H
Heavens_Flowers
Guest
What should a catholic do if they believe demonic possession has taken place in there body? Aside from visiting a priest for an excorsism…does anyone know what chanels should be explored first?
- Status
J
jewells17
Guest
Marcia has ALOT to say on this topic! Read her personal story at WWW.CHRISTIANANSWERSFORTHENEWAGE.ORG and go hear her speak…she goes all over the country. Best website I have ever seen on this subject.
R
rinnie
Guest
I may be reading this wrong, if so I apologize. But it seems to me you are blaming God for the evil in the world. Its like you are saying that God shoudn’t have given us free will or something.
Sounds to me like you want heaven on earth. Well we have not quite reached heaven yet. But hopefully when we do we will have just what you stated.
God put everyone in this world for one reason. To give us free will to want him or not to want him. God wants us to come to him freely. Thats why we turn away from sin and try to be as much like him as we can. But unfortunately there are people who do not want God and turn away from him, and do their best to have others join them also. The misery loves company thing.
And you are actually quite correct in your humor hell is for those who forsake God.
I
IanCorrigan
Guest
This is all very self-congratulatory… “I know what’s right because my opinions are shaped by the “real” God”. The bad thing is that arguments like this completely fail in the real world.
Each and every religion on the planet successfully produces the presence of the divine, of fullness and vitality of soul, that the Catholic believer experiences. Hindus, Voodoosis, Pagans, etc all provide their members with powerful, transformative contact with what they perceive as ‘the divine’ There is no functional difference of outcome between the spirit of hinduism and the spirit of catholicism in the individual, when both are practiced well.
Rest assured, the divine is as present on my altar at home as it is in a cathedral. Your doctrine may try to assert that I’m confused, but there’s no actual reason based on results to think you’re right.
J
jewells17
Guest
Read Marcia’s personal story at www.christiananswersforthenewage.org
I would say the supernatural is as present at your home alter as anywhere else…but not the Holy Spirit. You can’t tell the Holy Spirit what to do…spells won’t work with the Holy Spirit…it is not an energy that can be directed by a human…but there are other spiritual forces that can be. Check out Marcia’s story…it’s really worthwhile.
M
Marie5890
Guest
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for sharing your story and the insights from someone who has been on this path.I love these questions.
I am an ex-Pagan/ex-Wiccan and I figured I’d throw in my two cents as to why it attracts young (mostly female) people.
So… the real problem here is that these young folks are falling into Witchcraft/Paganism and not doing their homework. Trust me - I was one of them. It took me years to get out. It all starts innocently. They’ll read Llewellyn books, Cunningham books, etc. Books with titles in pink glitter claiming they’re full of “Spells for the Teen Witch.” Need more allowance money? Want that cool boy to like you? Here’s how!
- Power. Young girls (and boys) often feel that they have no control over anything in their life. Their parents make decisions for them, their teachers make decisions for them, and their church makes decisions for them. They are longing to be able to make decisions for themselves and Paganism/Wicca offers a promise of being able to control your life through “spellcrafting” and worshipping the Goddess.
- Singularity. Many high school aged folk don’t want to worship in a congregation because they prefer to be alone. All the time. Paganism/Wicca affords them the ability to sit in their room and worship on their own terms, without anyone telling them what to say and when. Writing your own prayers/spells is actually preferred.
- The “Old Ways.” Here is the kicker - Paganism/Wicca is evangelized (YES, I said it - though every Wiccan will affirm that they don’t seek out new members… they ‘advertise’ in other ways…) to young people by claiming that their beliefs/practices pre-date Christianity and organized church religions so they MUST be the RIGHT ways. Young folk are longing for a foundation… even though Wicca was ACTUALLY founded in the 1950’s by Gerald Gardner.
So then, these teen “witches” get older. Now Paganism/Witchcraft becomes something else. Why? Because at 20, 21, 22 years old - you don’t care about whether or not the captain of the football team asks you out. You’re looking for peace. So, the new draw of Paganism is that it’s a “Nature Religion” attuned with the cycles of the earth. You can meditate on ancient Goddesses and Gods, do ‘cleansing’ rituals, and make mead. All good stuff, right? Well, just like the teen ‘witches,’ these young-adult ‘witches’ are ALSO not doing their homework. Trust me - I was one of them.
At some point… most people that are in this black hole of ‘faith’ decide they really MUST figure out what this religion is ACTUALLY all about. So maybe they pick up The Gardinerian Book of Shadows. They’re still confused. They read Crowley. Margaret Murray. Frazier’s Golden Bough. They will reach and reach and reach for some actual link to “the Old Ways.” But… it’s not there. It doesn’t exist. It’s a fabrication.
In fact… from experience. When you dig into all of these more and more bizarre texts on the occult… something funny happens. The deeper you dig and the further down the road you go, you start to find something. You find… Freemasonry. You find Rosicrucianism. You find the Knights Templar. You find the Priory of Sion. Then you find… the Catholic Church. And allllll of these heretical texts teach you one thing: they all stem from those who fell away from God and the Catholic Church. That’s right: Fell Away From God and the Catholic Church. These young Pagans/Wiccans will come to realize… their religion is not founded on God. It’s founded on anti-God. And there is the real relevation.
