Scientific vs. Spiritual

By Reverend J. Andrade

Paranormal research is not a recognized science. The reasons for this are many, but the most obvious reason is that numerous frauds have destroyed the credibility of paranormal phenomena as worthy of scientific endeavor. Before any comparison between science and paranormal phenomena can be explored, the following is a general description of what science is. The word ‘Science’ comes from the Latin word scientia, meaning, knowledge. Science explores a broad field of knowledge that deals with observed facts and the relationships existing among those facts. Scientific theories utilize general rules or laws that attempt to explain how and why something happens or happened. More specifically, scientific theory organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the natural world. Paranormal theories do not adhere to the rules and laws of scientific theory, and are at most, philosophical. There are numerous paranormal theories, each deserving greater attention, but some things will be mentioned here in order to provide a sense of how paranormal theories differ from scientific theories. As stated, paranormal theories often fall outside any of the rules or laws applied to scientific theory, although they are thought to have some scientific basis – for example: the theory that ghosts can generate Electro-Magnetic Fields (or EMF) that can be measured with EMF meters.

Now Balancing with the Scientific Method with Spiritual Method,when I do a walk-through, during a paranormal research, of a location, I give information as it's coming to me but also keep in mind the instruments my team members are using that may be able to capture and/or measure information validating the impressions I am getting. Remembering this during paranormal investigation is not only a good way to validate experiences from my stand point, but also helps the team in capturing possible evidence.
A big part of the job during a paranormal investigation is knowing when to speak and when to remain silent, regardless of what may be coming through at the moment. If the team is in the process of an EVP (electronic voice phenomena) session for example or trying other forms of communication through scientific methods, it's important to learn to wait and take a mental note of what you are feeling at that moment. and share it with the team at an appropriate time. This is to not only ensure the balance of the paranormal investigation, but also that even in the role you are helping the technical side by not getting in the way so to speak.

It would be a disservice to everyone if a medium just walked through a location talking the entire paranormal investigation disregarding the roles of his/her teammates. Just as it would be if the scientific side was to disregard their spiritual tools which can provide insights and information as well. Some teams have trouble finding this steady balance or choose to not use mediums at all, while other just seem to "click" naturally using all methods. Finding the right team to work with is important, and it can take some time, practice, and learning from one another on how to be the most efficient. Most importantly, everyone should feel equally involved in a paranormal investigation regardless of role.

Another great asset in having a medium as part of a paranormal investigation team is having one experienced in helping spirits to cross over, or can perform a blessing/cleansing if needed or requested. Especially in handling residential cases when most often a family is frightened and not sure what to do, which is why the call upon an investigation group to help in the first place. Even if the team captures scientific evidence for the client to review, what is really being done to help other then validating the family's claims? This is where the spiritual side of a team comes into play as well, providing not only information, but also a solution to the haunting.

On the flip side, I feel it is extremely important for mediums involved in paranormal research to be well versed in the scientific methods and uses of different instruments. Cross training mediums not only makes them an asset in being able to pick up instruments and help in scientific investigating. But also gives them a better knowledge of what his or her teammates are doing and what indicators they are looking for. A deep understanding of everyone's role and method of research is the key to success. I personally, find the use of scientific tools to be fascinating and enjoy going over evidence with the eye of a skeptic. It helps keep our field honest, mediums should take part and become experienced in all avenues of paranormal investigation.

This blog came from my friend Leo Martin Ryokan.

Issue 84 The Psychic Highway to Hell – Part 1

 By Kirby Robinson

Spirit Guides Are The Official Chauffeurs On The Highway To Hell

As I pointed out last week, we'll focus on the subject of the PSYCHIC HIGHWAY TO HELL. One of the useful tools of the antichrist is to pull as many as he can onto the highway to hell by using spirit guides. This is something that everyone can relate to in a sense as everyone wants a way to reach the spiritual world and it's a way to make people feel special.

Have you ever noticed when talking about spirit guides how they have some things in common?

1 They often have very strange and exotic names

2 They claim to have special powers

3 They are often than from such places as Egypt, India or are Native American

3 They hold the key to secret information or lost teachings

4 They always ask you to let them into your life

5 They died tragic deaths

All of the above can be found when it comes to the subject of spirit guides. Back in the 1980s when I was involved with the new age, these were things I was told to tell people when the subject came up.

