Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site decwrl.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!ucbvax!decwrl!levasseur@morgan.DEC (Ray EMD & S Admin 223-5027) From: levasseur@morgan.DEC (Ray EMD & S Admin 223-5027) Newsgroups: net.religion Subject: Some thoughts on availing ourselves to evil Message-ID: <379@decwrl.UUCP> Date: Mon, 9-Sep-85 12:46:57 EDT Article-I.D.: decwrl.379 Posted: Mon Sep 9 12:46:57 1985 Date-Received: Tue, 10-Sep-85 05:25:11 EDT Sender: daemon@decwrl.UUCP Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation Lines: 57 This seems like the most likely place to post since an old acquaint- ance and I were chatting about ways that evil can slip in. In my upbringing much more emphasis was placed on the devil lurking in the shadows in hopes of snatching the souls of bad boys than on the love of Jesus Christ. For the longest time I believed that the devil tempted and God kicked ass; the two were kinda partners. Since then I've been developing a reverence for God and trying to get closer to him. I guess I can't love God with my whole heart until I learn to love myself, which I'm very slowly learning after 38 years of garbage. My old pastor taught me about evil and some of the ways in which it works. Satan, or whatever one wishes to call it works in crafty ways. I have a bette undestanding after reading C.S. Lewis's "Screwtape Letters". I've always en- joyed Lewis as he's been entertaining as well as informative in helping me turn more to God. Back to evil! in the movie "The Exorcist" the girl seemed to invite evil by playing with a Oujia board; she let down her defenses and evil crept in. I believe that God gave us a conscious mind, not only to think and make dec- isions, but also to act as a gatekeeper to the soul. When we get in a passive meditative state, we're open to the grace of God or the onslaught of more neg- ative forces. One warning on opening ones soul through a meditative state is to tune into the Lord and lock out anything else. From time to time there has been talk of "Backward Masking" in rock records; encoded messages which only can be heard under the influence of certain drugs. Back in the 60's I had experimented with marijuana and on two occasions tried LSD, the results of the LSD were nightmarish to say the least and that ended my curiousity with hallucinogens. This was during a period where I was quite rebellious and had quit belieing in much of anything. The trial came when I was so high that I didn't even know where I was (I was open). My friends played me a acid rock record in the dark and I had a confrontation with something I can remember to this day....sent me running into the streets at 3am. My friends found me pounding on the doors of a Catholic church, begging to come in. Any- way, something in the record triggered something in my subconscious. Years later while in therapy, I played this record for my doctor who theorized that I had tapped into some very negative part of myself. As he said, "We are all a mix- ture of good and evil; God and satan. You seemed to have opened a door to the evil and it scared the hell outta you". Many of the lyrics in heavy rock rec- ords sound one way when sober and totally different while high. There was one record, I can't remember the name (from the 60's) where there was a very sub- tle voice in the backround whispering "kill! kill! Kill!" While under drugs this same voice shouted in a most demanding way "KILL! KILL! KILL!" Most of the other kids thought that this was "Faaarrrrrr out!" I on the other hand was quite scared. Needless to say I was considered a sissy "It's only a record" Yes! it's only a record, but the subliminal messages that some heavy metal carry can twist the soul under the right/wrong circumstances. Don't get me wrong, I love music, rock included, if it's good. Stuff like Ozzie Osborne, etc I really feel are destructive to the young; they aren't even aware of the dangers of drugs mixed with the (supposed) musical content. The bottom line to this is that I really believe the "Demonicly posessed psycho killer" movies which are in abundance and some of the more cachaphonic rock which gets airplay can be destructive. I guess that I've been keeping the gatekeeper on duty more often than I used to and have developed a sensitivity to the presence of evil. The more evil we let in, the more twisted the soul becomes. I'm not good at quoting scripture but one passage comes to mind, "as a man thinketh, so he is". Ray