began to overwhelm me. I became very weak and then it got to the point where I could not breathe. I recognized this as a spiritual attack because of its suddenness and severity but also because I had been having some “run-ins” with very powerful Satanists and had experienced this kind of darkness with them. My condition got so bad that I finally had to be taken to the emergency room for medical attention. The doctor gave me a shot of some kind of medicine that eased the symptoms, but I knew that I had to get rid of that cursed object. Once I got home, I burned the statue in the fireplace and I was better the next day!
Another incident happened at Christmas time again a few years later. A lady in my church acquired some slightly flawed crystals from someone over the internet. She proceeded to make necklaces out of them and gave one to each of my daughters. They appeared innocent enough, but after those crystals entered our home, strange accidents along with one sickness after another began to attack my girls. Also a dark, spirit of depression settled in our house that seemed to be causing strife. Finally, by God’s direction, I questioned the origin of those crystals. I discovered, unbeknownst to my church member, that they came from a new age witch. I promptly removed them from our house and the change was immediate. God’s peace returned and our health was restored!
Accursed objects can cause accidents, injuries, sicknesses, and even great division in a household. Finances can be lost and temptations can increase until they are almost unbearable. These demon-infested articles can make it difficult to pray, read the Bible, or just relax in your own home. This is why Christians should be very vigilant in this area. Remember, God told the prophet Hosea that His people were destroyed for a lack of knowledge (see Hosea 4:6).
A perfect illustration of this can be found in the life of King David. As we read in 2 Samuel 11 and 1 Chronicles 20 & 21, David stayed home when he should have been on the battlefield. As it is recorded, he sent his commander Joab to the battle against the children of Ammon. At that time, the armies of Israel won the day and returned with the spoil. Contained in the spoil of their victory was the golden crown of the king of Ammon. It should have been melted down and put into the treasury of the Lord, but instead David took it to himself and began to wear it. I believe (just like the case with Achan) that breach of God’s Word opened the door for Satan and his demons to wreak havoc in David’s life.
When David (the man after God’s own heart) gave place to Satan by placing that accursed crown on his own head, he immediately fell into the sins of adultery and murder. It also gave Satan the right to provoke or push David into the sin of numbering the people. That sin cost the lives of seventy thousand men in Israel. His disobedience also brought the sin of rape and incest into David’s house as David’s son Amnon raped his sister Tamar. I believe this happened because the children of Ammon were the descendants of the incestuous child Lot had with one of his daughters. So, was it just a coincidence that the sin of incest hit David’s home after he began to wear the crown of the king of Ammon? I don’t think so.
Another example of the power of accursed objects is found in Genesis 31. In that passage, we see that Jacob’s wife Rachel had an attraction to her father’s idols. After 14 years of serving Laban, Jacob left with his wives, children, cattle, and servants. But in the process and unknown to Jacob, his wife Rachel stole some of her father’s idols. Later in their life together, their daughter Dinah was raped. This infuriated her brothers so much that two of them went and killed the entire city of the people responsible. That act of vengeance put them in jeopardy of being attacked by an alliance of the other nations around them (see Genesis 34). But God, being mindful of His covenant with them, told Jacob to get rid of the foreign gods that were among them and He led them to safety (Genesis 35:1-29). This was then followed by Rachel dying in child-birth. Hence, I firmly believe that the accursed objects that Rachel allowed in her home opened the door for her daughter’s tragedy and her own pre-mature death.
Back in the mid-nineties, I had a friend who was a Baptist pastor. I preached at his church and was part of his son’s ordination service. Not long after that his wife was diagnosed with a very rare and terminal form of bone cancer. She was in bad shape. Her bones were breaking from just normal activity and her entire body was full of cancer. Upon receiving that news, I began to pray for her. I knew that is was not God’s will for her to die in her thirties, but considering the beliefs of most Baptists, I realized that they probably did not have a good foundation in the Bible doctrines of faith and healing through Jesus Christ. So, I invited them over and went through the Bible on the subject of healing and the need for faith to be made whole. I finished our Bible study with James 5:14-16: “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” And then I asked if they believed that Jesus still heals. When they said yes, I asked if I could anoint her with oil and pray for healing in the name of Jesus Christ. When they both agreed, I anointed her with oil and prayed for her to be healed in Jesus’ name.
A few weeks later, she went for some tests and to their amazement, the doctors could not find a trace of cancer in her body. Every tumor was gone and her bones looked normal. They were blown away. Jesus had healed her completely! But after about six months of being instantaneously cancer free, she started feeling bad and went back for a check up. After running some scans and doing some tests, the doctors discovered that the cancer had come back in full force.