When it comes to spirit guides they fall into the following groups:

1 Some fake psychic wants to impress their clients, so they make them up and act as if they're talking to them. Clients are always impressed when they read or hear: "My spirit guide King Such and Such, who ruled Atlantis until his enemies killed him…was the greatest of all seers!" [What a shame that mythical King didn't see the plot to kill him]. They tell me you're struggling in a relationship and that makes people think this has to be real.

The fake psychic will say it came from "my vision", so you feel that the message must be real as a spirit guide can't lie.

2 The spirit guide is simply a creation of a person who is suffering from a mental illness.

3 The spirit guide is a creation of a person's psyche so they can stand out by being different or special. Thus, my spirit guide is a high priestess or an Indian shaman.

4 Or is it demonic? Demons love to play the role of a spirit guide when they are dressed up as one. It's so easy for them to get you to let them be a part of your life. When a demon plays the role of a spirit guide they will first start out as one but as soon as you're opening up to them they will start to introduce you to other spirit guides, or will hand you over to a much stronger demon.

Some might say that the first 3 groups don't sound harmful all. This is initially true. But let's take the example of a fake psychic that uses fake spirit guides in readings. What happens when the psychic acts as if he is talking to his fake guide and suddenly there is a spirit guide talking to him? His practice of faking opens himself up to the demonic realm. Then you toss in the spirit guide business and it just blows the door off the hinges to allow it in. So the psychic thinks, "Hey I am really psychic!" And the spirit guide has got him headed for hell.

As for those who are mentally/emotionally ill, be aware that demons love to work themselves into their lives. When you're dealing with cases of people with mental illness and the demonic a great challenge you face is it the mental illness causing the appearance of the demons? Or is the demon a creation of the mental illness? Or is it just mental illness?

All the above are things that I've witnessed and confronted in my years in the new age and battling demons.

I've found it odd and maybe it's due to the fact the majority of the Christian church has sold out to: A] The new age, B] The idea that demons don't exist, C] A soft pedaling of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. So many Christians are on the road to hell. Additionally, the false teaching that once saved, always saved, corrupts Christians.

Is it just me, but isn't it strange that if these spirits are what they claim, then:

1 Why are they not handing out winning lottery numbers to the poor?

2 Why are they not helping people find jobs?

3 Why do they never talk about the real Jesus Christ? I've never heard a spirit guide ever say "Jesus is the only path into heaven" [which He is]. They never talk about the gospel [at least the one we follow].

So if you encounter anyone whether it is a fake psychic, pastor or even so-called lightworkers who claim to have a spirit guide [or guides], have nothing to do with them. Find protection in GOD. If a voice comes to you and says it is so and so and it claims that GOD sent it, or if it claims that it's human, then grab your bible and rebuke it with His word. If the spirit says it became an angel, plug your ears. Only angels are angels nothing can "become" an angel.

Don't play around with inviting a spirit guide into your life. This nonsense can even be found on eHow, a false step-by-step guide in learning about communicating with spirits [we won't provide a link to it]. The only things you'll get are a host of demons and free passage down the psychic road to hell.

Next week we'll expose the lies behind guided visualization, channeling, and getting a psychic reading over the phone. Because any of the three will get you a ticket on the PSYCHIC HIGHWAY TO HELL.

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Why the Dalai Lama is Hopeful

“I told President Obama the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party are missing a part of the brain, the part that contains common sense,” the Dalai Lama said to me during our conversation in London Wednesday.

But it can be put back in. I am hopeful about the new Chinese leadership beginning late this year. The Communist leaders now lack self-confidence, but I have heard from my Chinese friends that after a year or two the new ones will take some initiatives, so more freedom, more democracy.

The Dalai Lama, with whom I have been talking periodically since 1981, was in an ebullient mood even for him. He was here referring to his meeting with Obama in 2011. I had asked the Dalai Lama about those national leaders throughout the world, from South Africa to Britain, who refuse to hold formal meetings with him because they fear Beijing’s anger. President Obama declined to meet him in 2009, the first rebuff from an American president since the Tibetan leader began visiting Washington in 1991.

