The Exorcism of Emily Rose
Monday night we held a special showing of the movie "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" to 22 high school students. "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" is loosely based on the true story of Anneliese Michel, a twenty year old German woman who died after a series of church sanctioned exorcisms in the 1970's. In this move, directed by professed Christian Scott Derrickson, we have the story about college student Emily who becomes possessed by demons. The Catholic exorcism fails and Father Moore is charged with negilent homicide. The film is as much about courtroom drama as it is about demon possession. It's not a horror movie and it presents a demon possession much like the ones you read about in the Bible. Tuesday night we held a follow up to the movie with our topic being demon possession. I for one have not encountered a demon possessed person. Have you? I have sensed demonic forces working. I wonder as our culture turns from a more materialistic, rational view of life to a spiritual, mystic (but not necessarily Christian) one, that we won't see more demonic influences in peoples lives. I've read and heard stories about demons in Africa and South America. I think this is because people who live there are more into the spirit world. Maybe we in USA are headed in that direction.
Our discussion at Campus Life both nights dealt with the power of Christ over the Devil and his demons. We also looked at how the Bible teaches us not to be involved with practices that open us up to demonic influences. This struck a chord with a couple of guys and they shared that when they were younger, they were involved in seances. Yes this happened in Bluffton. They had several demonic experiences and told the kids present not to get involved in that. It was neat to hear the one guy say how he came to know Christ at Campus Life and how he is possessed by Jesus. It was powerful!
So what do you think? How have you seen the Devil work? Do you think we'll see more demonic possession in our culture? These are the days my friend.
Jim "Train"
Our discussion at Campus Life both nights dealt with the power of Christ over the Devil and his demons. We also looked at how the Bible teaches us not to be involved with practices that open us up to demonic influences. This struck a chord with a couple of guys and they shared that when they were younger, they were involved in seances. Yes this happened in Bluffton. They had several demonic experiences and told the kids present not to get involved in that. It was neat to hear the one guy say how he came to know Christ at Campus Life and how he is possessed by Jesus. It was powerful!
So what do you think? How have you seen the Devil work? Do you think we'll see more demonic possession in our culture? These are the days my friend.
Jim "Train"
posted by Jim "Train" King at 8:46 AM
2 Comments:
I don't know if I would limit demonic possessions as the only Devil's work. I've seen him all over. There is no doubt. The mocking of Christians and their values. The talk behind people's backs. Possession is something hard to identify though.... and it has sometimes been mixed with people simply sinning.
Demonic possesion gets way to much focus by secular media and Christians. So much that we do not see deomonic oppression as coming from our enemy. I think part of this is because like Jeremy said, we don't think to identify voices pointing towards temptation as the enemies work in our life. This can be seen in many ways, like by us making choices that are wrong, even when we know better, or us allowing ourselves to be influenced by others around us. It can be a blurry line between demonic oppression, and free will chasing forbidden fruits, sometimes we might not know which is which until we are in paradise, but even then we will probably no longer care. The important thing is that we chase a relationship with God. As we grow stronger in him, both the enemy, and the world will loosen their grasp on us as we become more like Jesus.
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