Christian should not go around expecting to hear voices or see shadows or smell demonic odors in places where notable acts of evil have been committed.

You can walk into a room hours after people have left, but their odor is still discernible. Sometimes the smell is light and seductive, tantalizing our nostrils with the lingering mist from an expensive perfume. Other times the smell is old and musky, like the odors associated with homes that care for the elderly. Occasionally real estate agents will show you a property where previous owners have owned pets or engaged in heavy smoking. The people are gone, but the evidence of their presence is still there. So it is in the spiritual world. There are physical places that have been so influenced by good or evil, they carry the essence of their previous occupants. Have you ever walked into a building or room that felt evil? Sometimes the spirit within us will pick up the lingering horrors of previous deeds committed in that particular place. Evil can actually taint a place to the extent that it is no longer useful for the kingdom. Thirty pieces of silver was the sum of money Judas Iscariot received from the chief priest for the betrayal of Christ (Matthew 26:5). When a repentant Judas returned the money to the Jewish council, the chief priests picked up the coins and said, 'It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.” So they used the money to buy the potter's field as a burial place for foreigners. That is why this grave yard has been called the “Field of Blood”. It was purchased with blood money. Furthermore, in the field, itself, nothing will grow. The horrendous attack of betraying Jesus Christ tainted the money and the money tainted the field. If you were to physically touch the Ark of the Covenant, you would die. If you were an unholy priest who stepped into the Holy of Holies room inside the tabernacle, you would die. These places were, within themselves, enshrined with the attribute of a holy God who has a supernatural influence on the places and things with which he comes into contact. God told Moses, “Take off your shoes. You are on holy ground.” His presence had so permeated the physical area around him that it too had become holy. The point is this: Our physical world can be influenced by the spiritual world. The spirit within us is fully capable of detecting the lingering impact of these spiritual transactions even though the culprits may no longer be present. Having said that, how would you like to go to Germany and spend the night in the World War II bunker where Adolph Hitler committed suicide? What would you expect to experience? The answer is not as simple as you might think for some evil acts leave no trace. As a Christian you should not go around expecting to hear voices or see shadows or smell demonic odors in places where notable acts of evil have been committed. However, and this is a big however, you should not ignore your spirit when these perceptions do in fact occur. Evil is absolutely detectable by the spirit within you. But this type of discernment is only applicable to Christians operating at a certain level of spirituality. One more thing before I close; Demons who are assigned to you, that is to say, who have the responsibility of disrupting your life (Luke 22:32), often follow from a distance. Sometimes you can feel their presence. This is not to say that the place in which you have detected them is tainted. Coming in one night, I felt evil lurking in the shadows. Yet, I don't consider my yard to be an evil place. Nevertheless, I have been inside of houses that felt evil. In other words the house was tainted like the Field of blood. In my next article I will talk more about the spirit world and how to protect yourself from certain spiritual attacks. Meanwhile, you can learn more at my website: www.groganbooks.com. Sleep well. Leander Jackie Grogan Author of Orange FingerTips