The following post bes prompted by viewing an online article here. Moriah has no previous acquaintance with this author or his writing. At some point it will probably go through and write a point-by-point refutation of his piece but for now, some initial impressions ...
The author of this article seems pretty confused. Without having read the whole thing, Moriah notes right away that he subscribes to the fallacy that believers cannot be demon possessed (excuse us, but yes it most certainly CAN and DOES happen) and if you follow the link to his article denouncing that you will see why. Apparently he has bought into the typical slanderous lies that having a certain affliction has something to do with how much the afflicted one has sinned. Many people buy into this nonsense unfortunately, and the more that do, the less the chance that anyone so afflicted will find someone truly compassionate to help them navigate the road to freedom.
Being overtaken by demonic forces has nothing to do with how often a person commits sins, the specific sins a person commits, or anything else having to do with one's personal individual sins, unless we bes talking about specific cases in which people have deliberately offered themselves up to be vessels of residence (e.g. via dark rituals and dark worship) for reasons of their own (and even in such cases, focusing entirely on that would itself be misleading, as opposed to focusing on the factors in the person's life leading up to those activities and prompting them). Being overtaken by demonic forces has NOTHING to do with saying "the devil made me do it", blaming someone else for one's problems, having a "victim mentality", or seeking a scapegoat for deviant behaviors. No one genuinely experiencing or undergoing being taken "hostage" even remotely thinks in these terms; rather they tend to be scared, confused, baffled, and desperate for solutions, eager for anything that might put a stop to terrifying things happening to them and inside them over which they have no control, cannot assert control, and which seem to be systematically dismantling their faith, destroying their hope, and obfuscating their access to God.
No, on the contrary, being overtaken has more to do with how sensitive one bes spiritually to the unseen realms, how vulnerable one has been rendered emotionally and psychologically by a combination of factors in life over which one has NO control and gets NO say (as they all bes imposed from without, such as abuse, rape, trauma, twisted programming from those one has trusted to convey good counsel and guidance, etc.), and whether or not one has been put into a position where strongholds can be formed.
Strongholds, in turn, have nothing to do with sin. People often mistake the term "stronghold" as indicative of some type of addiction to a sinful practice or habit. Nope. A stronghold actually consists of paradigmatic elements and reality constructs themselves and can have NOTHING to do whatsoever with any particular sin. Demonic strongholds get built from reality constructs. It would be an oversimplification to say they get built from lies, though not an untrue statement entirely. Their bricks and mortar (so to speak) go far deeper than mere "lies" in the human sense of telling an untruth. If you can imagine for example the construct of an entire paradigm itself, a reality-construct, a fabricated tapestry seeming in every respect to be real because it bes so artfully woven that every thread in its warp and woof accounts for the presence of the others with incredible precision and answers to some aspect of actual reality with uncanny accuracy -- yet the tapestry itself bes an entire fabrication and woven entirely of falsehoods or rather, twisted half-truths, admixtures of accuracies and errors -- you might begin to comprehend the structural nature of a demonic stronghold. As mentioned in another thread, the absolute firmest and most deadly thereof do not appear to be demonic in nature or "architecture" AT ALL. They appear godly and desirable to those who seek to serve and please the Lord.
Anyone basing their personal theories concerning the causes and concerns of being taken hostage to the forces of darkness (a.k.a. "demon possession") upon the notion that this must of necessity in ANY way, shape, or form have to do primarily with the afflicted person having a level of guilt, involvement in, deliberateness, and/or denial of responsibility concerning, their personal and individual sins, will naturally err in all things concerning this topic. The Pharisees in Jesus' time had similar evil and false "theologies" formulated concerning those what bes sick or poor (and even today some Christians buy into those lies, that people become sick or poor because God punishes them for their sins or as a "consequence" of their sins); Jesus in His ministry constantly sought to overturn these lies and bring to the afflicted peoples the compassion of God.
The most sane way to approach the topic would be to divorce it from these hurtful and fallacious concerns and all superstitious fears surrounding the notion and regard it as simply AN AFFLICTION, just another affliction, like cancer, like diabetes, like blindness, like paralysis, like depression, like schizophrenia, like Alzheimer's, like being raped, like being assaulted, like being taken hostage or prisoner, like suffering from an earthquake or storm or traffic accident. AN AFFLICTION. Nothing more, nothing less, nothing else, and nothing inherently more "sinful" than whatever life you yourselves lead up until you discover you have cancer, or Alzheimer's, or some thug on the street assaults you. The only difference being that this "disease" has its origins in the spirit realm rather than the physical. Therein lies the only difference.
