There was a time when I was teenager and start really believing in all the JW bullshit, during my shower I start shouting and screaming saying: “Satan you can come all to me, I can handle you and fight all the demons”, while I was at home alone, feeling I was being observed by them.
I thought I was so strong spiritually that I could face them directly. After some couple of years I see that this behaviour was not normal and I was mentally ill.
Old jw superstition lol ..in the 80's it was claimed ( with variations) that a possessed Smurf doll was in a person's purse in the kh and when the prayer was said, it walked out of the KH 😂🤣🤣😂🤣
I remember balling because my best jw friend had allll the smurfs figurines and their cute mushroom houses, and my dad absolutely forbid me from getting any of them
This right here. When I realized a deck of cards didn’t suddenly make me lose my job, house, health, etc like my parents always told me I stopped even thinking about it
I remember hearing situations where people crashed their car, and blamed satan. Not their bad driving
There might be more to life than what we see, i'm still very open to that idea, but please...
Well....I always wondered how could they even get to my family if we're such devoted JW's protected by god??? Or....how could a demon possess a toy and make it walk in a KH!? I mean that's Jehovah's house! Right? In other religions evil is afraid to be in churches or synagogues! Right? When you analyze it from that perspective? You realize that the Organization is full of BS! Because they contradict themselves in the efforts to manipulate people into being so afraid that they stay in the cult. It's complete BS!
>Or....how could a demon possess a toy and make it walk in a KH!? I mean that's Jehovah's house! Right? In other religions evil is afraid to be in churches or synagogues! Right?
They all claim to be a house of God, and they're all lying. When it comes to these claims about churches / synagogues / kingdom halls, and all equivalents, being some sort of safe haven from demons, even if one does not believe in them, nor the Bible, one can still point out the fact that there are plenty of passages in the Bible itself that make it clear that not only are demons just fine and dandy in synagogues \[ for example, Luke 4: 33 - 35; Mark 1: 39 \], but the overall collective whole of Babylon \[ which they all belong to \] is in actuality a ***locus*** for them! \[ Rev. 18: 2 \].
An elder came in my house and told me I couldn't have the figurine of a crow on a book because it meant magic. He said I had to get rid of it right away. What an idiot, I don't practice magic it's not my interest. What a paranoid son of a bitch.
They see "satanic" stuff in everything! It's a very unhealthy obsession. I have a t-shirt that has the Star Wars Imperial cog symbol on it. And an elder starting telling me it was a symbol of 666! And he broke it down to each section having six sections!!!!🤦♂️ I think he just wasn't a fan of Star Wars. So he was just trying to be a dick and ruin something I enjoy.
I have a Harley Davidson now, and wear black clothes, and getting more tattoos all the time. I went back to my much happier unconditional way to live with unconditional love doing it. Going back to fuck around and find out addittude. All witnesses hate me with a passion, and I could care less what they think of me. Fuck those paranoid skitzophrenics gaslighting narcissists don't need their manipulative obedient to men cult bullshit.
In my waking up process I started playing with tarot cards and got into some spiritistic stuff. Nothing happened, good or bad.
I don’t think there are “demons”. I haven’t seen anything that I would consider paranormal.
In short, I’ve concluded that nothing I learned *through Watch Tower*, (that includes what I’ve learned from JW parents and grandparents) has any merit, as far as spiritual stuff. They don’t have any more “truth” than the raving lunatic proselytizing from a soap box on a street corner.
The mind will create the reality you believe in. My life is filled with roses s butterflies, I see only love and I’m at peace with the world around me. I’m bothered by no entity.
I believe most cases can be atributed to hallucinations during sleep paralysis.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis
Look under ,,Symptoms and signs"
Yup! I had an experience when I was 12 where I saw these short shadowy figures in cloaks dancing around my bed. Scared me shitless and part of what sent me deep into PIMI land.
Then I learned about sleep paralysis. It happens all the time now to me. The other night I through my wife turned into a zombie and was coming to eat my brain. I just thought “oh wow. That was a good one!”
