"DOORS WILL BANG OPEN" (exorcism excerpt). Do you believe?

[Muay Thai]

'Doors Will Bang Open': A Brief Exorcism Handbook--Hostage to the Devil by Malachi Martin - Beliefnet.com

what are your opinions or experiences?

 

[ericraven2003]

I think 99.999999% of supposed possesions are mental illness. Superstitous nonsense.

 

[Muay Thai]

i know in my experiences i used to see shit and hear shit when i was on crystal and i thought i was posessed . it makes you have no conscience. most likely sleep and nutrient deprived borderline crazy.

 

[Muay Thai]

..

 

[Lee Salado]

I think 99.999999% of supposed possesions are mental illness. Superstitous nonsense.

Thats exactly what demons want you to think.

 

[ericraven2003]

Thats exactly what demons want you to think.

No. Its called rational thinking. Its good stuff.

 

[Lee Salado]

Lol

 

[dgarr21]

no i dont sorry had to edit my post haha didnt want to piss anyone who believes in their god off...sorry haha

 

[pesty4077]

I didn't believe in people being posessed, until I had kids and they became teenagers.

 

[wtw11171]

Fr. Malachi Martin was a good priest. I did not know him personally but priests I were associated with did, one being Fr. Coomaraswamy. I have been involved with Exorcisms. I have exorcised homes where there was paranormal activity. I do not recommend getting involved with these cases. If you don not know what you are doing, a spirit can attach to you. There are spirits, both good and bad. I have seen holy ones and had experiences with evil ones. These are controlling spirits. There are cases where the person has a mental illness with no real possesion, however, this person can become possesd. I have studied apparitions, mysticism etc. since I was 20 years old. Next week I will be 38. I have traveled with mystics, seen weepig statues, eucharistic miracles, you name it. I have even collected oils and blood from the sacred images. I know what I am talking about. In this case if you know nothing about these matters, it is better to say nothing. Pax et bonum.

W

 

[hawkmoon]

I think 99.999999% of supposed possesions are mental illness. Superstitous nonsense.

^ This.
1000 times this.

 

[weltweite]

I would say exactly what was said in this thread that 99.99% of these things are supersition and fake..

HOWEVER I have had experiences in my life that say otherwise.

Fortunately for me, I have my proof, and it is UNDENIABLE proof, completely changed the way I think, believe.

I used to wonder why a certain event/events happened to my mother and I, but not anyone else, why was it that we had to experience certain things...

Then I read a quote, "the smartest thing the Devil ever did was convince the world he didn't exist"

And it all made sense to me.

I wish everyone could have proof, however that would ruin the value of faith I would think

Edit: I must also say, it seems unwise to state your belief or opinion as a fact.
Because for some people.. proof has been shown and gives them the belief, but for those who dont believe, no proof has been shown either way.. rather a lack of proof, so how can they be "all knowing" to make a comment that God or the Devil does not exist?

 

[myosin]

I hope I won't regret this...

A part of me is not wanting to go down this road, just wanting to keep myself "bodybuilding focused" here at PM. I will be brief...

Besides having a very strong science background and working in an ICU at a Level I trauma center, I am also a minister. I am currently in seminary for my MDiv.

I did not check the link you posted MT. However, when one studies the original Greek in the Septuagint, no one is every really "possessed" per se, but more like, someone "had a demon" meaning the person had a demon oppressing them, influencing them, but never actually "controlling" them. The person ultimately DOES HAVE a choice... but for various reasons/ways they have allowed themselves to become spiritually and mentally weak which puts them at an even greater influence of a demon.

Yes- mental illness is mostly the issues we see... but not all of them. In scripture, not every physically sick or mentally sick person was attributed to a demon (they were actually ALOT smarter back then than people realize).

I don't blame people for lacking faith and/or not believing. I respect where you're coming from- been there myself actually.

All I do ask, is for people to HONESTLY research their beliefs. Ask most people ON EITHER side WHY they believe what they do... and they really can't give you a good answer (usually only what they heard others say, or they haven't taken their thought to it's fullest conclusion).

Reasonable Faith:

OK- I'm out. Bringing myself back into "bodybuilding only" mode here from now on.

 

[dgarr21]

I respect all you guys who have faith that is 100% i used to be like that until certain things happened and lets just say i lost it quick...weltweite that is a good ass saying u wrote about the devil kind of got me thinking haha but anyways i hope i dont see anything crazy like that if this stuff does exist i dont think i could deal with it mentally for that time it happens i would think i completely lost all my marbles you know what i mean?

 

[myosin]

Ah, Crap!

I respect all you guys who have faith that is 100% i used to be like that until certain things happened and lets just say i lost it quick...weltweite that is a good ass saying u wrote about the devil kind of got me thinking haha but anyways i hope i dont see anything crazy like that if this stuff does exist i dont think i could deal with it mentally for that time it happens i would think i completely lost all my marbles you know what i mean?

