The ego is full of itself and it demands that you be full of it too, so to speak, and really doesn't like "lowering" itself at all and will fight tooth and nail to maintain its position of authority and knowledge.
But, in Scripture we are told not to trust our own understanding and, like the rowdy, smartass, disruptive kid in class, it must be made to sit down and shut up so that learning can continue.
I obviously haven't figured out how to do that very well and frequently get in my own way, but sometimes I get close and slowly I get better at it.
I read the posts from many who post comments here and elsewhere and see that I'm not alone in this inner human struggle.
“I read the posts from many who post comments here and elsewhere and see that I’m not alone in this inner human struggle”
Amen! Guilty!
But GBA, God’s breathed-out Word—I know, THAT again—is brutally clear on what the occult is and what kingdom it emanates from: Satan’s. There is real power there, granted by God, yet forbidden by Him.
Those that do not heed the warning are given some measure of that power and are deluded by it. Like those Jesus rejects at the end, they make great claims of having done good with their power only to find out they didn’t get it from HIM!
“But Satan cannot drive out Satan!” True. But counterfeit signs and wonders ARE NOT DRIVING OUT SATAN, are they? They are furthering his kingdom.
Jesus had true miracle-working power from the Father. It was distinctive and clear, not operating in the shadows. Man born blind given sight. Lazarus dead, buried, then called BACK! Real demons driven OUT at a command. Irrefutable, and thus a hardening judgment against anyone who dared to refute them (and an unforgivable sin for those who attributed them to Satan).
What do you get with the contemporaries of Pharaoh’s magicians? Grand claims that are refutable, as they are only relayed not WITNESSED and VERIFIED. Souls are “read”, objects are moved, dead persons are relocated, memories are “healed”, etc. The stuff of deluded minds who prey on weak people in need. Doesn’t take much in their state to be TOLD they have been freed, only later to struggle with the same thing. Seer long gone, they look for another (and another...).
There is no eternal consequence for refuting these fakes because they ARE operating in Satan’s realm. Brazenly they try to hide behind Jesus but it just doesn’t work on those who know the Scriptures and the power of God!