The meeting that finally took place in 2011 was in the White House Map Room rather than the Oval Office, after Beijing had warned against such an encounter: “We firmly oppose any foreign official to meet with the Dalai Lama in any form.” In Britain, Prime Ministers Gordon Brown and David Cameron found other venues for their meetings, far from 10 Downing Street. Two weeks ago Cameron and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg held a brief unpublicized meeting with the Dalai Lama who was about to address several thousand admirers in St Paul’s cathedral. All such meetings, including the one at the cathedral, are routinely condemned by Beijing as “hurting the feelings of the Chinese people.”

“If these national leaders don’t see me that’s up to them,” the Dalai Lama said. “But slowly Chinese people realize they have been exploited, censored. The Communists tell them they don’t need Western-style democracy and human rights.’”

In recent months, there have been reports of self-immolations by Tibetans in China, and there are concerns that the human rights situation is worsening. Yet, as in previous meetings, the Dalai Lama reflected without rancor on Chinese Communist rule over Tibet. “What has kept Tibetans going for 2500 years? The Dharma.” This is the traditional Buddhist view of the universe and its principles of human behavior and wisdom. “How old is the Communist Party? Less than 200 years [it was founded in 1921]. Admiration for Tibetans throughout the world is always rising. Attitudes toward the Chinese Communist party, inside and outside China, couldn’t be worse.”

He noted that the Party sees how Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese opposition leader and a fellow Nobel Peace laureate, was admired throughout the world for more than twenty years when she was a captive in Rangoon and now, free at last, is welcome everywhere. She was in London this week, and Beijing cannot have been happy to see her meeting with the Dalai Lama on Wednesday. The Dalai Lama told Suu Kyi that he admired her courage.

The Dalai Lama said that the reason Chinese Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo is serving an eleven year prison sentence for subversion is “because he is not just one individual. There are thousands of intelligent thinking people in China who agree with him that change is necessary.” This means more transparency, he insisted, an end to violence, and a real legal system. “And there are also 1.3 billion other Chinese who because of their great culture have the brains to distinguish right from wrong. More and more they are aware of their rights.” The Party fears them, he added, and Liu is supposed to be a warning, an example, he agreed, of the Chinese saying “Strike the rooster to frighten the monkey.”

Particularly interesting was what the Dalai Lama had to say about the eleventh Panchen Lama, the second most eminent religious figure in Tibetan Buddhism, who has been chosen by the Chinese leadership in Beijing, in an apparent effort to impose further control on Tibet. The authentic eleventh Panchen, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, was chosen by the Dalai Lama in 1995 while the Tibetan leader was in exile in India. In accordance with tradition, he made the choice five years after the tenth incarnation died.

Beijing immediately denounced the choice as illegitimate, kidnapped the child and his family—who have never been seen again—and imprisoned for subversion the abbot of the Tashilunpo monastery, the Panchen’s traditional seat, who had first identified little Choekyi Nyima as a possible eleventh Panchen. Employing “authentic” rituals, the Communist Party then chose its own boy, Gyaincain Norbu. It was only too plain that this rigamarole, as the Dalai Lama has remarked to me over the years, was a dress rehearsal for Beijing to select his own successor, the Fifteenth Dalai Lama, who it hopes will be accepted by Tibetans, as their choice of Panchen has failed to be.

I was surprised, therefore, by the Dalai Lama’s comments about the spurious Panchen. He mentioned 2008, when an uprising swept throughout Tibet proper and regions of China populated by many Tibetans. Chinese properties were destroyed, some Han were killed, and a number of Tibetans are estimated to have been killed at the hands of the Chinese police and army.

“Of course Beijing wanted the boy to denounce the uprising,” the Dalai Lama observed. “But some of his friends have told me that he remains a Tibetan deep inside and preferred to remain silent. Beijing couldn’t use him.”

By Jonathan Mirsky, The New York Review of Books, 6/21/12

The Reality of Reality TV

By Paul Davis

When you turn on your TV nowadays it seems as if every channel you turn to has some sort of paranormal programming. The History Channel, SYFY, The Travel Channel, and the list goes on. Even Animal Planet has The Haunted! Really? Anyway, these shows are always listed as reality TV. But do they actually show the true reality? The short answer is no. What really happens on an actual investigation just would not make good TV. Imagine watching a full hour of people sitting in a dark room, looking at meters and talking to thin air. You would change the channel. I know I sure as hell would!