Of course this news shocked me, but I knew that something had happened to allow Satan to bring the cancer back. After some questioning, I found out that not long after the Lord healed her, she got into reading a book about dream interpretation and tried to use its occult methods to interpret her dreams. I checked into the book and found that it was authored by a New Age witch and was not Biblical at all. So, her sin of divination and having this occult book in her house opened the door to the Devil and he walked right back into her life with the cancer he had given her the first time. When I told her that she needed to get rid of this book and stop using its techniques to interpret her dreams, she refused. Like Rachel with her father’s idols, she had an affinity for this little book and the witchcraft she was practicing. Thus her cancer became worse and worse until she came close to death. Her brush with death finally convinced her to get rid of the book and ask Jesus to forgive and heal her again. When she obeyed God’s Word and repented, the Lord healed her again…but what a lesson she learned!
Another time that I was deceived by an innocent looking accursed object was when I was given a painting of Jesus on a white horse with others on white horses around Him. The art had a western flare to it like it was set in Texas. It was a beautiful painting and appeared to come from a Christian artist. You may be thinking, “How could a picture or statue of JESUS be an accursed object?” This is especially hard for Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox to accept because they commit the sin of idolatry by bowing down to and venerating (another word for worshiping) icons or images of Jesus, Mary, and saints. But even though the painting appeared to be “Christian” art, it had a demonic origin. And unfortunately, it was in my home for almost two years. I even hung it over the fireplace. But during those two years, I went through more demonic attacks and oppression than any other time I could remember. It even affected the church that I was pastor of and I became so discouraged that I almost resigned.
In addition to the demonic oppression I experienced; accidents, sicknesses, and strife also steadily increased in my family. I even had an accident that almost killed me on the day that my daughter Bethany Grace was born. While playing with my then four year old Caitlin in the labor/delivery waiting room, I fell and hit my head on a metal beam sticking out of the wall. Surprisingly, the blow did not knock me unconscious, but when I leaned forward a large amount of clear, slightly tinted fluid gushed out of my nose. Later, I discovered that the mysterious fluid was the cerebral spinal fluid that surrounded my brain and spinal cord. That meant that I had fractured my skull somewhere above my nasal cavity. After the doctor told me that I could die from this injury, he sent me down to the ER to have a CAT scan. It was confirmed that my skull was fractured and I needed to visit a neurosurgeon. They said I could wait a couple of days because my daughter was being born upstairs, but when I returned to the doctor two days later he told me that God had intervened and sealed the fracture and I did not have to have surgery.
That incident was followed by an unusual amount of sicknesses and unexplained arthritic pains in my hip and foot. My foot got so bad and swollen that it was very painful to walk at times. The doctors were perplexed and I had to have a bone scan, an MRI, x-rays, and numerous visits to other doctors that left them all scratching their heads. Then, by God’s mercy, I went online to find another painting by the same artist for a friend. When I began looking at the woman’s website, I discovered that the artist of my Jesus painting had also painted many other paintings with occult, witchcraft, and New Age symbols and themes. It was then that I knew that I had the artwork of a witch or some pagan person hanging in my house. This revelation sickened me (as it was a very expensive painting), but I knew that I had to get rid of it. And when I took it down and destroyed it and cast the demons out of my house, the spiritual atmosphere immediately changed for the better. The peace of God returned and the demonic oppression was broken in Jesus’ name.
Angels of Light
More recently, God revealed an even more powerful accursed object that has been embraced and brought into just about every Christian bookstore and countless Christian homes. My wife and I even had one for a couple of years and it was an intense period of spiritual warfare for me. I wrestled with some deep dark depression that I could not explain or shake. I knew it was demonic warfare, but all of my binding, fasting, and praying only subdued it for short periods of time. However, when the Lord revealed that this accursed object was in our house and I removed it, the presence and peace of God returned to our home immediately. It felt like the moment I got saved all over again. In fact, so much demonic heaviness lifted off of me that I could not doubt what God showed me. These demonic issues came from a Willow Tree Angel that sat on our entertainment center for two years.
You may recoil at the thought of a little statue of a sweet angel being evil, but as the Apostle Paul warned, “And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14). Satan does that to deceive those who are not paying attention to the Bible and the Holy Spirit. You see, if we paid attention to the Bible, we would know that the Bible NEVER speaks of female angels. There is not one place in the Bible where any angel of God ever appeared as a female. Secondly, we would know that the only entities with wings that appear as females in the Bible were carrying wickedness (Zechariah 5). And then, if we take a quick glance at the demonic pagan cultures around the world we find that they all have female goddesses. More specifically, some Wiccans worship what they call “faeries” which are small, winged, female creatures.
