Ten Lessons from the Spirit War
Written by Paul Bunch
When I was growing up, I always imagined my spirit as something that filled my body from the day I was born. It remained as a creation of light, because I chose God’s plan. The choices that I make have little effect upon my spirit, since it was a being of light. It’s my body that experiences the suffering in mortality. I thought of Lucifer and those who followed him as being dark, because they’re the bad guy; but that’s not me. I’m just a simple guy trying to survive this worldly experience without doing too many stupid things. What could possibly happen to my spirit?
I’ve learned a lot about my spirit in the last few years. The following ten lessons were not necessarily learned in the order in which they are numbered. Although I could write a whole book on each lesson, I may, instead, write a separate post with further details for some of the lessons.
The first big lesson I learned was quite surprising to me. Melissa and I discovered that we store negative emotions within our spirit. I didn’t like that idea. From that point on, Melissa and I started to incorporate the removal of negative energy in the healing techniques we were developing.
When I was growing up, I always imagined my spirit as something that filled my body from the day I was born. It remained as a creation of light, because I chose God’s plan. The choices that I make have little effect upon my spirit, since it was a being of light. It’s my body that experiences the suffering in mortality. I thought of Lucifer and those who followed him as being dark, because they’re the bad guy; but that’s not me. I’m just a simple guy trying to survive this worldly experience without doing too many stupid things. What could possibly happen to my spirit?
I’ve learned a lot about my spirit in the last few years. The following ten lessons were not necessarily learned in the order in which they are numbered. Although I could write a whole book on each lesson, I may, instead, write a separate post with further details for some of the lessons.
The first big lesson I learned was quite surprising to me. Melissa and I discovered that we store negative emotions within our spirit. I didn’t like that idea. From that point on, Melissa and I started to incorporate the removal of negative energy in the healing techniques we were developing.
As we sought to heal our spirits, we found ourselves bombarded with attacks from dark spirits. We would be attacked one way; after learn how to guard against that kind of attack we would be attacked another way. The second lesson we learned was that our spirits could actually be severely injured. When a dagger is placed into our spirits, it could be a straight edge or a jagged edge and it could be laced with poison. Those a few simple examples of the wide array of weapons that the adversary has at their disposal. We quickly became very aware of how real the spirit war was. After a few months, we got pretty good at fending off all sorts of dark spirits. More importantly, we learned how to heal our spirits due to the attacks.
The third lesson was how to heal our spirits after they were badly injured. We learned that our spirits could partake of heavenly energies, such as the fruit from the tree of life and the living waters. We could also use heavenly objects such as a healing stick and orbs of light. We discovered that the Light of Christ and the Love of God were huge healing energies for our spirits. We learned all sorts of ways to remove weapons and we got faster and faster at it. When our spirits were broken in pieces, we had to figure out how to bring them back together. Sometimes we needed to cauterize our spirits. When our spirits were shattered, we needed to add a few extra steps
Another thing that we learned as we sought to heal our spirits was that it’s not only the rebellious spirits that attack us. When we think about harming someone, our spirit will follow through with the thought. Our spirit may go and place a spiritual weapon into the person we want to harm. This leads into the fourth lesson that I learned. Our spirits frequently travel without our conscious knowledge. When our spirit departs 100% that can become problematic; which means that only a portion of our spirit will typically depart at a time. A spirit may be in many different locations at any given point in time. The spirit of a mortal can have one piece in heaven, another piece in a dark place and another piece in someone else’s home. It can roam the earth or the universe if it wants. Sometimes it can even get lost. The universe is exceedingly large and there are many places to explore. The results of that can be disastrous without proper guidance and the knowledge of how to remove one’s self from dark places.
