Are demons more open in 3rd world countries

[Benaishtart]

So from anectodal experience from me personally and many many people I know it’s way easier to experience demonic and other paranormal occurances in third world countries. Wayyy more obvious cases of possession, limited amount of control over electricity, water, and other elements. Just more spooky stuff. If we go back in time in the US we see the same thing. It’s weird because in the US now even in the church we hardly acknowledge it exists. Maybe they feel like we’re a godless society that doesn’t even need to be tempted anymore. Or maybe it’s just manifesting itself in mental illnesses. What’s going on?

[Zathura]

So from anectodal experience from me personally and many many people I know it’s way easier to experience demonic and other paranormal occurances in third world countries. Wayyy more obvious cases of possession, limited amount of control over electricity, water, and other elements. Just more spooky stuff. If we go back in time in the US we see the same thing. It’s weird because in the US now even in the church we hardly acknowledge it exists. Maybe they feel like we’re a godless society that doesn’t even need to be tempted anymore. Or maybe it’s just manifesting itself in mental illnesses. What’s going on?

having served in Brazil i can attest to this

[Alaris]

I always heard this was due to the fact that 3rd world countries are more likely to dabble into the supernatural - however I wonder if there is more to this.

[justme]

There is a more important flip side to this coin. It seems that 3rd world countries can also be more receptive to miracles. There is case after case after case in Africa where dreams had led whole congregations of investigators to be ready and waiting for missionaries.

[John Tavner]

Personally I believe it has manifested itself in mental illness in the U.S.. Though to be clear, there is a difference in my mind between brain damage and mental illness. Also, I think the people are more willing to believe in those countries, we are plagued by unbelief. If you believe in one side, it generally allows you to believe more in the other, also, because of that belief I think people in 3rd world are likely to dabble more in the supernatural than here too, again because of our unbelief.

[justme]

Personally I believe it has manifested itself in mental illness in the U.S.. Though to be clear, there is a difference in my mind between brain damage and mental illness. Also, I think the people are more willing to believe in those countries, we are plagued by unbelief. If you believe in one side, it generally allows you to believe more in the other, also, because of that belief I think people in 3rd world are likely to dabble more in the supernatural than here too, again because of our unbelief.

After reading this I am very confused about our debate the other day on a different thread. We may actually see eye to eye more than we thought.

I have strong feelings about the subject because I have dealt with cases of Mental Illness that are so severe that it is very easy to see how people from a 3rd world country or who lived 2000 or 200 years ago would ascribe it to demons. I have seen some relief from priesthood blessings but I have seen more relief from medical science. Though neither long lasting.

[John Tavner]

Personally I believe it has manifested itself in mental illness in the U.S.. Though to be clear, there is a difference in my mind between brain damage and mental illness. Also, I think the people are more willing to believe in those countries, we are plagued by unbelief. If you believe in one side, it generally allows you to believe more in the other, also, because of that belief I think people in 3rd world are likely to dabble more in the supernatural than here too, again because of our unbelief.

After reading this I am very confused about our debate the other day on a different thread. We may actually see eye to eye more than we thought.

I have strong feelings about the subject because I have dealt with cases of Mental Illness that are so severe that it is very easy to see how people from a 3rd world country or who lived 2000 or 200 years ago would ascribe it to demons. I have seen some relief from priesthood blessings but I have seen more relief from medical science. Though neither long lasting.

You're not confused. By manifesting itself as mental illness in the U.S. I mean that we, because of our unbelief call it mental illness. Additionally, most people don't have long lasting results form blessings if they do work is likely because they return to their same pattern of sin and idol worship or something traumatic occurs again that causes their auras to break allowing hte influence to enter into their lives to a great degree again. Spirits only have the power that we let them have, generally. THe more we focus on the dark i.e. anger, frustration, don't forgive and confront traumatic situations and let Christ heal us, the more likely they will have influence upon us and our lives. Again there are, I believe, legitimate brain injuries - which has nothing to do with spirits (though again spirits are around ALL of us).

[justme]

Personally I believe it has manifested itself in mental illness in the U.S.. Though to be clear, there is a difference in my mind between brain damage and mental illness. Also, I think the people are more willing to believe in those countries, we are plagued by unbelief. If you believe in one side, it generally allows you to believe more in the other, also, because of that belief I think people in 3rd world are likely to dabble more in the supernatural than here too, again because of our unbelief.

