NationStates Jolt Archive

From time to time, I'd hear stories that are brought up in the Christian religion about how people were converted from other religion and the phrase "grasp" "devil" "evil" "saved" "light" "dark" etc. always comes up in these stories. What I always find interesting about these stories is that....they're rarely cited, in fact I never seen any of these stories cited. All I see is a name like "Chris" or "Debbie" or "Matt." Sorry, but that's not citation. Here's one that is very popular, it's from someone named "Chris".

I was brought up in a Christian family and because of this I also went to church. When I became a teenager I thought a Christian was someone who went to church and prayed, because no one told me what a Christian was. People would tell me about Jesus and God but not what makes a Christian.

As I got older, I thought that God [didn't really exist], and one night when I was watching television I saw a Wiccan high priest talk about Wicca and witchcraft. So I decided to get a book on it from a bookstore, and from this moment on Satan had me. I then began casting spells and performing rituals. Witchcraft does work because it uses Satan's power. Yes, Satan has power and when wiccan's cast spells they are using the power of Satan and not nature. Satan's power is restricted, though, and Gods power is stronger then Satan's.

Then I joined a Wicca society in America for two reasons 1) so that I could increase my knowledge and 2) so that I could be dedicated and initiated into Wicca. At college, I found out that a couple of my friends were also into Wicca and we formed a coven.

One month before I was due to be dedicated into Wicca as a neopagan a Christian friend gave me a book called "Witchcraft to Christ". Witchcraft to Christ is a very powerful testimony of a woman who was Queen of black witches but by the grace of God she became a Christian. After reading this book, I thought that there might be something in the Christian religion.

I then went to a Christian youth camp called Harvest, and it was there where I meet God in a really powerful way. I accepted him into my life and I rebuked the hold that Satan had on me, and God lifted me out of a huge pit that I was in. I thank God for his grace and mercy.

When I returned home I bought myself a Bible, and burnt all my witchcraft books and material. I then told my coven members what had happened and I told them that I do not want to be part of this coven anymore and they understood, and I today am still witnessing to them. I left the Wiccan society and went back to church.

Since the moment I accepted the Lord as my personal saviour my life has been changed. Lots of people who have been brought up in a Christian family think that a Christian is someone who goes to church and pray but this is not the case. If you haven't accepted the Lord Jesus Christ into your life and don't know him as your personal saviour then you are not a Christian. If you are practicing Wicca I will tell you now that Jesus Christ loves you and that you are not using the power of nature but the power of Satan. Jesus is the only true way to get into the kingdom of heaven.

Chris

So, by my count, that testimonial used "Satan" or something related to Satanism, about 8 to 9 times. There are several stories that has similar writing style, and use reference to Satan about the same amount of times, which really just leads me to believe that these stories are written by over-zealous Christians who want people to think that they are converting people over from the "wrong" religion and into the "right" one.

Now it's not to say that converting from one faith to another doesn't happen, I'm just questioning the validity of these stories that get passed around a lot.

maybe chick isnt drawing his tracts anymore...

maybe chick isnt drawing his tracts anymore...

Or worse, has offsprings who now spread his message through print, radio, and TV! *gasp*

i dont think they are particularly true.

yes there are people who were raised in christian families who become wiccans for a while then go back to christianity. thats pretty common.

but the whole "grip of satan" thing doesnt ring true to me. it doesnt seem like the way a real person would refer to their experience.

so its either made up or retold in language that someone else feels would have more impact on the reader in terms of sending them to christianity.

These things always read like those scam "Make Money Fast" ads to me: "I was down on my luck, buried in debt then I discovered this system and now I'm a multi millionaire - Huzzah!"



When I returned home I bought myself a Bible, and burnt all my witchcraft books and material. I then told my coven members what had happened and I told them that I do not want to be part of this coven anymore and they understood, and I today am still witnessing to them. I left the Wiccan society and went back to church.


It seems that Wiccans are much more tolerant of other religions than Christians are. Can you imagine it the other why round?
"I've decided that Christianity isn't for me and I've decided to become a Wiccan"
"Oh, OK. That's cool we understand. Good luck and we won't mind a bit if you keep coming back and try to convert us!" :)

Hail Satan!

Sorry there, I couldn't help myself. It was Satan controlling me. And making me doing satanic things. Like daring to choose another religion over CHRISTIANITY. Or none at all.

One (of the many) things I found sad about Chris' story was the need to burn books. Another, of course, was the complete misrepresentation of Wicca. If Chris had actually had anything to do with the Wiccan religion, he would have known that Satan is entirely a Christian concept and has nothing whatsoever to do with Wicca.

That being said, no, I don't think there is any truth to those sorts of testimonials. I think they are kind of like the stories you find in those "true love" magazines, where women supposedly write long letters to the editor explaining how they found that their husband had cheated, so they left him and moved out of the trailer park, but after long soul searching and an affair with a married man, they come back and now "he loves me more than ever, our children are A+ students, we have moved into a million dollar lakefront home and our new business is booming!"