As I continued to study, I found that although Wicca witches reverence trees and “energies” found within nature, the willow tree is held in high regard. In fact, they believe it to have healing powers. This became an even more interesting connection, when I saw that Susan Lordi’s first Willow Tree Angel was the Healing Angel. That particular “angel” sculpture holds a bird in its hand and in the description of the piece; Lordi says that the bird represents the soul. Here is how she said it straight from her website: ANGEL OF HEALNG "For those who give comfort with caring and tenderness" This was the first piece that I sculpted in the summer of 1999. It came about intuitively, and so it was natural that the result ended up being very open to interpretation. The bird can be protection, comfort or healing. When I created it, I was thinking about the idea of fragility and how we sometimes need to heal our inside - our soul. A bird is so fragile and vulnerable ... a metaphor for our inner feelings. This piece helped define Willow Tree.” Susan Lordi
Now, I knew that the Bible NEVER used a bird to represent the human soul. So, I did an internet search on Wicca and birds and found this written in the Encyclopedia of Wicca & Witchcraft:
“Bird is a symbol of the soul and the divine in many mythologies. The earliest goddess images found in the Neolithic period of Old Europe are bird deities, and most are marsh/wetland birds. The goddess seems to have evolved from these early bird forms, and is seen later in classical mythology accompanied by the creatures that she was once worshipped as.
In Egyptian mythology, however, many deities appear to have retained the primal connection, for they are often depicted with the heads of various birds mounted on human bodies. In Greek and Roman mythology birds are totem creatures for various deities and often serve as messengers of a god or goddess.
In the Aegean/Mediterranean cultures, various deities took on the form of birds when appearing to humans. In several tales Zeus seduced women while appearing in such bird forms as the swan.
Birds are often linked to the bringing in of the seasons, such birds appearing in the spring. Many cultures have incorporated bird feathers for ritual and magickal use, in the belief that birds possess the power of the heavens in which they fly. Through sympathetic magick, therefore, one my absorb the power of the bird through contact with its feathers.”
The article continues on to say that….“The traditional broom of the Witches was made of birch twigs tied around an ash branch with strips of willow.”[2]
On another witchcraft website in an article entitled Willow the Witches Tree, the author writes,“The secret and powerful tool of the witch is the wood from the most magical tree in the forest—the willow…The willow embodies everything feminine and for all descriptive purposes, the willow is the goddess herself…Talismans, wands, and ritual tools made of the willow are of the highest magical order. At least one ritual tool should be made of willow to represent the divine nature of the goddess.”[3] So, this is very interesting when you realize that Susan Lordi could have picked any kind of wood to name her unbiblical female angels/faeries after, but she chose the willow tree. I don’t believe it was an accident.
When asked in and interview how she came up with the name Willow Tree, Susan Lordi said…
"The name Willow Tree directly reflects my love and reverence of trees; their graceful, columnar, beckoning, magical qualities. They have so much character and gesture. Trees are anthropomorphic—they possess human qualities. I carved a tree, a prayer as a metaphor for these 'tree-like' qualities we all aspire to: strength, beauty and peace. I love Willow Trees in particular as they are self-healing; they bend with the wind...”[4]
So she has a reverence for trees and believes they have magical and human qualities (as do Wiccans). As I continued to look into the Willow Tree/Wicca connection, it became even clearer that Willow Tree Angels are not Christian at all. In fact, Susan Lordi never claims to be a Christian, but she speaks about “healing ourselves” and that “angels are important to all religions.” She never gives the praise for healing power or her work to Jesus Christ, yet her sculptures are in every Christian bookstore. And as I read comments on her website about “the healing angel” it is apparent that people are attributing power to heal, help, and inspire to these images. This is nothing more than idolatry and yet she does not correct people on her website and point them to Jesus.
The Craze
I was blown away by what God revealed about the Willow Tree Angels but then this year I discovered yet another kind of accursed object. It is being embraced and utilized by Christians at a level that could only be described as a “craze.” I ran across the essential oil craze. Similar to how the Willow Tree Angels slipped in under the radar by masquerading as something of God, the aromatherapy witchcraft hides itself by talking about healing and quoting passages about oils in the Bible. And although olive oil was used on wounds as a soothing agent, the anointing of the sick with oil was and is a symbol of the power of the Holy Spirit coming on a person through faith. That is why James added that it was the prayer of faith that healed the sick not the oil. The power to heal is from the Holy Spirit, NOT oils!