After reading this I am very confused about our debate the other day on a different thread. We may actually see eye to eye more than we thought.

I have strong feelings about the subject because I have dealt with cases of Mental Illness that are so severe that it is very easy to see how people from a 3rd world country or who lived 2000 or 200 years ago would ascribe it to demons. I have seen some relief from priesthood blessings but I have seen more relief from medical science. Though neither long lasting.

You're not confused. By manifesting itself as mental illness in the U.S. I mean that we, because of our unbelief call it mental illness. Additionally, most people don't have long lasting results form blessings if they do work is likely because they return to their same pattern of sin and idol worship or something traumatic occurs again that causes their auras to break allowing hte influence to enter into their lives to a great degree again. Spirits only have the power that we let them have, generally. THe more we focus on the dark i.e. anger, frustration, don't forgive and confront traumatic situations and let Christ heal us, the more likely they will have influence upon us and our lives. Again there are, I believe, legitimate brain injuries - which has nothing to do with spirits (though again spirits are around ALL of us).

Thanks
I do believe there are cases of demonic possessions and attacks. The scriptures and church history makes that clear. I do believe that the human brain being such a complex organ of our physical body can have illnesses just like our heart and lung etc. Many of the manifestations of such illnesses can look like demonic possessions. Where I think we disagree is where the line is between these. I lean towards most being illness with a rare case of spiritual problems. I take it you lean the other way. Fair enough. But we need to use all resources given to us by God, including medical science, to cope in this world.

[John Tavner]

Personally I believe it has manifested itself in mental illness in the U.S.. Though to be clear, there is a difference in my mind between brain damage and mental illness. Also, I think the people are more willing to believe in those countries, we are plagued by unbelief. If you believe in one side, it generally allows you to believe more in the other, also, because of that belief I think people in 3rd world are likely to dabble more in the supernatural than here too, again because of our unbelief.

After reading this I am very confused about our debate the other day on a different thread. We may actually see eye to eye more than we thought.

I have strong feelings about the subject because I have dealt with cases of Mental Illness that are so severe that it is very easy to see how people from a 3rd world country or who lived 2000 or 200 years ago would ascribe it to demons. I have seen some relief from priesthood blessings but I have seen more relief from medical science. Though neither long lasting.

You're not confused. By manifesting itself as mental illness in the U.S. I mean that we, because of our unbelief call it mental illness. Additionally, most people don't have long lasting results form blessings if they do work is likely because they return to their same pattern of sin and idol worship or something traumatic occurs again that causes their auras to break allowing hte influence to enter into their lives to a great degree again. Spirits only have the power that we let them have, generally. THe more we focus on the dark i.e. anger, frustration, don't forgive and confront traumatic situations and let Christ heal us, the more likely they will have influence upon us and our lives. Again there are, I believe, legitimate brain injuries - which has nothing to do with spirits (though again spirits are around ALL of us).

Thanks
I do believe there are cases of demonic possessions and attacks. The scriptures and church history makes that clear. I do believe that the human brain being such a complex organ of our physical body can have illnesses just like our heart and lung etc. Many of the manifestations of such illnesses can look like demonic possessions. Where I think we disagree is where the line is between these. I lean towards most being illness with a rare case of spiritual problems. I take it you lean the other way. Fair enough. But we need to use all resources given to us by God, including medical science, to cope in this world.

I don't disagree with the idea of using resources given to us by God - we are told that those who didn't have faith were to use herbs. The struggle I have is that the majority of drugs created by the pharmaceutical industry have secondary, tertiary, and even quaternary detrimental effects. I personally don't trust the pharmaceutical industry, many of the drugs create or help create a tendancy to have suicidal thoughts, often exacerbate depression etc... Additionally when you actually look at what they are creating most of hte drugs are actually just synthetic versions of herbs that are found out in nature. So why not go more natural. If we actually look at the human body and we eat correctly (the herbs and nutrients our individual body needs) and get enough sleep that would solve a lot of the issues out there and the Spirits would have less affect on us (or by your belief, the damage would be less). Half of the drugs people take damage organs, cause the body to overproduce or underproduce things etc... The industry really is not out to benefit us as much as we would like to think. Had you talked to me 10 years ago, I would be saying the same thing you are saying, but having studied in depth much of this, I have found that the medical industry is found greatly wanting.

