Posted on 06/16/2013 5:47:16 PM PDT by workerbee
I am currently reading The Day Satan Called by Bill Scott.... somewhat interesting, but at this point (about a quarter into it) not very well-written or even believable. I'm interested in your opinions or suggestions for non-fictional accounts of demonic possession, Satanism, and the like -- I'm considering Malachi Martin's Hostages of the Devil. I'd also be interested in your thoughts on these topics as they relate to ouija boards, Enneagram charts, or even yoga, as well as any personal experiences you may have with said topics. I'm especially concerned with a Roman Catholic or Orthodox point of view but any Christian viewpoint will be appreciated. Thank you!
I’ve been to the bottom. There is nothing there that could bring you happiness. Turn around.
>>Agreed. I was using your version of the word “spirit” the entire time, too. But even from a purely secular point of view, any good military historian knows that faith in something larger is critical to a civilization maintaining its “spirit” over the long haul. After all, no truly secular aka Godless or godless civilization survives for long. They just don’t. See where Europe and the inner urban hives in America are heading if you doubt me.
Yes, an “ideal” is necessary and implies action based upon principle over time. I basically divide mental processes into two main areas- long term and short term planning. Short term planning is destructive, ask Wall St. Long term planning requires ideals.
>>Some could argue that faith in the Constitution could take the place of religious faith. The Founding Fathers would disagree. Also, the failure of Faith in God in this nation is being matched by a failure in faith of the worth of the Constituion by far too many. Cause and effect? God’s hand? Or just an inevitable result of a general lack of faith in anything but secular wants and needs?
I’m afraid that man’s conception of God was abased from an eternal notion of perfection down to a tool for coping with life’s problems, or worldly success if you listen to the TV evangelists. Your God may do that. My God doesn’t work that way. My God is simply an idea about perfection, its attainability and desirability and, above all, its necessity. With that as the guidon, the little life problems sort themselves out into solvable chess moves, exercises in detecting efficient action in a long term sense, not an emergency rescue sense. I like to say that this is “the plan-it planet”.
>>Now, I believe that God really is part of this. But your belief in God or lack thereof is irrelevant to the above point.
The point I’m making is that belief in black magic, demonology, possession, etc., is a weakness that then requires a counter belief in a protecting entity that is external to one’s own abilities and capacities. We reach for the “protector God” rather than the “enabler God” and are made into dependent rather than independent, sentient beings. My take is that any truly free mind will eventually suss that God is not an external entity, but an indwelling one that has led us to mastery over and understanding of this amazing, huge Universe that is ours to explore and wonder at.
>>PS I find this discussion truly interesting and really am respectfully interested in your response.
Thanks. Mysticism is a labyrinth, a place designed to get you lost that was created by people already lost and trying to pretend that they are not. It requires crippling quantities of ignorance to play into. It is precisely what humanity has been trying to engineer itself away from ever since Og discovered that he can make and use tools and this includes tools of cognition.
Free people do not voluntarily enslave themselves. There are a lot of “belief traps” out there. A scientific, Sherlock Holmes mind is the best mine detector we’ve come up with yet. We’ve all got one, it’s just not very well trained or rigorous. If there is a God, he is Logic, in our image for real, and a force of immense potential (ideal) far greater than Nature. I’m not being blasphemous or prideful, just observant.
There are psychological reasons why people are evil- understandable, curable reasons. People who believe in a devil entity will never, ever defeat any devil because it has already gained entry into the psyche. With logic its banishment is falling down easy. The struggle against evil is basically the struggle against insanity. But sane people are less easily herded into irrationality and panic, and most emphatically, they are a serious danger to trauma programmed sadists and obstructionists. The chairman of Goldman Sachs or the NSA is a far greater satan than any horned, fork-tailed fairy tale character.
The next two days the feral cats in the neighborhood were totally freaked and I’d come home and there would be like 10 or 12 of them spread out weird formation in the front yard staring at the house and the hair on my neck would stand up as I approached.
And if you had not had a waking dream shortly before that, one that had totally freaked you out especially after finding out your roommate was sota weird (and I’m thinking you had already figured that out by then), would you have even taken much notice of all the feral male cats that had probably been stalking the fertile female feral cat or cats that probably had been doing so for days and weeks before then?
When I lived in Baltimore, my house was near a big wooded area and there was a lot of wild life; not only many feral cats but also foxes and rabbits, possums and hawks and doves and salamanders and box turtles, garden snakes and lots of squirrels.
I used to sometimes hear the most dreadful, almost human sounding screams in the middle of the night, so loud, that sometimes it would wake me from a sound sleep. It was usually the sound of a fox getting a rabbit (the sound of a rabbit screaming is very disturbing) or a fox getting a hold and killing a possum or a feral cat or a male feral cat just banging a female feral cat. And during mating season, the feral cats in my neighborhood, well let me just say, they “partied and tried to hook up all night long”. Whatever was going on, it didn’t sound good.