Wicca? Like wikipedia? Useful site!

true or not, I'm so sick of those approaches. I'll tell you now I'm very christian- both my parents are pastors and my sister is being trained in ministry- but I am sick of hearing the 'grip of evil' approach. Look, there are other religions out there that worship in different ways, and to anyone who's not OK with that I say this: :upyours:

Frogs United;13109440']true or not, I'm so sick of those approaches. I'll tell you now I'm very christian- both my parents are pastors and my sister is being trained in ministry- but I am sick of hearing the 'grip of evil' approach. Look, there are other religions out there that worship in different ways, and to anyone who's not OK with that I say this: :upyours:
Your mom's a pastor?

What denomination are you?

Your mom's a pastor?

What denomination are you?

Presbyterian. and, both my parents are pastors. But, then again, my dad's also a shrink.

Wow, this must be God confrontation week.

Overall, that sounds fake. Way too heartfelt and touchy feely and not enough real life.

Obv. if you beleive in another religion it is controlled Satan obv. because everyone knows that.

Frogs United;13109453']Presbyterian. and, both my parents are pastors. But, then again, my dad's also a shrink.
Oh, that's cool. I knew there are woman pastors, but I've never met any.

I have two uncles who are Lutheran pastors.

Oh, that's cool. I knew there are woman pastors, but I've never met any.

I have two uncles who are Lutheran pastors.

Ok, that's great, now if we can get back to the topic at hand....

Most likely fake. The whole story simply focuses on this guy and his dealings with "Wicca." And it really has that glossy advertising tone to it. I have read and heard real testimonies about people becoming Christians, and to sum them up, the real ones talk about more than one event; they talk about their progression through life, various trials, doubts, understandings, etc. Not some "ooh I did magic, magic good, then found magic bad, then became Christian" story.

It could be them trying to explain their experience in Christian terminology? I mean, When you're a Christian one day, Wicca the next week, and then re-convert back to Christianity sometime after that, you can't exactly start using Wiccan terminology on Christians, because then you'll be stuck trying to explain yourself that you're not still Wiccan.

I think it's possible to find a true story about someone who thinks they have escaped the grip of evil, but I'm pretty sure the story you posted is fake.

It does seem rather fake. You can't actually cast spells and if he thinks he did then maybe he had a little bit too much LSD. Plus it is short and lacks any sort of credibility because he can't even bother to post a real name and with the way he goes back and forth in the narrative it seems fake. Plus that is a complete misinterpretation of Wicca.

You know, when you consider that religion is faith based, and that nobody cares about proof, then why other with trivial things like citations?

You know, when you consider that religion is faith based, and that nobody cares about proof, then why other with trivial things like citations?

Because rational people would at least attempt to make their side seem credible.

Because rational people would at least attempt to make their side seem credible.

You know, I'm reading Richard Dawkin's book, The God Delusion. In the book he mentions that Tempelton Foundation in England tried to use science to prove religion. It was a 2.4 million dollar double blind experiment where 2,000 patients receiving coronary bypass surgery were prayed for by thousands of church goers. 3 groups, 1 group was prayed for and not told about it, 1 group was not prayed for and not told about it and 1 group was prayed for and told about it. The two groups that were not told about the experiment, had the same success rate. The group that was told that they were being prayed for, experienced more complications than the other two groups.

i don't really know where I'm going with this but I already typed it all out so why not post it. And Ron Paul is da man!

You know, I'm reading Richard Dawkin's book, The God Delusion. In the book he mentions that Tempelton Foundation in England tried to use science to prove religion. It was a 2.4 million dollar double blind experiment where 2,000 patients receiving coronary bypass surgery were prayed for by thousands of church goers. 3 groups, 1 group was prayed for and not told about it, 1 group was not prayed for and not told about it and 1 group was prayed for and told about it. The two groups that were not told about the experiment, had the same success rate. The group that was told that they were being prayed for, experienced more complications than the other two groups.

i don't really know where I'm going with this but I already typed it all out so why not post it. And Ron Paul is da man!

Maybe they prayed to the wrong god? hehe ;)

Maybe they prayed to the wrong god? hehe ;)

No, God just hates people who believe in him. Thats why there is so much suffering in the world and now little eric plays baseball every sunday. Pineapple.

Did I loose my train of thought? Choo-choo

This particular story doesn't sound serious. It is too vague, whoever wrote this didn't know any details. Mentioning Satan and hell in Christian contexts is just as natural as mentioning God and heaven. In the Christian world view there is a constant struggle between good personified as God and evil personified as Satan. But I've never heard anyone claim to have personally summoned the power of Satan himself.

