Some of those psalms are definitely pretty metal, and it took me a long while to grasp the spirit in which they should be understood. But Christian prayer is mainly about asking God to do His will, isn't it? And withdrawing His presence from the perpetrators of grave evil—and thus possibly destroying them, insofar as they aren't provoked into repentance—seems to very much be a part of His will. My view is that He doesn't destroy per se; it's more like destruction is just what naturally happens when He isn't around.
Or, alternatively, perhaps a Christian curse involves asking God to flood evildoers with His presence; and since they are consumed by non-being, for which He would leave no space, they would subjectively experience such a development as their own destruction. That works as well.
The Lord's model prayer, the Our Father, does make "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven" as the first and foremost request, so your thought that Christian prayer is mostly about asking for His will to be done seems on point. Since it's His will that all should repent and none should perish (ref. 2 Peter 3:9), blessing people with a knowledge of the potential consequences of their sins or with a transformative encounter with God's presence would also seem a solid way to go.
But evil is non-being, so that's where God is not. We could make the relative case, though, that He doesn't withdraw; that it's rather we who withdraw and embrace non-being; and that the perception of His withdrawal is thus a type of projection. And in that case, a Christian curse could involve God's revelation to evildoers of the non-being that they have become.
Where God is not has no existence. Can "not being" even exist? Obviously evil does exist-- but it is not some power coeval with God. When all is said and done it is just a bump in the road and before the true glory of God is fades away like a bad dream.
Nothing that God has made can cease existence, only change in form. And while we're all tempted to curse and cuss things (yeah, mea culpa) I think it's spiritually dangerous to play around with such things. Curses have a way of corrupting whatsoever comes in touch with them-- includes the one who utters them. Better to endure, confident in God's justice and mercy (this is Faith after all) and not set oneself up hubristically in His seat of judgment.
I think of evil as a vacuum and being as a gradient, such that it is possible to talk about lesser or greater "degrees" of being. (Saints are "more real" than other people.) And again, the concept of a curse here becomes paradoxical, because it would be more like a blessing that is experienced as a curse by those who hate God.
Hey boys . . . God is everywhere present and fills all things AND the Holy Spirit also withdraws His presence at times. How can this be? Ultimately the language of God is silence and words can only do partial justice to the truth, so we can say both things and in a manner they are true, but our understanding is just so limited that we have to accept some things on faith, even though in a literal sense they may appear contradictory. So while one could argue that they can't both be true at once, the point is to ponder and accept and continue . . . to pray, fast and give alms, and not make argument with our brother, especially about things that are beyond our comprehension.
There is a recitation attributed to Albert Einstein that just as there is no such thing as cold, which is merely the absence of heat, and no such thing as darkness, which is merely the absence of light, evil is the absence of God. There is arguably no cubic inch of space where God is not, but there may be absences in the human mind and heart. Or, referencing my favorite Talmudic scholar, the act of Creation between with a reflex contraction opening a space where God is not (our universe)... so perhaps God has to insinuate himself back in, where he is welcomed.
Every time I read about the post-Christian spiritual vacuum, I think of Matthew 12: "When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it wanders through waterless regions looking for a resting place, but it finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ When it comes, it finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and live there; and the last state of that person is worse than the first."
What do you make of that passage, SlowlyReading? Does the unclean spirit return with seven others because the person, when first freed of the unclean spirit, did not turn to God? I have never found a satisfactory answer. Thanks.
I'm also intrigued by that parable and enjoyed Jonathan Cahn's Book "The Return of the Gods", which offers his thoughts on how the parable applies to current events in our world. Rod has previously mentioned that book as well. www.amazon.com/Return-Gods-Jonathan-Cahn-ebook/dp/B09XY5Q12P/ref=sr_1_1
Your thoughts on what the passages means seem correct. The following is a summary on the passages created by Perplexity A.I.