So - what IS THE FOUNDATION that we’re all looking for at the bottom of the pile, holding up all of humanity? That’s right - the Catholic Church.
It took me years of searching and reading and learning to find it. And I came home.
So, my suggestion then, and sorry to ramble a little, is to encourage them to actually dig into what they call their faith. Ask questions - and don’t take fluffy answers. If they tell you they’re following the Old Gods - ask them for proof. Tell them to read - A LOT. Bring them the texts. Tell them that if they want to follow this path - they should at least understand it. Because to fully understand is to fully believe.
You’ll find, they’ll find, and I found that following this path all the way to the truth leads you where all paths in LIFE should lead you: Home. All roads truly do lead to Rome.
Here’s a good place to start to send them looking for answers… but be patient… it may take a while: sacred-texts.com/index.htm
I have a beloved family member who is Wicca(n?)…Love her, she is great, love to talk with her etc.
But this one part of her life has troubled me. She doesnt share it with others. She is very quiet and even private about it. And yes she tends to be introverted but is very close to her husband (my brother).
I never pry into her spiritual life because, quite frankly I know so very little about it.
But glad to find someone here on CAF that I can turn to who wont do the “knee jerk” reaction.
She really is a lovely lady. And I know her motives are not ment to be “evil” or “hurtful” to others.
Thanks for sharing!!
A
AntiTheist
Guest
enfantdelune:
If you don’t start with that assumption, you simply discover that Wicca has its roots primarily in Victorian occultism and attempted historical recreations (usually flawed). Big whoop.
I mean, there’s a major logical problem here. In order to conclude this, you have to start from the assumption that Catholicism is right and that the Catholic/Christian god is real.
If you don’t start with that assumption, you simply discover that Wicca has its roots primarily in Victorian occultism and attempted historical recreations (usually flawed). Big whoop.
J
jpk1313
Guest
for the most part someone who is belived to be possesed is sent first to doctors to rule out any kind of illness. Possession is rare and have very exacting rules to determine if someone is accualy possesed. such as speaking in violent toungs, supernatural knowledge, preternatural strenth and a couple of other I can’t remeber at the moment. An exorcism can only be performed by a priest who has been given permission by his bishop who will investigate and determine if it is needed. Most exorcisms happen in 3rd world countries, don’t know why probably due to poor medical service as most possesed in 1st world is in metal hospitals.
I
IanCorrigan
Guest
I understand the RCC mythic concept of the Holy Spirit - the active power of ‘God’ in the world of mortals, but where your notions fail for me is in the idea that some spiritual powers are ‘evil’ and some are ‘good’. Spirit is like nature and, like nature, spirit (and spirits) mainly go along their way with little regard for human values such as ‘good and evil’. There may be dangerous spirits (just as there are dangers in nature) but we count on both our own strength and the aid of the Gods to see us through. Some Gods seem to want specific sorts of ethical standards from mortals, but those vary widely from time and place to time and place.
There are many spirits, and all are, more or less, holy (even the dangerous ones).
Ian
J
jewells17
Guest
Very interesting and you would enjoy www.crossveil.org it’s more about this type of stuff.
K
kenofken
Guest
So apparently all of us Wiccans are supposed to be angry rebellious teenagers whose lives must follow a trajectory of drug addiction, power fantasies, jail and death. Well, here I am at 39 with a very satisfying spiritual practice, an honors student on my way to a second career in the medical profession. I suppose I should self-destruct to justify your belief system, but at my age, I just don’t much feel like it.
If it makes you feel any better, I can tell you that relatively few people who dabble in Wicca or similar paths in high school will wind up sticking with it. Approaching this path at any depth requires a great deal of maturity and commitment. Most serious covens won’t take anyone before their mid or even late 20s. I myself did not dedicate myself to it formally until age 35, after most of a decade of consideration and discernment.
Most of these teens are not practicing Wicca. They’re playing about in a subculture which seems cool to them, and they’ll get bored with it and find something else to latch onto. A large percentage of serious Wiccans are in fact ex-Catholics (me again), but we’re not by a long shot the most common destination of those who drift from the church. Most of those you lose will simply spin off into the mindless consumer culture of secularism.
If it makes you feel any better, I can tell you that relatively few people who dabble in Wicca or similar paths in high school will wind up sticking with it. Approaching this path at any depth requires a great deal of maturity and commitment. Most serious covens won’t take anyone before their mid or even late 20s. I myself did not dedicate myself to it formally until age 35, after most of a decade of consideration and discernment.
Most of these teens are not practicing Wicca. They’re playing about in a subculture which seems cool to them, and they’ll get bored with it and find something else to latch onto. A large percentage of serious Wiccans are in fact ex-Catholics (me again), but we’re not by a long shot the most common destination of those who drift from the church. Most of those you lose will simply spin off into the mindless consumer culture of secularism.
- Status