Speaking with Demons
by BereanThinker7 26 Replies latest watchtower bible
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snugglebunny
WT, Dec 15, 1966:
>>>>INVESTIGATING
HOUSE AND HOUSEHOLD OBJECTS<<<<One under demon attack should calmly, not in hysteria, investigate his house and household articles. In some few cases the house may be the cause of trouble and the best thing to do is move out. Some demons delight in haunting a place. So if you experience trouble shortly after moving into a house, investigate. Was the house unoccupied for a long time? Why? Did people frequently move in and out? Why? Does it have a history of being haunted? Neighbors usually know, though the seller of a house almost always keeps the fact concealed.
But if a house has a clean history, instead of moving out, investigate objects in the house. If you at one time practiced black magic, witchcraft or other form of spiritism, did you burn up all articles relating to demonism upon learning of God?s truth? Get rid of every vestige of demonism. What did the early Christians in Ephesus do? On learning true Christianity they burned up all their magic books, even though their value was an astounding 50,000 pieces of silver! (Acts 19:18, 19) It would have been exceedingly dangerous to keep such works on how to perform the magical arts; in fact, to keep any appendage of demonism is perilous. One must be absolutely free of any relics of spiritism, so as to allow the demons no beachhead.
A vital question to ask if one experiences trouble with the demons is: Have you accepted any gifts from relatives or persons who dabble in spiritism? Any kind of article from such a person can cause trouble. In some actual cases it has been a radio, a sewing machine, a pair of shoes, jewelry, a "good luck" charm, a bathrobe, a blanket, a book. One woman had her bed tipped up at night when she tried to sleep on a mattress given her by her Spiritualist mother. A young woman had a fever of 106 degrees when wearing a garment given her by a Spiritualist.
Another Christian woman kept a handbag given her by an aunt who was a fortune-teller. Using the handbag in the ministry, she experienced powerful thoughts of "Go home!" Bad thoughts rushed into her mind almost audibly, all of them anti-kingdom. She could not understand herself, as these negative thoughts entered her mind as if by telephone, so that she complained of "hearing herself think." Only after getting rid of the handbag did she get relief.
Sometimes keeping a letter from a spiritistic relative has brought trouble. Some persons have reported gaining relief by burning letters from relatives who dabble in spiritism. Even if an article from a spiritist is an expensive one, is keeping it worth the danger? One woman was tormented for years by the demons; finally she got rid of many household effects that came from a spiritistic relative. "The material loss," she wrote, "was worth the peaceful calm that came over our house and family."
That objects from spiritists are implicated is clearly evident because relief almost invariably follows getting rid of them. The principle is similar to that used in sorcery, in which the demonist wishing to cast a spell will transfer an object into the possession of the intended victim.
However, sometimes objects through which demons make contact resist burning, indicating demonic anger at efforts to destroy them. Some persons have found it difficult to burn up ouija boards or books on occultism. Others have reported experiences similar to that of the woman who had much distress at home after wearing a dress originally belonging to a witch. Learning of the source of trouble, she set out to burn it. "We poured gasoline on it, so it would burn quickly; but what amazed us very much was the fact that the dress did not want to burn." Persist in your efforts to get rid of suspicious objects and relief in some measure usually follows.
When investigating objects, be reasonable, however. Do not burn up everything in fearful panic. Pray for Jehovah?s direction in your investigation, and he will deliver you from the wicked one.<<<<<<
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blondie
There is the April 2019 WT study spiritism/demons focusing on countries in Latin America, Caribbean, African mostly. There are several statements about not making a show of being personally being signaled out by Satan, or talking about Satan and demons, why give them free publicity.
https://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/watchtower-study-april-2019/gods-help-to-resist-wicked-spirits/Questions that came to my mind:
1. In 1973 the WTS compared the USE of tobacco products, coca leaves, and betel nuts was spiritism (no mention in this article though.
2. Not much mention or garage sales, thrift shops/Goodwill/buying things were previous owner unknown but not specifically an occult item (WT article 1996 see above). My question to jws: What about if a shaman/astrology reader, and so on worked on an auto assembly line and touched a new car. Or what if you bought a used car and did not know if a previous owner had been involved in spiritism. paragraph 10
3. Is slight of hand magic, spiritism/demonism? paragraph 4
4. Satan uses spiritism to keep people in fear, paragraph 6. But the WTS/GB uses the fear of Armageddon to keep their members in fear.
