(Mary)
I felt very powerless as a young girl growing up being abused. I saw a flash of light and I followed it around. I didn't know where I was going or what I was doing. I just got up and walked. When I opened the door a lady greeted me saying hello sister, I've been waiting for you.

(Darris McNeely)
In order to understand the inner workings of this strange and mysterious world I interviewed a former witch, we will call Mary who spoke on condition of anonymity. Mary spent twenty years working and practicing the pagan rituals involved in tarot card reading, fortune telling, voodoo and casting spells. She spoke to me about her experiences and how she started down that path. Join us on Beyond Today as we explore the perils of dancing with the dark side.

Witches and warlocks, vampires and evil spirits, these all sound like fanciful characters for many of today's popular books and movies, the harmless imaginings of a creative mind. But the occult and many of it's features are anything but fiction. The world of mysterious powers and frightful incantations exist as more than some plot device in some best selling novel. It exists here in our world and in our day to day lives. People are fascinated and drawn to these dark parts of life and always have been.

How about you? Do you want to spend time dabbling with the occult? If you do you should know what is behind the very real manifestations of evil.

Our exclusive interview with Mary will reveal what truths you have never understood about the occult.

I was seventeen when I first saw my first vampire film. I laughed until I cried.

(Movie Clip)

It was 1968 when the original Dracula starring Bela Lugosi in the title role that came to my home town theater in a release. I had read about this famous movie and decided one night with some friends to go and see what it was all about. Lugosi was dressed in that famous black outfit with a cape and had a leering look in his eye. You see it was intended to frighten movie goers and maybe it did in 1931 when it originally released but in 1968, well we were a jaded lot. The entire theater audience howled with laughter at the sight of the sinister Count Dracula. Since then an entire generation has been raised on another character of this being. A popular children's show has used the Count to teach kids how to count.

(Sesame Street clip)

It's all in good fun when used to teach children it's ok, there's no problems many reason, or is there?

We'll see what Mary has to say in a moment.

More recently vampires have been given a new lease on life within the stories told in books and movies of high school youth and love and romance. Vampires and the dark side are given the face of youth and the same themes of evil verses good. Immortality and dark sinister forces are sanitized within the context of adolescent love romance and desire.

Granted these are powerful themes that make compelling stories and a lot of people maybe even you or your children or your grand children have been caught up in the stories and find them entertaining and perhaps profitable.

A popularity and commercial success of evil in today's culture testifies to the truth that people today cannot discern between good and evil. The Bible says...

Isaiah 5:20 "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter."

The growing popularity and commercial success of Halloween has made this annual holiday second only to Christmas as a boom for retailers. Think about that, second only to Christmas in retail sales.

Why is this? People want to have a good time. They want to be entertained and in some cases they want to explore things they don't understand seeking meaning, power or control. And they don't care where they find it but they and you should care.

There are forces in this world that you should not want to be near. Evil does exist, evil is not an intellectual discussion or a board game or a harmless feature of popular culture. Evil exists and you should understand the perils of dabbling with this dark side of reality.

It goes by many different names, channeling, fortune telling, Wicca, divination, sorcery, magic, call it what you will. The truths that hide behind the shrouds of mysticism are unsettling at best and disastrous at their worst.

If you don't believe me would you believe first hand someone who knows first hand about evil power, someone who was immersed in witchcraft and evil? In order to understand the inner workings of this strange and mysterious world I interviewed a former witch, we'll call her Mary. Mary spent twenty years learning and practicing the pagan rituals involved in tarot card reading and fortune telling, voodoo, casting spells and she spoke to me about her experiences and how she started down that path.

(Mary)
I grew up in a Southern Baptist church but yet my step-father was beating me, molesting me and my little mind couldn't comprehend the two and that was the seed that was planted to hate God. So for a long time I hated God because of that and that was the thing that Satan needed to take me as far as he could. I felt very powerless as a young girl growing up being abused and when I left home and got older it felt like I say forces that were not of myself propelled me into that and one morning I got up and decided I was going to go for a walk and it felt like a hand propelling me. I didn't know where I was going or what I was doing. I just got up and I came to this store back home and when I opened the door greeted me saying hello sister I've been waiting for you.

(Darris McNeely)
So she knew you were coming?

(Mary)
Um-hum.

(Darris McNeely)
The store that Mary was guided to was a voodoo shop filled with the paraphernalia for that dark craft. The lady who welcomed her gave her a book that led Mary to begin exploring the religion of Wicca. Her interest in the earth based cult merely whetted an appetite of more knowledge and more power.

(Darris McNeely)
What do you think you were looking for when you entered into that world?

(Mary)
Power, to be special, to be unique.

(Darris McNeely)
Do you think that is what other people are looking for as well?

