Genesis

1 - My mother is not a very spiritual person... however, she always says how there must be a guardian angel looking out for her and us kids because of all the stuff we have lived through.

What I find saddening is the numerous amounts of people who convince themselves every day that they can handle the battle of living in this world without turning to the amazing God who has already won it for us. (Comment this)

2 - While we were in Ecuador, we met a woman named Joan who leads a ministry to non-Ecuadorian women who are enprisoned at El Inca, the women''s prison in Quito (a separate ministry works with the encarcerated Ecuadorian women). She was told us the story of how she got her nickname at the prison, "the God-woman."

Joan was once called to the prison at night by a woman in crisis. Joan never goes to the prison at night because it is not a safe place, however, she went that night after much prayer. After entering the main gate, she had to wait by the guards'' office for a guard to escort her to the woman. While she waited, an woman walked by her, muttering in a language Joan did not understand. Joan greeted the woman but she kept walking out of sight. She walked by another time, muttering. Joan then noticed that women were hanging out of their windows watching and waiting for something to happen. Joan got nervous. A third time the woman passed her before a guard came to escort Joan. The guard asked her where the man was who had been with her. When Joan said that she had come alone, the guard told her that the woman who had walked by her was a witch. She had planned to put a curse on Joan but was afraid of the man in white clothes who was sitting with Joan. Thereafter, Joan has been known as "the God-woman" and has had privileges at the prison she would not otherwise have had. These privileges enable her to minister to the women there, leading them to Christ.

I pray we all know we, like Joan, have access to heavenly backup support--and become known as "God-women" and "God-men." (Comment this)

3 - Yes, it is saddening. Its also amazing to me how many people (and honestly I''ve have been one of them) who dabble in the dark side and think there aren''t consequences to those actions. To me it was interesting that Lucifer was the head cherub. No wonder he seems so well versed on how to get to the vulnerable heart of humans?

Popular culture I think has been one of the strongest shaper of my opinion about angels and demons so I am looking forward to "grounding" my opinions and "faulty thinking" with that of a more biblical foundation.

One of the songs from a while back that always struck a chord with me is "angels among us" - I think it was recorded by alabama - that and the movie City of Angels really made me wonder if there really were angelic interventions at our deepest times of need? Is there such a thing as a guardian angel? Are there a fleet of angels that just exsist and do spirits that rise to heaven have the opportunity to join in the host of angels? (every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings?)

Last year I had to work a trade show down in New Orleans and I ended up having a bit of free time to explore this city I had never been to. One of the things I did was take a "ghost tour" of their graveyards and I browsed through several of their vodoo shops and I will say that it can be quite easy to just see that for a "touristy" thing and not think I''ve opened myself up to "spiritual warfare". (I completely understand the whole analogy of starting with a nickel and never knowing you will be risking your mortgage payment when it comes to this stuff.)

Several months ago a speaker brought up the idea that if you expose yourself to filth (I think he used the example of magazines in the checkout counter) then you become almost unaware to the effect that it is having on your inner soul.

We all have choices to make and guidance to follow. I often wonder why I question God so much and this other stuff I just let enter my conscious or subconscious without questioning the action. (Comment this)

4 - EJK - wow thanks for sharing that story. (Comment this)

5 - Coincidentally I happened to watch the exorcism of Emily Rose yesterday, and as horrifying the possibility of such attacks we should not fear. Fear is a tool that is used against us. We need to replace fear with faith, having faith in our Christ Saviour will carry us through any and every evil that approaches. AMEN (Comment this)

6 - I could relate to Pastor Ben when he talked about the warfare happening right at the church on Sunday morning. I normally spend a few hours on Sunday afternoon placing the sermons and Bible study on the church web site. It''s usually a mundane task and it just takes time. On Sunday I had problems with getting the talks to record properly. What usually takes about 2 hours took 5-6 hours and I''m not really satisfied with the final quality of the recordings. It seemed that whatever could go wrong, did!

When my wife and I went on our honeymoon in the Boston area, we were slated to spend one night in Salem. I have never been in a town where there seems to be more oppression. The town is a haven for witchcraft and the occult. It was the one place we couldn''t wait to leave, and we did as soon as possible!