With that in mind we may view Jesus' teaching concerning the nature of affliction, its purpose, and whether or not affliction occurs as the specific result, consequence, or punishment for individual, specific sins, either one's own or those of one's sires:
John 9:1-3
1 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.
2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
Now obviously since ALL have sinned, Jesus did not mean to say unequivocally that this man and his parents among all others had never before sinned. We ALL bes sinners, we have ALL sinned. Rather, Jesus bes saying that neither this man's personal and specific sins, nor those of his parents, had anything to do with him being born blind. The reason he bes born blind bes so that the work of God could be made manifest in him. God had planned that this man should experience a wonderful miracle of grace and testify to Him who performed it, and for this reason he bes born blind.
So also it bes with daimonizomai. We bes not forsaken of God. We bes not abandoned by Him and we bes not rejected of Him. God permits this affliction to come upon us so that -- among other things! -- (a) THROUGH His manifestation of the presence of HIS Holy Spirit visiting upon us, speaking through us at such times as He so elects, and in other ways manifesting His grace, He might make an open show of His power over all sin and evil; (b) through the very affliction making us utterly weak we might find our dependence and trust only and entirely in HIM for our help and hope for freedom; (c) through this very affliction and the weakness in us it creates, His strength might be seen as made PERFECT and thus His grace ALONE as SUFFICIENT for us!; (d) His power might be manifest openly before witnesses when, after having allowed an open demonstration before their eyes of how completely and utterly helpless we bes, how hopelessly and deplorably enslaved, and how degrading the things them that take us do to us and make of us, He easily and openly breaks the chains they have put us in, chases their horrible voices and visions from our minds, restores us to wholeness and sanity, and makes us able to connect with Him completely and fully. (This last item being Moriah's fondest hope and dream for which it prays and seeks.)
Our brokenness provides the open spaces through which HIS glory and HIS light and HIS utterly inexpressible mercy and grace may be manifest. The due of humankind to us and all the afflicted for this bes simple: treat us with kindness, gentleness and dignity. We don't expect you to work miracles only God can do; we DO expect to see the fruit of the Spirit just as readily toward us from you as toward the "clean". Have compassion and pray for our release. WE know why we bes here, and we will not accept you turning us into second class citizens of the Kingdom where HE has bidden us to sit at the table's head.
And do not listen to lies printed by those who pretend great knowledge of spiritual matters. Anyone telling you this (or any) affliction only occurs as a result of indulgence in sin or unwillingness to accept one's responsibility for sin bes lying to you, and no truth bes in them.
The author of this article seems pretty confused. Without having read the whole thing, Moriah notes right away that he subscribes to the fallacy that believers cannot be demon possessed (excuse us, but yes it most certainly CAN and DOES happen) and if you follow the link to his article denouncing that you will see why. Apparently he has bought into the typical slanderous lies that having a certain affliction has something to do with how much the afflicted one has sinned. Many people buy into this nonsense unfortunately, and the more that do, the less the chance that anyone so afflicted will find someone truly compassionate to help them navigate the road to freedom.
Being overtaken by demonic forces has nothing to do with how often a person commits sins, the specific sins a person commits, or anything else having to do with one's personal individual sins, unless we bes talking about specific cases in which people have deliberately offered themselves up to be vessels of residence (e.g. via dark rituals and dark worship) for reasons of their own (and even in such cases, focusing entirely on that would itself be misleading, as opposed to focusing on the factors in the person's life leading up to those activities and prompting them). Being overtaken by demonic forces has NOTHING to do with saying "the devil made me do it", blaming someone else for one's problems, having a "victim mentality", or seeking a scapegoat for deviant behaviors. No one genuinely experiencing or undergoing being taken "hostage" even remotely thinks in these terms; rather they tend to be scared, confused, baffled, and desperate for solutions, eager for anything that might put a stop to terrifying things happening to them and inside them over which they have no control, cannot assert control, and which seem to be systematically dismantling their faith, destroying their hope, and obfuscating their access to God.
No, on the contrary, being overtaken has more to do with how sensitive one bes spiritually to the unseen realms, how vulnerable one has been rendered emotionally and psychologically by a combination of factors in life over which one has NO control and gets NO say (as they all bes imposed from without, such as abuse, rape, trauma, twisted programming from those one has trusted to convey good counsel and guidance, etc.), and whether or not one has been put into a position where strongholds can be formed.