The Empty House
When the demon returns, it finds its former "house" (the person) "empty, swept, and put in order". This represents a superficial cleansing or reformation that lacks true spiritual substance. The person may appear outwardly improved, but inwardly remains spiritually vacant.
The Return with Seven Spirits
Finding the "house" unoccupied, the demon brings seven other spirits more evil than itself to dwell there. This illustrates how evil, when not truly eradicated, can return with greater force. The number seven may symbolize completeness, suggesting a full-scale demonic invasion.
The Worsened State
Jesus concludes that "the last state of that person is worse than the first". This indicates that half-hearted attempts at spiritual reform without genuine transformation can lead to an even more perilous spiritual condition.
Thanks so much for taking the time to answer, Steve. It strikes me as a distant echo of the ten cured lepers, only one of whom returns to give thanks, leading Christ to ask, "Where are the other nine?"
I'm very careful, and have taught my children to be careful, that we never utter anything that could be taken as a curse. We try never to wish any ill on anything or anyone.
When I feel the need to pray against evil, I phrase it as a blessing. "Lord, please bless so-and-so by bringing him to repentance and stopping him from committing evil." That is safer for me.
Halloween originally started as a Christian holiday. People take it way to far now and with the evil increasing we must be wary these days. I plan on making the sign of the cross over my kids candy.
There's no question that cursing has played a role in Christian history. Celtic monks would gather on mountainsides overlooking a battle to curse the enemy forces, and some writs of excommunication seem to have included curses upon the expelled. Whether those acts were consistent with biblical teaching on cursing is debatable. There's some legitimate debate as to whether St Peter's words to Ananias and Sapphira were a curse or a prophetic word warning of them of the divine punishment that would result from their sin. Similarly, St Paul's words to Bar-Jesus are interpreted by some as St Paul cursing him and by others as him declaring what God was about to do (ref. Acts 13:4-12).
Regardless of which is the case, whether Christians should curse seems to be established in Romans 12:14, which states, "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse," as well as James 3:9-11, which says of the tongue, "With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water?" Rather than cursing, the Christian model seems to be to ask the Lord to remove His protection from the punishment one has warranted through some unrepentant action.
I have witnessed harm done by misguided believers cursing stores that provided products they found objectionable, in some cases justifiably so. In my hometown in western NC (recently wrecked by Helene, sadly), several sites that ought to have had successful businesses have sat either empty or had businesses trickle through them. Each of those sites had once held video stores, and I learned several years ago that a rather unstable woman in the town found the content of some of the movies objectionable and cursed them "down to the roots." I believe she unwittingly cursed not just the objectionable movies and the stores that provided them, but the land on which the stores sat.
For those interested in one Protestant perspective, a book by the late Derek Prince, Blessing or Curse: You Can Choose, is well worth a read. Contrary to the disreputable "healing evangelists," Prince was a Cambridge educated teacher and evangelist who has a record of legitimate miracles in his ministry, particularly in relation to spiritual warfare. Prince notes that words we speak carelessly can sometimes have a comparable effect as a curse, something I have encountered when looking at potential spiritual roots of problems some to whom I've ministered have experienced.
I read Hilaire Belloc’s account of a walk from northern France to Rome, and found it disturbing that he cursed inns that refused him lodging and so on.
I have difficulty with the imprecatory psalms. I found C.S. Lewis’s book helpful, though.
"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14"
I have found myself thinking about this verse a lot over the past several months (one of the better inheritances from my days in Southern Baptist Bible Drills is that I have a number of scriptures such as this one that bubble up out of my memory from time to time). I think if there is one thing towards which all the strange things that we are seeing and hearing in the world around us at present is calling us towards, it is to the necessity of prayer. I have never had the prayer life that I would wish that I had; I go through spurts and starts where I feel as though I am leading my family through a reasonably structured prayer rule, only to fall off again when the next event pops up that we need to get to in a hurry, the next time someone is too tired or cranky, the next time we have something else to do.