(Mary)
Oh yes, I mean you get into it, seeking power and to control your life, manifest real things into your life but the bad thing about it is after it progresses it starts to take on a negative tone. I started out with Wicca thinking I was just worshipping the earth because I wanted something tangible something I could see, something I could adhere to, the equinoxes and the Sabbaths and Wicca. And it soon didn't feel like enough and I felt compelled to check out books and read books about necromancy and voodoo. Like I say I was in it for about twenty years and there toward the end I felt like I hadn't had a car wreck I would have been gone because I would have opened myself up to channeling. I had already started using my own blood in my own rituals and my own spells and had already started making voodoo dolls and casting bad spells on people.

(Darris McNeely)
Did you actually see those spells come to pass?

(Mary)
Uh-huh.

(Darris McNeely)
You did? Things actually happened?

(Mary)
Yes, things always happened.

(Darris McNeely)
There is a real spirit world connected with occult practice. You cannot experiment with it and not expect negative consequences. Mary continued on the downward spiral into these negative pagan practices for the better part of two decades. It wasn't until a collision with a truck nearly took her life that she began to consider the life she had chosen.

(Mary)
A black truck hit me and it spun me around to a 180. The first thing that popped into my mind was thank God. I stilled hadn't altered, I still had my tarot cards and all that kind of stuff and it like at that moment God said whew, just came down and was like you've got to stop, I don't want that for you.

(Darris McNeely)
To those that still see witchcraft as fiction or something to be toyed with, Mary explains the result of twenty years of dancing with the dark side of the spirit world.

(Mary)
It honestly brings nothing but disaster into your life. I had an alter that was six feet long and idols on it and I still couldn't control my life. There was still, it eats at you. The Bible says that Satan has come to kill, steal and destroy and I don't think people grasp the gravity of how that is so relatable to witchcraft and Wicca and summoning spirits. They want to keep you as far away from God as they can so the illusion that yes you have this power that you can communicate with us and we can do things for you but it's always a negative effect. You're going to feel a presence that is going to drive you insane. The insanity about that presence is constantly with you, constantly manipulating you but before I was done with it it was to the point that I was seeing things and I was hearing things and I was not sleeping well and I was so angry all the time. It was eating at my soul because that's the end result they want is to destroy you, destroy your soul and whatever little bit of light you have in you.

(Darris McNeely)
So you felt this presence this power as a part of your life on an ongoing basis, that you weren't in control of it?

(Mary)
Yes.

(Darris McNeely)
There is much more to this subject than we can cover in this thirty minute program, what is vital for you to understand is the reality of the spirit world and a real devil called in your Bible, Satan. A majority of people say they believe in a literal devil. Understanding how he came to be, how he works and what his purpose is vital to you. It is not a matter to take lightly. The existence of the devil is the key to understanding why evil exists in this world. Once you understand this you can know how to resist the evil in our world. With God's help, this can be done.

Our booklet that we're offering on this program, Is There Really a Devil, takes you through a study of the subject from your Bible. We have chapter subjects that include why does God allow Satan to influence mankind, how can we resist the devil and the spirit world's dangerous dark side. This booklet contains practical thorough knowledge about this subject and it's available all here. You can get your free copy as an educational service from us by calling 1-888-886-8632 or visiting us online at BeyondToday.tv, that's 1-888-886-8632 or BeyondToday.tv. And join us on Facebook and Twitter and leave us a comment or a question about our program today.

Are you one who thinks you can experiment innocently with the occult and not be harmed? Don't think it is as innocent fun or even a once a year party where you dress up like a character from the dark side. This is a very real world and experience. Listen again to what Mary says.

(Mary)
I would see things and these black shadows and I would see people that would just look askew like they were possessed or something that they would look askew, their head would be misshaped or they wouldn't look right to me.

(Darris McNeely)
There's a lot of fascination today with witchcraft, with the occult. People are dabbling with it. Do you think people really understand what they're getting close to?

(Mary)
No, no clue. I'm sure they have no clue.

(Darris McNeely)
They think it's something harmless?

(Mary)
Yes, because if I had realized when I first go into it that in essence you are opening demons up to your life. If I had realized that I wouldn't have done it.

(Darris McNeely)
There is a spiritual dimension to life that most people are not aware of. The dark side that we so innocently play with represents powerful and real spiritual forces that want to deceive and destroy.

The Bible tells us that Satan has deceived the entire world in Revelations 12:9. The apostle Paul tells us that Satan is the god of this age in II Corinthians 4:4. He has blinded minds from understanding the true gospel.

Satan is a destroyer, which is one of his names. His desire is to destroy if possible God's plan to bring many sons to glory. He will not succeed in this plan. The Bible is very clear about this but he will work until God binds his influence from the minds of mankind, trying to keep us from knowing the love of God and from God's plans for the salvation of mankind. That's why God says give no place to the devil. He tells us to avoid the works of darkness (Ephesians 5:11).

I mentioned earlier that Halloween is second only to Christmas in popularity today. Halloween's become a major celebration that we find even churches taking part in and sponsoring parties on that day.

