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I have performed an exorcism, almost thirty years ago. They weren't dramatic from my perspective. I simply performed a laying on of hands and gave a blessing, but in the blessing mentioned that whatever impure or unholy spirit or spirits were dwelling in the person and/or home were commanded to leave. There were no theatrics. As a background, I was serving a mission in Ecuador and a family wished to be baptized. However, they didn't feel right about doing so because of some thigs that were happening in their home. I asked what, and they replied that objects would throw themselves at the family and move around on their own. It seemed to be centered around their teenage daughter, who was also being accosted at night by a shadowy figure who would coalesce next to her bed and touch her inappropriately. She wanted to push it away, but it didn't have anything tp push against--it could touch her, but she couldn't touch it. After the blessing, the girl stopped getting these visits and the family's home was no longer the center of such activity, so they were happily baptized. In another incident, I was in a home in which a girl was being harassed by a male spirit that would appear to her in dreams and also waking. It would threaten her family and ask her to herm herself so that it could "have" her (whatever that meant). While my companion and I were visiting, the girl described that the spirit was very angry and making threats to us, describing how much it hated us. We recommended that the family change the atmosphere of the home by spending time reading scripture aloud together and praying, inviting the Holy Ghost into the home. The idea was to make the home environment inhospitable to malignant spirits. We checked back with the family, and it seemed to have worked quite well. In yet another incident, a teenage girl had been in a local abandoned house (the kind of place local teens would go to do unwise things), and came out speaking in a much lower register, what locals called a "man's" voice. She did not recognize anyone, including her own family. Moreover, all she wanted to do was eat everything in sight; this was atypical behavior for the girl, who normally has very little appetite. Another missionary in my district was called into the home and performed the exorcism/blessing, in which he instructed the spirit to leave, and the girl to go to sleep. She did so, and upon waking was back to normal. There were no theatrics at any of these exorcisms. My stepfather performed a great many exorcisms in Argentina in the 1970s. He described being able to distinguish the type of spirit involved by how it behaved in a human body. There were 2 types: demonic spirits and the spirits of the deceased who would slip into living people. The spirits of the once-living hid better, because they had been born into a human body and could control it fairly naturally. They could be detected by behavioral changes and memory lapses. I would venture to guess that my friend expelled one of those. The idea is that people with addictions cannot enjoy those physical sensations without a body, so they slip into the living to feed their addictions. (Perhaps the spirit in question was a junk-food addict.) Demonic spirits had never been born into a body and therefore had difficulty moving naturally and exerting control. They were easier to spot. They were also more aggressive and wished harm on those they possessed (or to whom they attached themselves). They were also generally more difficult to expel. According to my theological understanding, demons are simply souls who chose to side with Lucifer rather than with God in the beginning, before the Earth was created. Lucifer wished to usurp the authority of the Father and force mankind to be obedient to him--he thought he could save everyone at the expense of agency. Jesus offered to allow human to have agency, and offered Himself as a sacrifice for the mistakes that would necessarily be made as humans exercised our agency. God the Father chose Jesus, as Jesus understood the Father's plan and would carry it out. Lucifer was angry, and convinced a third of the host of heaven to rebel, a rebellion they lost. The punishment for this rebellion was that they were denied the privilege of participating in the Father's plan for the rest of the souls He had created. Those other souls? They were us. We were given the privilege of living a mortal life, understanding beforehand that it would be difficult and often painful, but that it was a necessary experience in order to progress and become what we were meant to be in the eternal scheme of things. We will be resurrected into perfected, immortal bodies, much like Jesus was. Then we will be judged and assigned our place in the order that is to follow. Even the worst of us will be infinitely better off than any of the spirits who followed Satan, as we will progress. Satan is cut off from progress and from the presence of his Father. This is Hell. For humans, Hell is simply the degree to which we are separated from the Father, and Heaven is the state of spiritual union with Him. Satan is envious and bitter, as are the souls who chose to follow him. Their goal is simply vengeance against those of us who chose a different path. They do everything they can to influence us to make choices that will limit our spiritual progress. Why? Misery loves company. Anyway, I realize that there are a lot of people in this forum who will mock and scoff my beliefs and experiences. That's okay. I love you anyway and wish you the best. We are, after all, brothers and sisters, children of the same Father (even if we don't recognize it).

The latest chant on university campuses. Why the National Guard has not been called in is beyond me. “Al-Qassam you make us proud, kill another soldier now!” “We say justice, you say how. Burn Tel Aviv to the ground!” “Hamas we love you. We support your rockets too!” “Red, black, green and white, we support Hamas’ fight!” “It is right to rebel, Al-Qassam give them hell!”ng more “It is right to rebel, Hamas give them hell!” “FREE, FREE, FREE PALESTINE!!”

No. We keep our new technology secret, even when we test it openly, by making the gullible US public think they are seeing alien invaders from a another world. Daft though may seem to anyone with a brain half the size of a whelk. And they fall for it every single time.... ..

The military dollar?

His motive was to tell a compelling story. The fact that you are trying to find some mythical provenance for this story demonstrates he was successful.

I've explained that here several dozen times. I do it to aggravate you. Harte

Confucius say man who keep tongue in cheek often bite tongue. Doesn't sound like you Piney. Harte

His imagination was his source. Apparently.

You see that's the thing. How do we know they're not? It could very well be ants.

Doesn't matter whether I know. You're the one that asked where the fictional character came up with it. You can't accept my suggestions, then don't ask. Harte

Israeli officials to NYT: 'Thousands of more Hamas terrorists in northern Gaza' Israeli officials told the New York Times on Monday that in the north of the Gaza Strip, where the IDF has waged intense and difficult fighting, there are still 4,000-5,000 armed Hamas terrorists left. US officials have said that it is likely that Hamas will not be completely destroyed by military activity. Still, the pace of rebuilding its strength depends on the next steps that Israel will take after the fighting. https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-798310

Rwanda deal has passed!