Dealing with this is a lifetime's struggle, but lately I have found myself more emboldened in a belief that prayer is not merely a useful exercise of the will and soul, but something that draws us in to God, and which has power to effect the ministration of those spirits that surround us. Step by step, little by little, and much to my surprise, I find the studied cynicism of my modern gaze melting away. And I see that it is not just happening to me, but to others around me.
I find myself now especially being called to pray specifically for my wife and my children, for their protection, with especial entreaties to their Christ, the Theotokos, Guardian Angels, Patron Saints, and the Patron Saint of our Parish. What's more, I can't help but believe that there is actually efficacy to it, and I don't think I always really believed that (even though I wanted to believe it).
Anyway, won't be there for the book launch, but I am coming down to Birmingham for the Lecture on Friday and the talk Saturday morning; maybe I'll run into some of you unawares.
I might make a mad drive up there on Saturday morning. I really wanted to go but my inlaws decided to come into town. My brother lives in Bham and we were going to stay and visit them.
If Kamala Harris instinctively thinks the demonically-inspired practitioners of human sacrifice were the good guys, and the flawed but Christian conquistadors were the villains, what does that say about what side she's on? Anybody who's stumped by that one should ponder her joyful visit to our own version of the Pyramid Temple, a Planned Parenthood clinic, whose numbers make the Aztecs look like pikers. That so many "Christians" think they are doing the Lord's work by supporting a cackling idiot like her only goes to show that when the brilliant and charismatic Antichrist arrives, he will find it an effortless task to seduce the bulk of humanity.
Re: Again, if this sounds silly to you, then that only shows how far you have departed from the understanding of both Scripture and Tradition of how the spiritual world works
God is truly sovereign over all Creation-- He is in all places and fills all things. If one does not believe that then is one a Christian? Or even a monotheist? Angels work God's will, and the devils seek to meddle and cause trouble where they can. But neither Angels nor Devils can claim any true sovereignty.
Your post...and increasingly our experience of the post-Christian world...bring to mind the immortal lines of the greatest writer in human history: "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
We are now watching some of those "things" manifest themselves. They are ugly and frightening...yet embraced by the governing Regime and either tolerated or not recognized by the Clueless Masses.
Then add in the defection of the Church, and the question has to at least cross one's mind as to whether we're living in times of biblical significance.
Re: Now that we are de-Christianizing, the darkness is returning in force.
But what about people who are not "dechristianized"? A church? A sanctuary? Historically there are instances of monks and nuns tormented by demons so being a Christian, even a saintly one, is no guarantee against the powers of Hell. But then a Christianized world was never a defense against them.
Read more closely what I wrote. There doesn't seem to be any place that is fully safe from attacks of the enemy. Padre Pio was a saint, but he was often beaten by demons. I once spoke to a Protestant man who was saved from Hell by Christ in a life after death experience, and returned with the ability to see into the spiritual world (something that sometimes happens with NDE experiencers). He could see both angels and demons moving among us. He said that what shocked him the most about it was seeing demons sometimes in churches. He had not thought that was possible.
As Don Cipriano -- who has an advanced theological degree in demonology -- told me, this is all a matter of degree. He was attacked twice in his bed in the Vatican by demons. Places that have been places of prayer and Christian dwelling for a very long time are less likely to be visited by demons. But places where there is little to no belief are more friendly territory to them. His point was that this sort of thing is like climate change: the de-Christianization of a territory makes it easier for demons to dwell there. One of the first things I ever saw in this regard as a reporter was when I accompanied a Catholic exorcist and his prayer team to a haunted house on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. The homeowner, a wealthy widow, had had all kinds of building inspectors out to see if they could figure out why the fancy new house she and her recently deceased husband had built for their retirement. Nobody could figure it out. Finally, in desperation, her sister (a practicing Catholic) suggested that she turn to the exorcist, especially given that there was poltergeist activity in the house. I saw the exorcist and the prayer team deliver that house from its curse. During the mass the priest celebrated in the backyard, the gifted intuitive woman, a big Cajun grandmother named Shelley, was lifted up and thrown backwards over a chair. I saw this with my own eyes, and have the tape recording in which you can hear her scream as she is carried backwards. She told us later that she intuited that a century or more ago, when that was uninhabited territory, a mother was forced to watch her child killed on that site, and then she herself was murdered. Later, I saw a candle fly across a table where no one was sitting. But the lady had no more problems after the ritual.