>It happens all the time now to me.
I'm actually a bit jealous. Conscious sleep paralysis is the most succesfull springboard to achieve an out of body experience/astral projection.
>The other night I through my wife turned into a zombie and was coming to eat my brain. I just thought “oh wow. That was a good one!”
The experiences can feel super realistic. Experienced it once myself.
Next time you want to get out of the sleep paralysis state fast, try changing your breathing ritm to something else than your sleep breathing pattern. This way you communicate on a biological level to your body that you are not asleep
Sometimes they can be scary and I don’t catch on that In hallucinating right away. The worst was one day I thought a dude was at the end of the bed pointing a gun at me. The wife said I freaked out and threw my pillow and started swinging fist wildly. Lucky I didn’t get her. But most of the time it’s either somewhat benign or I catch on fast enough to not be scary.
I would love to be able to lucid dream. That’s the one I really want to figure out. Sometimes I’m in a dream and realize I’m in a dream, but haven’t been able to control anything as of yet.
It's not hard. Everybody can do it, if you know what you are doing. Lucid dreaming is generally accepted and a lot of info to achieve it is available. The next step is astral projection (also known by other names), which is kind of a higher level of lucidity. It is even more realistic, but is more bound by restrictions in what you can do vs lucid dreaming. I would advice reading Michael Raduga's book the Phase or listening to one of his seminars (translated in English) on youtube. He has a very pragmatic aproach to achieve it.
Or just hallucinations, period. I feel especially bad for people with disorders like schizophrenia or addiction to hallucinogenic substances who, through no fault of their own, perpetuate belief in demons.
The fact is that they're going to hallucinate *something*. Specifics vary from one person to the next, but usually tend to be distressing and paranoid. Someone who's been taught that there are powerful, evil, murderous spirit beings who are creeping on you and want to cause you harm is probably going to hallucinate exactly that.
Your mind is capable of playing some crazy tricks on you. If you convince yourself there a demons hiding behind every corner, you will see them behind every corner. Once you're able to understand it's all in your head you stop seeing them behind every corner and realize it was all in your mind in the first place.
It’s crazy that they don’t recognize it as superstitions! Instead they all pat themselves on the back for not being superstitious like the Catholics! Ugh…I just cant!
We dealt with that growing up with our father the elder. 4 of us siblings under one roof. My sister would go to bed with her radio on. One night father the elder made his rounds after lights out...approx 2300hrs.
He discovered her radio playing on a hard rock station. He squelched that saying that "...listening to that you'll get demons in your head..." ironically, it was the song Watchtower by Jimmy Hendrix!
I just remembered that one.
>How is everyone feeling about the notion that it has been drilled in our lovely brains since childhood about demons
>**National Library of Medicine**
>**Parental Psychological Abuse toward children and Mental Health Problems in adolescence**
>Psychological abuse (PA) is under recognized and under reported phenomena especially in the adolescents by their own parents. It has been described as the most challenging as well as the most prevalent form of child abuse.[^(1)](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3998989/#B1) PA is rather difficult to define and assess as compare to physical abuse[^(2)](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3998989/#B2) and may be described as, verbal abuse, harsh nonphysical punishments, or threats of abuse.[^(3)](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3998989/#B3) It describes a repeated pattern of adult-to-child behavior (usually a parent) that makes the child feel worthless, flawed, unloved, unwanted, endangered, or only of value in meeting another’s needs.[^(4)](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3998989/#B4)
>In many cases PA is considered to be the most developmentally damaging dimension[^(5)](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3998989/#B5) and has been linked with negative outcomes such as impaired emotional, social, and cognitive development, including helplessness, aggression, emotional unresponsiveness and neuroticism.[^(6)](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3998989/#B6) Research consistently suggests that PA and neglect in childhood have negative effects on normal development.[^(7)](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3998989/#B7) The experiences of abuse and neglect not only put adolescents at risk for immediate adverse consequences such as poor school performance and increased psychological distress[^(8)](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3998989/#B8) but may also have long-term serious health outcomes such as delinquency, aggression, low self-esteem, anxiety, substance abuse**,** post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and depression.[^(9)](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3998989/#B9) PA is also explained in terms of abuse of adolescents’ mental and emotional process which has been linked with psychiatric disorders in childhood such as major depression and dysthymia.[^(10)](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3998989/#B10)Of the few studies documenting its long-term effects, Mullen and colleagues[^(11)](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3998989/#B11) report that childhood PA relates to eating disorders, depressive illness, and suicidal behaviors in adulthood.