And when the squirrels invaded my attic, the thumping and bumping and the scampering and the weird loud screeching sounds emanating in my ceiling above my bed and in my walls, it would have sounded a lot like demons if I was predisposed to believing in such had not figured out that they were actually squirrels and that I needed to call and exterminator and not an exorcist.
“Free people do not voluntarily enslave themselves.”
Sadly, they often do. History is replete with examples. Most often, they exchange freedom for various forms of freebies. Examples include trains running on time, EBT cards, national pride, illusory relief from despair, false hope, freedom from being responsible for their own choices, and perceived affirmation of their superiority. Such is the nature of a large segment of humankind. It is not pretty.
PS Thank you for your cogent response.
Matthew 7- 7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened."
This is from my profile.
John 4 On Denying the Incarnation
4 "Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. "
Now a true example of 1John4 in action.
I have told this true experience before but this should never be taken lightly. My friends wife is into tarot reading. On the way to helping him move from an upstate rental house she was playing with the tarot cards. I prayed before hand about going because I knowing of her " new age" practices. While she was in the back of the car she decides to read me. My eyes are turned up. I declare do not read me. Please! She decides no I am already doing it. Well! I plead the blood of Christ over her. " I cover the Blood of Christ to make it null and void. " I did it loud but firm.
As I am doing this a car is out of control from the ramp on the Ny state Thruway coming right towards us. It goes on the grass then comes toward us. I am calm because of my prayers that morning. The Holy Spirit has me boldly speaking the blood of Christ over the car. It straightens out into the lane finally after swerving.
My friend’s wife is also into spellcasting. So later under the Holy Spirit 's leading I had to confront her at the house.
The husband thought it was harmless until I told him she can not repeat the Apostle’s Creed. I challenged her and she could not repeat it. She could not say the long form Nicene creed or just directly that Divinity became man 1John4. She says there are many Gods like from an unseen force. She had contortions.
The Husband flipped his "wig". I gave him a blessed Exorcism St Benedict medal cloth. She falls down when he takes it out of his wallet. I am not kidding. We are definitely leading and racing to the end.
I wear a St Benedict medal now. It has a living Prayer written in Latin. When properly blessed by a priest it becomes an active prayer against evil. I have given them out to all Christians with wonderful responses. This is good to wear if you want to study this subject.
http://www.stpeterslist.com/8560/8-things-you-must-know-about-st-benedicts-medal/
Actually written in 1485 be a senile old man.
I have his originals.
Really, from what I understand he dabbled too much and fell in. First with the Malleus, and also sort of hung out with Crowley. And showed a regrettable obsession with De Sade. If you’ve read De Sade’s works, you know that isn’t something that anyone normal would want to dwell on, or make their fulltime study interest.
We are dealing here with spiritual slavery, big difference.
—— I had a fairly mild first experience with one at a childhood birthday party. My mother sternly convinced me it was a portal and I should never go near the occult. I passed that on to my daughter, who was getting interested in witch books encouraged in middle school. Stopped her budding interest cold. ——
If you hear of anyone taking an interest, direct them to the reviews section of the Ouija board listing on Amazon. Besides the scoffers and the well-meaning folks on our side who, unfortunately, often come off as hysterics, you will find plenty of reviews by children that are chilling.
These entries can be dismissed, but the writing style of children is difficult to imitate. Additionally, these children are praising the game. So it is unlikely that these testimonies were created by Christians, trying to warn others of the board’s dangers. Their testimonies are worth reading.
I also posted a thread here many years ago, titled something like, “Post your experiences with the occult here.” Many Freepers have have experienced preternatural phenomena associated with ouija boards.
Exactly. You are like a man walking about wearing blinders, insisting that nothing exists that he cannot see.
You need to be corrected.
Have you ever heard of the old saying “what is OLD is NEW again?
Plus also “rationality” fails when you see today’s headlines.
What is your purpose for researching.I had to research such because of the work that I was doing and things that were happening.I would talk to a confessor first and tell them your purpose.If they give you the green light then I would devote equal amount of prayer as to the reading and make sure your in a state of Grace.I would not recommend any of the books on the market.Any exorcists I know have never written a book.They don’t even tell people they are exercists.I would recommend Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich.She gives a pretty good history and the bad guys against the good guys.
“What Demons can do to Saints by Merrill F. Unger - I thought this book was very well done.”
Agree. What I like about Unger’s approach is his high view of Christ’s person and work, and the sureness of the salvation He secured for us. He was firmly confident in Christ’s defeat of Satan, as any believer has a right to be.
Thank you for the links.
No genuine Christian can deny the existence of demons. Take up your doubts with Christ himself.
What about that priest who is that well known exocist by the last name of Father Amonth? He wrote a book I believe.
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