Her house was cursed. The prayers of the priest, especially the holy mass, removed the curse. I saw it and heard it.
One problem with cursing others is that it weakens ourselves. We are told to "Judge Not" and instead "bless them that curse you".
Wouldn't an evil spirit feel a blessing as if it were a curse? Let's call on the power of God in all times and in all places.
Blessing our enemies so that the Light of Our Lord touches them and changes their hearts will reduce their power from which they draw upon and weakens them. Blessing them strengthens our bond with Our Lord and helps them.
We should bless all those that have harmed us in life, pray for them. Even if our enemies don't change, we will be blessed.
Right. We should pray that God keeps all malign influences away from our lives and our loved ones, and that He protect us and guide us.
We need to ask for His blessing over us. I think we are too reluctant to act on our beliefs and slow to call for the full grace Our Lord is ready to give us.
A friend recently gave me a book, "Benedictine Maledictions, Liturgical Cursing in Romanesque France," by Lester K. Little. She knew that I'm interested in weird stuff but I haven't opened it yet. Some of the curses are printed in the blurb on the back of the book and they are disturbing, to say the least. The episode where Peter curses the couple for lying has always bothered me. How is killing people for not giving as much to the church as they'd promised different from murder, or black magic? Jesus sent the devils into the pigs, and made the fig tree wither, but he never cursed any human being, did he?
Emoto's claim do call to mind homeopathy's claims to affect water with microscopic amounts of additives. I've bought a few homeopathic remedies at the health food store and they *seem* to work. I wouldn't call myself a true believer, though. Emoto's book was filled with color photos of the ice crystals he got after insulting the water or saying nice things to it. The water that was "insulted";made ugly, chaotic crystals. Some of the loved water made beautiful, organized formations. Kinda makes ya think, or at least it did me, but once again, I wouldn't call myself a true believer.
It's possible that Peter was just being a hothead and did a bad thing, which wouldn't be all that out of character for him. I mean, he became holy, but the gospels make it pretty clear he didn't start off that way.
I just read the passage again, and it doesn't seem to quite say that Peter cursed them. It could be taken to mean that Peter told the man he lied to God, and then the man got terrified and had a heart attack, and then Peter predicted that the wife is also gonna get terrified and have a heart attack, which she did.
Some of those psalms are definitely pretty metal, and it took me a long while to grasp the spirit in which they should be understood. But Christian prayer is mainly about asking God to do His will, isn't it? And withdrawing His presence from the perpetrators of grave evil—and thus possibly destroying them, insofar as they aren't provoked into repentance—seems to very much be a part of His will. My view is that He doesn't destroy per se; it's more like destruction is just what naturally happens when He isn't around.
Or, alternatively, perhaps a Christian curse involves asking God to flood evildoers with His presence; and since they are consumed by non-being, for which He would leave no space, they would subjectively experience such a development as their own destruction. That works as well.
The Lord's model prayer, the Our Father, does make "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven" as the first and foremost request, so your thought that Christian prayer is mostly about asking for His will to be done seems on point. Since it's His will that all should repent and none should perish (ref. 2 Peter 3:9), blessing people with a knowledge of the potential consequences of their sins or with a transformative encounter with God's presence would also seem a solid way to go.
I don't think God can withdraw his presence: He is in all places and fills all things, the very source of being-- even of the very Devil.
