Posted on 12/10/2010 10:21:34 AM PST by wmfights
The villagers were contemplating poisoning Charu when Rohan Banerjee, a Gospel for Asia-supported pastor, stopped them.
Charu had become a danger and nuisance to his village after his mental sanity dissolved. Once a hard-working farmer, Charu had attracted the jealousy of some of his neighbors because of the wealth he accrued through his toils harvesting rice paddy. They retaliated by performing black magic on him, and he went crazy. His neighbors were no longer jealous—they were terrified.
Charu's altered mental state made him violent. He would hold a knife and attempt to stab anyone who came near him. Once, he almost attacked his own wife, but she narrowly escaped. His family tied him to a post, but instead of subduing him, it made him more aggressive. So the villagers—including his own family—conspired to poison him.
As they were holding a meeting to decide what they should do with Charu, Pastor Rohan and his team of fellow missionaries came to the village. Rohan told them not to harm Charu and assured them Jesus could heal him. So the villagers let Rohan take Charu away to pray for his deliverance. Although Charu attempted to harm Rohan multiple times, God protected the pastor.
Rohan eventually brought Charu to a prayer center led by Gospel for Asia-supported missionary Turanya Kahn. She and her team interceded for Charu for 15 days, after which he returned to his normal self. Due to his apparent recovery, they sent him home.
But a few months later, Charu started acting mentally unstable again. The missionaries took him to another prayer center, where missionary Kanjri Choudhuri prayed faithfully for him. By the end of one month, God had completely healed him.
God answered the prayers of the missionaries by restoring Charu to full mental sanity. Even more miraculous than this deliverance was Charu's resulting decision: He and ten of his family members chose to follow Jesus. Pastor Rohan asks for prayer that Charu and his family will continue to live for Jesus.
WOW! I’m convinced!!
by “the Story of Charu”
this is almost biblical
Isaiah 59:1 ¶Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
I do not believe in magic. I doubt this would have happened, if he had never found out or known that they tried black magic on him. I believe the fear of the magic drove him crazy, not the magic. I also believe that the thought of being delivered from the magic, is what cured him also.
Not really, but I would like to. I do not believe that men can perform magic though.
Not really, but I would like to. I do not believe that men can perform magic though.
I don’t know how the double happened, sorry...could be magic!!
psychology is magic.
I have a good friend who only believes what he can prove. I don't have a magic cure for you or him. I do believe and see evidence of God everywhere.
Me too. I believe in and see evidence of God everywhere also, not magic though.
I have been following missionary activity in the 10/40 corridor for a little while now and have read and heard about miraculous events in peoples lives. I believe these reports because I know some of the people making them. The head of Gospel for Asia has spoken at my church and is well respected by his peers. He is not a "crack pot" and has no reason to not report what's going on accurately.
Also, we have had former muslims testify at church about an "inner call to Christ" before they ever met a Christian or heard The Gospel.
In the west we can't conceive of these things because we are raised to believe everything has a scientific explanation, but that doesn't make it so. All this conditioning does is make us less likely to see the miracles that occur right in front of us.
You consider black magic as miraculous?
I wouldn't say miraculous. I think supernatural, or more apt demonic. I think demons use the occult to take over people, or manipulate people.
Why be pinned down by the term and ignore the usage? In the East, mantras and yantras are simply acknowledged as methods for focusing and directing various types of power. A huge part of their traditional use is in medicine and healing. Used for evil purposes, the same "tools" become "black." Even prayers can be - and are - used positively an negatively.
Think of modern medicine technology referred to as "physics." Then think of a nuclear warhead referred to as "physics." Same single-term comprehension problem.
While I would like to believe in angels, but do not, I do not believe in demons either. I believe there is a supernatural, but like it’s description, it’s unknown...as God wants it to be. I know throughout history, many people have wanted to and have said they did or do know the supernatural. I don’t believe them. It’s just one of those things that cannot be satisfactorily proven to any real number of people over time.
What you are saying is that you do not accept the Bible's terms for supernatural beings.
angels; archangels; cherubim; seraphim;
--------------------
unclean spirits; devils; the devil/Satan
The same is increasing in North America with the increase in immigration from Asia.
These practices open the mind and human spirit to the influence of supernatural spirits; unclean spirits; devils.
Also, there are “philosophies,” such a ZhongYong (”the doctrine of the mean”), supposedly a philosophy, which says, “Don't be too extreme or dogmatic about anything in life——just stay in the “mean” (middle), and this will promote harmonious relationships.” It actually produces an indecisiveness in life, a listlessness, an inability to carry out plans or see anything through. People who were raised on ZhongYong and try to go into business very often fail, or have corresponding mediocre success. Those that try to earn degrees have a particularly hard time. I've heard medical doctors say that these people seem to have some form of adult autism.
That all sounds psychological rather than spiritual, and to some doesn't suggest the presence of supernatural beings.
But Satan is both the god of this world (2 Cor. 4:4), and the prince of this world (John 16:11). Satan works in the political sphere, especially in those who desire political power, as well as in the religious/spiritual sphere, especially in those who seek power through religion or spiritual forces.
Where some (even on this thread) will say that the spiritual things of which we speak are actually psychological, I would say, Quite to the contrary! Much of what is called psychological or psychiatric is actually rooted in the spiritual realm, and can be influenced by supernatural spirit beings.
Satan's sphere of influence in the religious realm would include: church/synagogue/mosque/temple pulpits, Sunday School lecterns, Bible/Christian/(any) religious college/seminary classrooms, denominational hierarchies, cult activities, and occult activities, voodoo, spiritism, TaiQi, QiGong, FengShui, Hinduism, Daoism, ancestor worship, saint worship, angel worship, worship of any Biblical personages departed but caricatured by religious organizations.
Satan's sphere as "god of this world" also would include college and university lecterns, or any educational authority where the precepts of God's word are questioned or criticized (e.g. the teaching of evolution, and against the truth of Creation).
Satan's sphere as "prince of this world" would include the political realm: presidents, kings, prime ministers, congresses, senates, parliaments, courts, bureaucracies, etc., etc., etc.
We have lived in mountain barangays (villages) in the Philippines where people worship unclean spirits and use witch doctors, and who are often possessed and controlled by those spirits. We have listened in the dead of night to their screams and wails. They slash themselves with knives and broken bottles, and run naked and bleeding through the jungles. And of course, most of these also go to church on Sunday and take sacraments. Satan and unclean spirits, or devils, don't care---people without the indwelling Spirit of the Living God who open up their hearts and minds to the unclean spiritual world are easy prey to devils.
If it is "psychological," or "psychiatric," then psychology and psychiatrics (if that can be a word) are a part of Satan's sphere as the "god of this world."
I’m not familiar with the Bible’s terms, but it would appear that I do not.
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