This issue came to the forefront when a couple of families in our church began using doTERRA essential oils. I had not heard of these “miraculous” oils before this. The first red flag we saw happened with our church member who had experienced a dramatic deliverance from the demonic strongholds she acquired from participation in the idolatry of Roman Catholicism and Santeria. She had been healed of migraines and unexplained nose bleeds and had walked free from these issues for quite some time until she started using the doTERRA oils. Her previous frequent migraines came back along with her nose bleeds and other strange demonic activity in her house.
The second red flag was the other church member who bought some of the oils from the same Christian salesperson. In her own words, she describes what happened:
“The first night I was introduced to it, (I had rubbed several oils on my skin) I was in bed and had just fallen asleep when something jumped on the foot of the bed, but when I looked there was absolutely nothing in sight. Then, in the early morning hours, something woke me up running across the head of my bed. It actually woke me when it hit my head…yet nothing was there.
The 2nd incident happened a few days later when I was lying down, unwinding and playing a game on my phone. I heard someone close a door. It sounded like my house, but I disregarded it because neither of my dogs were stirring. Then I heard it again and it sounded like someone walking down my hall. I jumped up, and went to check on my son. He was asleep. So I went and checked all the doors and they were locked. I went to window and there wasn’t anything there.
The 3rd incident was one Sunday morning while I was getting ready for church. I was standing in my room and looking in the mirror. A black blur hit my dresser and made papers and other things move and fall off. It was such a disturbance that it startled me. A small sample vial of the doTERRA oil was on my dresser and had fallen over with the disturbance. After that I quickly got the oil out of my house (as I had already begun to question the oils) and haven’t had anything like that happened since.”
But even before her third incident, we had visited her house for a birthday party and she had a diffuser that was blowing doTERRA oil into the air in a mist. I had been fine all day, but when I got near that mist, I began coughing and hacking like I was choking to death. It was very bad and did not stop until she turned it off. It was then that I knew for sure that there was something demonic going on with the doTERRA oil and I started doing a little research. (Interesting side note: The doTERRA Lotus Diffuser was shaped like the Wiccan symbol for “purification.” And lotus is the key symbol used in Buddhism.)
The first thing I discovered about doTERRA was that their founder David Stirling is a Mormon. This fact alone should be enough for true Christians to leave doTERRA alone, but most Christians are unaware of the depths of occult power in Mormonism. They participate in elaborate occult rituals in their temples that rival anything in Wicca witchcraft. The Mormon Temple is covered by Satanic symbols like the all-seeing eye from ancient Egypt and it is common knowledge that Joseph Smith (the Mormon founder) was deeply involved in divination and carried an accursed object called the Jupiter Talisman. All of this and yet most Evangelicals today think that Mormons are Christians, but they are not even close to being true Christians. Mormons don’t even believe that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh and they are full of strange beliefs like Jesus and Lucifer are brothers. What a terrible blasphemy to make Jesus equal to Lucifer when He is really the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Col. 2:9)!
I learned that doTERRA CEO David Stirling worked for Gary Young of Young Living Essential Oil for many years. The history and beliefs of Gary Young are deeply troubling. He has been involved in different types of New Age and occult healing therapies and clinics over the years that made false claims of healing. He had all kinds of dubious credentials and nearly killed some people with his quackery. This caused him to flee the country to avoid legal prosecution. But the most amazing part of the story is that David Stirling knew about all of Gary Young’s New Age beliefs, unethical and illegal practices, and phony credentials and yet continued to be his right-hand man for years until Young fired him. So, Stirling condoned and promoted Young for years and then started a company that carried over many of Young’s New Age spiritual beliefs, ideas, and terminology.[5]
I could go on and on with the spiritual and healing claims of essential oil proponents and compare them to those in witchcraft. It is also interesting to note that many witches sell and advocate both doTERRA and Young Living Essential Oils on their websites and places of business. As I stated before, witches like to claim that certain trees, crystals, and other inanimate objects have healing powers but the spiritual, “healing” element comes from the demons that are attached to those objects. A Christian should never seek out healing or spiritual help from other religions or pagan practices. Whether it is essential oils, acupuncture, yoga or any other pagan “spiritual cure,” it is forbidden by God. The person is opened up to demonic contamination even if the so-called pagan cure works. Demons are experts at manipulating sickness and disease and can exchange one problem for another when you go to these holistic New Age or pagan healers. If a demon inflicts a person with a sickness or disease then they can also relieve them of it. What better way to convince people that these demonic “healing” techniques work than to cause their symptoms to disappear. But the only TRUE supernatural Healer is Jesus Christ and often He had to cast out demons to heal a person’s physical problems. Jesus paid for our healing through the bloody stripes on His flesh and to seek other sources is sin and rebellion to God.