5. Paragraph 12 Entertainment:
books, magazines, articles on Internet...movies, TV shows, video games...featuring vampires (Supernatural, e.g. but no exclusive), zombies, paranormal.
But: Of course, not all entertainment that features fantasies or fairy tales is necessarily related to spiritism (so Disney and Universal are safe?)
6. Paragraph 13: Avoid telling stories about demons..Jesus lived in heaven and he knew a lot about Satan and the demons. But he did not relate stories about what those wicked spirits had done. Jesus wanted to be a witness of Jehovah, not a publicity agent for Satan. We can imitate Jesus by not spreading stories about the demons.
7. Paragraph 14: Do not be terrified of wicked spirits.. Accidents, sickness, or even death may come without warning..we should not think that invisible spirits are responsible (Eccl 9:11)
Magic-practicing priests (same as David Copperfield?)
Satan and demons into the abyss in near future (only to be released 1,000 years later)
8. Paragraph 15: If we are faithful to Jehovah, the demons cannot us lasting (can cause us harm though) harm.
9: Paragraph 17: My comments: Although some jws allowed Erica to stay with them, she had practiced spiritism all her life, was just studying and not baptized, but was not seen as a spiritistic danger to these jws.
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iwantoutnow
One friend "a sister" in my hall told us about really scary situation she had cuz of a "thing she got from a yard sale".
Long story short, at night kitchen cabinet doors would open and close, chairs would move, scary sounds...
Even when I was younger and totally in, I had a hard time believing these things.
I asked her one question, (this was at a "gathering" by the way).
So if that was happening, why didnt you guys leave the house? If that was happening to me, I would be in a hotel or a relatives house faster than you can imagine.
She looked taken aback by that - like I guess no one ever called her on it - and quickly changed the subject.
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punkofnice
Having learned more actual Christian beliefs since awaking from the org,
I felt like that at first. Then I realised that even different Christian churches don't really agree on doctrines. It's all a mess, but they pretend it's not. Beware!
looking back we had such strange and unhealthy obsession with demons compared to any other denomination that I know of. I recently remembered this article from when i was a kid.
Fear tactics from the cult leaders. Now I realise Demons, God and airy fairy stuff doesn't exist. It's all in our minds. Hence the poor person allegedly (I said allegedly), hearing voices. Totally bonkers.
https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/101986604?q=talk+to+the+demons&p=par#h=23
The guy says he spoke with demons and all sorts other weird things.
I rose from the dead after 3 days. I bet no one believes that! (He said being sarcatic in a playful way).
Of course I am highly skeptical
Good! We all need to be.
that the org would ever print anything like this now or that this even happened lol.
And don't preclude other christian sects/religions/cults either. They all sell the same nonsense. They are all weirdos in their own way.
The article mentions the writer as being Ralph Anderson and his wife is Mari, it seems like they would have been from the Oakland CA area. Its a long shot but did anyone ever know them in person or hear of them???
Being a Brit, I don't know many Americans. Also, I don't drink warm beer.
I'm surprised it wasn't Andre. Or has the bOrg stopped using that name?
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LV101
A spirit medium 'helped' the cult Watchtower translate one of their NWT translations -- Johannes Grebber (sp?) or his wife/he and his wife something surreal. Blondie or one of the historians here will recall. Reckon it was nothing unusual when it came to the good book.
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TD
Johannes Greber died in the early 40's, well before the NWT.
The JW's quoted his 1937 translation in support of the NWT's rendering of John 1:1 a few times, (Which is pretty bad, since they already knew he was a spiritist at this point) but he had nothing to do with it personally.
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pale.emperor
I remember reading this article on one of my many Watchtower Library binges when I was a young teen.
Looking back on it now, the writing is very amateurish and the guy is clearly just mentally ill.
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Prester John
I recall a brother saying to me that Chris De Burgh was demonized, because he was listening to him in his room one night and he felt the bed shake and his legs being pulled from under him.
Some months down the line, it turned out that it wasn't the demons but the family dog sleeping under the bed that caused the experience.
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LV101
TD -- thanks for info. Have no idea where I read about him -- probably on the H20 forum but I couldn't believe. I recall his wife was the spiritist.