Quite a few years ago I read the Piretti "Darkness" books ("This Present Darkness" and "Piercing the Darkness"). Even though they are fiction, they really pointed out to me the importance of prayer and an awareness of the happenings all around us that we cannot see. I highly recommend them.

Pastor Dean talked in his sermon about angel sightings. I also read a book on that and found it fascinating! Many instances of the "God-woman" mentioned above were related, many times without the person involved even realizing it was happpening.

I''ve been very involved with Via de Cristo (Cursillo) and Charis (prison Cursillo) ministries over the years and have found that every time I have worked on a weekend, I come under heavy attack in the days before the weekend. Once again, whatever can go wrong does. I''ve come to expect it and have decided that something great is going to happen on the weekends or Satan and his crew would not bother trying to disrupt it. (Comment this)

7 - I have to admit that I have a really hard time with this. I know it''s real, and we have victory in the Lord, but I still found myself up most of the night scared. I used my scripture weapon "I can do all things throught Christ who strengthens me" and eventually settled to a small amount of sleep. Why do I still fear when I know the truth? (Comment this)

8 - Upon moving to Minnesota in 1980 from Des Moines I found a roommate from Iowa. Personlly my life was in a downward spiral. I was not living like a Christian nor was I one.My roommate left to go home for the weekend before Christmas in 1980. Sometime after midnight, I awoke to the very intense sensation that someone was trying to pull the bed covers up over my head. I say bolt upright in bed only to see a white figure at the end of the bed with her hands on the covers. I was terrified and was of the mind to run from the room. At the doorway was the darkest, coldest sensation that held me there. The message that I got was "this is death" I was 25 years old at the time and I would not sleep in that room for three days, nor would I sleep at all without the lights on. So profoundly was I affected. I wish I could say I cried to Jesus then, but I didn't until much later. Soon after becoming a Christian and in my first Bible study Jim I were having a bite to eat before a T-wolves game. We sat at the bar and the man next to me struck up a conversation. The hair on my arms cme to full attention as he looked at me. His eyes were not normal. He talked of having been in the seminary, but had turned his back and had become a warlock. I remember praying that my words would be true and for strength. I mumbled something about my faith. Jim tried to change the subject to lighter fare when the warlock turned to Jim and told him he needed to be quiet, as she (me) knew more about this than he did. He then took his leave. I could not stop shaking for the longest time. Upon reading the Peretti books some time later, I knew without a doubt that God had allowed me a small glimpse into the world of spiritual warfare. The war is real. There are angels and demons. We are at war, with our souls as the prize. (Comment this)

9 - Hmmm - now that I think about it both my luggage and the truck carrying my trade show booth were lost on my trip to new orleans...perhaps there's a different reason than the one northwest airlines or the trucking company gave me?

I like Jim's statement about thinking that something great is going to happen or Satan and his crew would not bother trying to disrupt it. That seems to put a more healthy spin on the fact that with a firm spiritual foundation the fight may still occur but God will prevail.

I'm not comfortable with any of this and I'm glad to hear that's okay. Maybe I'm off base here but the idea of not being affected by these stories might lead towards complacency, which in its subtle nature can lead people to stray from faith/belief etc.

So besides arming ourselves with scripture - how else do we fight the battle?

There was this girl I knew in high school who claimed to worship the devil. I often wonder what happened to her.

I went to high school in the 80's and led a pretty straight-arrow life where the only thing remotely exploratory my friends did was spin a record backwards on the record player to see if we could hear a message supposedly from the devil. So I didn't have a clue how to talk to her or respond, ACTUALLY I PROBABLY STILL DON'T, at least not directly.

How do the choices we make as a youth or like the person said above - if you renounce your faith and become a warlock or witch is there a process for turning back? Is it the same as just repenting or is there more of a process of exorcism that needs to happen? (Comment this)

10 - Okay - so I made a mistatement - my one friend and I did play with a Ouiji board one summer. Those things are evil and I was at walmart just this evening and saw a glow in the dark one for sale...it is amazing to me that Parker Brothers still sells those. (Comment this)