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== Spiritual Awareness ==
As I became more active as a believer and as I read more in the Scriptures, one of the challenges I faced was the existence of the spiritual side of life. This would include the idea of what is unseen and not empirically testable such as the idea of active blessings and cursings as well as the idea of angels and demons effecting our lives. I do not recall the church in which I grew up dealing with these issues and the secular world treats such ideas as fairy tales. Yet the Scriptures do talk of such topics and other more experienced believers around me gave testimony of events that have happened in their lives to support these ideas as being true. Once again, the search for understanding had begun.

At the beginning, my view of the spiritual side of life was a vague concept and of something that might occasionally enter into our lives through events or inspiration. After a few years, I find that the interaction between physical and spiritual as well as spiritual and physical is actually a commonplace thing operating on many levels. Often enough, if we can discern what is happening spiritually we can gain insight into what is happening physically. There is a genuine battle of evil against good and we are active participants. To ignore this side of life risks suffering in ways that need not be. By observing this side of life and being responsible in both physical and spiritual areas, our relationship with the Almighty can be much closer and our lives better off.

''' Battle of Good and Evil '''
As we learn to 'see' what is happening spiritually, we quickly become aware that what is happening physically often is only a result of what is happening in the Spiritual. There genuinely is a battle of evil against good. It can happen at any time and it is happening even in the remote areas of the earth.

This battle can come in many forms. Within our relationship to the One Most High, we need to keep in mind that the covenant relationship works through blessings and cursings. This level works much like a parent training their children with punishments for disobedience or granting greater freedom for being mature and responsible. This is not a battle, but is a relationship with Elohim. We also have Lucifer, the evil one, actively trying to cause problems and distractions for Believers in his attempts to be worshiped. This is where the battle truly exists. Satan is attacking, we must be properly able to defend and sometimes battle back.

''' Authority '''
We, as Believers, do have some authority given to us over the evil. It comes from our Master and Savior who has risen from the dead and has that same new life and access to the Heavenly kingdom to offer to us so that we may work in His name.

== Cleansing the Apartment ==
''' Blessings and Curses '''
My initial attempts at understanding were at looking into the relationship we have with the One Most High. It is a covenant relationship that comes with blessings and cursings. They work much like how a parent trains a child with punishments for disobedience or rewards and greater responsibility when acting mature and responsible. As a beginner, I did not know just how far to take this. However, one of the projects undertaken was a spiritual cleansing of my possessions. I wanted to remove those things that could have the effect of allowing curses in my life.

''' Idols '''
The owning of idols is a definite prohibition in Scripture. We are to have nothing to do with them. Yet how many pagan symbols might be found in one's home? My wife and I decided to do some house cleaning ... spiritual house cleaning. We were definitely surprised by what we found. We thought we kept a clean house but here are some of the items we found. A set of relaxation balls (that one moves in the hand) that made noises which were supposed to have some type of mystical healing properties. The box they came in had many oriental symbols such as pagodas and dragons. It was a gift we had never used, but simply held onto because of who gave it. We had a piece of Mayan like jewelry which had a representation of the sun (and we think most likely represented a sun god). Again a gift as most items were. Examining further, things which I had created myself were found. From back in my photography days, I photographed a ballet group doing a performance of Dracula. The images included vampires, ghosts, the living dead, and other assorted things. Years ago when I took them, it was something of a novelty and I paid no attention to it. Even if no evil is directly attached to them, why would a believer want to put his mind on such things. They certainly are not from above. At this time we also rid ourselves of a few masonic related items that had been handed down through the family and renounced any oaths that ancestors had made for that organization. None of these items were bowed down to nor were they used for any mystical means. It is difficult to put into tangible words, but since having gotten rid of these things, we have enjoyed great peace in our home and I believe increased favor from the Almighty for He wants to see His people trying to live righteously.

After we had gone through the apartment, we invited a couple over who had some experience in spiritual cleansing. It was amazing to watch. They came in and as they prayed they would say that something is wrong over in this corner and we would look around to see what is there and an object would come up that needed to also be gotten rid of. One of the items our friends found that took us by surprise was a set of books that try to portray the great truths of Christianity in a story that is mostly fantasy and which contains much magic. We were surprised because this was supposedly a good christian story to learn from. This was, like so many others, also a gift we had received. It is amazing how much peace and joy come with purity. We were only on our first steps of learning that anything false (fiction, fantasy, or fake) deprives us of what is genuine and real and that what is false only makes life worse.

''' Precaution '''
Does this sound excessive or does this sound like a safe precaution? After experiencing these things for a couple years, I am convinced that they are important and not excessive in any way. The Almighty wants His believers to be a pure people and having anything foreign to His kingdom is not pure. I am not at all even close to being an expert on the spiritual; in fact, I feel like a novice. But I recognize that it is there and I recognize that after going through our house and ridding ourselves of such things that life in general is more peaceful.

== Consequences of Speech ==
Another factor that we started paying close attention to is the fact that it is not just what we own, but what we say that has consequences in our lives. The truths we say, the lies we speak, the testimonies we give all have their impact on the spiritual. And that which is impacted in the spiritual, impacts the physical. Do the words themselves have power? No, of course not. The words themselves do not have power. Yet look at the Scriptures. What is purposed in what is spoken does have power and this is a major theme in many passages. There is talk of controlling the tongue, life and death being in the tongue, the wise control what is said, judgments come on what we speak even to our idle words. As far as I am aware, ALL of the miracles, signs and wonders (and even creation) happened after a word is spoken by the Almighty or through a prophet. I cannot recall any that happened without its first being spoken.

There is a Jewish saying that says 'a covenant is made with the lips'. This is meant to show that everything we say is taken seriously ... and this is true quite literally. When we speak, it is taken as our form of communicating what we want whether speaking to the Almighty or to another person. When we speak a promise or vow, to the Almighty or to a person, there is going to be a reaction if we do not keep that promise.

