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!
Some of us have had a fisto’cuffs with a fallen angel and weren’t the losers. Those who enter into such a fight, without faith in Christ are either losers to the Adversary, or didn’t have the guts to keep from being losers and are simply their chumps.
>>As to your civilization/war examples: you omitted one critical element: the spirit and will of the people fighting. Even if every religion and all things supernatural are hokum, the spirit and will of the people is critical for a civilization’s survival. Agreed?
Yes, absolutely. But we really need to define “spirit”. Your example here is the result of inspiring leadership, strategically adept leadership, tactically savvy leadership, training, more training, and a cause that is truly worthy. This has little to do with the religious sense of “spirit”. But elan alone won’t capture the enemy flag. You need experience at skirmishing, flanking, signals, timing, good maps, decoys...in short: operational readiness. Any fighting force with certainty that its leadership will not waste lives, will be dangerous.
I agree with you about the Ouija Board. 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.
Geez. Don’t tell me you’re one of Ed’s people?
He never found his grail, you know :). The fraud.
“you dont know if what you are talking to is what you think you are talking to”
It is a demon posing as a deceased person. Stay away from the occult.
Lucid dreaming can also be something else. If well rested and not too stressed out, my subconscious just doesn’t have a lot to chew on for the 5-6 hours I sleep per night. That’s when I can take over my own dreams. Fully know I’m dreaming, but am in complete control.
Flying is fun. So are 100 mile high roller coasters. And dreaming about walking on a star. That kind of thing. It is fun and relaxing.
Ironically, as a very heterosexual male, I rarely turn things sexual. Why? Because those emotions tend to move me back into a full dream state quite quickly. Just too much emotional context for the subconscious to grab ahold of and run with.
I learned how to do all this to stop some nasty stress related nightmares I kept having. Worked. And no, there is no spirit side involved. Been there, seen that. This is just my own mind.
Also had sleep paralysis once. Recognized what it was and broke it quite quickly. Not terror involved. Then again, I don’t really do fear. (I’ve had a gun pointed at me. Took it away from the person. Got the shakes from the adrenalin dump about 15 minutes later.)
What’s my point? Just this: we really are all different. I do believe in God and evil and their real manifestations in this world. But I also believe a lot of things that happen start out as completely natural. People can open doors with how they respond, though. Hence my original warning to workerbee.
And yes, I fully believe Christ is my Lord and Savior. Period. Didn’t always, too.
I had an experience about 10 years ago I’ll convey. I was dead tired after a long shift at work and went to bed early. I get a phone call from my roommate and he says something about being so sorry for what he let into the house. I was groggy and I guess he just hung up and I go back to sleep. I’m asleep but in that kinda half about to wake up phase and I hear like wings hovering and flapping. Then I feel something grab my neck - then the thought is like F... there’s something on me and I jump up. Obviously, I didn’t see anything and I was freakin’ and grabbed my Bible and started reading a couple of psalms out loud. Went back to sleep without incident. 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.
I had a long talk with my roommate who told me he didn’t remember making the call to me. However, I didn’t know the guy that long before I moved into the house to share rent, but he told me he had gone to some new age place within’ the year and had his third eye opened and then got kicked out himself from whatever that place was. Around that time he was waking up screaming in pain saying something felt like it was trying to come out of his body like stretching his insides. He spent like a thousand dollars he couldn’t afford to have cat scans and an MRI to no avail. Needless to say I moved outta there a month or two later.
I had a couple of other experiences but that one was the most recent. Weird. Flat out - I think it was demonic. Not just some neurons misfiring.
The short answer to your question is yes indeed, powers can be unleashed by “reading” about esoteric spiritual matters.
The subject is fascinating, and can lead you into discoveries of intense and surprising spiritual powers that are at work in the physical world.
The cost to your physical mental health and your spiritual soul in toying with the knowledge potentially gained as an interested amateur, can be extremely high.
You will probably do it anyway, since you have already started down this path.
I also continued on that path. Millions have already done so, and many of them have warned others against it, but few usually listen to them, no matter how clearly or how vaguely they describe the danger.
Some others of them intentionally set out to lure others ever deeper into the subject. Misery does love company.
Are you very certain your time, personal research skills, and curiosity wouldn't be better used in seeking a cure for cancer, a better alternate power or food source, or solving a math problem? No?
Well, at least after your journey, you will have firmly picked a side in the battle of good versus evil.
And in the final spiritual battle, all who will wage it will know which side we each openly picked to do battle for.
later
It’ll get away from you one of these days.
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.
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?
Now, I believe that God really is part of this. But your belief in God or lack thereof is irrelevant to the above point.
PS I find this discussion truly interesting and really am respectfully interested in your response.
>> “My mother sternly convinced me it was a portal and I should never go near the occult” <<
.
Desire is the only portal you need. Temptation must constantly be resisted.
Well said.
Please steer clear of Ouija boards. Seriously, nothing good will ever come of it. Using one, you are opening a door that you most likely will not be able to close all the way.
Oh, on occasion it does, but then I just end up in a mildly out of control light nightmare. And usually just wake myself up. (Learning how to wake myself up was my first response to the nightmares, which really were just stress related, but that messed up my sleep cycle something fierce.)
This really isn’t mystical. It is just knowing yourself and your motives (good and bad) so your subconscious doesn’t have to chew through so much every night.
Now that knowing yourself part? Not fun, especially in the beginning. PS I *know* that I am a sinner in thought if not deed. Work on it all the time and daily try to thank God for redeeming my unworthy self. All while really trying to do His will.
Ditto, cubed. Bigtime dangerous. Pray.
Amen....
The ‘interest’ in books and articles written about the dark can be ‘the hook’ and later a ‘a foothold’ the enemy uses to entice people.
Most who fall into occults began “looking” or showing an interest in the dark side at some point.....some do so when they hit dry spots in their Christian walk....a vulnerable target for the enemies tactics.
A young father did so...and though he himself was not affected...his wife and child were...and they....like so many excused the evidence until there was so much they could no longer deny it. Ended up terrifying episodes and terrible health issues for the child.
You simply cannot stand on the edge of a cliff and expect not to be affected.
I have a work of Summers’ — his history of Witchcraft and Demonology.
I’m curious as to why you state that he was a bad guy.
I know he had a tendency towards embellishment, but is there something I am not aware of?
I saw that trailer in theaters. I’m cautiously optimistic. :-)
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