Leprosy in Your House
In Leviticus 14:34-45, the children of Israel were told:
“When ye be come into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a possession, and I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of your possession; [35] And he that owneth the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, It seemeth to me there is as it were a plague in the house: [36] Then the priest shall command that they empty the house, before the priest go into it to see the plague, that all that is in the house be not made unclean: and afterward the priest shall go in to see the house: [37] And he shall look on the plague, and, behold, if the plague be in the walls of the house with hollow strakes, greenish or reddish, which in sight are lower than the wall; [38] Then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days: [39] And the priest shall come again the seventh day, and shall look: and, behold, if the plague be spread in the walls of the house; [40] Then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which the plague is, and they shall cast them into an unclean place without the city: [41] And he shall cause the house to be scraped within round about, and they shall pour out the dust that they scrape off without the city into an unclean place: [42] And they shall take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones; and he shall take other morter, and shall plaister the house. [43] And if the plague come again, and break out in the house, after that he hath taken away the stones, and after he hath scraped the house, and after it is plaistered; [44] Then the priest shall come and look, and, behold, if the plague be spread in the house, it is a fretting leprosy in the house: it is unclean. [45] And he shall break down the house, the stones of it, and the timber thereof, and all the morter of the house; and he shall carry them forth out of the city into an unclean place.”
In his book, When the Heavens are Brass, Pastor John Kilpatrick noted what ancient Jewish rabbis taught about the plague of leprosy in a house. They said that God devised the plague because of Israel’s sin and the 40-year delay of the children of Israel in the wilderness. Due to that delay, the pagan people of the Promised Land had time to devise elaborate ways to hide their gold and silver from the Israelites. One such way was to melt their precious metals down, make them into little statues of their demon gods, and place them inside the walls or foundations of their houses. So, when Israel finally drove those wicked people out of God’s land, they moved into houses that were cursed with the presence of demonic idols.[6]
The red and green streaks on the walls were how God chose to reveal what could not be seen or known in the natural. I believe He did it that way because His people of that time did not have the Holy Spirit in the same way Christians can have Him today. Most of them simply could not walk in the discernment needed to protect themselves and their families. But now, with our new and better covenant, all of God’s people can be filled with the Holy Spirit, hear His voice, and walk in all the discernment they need.
As we have already examined, most Christians violate God’s clear written warnings and allow things in their homes that are obviously demonic, but there is another level to this problem. Just as it was in Canaan, there are pagans and Satanists with us today. They build houses, buy land, and practice the same idolatry and rituals that their predecessors did thousands of years ago. As Solomon said, “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9).
In our modern society, we move around a lot. We buy and live in houses other people built and inhabited for years sometimes. Most of the time, we have no idea what religion or occult rituals were practiced in our own homes. Therefore, it is imperative that we get close enough to God and have enough of His Spirit in us to discern these things. The reasons we must discern the spiritual realm are many, but some become matters of life and death. Removing the defiled objects, anointing the house or land, and praying over them can cleanse some of these, but like the example in Leviticus, some houses and land cannot be cleansed even by these means. And if you can’t cleanse a house or some plot of land then you need to get out of it.
A family in our church had this experience years ago before we met them. They purchased a home in the country thinking it would be the perfect place to raise their family but it became a nightmare instead. After repeated sickness, accidents and demonic manifestations they had some Christian friends visit who were familiar with accursed objects and the demonic. They shared their concerns and decided to walk the property. They found a cauldron and strange rock formations around the property and determined that there was something very dark causing their issues. After prayer the couple decided that the property and house were accursed (many would say it was haunted) from the activity of the previous owners and they decided to move.
You may say, “But Jesus redeemed us from the curse of the law!” Yes He did, but we are only redeemed from the parts of the curse we address in faith. For instance, by hanging on the cross, Jesus made it possible for every person to be redeemed from the curse of eternal damnation, but we also know that unless a person appropriates true faith in His blood, he will never experience redemption from that curse.
