Shannon (Mama Shah) (124:49)
Okay. So that was. So we talked about, like, that's how I became a Christian. Right. And I went through. Down this path where I wanted to be a witch and a Christian and I wanted to do New age white magic. Yes. Little white magic. I literally was trying to do that. And then we. The whole Covid. Happened. Everything happened, and we ended up, like, moving out to the middle of nowhere, and I started going through this Baptist church. And we had been kind of looking at churches where we lived before, but I experienced a lot of, like, judgment or whatever at the Baptist churches. Okay. I don't. I don't. Anyway, we ended up at a Baptist church out here, and I. My beliefs and my understanding of the Holy Spirit were refined. And eventually, like, all of that New age stuff, like, fell off. And I became, like, a more solidly. Like, I had, like, a solid foundation to stand on, like, a truer understanding of the Bible. And, like, I stopped looking for, like, reincarnation in the Bible, like, trying to. Like, people would use, like, calling John the Baptist Elijah as proof that they believed in reincarnation, but it's not true. And like, in the Bible it says, like, you only die once. Okay. So I started going to a Baptist church. I'm still a member there now. And I. Everything was fine until I came under, like, very severe demonic oppression. And, like, as a result of that, my beliefs have shifted again. And it's sort of like, I think that I had, like, the religious understanding down, and then true Christian spirituality has now, like, come into the picture. So, like, the gifts of the Spirit and the Holy Spirit and, like, the authority that we have over demons has. I now understand all of that and am very. In a very real way experiencing those things. Yeah. So with the demonic oppression that I came under, my. I had just given birth to my third baby, and she. This was earlier this year, and she is perfect and amazing. But we stopped going to church because I had a newborn. And so I stopped reading the Bible. I stopped really. I wasn't really praying a lot before that anyway. Like, I would pray for, like, before meals or, like, pray like some before bed. Like, thank God for the day, whatever. Go to bed. And so that's where I was spiritually. And my husband gets me this book, and he was so excited about this book, and he really hyped it up. And as soon as I got it and opened it, I realized, like, oh, like, I didn't. Okay. So it was a hand bound, like $160 book. And it had a giant pentagram on it and freemason symbols. And it was a book on the history of symbols. And I flipped through it to the Christianity section. And the first thing in the Christianity section is information on Buddhism or voodoo and like, how voodoo is done. And I was like, okay. And I didn't want to hurt his feelings, so. So I accepted this book and I put it on top of my refrigerator and I didn't look at it again. But then my in laws came to stay with us to see the baby. And I was like, oh, they're Southern Baptists, I gotta hide this book. So I hid the book and I moved it back to my bedroom and I put it on my dresser. And then we all started having nightmares. My. My youngest son started seeing. He called it the happy monster. Like the happy monster from the playroom. He would like scream terrified and like hide behind me. The happy monster is here. The happy. He's only. He's only two. So like his. How he explains things is. He's still coming into language. But anyway, he would say, the happy monster is here. And I would rebuke it and he would say that it left. But then it kept happening and we all. I started having these dreams where like, I could not say Jesus. Like, Jesus would not come out of my mouth. And my husband was having nightmares, my children were having nightmares. Everybody was like seeing weird stuff. Stuff was moving. And we started going back to church again. While all this is going on and while we were singing I. The words that I was trying to sing, I sang Hell will reign forever. That came out of my mouth and I was like, what is going on right now? And like, trying to rebuke this thing would not work. Like, it would work and like things would disappear, but it would. It kept coming back, right? And I. That experience taught me a lot. It. I learned about, like, the legal rights that demons have for Christians. Even like Christians, you can come into agreement without realizing it with a demonic entity. And the entity can control you. It can like go into you even as a Christian. And that is not something that like, I believed or understood at all. And God, I think. I think God finally gave me a dream where I saw the book and I knew that there was. I saw myself as a teenager doing occult, like rituals, and I saw the book and then I knew that there was a demon there. And I was trying to scream for Jesus and I could not say Jesus would not come out of my mouth. And I was like getting sleep paralysis and the whole, the whole thing. And finally after this dream, I realized the book. I have accepted this book into my home. I have put my husband's feelings above God and I love what I know God wants. And so I confronted my husband about the book and he said that he thought it would be like reading about Hitler where like it's, it's harmless, you know, it's kind of interesting, it's like dark and spooky, but it's, there's no harm in reading about Hitler. And I was like, no, I have renounced all things occult. And as soon as I said that I felt this oppression lift off of me and like I felt lighter and like all of like the fear and anxiety, like I picked up vaping and stuff again. And like I don't like while this was happening and like, I don't know, as soon as I said I have renounced all things a cult, it. I felt it leave me. And my husband got upset and he took the book away and I felt like everything like leave, like the darkness leave. And he sent the book back and that began a whole journey. This all happened before the thing where like my son was attacked and had one in him. So these, I feel these all happened this year. But I feel like God was like teaching me, you know, so like he allowed this to happen. And it. I repented for idolatry, repented for like accepting the stuff into my home and begged for his mercy and. But like in all of this God has really used it to open my eyes to the authority that we have as Christians. And we like the church is so dry right now. I think like the Pentecostals aren't in like charismatic kind of non denominational churches. I think have like a much better grasp of like what's going on. But by and large like all these Methodist churches, like the Baptist churches, like I love my brothers and sisters in Christ, but it is dry as a bone. And like the, like the Holy Spirit, like is there and accessible. And like we, and like prayer is like how we tapped in, tap into that power, the power that we have. And I think there is something in us as humans that desires that power, that desires the supernatural, that. Which is why the new age and the occult and all of these things are so popular now. And there is a space that the church needs to step up and fill and like we have to Be talking about spiritual warfare. Even Tucker Carlson is coming out about his demonic attacks. And, like, it is very real. And there is a very serious need in our culture now of people that are willing and able to stand up with the Lord and, like, break people free of these chains and let people know, like, there is power in the Holy Spirit. It is not weak. It is not. You just let people. You let everything, like, trample over you, and you just, like, stay in your corner and pray and hope everything turns out okay. That is not how Christianity is supposed to be. That's not what Jesus did. Jesus went out and he set people free, and we are supposed to be doing that.
