|
Phoenix
|
Rant time.
I am getting more than a bit fed up with a large element of Christianity that seems to take the "see no evil, hear no evil" bit literally. When did Christians become so lax and complacent? We have people more worried about a video game looking scary because it has evil things that you have to fight (Doom 3, etc) than worrying about REAL evil in the world. Where has the courage and sense gone? It seems to me that there are an awful lot of Christians who cannot or will not deal with the subject of fighting demonic forces. Jesus didn't go run and hide when he was confronted with demons. He cast them out, and gave that power to his disciples.
I think the problem is people don't learn how to deal with real demons because nobody is preaching it. Conversely, those who do preach about hellfire and damnation usually do it to scare their congregation into giving more money and coming back once a week to ensure a steady cashflow. Then there are those who want to preach that everything and everything is evil because of (insert reason of the week here). I'm calling BS on all of this here and now. I'm tired of it, and I think it's time someone sets the record straight on demons and how they work, not only for the benefit of anyone who's curious, but to also show what a lot of "goody-little-two-shoes" so-called Christians need to wake up and deal with. For those who don't believe in demons all of this is irrelevant, except for the fact that ignorance of a danger does not undo it. Believe, or don't. That is your free choice after all.
As a word of warning, this IS preachy and I make no bones about telling people what to do here and how to do it. This is my area of expertise. Also, discussion as to Christianity's validity or lack thereof will NOT be tolerated here. Start your own thread if you want to go bible-bashing. If you make one of the usual snide remarks I'll delete your entire post. If you're offended by this subject then don't read this thread, simple as that. Now, on to business...
The first step to dealing with evil is to not fear it. Those who fear something as benign as a video game because it portrays evil as actually being dark and scary need to do us all a favor and go wander the desert for 40 years. You don't learn how to fight demons by sitting around watching "VeggieTales" and listening to feel-good worship songs on the radio. You don't learn how to fight demons by pretending that talking about them or looking at scary things is in itself evil. If someone draws an upside-down cross should I fear that? If someone draws a pentagram, should I fear that? Why? It's nothing more than an image, how does it hurt me? It might be argued that symbolism, through intent and applied meaning, can draw evil spirits. I will not dispute that, as I do agree to an extent. In order for this to be a problem you first have to fear evil spirits, and second, willingly allow them in.
A symbol is nothing without meaning. A cross, prior to the the crucifixion of Christ, was nothing but an executioners tool to anyone around in the day. The meaning is assigned by the person. Otherwise, it's just a hunk of wood. The inverted pentagram had no symbolic link to Satanism prior to LeVay's founding of the Church of Satan in 1966. Prior to that it was a pagan symbol, and the standard pentagram was commonly used to ward against evil spirits. These images only have power over a person if they CHOOSE to fear them. If you do not fear them, they hold no more power over you than a cross does to a non-Christian who has never seen one before. This does not take into account blessings or curses on physical objects, and any object, irrespective of symbolism, can be blessed or cursed but that's another matter entirely.
As for monsters, what are they in a game? Just a computer generated thing. When you get down to it the monster is just numbers. It's a piece of program code that does something inside the computer. THAT'S IT. No demons are going to jump out of the computer and possess you. If they're scary it's because of human psychology, which is a subset, albeit a rather complex subset, of animal psychology. Creatures tend to fear things bigger and stronger than they are, or anything that is significantly dangerous to them. In an immersive environment like a first-person shooter game this comes into play heavily. Sudden movements and certain noises also tend to invoke fear or surprise. "Stalking" noises combined with darkness add to this level of discomfort. Take a game setting where you know ahead of time that the environment is threatening and the responses are quite predictable. Fear exists for a reason: It keeps living things alive. All living things have a self-preservation instinct, and clever game authors play upon this.
This is exactly the issue at hand - dealing with fear. Why do people see scary movies? Why do people go to haunted houses? They WANT to be scared, but more than that, they want to be scared and come THROUGH the situation unharmed. This gives someone a feeling of power over the situation, as well as a bit of adrenaline rush. Some people, like thrill-seekers, like this. That's why humans continuously engage in dangerous activities, like skydiving, base-jumping, etc. Conquering fear has, since ancient times, been a test of nerves. Other living creatures sometimes engage in risky behavior. There is a reason for this. In testing one's limits, through competition or flirting with danger, a creature learns how far it can go and where the line is so that if a dangerous situation arises it can better cope with it than if it had not subjected itself to the controlled danger situation beforehand. How many times do you hear stories of people put in a traumatic situation say "I froze"? This is why soldiers and police officers train as hard as they do. They learn to control the fear and react according to their training, instead of freezing up when faced with danger. It's really no different for animals.
