Help! Tormented dreams

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by votivesoul

How do you know? You've only met one person who you are certain is demonically possessed. So how do you know for yourself, empirically speaking, that what you say is true?

C'mon... are you saying they don't? Sometimes prolonged oppression can lead to possession.

Or are you taking someone else's word for it?

There's plenty of testimonies and material out there. I've faced demonic oppression, many believers have. And yes, there are those who are possessed who come to the Lord and are set free. And many of their symptoms were indeed the same.

How many people have you met that were demonically oppressed, that you could prove objectively, and not simply through some cop-out you call "discernment"?

Well, discernment is a big part of it. However, I'd say that we can be relatively certain that it was spiritual oppression if we rebuke any spirit that might possibly be behind someone's depression (for example) and the symptoms cease. Most of the time a believer with the Holy Spirit can sense a spiritual attack. If the one seeking prayer tells me, "I believe I'm being attacked by a spirit in my mind and dreams.", I'd start there. It's not rocket science.

See, you keep passing on this information like it's coming from an expert, but you've already admitted you have little experience in any of this, despite the almost two years you spent hanging around with a dubious to say the least, deliverance minister named Matt Burris.

Bro., I told you that I had under two years of being involved with them. Did I go to every deliverance meeting? Nope. Did I follow him like a groupie? Nope. I believe we had maybe four to five deliverance services total. I joined him when invited to come along as support in prayer for a woman who thought she had a spirit in her home on one occasion. I wasn't following the guy around like he was Jim Jones, finding a devil under every rock.

What I find interesting is that people talk about those involved in deliverance ministry as though we find devils under every rock and behind every blade of grass. That wasn't my experience. It's possible to go weeks before encountering some form of demonic opposition. What surprises me is that you sound like you have encountered far more of these spirits than I have. And that's probably because you were possessed and an occultist at one time. I wasn't. To me, it's real. It happens. But it isn't something I encounter every day.