Skinwalker Ranch, Satan’s Jurisdiction, and the Spiritual Crisis of America
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The Chokepoints Through Time — Dr. Wayne C. Sedlak
Are the strange events reported at Skinwalker Ranch merely unexplained mysteries, or do they reveal something far more serious about the spiritual condition of America?
For the past several weeks, I have been addressing a subject that many Christians would rather avoid: the occult, the paranormal, and the patterns of Satan’s activity throughout history.
I am not particularly interested in ghost stories. Nor am I interested in sensationalism for its own sake. What concerns me is something much more important .. and sinister.
How does Satan operate? How does he gain jurisdiction? And how are Christians supposed to recognize and resist his activity?
James 4:7 tells us:
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
That is a command, not a suggestion.
But I want to ask a question that very few Christians seem prepared to answer.
How do you resist an enemy whose methods you cannot recognize or even whose Presence one cannot define?
A soldier entering combat must learn the tactics of his enemy. He must understand the patterns of attack, the means of deception, and the objectives of those seeking his destruction.
Why would Christians imagine that spiritual warfare requires anything less?
The Bible does not leave us without instruction. It reveals the character, objectives, and methods of Satan. Unfortunately, much of the modern Church has neglected the very Scriptures necessary to understand them.
And that brings us to a remarkable location in northeastern Utah.
The Mysteries of Skinwalker Ranch
Skinwalker Ranch has become one of the most widely discussed locations associated with alleged paranormal activity in the United States.
The modern accounts gained prominence after the Sherman family purchased the property in 1994.
They were ranchers. They intended to raise cattle and make an honest living. I have no reason to suggest that they were responsible for the strange events they subsequently described.
Indeed, I regard them as people who reported experiences they neither sought nor understood. It short, they are victims, not perpetrators.
Among the incidents attributed to their time on the ranch were:
- An eerily exceptionally enormous wolf-like animal reportedly appearing near the family and apparently surviving repeated gunshots, unscathed and unharmed.
- Cattle found dead under unusual circumstances, with reports of precise, surgically cut mutilations and missing organs.
- Livestock allegedly disappearing without any apparent trace.
- Glowing blue or white orbs moving across the property at night.
- Strange figures reportedly appearing near the ranch buildings.
- The disappearance of family dogs following encounters with unexplained phenomena.
These are reported experiences, never really finding explanations that were rational. Nevertheless, the accounts attracted investigators and eventually national attention. One key: experienced ranchers all over the country, including at Skinwalker Ranch, repeatedly find themselves unable to explain the mutilations of cattle, sheep, domesticated animals. Such ranchers are accustomed to dealing with real predators such as bears, cougars, wolves and the like. All of which have consistently established patterns of their own behaviors. None of this fits with such behaviors normally experienced by ranchers. Police, FBI, military, ranchers, farmers, independent researchers all come up short for explanations of the phenomena.
In June 1996, regional newspaper coverage helped bring the ranch into public view. Subsequent owners and researchers continued investigating the property, and the television series The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch brought these claims to an even larger audience.
But my concern is not simply whether every account can be verified.
My concern is the biblical question that these reports raise.
What happens when a society loses the ability to distinguish between the natural world, deception, and the spiritual realm revealed in Scripture?
Satan’s Jurisdiction: A Forgotten Biblical Principle
One of the most important principles in understanding Satan’s activity is jurisdiction.
Jurisdiction is a legal concept. A court cannot legitimately exercise unlimited authority over every individual in every circumstance. Its authority depends upon the laws and conditions under which it operates.
I believe Scripture reveals a corresponding principle concerning Satan.
Consider the book of Job.
Satan appears before the Lord and accuses Job. He challenges Job’s faithfulness, arguing that Job serves God only because of divine protection and blessing.
But notice something critically important.
Satan is not presented as having unlimited authority.
God establishes the boundaries within which Satan may act.
That is a fundamental lesson.
Satan is powerful, but he is not sovereign. He is not God’s equal. He is a created being, entirely subordinate to the Almighty.
II Timothy 2:25–26 speaks of individuals being recovered from the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him.
Revelation 12:10 identifies Satan as the accuser of the brethren. These and many more passages need to be brought to bear upon this vital subject before theories, otherwise offered, degenerate into mysticism and create further chaos.
It is time for us to Resist the Devil…as God identifies him and his “hosts”, through the lens of Scripture. Only then will we be on firm ground sufficiently rooted to expose and defeat him as the Bible tells us we will accomplish: “…and upon this Rock I will build my Church, and the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18).
