The message you are about to read is not the fictitious tale of two cities, as Charles Dickens wrote about. Instead, it is the very real story of two ancient universes, one a good universe, and the other, a terribly evil one. These universes are huge. They are the “big players” you will need to contend with for the sake of your entire life.

To show you just how real these universes are, I would like to share with you a true story about a person who got involved with the counterfeit universe, only to lose her life over it.

What is frightening about this is that she thought she was doing the “right thing,” only to find herself dead the very next day!

This true story is the story of a mother who very much loved her daughter — a daughter who had been paralyzed and bed-ridden for three-and-a-half years.

Why was her daughter paralyzed? She didn’t know, but she heard of a man who might be able to help her. Who was this man? This man was a witchdoctor. This man had a very intimate and highly personal connection with the counterfeit universe.

The mother went to visit the witchdoctor. Could the witchdoctor help her paralyzed daughter? Someone advised the mother, “Go to the witchdoctor, and he will help you.” Oh, if only the mother had not listened to that voice!

The witchdoctor told her to kill a chicken and to bathe her daughter in the blood of the chicken. Then, her daughter would become well.

The mother did as the witchdoctor told her to do. She was willing to listen to the witchdoctor, but she was not willing to listen to her conscience, which was telling her, “Do not go!” She ignored that “still small voice!” Oh, do not do it! If only, someone had advised the mother of what lay ahead!

The mother bought the chicken, in faith. Then, she killed the chicken, still in faith. Then, she bathed her daughter in the blood of that chicken!

It was just what the witchdoctor ordered. She did exactly as he said. And because of that, she opened a very evil door.

Something happened.

The daughter got healed!

But then the very next day, the mother died!

What happened?

The “Trojan” Sofa

To understand this better, I would like to explain to you a true story of my own. One day, my wife and I decided to buy a sofa. We found one being advertized in a local paper, so I called up the lady, and I and my friend Ed (who had a moving van) went to see the sofa.

It turns out the sofa needed to be repaired and instead of selling me the sofa, the woman simply gave it to me. Ed and I took the sofa back to our place (that is, my wife’s and my place), and we turned it ninety degrees with the floor, so as to expose the underneath.

I crouched down low in order to examine the part that needed to be repaired.

A river of foul thoughts then began to flood through my mind.

I got up to get a flashlight, to help me see the broken area.

When I got up, the foul thoughts disappeared.

I found the flashlight, and crouched down low again to examine the sofa.

The filthy thoughts flooded back in.

With the flashlight in hand, I could see that there was a piece of wood that was broken, so I stretched out my hand towards the break in the sofa. Suddenly, a demon lunged towards me like a scared cat backed into a corner.

I was shocked!

How Did It Get There?

Demons can be very territorial. When they find a spot to rest in or on, they do not like to leave. But how did it get there in the first place?

Demons gain access through spiritual legal rights. Therefore, the demon had been given permission to be in that sofa! But how did it gain permission? Through someone’s sin (wrong doing).

The way it works is that if someone sinned while sitting on that sofa, the demon could be given permission to enter into the sofa. The following is an example of how that demon might have gotten into that sofa:

A Real-Life Example

Since the thoughts were vile women-hating thoughts and since the sofa was broken, I surmise that a violent man may have struck (or attempted to strike) a woman sitting on that sofa, with the result that the sofa broke, while at the same time giving permission for that demon to be there.

Important Prayer

After the demon lunged at me, I quickly got up and asked Ed and my wife Mary to pray with me. We stood several feet away from where that demon was, because there was no need to get too close!

The one who ultimately casts a demon out of a person, or out of a place, is God himself, so there was no need to get too close to the sofa. We were able to stand about seven feet away, and that was just fine!

We asked God to cleanse that sofa from any sin that may have given the demon permission to be there. We prayed for the people who were involved in that sin. We asked God to forgive the people and to heal them.

The entire prayer probably did not last longer than five minutes. At a certain point during our prayer time, I felt the power of God move in the room. I felt a great peace come into that place, and I knew the demon had been cast out.

We had dealt with the demon in a truly biblical way. There are no “formula” prayers that you need to pray in such a situation. It was simply heartfelt prayer to the heavenly Father (God the Father), in the power of the Holy Spirit, for the glory of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. After that, I was able to repair the sofa, without any fear or concern. The demon had now lost its right to be in that sofa.

Where Do Demons Come From?

Where did demons come from? Demons were originally created by God as good angels (for everything that God created was good, in the beginning).

In his goodness, God gave the gift of free will to both angels and humans. Free will allows both angels and humans to make choices.

How It Works

Demons, who are merely fallen angels, have a will. They can decide to do whatever they want, even as you can decide to do whatever you want, within the boundaries that you have been given by a holy and righteous God. In this case, the demons had the ability to paralyze the daughter because of something related to her, or her family (or possibly both, and often that is the case).

