Exorcist fights demons

Liam Houlihan
12mar05
The Herald Sun

A CONTROVERSIAL visiting exorcist says Melbourne's demons are the most vicious in the world because our society is a religious vacuum.

High profile American preacher Bob Larson began his national exorcism tour at the Forum Theatre last night.
A shyster to some and a saviour to others, he claims to have exorcised demons in 90 countries.

He said the demons he battled in his Melbourne exorcisms were among the roughest he had faced. Larson said Australia's "lack of regard for religion" led demons to possess non-believers.

ROFLOL

Does he belong to the Illuminati?
Does he collect an offering from the gullible christian?

One silly statement and he gets a ton of free publicity.
If I was in Melbourne with some free time, I'd get involved in an expose'.

Is this the same shyster that did all the anti-rock-music stuff a few years ago?

/Bevin

Bob Larson fancies himself a demon-buster, yes. There's enough exposé out there on the web already though -- shucks, wish I could remember the URL(s) ...

Look for stuff from these folks:

Gretchen Passantino, of Answers In Action, compares Larson to a big fish in a small pond: "Although he is very popular in his own sphere of influence, he is only marginally significant in the wider evangelical world. I have talked to numerous Christian leaders who have never heard of him, or who have heard of him but have little idea of what he is teaching. Many Christian leaders are also not very well informed about occultism, and so they might hesitate to criticize someone regarding an issue about which they know they don't know very much."

The Passantinos are terrific, level-headed people who bust the self-styled demon-busters and other shysters and charlatans who bait gullible Christians. Well, I say "they", Bob has passed on already. Here is an article exemplifying their kind of clear thinking: http://www.answers.org/urbanlegends/fragrant_clear_thinking.html -- and one debunking the SRA flap: http://answers.org/satan/sra.html

On their website the Pallantinos take on Mike Warnke, "Dr." Rebecca Brown, and Lauren Stratford and totally debunk and deconstruct their stories or feature stuff from John Trott in Cornerstone doing so.

As for exposé...
Here's a scathing article in Cornerstone against Bob Larson and his creative embellishments on the truth...
http://www.cornerstonemag.com/features/iss100/larson.htm

I was wondering what Aldona thought of all this as she lives in Melbourne. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

One of the current affairs programs actually showed an "exorcism" one night last week, I only saw the trailers -was not interested in watching.

A couple of years ago I was at a Forum seminar where Dr Ford and Dr Arthur Patrick were speaking on various aspects of Pentecostalism. Dr Ford made the point that the ability of certain Christians to "find a devil behind every bush" was not particularly helpful in the bigger scheme of things.

Maybe this guy casts out that sort of devil.

When I saw the heading about the Melbourne Demons I thought it was referring to the football team... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue1.gif" alt="" />

But seriously though, <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/soapbox.gif" alt="" /> I tend to be more than a little skeptical about claims like these. I know that Satan and demons are real, and that directly or indirectly, they are responsible for all of the suffering and misery in this world. I believe there is a time and a place for a genuine exorcism, but much of what passes for "exorcism" seems to be just hype and a handy excuse for the "possessee" to deny responsibility for their own actions and problems...

My husband & I have friends of all religious denominations and a couple of years ago we went to a "healing and deliverance service" at a charismatic church nearby, featuring a dynamic preacher from overseas.

We watched as he worked himself into a frenzy, yelling until he was blue in the face, casting out the "spirit of cancer" and the "spirit of asthma" and the "spirit of heart disease", etc, etc...and then afterwards everybody went outside and lit up their cigarettes and enjoyed the spread of hot dogs and hamburgers provided. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon_smile_sick.gif" alt="" />

Another thing I have observed about our more charismatic friends who go in for "deliverance" again and again... is that their lives seem to become more and more dysfunctional, their problems deeper and harder to solve, and then they have to go back and get "deliverance" over and over..it becomes a vicious circle.

I think the more you focus on Satan and demons, the more you are allowing their influence to fill your mind and thoughts. I am slowly getting better at filling my mind with Christ and listening for His voice (thanks to what I am reading and learning via my friends the Quakers), and after a while the very thought of Satan or his demons becomes unworthy of wasting time and mental energy on.

aldona

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We watched as he worked himself into a frenzy, yelling until he was blue in the face, casting out the "spirit of cancer" and the "spirit of asthma" and the "spirit of heart disease", etc, etc...and then afterwards everybody went outside and lit up their cigarettes and enjoyed the spread of hot dogs and hamburgers provided.

Another thing I have observed about our more charismatic friends who go in for "deliverance" again and again... is that their lives seem to become more and more dysfunctional, their problems deeper and harder to solve, and then they have to go back and get "deliverance" over and over..it becomes a vicious circle.

