fayfreethinkers.com

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Exorcist casting the devil out of Tulsa

When Sherri roared like a bull, rolled her eyes into her skull, and lunged against the three men who were holding her, Bob Larson says he saw the devil. He should know. Larson is one of the leading practitioners of modern, Christian exorcisms, and here I was in a hotel conference room in Tulsa, Oklahoma, right across from Oral Roberts University, watching him wrestle with demons.

Larson performs his exorcisms in rooms full of people -- sometimes hundreds, sometimes thousands. One religious scholar says 600 Protestant churches have established what they call Redemption Ministries in recent years, which feature exorcisms or something like them.

At the heart of all this is a basic belief that demons are real and move among us, inhabiting people's bodies and driving them to all manner of bad behavior.

On this night, as Larson stood with his Bible in hand and called out demons, a half-dozen people howled, cried, and bellowed in strange voices, while he ordered their possessors back into the pit of hell.

I am naturally skeptical of things that cannot be proven, so I had to ask: Is all this just a show?

Larson and the folks he confronted say absolutely not. Larson freely admits he has been called a charlatan, a flimflam man, and a snake-oil salesman. But he clearly has legions of followers -- people who believe exorcism can help them in the eternal battle between heaven and hell. Sherri says she feels a great weight was lifted from her through the experience.

CNN LINK
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DAR
As Bartcop notes about this article (he lives near Tulsa):

"Oklahoma has a collective IQ of 30.
Seriously, I'm one of the smartest people in the state [he's not bragging].

I should be super-rich, separating these idiot cavepeople from their money but my damn conscience keeps getting in the way."

DOUG
My friend Greg has told me many stories about having listened to Bob Larson's pathetic radio show, in which every once in a while--usually during a fundraising event--Satan himself will call in to the show and threaten Larson.

Larson has made a career out of allegedly fighting demons, on the radio, in books, and so on. I would have hoped that he had gone the way of Peter Popoff and faded away, but I guess not.

Like anything else of that nature, it works if the afflicted person believes it will - ultimate in placebo effect - If the person has been convinced the problem is a demon rather than something psychological, then exorcism with work much better than psychotherapy. And it's also the ultimate in denial - I didn't do it, the demon did - which is why "demons" come back - the person can't accept responsibility for personal actions.

Bob Larson has a seminar he offers. It is intended to:

"...offer continuing education and training to equip those interested in furthering their knowledge of inner healing and deliverance. In addition, those seeking aftercare to recover from demonization will find a nurturing environment and instruction regarding how to stay free after being set free."

"Module I: Training - How to expose Satanic Ritual Abuse and minister to its victims
Aftercare - Recovery for victims of abuse
Module II: Training - How to confront witchcraft, paganism, and false religions
Aftercare - Healing for those with MPD & DID"
Quotes from Bob Larson Ministries Website

I took an online IQ test the other day just for fun, and found out that I'm in the "really F'ing smart" category. I was pleased by that, and then I read the whole summary of results (don't worry, I didn't pay for them) and they broke down the average IQ per state. Oklahoma was, indeed, 30.

HAHAHAH Just kidding. I don't remember theirs. But Arkansas' average was 111, which confirms something I've suspected for a long time.

P.S., oh yeah, at the risk of sounding insensitive, that woman in the photo above? She just wants attention.

Betsy wrote:I took an online IQ test the other day just for fun, and found out that I'm in the "really F'ing smart" category.

DOUG
Not that Mensa thing, was it?

As long as nobody takes their online IQ tests the least bit seriously, we're okay. I may not have an IQ as high as those tests tell me, but I have one high enough to know that those results are bunk.