Now why would a church highlight a festival that involves demons and the dead? Well considering Halloween started out as a religious festival called All Saints or All Souls Eve we should not be too surprised. Many mainstream Christian religions today include Halloween on their annual calendar of celebrations.

Why would a religion claiming to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ adopt and adapt a pagan festival as a part of it's celebrations?

Halloween is an ancient custom. It can be traced back to the time of the Roman Empire. In Britain the Celts celebrated the time when the world of the living and the dead came together. People built bon fires in the open fields. It was believed the spirits of dead relatives were welcomed home on this night. Evil spirits were believed to be kept away by wearing masks and costumes to look like the same.

All of this sounds very familiar, like a typical street or part scene on Halloween evening in America today. But it has nothing to do with Christ and true biblical religion. Taking part in such festivities blurs the line between good and evil, right and wrong and truth and error. It dulls the senses and prevents us from seeing the true God and His will and purpose in our life.

I once had an evangelical minister from Eastern Europe tell me that he felt very sorry for all of these American churches taking part in Halloween festivals with their members. He thought they were doing great harm to the spiritual welfare of their members.

If your church holds a Halloween party why not ask your pastor what a celebration of demons, witches and ghosts has to do with the teaching of Christ? Ask him how the celebration of the dead squares with the biblical teaching of the resurrection? And if you don't have a church and yet you participate in Halloween and let yourself dabble and dance with the dark side of the occult in any of it's forms then ask yourself why get involved in evil and darkness, what value does that add to your life?

Can you not understand that by any immersion in this dark area you are risking even perhaps inviting something into your life that actually hates you and hates God?

I opened this program talking about vampires another part of the occult enjoying popularity today. Popular books and cultures have transformed vampires into an attractive lifestyle. Some actually fantasize they could find the allusive love and affection they desire through encounters with real vampires. Listen to what Mary says of her experience.

(Mary)
Satan will warp your mind. Satan will twist you and it will lead you into a world of submission and domination that you don't want to go to. Your fascination with vampires or characters from movies will grow to where you want to obtain something like that. It will manipulate you. It doesn't love you, it doesn't care for you, it doesn't want what's best for you. If its vampire, Goth, Wicca and any of that kind of stuff it does not want what's best for you.

(Darris McNeely)
What is Mary's advice for a young person who might be fascinated with vampires?

(Mary)
The love that you want and the love that you seek for a young woman is God and a young man who has God in his life and in his corner is much better and is much greater than these silly little Goth boys or vampire boys. That's only going to hurt you in the end, truly.

(Darris McNeely)
Did you catch that? You should be seeking God. Seek people who have God in their life. Stay away from and flee from a lifestyle that is controlling and abusive.

God wants to offer you a life free from anything connected to the dark life of the occult. God hates the cheap and false promise of the allure of the occult. He knows it is a dead end street of misery and evil. The occult seeks and offers up a quick fix of power that ends in slavery. Don't give in and don't get close.

Instead seek what God offers, a way of life that offers His character of love. God's goal is to bring you into His eternal family inheriting the power of the universe. This is what God wants to give you. He wants to make you like He is.

Now coming up we are going to continue discussing this subject with our Beyond Today host, Steve Myers. But let me tell you about the Good News magazine. This magazine contains important articles on how to make sense of today's confusing world news. It's free of charge, we offer this as an educational service. This magazine will help you understand what the Bible teaches on the most vital questions concerning your life, your marriage and your family, why it's important to have a relationship with your Creator. It will help you comprehend God's amazing plan for all mankind and for you personally. That's why you need your free subscription to the Good News. It will help you with these answers. So go online or call toll free 1-888-886-8632 and  request a free booklet and don't forget your subscription to the Good News magazine as well. This magazine will help you understand Bible topics, how the Bible applies to what is going on in your world. The Good News will help you get to know your God even better with all kinds of positive articles that are relevant and helpful to your life. Remember all of our publications are provided free of charge as an educational service in the public interest. Call toll free 1-888-886-8632 or go online to BeyondToday. tv. And don't forget to look us up on our Beyond Today Facebook page and get more information by following us on Twitter and you can also set your DVR or TiVo to record Beyond Today to watch us later at your convenience.

We have seen how the dark side of the evil spirit world really exists. First hand testimony has given you a rare look at how devastating and controlling this world can be. It is not something for you to dabble into to any degree. God tells us to not give place to the devil. When you see the custom of Halloween, don't get involved, it is not of God. It is evil dressed up like a game. When you see entertainment based on the occult, don't spend time watching it. Don't play around with ouija boards, tarot cards or any other tool of occult practice the risk is simply to great. Rather arm yourself with knowledge, seek God, draw close to Him. The forces of evil will not be a part of your life. Avoid dancing with the dark side in any part of your life. Thanks for watching.