I think the more you focus on Satan and demons, the more you are allowing their influence to fill your mind and thoughts. I am slowly getting better at filling my mind with Christ and listening for His voice (thanks to what I am reading and learning via my friends the Quakers), and after a while the very thought of Satan or his demons becomes unworthy of wasting time and mental energy on.


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Aldona this is exactly the point I was trying to make when I quoted Dr Ford. Thank you for posting it.

Although I am not a follower of Dr. Ford's theology, I must say I agree with him on this point. I think that there is alot of shaky ground when "casting out of demons". Like Aldon mentioned about what she saw....I think is in stark contrast to Jesus's method. He met temptation with a "thus saith the Lord." And the people he cast demons out from, were filled with peace and were instantly in their "right minds". I don't read about Jesus dancing around and turning blue as he got himself into a frenzy while casting out a devil. It might have made a good show but, but God is a god of order and peace, not chaos. We live in a world of sin and hence there are many diseases and unexplainable illnesses. Of course God does not cause these things, the devil does, but that doesn't mean the person is demon possessed.

I once knew a young person who became Schitsophrenic (spelling?). They were a deeply committed person and had not had an obvious mental condition before. They told me the thing that hurt them the most was the several well meaning people thought it was demon possession not a real illness. This from a young person who studied their Bible, who loved the Lord with all their heart and was a gentle person who was kind. Medication did wonders but for Pete's sake, not everything in this sin filled world is devil posession.

Having said that, I have been oversease and have seen devil posession in person. It was very real and much like what you read in Bible times. The devil is real and can only be made to leave by God's power, but I have my serious doubts about this guy in Australia.

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Having said that, I have been oversease and have seen devil posession in person. It was very real and much like what you read in Bible times. The devil is real and can only be made to leave by God's power, but I have my serious doubts about this guy in Australia.

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Taylor I agree with what you have written - except that the gentleman is visiting us, from the US <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Anyway, why should Melbourne have the most powerful demons? Isn't Sydney supposed to be Sin City?

Whenever we hear of drunken youths or troubled Aboriginal people rioting in the street and fighting with police, it seems to be in Sydney. Sydney is the home of the Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras. And isn't it the case that whatever Melbourne has, Sydney has twice as much of? (except for rain, of course! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue1.gif" alt="" />)

OK Nan...You can stop hitting me now... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tomato.gif" alt="" />

aldona

[why should Melbourne have the most powerful demons?]

I always knew there was something wrong with Melbourne! Now we have the answer!

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/oops.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/seenoevil.gif" alt="" />

</font><blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr />
Anyway, why should Melbourne have the most powerful demons? Isn't Sydney supposed to be Sin City?

Whenever we hear of drunken youths or troubled Aboriginal people rioting in the street and fighting with police, it seems to be in Sydney. Sydney is the home of the Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras. And isn't it the case that whatever Melbourne has, Sydney has twice as much of? (except for rain, of course! )

OK Nan...You can stop hitting me now...

aldona

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This is going to be a very mixed up reply but here goes:

Firstly Sydney does get about twice as much rain as Melbourne, but it tends to come down harder and on fewer days.

Secondly I grew up in Warburton and studied in Melbourne (Monash Uni) and always looked on Melbourne much more favourably than Sydney. There was even a time when I almost prayed that we would not be transferred to Sydney (the reasons were complicated and not actually related to Sin City perceptions).

But I am here now and maybe I should start defending the place...but there are too many people here already and I dont want to start another rush.

And Beryl ( and this is really TIC) do you think they could FIND Perth????)


And now who is running very hard in the other direction <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/oops.gif" alt="" />

That is one of the beauties of this place!!

But, sadly, yes, they are here, too.

with an apology to the "off topic" police... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/129933-offtopic2.gif" alt="" />

Here is what I'm reading at the moment, and where I got it from:

The Quaker Reader (ed. Jessamyn West, 1962) - from Amazon
Quaker Spirituality: Selected Writings (ed. Douglas V. Steere, 1984) - Amazon
A Quaker Book of Wisdom (Robert Lawrence Smith, 1998) - actually found it on the $2 remainder table at our equivalent of Wal-Mart!
And two books by Thomas Kelly, Quaker missionary and scholar: "The Sanctuary of the Soul" and "A Testament of Devotion" - both bought on Amazon for a two-for-the-price-of-one offer.

The following is a good website:
QuakerInfo.com
I have been spending quite a bit of time lurking on their forum.

(now I've outed myself...time to run and hide...don't tell the religious police! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/seenoevil.gif" alt="" />)

aldona