The investigators featured in these programs, even though they may start out with the best of intentions, are forced to make concessions in the name of ratings. Investigators spend an awful lot of time trying to get evidence that is worth showing their clients, never mind something sensational enough for TV network executives. The production companies have to do their jobs, and unfortunately that means getting those ratings, but the viewers don’t tune in to see the production companies. They tune in to see evidence. What does that mean for the investigators?

Unfortunately, activity does not happen all the time. Ghosts do not give command performances. Demons do not just show up for a “cameo”. Paranormal activity cannot be scheduled for the sake of weekly programing. Even though we all may like to walk into a house and catch a parade of apparitions on video complete with a marching band, but it is never going to happen. There is no magic switch to flip on or off.

Even though investigators have much many more experiences then the average person, it still takes many long hours of sitting in dark rooms and basements. Asking questions to empty rooms, in the hope of catching a disembodied voice. Endless hours are spent going over evidence, scrutinizing every frame of video and every photo. An investigator may go through eight hours’ worth of video and audio recordings, stills and anything else you can think of, only to find a bunch of dust orbs. Maybe even a strange noise that could possibly be an EVP.   

So now I ask you, what kind of pressures do these investigators go through in order to produce the next unbelievable piece of evidence? It is not surprising that the internet is inundated with reports of faked evidence. Someone keys up a walkie talkie in order to set off a KII meter. An individual off camera throws something across the camera lens. A mysterious shadow that happens to be the same shape as one of the instigators and may even be wearing the same style hat. I honestly believe that these things DO happen!

Why would somebody take the risk of destroying their credibility in this way? I don’t think the answer to this question is that simple. I know everyone wants to jump to the conclusion that it is for the money. In my opinion it is not that black and white. Money does come into play but I don’t think it is in the same way that you may think. As an investigator in the economic climate of today, we are often faced with the unfortunate choice of whether to take on a case or not based on location. Gas is expensive. Equipment isn’t cheap either. Batteries alone can cost a small fortune! How are we supposed to help the people in need when we are faced with the choice of purchasing a bunch of triple a’s and twelve gallons of gas or feeding our families? Now imagine that a TV producer approached you with a deal. They purchase your gear, gas and plane fair for you. Supply you with an office. You may think to yourself “I can have the best of both worlds. Save money for my family’s needs and still get out and help those in need.” But you have to deliver to them broadcast worthy evidence, and you have to do it over and over again.

Of course there are people out there that just want to be in the limelight and make a whole bunch of money while doing so. They do not really care about the credibility of their evidence and don’t really mind if they have to fabricate some shadows or even act like they are being attacked by some unseen adversary. All in the name of becoming rich and famous!

Do all the teams on TV act like this? Do they all fall to the pressures of producing the best and most shocking evidence ever? Fortunately, I don’t think so. But I do hope that I have illustrated just how easily such teams can rush headlong into the trap of television production. It can allow us to reach out to many more families and help to educate the public about what we do. It can also be a huge ego boost to be on TV. With all its benefits too many good investigators end up willing to sacrifice everything to keep the ratings up. But is it worth your reputation, or worse, your integrity? Is it worth the possibility of passing up providing aid to a terrified family in order to investigate a more sensational story?

I will close this blog by posing this question. Is it even possible to achieve and maintain an ethical balance? 

The Sixth Sense of Christianity

By Bridgette O'Hare

It was recently brought to my attention that most people aren’t like me. I know, I know…no major news flash there, but the person was referring to how I perceive the supernatural realm. He pointed out to me that mostpeople aren’t as fearless in their view of what’s going on around them. He reminded me that most people don’t comprehend the concept of legions of demonic entities stalking around us daily and most don’t want to. 

It started my wheels turning.

He’s right.

