OCCULTISM—SPIRITISM

For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

—>Rev. 16:14

3983 Ghosts Draw Tourists

London (AFP)—The ghosts who haunt the stately homes and castles of Britain are playing an ever increasing role in the nation’s tourist trade. Phantoms in the graveyards and skeletons in the closets are now big money spinners.

Over the last few months several guide books devoted to haunted houses have become best-sellers. On the eve of All Saints Day, Nov. 1, the northern city of York will launch its new season of “phantom safaris”—for $5 a head, visitors are taken on a spine-chilling guided tour of an ancient priory, a haunted church, a prison and a pub (bar) all of which are notorious for their ghosts.

A hotel chain also has organized what its travel brochure calls “weekends in supernatural sites, frequented by ghosts, witches, poltergeists and other mysterious beings.”

According to a survey by the British tourist board, more than 10,000 homes have supernatural residents. And this does not include haunted woods and moors.

In Scotland, every chateau worth its salt has at least one resident ghost.

3984 The Spirits At Work

On the coast of Malabar, in Canara alone, are 4041 temples to evil spirits, besides 3,682 to other gods. Here, in the very heart of the East Indies, men worship demons as deities. Evil spirits have for centuries been held in homage by all classes of Hindus except Brahmans. Even the lowest cast—that of slaves—has been believed to have power to let loose the evil demons upon men, and exorcists have been employed with noisy native drums, charms, and incantations, to drive out the evil spirit. Here is a whole com munity living in terror of demons, and demons, let loose by slaves, to be bound again only the charms of a conjurer.

We go down to the fetish worshipers of Africa and we find among these most degraded tribes almost precisely similar superstitions. Evil spirits are the terror of the sable sons of Africa. Any plague or pestilence among men or cattle, any blight upon crops, any drought upon streams, calamity of any form, must be attributed to this source: Somebody is possessed; witchcraft is at work.

The medicine man is called in. Some innocent party is tainted with suspicion; the casca draught must be taken. If it acts as an emetic, the party is innocent; if as a cathartic, he is guilty and must be drowned or burned; and as the medicine man knows that whether the poison will act as an emetic or cathartic depends on the strength of the draught, human life is absolutely in his hands and at his mercy. Any man or woman whom it is desired to put out of the way, may thus be sacrificed to the jealousy of malice or hate of any designing foe.

—Selected

3985 St. Anthony And The Demons

Now it is very easy for the Enemy to create apparitions and appearances of such a character that they shall be deemed real and actual objects, and phantasms of this kind caused a phantom earthquake, and they rent asunder the four corners of the house and entered therein in a body from all sides. One had the form of a lion and another had the appearance of a wolf and another was like unto a panther and all the others were in the forms and similitude of serpents and vipers and scorpions. The lion was roaring as a lion roars when he is about to slay; the bull was ready to gore with his horns; the panther was prepared to spring; and the snakes and the vipers were hissing, and they appeared to be in the act of hurling themselves upon him; and the sounds which they made and the forms in which they showed themselves were terrible.

Now the blessed man ANTHONY was not disturbed by their commotion, and his mind remained wholly undisturbed. And as he was lying down he laughed at these phantoms …

—The Life of Saint Anthony

(4th Century, A. D. )

3986 Abracadabra

It is said that Abracadabra was the supreme deity of the Assyrians. Q. Severus Sammonicus recommended the use of the word as a powerful antidote against ague, flux, and toothache. The word was to be written on parchment, and suspended round the neck by a linen thread, in the form given below:

A B R A C A D A B R A

A B R A C A D A B R

A B R A C A D A B

A B R A C A D A

A B R A C A D

A B R A C A

A B R A C

A B R A

A B R

A B

A

—E. Cobham Brewer

3987 Fooling The Spirits

A young Indian girl married a goat at a village near Calcutta, India, to prevent the stigma of early widowhood. The marriage conformed with the Indian practice that if a woman marries an animal or a plant, evil spirits will mistake the animal or plant for her real husband and kill it. Thus no curse remains to prevent the woman from living with a real husband if she desires to subsequently.

3988 Firewalkers

In India the firewalkers prepare themselves over a period of three months by prolonged meditation. Following this preparation they are able to walk through fire with not the slightest sign of pain on their impassive faces.

On the island of Bali the firewalkers perform under the hypnosis of the priests. They are told that a tiger is pursuing them and that the only way of escape is to run through the fire. When these firewalkers come out of their hypnotic state they show real signs of fear and are utterly exhausted.

In the Fiji islands, only the Benqua (pronounced Bengga) tribe has the privilege of firewalking. White stones are heated up in a fire and they become so hot that no one can get near them and they have to be moved about by means of long poles. The firewalkers preparation in their case takes just over a day. However, when they are ready they are neither in a hypnotic nor a spiritistic trance, but instead they are laughing and joking when they walk over the stones. Their skin remains completely unmarked, although anyone else attempting the same feat would be instantly burnt to death.

3989 Cat Given Formal Burial

Sudbury, England (AP)—A cat that died 300 years ago was given a formal burial, with a parson in attendance and Mayor Tony Moore as undertaker, at this East Anglian Town.

And townspeople were saying they hoped this would be the end of mysterious incidents that have occurred since the mummified cat was accidentally exhumed four years ago by workers converting a local building into a hotel.

Builder Arthur Kemp took the cat to a shop where he makes and sells picture frames. Mystery No. 1: the shop caught fire, and the cause could not be found.

Then the mummified cat was placed in a workshop. Again, fire, and again, no apparent cause.

Then, although the building had seemed to be sound, serious structural defects showed up at the hotel—just above where the cat had been originally found.

Kemp told a reporter that in medieval times it was a custom to bury a live cat in building under construction to ward off witches and to avoid fire. The Sudbury cat had apparently been originally buried for that reason.

The cat, in a specially-made glass-topped casket, was reburied Friday in the floor of the hotel, where guests will be able to see it.

Canon Peter Schneider, who conducted a special service, explained later: “My prayers were for the building—I could not become involved in a religious ceremony for a cat.”

3990 Chair Of Death

Seven people have sat in the ordinary-looking high-back wooden chair in Thirsk, England, and all seven died within one week. “I’m frightened of that chair,” owner Anthony Earnshaw told the National Enquirer. The tavern-keeper said he is “afraid to break it or burn it because it has a curse on it.” The Rev. Joseph Mainwaring- Taylor, a local clergyman, said he has tried without success to exorcise an evil spirit from the chair. Earnshaw keeps the chair locked up.

—Pastor’s Manual

3991 Marco Polo’s Report

Marco Polo, the famous medieval traveler, tells of a great desert near the town of Lop where evil spirits lured travelers to destruction by means of an extraordinary delusion. If a traveler had fallen behind the caravan and was by himself, he would hear his name called in a familiar tone of voice. Thinking it was the voice of a companion and friend, he would leave the road and follow the voice, and so perish.

—C. E. Macartney

3992 Belief In Two Types Of Demons

The Wycliffe publication, Translation, issue of September-October 1974, carried an account of the translation of the difficult language of the Ticuna Indians who live along the Amazon on both sides of the Peru-Brazil border. The Ticunas believe in two types of demons. Yeureu demons wear the clothes of a policeman, have the head of a dog and kill anyone who sees them. Ngozo demons are tall, kiss whoever sees them, live in distant forests, obey orders of witch doctors and sometimes can be heard congregating in the clouds. These particular demons do not enter people, nor do they influence them other than taking their thoughts or shooting invisible arrows at them. Another witch doctor can heal their attacks by sucking to remove the darts.

—Christian Victory

See also: I Tim. 4:1; I John 4:1.