But evil is non-being, so that's where God is not. We could make the relative case, though, that He doesn't withdraw; that it's rather we who withdraw and embrace non-being; and that the perception of His withdrawal is thus a type of projection. And in that case, a Christian curse could involve God's revelation to evildoers of the non-being that they have become.
Where God is not has no existence. Can "not being" even exist? Obviously evil does exist-- but it is not some power coeval with God. When all is said and done it is just a bump in the road and before the true glory of God is fades away like a bad dream.
Nothing that God has made can cease existence, only change in form. And while we're all tempted to curse and cuss things (yeah, mea culpa) I think it's spiritually dangerous to play around with such things. Curses have a way of corrupting whatsoever comes in touch with them-- includes the one who utters them. Better to endure, confident in God's justice and mercy (this is Faith after all) and not set oneself up hubristically in His seat of judgment.
I think of evil as a vacuum and being as a gradient, such that it is possible to talk about lesser or greater "degrees" of being. (Saints are "more real" than other people.) And again, the concept of a curse here becomes paradoxical, because it would be more like a blessing that is experienced as a curse by those who hate God.
Hey boys . . . God is everywhere present and fills all things AND the Holy Spirit also withdraws His presence at times. How can this be? Ultimately the language of God is silence and words can only do partial justice to the truth, so we can say both things and in a manner they are true, but our understanding is just so limited that we have to accept some things on faith, even though in a literal sense they may appear contradictory. So while one could argue that they can't both be true at once, the point is to ponder and accept and continue . . . to pray, fast and give alms, and not make argument with our brother, especially about things that are beyond our comprehension.
Works for me—paradox is fun.
But perfect vacuums do not and in fact cannot exiat.
Not within the merely physical realm, that is. . . .
There is a recitation attributed to Albert Einstein that just as there is no such thing as cold, which is merely the absence of heat, and no such thing as darkness, which is merely the absence of light, evil is the absence of God. There is arguably no cubic inch of space where God is not, but there may be absences in the human mind and heart. Or, referencing my favorite Talmudic scholar, the act of Creation between with a reflex contraction opening a space where God is not (our universe)... so perhaps God has to insinuate himself back in, where he is welcomed.
Really looking forward to this book. Forwarding to a group of friends in the hopes we can do a book study on it.
Every time I read about the post-Christian spiritual vacuum, I think of Matthew 12: "When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it wanders through waterless regions looking for a resting place, but it finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ When it comes, it finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and live there; and the last state of that person is worse than the first."
Speaking of "matter as a dead thing" (or not), a dialogue with the late Teilhard de Chardin by Matthew Milliner: https://comment.org/at-the-field-museum-with-father-teilhard/
What do you make of that passage, SlowlyReading? Does the unclean spirit return with seven others because the person, when first freed of the unclean spirit, did not turn to God? I have never found a satisfactory answer. Thanks.
I'm also intrigued by that parable and enjoyed Jonathan Cahn's Book "The Return of the Gods", which offers his thoughts on how the parable applies to current events in our world. Rod has previously mentioned that book as well. www.amazon.com/Return-Gods-Jonathan-Cahn-ebook/dp/B09XY5Q12P/ref=sr_1_1
Your thoughts on what the passages means seem correct. The following is a summary on the passages created by Perplexity A.I.
The Empty House
When the demon returns, it finds its former "house" (the person) "empty, swept, and put in order". This represents a superficial cleansing or reformation that lacks true spiritual substance. The person may appear outwardly improved, but inwardly remains spiritually vacant.
The Return with Seven Spirits
Finding the "house" unoccupied, the demon brings seven other spirits more evil than itself to dwell there. This illustrates how evil, when not truly eradicated, can return with greater force. The number seven may symbolize completeness, suggesting a full-scale demonic invasion.
The Worsened State
Jesus concludes that "the last state of that person is worse than the first". This indicates that half-hearted attempts at spiritual reform without genuine transformation can lead to an even more perilous spiritual condition.