As for demons, the original subject here, demons are not a danger unless you allow them to be. Allowing includes ignorance of their presence, and that is the largest mechanism employed so far. The biggest factor is lack of awareness of their existance and how they work. Demons are fallen angels, that is, angels who rebelled against God and were kicked out of heaven. They follow a command structure, the same as angels do. The stronger and more intelligent demons control the weaker and less powerful demons. Their powers are NOT infinite, they are NOT all-knowing, nor can they be everywhere at once. They are not corporeal as a rule, but if given enough power can become corporeal and inflict serious harm. I know this as fact as I've seen them take physical form myself, and so have others that I know. The Catholic Church, throughout history, has records of incidents involving creatures who had killed animals and humans, and that such things as swords and bullets had no effect on, but holy water, rosaries, and other blessed items were able to destroy or make them flee and not return. One such incident involved a large black "dog" that charged a priest who was out for a walk as if to kill him. Sensing the danger, and noticing the beast was too large and seemed to grow unnaturally larger as it charged him he threw his rosary at it. It struck the dog, and it vanished. Hallucination, or something more? Who can say, but such incidents are rare. Most demons are cowardly if confronted properly and will flee eventually after confrontation.
How do you know if there's a demon around? Demons are spirits, so they can almost never be seen unless they are very powerful and the person in question is sensitive to their presence and alert to what to look for. As a rule, lesser demons are everywhere, all the time, whispering nasty little thoughts at people, trying to get them to do wrong. Usually these cannot be felt, and they're not particularly powerful entities. Ignoring those urges and praying for strength against them is usually enough to take care of this, unless you get someone really nasty trying to tempt you into doing something seriously wrong. So... how do you tell if there's a more powerful one around then if you cannot see them? Do you ever get that feeling of utter dread that you cannot explain? Ever go outside at night and just feel like the air is "bad", or that your spine is crawling, even though the area is quite familiar and nobody is in sight and there's no logical reason to be afraid? Ever know that "something bad" is "out that direction" just staring at you, but you don't know what, nor why it's "that direction" specifically, but you just KNOW? This oppressiveness to the night (or day, but at night it tends to be more prevalent) can sometimes just be apprehension, but when it gets to an overpowering level there's a good chance that evil is afoot, and must be dealt with.
So how does one confront a demon? Prayer is the most effective tool. Pray to God for protection from the evil, pray for Him to send angels to protect you and do battle with the demons who are harassing you, and pray for the power to defeat them. Then, in Jesus name, you command the demon to leave. If this sounds like an exorcism then you're on the right track, although exorcism is different. This is what we call a "deliverance". Exorcism is used when there's a possession of a person involved, deliverance is used when an area has a strong demonic presence. Anyone can perform a deliverance, exorcisms should be left to exorcists as a possessed person is extremely dangerous, and so are exorcisms to all involved. Invoking the name of the Lord during a deliverance prayer is a powerful tool because it is not any power you have that weakens the demon, but the power of God acting through you. Invoking the name of St. Michael or Mary is also extremely potent in ridding them of a given area. Faith is a key in this as well. If you don't have faith that this will work I can assure you straight up IT WILL NOT. The more faith you have, and the more sincere your request, the more power it carries behind it. Keep praying, keep telling the demon to depart, and don't stop until the feeling of dread is gone. Wearing a sacred symbol, like a rosary or a bible is also a good thing to do because they are not just symbols to us, but symbols (to the demon) of a believer's power over that demon. If you think of the demon as a soldier in an army, how would a soldier feel if he went into an enemy camp and saw the heads of a bunch of his buddies stuck up on poles? You get the idea. It's also a good idea to tell the demon where to go when it DOES depart. My favorite place is to send them to the Abyss. This is the bottomless pit described in Revelation where Satan will be bound and cast into for 1,000 years by St. Michael. They don't tend to get back out if that's where they're sent off to.
One point to keep in mind in all of this is sometimes it's not always easy to tell if a fear of a given area is due to a corporeal danger, or a demonic entity. Phoenix says - trust your instincts. If you feel you should not go into an area then DON'T. Pray for protection and guidance, and avoid the area. This is not cowardice, it's just plain sense. Pray for angels to be sent down and deal with the threat. Whether corporeal or demonic, by doing so you've just increased your chances of escaping unharmed either way since angels can and will hinder people with evil intent if they're available to do so. It doesn't always stop someone from doing something bad, but it does shift the odds better in your favor regardless.
The main point of dealing with demons is to NOT let fear control you, but instead stand firm and kick it right back into their faces. Christians have a DUTY to do this, according to scripture, and were given power over demons. It is a waste not to exercise this power. There is no reason to fear evil, and those who do fear evil are controlled by it because by fearing something you give it power over you. If you're a Christian, and you're afraid of demons then shame on you - you're handing power to Satan that he should not have! Learn to fight them and grow a little backbone. If your minister is not preaching about how to deal with demonic forces AS IT IS TOLD IN SCRIPTURE then you need to find a new minister. (It is important to keep scripture in the picture because of all the false teachings out there about what is or is not demonic, and how the devil works, etc. Always use scripture as your litmus test for preaching.) This trend of running and hiding and denouncing things that are otherwise harmless while ignoring the real dangers in the world has got to stop. All that matters at the end of all things is whether or not a soul makes it to heaven, and the more power Satan has, the more souls he can keep from getting there. I'm calling on all believers who would read this to follow my example, and fight demonic forces whenever and wherever encountered.
|