In my experience people who talk about other religions they practiced before becoming Christians often describe them as empty "it just didn't have what I was looking for", restrictive "I didn't want to obey those traditions" or dark as in a dark mood "it made me feel bad".
You know, when you consider that religion is faith based, and that nobody cares about proof, then why other with trivial things like citations?
Christians do care about citations. Any preacher who does not cite the bible (which is believed to be the most credible source of all) is mistrusted. Many even open their bibles in the church bench and read the verses as they are cited to see for themselves that the preacher is citing it accurately. The verses in the bible are numbered so specific passages can be found quickly.

When talking about contemporary events preachers do mention the name and location of the Church where it occurred or the full name of someone involved. But here it's more troublesome to go to a church somewhere in another country and ask around if anyone remembers a specific event. So I doubt anyone actually checks these sources unless they are going to use them themselves in a book or something.

From time to time, I'd hear stories that are brought up in the Christian religion about how people were converted from other religion and the phrase "grasp" "devil" "evil" "saved" "light" "dark" etc. always comes up in these stories. What I always find interesting about these stories is that....they're rarely cited, in fact I never seen any of these stories cited. All I see is a name like "Chris" or "Debbie" or "Matt." Sorry, but that's not citation. Here's one that is very popular, it's from someone named "Chris".



So, by my count, that testimonial used "Satan" or something related to Satanism, about 8 to 9 times. There are several stories that has similar writing style, and use reference to Satan about the same amount of times, which really just leads me to believe that these stories are written by over-zealous Christians who want people to think that they are converting people over from the "wrong" religion and into the "right" one.

Now it's not to say that converting from one faith to another doesn't happen, I'm just questioning the validity of these stories that get passed around a lot.

Wiccan = Satan? Since when did Satan believe women should inherit the Earth? Wiccan is more like "The Murthe" in Rhialto the Marvelous, who goes around "ensqualming" men.

One (of the many) things I found sad about Chris' story was the need to burn books. Another, of course, was the complete misrepresentation of Wicca. If Chris had actually had anything to do with the Wiccan religion, he would have known that Satan is entirely a Christian concept and has nothing whatsoever to do with Wicca.

That being said, no, I don't think there is any truth to those sorts of testimonials. I think they are kind of like the stories you find in those "true love" magazines, where women supposedly write long letters to the editor explaining how they found that their husband had cheated, so they left him and moved out of the trailer park, but after long soul searching and an affair with a married man, they come back and now "he loves me more than ever, our children are A+ students, we have moved into a million dollar lakefront home and our new business is booming!"

Well, it's a matter of perspective. Most Christians consider the worship of some other "god" to be worshiping Satan. This story is likely written from that perspective. It's not saying that Wiccans acknowledge worshiping Satan, but that from the writers present perspective he/she was worshiping Satan as opposed to nature (as is claimed within Wicca). Any worship not given to the God of the Christian religion, rather to something or someone else, is worship of Satan from their perspective (whether it is Allah, Zeus, nature, humanity, etc.).

Now it's not to say that converting from one faith to another doesn't happen, I'm just questioning the validity of these stories that get passed around a lot.

Well, good. It's pretty obvious that they're BS.

One (of the many) things I found sad about Chris' story was the need to burn books. It might be okay if said books were tracts on, say, hide parchment or hemp, so everyone can inhale deeply at the burnings and have themselves their own little experience to thank their "god" for.
Other than that ... small does of Hitler, anyone?
I think they are kind of like the stories you find in those "true love" magazines, where women supposedly write long letters to the editor explaining how they found that their husband had cheated, so they left him and moved out of the trailer park, but after long soul searching and an affair with a married man, they come back and now "he loves me more than ever, our children are A+ students, we have moved into a million dollar lakefront home and our new business is booming!"
You mean that's not true? There's like 5 posters here who claim that!

I think it's possible to find a true story about someone who thinks they have escaped the grip of evil, but I'm pretty sure the story you posted is fake.

Very probably actually, since it's about what the person thinks they're imperiled by, however displaced the sentiment might be.
*nods*

Because rational people would at least attempt to make their side seem credible.

That's the point of testimonials and revivals, isn't it?

Maybe they prayed to the wrong god? hehe ;)

Not a doubt in my mind, given the texts they use as their base for understanding so-called "higher powers".

There's no such thing as Satan, only God when he's drunk.

There's no such thing as Satan, only God when he's drunk.

To paraphrase Ifreann,

Winner of Thread.

From time to time, I'd hear stories that are brought up in the Christian religion about how people were converted from other religion and the phrase "grasp" "devil" "evil" "saved" "light" "dark" etc. always comes up in these stories. What I always find interesting about these stories is that....they're rarely cited, in fact I never seen any of these stories cited. All I see is a name like "Chris" or "Debbie" or "Matt." Sorry, but that's not citation. Here's one that is very popular, it's from someone named "Chris".
Is this the same "Chris" who was mentioned in Dear Abbey? If so, he's not at all what he claims.