Thanks so much for taking the time to answer, Steve. It strikes me as a distant echo of the ten cured lepers, only one of whom returns to give thanks, leading Christ to ask, "Where are the other nine?"
I'm very careful, and have taught my children to be careful, that we never utter anything that could be taken as a curse. We try never to wish any ill on anything or anyone.
When I feel the need to pray against evil, I phrase it as a blessing. "Lord, please bless so-and-so by bringing him to repentance and stopping him from committing evil." That is safer for me.
"Out of the same mouth comes blessing and cursing. These things ought not be so."
Every time I read a post like this I am reminded to pray and want to pray the Daily Offices more.
I love passing out candy at Halloween to trick or treaters. We buy XL candy bars and the kids love them.
But I’m starting to wonder if a Christian should participate in Halloween? Is this an evil holiday?
A Christian that I know who used to be in the occult told me that witches place curses on Halloween candy.
Anyway, this year we are having some Catholic nuns bless our candy before we pass them out.
Blessing candy sounds like a good idea in any event.
Halloween is simply All Hallows' Eve, the evening before All Saint's Day.
‘Halloween’ is the Scots form of the word. I think it probably went underground because Calvinists would see it as Catholic.
I'd assumed it was just a contraction—try saying "All Hallows' Eve" five times fast, and you get close to that.
‘Een’ is Scots for ‘evening’.
Scots: not to be confused with Gaelic.
Halloween originally started as a Christian holiday. People take it way to far now and with the evil increasing we must be wary these days. I plan on making the sign of the cross over my kids candy.
My priest told me to dress as my favorite saint when I go to a Halloween party. Kind of inverts the intent, and provides balance.
There's no question that cursing has played a role in Christian history. Celtic monks would gather on mountainsides overlooking a battle to curse the enemy forces, and some writs of excommunication seem to have included curses upon the expelled. Whether those acts were consistent with biblical teaching on cursing is debatable. There's some legitimate debate as to whether St Peter's words to Ananias and Sapphira were a curse or a prophetic word warning of them of the divine punishment that would result from their sin. Similarly, St Paul's words to Bar-Jesus are interpreted by some as St Paul cursing him and by others as him declaring what God was about to do (ref. Acts 13:4-12).
Regardless of which is the case, whether Christians should curse seems to be established in Romans 12:14, which states, "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse," as well as James 3:9-11, which says of the tongue, "With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water?" Rather than cursing, the Christian model seems to be to ask the Lord to remove His protection from the punishment one has warranted through some unrepentant action.
I have witnessed harm done by misguided believers cursing stores that provided products they found objectionable, in some cases justifiably so. In my hometown in western NC (recently wrecked by Helene, sadly), several sites that ought to have had successful businesses have sat either empty or had businesses trickle through them. Each of those sites had once held video stores, and I learned several years ago that a rather unstable woman in the town found the content of some of the movies objectionable and cursed them "down to the roots." I believe she unwittingly cursed not just the objectionable movies and the stores that provided them, but the land on which the stores sat.
For those interested in one Protestant perspective, a book by the late Derek Prince, Blessing or Curse: You Can Choose, is well worth a read. Contrary to the disreputable "healing evangelists," Prince was a Cambridge educated teacher and evangelist who has a record of legitimate miracles in his ministry, particularly in relation to spiritual warfare. Prince notes that words we speak carelessly can sometimes have a comparable effect as a curse, something I have encountered when looking at potential spiritual roots of problems some to whom I've ministered have experienced.
I read Hilaire Belloc’s account of a walk from northern France to Rome, and found it disturbing that he cursed inns that refused him lodging and so on.
I have difficulty with the imprecatory psalms. I found C.S. Lewis’s book helpful, though.
"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14"
I have found myself thinking about this verse a lot over the past several months (one of the better inheritances from my days in Southern Baptist Bible Drills is that I have a number of scriptures such as this one that bubble up out of my memory from time to time). I think if there is one thing towards which all the strange things that we are seeing and hearing in the world around us at present is calling us towards, it is to the necessity of prayer. I have never had the prayer life that I would wish that I had; I go through spurts and starts where I feel as though I am leading my family through a reasonably structured prayer rule, only to fall off again when the next event pops up that we need to get to in a hurry, the next time someone is too tired or cranky, the next time we have something else to do.
