Interest in the Occult has gone mainstream. Is it harmless fun?

Evil Never Produces Good

It is no fantasy that there is real power behind the occult. However, it is not a power for good. It is an organized power with a plan to do evil to all caught up in its trap.

Satan and his demons are real beings with a ravenous hatred for God and human beings (Isaiah 14:12-14; Revelation 12:12). Few today understand their immense power. Satan and his demons have been cast down to Earth. They can no longer travel into the universe (Revelation 12:7-8). These evil beings are incapable of doing anything good for humans or themselves. Being supremely intelligent, they have done a masterful job of convincing unsuspecting humans that they do not exist (verse 9).

Let’s call the occult movement what it truly is: a substitute religion.Now they are successfully at work to entice many to get involved in their secret arts. The fruits will never be good.

Let’s call the occult movement what it truly is: a substitute religion. Unfortunately, most are blind to the fact that the occult is the worship of Satan and his demons.

There is nothing new here. Mankind has been worshiping the devil since our creation. Although most today scoff at the Bible, this book reveals that Satan is literally “the god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4). It is his personal desire for all human beings to worship him. His goal is not to help us; rather, his mission is to make human life miserable and wretched. In fact, all the horrendous evils threatening our world—the massive problems wrecking families; the rampant crime, disease, poverty and violence; the international conflict and warfare—can be traced directly back to him.

“I have had a number of personal experiences with demons through a few demon-possessed people,” explained Herbert W. Armstrong in his must-read book Mystery of the Ages. “I have cast out demons through the name of Christ and power of the Holy Spirit. Some demons are silly, like spoiled children. Some are crafty, sharp, shrewd, subtle. Some are belligerent, some are sassy, some are sullen and morose. But all are perverted, warped, twisted.”

Be sure to take the time to read Ephesians 6:12. Although human beings don’t see it, we are wrestling with “the rulers of the darkness of this world.” They are the spark behind all human problems and evils. Anybody who gets involved in the occult is simply surrendering to the devil and his minions.

Close the Door

Don’t even casually dabble in the occult. Demon possession is not the stuff of fables. It is very real. Using tarot cards or Ouija boards, reading fantasy books or watching movies that deal with the occult will break down the barriers of your mind and open the door for problems—even potential possession. All parents have the responsibility to protect their children and teens from such danger.

You owe it to your child and yourself to close your door to the occult in whatever form it comes knocking at your house.This means that parents should screen what their children read, what movies their children see and what TV programs they watch. You may well be seen as old-fashioned and out of touch, but your child’s mental and spiritual health should be far more important to you than your own vanity.

One critic in support of Graceling—a book about Katsa, a young girl with special powers in the art of killing—wrote this: “I imagine there may be some parents who may be a little concerned over the blatant sex scenes and Katsa rejecting the standard mode of marriage, however I think teens are savvy enough to think for themselves, and parents shouldn’t be choosing their teens’ books anyway.” Please don’t be influenced by that kind of idiotic reasoning. Teens need guidance from parents about books, movies, games and TV programs. Their young minds are so impressionable.

30 Self-Portraits Drawn While the Artist Was Under the Influence of 30 Drugs

Bryan Lewis Saunders went in search of experiences that would affect his perception of self

bryanlewissaunders.org
Photo Credit: Bryan Lewis Saunders

April 4, 2014  |  

Bryan Lewis Saunders likes to take drugs, both legal and illegal, and then draw pictures of himself. The results are strikingly different from drug to drug, and they vary from beautiful to grotesque, abstract and just plain bizarre.

An artist in his mid-40s from Virginia, now living in Tennessee, Saunders has completed more than 9,930 self-portraits to date (though not all under the influence of a drug).

He said he explored tragedy and social problems for a couple years, then switched to exploring sleep, pain and personality assessment—then drugs. He's most interested in the "things that are still a mystery to us all," he said in an email.

In 2012 Saunders told Wired magazine he'd decided to do a self-portrait every day for the rest of his life so that he "could die knowing that I tried to experience as much as possible when I was alive."

"All day every day, images and feelings of the world come into me and it’s inescapable,” he wrote to Wired. “So I thought if I did a self-portrait every day for the rest of my life, with no rules, the world and I could be more linked to my nervous system."

On his website, in an explanation of the "Drugs" portraits, Saunders writes:

"After experiencing drastic changes in my environment, I looked for other experiences that might profoundly affect my perception of self."

He devised an experiment in which every day he took a different drug and drew himself under the influence.

"Within weeks I became lethargic and suffered mild brain damage. I am still conducting this experiment but over greater lapses of time. I only take drugs that are given to me."

Saunders said in an email that, lately it's rare that he creates a new "drugs" portrait.