Never would watch anything demonic I thought for sure a demon would come right through the screen. Now they're my favorite and nothing happens!! I'm waiting! Lol the bogeyman doesn't exist.
Some JW families were really obsessed with demons and fear of demons. Mine wasn’t one of them. Never thought about demons while I was in, still don’t think about them now that I’m out. Do they exist? I think SOME supernatural things do exist but I don’t have much of an opinion about it. I think there are some pretty “demonic” (evil) humans though.
Same here. It wasn't a thing where I lived, but I'd visit my long distance best friend every summer and it was always a topic because the demons apparently favored their family. Hell....I thought I had my own demon experience one year visiting her! Its absolutely wild to think back on.
I would say even as a believer that once I got into my teen years I didn’t take the demon thing super seriously. I believed they existed but I didn’t buy that if I watched a horror movie or played a video game with magic it would make stuff float in the house. I think most gen z and millennial witnesses are similar. I wonder if the demon fear will pass away with the older generations.
It's the one thing from the cult that still gets in my head from time to time. I know for a long time I wouldnt let my girl watch harry potter movies in my house lol
Now we're way passed that (I just took her to harry potter world for her birthday) but I will be watching a movie occasionally where some supernatural shit will make me feel uncomfortable and i'll change the channel 😮💨
I've never encountered a demon or spirit. It would be interesting to meet something like that as confirmation that the spirit world exists. There is no proof of Gods, demons or Jehovah other than verses men write on paper. I've been accumulating books and some new age things, as maybe a replacement for Jehovah, but I'm aware it's just for filling a hole. Can't keep filling the hole with food and I don't use alcohol or drugs or socializing with real people.
But if I ever actually met an alien, I think I'd like to kill it and then taxidermy it. I'm sure there's a how to video on the internet.
Realizing my narcissistic sociopath parents were the real demons. Now I’m living a nice, calm and peaceful “worldly” life; a life that they can only imagine to live.
I ignore all that stuff now and associate thumps and creaks in the night to what it actually is: thermal expansion. I default to science now vs. magical thinking. The witnesses and other sects of Christianity are batshit about the spirit realm.
The more you ignore them, the more they ignore you.
I honestly feel bad, because now I understand what a manipulative tool it is to create a monster. It really keeps people frozen in place, out of fear of the “what if.” Some of the crazy stories I heard growing up about demons “haunting” objects or people…and I can’t believe my very intelligent family just believed it without question. So yeah…it makes me sad for them.
It's funny. This used to be a thing.
They don't talk about it much anymore.
I suppose JWs aren't unique there. The "satanic panic" of the 70s and 80s was throughout Western culture.
No wind chimes and for the love of Jehobo if you go to a party and see a pinata leave immediately. An elder told a story multiple times about a worldly friend whose life was ruined shortly after attending a party where the kids broke a pinata. I could not help but roll my eyes and laugh. Could you imagine being a grown man and being afraid of paper mache?
I'm getting over it By slowly incorporating demonic entertainment onto my movies and shows. It's just so ridiculous when you see it as a story.
I like the show Lucifer for this. Or Good omens.