Dealing with this is a lifetime's struggle, but lately I have found myself more emboldened in a belief that prayer is not merely a useful exercise of the will and soul, but something that draws us in to God, and which has power to effect the ministration of those spirits that surround us. Step by step, little by little, and much to my surprise, I find the studied cynicism of my modern gaze melting away. And I see that it is not just happening to me, but to others around me.
I find myself now especially being called to pray specifically for my wife and my children, for their protection, with especial entreaties to their Christ, the Theotokos, Guardian Angels, Patron Saints, and the Patron Saint of our Parish. What's more, I can't help but believe that there is actually efficacy to it, and I don't think I always really believed that (even though I wanted to believe it).
Anyway, won't be there for the book launch, but I am coming down to Birmingham for the Lecture on Friday and the talk Saturday morning; maybe I'll run into some of you unawares.
I might make a mad drive up there on Saturday morning. I really wanted to go but my inlaws decided to come into town. My brother lives in Bham and we were going to stay and visit them.
If Kamala Harris instinctively thinks the demonically-inspired practitioners of human sacrifice were the good guys, and the flawed but Christian conquistadors were the villains, what does that say about what side she's on? Anybody who's stumped by that one should ponder her joyful visit to our own version of the Pyramid Temple, a Planned Parenthood clinic, whose numbers make the Aztecs look like pikers. That so many "Christians" think they are doing the Lord's work by supporting a cackling idiot like her only goes to show that when the brilliant and charismatic Antichrist arrives, he will find it an effortless task to seduce the bulk of humanity.
Re: Again, if this sounds silly to you, then that only shows how far you have departed from the understanding of both Scripture and Tradition of how the spiritual world works
God is truly sovereign over all Creation-- He is in all places and fills all things. If one does not believe that then is one a Christian? Or even a monotheist? Angels work God's will, and the devils seek to meddle and cause trouble where they can. But neither Angels nor Devils can claim any true sovereignty.
Looking forward to reading the book, Rod.
Your post...and increasingly our experience of the post-Christian world...bring to mind the immortal lines of the greatest writer in human history: "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
We are now watching some of those "things" manifest themselves. They are ugly and frightening...yet embraced by the governing Regime and either tolerated or not recognized by the Clueless Masses.
Then add in the defection of the Church, and the question has to at least cross one's mind as to whether we're living in times of biblical significance.
Re: Now that we are de-Christianizing, the darkness is returning in force.
But what about people who are not "dechristianized"? A church? A sanctuary? Historically there are instances of monks and nuns tormented by demons so being a Christian, even a saintly one, is no guarantee against the powers of Hell. But then a Christianized world was never a defense against them.
Read more closely what I wrote. There doesn't seem to be any place that is fully safe from attacks of the enemy. Padre Pio was a saint, but he was often beaten by demons. I once spoke to a Protestant man who was saved from Hell by Christ in a life after death experience, and returned with the ability to see into the spiritual world (something that sometimes happens with NDE experiencers). He could see both angels and demons moving among us. He said that what shocked him the most about it was seeing demons sometimes in churches. He had not thought that was possible.
