Jesus is God and He dealt with demons. The early disciples also were given authority to heal the sick, cast out demons, preach the gospel, etc. It is possible this person is oppressed by demons given her background. I have also sensed demonic oppression at KH and when dealing with JWs (they teach doctrines of demons and there are occult connections in their early history; the deception is more than natural). Secularism and cults cannot help a person with demonic influences. Denying their reality will not help. Discernment is needed since it may be emotional, psychological, mental, physical. If demonic, the only remedy is the name and blood of Jesus to set free. To stay clean, submitting to Christ as Lord and Savior is the key. James tells believers to submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee. For an unbeliever, they would need to call out to God or have a true believer pray on their behalf. We should not look for a demon under every bush. Christians do not fear them either like JWs seem to. Pentecostals do pray for healing, deliverance, salvation, etc. in the name of Jesus. There is power in this, unlike a slow indoctrination period of book studies and eventual conformity to an organization. JWs cannot and will not know this authority/power since they deny the Deity of Christ and the personality of the Holy Spirit.
What would you say to a friend who claims to have experienced demons?
by InterestedOne 48 Replies latest jw friends
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Resistance is Futile
Great question. Perhaps ask her details about the stories. And when she starts talking about second hand demon stories, immediately stop her. You just want to discuss her personal experiences. Try to logically analyze her experiences. Get specific details. Did these experiences involve visual or auditory hallucinations? Was it just a "feeling" she got? Try to be the voice of reason and openly ask her if these experiences could be attributed to anything other than "magical" beings. I would also try to have this conversation in person instead of over the phone if possible.
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Witness My Fury
Slightly OT but I find it ODD that being mute or epileptic or otherwise mentally ill in the accounts of Jesus in the bible are attributed to demons and are "healed" by exorcism, ....but being blind or other physical defomities is down to plain old sin and nothing to do with demons.
It never made any sense to me as a born in JW and still doesnt.
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Black Sheep
Yeah ... nice one godrulz. You are just the kind of loopjob that has people burning their house down, with them still in it, to get rid of demons. You would get along nicely with my wife. Her score on that count is one. How many have you got?
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InterestedOne
Thanks cantleave! I liked the experiment with the forces. After I have the conversation with my friend and let her tell me her experience, I might point her to this.
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InterestedOne
RIF - Thank you for putting it into words so well. Good point about the distinction between firsthand vs. secondhand experiences.
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InterestedOne
Black Sheep - Do you mean to say your wife burned her house down?
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undercover
What's the difference in saying that they have experienced demons or saying that they believe they have God's blessing?
None. They're both figments of their imagination.
But as noted already - they're not going to be convinced of anything other than what they believe, so why bother?
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ixthis
InterestedOne, Nothing (not even demonic possesion) can happen to us unless God permits it or God wills it. So, if we place ourselves in a position where we open ourselves to unclean spirits, perhaps sometimes God seeks to correct us by handing us over to their power.
The seances and ouiji boards attempt to contact spirits, but we know that there are good spirits and evil spirits. The good spirits do God's will, they do not do our bidding or follow our fallen will. Thus when we "command" or "instruct" spirits how to communicate with us, the only spirits who will appear to comply will be the evil ones. And these spirits are not the souls of the deceased, since we know that the souls of the deceased are in the hands of God. This only leaves the possibility that they are demonic. And the demons do the bidding of the one who Christ called "The father of lies." They will use the opportunity of a seance to lie and pretend to be benevolent or benign. The people participating can become obsessed with the oiji board or seance (as happens with so called "Spiritualist Churches") and ruin their relationships, careers, reputations etc. And yes, they can (and have) become possesed and many even get to the point of suicide.You should be very careful advising this lady alternatively ... do you really know what you are doing? You are tampering with evil spirtis that do exist and to put her on a path that tells her she is seeing illusions could put her into a serious personal situation.
But again, we must remember that nothing can happen to us unless God wills it or permits it. So demonic possession, while a possibility as a result of these practices, is not inevitable. And if it happens, it is meant to correct us.
If you enter a dynamite factory with a box of matches, and light them one by one, not every match will definitely lead to an explosion, but one of them might- so why would you do so in the first place?I know of a few people who have been possessed by the devil ... and I know of others who have had evil spirits in their homes. There is an answer that works; I have seen people that have tried places claiming to cure possession of the devil and not one of them worked. These individuals ended up at the one place that does put fear into the demons ... and they leave.