Other aspects of the curse include sickness, disease, demonic defilement, and poverty. From Isaiah 53 and other passages, we see that Jesus died on the cross not only to redeem us from sin, but also sickness. Yet, there are many Christians who have exercised faith for salvation, but refuse to believe God for healing in their physical bodies. Some even contend that healing is not for today. That is why James said, “Faith without works is dead being alone” (James 2:20). So, true faith with corresponding action is required to apply Jesus’ redemptive power to whatever part of the curse may be afflicting us.
Fellowship with Demons
Some may still be skeptical that an object can have such power. Just keep in mind that it is not the object, but the demon that is attached to it. Remember, the Apostle Paul put it this way, “What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing? [20] But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God:and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils” (1 Corinthians 10:19-20).
An object becomes accursed different ways; by what it represents, by what is done to it or by who creates it. Someone worshipping an object or making a sacrifice to it draws the demon there. So, basically, the way something is used or what it was created for can determine if it is an accursed object. This is what happens with “haunted houses.” Of course, these houses are not haunted by the actual spirits of dead people lingering around, but rather, demons impersonating dead people. The Bible teaches plainly that once a person dies their spirit and soul go immediately to heaven or hell (see Luke 16:19-31 & 2 Corinthians 5:8). Houses have demons in them because of how the place was used or things that were done there.
So, objects with occult symbols on them such as pentagrams, hexagrams, 666, all-seeing eyes, upside down crosses, Runes, the “peace” sign (an upside down, broken cross), dream catchers, wolves, fairies, dragons, demons, mermaids, demonic books and movies and the like are cursed and have demons attached to them. Also any music with lyrics glorifying the devil or evil, anything used in Satanism, Voo Doo, Santeria, or Wicca, anything like Tarot cards, or “good luck” charms of any kind have demons on them. Things that have been used or blessed by people in witchcraft or other false religions like crystals, candles, knives, Rosary beads and other prayer beads, medallions of saints, skulls or other human bones, animal parts, or any object used in a ritual can have demons attached. Any object, icon, or book from any of the world’s false religions, like statues of Buddha, Mary, saints, Hindu gods, the Koran, and the Book of Mormon; these are all examples of accursed objects.
Just about any little trinket from Africa has been “blessed” by a shaman so that people will first buy them and then be influenced by them. I experienced this when I was in Africa the second time. I went out on the last day to see if I could find some souvenirs for my girls and some others. I knew I would have to be careful because of the witchcraft, but I went anyway. The Bishop’s sister (who was not as devout as she should be) and his son took me that day. We went into many stores, but almost everything I touched or looked at brought the sense of demonic oppression on my chest. I finally spoke up and said, “I can’t buy any of this stuff, there are too many spirits attached to them.” Then, the Bishop’s sister said, “You are truly a man of God.” She said this because she knew all that stuff had been cursed. She didn’t tell me as I was shopping because she figured as a minister I should know.
The Final Accursed Object
The New Testament also speaks of a final image or accursed object that will have the most demonic power. In the last days, the false prophet will make an “image” of the beast and cause it to come to life and it will have the power to kill those who will not worship it.
“And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. [12] And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. [13] And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, [14] And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. [15] And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed” (Revelation 13:11-15).
Did you catch that? The image of the Beast (an object) will have the power to kill people in the end time if they don’t worship it! And Christian folks have the audacity to say that I am wrong for teaching the danger of having accursed/demonic objects or images in your house or on your person. The accursed objects we deal with now are only a warm up for the greatest test to come! If we truly believe the BIBLE, then we have to take these things seriously. Of course it can be scary, but if you are totally dedicated to the Lord Jesus Christ and His Word and willing to obey the Bible when you hear it, then you will overcome Satan and all his demons. Just remember, keeping the Devil’s junk away from you and out of your house is not only an issue of obedience to God but it can also be a matter of life or death!
[1] Documented article proving the Roman Catholic Church is the Great Whore of Rev. 17-18http://www.deanodle.org/US-is-Not-Babylon.html
[2] The Encyclopedia of Wicca & Witchcraft by Raven Grimassi Pages 53-54
[3] From the article Willow the Witches Tree by DragonOak www.squidoo.com/willowtree
[4] From the article About Willow Tree Angels Designer, Susan Lordihttp://www.willowtreeshop.com/willowtree-designer-susan-lordi.htm
[5] Taken from the well-documented article on Gary Younghttp://www.quackwatch.org/11Ind/young.html).
[6] When the Heavens are Brass by Pastor John Kilpatrick ©1997 Destiny Image Pub pp. 100-102