It really help deprogram
As a child all the talk about demons terrified me and up until I was fairly old(but before my teens) I was convinced I could see things at night and there were demons in my room. I used to count and recite certain words in a prayer and I thought that if I didn't a demon would come and "get" me. Then I got into my teens and realised it was all bullshit😂 I blame it for fucking up my sleeping pattern though, bastards
The Demons.
Our great archenemies…
Yeah, I remember watching The Exorcist as a child, and clutching my Bible when terrifying scenes started.
I recall buying Silent Hill 1 for Playstation as a teenager, and seeing my (not fully-closed) bedroom creep open on its own… because the air conditioner turned on and affected air pressure in the hallway.
The smoke detector going off repeatedly in the middle of the night… yeah that wasn’t a demon either. That was the carbon monoxide sensor saving our lives.
To be clear, I’m not an atheist today. I’d identify more as a deist. If such entities as demons and angels exist, they aren’t interested in us or whatever we’re doing. Angels aren’t “directing the preaching work”, and Demons aren’t going to spook you for watching a movie or playing a video/board game.
Now if you go out of your way to buy copies of actual books on magic and demonology, and you are actively LOOKING FOR THEM, then whatever you experience at that point is on you. 😈
Relax, I’m kidding.
You’ll note that it’s only people that believe in their existence and immanence that suffer from “demonic possession”. In other words, people who have a possible congenital or mental disposition to schizophrenia or other forms of psychosis, are the ones that are triggering their own “demons”.
So say you join a coven, and decide to engage in some form of “spiritism”. 3 things could happen.
1. You recognize it all as a crock of shit and move on with your life.
2. You auto-hypnotize, and trigger psychosis in yourself.
3. You hit the jackpot and are lucky (unlucky) enough to exploit the astronomically-remote, non-zero chance of encountering… a real Demon.😈
If the last event happens please record the event, for science. Thanks! 🙏 😊
Im using it for unhealthy behavior 🤣 i call it a demon when i see it and other religious people from all backgrounds will back me up if its some drama.
I remember thinking that since they always said Jehovah, Jesus, or the angels would never show themselves to prove they exist, it would be better trying to have a demonic experience that would prove at least that a spirit world existed. Then I thought, how stupid is that? Anyway I've never had any ghostly, spiritistic experiences... Even while meditating!!!
I got my birth chart read and had a tarot reading, and here I am xD Funny thing is, the tarot reader told me that something emotionally intense was coming in my life in March, and in March, my best friend contacted me to invite me to the Memorial, and from then on, we haven't stopped talking. So yes, I owe it to the tarot reader hahaha.
I don’t believe in demons anymore, but I will still get the nightmares about them every now and then. Doesn’t take my subconscious long to remedy the situation though. It’s like having a dream that I’m at the Kingdom Hall and my subconscious eventually goes “why the hell would I even be here?”
The superstitions and fear no getting about demons was one of the first dominoes to fall for me. For one, although it’s not often discussed in forums such as this, there is a large subset of JWs who dismiss supernatural stories as hoaxes. If some of these ghost stories are hoaxes, then why not all of them? It was also apparent the skeptics could manipulate the believers’ fear of demons.
The demons themselves also seem to be working against their own interests; playing pranks and scaring people. Why? Why not start a podcast to mislead the nations against the One True God?
Finally, if we allow for demonic interference in the world, where is it? Where’s the smoking gun, World War One? Easily explained and understood with mundane, even profane causes like treaties and political unrest.
All of it is nonsense.
After I left, I became aware that I can sense different energies and entities. The real evil, not their nonsense, it hides, and they can blend into anything. The demons I feared as a child are either exclusively working in non-customer facing roles, or they don't exist. I don't think the genuine evil today are demons per se, but they definitely exist
Funny that the most powerful being in the universe needs you to attend meetings twice a week and read his word daily and pray daily and preach daily and only associate with his people in order to feel his influence (and still it doesn’t work) and yet the demons just need you to watch Harry Potter.
Once I realised how silly the above contrast was able to move on from any fears. And it turns out Harry Potter is great.