Most people don’t really have a grasp of the spiritual warfare that encircles us at every moment of the day.We walk around in a perpetual fog. Don’t get me wrong; I do feel that most Christians are aware of spiritual warfare. After all, the Bible reveals to us that there is an unseen spiritual realm that affects the physical world. Satan and his demons are waging a vicious spiritual battle all around us, trying to prevent people from coming to a saving knowledge of God’s love and entering His kingdom.Their sole focus is to defeat God’s plans for our lives. As Christians, we need to know about this spiritual battle. 2 Corinthians 2:11 tells us that we need to be aware of the devil's schemes so that he doesn’t have the chance to overcome us. Without awareness, we cannot stand against the wickedness that we face, we cannot protect ourselves, our loved ones, and our ministries. God commands us to stand. He commands us to protect that which he has given us to protect. Ephesians 6:11-20 gives us that commandment when we are told to “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” If we are blind to the battle and unaware of what is going on around us simply because we cannot openly see it, then it becomes easy for Satan to deceive us in cunning, subtle ways and to prevent us from being effective at doing the work God intends for us.

So how do we make so many aware who don’t want to be aware? Once again, God gives us the answer. He tells us in Ephesians 4:15 to “speak the truth in love.” Realistically every Christian, every person, isn’t going to grasp fully the reality of the supernatural battles raging in their lives. What they likely can grasp though is that Satan can,and does, attack us and influence our minds, our thoughts, our beliefs, and our actions. Hopefully they can comprehend that we are all involved in spiritual warfare, every one of us, whether we like it or not, whether we even realize it or not. And while you may be fully aware that Satan’s demons are the culprits behind these attacks, some are still not at a point to wrap their minds around that and that’s ok, so long as they are aware that Satan is on the attack.

To help them understand, here is an example that I heard and wrote down some time back.

Imagine a soldier on a battlefield. He can't see or hear any enemies and therefore he doesn't believe that an enemy is out there, so he wanders around without his weapons, not carrying out his assigned duties, completely defenseless and vulnerable, stumbling into the enemy's camp without even being aware of it. The enemy doesn't care that the soldier was ignorant to his presence or if he was unarmed and unaware. The enemy is going to take advantage of the unaware target and attack!! 


We can all quickly realize that soldier wasn't going to last long, yet that is precisely the way that many of us live. We don't know that there is a war being fought in the spiritual domain, we don't understand that there is an enemy of pure evil out there and that we are God's soldiers in this spiritual battle. We don't understand that God has an assigned place for each and every Christian or that we have all been given spiritual gifts and spiritual weapons (defensive and offensive) for engaging in the battle in the heaven lies while we are here on earth.

As I mentioned earlier, so many of us walk around in a fog, but God wants us to have unclouded minds that see what goes on around us! In fact, our greatest strategy against Satan is clarity of mind, accuracy of perception and awareness!!! And all of these are available to us through God's word and prayer.

Paranormal Supernatural Deliverance Cleansing

By Stephen Piersall

Deliverance Ministry Consultant, Central NY

Doing a cleansing of a home is quite debatable amongst the different religious denominations. Given that, I will not write about this, saying this is the one and only way to do so. Just as a ghost (demon) hunting and investigations are different from one team to another the same goes for cleansing at a home. The bottom line is this procedure needs to honor God and God only has the power over the demonic. This subject will be the topic of my next few blogs, so stayed tuned. Now a word from our sponsor…"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoeverbelieveth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16.

I want to first thank some special people in my life and thank them for their support, training, and guidance along the way with my training and experience. First Jesus who died on the cross, is there for me 24/7 to forgive me of my sins, and brings blessings my way as He provides for all our needs. Rev. Mark Hunnemann, for all the mentoring he has provided me and guided me to get me to the point that I have been able to open my own local Deliverance Ministry here in Central NY. His book: Seeing Ghosts Through God's Eyes will show you the worldview and God’s view regarding if ghosts are demonic and so much more. As a result, my own Church with Pastor John Elmer, and some other churches in the area to be able to reach out and help individuals and families find Jesus and provide help to those with demonic issues in the local community. In fact, Saturday August 18^th, our church and the Syracuse, New York VA will be providing aid to the Vets who are homeless, by providing clothing, food, and entertainment. Pastor Michael Griffin Sr., who helped me many years ago to walk the straight and narrow road of a Christian’s walk and his insight and guidance, and glad that I have him still in my life where I can hear his preaching on his church’s web page. He is Georgia’s number one proponent in the movement to stop abortions. Rev. Darrell Gene Motal, he is always right there with a quick response to any questions I have asked and help provide training and guidance for Deliverance Ministry. His book The Schoolmaster: Autobiography of a Demonologist will take you into his life when He was a small child and living with the supernatural in his own life.