Iran tried to cover up damage of alleged Israeli strikes Iran tried to cover up the damage caused by the alleged Israeli airstrike near Isfahan last week, satellite imagery shared with the Economist and the Institute for Science and International Security showed on Wednesday. The alleged Israeli strike targeted an S-300 air defense battery near Isfahan in central Iran in response to a drone and missile attack launched by Iran against Israel earlier this month. https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-news/iran-tried-to-cover-up-damage-of-alleged-israeli-strikes-report-798502

Money. Lack of money. The French. They may finally twig that it is their issue to deal with firmer.

The parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin released a video pleading for a hostage deal, and urging their son to ‘stay strong, survive’. https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/be-brave-lean-in-parents-of-hostage-seen-in-propaganda-video-plead-for-hostage-deal/

Breed and release lots of orioles, starlings, robins, crows, black-capped chickadee, nuthatches and blue jays and a lot of them moths will be eaten.

What would stop them from going to Calais and crossing the channel again?

I've not heard Hamas announcing such a high percentage, but they do deliberately skew casualty stats as they know that the deaths of women and children garner more sympathy and aids their propaganda campaigns. I doubt Hamas would view women as equals in that regard, but that doesn't, however, stop them from using women in suicide bombing missions. Reem Riyashi is a well-known example. Hamas received widespread criticism from Palestinians, as well as from some of their supporters, after Riyashi's death, not for the suicide bombing itself, but for selecting a mother of two young children to do it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reem_Riyashi

Simply amazing! And I believe that such a condition is simply necessary for social networks.

Piney and I are from two radically different branches of Quakerism. I am from a Hicksite meeting (unprogrammed, no ministers). Piney is from a Quaker church (I think). He'll have to tell you which branch that is. I have been a Quaker since 1977 when I joined the Nashville Meeting. I have also attended the Durango, Boulder and Stillwater Meetings. Funny how I could attend Quaker meetings for 46 years and not learn anything. Doug

I am in the process of vacating my office; I will retire in 29 days. Not counting the hours, yet, but will be soon. The references you're asking for are buried deep in my old files. I don't even know if I still have them, but I'll do the best I can from memory: In 125 AD, Aristides of Athens wrote a treatise on Christianity to encourage Hadrian who was visiting Athens to legalize Christianity. He used all sorts of glowing descriptions, yet never once mentioned any gospel. Why? I think because the gospels were unknown to him, probably because they hadn't been written yet. My source is Aristides own writing. The Matthew/Mark date of 132-135 AD is from "The Journal of Higher Criticism." It points out that the apocalypses of Mark and Matthew refer to something objectionable in a high place and that a high place in Jerusalem is Temple Mount. One of them calls it an abomination. What would be an abomination to a Jew of the second century? How about a pig? Following the destruction of the Second Temple, peace of sorts gradually returned to Israel. Progress was being made in working out agreements with the Jews. One of these was an agreement for the Romans to rebuild the Temple. But renewed fighting broke out in 116 AD. The Roman General (Severus?)'s best friend was killed by rebels. Severus(?) saw his chance to keep his promise to the Jews and get revenge at the same time, so he ordered the construction of a Temple of Jupiter on Temple Mount. Next to the Temple were statues of a boar's head and the Roman governor (graven images). After several years and other insults the Jews revolted under Bar Kochba. The Temple to Jupiter was destroyed. Mark and Matthew were written during the Bar Kochba rebellion. At what other time was there an abomination on Temple Mount? There are some other details that reference events of Mark/Matthew to the Bar Kochba Rebellion. Sometime between 135 and about 140 AD, Luke and Acts were written. Luke was written after Mark/Matthew and early enough that Marcion could copy it in his Bible. Marcion was excommunicated in 144 AD, so if Marcion copied Luke, then Luke had to be written before then. I don't recall where I got this information. On the other hand, if Luke copied Marcion, Luke could have been written later, so the date is not constrained on the younger side. Justin the Martyr wrote of Jesus' baptism in 155 AD. He described Jesus emerging from the river wreathed in flame. Obviously, his source was not the modern gospels, but an earlier gospel, now lost. My source is the writings of Justin the Martyr. John wrote his gospel about 170 AD. The date is poorly constrained. Irenaeus wrote of a book by Matthew in Volume I of Against Heresies. It was probably modern Matthew as he mentions Mathew, Mark, Luke and John in Volume III. Against Heresies was written during the Peace of Commodus (180 to 192 AD), so John had to exist by that time in order for Irenaeus to copy it. I believe in going back to the original sources wherever possible. That gets away from other people's interpretation mistakes and unsupported opinions. I am not going to ask you for anyone else's version of your time line for the gospels. All I want to know is what YOU think. I can get all sorts of opinions elsewhere. These opinions are worthless if they do not cite facts and give a line a reasoning. Once again, there were other versions of the gospels that preceded our own. We have bits and pieces of them. What I am asking about is our modern version. Doug

Don't let them drown. Pick them up. Handcuff them. Get dockside in the UK. Straight to Gatwick. Deposit in South of France.

Many of these 'human shields' are volunteers, others sadly, are forced. In addition to using human shields, Hamas uses another tactic against the Israelis that also endangers Gazan civilians. Have you ever wondered why Hamas fighters wear jeans and t-shirts instead of uniforms?

26 Obvious Truths People Learned Too Late in Life (msn.com) Some of the responses are hilarious. And to be honest #15 did confused me at one time.