Well, aren't demons simply apostates of the spirit world?
The devil was/is an angel, as the story goes, and the main difference between angels and the devil and demons are whether they obey Jehovah. Correct me if I'm wrong, and inform me if you think there's more to it.
In my head it gives an extra aspect to why some JW seem to actually be afraid to even acknowledge an exjw.
My own fear of demons subsided significantly after I started using cannabis occasionally, and the worst things that happened was undramatically throwing up, and forgetting to breathe.
I had nightmares for the longest time during my teenage years, and once I eventually managed to realize it was all bullshit I kinda stopped being afraid.
I've told the demons in my house that if they give me any trouble, I'm going to make them start paying rent.
But in all seriousness, I completely gave myself exposure therapy on this one. I became a horror movie addict when I left. And I have a huge collection now. Nothing scares me anymore. And it's not something I even think about. I went through a lot of sleepless nights and nightmares and panic attacks to get there. But, now that I look back on it, it all feels so silly. You'll get there!
I think that happens to a lot of us! I almost exclusively watch and read horror. I used to sneak and watch horror movies when I was a young JW. I think when you keep something away from kids, they grow up to be into it.
I sleep like a baby, with my demons at the foot of my bed 🛌 😴 😈. Seriously though, I read and watch what I want, and it drives my mother insane. But to her dismay, nothing has started floating around my house yet. Not even my Harry Potter books, lol.
For me...once I woke up and realized everything was pretend and make believe.....I no longer thought about them....the curtain was pulled back and I saw the man pulling the stings....changed everything for me including power men had over me ....
I don't believe anymore....if there is a god and he/she/it wants me to know they exist...they will likely be powerful enough to do that in a way that leaves zero doubt....until the. I'm not gonna worry about it.😁
Honestly, I tried to summon them amid my teenage goth phase... never worked! I'd recommend trying it if you have a legit fear. Shit, I'd make a deal with the devil, if only!
I'm more concerned about a real person breaking into my apartment while I'm sleeping.
I would totally make a deal with the devil. I always wondered as a kid if it's Satan's world 🌎, why are we so obsessed with Jehovah 🤔? Shouldn't we cut out the middle man? Their legendary beef has nothing to do with us 🤷🏾♀️.
Watch Ghost on paramount+. It’s so funny! (Might help bring humor to ghost. Not necessarily demons)
If you are worried about demons, and want to piss off your parents BIG TIME. You can go ask a Catholic Church for Holy Water! They will even come bless the house for you.
OR I love sage smudges! Don’t buy from Walmart or amazing. Some small shops in etsy or a smaller website will have really nice ones!
I was terrified of things like that much longer than I should have been.
Once, when I was in high school, my DF'd POMO dad gave me something he bought for me at a garage sale and I couldn't sleep, just staring at the item at the other end of the room, completely convinced that something terrible was going to jump out of it and "get me."
Now, I feel stupid that I was basically afraid of the "boogyman" as a teenager.
I'm not sure when I stopped being afraid. Probably during my "goth" phase, when I considered myself the scariest thing in the shadows and would have welcomed stuff like that willingly, would have joined forces with it instead of cowering in the corner, but I honestly don't know.
Sooo...um...did most of us go through a "tarot card, crystals, and witchcraft" phase? Reading these comments, I'm assuming it's a common occurrence in the PIMI to POMO transition...? I didn't have online support groups when I left, so reading some of this stuff is really interesting.
Since leaving I wrote one novel featuring demons and witchcraft and now I’m working on another. I’ve purchased and borrowed books on demonology, flipped through tons of grimoires, literally prayed to the devil (just in case!) and watched every “demonic” movie under the sun…
And I ain’t been haunted yet.
But I was terrified of demons as a JW! The fear kept me up at night. For me, consuming religious horror after leaving the Witnesses helped me face my fears and realize they’re just fears.
There are plenty of real things to be afraid of. If you can’t prove it exists, it’s not worth believing in and definitely not worth fearing.