As Don Cipriano -- who has an advanced theological degree in demonology -- told me, this is all a matter of degree. He was attacked twice in his bed in the Vatican by demons. Places that have been places of prayer and Christian dwelling for a very long time are less likely to be visited by demons. But places where there is little to no belief are more friendly territory to them. His point was that this sort of thing is like climate change: the de-Christianization of a territory makes it easier for demons to dwell there. One of the first things I ever saw in this regard as a reporter was when I accompanied a Catholic exorcist and his prayer team to a haunted house on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. The homeowner, a wealthy widow, had had all kinds of building inspectors out to see if they could figure out why the fancy new house she and her recently deceased husband had built for their retirement. Nobody could figure it out. Finally, in desperation, her sister (a practicing Catholic) suggested that she turn to the exorcist, especially given that there was poltergeist activity in the house. I saw the exorcist and the prayer team deliver that house from its curse. During the mass the priest celebrated in the backyard, the gifted intuitive woman, a big Cajun grandmother named Shelley, was lifted up and thrown backwards over a chair. I saw this with my own eyes, and have the tape recording in which you can hear her scream as she is carried backwards. She told us later that she intuited that a century or more ago, when that was uninhabited territory, a mother was forced to watch her child killed on that site, and then she herself was murdered. Later, I saw a candle fly across a table where no one was sitting. But the lady had no more problems after the ritual.
Her house was cursed. The prayers of the priest, especially the holy mass, removed the curse. I saw it and heard it.
One problem with cursing others is that it weakens ourselves. We are told to "Judge Not" and instead "bless them that curse you".
Wouldn't an evil spirit feel a blessing as if it were a curse? Let's call on the power of God in all times and in all places.
Blessing our enemies so that the Light of Our Lord touches them and changes their hearts will reduce their power from which they draw upon and weakens them. Blessing them strengthens our bond with Our Lord and helps them.
We should bless all those that have harmed us in life, pray for them. Even if our enemies don't change, we will be blessed.
We can ask God for malign influences to be overruled. That may be a better way of going about it.
Right. We should pray that God keeps all malign influences away from our lives and our loved ones, and that He protect us and guide us.
We need to ask for His blessing over us. I think we are too reluctant to act on our beliefs and slow to call for the full grace Our Lord is ready to give us.
https://youtu.be/myGEaRnOX6A?si=XdA6EBgkcGKb_wfl
I put up a link to Gretchen Whitmer’s recent performance . Seems relevant.
I would say her irreverence is relevant, yes.
The story about the flowers in holy water reminded me of this Japanese researcher, Dr. Masaru Emoto, who did experiments with water and how it crystallized when frozen after different words and phrases were either written or spoken over the vial first. Here is a link to an article about his work:https://wellbeingmagazine.com/the-remarkable-influence-of-thoughts-on-water-dr-masaru-emotos-pioneering-experiments/
A friend recently gave me a book, "Benedictine Maledictions, Liturgical Cursing in Romanesque France," by Lester K. Little. She knew that I'm interested in weird stuff but I haven't opened it yet. Some of the curses are printed in the blurb on the back of the book and they are disturbing, to say the least. The episode where Peter curses the couple for lying has always bothered me. How is killing people for not giving as much to the church as they'd promised different from murder, or black magic? Jesus sent the devils into the pigs, and made the fig tree wither, but he never cursed any human being, did he?
Emoto’s work reminds me of homeopathy. I think that’s nonsense, but who knows?
Emoto's claim do call to mind homeopathy's claims to affect water with microscopic amounts of additives. I've bought a few homeopathic remedies at the health food store and they *seem* to work. I wouldn't call myself a true believer, though. Emoto's book was filled with color photos of the ice crystals he got after insulting the water or saying nice things to it. The water that was "insulted";made ugly, chaotic crystals. Some of the loved water made beautiful, organized formations. Kinda makes ya think, or at least it did me, but once again, I wouldn't call myself a true believer.
It's possible that Peter was just being a hothead and did a bad thing, which wouldn't be all that out of character for him. I mean, he became holy, but the gospels make it pretty clear he didn't start off that way.
Yes, that's my take, too. But taken at face value, the passage suggests that Peter did possess these abilities to curse.
I just read the passage again, and it doesn't seem to quite say that Peter cursed them. It could be taken to mean that Peter told the man he lied to God, and then the man got terrified and had a heart attack, and then Peter predicted that the wife is also gonna get terrified and have a heart attack, which she did.