From:    Trakka                                 Area: Base of Set
To:      Whitefang                              30 May 94 07:49:00
Subject: The End.                               UpdReq 

 > Very nicely said, but would you be interested in getting more
 > specific? It's difficult to exchange a dialogue when using
 > terms like "niggle" and "wibble." Unless you prefer to remain
 > obtuse and therefore irrefutable; it's safer.
:)  While I like the idea of the smothering safety blanket, I feel that I must 
endure...
My cry (oh so poetic) is for a return of the days of in-your-face satanism, as 
it were.  And should be.  That it collapsed so abruptly is truly sad.
Trakka  (:-=


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From:    Albertus Magnus                        Area: Base of Set
To:      All                                    28 May 94 17:25:08
Subject: 1/Minister speaks out                  UpdReq 

            A Minister Speaks Out on the Psychic and the Devil
                            by J. Gordon Melton
     In the late 1960's, the psychic truly came of age as a major
competitor of some forms of Christian faith.  No longer could it be
dismissed as foolishness and because of this new realization the 1960's
also saw the birth of a new type of literature in which fundamentalist
Christians attack the psychic as being "of the Devil."
     As a minister of the Gospel I often am called upon to evaluate this
"antipsychic" literature.  My interest in psychic and spiritual healing, as
well as church history, is well known and laymen, having added a new depth
to their faith through experiencing psychic reality are concerned that
their fellow Christians should speak so harshly of them.  At the same time,
my non-Christian acquaintances in the psychic community consider the
literature a 20th-Century form of witch-hunting and ridicule it as an
expression of "Christian love."
     The literature of which I speak consists of numerous pamphlets and a
few books, some claiming to be written by former mediums or psychics now
converted to conservative evangelical Protestantism.  A few of these
booklets are from Reformed or Baptist writers but by far the greatest
number represent the Protestant Pentecostal perspective.  (Pentecostals are
those Protestants distinguished by a belief that speaking-in-tongues, or
glossolalia, is prima facie evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.)  
     Their major argument is that the Bible condemns all psychic activity
and they cite a number of both Old and New Testament passages (Deuteronomy
18:9-12;I Samual 28;Acts 8; I Timothy 4:1) to make their point.  The
material is accompanied by the warning that these devices of Satan shall
increase in the latter days and are signs of the end of time.Satan is a
major figure in the literature, especially in the writings of Hal Lindsey,
author of several popular books on prophecy, who seems determined to prove
Satan's existence.  The Church of Satan of Anton LaVey, although a minor
force even is occult circles, always is given a large coverage and the
remaining psychic community is wrongly associated with him and his
antiChristianity.
     One is tempted to dismiss this literature as the ravings of people who
know little or nothing about their topics.  Even the converted mediums seem
to be the ones who flunked their training courses in basic psychic
development.  In fact on a theological level the material is all but
worthless.
     When the Pentecostal says that something is "of the Devil" he really
is saying in the strongest possible way that he does not like it and
disagrees with it.  But for someone who does not accept this world view,
their is no common standard to judge the Devil's tastes.  I personally
think that cooked carrots are the Devil's favorite food (with boiled okra
running a close second).  Who is to prove me wrong?  Certainly not those
Devil-worshipping carrot eaters.  Satan's deceit is manifested by his
inclusion of vitamin A in carrots so people will think they are "good"
food!  
     There is no appeal then from personal taste, just as there is no
appeal from divine revelation.  One can only hope that a new dislike will
arise to replace the psychic as the "Devil's" main manifestation.
     On a pastoral level, however, the antipsychic literature takes on some
importance.  Almost weekly I hear from laymen who have been victimized by
well meaning if fanatical acquaintances who challenge them with their devil
theology.  It's one thing to read a book.  Its quite another to have a
friend or relative say that something you are doing is satanic and draw a
line that places you outside the church.
     Such well meaning but misguided concern is reminiscent of the
Inquisition that tortured people out of loving concern for their souls
andthen killed them quickly lest they turn again to their sin.  It is for
these victims that I write.  Hopefully, by discovering answers which will
blunt the major points of the attack on the psychic, they will find a
shield from the barrage of their Christian brethren.  
... Why do men seek wealth or status? - Heilbroner


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From:    Albertus Magnus                        Area: Base of Set
To:      All                                    28 May 94 17:25:42
Subject: 2/Minister speaks out                  UpdReq 

     A major complaint of conservative Christians is that liberal
Christians see them as being all alike, failing to recognize significant
differences of doctrine and lifestyle exist amoung Holiness people and
Pentecostals, Billy Graham and the Reverend Ike, Baptists and Plymouth
Brethren, Wesleyans and Reformed.  Conservatives strongly deny any
association with the weird and radical fringe that is part of their
movement, such as those fundamentalists who espouse bigoted racial theories
of the donning of ascension robes or free sex practices.
     Likewise the psychic community resents the naive and ignorant lumping
of psychic research and parapsychology with healing, meditative practices
with witchcraft, yoga with hypnotism, astrology with the tarot, or
Spiritualism with satanism and black magic.  Such an approach to the
psychic is the lowest form of the polemic.
     While interests in the psychic often lead toexploration of a number of
areas, most people in the field have one or two central concerns.  (My own
interests are psychic and spiritual healing, prayer and meditation) While
one learns about many things one's involvement usually is in the specific
area that is most rewarding personally.
     Pentecostal claims that involvement in the psychic leads to possession
are plainly false.  Such involvement by people who are emotionally unstable
or who have immoral motives can lead to possession-like phenomena,
especially when such people dabble with automatic writing, Quija boards or
seance activity.  But such phenomena are no more prevalent than those
caused by speaking-in-tongues which also affects the deep levels of the
psychic.  Any kind of psychic activity -glossolalia included - can and does
lead to possession phenomena in the unprepared and unstable (see "The
dangers of Psychic Development" by Harmon H.  Bro, October-November 1970
Fate.)  
     Finally, the central problem of the antipsychic material is its
orientation towards the negative, toward evil and the devil.  Such a book
as Hal Lindsey's "Satan Is Alive and Well" and Derek Prince's works on the
demonic are psychologically dangerous literature.  They are major causes of
the phenomena they seem most to abhor.  A simple psychological principle is
at work.  As Aldous Huxley explains in "The Devils of Loudon", "No man can
concentrate his attention upon evil or even upon the idea of evil and
remain unaffected.  To be more against the devil than for God is
exceedingly dangerous.  Every crusader is apt to go mad.  He is haunted by
the wickedness which he attributes to his enemies; it becomes some sort a
part of him.
     Prince, Lindsey and cohorts are pouring their energy into fighting
Satan.  They are creating an atmosphere in which it is the "in thing" to be
freed from a possession.  Lonely, bored and highly suggestible people are
only too happy to respond with the called-for symptoms.  At a mass meeting
if you produce a paper bag, someone will be happy to regurgitate a "demon"
for you.
     Theologically, I sympathize with the Pentecostals.  Their leaders and
writers certainly recognize the theological attack the psychic represents
for them.  For years they have been telling their followers that tongues
and healing "miracles" represent a direct supernatural activity and are a
self-authenticating sign of the Holy Spirit.  Considering tongues an
outward sign of the baptism of the Holy Spirit within is crucial to the
Pentecostal position.  And psychic research applied to the "supernatural"
activities often results in a denial of their supernaturalism.  If
non-Pentecostals and even non-Christians can do these things, their value
as a sign of baptism is ended.  
... Ain't found a way to kill me, yet. - AIC


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