From watching TV and movies, it looks quite exciting and personally rewarding. Far from the truth! The title that many use is “Demonologist”. Just from the name alone to an outsider I’m sure they would assume that you’re involved with demonic rituals. I don’t like the title myself, and what is scary is that there are so many self-imposed Demonologists and who can you trust and who is dangerous. Remember Satan is a master of disguises! Demonology is the study of Demons, nothing more and nothing less. You don’t need to be a “Demonologist” to rid evil spirits from a home, but what you DO need to be is a Christian. Anybody who is a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ has the authority necessary to drive out demon spirits. For Jesus said in Mark 16:15, 17

"And he said unto them, Go ye into the entire world, and preach the gospel to every creature... And these signs shall follow them that believe; in my name shall they cast out devils."

As Christians we know that God is omnipresent and Satan is not. Satan can only be in one place at a time. He uses his demons (ghosts) to do his evil deeds and they are everywhere seeking to destroy believer’s testimonies. There is strong evidence in the Bible that a Christian cannot be possessed. However, we can be what is commonly referred to as “demonic oppression”. So what extents can the demonic have on Christians? We read in Luke 4:2 where Satan tempted Jesus 3 times. The demons will tempt us to sin and make life difficult for us to obey and worship God accordingly. If as a Christian we continually sin willingly, we allow the demonic oppression to exist. If we do not focus on our daily walk with the Lord God, the demonic oppression can have a very strong influence on our thought’s, behavior, and spirituality. Confession and repentance of sin is the ONLY way to break the power of Satan’s influence. Take a personal inventory and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal what open sins you have in your life.

    

Why does it seem demons will obey some believers and not others? It is because we have authority through our faith in God. Jesus gave His disciples authority over ALL powers of the enemy (Luke 10:19), but when they reached a demon they couldn't cast out, He told them it was because of their unbelief, as we can see in Matthew 17:19-20:

"Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said why could not we cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief."

Jesus went on to say that some demons are so strong and stubborn, that prayer and fasting is required to drive them out Matthew 17:21:

"Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting."

Prayer and fasting builds up your faith like nothing else and sometimes it is crucial to drive out the stronger demons. The more faith you have, the more authority you will be able to put into effect against demonic spirits. It is important to understand that, as Christians, we already have eternal victory over Satan. But we can be delivered from their influence in our lives by using two weapons God has given us as part of our spiritual armor with which we battle against the powers of the spiritual forces of evil (Ephesians 6:12-17). You as a Christian will defend yourself with the shield of faith and use the Bible as your offensive weapon. Satan and his minions cannot prevail against these two. By holding up the shield of faith, we destroy the flaming spiritual arrows of lust, doubt, guilt, jealousy, profanity, pride, and all manner of temptations. By the offensive weapon of Truth, we overcome the evil one 1 John 2:14. Deliverance from sin, rescue from trials, and escape from the influence of a world in the control of the evil one, come only through Christ, the Son of God who has come and “has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. In addition, we are in him who is true--even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life” 1 John 5:19-20.

Next blog we will take this further.

What Does Demonic Oppression Do To a Person?

By Reverend Mark Hunnemann

The answer I was given a number of years ago was this: demons oppress people by breaking them down physically, emotionally, and spiritually; often to the point where they are at their wits end…. or even end their own lives. The manner in which the demonic do this is limited only by their extensive, depraved imagination….and they are relentless. It is obvious that they get a perverse pleasure from causing a person or relationship to unravel. It is not uncommon for an oppressed person’s home to be a pig-sty….an outward symbol of inner, psychic dislocation; and they are laughing at both. I think of Jim Morrison, the poet of psychic dislocation, in People are Strange: “…women seem wicked when you are unwanted, roads seem uneven when you are down…” People’s perceptions become strange when oppressed.  (and under the effects of acid!)

