Spiritual Pyromaniacs

I'd mentioned in an earlier post that I had been watching the 'Let Us Reason' website for updates on the Healing Rooms, here in Spokane, Washington (and elsewhere). I then said that'd wait for another blog posting, and here it is. Part of the reason I was looking for those updates was because I had found the Healing Rooms website, and saw that they had Sat. evening 'services' for their ACTS ministries.

I attended a couple of those services, and had the opportunity to say hello to Michelle, Cal Pierce's wife, before one of those services. The service isn't exactly like a traditional church service, they were more of an update on the travels of Cal and crew, or their plans for the ACTS ministry. There's some live music before the service, and some of that music left me a little uneasy. It was the unscriptural lyrics to at least 1 song that convinced me that ministry wasn't the place for me, so I haven't been back there since a few months ago. And the long, drawn-out songs during 'worship' reminded me of a live Grateful Dead concert I listened to on the radio back in the late 1970's or early 1980's. Repeating the same notes or words over and over for several minutes. Not my 'bag', as they used to say.

However, I'm now reading an article by Jackie Alnor, titled the same as this blog posting. In the article she writes about something called 'fire tunnels' as below:

And now in Toronto John Arnott’s young people are involved in some of the scariest spreading of this fire onto other young folks who come looking for a spiritual jolt. They call this ceremony "fire tunnels" in which two rows of young people line up while a group of blessing-seekers go single file down the middle. As they proceed into the tunnel, shouts of "Fire" and "Fire on you" come out of the mouths of the imparters as they touch the seekers’ heads and foreheads in order to spread the fire. As they do, the recipients of these fire spirits jolt and jump around with some pretty scary looks on their faces. (To see this in action – go to these links at TACF:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-4pyiYAlzg
; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_ErxBdAm8M )

When I was at the first of the 3 meetings I attended at ACTS ministries, rather than doing their usual (?) prayer for people at the end of the service, they did one of these same 'fire tunnels' !! I had no idea what they were, but given that I'd been researching this spiritual warfare issue for a while AND remembering the following passage of scripture --
(1Ti 5:22 KJVA) Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins: keep thyself pure.

I said a silent prayer before I went through this line, since I'd never done this before and didn't know any of those people. I prayed asking God to keep me safe from any unclean spirit that those touching me may attempt to send my way, asking for this protection in Jesus name. So as I went through this line most people used the word 'blessing' when touching my forehead or shoulder, and one woman said something and then while she was touching me she started shaking uncontrollably. Her teeth were chattering, she was shaking so hard, she had to let go of me to make it stop. There were people laid out on the floor at the end of the line, another first for me. I was fine, I walked over to the chair where I'd left my Bible, picked it up and went home.

So while I do believe in the 'gifts of the spirit' and attend a local Calvary Chapel church, I also know that it is written that one of the 'fruits of the spirit' is self-control. Uncontrollable shaking and/or being laid out on the floor, and similar things are not of God's Spirit.

The reason I went there in the first place was primarily as a possible avenue for networking for EFT. The article by Jackie is additional confirmation for me that I made the right decision in steering clear of that ministry. Discernment is so important, since there are places where they can use some of the right words and it sounds like it's all full of the 'light of truth' when it's really just the opposite.

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Gods and Monsters article

This is a very interesting article titled: Gods and Monsters. It's from the National Catholic Register, and again I'm Protestant. However, it appears likely that those of the Catholic faith are more likely to believe in things spiritual.

Here are a few sentences that resonated the most with me:

Uncritical acceptance of spiritual forces can have disastrous consequences.

[I have noticed that in some circles, there's a general belief that if it's from the 'world of spirit' it's more likely to be accepted without question as from a 'more enlightened' source.]

In my own case, the spirit that I was in contact with consistently tried to make the ordinary world seem dismal and meaningless and to present an image of death as a beautiful awakening of the fettered soul. I nearly committed suicide for its sake. I was going to do so, and sincerely believe that I would have if my guardian angel had not intervened.

An education in anti-supernaturalism leaves one easy prey for evil spirits.

Undefended by the armor of God, unwarned against the existence of demonic intelligences, and starving for the wondrous and spiritual, modern man is about as well defended as a pack of shepherdless sheep in a wolf’s den.

Someone captivated by the possibility of occult magic will not find his way back into the fold if all he finds there is worldly wisdom and prosaic ritual. He must find, in the teachings and liturgy of the Church, a vision of the spiritual world that puts all others to shame.

Such a vision already exists. It exists in the works of the theologians, where all the complexities of the angelic orders are laid out. It exists in the Scriptures, where the hosts of heaven descend in power to scatter the proud in their conceits.

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We've been neo-conned

I just watched this video and it's an eye-opener. I didn't quite understand the term 'neo-con' until I watched it. I found the video while reading an excellent article about Dr. Ron Paul, found here.

It's also kind of scary, so EFT as well as prayer, comes in handy! Part of it also reminded me of something I read in M. Scott Peck's book 'Glimpses of the Devil', which is something said by one of the demons during an exorcism Dr. Peck writes about. From page 178:

"I demanded to know of Satan why it hated Beccah so. Initially the answer was vague, suggesting that it just hated people in general. But with my prodding it warmed up to the subject, saying, "I am against people loving one another. They need to work." I demanded to know why. "They need to work," it replied, "so there will be war and prosperity instead of love and all that crap."

I'm also adding a couple verses of scripture that came to mind while watching it.

(Isa 5:20 KJVA) Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

(Act 20:29 KJVA) For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.

(2Jn 1:7 KJVA) For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.

The video is 51 minutes, well worth the time to watch it.



There is also a text version of the speech titled "We've Been Neo-Conned" found here.

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A demon caught on film?

Check out this article -- in it there's an image that's easy to miss (on a computer screen, at least!) until you see the close up image. It appears to be a dog -- without ears? -- looking over the man's shoulder. The man believes it's a demon, and it looks fiendish enough that maybe it is an image of just that. Since I, and others do believe they exist but can't generally see them, I thought it was worth sharing. Here's the image:

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