I have read some articles that seem to take the verbal sayings down to a question like the chicken and the egg. If a person consistently says "I am always losing my keys and having to search for them" - do they say it because they have lost their keys, or do they lose their keys because they have spoken it? That may seem like a silly example, but there are many such potentially self-imposed curses (phrases) that are very common in our English vocabulary. These are phrases and idioms that we repeat over and over without giving a second thought. If I say 'I need to do something' am I not lying [I may truly want to do something, but there is no real necessity for it]. What is the punishment for lying? The Almighty hates lying and even goes so far as to call it an abomination.

== Casting Off Philosophy ==
One of the more difficult issues to confront was the idea that we could be effected by demons. Yet Messiah clearly showed this happens when he cast them out of people and they would be healed or made better in some way. Admittedly I was wary because what little I had seen over most of my life left questions as to what was real and what had been faked. Again there was much to learn. However, at this time in our lives, we had a few people around us who were genuinely working in this area and could see genuine examples and learn about authority as it relates to the spiritual.

Philosophy After settling down and realizing this is indeed real I had to look at my own life and found I have had to deal with such problems. One time that is especially memorable for myself came a couple years ago. I was working on an article called 'Creation and the Meaning of Life' for a website. Part of that article was writing about why I had done so many things in my life for so many years (the years before being an active believer) and recognizing that they had been wrong and done under poor reasoning. I was growing tense and agitated. In fact, I finally found myself want to growl and stomp around. I did indeed leave the computer and was walking hard with some growling, almost unable to stop. I also found myself wanting to scream 'No, Raskolnikov' which refers to Dostoevsky's book of 'Crime and Punishment'. This book, for me, is a commentary on the end not justifying the means.

I had a little experience with rebuking evil at this time, but such as was happening was unprecedented for me. However, I started to break curses and rebuke evil which might be involved and finally something lifted. I was suddenly weak-kneed and low on energy, but was feeling peaceful.

I prayed and asked what had just happened. What I received in prayer was that it was a spirit of philosophy. Then I started putting the pieces of the puzzle together. Before I was an active believer, I considered myself a philosopher ... in particular as an Epicurean to some degree. It was heavily based on this philosophy that I had done many of the things I had done of which I was writing and now recognizing as wrong. And in the logic of that philosophy, one can try to make the ends justify the means. It all came together. I had reached the decisive point in my mind and soul that Epicureanism and philosophy in general were wrong and not something for a believer to follow. For what was inside of me ... what I never recognized was inside of me ... it was time to go.

After that moment, I have not felt much need for philosophy (actually I am against it). Before that moment, even as a believer, I wanted to try and argue, even philosophically, some of the great truths of Scripture. It had been an unexplainable desire that seemed contrary to a believer's life. It was no longer a desire.

== Healing from Ancestry Trauma ==
It should come as no surprise that we live in a sex crazed society and world. Sexual content is everywhere in the media, even in children's television shows. It is used for advertising. There are entire industries, both legal and illegal, built up around this activity.

Having been a child in the 70's, a teen in the 80's, and a single young adult in the 90's I certainly was exposed to this stiff and influenced by it. Although I somehow managed to still be a virgin when I got married [remember I pursued intellectual rather than physical interests], sexual topics had way more than their fair share of time in my life. In particular, the process of change to adulthood ... certainly a theme encouraged in cartoons and anime. At a young age, I just assumed this was normal curiosity. Sex was a very distracting topic ... and based on society, I thought this was normal.

However, as a believer I knew these types of thoughts were wrong. That we should be able to control ourselves better than that. We should love righteousness and hate evil. But simple self-control did not seem to be enough against the lusts of the flesh.

I eventually found a method that helped myself a lot. When I found myself being tempted I would say to myself 'this is just a female' ... and, for some reason, I would suddenly feel peaceful and not tempted. It was not until much later I realized I was fighting a spiritual battle with the phrase. I was fighting a lie that delves into paganism and witchcraft .. something along the lines of female sexuality being somehow inherently powerful and being attune with nature. Another theme that is heavily promoted in books, movies, and television.

I am not sure what the source of this lie was as I had watched an extensive amount of television growing up as well as having witches and Native Americans in my ancestry. Whatever the cause, this method helped ... but only for a little while each time I used it.

We sometimes hear of a miraculous healing from an addiction like tobacco. Someone is prayed over or asks for the addiction to be taken away and, suddenly after decades of addiction, the desire for cigarettes (or any other bad habit) is gone and not desired anymore.

Decades later, almost by accident, I cam upon a much more permanent solution. I had been working on ancestry and family tree off and on for decades. One of my biological great-grandfathers was a mystery. Strangely, my living relatives would not talk about this person even though I knew at least one had a lot of information on that line. I finally solved the mystery and opened up an entirely new line of information.

Taking all the pieces of the puzzle together, it is not difficult to make a picture of what happened ... and why nobody wanted to talk about it. It would not raise many eyebrows today, but it would have been quite embarrassing a century ago. My grandfather was born out of wedlock. His father did not want him. Most likely, it was the brother of his step-father that abused him (and most likely sexually). He later in life was a cross-dresser.

Although not much description is given in Scripture about demonic influence and generational effects, their is great amounts of experience and history that says that traumatic events are an entry point for demonic activity.

I went through the process of breaking curses and casting-off any demonic activity that might have started with those individuals. It was generally themed as I did not know anything specific to mention. However, the effects were dramatic. This sexual distraction suddenly disappeared ... and has not been an issue since. It is not a matter of self-control ... it is just a non-issue. I am at peace and my thoughts are able to work freely on more important things.

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