In 1979 I enrolled in a three year Masters of Divinity degree, and afterwards was ordained in 1985. Once I put the books aside and got involved in actual pastoral ministry, I learned the following truths in a visceral way: ministry is messy, and hurting people hurt people. Both are intensely biblical. Though all Christians could benefit from being reminded of these facts of life, I wish to apply them specifically to those who have been called to help those suffering from demonic oppression. My daughter texted me tonight Matthew 11:28, “Come to Me all who are weary and heavy laden…” Bone weary from sleep deprivation, and heavy laden with the effects of chronic and acute diabolical torture, we approach our clients at the nadir of their lives. It is so humbling to hear, “This is the lowest I have ever been. Had you not come when you did, I am not sure what I would have done because I can’t take it anymore. Thank you for coming to help me. Everybody else had given up on me….” To hear those words is humbling and precious, isn’t it?

Oftentimes family and friends give up on them because they don’t understand. To make matters worse, the average person I have assisted has been turned away by several pastors. And to top it off, many have been neglected, misdiagnosed, or judged harshly by Christian demonologists. Friends, what are we doing? Physically, emotionally, and spiritually these folks are wrecks, which means they just might not be doing very well spiritually; their patience may be very thin which means they are short-tempered and angry; and they just might not live up to our standards of responsibility when they are struggling to stay alive. C’mon, how do we feel when we miss just one nights full rest? Try being a young mom who hasn’t had a decent night sleep in months because of being tormented by demonic shadows every night or possibly even being raped by these supernatural putrid perverts. Jesus showed his most tender and gentle side to those who had been beaten down by demonic oppression/possession…or those with had symptoms similar to it.

“Don’t mess with that case because he is nothing but an attention seeking king, and he gets angry at everyone who has tried to help him in the past. It is all in his head… He has gotten so good at faking it, he even has his wife and kids in on it.”  That is a composite of warnings I have received from folks over the years. I ALWAYS listen carefully, but occasionally I want to find out for myself…especoally IF they are seeking my help—in EVERY case I’m glad I did (because it turned out they were wrong). You know the drill…certain people get a reputation, and soon nobody wants to help them. If you have uttered similar words, perhaps you need to remember what we have been talking about—the deleterious effects of demonic oppression. DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT WRITING SOMEONE OFF, UNLESS YOU SPEND THE HOURS NEEDED TO SIFT THROUGH THE WRECKAGE—AND COMMUNICATE THAT YOU REALLY CARE FOR THEM AND ARE NOT JUST AFTER DATA ACQUISITION. Can I get an “Amen”!

Just a basic knowledge of psychology is helpful here. The nexus of attitudes and behaviors of the demonic oppressed is complex and unique to each individual. We really need to cry out to the Holy Spirit for wisdom before we dismiss someone. My point is this: the very things that we see as red flags in our criteria for determining those who are faking demonic oppression (attention seeking, anger, irresponsibility, inconsistency in memory, seeming exaggeration, and so on), these are often part of the complex of symptoms  that demonic oppression causes! Again, the very signs we look for in spotting the fake cases, are often the signs of a case being genuine! To put it simply, hurting people hurt people (we will get hurt), and I trust we all would agree that demonic oppressed folks are hurting. But often when folks display hurtful behavior we see that as a red flag, when it is the very thing we should expect from those experiencing diabolical torture. I am reading John McCain, his autobiography, and he speaks of the savagery of his captors while a POW. The NVA and VC seem to know demonic tactics well.

Why do we believe that demonic oppression breaks people down so comprehensively (especially spiritually), but then turn around and question: is their faith in Christ real or strong enough to do this cleansing successfully, when Jesus NEVER asked that question before he exorcised anyone? What of the power of faith the size of a mustard seed? Spiritually is where folks are hammered the worst. One can’t say everything in a blog, but certainly Jesus is the only means by which we can liberate folks. However, am I being a Pharisee by expecting people to clean up their lives before I deem them “cleansable”? It is similar to cleaning up ones act before becoming savable….which is a false gospel.

To be forewarned is to forearmed—expect folks to be tough to deal with at times. Sure we need to be discerning, and establish ground rules, but hurting people hurt people, and ministry is messy….especially this ministry. In the pastoral ministry I saw all kinds of evil and the effects of evil, but it did not compare with the relentless and savagery of the evil found in helping folks with demonic oppression. I bow before the Lord in worship for calling us to be co-workers with Him in liberating the captives. Please, let us be extremely careful that we not dismiss one of God’s wandering and savaged sheep.