"I don't like all of these synthetic [drugs] they keep creating," he said. "It is rare that I'm offered something new to me nowadays."

But what he has completed already is stunning. Below are a few of Saunders' self-portraits on drugs:

1.

Abilify/Xanax/Ativan (dosage unknown in hospital)

2.

25I-NBOMe:

Click to enlarge.

3.

Psilocybin mushrooms (2 caps onset):

4.

1 sm glass of "real" absinthe (not the fake crap): 

5.

10mg Adderall:

6.

10mg Ambien:

7.

Bath Salts: 

8.

15mg Buspar (snorted): 

9.

Butane honey oil (cannabis):

10.

1/2 gram cocaine:

11.

2 squirts of computer duster: 

12.

2 bottles of cough syrup: 

13.

1 "bump" of crystal meth: 

14.

1 shot of Dilaudid/3 shots of morphine (in the ER with kidney stones):

15.

DMT (during and after): 

16.

60mg Geodon:

17.

Hash (cannabis): 

18.

Heroin (snorted): 

19.

Huffing gas (during and right after): 

20.

3mg Klonopin:

21.

Huffing lighter fluid: 

22.

7.5mg Hydrocodone/7.5mgOxycodone/3mg Xanax:

23.

Marijuana: 

24.

Morphine IV (dosage unknown): 

25.

Nicotine gum (after quitting smoking for two months): 

26.

20mg Valium: 

27.

Salvia Divinorum: 

28.

4 Butalbitals (doseage unknown):

  

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No such thing as death

A book titled “Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness Are the Keys to Understanding the Nature of the Universe“ has stirred up the Internet, because it contained a notion that life does not end when the body dies, and it can last forever. The author of this publication, scientist Dr. Robert Lanza who was voted the 3rd most important scientist alive by the NY Times, has no doubts that this is possible.

Beyond time and space

Lanza is an expert in regenerative medicine and scientific director of Advanced Cell Technology Company. Before he has been known for his extensive research which dealt with stem cells, he was also famous for several successful experiments on cloning endangered animal species.

But not so long ago, the scientist became involved with physics, quantum mechanics and astrophysics. This explosive mixture has given birth to the new theory of biocentrism, which the professor has been preaching ever since.  Biocentrism teaches that life and consciousness are fundamental to the universe.  It is consciousness that creates the material universe, not the other way around.

Lanza points to the structure of the universe itself, and that the laws, forces, and constants of the universe appear to be fine-tuned for life, implying intelligence existed prior to matter.  He also claims that space and time are not objects or things, but rather tools of our animal understanding.  Lanza says that we carry space and time around with us “like turtles with shells.” meaning that when the shell comes off (space and time), we still exist.

Perception is Reality

 IDEALIST PHILOSOPHY

George Berkeley, the father of Idealism, argued that everything exists as an idea in someone’s mind. Berkley discovered that some of his comrades considered his theory stupid. The story goes that one of his detractors kicked a stone with his eyes closed and said, “There I’ve disproved it!”

The idea being that if the stone really only exists in his imagination, he could not have kicked it with his eyes closed. Refutation of Berkeley is hard to understand, especially in these days. He argued that there is an omnipotent and omnipresent God, who sees all and all at once. Realistic, or not?

 PRESENTISM.

Time is something that we perceive as a matter of course, if we view it at the moment, we usually divide it into past, present and future. Presentism argues that the past and the future are imagined concepts, while only the present is real.

In other words, today’s breakfast and every word of this article will cease to exist after you have read it, until you open it again. The future is just as imaginary, because time cannot exist before and after it happened, as claimed by St. Augustine.

 ETERNALISM.

Enternalism is the exact opposite of presentism. This is a philosophical theory that says that time is multi-layered. It can be compared to a pound cake (however, unlike the time, a biscuit is not up for philosophical debate). All time exists simultaneously, but the measurement is determined by the observer. What he sees depends on which point he is looking at.

Thus dinosaurs, World War II and Justin Bieber all exist simultaneously but can only be observed from a specific location. If one takes this view of reality then the future is hopeless and the deterministic free will is illusory.

 THE BRAIN IN A JAR

The “brain in a jar” thought experiment is a question discussed by thinkers and scientists, who, like most people, believe that human’s understanding of reality depends solely on his subjective feelings.

So, what is the debate? Imagine that you are just a brain in a jar that is run by aliens or mad scientists. How would you know? And can you truly deny the possibility that this is your reality?

This is a modern interpretation of the Cartesian evil demon problem. This thought experiment leads to the same conclusion: we cannot confirm the actual existence of anything except our consciousness. If this seems to sound reminiscent of the movie “The Matrix“, it is only because this idea was part of the very basis of the story. Unfortunately, in reality we have no red pills…