The fifth lesson was that we are not alone in this spirit war. When I was young, I always heard about angels offering their support to mortals, but I was never consciously aware of their involvement. I suspected that the Lord sent angels to intervene on my behalf multiple times to spare me from immense pain and even death, but they do it so gracefully that it is hard to know when to give them credit. Now, I have learned how the angels interact with me on a daily basis. I can’t claim to see them or hear them, but I feel them when they are desirous to get my attention. Melissa is much more sensitive to the presence of angels; I will leave it up to her to post more on this if she desires. |
Love is what makes the world go round. Think of the two greatest commandments. Love God and love thy neighbor. There is a power in love that cannot be underestimated. Our Heavenly Father created our spirits to function off of love. Our spirits crave love. Every negative behavior is a cry for love. We act out because we want others to pay attention to how badly we hurt. Love softens the heart and is one of the greatest tools in the spirit war. This is the sixth lesson – learn to love your enemies.
The eighth lesson follows the seventh lesson. Opposition can come in many forms, but when we consider the spirit war, who is our opposition? The great majority of spirits that fight against us are those that have lived a life upon this earth and have since passed. So, who are we fighting against? We are fighting against those who we fought with while they lived. They may continue to seek revenge after they pass over into the spirit world. They blame us for the darkness and misery they are suffering from. We also have many generations, going all the way back to Cain, that are waging war upon us. Sadly, we are fighting our ancestors.
Lesson nine, truth is stranger than fiction. Think of the power God has. He is so far beyond our mere mortal comprehension, we cannot fathom his power. For someone with the confidence to lead an opposing force against God, he too would also have to be incredibly intelligence and powerful. The adversary develops strange plans that seem too unbelievable to be true. That’s the point. He doesn’t want us to believe he is real. When it comes to the adversary, expect the unexpected. He has no limits to the levels of deception that he is willing to engage in.
Lesson nine, truth is stranger than fiction. Think of the power God has. He is so far beyond our mere mortal comprehension, we cannot fathom his power. For someone with the confidence to lead an opposing force against God, he too would also have to be incredibly intelligence and powerful. The adversary develops strange plans that seem too unbelievable to be true. That’s the point. He doesn’t want us to believe he is real. When it comes to the adversary, expect the unexpected. He has no limits to the levels of deception that he is willing to engage in.
Lesson ten, Hell is real. There are so many different concepts of hell it is difficult to know what to believe. Is it just an inward torment because of a separation from God and our true potential? Is it a lake of fire and brimstone? Is hell a single location where all dark spirits call home?
Years ago I read a book called, “23 Minutes in Hell” by Bill Wiese. It detailed a strange near-death experience of someone who didn’t go see heaven as others have; instead, he experienced hell. He went to a location where he was being tortured. On the occasion, I have reflected back upon this book and wonder, was this person’s experience real. There were so many ways in which his spirit suffered that did not align with my understanding of Hell. Looking back now, I can see how the story he shared is real. I do not testify of his experience, but I can see it being very possible.
From what I have learned, there are many dimensions of hell. They vary in degrees and purpose. It’s not just outer darkness. Each location is miserable to be in. Only a small percentage of spirits that are in hell actually want to be there. EVERYONE in Hell eventually reaches a breaking point; it is, after all, Hell.
Years ago I read a book called, “23 Minutes in Hell” by Bill Wiese. It detailed a strange near-death experience of someone who didn’t go see heaven as others have; instead, he experienced hell. He went to a location where he was being tortured. On the occasion, I have reflected back upon this book and wonder, was this person’s experience real. There were so many ways in which his spirit suffered that did not align with my understanding of Hell. Looking back now, I can see how the story he shared is real. I do not testify of his experience, but I can see it being very possible.
From what I have learned, there are many dimensions of hell. They vary in degrees and purpose. It’s not just outer darkness. Each location is miserable to be in. Only a small percentage of spirits that are in hell actually want to be there. EVERYONE in Hell eventually reaches a breaking point; it is, after all, Hell.
Wrap-up: I will add one more lesson that all should already know. Healing comes from the Lord. Christ is the master healer. We give all credit for healing to our Savior, Jesus Christ. This plan of life is that of having JOY! “Men are that they might have joy” (2 Nephi 2:25). Experiencing hardships will help us to value the joy and peace the comes with following the guidance of the Lord. This plan that we are engaged in has taken its course over many eternities. It has proven to be effective. This life is not intended to be easy, but is will refine us if we let it. It is not a race. It is not a competition. As long as we are moving forward, we are doing good. In the long run, all things work for our good.