[creator]

So from anectodal experience from me personally and many many people I know it’s way easier to experience demonic and other paranormal occurances in third world countries. ... Maybe they feel like we’re a godless society that doesn’t even need to be tempted anymore. Or maybe it’s just manifesting itself in mental illnesses. What’s going on?

Or maybe it's less noticeable in countries like the U.S. because so many people are on antidepressants, which make many of them zombies (this is literally how many of them have described themselves feeling while on antidepressants).

[Egoof]

I served in Mexico and it was eye opening to have experiences with people possessed by evil spirits. I witnessed it a few times but the most eye opening one was when a fellow missionary who wasn't worthy/that great a missionary, tried to cast a devil out of someone and then had it enter into him. That evening back at the missionary house he told everyone that he was feeling really bad and then starting wigging out. We tried casting the spirit out of him by laying on of hands but even though he was a little guy he threw 5 elders off him that were trying to hold him down each time we got to the end of the blessing. Finally with all 5 holding onto him again the 6th elder said the prayer super fast (I think getting to the name of Jesus Christ part was the key) and the spirit came out. I haven't seen anything like that in all my time here in the US. Evil spirits are REAL, the priesthood is REAL, and Christ's name has power.

[justme]

After reading this I am very confused about our debate the other day on a different thread. We may actually see eye to eye more than we thought.

I have strong feelings about the subject because I have dealt with cases of Mental Illness that are so severe that it is very easy to see how people from a 3rd world country or who lived 2000 or 200 years ago would ascribe it to demons. I have seen some relief from priesthood blessings but I have seen more relief from medical science. Though neither long lasting.

You're not confused. By manifesting itself as mental illness in the U.S. I mean that we, because of our unbelief call it mental illness. Additionally, most people don't have long lasting results form blessings if they do work is likely because they return to their same pattern of sin and idol worship or something traumatic occurs again that causes their auras to break allowing hte influence to enter into their lives to a great degree again. Spirits only have the power that we let them have, generally. THe more we focus on the dark i.e. anger, frustration, don't forgive and confront traumatic situations and let Christ heal us, the more likely they will have influence upon us and our lives. Again there are, I believe, legitimate brain injuries - which has nothing to do with spirits (though again spirits are around ALL of us).

Thanks
I do believe there are cases of demonic possessions and attacks. The scriptures and church history makes that clear. I do believe that the human brain being such a complex organ of our physical body can have illnesses just like our heart and lung etc. Many of the manifestations of such illnesses can look like demonic possessions. Where I think we disagree is where the line is between these. I lean towards most being illness with a rare case of spiritual problems. I take it you lean the other way. Fair enough. But we need to use all resources given to us by God, including medical science, to cope in this world.

I don't disagree with the idea of using resources given to us by God - we are told that those who didn't have faith were to use herbs. The struggle I have is that the majority of drugs created by the pharmaceutical industry have secondary, tertiary, and even quaternary detrimental effects. I personally don't trust the pharmaceutical industry, many of the drugs create or help create a tendancy to have suicidal thoughts, often exacerbate depression etc... Additionally when you actually look at what they are creating most of hte drugs are actually just synthetic versions of herbs that are found out in nature. So why not go more natural. If we actually look at the human body and we eat correctly (the herbs and nutrients our individual body needs) and get enough sleep that would solve a lot of the issues out there and the Spirits would have less affect on us (or by your belief, the damage would be less). Half of the drugs people take damage organs, cause the body to overproduce or underproduce things etc... The industry really is not out to benefit us as much as we would like to think. Had you talked to me 10 years ago, I would be saying the same thing you are saying, but having studied in depth much of this, I have found that the medical industry is found greatly wanting.

Interesting. My 10 years has taken me in the opposite direction. It terrifies me to death thinking of where my family life would be without those medications. Even with side affects and dangers.

Now I admit big pharmacy has some problems. Anytime you mix large money into the picture it will corrupt. But the underlying science should not be disgarded. Maybe it is because I am a scientist but I do trust the process, the scientific method, peer review etc. And most scientists are good. The big companies though maybe not so much. But I won't throw the baby out with the bath water. I agree with your thoughts on herbs. I wish we knew more. There are scientists that specialize in that.

Science is hard, especially the science of the mind. We do not know everything yet, hardly nothing. But we are making progress.

[Alaris]

There is a more important flip side to this coin. It seems that 3rd world countries can also be more receptive to miracles. There is case after case after case in Africa where dreams had led whole congregations of investigators to be ready and waiting for missionaries.

Ah yes. Belief.