Exorcism

Why do you think that anyone on this board would have an exorcism experience?

Once as a joke I tried to do an excorsim and it had hilarious results

There are some interesting books concerning Possession with Haitians and involving Voodoo.

James Theodore Holly, a Black American who was the first Episcopal bishop of Haiti, once called that Caribbean island nation: "the Mary Magdalene of the nations, possessed by seven devils."1 Among the devils which Holly went on to enumerate was voodoo, that syncretistic religion practiced by about ninety percent of the Haitians. His negative evaluation of voodoo's contribution to Haiti echoes that of several other writers. Unfortunately, a good deal of what has been written on Haiti voodoo has, says Harmon Johnson who was in Haiti with the West Indies Mission (now WorldTeam), been written "with more imagination than insight."2

Undeniably, in the Western world voodoo has gained quite an exotic reputation. An integral part of this African-New World hybrid religion is the possession of the worshiper by the gods of voodoo, the loa. This particular religious experience -- which is the focus of this paper -- has been interpreted in all kinds of ways. On the one side is William Sargant, a leading physician in psychological medicine. He contends that voodoo and its attendant phenomenon of loa possession is something that enables Haitians "to live lives of comparative happiness because they have found a religion which does bring their gods to them. And their gods live in them and they live in their gods."3 On the opposite end of the spectrum are those like Bishop Holly who point to loa possession as something demonic or satanic in origin. For Holly and others, these are real demonic encounters.....snip~

Biblical demon possession and Haitian loa possession

Goshin said:

On the Protestant side, there's Ed and Lorraine Warren... Warrens Bio

Click to expand...

I saw the movie based on their exorcism - The Conjuring - it was really scary.

Pozessed said:

I don't want to be close to one. I wanted to read personal anecdotes about people who had been involved in an exorcism. Considering exorcism is supposed to be a wide spread service it should have many people with experience.
I understand objects, people, and pets can be possessed. I also understand that the devil is supposed to be able to possess those that lack faith, which is an abundance of people. There should be many responses to this post unless people are afraid of ridicule, which I assumed wasn't the case with people who openly discuss their faiths.

Click to expand...

"Wide-spread" service? I don't know about that. I don't think anyone can just perform exorcism. Knowing a person is genuinely possessed is a big part of the training.

I suppose there will be those who'd call themselves exorcists - but are they indeed legitimate?

Pozessed said:

I don't want to be close to one. I wanted to read personal anecdotes about people who had been involved in an exorcism. Considering exorcism is supposed to be a wide spread service it should have many people with experience.
I understand objects, people, and pets can be possessed. I also understand that the devil is supposed to be able to possess those that lack faith, which is an abundance of people. There should be many responses to this post unless people are afraid of ridicule, which I assumed wasn't the case with people who openly discuss their faiths.

Click to expand...

Why do you think there should be many responses to this post?

Btw, Christians will never become demon-possessed.



"Can a Christian be demon possessed? Can a Christian be demonized?"

Answer: While the Bible does not explicitly state whether a Christian can be possessed by a demon, related biblical truths make it abundantly clear that Christians cannot be demon possessed. There is a distinct difference between being possessed by a demon and being oppressed or influenced by a demon. Demon possession involves a demon having direct/complete control over the thoughts and/or actions of a person (Matthew 17:14-18; Luke 4:33-35; 8:27-33). Demon oppression or influence involves a demon or demons attacking a person spiritually and/or encouraging him/her into sinful behavior. Notice that in all the New Testament passages dealing with spiritual warfare, there are no instructions to cast a demon out of a believer (Ephesians 6:10-18). Believers are told to resist the devil (James 4:7; 1 Peter 5:8-9), not to cast him out.

Christians are indwelt by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9-11; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19). Surely the Holy Spirit would not allow a demon to possess the same person He is indwelling. It is unthinkable that God would allow one of His children, whom He purchased with the blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:18-19) and made into a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), to be possessed and controlled by a demon. Yes, as believers, we wage war with Satan and his demons, but not from within ourselves. The apostle John declares, “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). Who is the One in us? The Holy Spirit. Who is the one in the world? Satan and his demons. Therefore, the believer has overcome the world of demons, and the case for demon possession of a believer cannot be made scripturally.

Read more: http://www.gotquestions.org/Christian-demon-possessed.html#ixzz3XnGYws4b

Pozessed said:

Have you had any experience at all with an exorcism?

Click to expand...

I have had experiences with ghosts and spirits (whatever they be) and with Demons too, but I do not like the term "exorcism" as that is just far too dramatic for the real thing(s).

Possessions are only done by the Demons, while Ghost and assorted Spirits do not posses people.

Doing some big formal EXORCISM is just putting on a show, IMO, but if that is all one has then so be it.

Most of the Ghosts and Spirits and most Demons too are afraid of people and they hide from us.

This is why to get rid of them then usually we just have to speak to them and they flee because speaking to them lets them know that we are aware of them and that frightens them away - of course some of them are braver than others and if we get them angry or upset then they will do things that they would not normally do.

The Ghosts are especially temperamental.

Lots of people are possessed by Demons, and the person either does not realize it or the person just does not care about it, and I find that those people match up with such Demons who are compatible so that they do like each other.



=================================================

nota bene said:

In one of the last chapters of his People of the Lie, M. Scott Peck (psychiatrist and author of The Road Less Traveled) described an exorcism he had witnessed. I found what he had to say compelling.

Click to expand...

I read that book too and I agree it was compelling.

It was a brave book for Dr Peck to publish because he has a huge valuable reputation so obviously he wanted that book to be published.

His insight about the requirement for evil always includes lies was super brilliant, and that info certainly helped me to see them better.

JP Cusick said:

Doing some big formal EXORCISM is just putting on a show...

Click to expand...

Oh, brother....

Pozessed said:

Have you had any experience at all with an exorcism?

Click to expand...

I know another example which was the movie called "Beloved" and that movie did not do very well at the box office in spite of it being a very well done story and well done movie.

What I say is that the "Ghost" in that movie is what made so that movie did not do so well.

Not because it was some real ghost - no, but because the viewing audience was frightened by the Ghost and that is why the movie flopped.

In that movie the two little black boys saw the Ghost and they ran out of that house and never went back, that is what happened with myself too as I saw it once and that was enough for me, and I say the entire viewing audience was simply frightened away from that movie.

That movie took the viewers far too close to the reality of Ghost and so it is a great movie but it is just too much.

The reality of Ghost and Spirits and Demons is a thing that the vast majority of humanity are NOT ready to deal with.

Other scary movies really are just scary without being realistic, and people will do the horrible imaginary but not the reality.

Pozessed said:

Have you had any experience at all with an exorcism?

Click to expand...

I knew a guy who had one. But he forgot to pay his exorcist and got repossessed.

Seriously, though, there's a number of very sobering exorcisms on YouTube. It's either extremely good acting or something's really going on.

Logicman said:

I knew a guy who had one. But he forgot to pay his exorcist and got repossessed.

Click to expand...

Pozessed said:

I don't want to be close to one. I wanted to read personal anecdotes about people who had been involved in an exorcism. Considering exorcism is supposed to be a wide spread service it should have many people with experience.
I understand objects, people, and pets can be possessed. I also understand that the devil is supposed to be able to possess those that lack faith, which is an abundance of people. There should be many responses to this post unless people are afraid of ridicule, which I assumed wasn't the case with people who openly discuss their faiths.

Click to expand...