Demons and other supernatural entities

[tacticalguy]

Anybody else beleive in em'? hate em'? I do.......

[panch0]

Well I guess I believe that they are out there, and don't like the bad ones much either.

[tonester]

i believe there is something else out there. me and and a couple of close friends had an encounter with something, and i know a couple of missionaries that have some crazy stories.

[Sourdough]

My Ex.........??????

[chiangmaimav]

People here believe in all this kind of stuff. Every house and building in country has a spirit house in front which is a little house which the spirit of the house lives in so that it won't bother people who live in real house. Every morning people give offerings to the spirit such as whiskey, water, food etc. Even cars and objects have spirits, they believe, so when you get a new car of motorbike you get it blessed by a monk and give offerings once a year to the car spirit and put out a little shrine with stuff like at spirit house. This spirit worship controls every aspect of life and if you live here it is best to at least know about it so as not to freak people out. I have just moved into a new house so my wife is busy reading books about feng shui and best places to put doors, furniture, etc. to get good luck and have positive energy and so forth. My mothr is native American and believes similar things and it is interesting how much asian and American Indian cultures have in common.

[nell67]

yea,I do we elect them every so often into office.

[canid]

believe in them? at least half.

hate them? how can one hate something which can't even be sure to exist? can you even know the nature of such a thing?

[Born2Late]

I was raised in a little town called Belfast which was near a battle site of the Anglo-Boer war.We had a little dog which stayed in the house.Before bed time we would let him go out to do his thing.Some nights he refused to go out.He would stand in the door with all his hair upright and growl.My grandmother could speak with these "people".Nobody in our house smoked but sometimes you could smell pipe tobacco in the house.Forefather spirits make out a huge part of the culture of our black people.They will kill people and take some of their body parts to use as medicine.It is called muti.Even in our modern age people are accused of witchcraft and killed by community members.
Witchdoctors are called sangomas and they claim that they can help with everything from penile enlargements to the winning lottery numbers.Like with every thing you get good sangomas who really help people with traditional medicine , and bad ones who does evil things.These are the ones you visit when you have a problem somebody and want to take 'care' of them.

[Rick]

I think Spider Man is real. I've read stories about guys climbing the outside of buildings.

[Ole WV Coot]

yea,I do we elect them every so often into office.

100% correct. We have a city full of them and they go all over the country, not around Halloween but Election. That's a scary time, especially when it's over.

[Pict]

i believe there is something else out there. me and and a couple of close friends had an encounter with something, and i know a couple of missionaries that have some crazy stories.

I am one of these. Put it this way, when I moved to Brazil my theological "box" didn't have much room in it for such things. The things I saw with my own eyes forced me back to scripture and a biblical, rather then simply "western" worldview. The New testament is explicit on the topic.

I know many American pastors that deny the reality of the demonic. I have never met a Brazilian pastor from any denomination with that attitude though many of them came through seminary training that did not.

As a member of the clergy I see two grave errors within the ranks of people in my profession. The first is a total denial, I have even heard people say that attributing events to the demonic was a first century misunderstanding of mental illness. Scripture does not support that view. The second is an overstatement attributing all negative events to demonic activity. Sometimes soda just loses its fizz, you left the cap off, it's not the demon of flat Coke.

I'm not going to publish my experiences here, just know that my position on this has come about by hard study brought about by even harder circumstance.

Mac

[preachtheWORD]

Not meaning to start a theological debate here, but I thought it would be worthwhile to share the Biblical perspective on demons / evil spirits.

According to the Bible, they are very much real, and are totally evil. No such thing as a "good" demon. Demons are "fallen angels." They were the angels that joined Satan in his rebellion against God and were cast out of Heaven into the earth. They are incorporeal (i.e., they don't have a body) but are able to possess people and animals. In such cases of possession, they are able to induce numerous sicknesses and disabilities on thier host, such as blindness, deafness, insanity, etc. In at least one case in the Bible (Mark 4, I think) a man possessed with many demons had supernatural strength - BUT he was also insane and running around naked living in a graveyard! The purpose of possession seems to be the destruction of the host. The Bible speaks of demon-induced suicidal tendencies. (Mark 9:22) Of course, not all cases of attempted or successful suicide has to do with demons.

Most of what people think are encounters with "ghosts" are probably demons. It is most unwise to get mixed up in messing with demons. It will cost you big time in the end - maybe even your life.

Scary stuff, but it does not have to be. Much of the power that such evil spirits have over you is the power you give them. The more credit you give them, the more power you give over them over your life, as demonstrated in the lives of the people the member from Thailand mentioned.

A person who has been redeemed by Jesus Christ need not be afraid of demons at all. When Jesus defeated Satan through His Sacrificial Death on the Cross and His Resurrection, He also defeated all the minions of Satan, which are the demons. A true believer can stand confident in Jesus and is able to resist and overcome Satan and the Demons.

James 4:7 says "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."


The Bible has a lot more to say about evil spirits / demons, but that is a basic primer on the subject.

[preachtheWORD]

I have never met a Brazilian pastor from any denomination with that attitude though many of them came through seminary training that did not.

They have seen too much to doubt it! Indigenous South American religion is chock-full of demons. Working in that field, I am sure that you have seen a lot.

I can't say with certainty that I have ever encountered a person that I was sure was demon possessed, though I have wondered at times.

I have definitely felt the presence of demons, which were resisting the work of the Gospel, and trying to cause problems among believers. It was like a sickening deadness in the air. But resisting them in the name of Jesus in faith got rid of them in a hurry.

I know many American pastors that deny the reality of the demonic.

Not me. I'm no wild-eyed "crazy preacher," but I do believe the truth that the Bible presents. If the Bible says it, I believe it. My experience has only confirmed the Word of God.

[Rick]

I was afraid this thread might veer off into a religious context. Since religion is a topic not allowed, we need to steer clear of it.

[Ken]

My Ex.........??????

My ex must have had a sister she never told me about.

[trax]

My Ex.........??????

#! answer! also the answer to the question: "Hey trax, why do you spend every spare moment you can as far away from civilization as you possibly can......"

[Pict]

I was afraid this thread might veer off into a religious context. Since religion is a topic not allowed, we need to steer clear of it.

This one doesn't veer off into religious beliefs, it pretty much starts there. I didn't mean to throw fuel on a fire.

I participate on several boards with that rule and it is a fine line I walk given my line of work. I will say again, if anyone would like to discuss similar topics with me there is always PM's and e-mail.

Mac

[preachtheWORD]

I was afraid this thread might veer off into a religious context. Since religion is a topic not allowed, we need to steer clear of it.

No problem. Just trying to provide a little pertinent information.

[doug1980]

Well I always say that I do not believe in such things. But that is a bit hypocritical, because I believe in God. Just because I have not seen one doesn't mean it isn't real. I can't even say if I have or haven't seen one. I don't think I have, I have never felt a presence. Basically I just don't really think about it. Too many threats that I can see to worry about.

I haven't ever seen bigfoot either so maybe he is real too

[Rick]

Understood and we're all pretty gentlemanly around here. It's just that politics and religion seem to heat the passions and more often than not result in someone getting angry.