OK- one last post, THEN I'M DONE (I hope )...

D21- my friend, I don't know what you went through, but I understand where you are coming from. That is why I love scripture- it's not full of fairy tales and "feel good" story's (people who say that haven't really studied The Word).

It is FULL of death, genocide, betrayal, suffering, sickness, tragedy's, etc... which is WHY we need a savior.

This topic is too big to hash out here, which is why I won't go into it, but I do encourage you to check out that website I posted. Dr. William Lane Craig is a BRAIN and has lot's of resources to address your questions (particularly about pain and suffering and faith).

 

[dgarr21]

thanks myosin will look into it worth a try cant hurt right

 

[wtw11171]

I myself am a minister as well. Might I add the following to the mix?

Demonical Possession

Man is in various ways subject to the influence of evil spirits. By original sin he brought himself into "captivity under the power of him who thence [from the time of Adam's transgression] had the empire of death, that is to say, the Devil" (Council of Trent, Sess. V, de pecc. orig., 1), and was through the fear of death all his lifetime subject to servitude (Hebrews 2:15). Even though redeemed by Christ, he is subject to violent temptation: "for our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places" (Ephesians 6:12). But the influence of the demon, as we know from Scripture and the history of the Church, goes further still. He may attack man's body from without (obsession), or assume control of it from within (possession). As we gather from the Fathers and the theologians, the soul itself can never be "possessed" nor deprived of liberty, though its ordinary control over the members of the body may be hindered by the obsessing spirit (cf. St. Aug., "De sp. et an.", 27; St. Thomas, "In II Sent.", d. VIII, Q. i; Ribet, "La mystique divine", Paris, 1883, pp. 190 sqq.).

 

[wtw11171]

Blessings. Good nite. I will see how this works out tomorrow. Pax et bonum.

W

 

[SecondAct]

I didn't watch link, have another window up playing poker, will later. I never believed in any of this stuff, chalked it up consistently as mental illness. Having read and had some experience with the work of the priest in question, I have to say at minimum if it's mental illness, it's a unique mental illness and quite frankly I believe Martin at least believes, he's not a con artist.

Beyond him, the late reknowned psychiatrist M. Scott Peck wrote a book about his experiences with exorcism and working with Martin and he detailed it quite clearly. I have a ton of respect for Peck, agree almost wholesale with a lot of his concepts, and consider him almost above reproach in his capacity to differentiate between something legit and a psychiatric disorder.

Martin and Pecks books left me in quandry being one who doesn't believe in this stuff normally, but believing both of them. I am open minded on this topic but consider it rare, leaves the door open to every UFO, paranormal whack job, etc. If it's true, it's true good/evil God/Devil emotional and spiritual warfare.

 

[buselmo]

^ This.
1000 times this.

yup... that's it right there...

i respect everyone else's religion, and don't mean to offend anyone by saying this, but i'm just gonna spew out my own opinion here...
every part of the world has a different procedure for exorcism... different "form" of being possessed... different beliefs in what that "demon" is... and most of the time, when they look at other religions and see what they do to exorcise or whatever, they say "what is this bullshit.. that can't happen like that? this is just a show... our way is the right way. what i'm seeing here is bullshit"...

In my country and the religion here... boy, let me tell you... posession, black magic, the evil eye... blah blah blah... it's pathetic really. people truly believe what they want to believe. i know this because a close family member had trouble with his wife and kids (LOL... trouble... he was an alcoholic/junkie, beat them all the time, spent all his money on booze and junk and was convinced he had a spell on him)... anyway... he went to a "sorceror" who could break this spell... ofcourse, he asks you a bunch of questions where if you're stupid, you'd think he knows the unknown... like "do you have a daughter?"... "yes"... is she living with you?... "no"... "ah... your daughter is married!" ... and then the guy says "OMG!!! how did you know!!!" stupid shit like that...
anyway... i was "taken" to this guy with the rest of the family (didn't know where i was going... they just begged me to come, and when i knew what was going on, they told me the sorcerer said i had a spell on my too)...
he started his mumbo jumbo crap... and started doing some really crappy amateur magician stuff... hiding shit under his sleeve and what not... you know, that crap... i didn't believe and was holding my laughter the whole time, THAT'S WHY I COULD SEE CLEARLY HOW HE'S A CON MAN AND SEE HIM FUCK UP HIS ILL PREPARED CRAP... when the rest of the 6 FUCKING PEOPLE THERE were up to their necks with "ooooooooohhhhhhh........ AAAAAHHHH!!!" and they believed all the crap that was happening because they acutally BELIEVED!!! and didn't want to see that it wasn't true (cuz, in this religion, if you don't believe this crap it means you don't believe what god said... meaning you are an infidel)


it's all psychological shit...
and in most cases... it's just fucking attention seeking disorder