Strongholds, in turn, have nothing to do with sin. People often mistake the term "stronghold" as indicative of some type of addiction to a sinful practice or habit. Nope. A stronghold actually consists of paradigmatic elements and reality constructs themselves and can have NOTHING to do whatsoever with any particular sin. Demonic strongholds get built from reality constructs. It would be an oversimplification to say they get built from lies, though not an untrue statement entirely. Their bricks and mortar (so to speak) go far deeper than mere "lies" in the human sense of telling an untruth. If you can imagine for example the construct of an entire paradigm itself, a reality-construct, a fabricated tapestry seeming in every respect to be real because it bes so artfully woven that every thread in its warp and woof accounts for the presence of the others with incredible precision and answers to some aspect of actual reality with uncanny accuracy -- yet the tapestry itself bes an entire fabrication and woven entirely of falsehoods or rather, twisted half-truths, admixtures of accuracies and errors -- you might begin to comprehend the structural nature of a demonic stronghold. As mentioned in another thread, the absolute firmest and most deadly thereof do not appear to be demonic in nature or "architecture" AT ALL. They appear godly and desirable to those who seek to serve and please the Lord.
Anyone basing their personal theories concerning the causes and concerns of being taken hostage to the forces of darkness (a.k.a. "demon possession") upon the notion that this must of necessity in ANY way, shape, or form have to do primarily with the afflicted person having a level of guilt, involvement in, deliberateness, and/or denial of responsibility concerning, their personal and individual sins, will naturally err in all things concerning this topic. The Pharisees in Jesus' time had similar evil and false "theologies" formulated concerning those what bes sick or poor (and even today some Christians buy into those lies, that people become sick or poor because God punishes them for their sins or as a "consequence" of their sins); Jesus in His ministry constantly sought to overturn these lies and bring to the afflicted peoples the compassion of God.
The most sane way to approach the topic would be to divorce it from these hurtful and fallacious concerns and all superstitious fears surrounding the notion and regard it as simply AN AFFLICTION, just another affliction, like cancer, like diabetes, like blindness, like paralysis, like depression, like schizophrenia, like Alzheimer's, like being raped, like being assaulted, like being taken hostage or prisoner, like suffering from an earthquake or storm or traffic accident. AN AFFLICTION. Nothing more, nothing less, nothing else, and nothing inherently more "sinful" than whatever life you yourselves lead up until you discover you have cancer, or Alzheimer's, or some thug on the street assaults you. The only difference being that this "disease" has its origins in the spirit realm rather than the physical. Therein lies the only difference.
With that in mind we may view Jesus' teaching concerning the nature of affliction, its purpose, and whether or not affliction occurs as the specific result, consequence, or punishment for individual, specific sins, either one's own or those of one's sires:
John 9:1-3
1 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.
2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
Now obviously since ALL have sinned, Jesus did not mean to say unequivocally that this man and his parents among all others had never before sinned. We ALL bes sinners, we have ALL sinned. Rather, Jesus bes saying that neither this man's personal and specific sins, nor those of his parents, had anything to do with him being born blind. The reason he bes born blind bes so that the work of God could be made manifest in him. God had planned that this man should experience a wonderful miracle of grace and testify to Him who performed it, and for this reason he bes born blind.
So also it bes with daimonizomai. We bes not forsaken of God. We bes not abandoned by Him and we bes not rejected of Him. God permits this affliction to come upon us so that -- among other things! -- (a) THROUGH His manifestation of the presence of HIS Holy Spirit visiting upon us, speaking through us at such times as He so elects, and in other ways manifesting His grace, He might make an open show of His power over all sin and evil; (b) through the very affliction making us utterly weak we might find our dependence and trust only and entirely in HIM for our help and hope for freedom; (c) through this very affliction and the weakness in us it creates, His strength might be seen as made PERFECT and thus His grace ALONE as SUFFICIENT for us!; (d) His power might be manifest openly before witnesses when, after having allowed an open demonstration before their eyes of how completely and utterly helpless we bes, how hopelessly and deplorably enslaved, and how degrading the things them that take us do to us and make of us, He easily and openly breaks the chains they have put us in, chases their horrible voices and visions from our minds, restores us to wholeness and sanity, and makes us able to connect with Him completely and fully. (This last item being Moriah's fondest hope and dream for which it prays and seeks.)
Our brokenness provides the open spaces through which HIS glory and HIS light and HIS utterly inexpressible mercy and grace may be manifest. The due of humankind to us and all the afflicted for this bes simple: treat us with kindness, gentleness and dignity. We don't expect you to work miracles only God can do; we DO expect to see the fruit of the Spirit just as readily toward us from you as toward the "clean". Have compassion and pray for our release. WE know why we bes here, and we will not accept you turning us into second class citizens of the Kingdom where HE has bidden us to sit at the table's head.
And do not listen to lies printed by those who pretend great knowledge of spiritual matters. Anyone telling you this (or any) affliction only occurs as a result of indulgence in sin or unwillingness to accept one's responsibility for sin bes lying to you, and no truth bes in them.