Demons can cause a whole lot of problems, including pain, deafness, blindness, muteness, troubled minds, paralysis, epilepsy, and more! Ultimately the problem is with sin, and the consequences of engaging in it.

The demons are an intermediary only, who are given access because of sin. They are not the “real problem.”

Yes, demons exist, and yes, they are real. But it is sin working in that person, which wants that person to do things that are contrary to what God wants, that causes the real problem.

The Spirit Medium

In the Bible, there is the true story of a man named king Saul, and he kept disobeying the Lord. Eventually, he consulted a spirit medium (note, a witchdoctor is also a spirit medium!), and it was too much in God’s sight. Finally, God judged him, because he would not obey God. As a result, Saul died!

“So Saul died on account of his sin … He also consulted a medium to seek guidance.” (1 Chronicles 10:13, LEB)

Thus, this is how it works. God is patient and gives us many chances. But if we persist in being disobedient to what God wants, and especially in actively opposing him, we risk losing our lives!

Satan’s so-called Miracles

How was it that the cure of the witchdoctor seemed to actually work? The girl who was healed is still alive today, more than 30 years later. She is alive and well, but her mother died the very next day. What happened?

Deals and bargains are made in the spiritual world, even as they are in the physical. These deals are legal decrees —binding contracts— which are permitted because of spiritual law.

The demons caused the problem with the daughter to begin with. That was due to the family’s ties to occult practices. This provided physical crippling to the girl, but what the demons really wanted, more than anything, was a soul in hell, that they could torment forever!

When the mother went to visit the witchdoctor, they agreed to lift off their influence off the daughter in exchange for the eternal soul of the mother. And so the mother gave her eternal soul for her daughter, when she did not have to! That is because Jesus already gave up his life for us all, so that we might live!

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

The mother needlessly gave up her soul, and was now lost for an eternity. Finally, the devil was able to get a soul into hell — because of the mother’s sin. The mother of the girl thought she was doing the right thing, but she was actually embracing the way of death (it brought both physical and spiritual death).

“There is a way which seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” (Proverbs 14:12)

The witchdoctor embraced a way that was forbidden by God (see Galatians 5:19-24). He was playing with fire. Eventually, the mother got burned.

Like a carrot to a rabbit, the bait may appear very attractive, at first! The witchdoctor himself may have been sincere, but he was sincerely deceived. Demons were lurking in the shadows! Be warned! For there is only one way that leads to eternal life, and that is through Jesus Christ.

To put it another way, if there was any other path to God, then Jesus Christ would not have had to die on a cross. That is why Jesus said,

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.” (See John 14:6)

The girl was paralyzed all right, but she was not dead. Why did she not die? The demons would have rather killed her, but they could not.

The girl did not die, because God did not permit it, based on her sin, because of spiritual law, which governs all things.

God is Compassionate

God is full of compassion, and the issue is not whether God is compassionate or not! Rather, the issue is spiritual law.

Freedom of choice allows you to do things that are not right. For example, you can jump off a bridge and perish, and that is your right, but it will be very grievous to God, who does not want you to do that.

The bigger problem is the eternal one. What happens after you die? If you do not trust in Christ, then when you die, you will be lost for all eternity!

Her mother was about to die because of her own sin. Like king Saul of old, her mother knew better than to ask a witchdoctor for assistance. Yet she still proceeded.

The mother rejected the good advice she received and went to see a witchdoctor. The mother died physically, yes, but there was the spiritual component.

There was her soul!

The soul is eternal. It lives forever.

How much more valuable is your soul than your physical body!? Your soul is more important than your job, or your savings account. Yet many people do not give this issue much thought, thinking somehow it will take care of itself. Wrong!

Why wait until you are almost dead in order to make a decision to follow Christ? By waiting, what are you saying about the importance you are placing upon God? What signal are you giving to God right now that you are interested in knowing him? Are you making any effort at all?

“Seek Yahweh while he may be found. Call on him while he is near.” (Isaiah 55:6)

The Domain of Demons

All souls live on eternally, but where do they go? One day, Jesus will return. All who have trusted in him will return to live on the earth in new, indestructible, bodies. But those who reject him will perish.

Are you involved in the counterfeit universe? Have you practiced or are you practicing any of these?

All of these are forbidden by God, because he knows they lead to death, and you will not be happy in the end. Therefore, you know what to do. Today, God is calling you back — back into real freedom, that lasts for all eternity. Now that’s freedom!

Jesus said, “Enter through the narrow gate, because broad is the gate and spacious is the road that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it, because narrow is the gate and constricted is the road that leads to life, and there are few who find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14)

This is not the fictitious tale of two cities that Charles Dickens wrote about. This is the very true story of two ancient and ever present universes —one genuine and the other counterfeit. Which of these are you embracing? Time is running out!