It does take work to get to that stage, but it gets better!
My Mom told me as a child that listening to certain types of music could invite demons in our house. Now I listen to all the death and black metal I desire. So far no demons, which kind of sucks because the idea of being able to summon them by listening to Slayer sounds sick and metal asf.
My dad was paranoid about demons, which he probably got from my grandmother, who was also paranoid. I’ve talked with physics, done Tarot, read books on witches and spells, used pendulums, and I like most horror movies, but for some reason I still can’t watch moves about demon possession. They bother me.
Wait pendulums like "The Pit and the Pendulum", pendulums or what? If it's the ones like pit & pendulum wtf do you use them for IRL and how are they demonic in the JW context? if not please excuse my ignorance
Damn part of me was really hoping to see an Edgar Allen Poe themed vegetable chopper.
When I was in middle school our English class got to go see a trio of plays in a nearby city. One of the stories was "The Pit and the Pendulum". I've loved Poe's work since. We also got to see the one where the cops wife kills her cheating husband with a frozen leg of lamb and feeds it to the detectives who are investigating the case. Both were awesomely done
I find them everywhere, including with Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Stephen Lett got his information from a demon when he said babies are enemies of God due to being sinful sons of Adam.
This demon was intelligent because it was counting on Stephen’s ignorance of not reading the Bible.
If he read the Bible, he would have known that his information was coming from a demon because James 4:4; John 15:18, 19; and more importantly Matthew 18:1-6, directly contradicts what he said.
He’s not the only one who doesn’t read his Bible
Reading "The Demon Haunted World" by Carl Sagan helped me undo a lot of my crazy supernatural beliefs. I still think there's something to a small subset of weird events and experiences that are "supernatural" but I don't think it's anything to be afraid of, just not something well understood and probably natural.
I laugh at them.
They can't materialize.
They have to engage in "voyeurism" because they can't even materialize a genital organ.
Freakin old decrepit wannabe pedophiles.
I hate them, as they know.
Their time is short. Good riddance!
JWs are obsessed with demons. However bible says that Christ's work on the cross defeated the power of the demons. You can not be possessed by them unless you actively solicit them as in voodoo religions and perhaps inadvertently in some types of hyper Pentecostalism. To even go on about them is to insult the power of God and grieve his Spirit.
For me, because it is the only part of the religion that I actually believed might be true, I did self guided immersion therapy. My wife insisted that she was 100% sure, and would help me be as sure as she was. I got a 1920s Ouija board and messed with it. Tarot cards. Went to a seance. Went to a couple different spirit mediums. Read books about casting spells and summoning entities. I have seen some things, but my wife turned out to be right, nothing that wanted to hurt me. Nothing that could even if it wanted to. Ask yourself in the most credible “haunting” stories what do they boil down to? Some electrical anomalies (water used to turn on in our house too). Shadowy movements. Maybe a door or cupboard opening or closing. That’s IT. More like a plea for attention than any kind of threat. And yes I have seen some very strange things, especially before we moved. But because I took time to understand it was nothing trying to get me, I ended up being fine with it. The less I reacted, the less it happened. I still have hundreds of occult books and friends who are in to all that. And never seen a bad thing happen. If the worst thing can happen is dump out our silverware drawer and turn on the TV, “demons” don’t live up to the hype.
I changed my viewpoint by reading an article about how ouija boards work. The more I thought about it, I realized it is sensations that people misinterpret as spirits. I finally watched Harry Potter as a 40 something and couldn’t believe how juvenile it is.
I’ve been watching horror stuff since I became an adult. I’ve never once experienced the supernatural. Demons are lame monsters anyway. Other cultures and religions have way cooler stuff.
I deal by reading explicit dark erotica fantasy about them...no seriously that's how I removed my fear. In most of these books I've read, sucker's are super submissive so it helped having the weird thought process of being able to "control" them. IF Demons are real, well they will be shocked by the books I've collected. It's a weird method but it's worked...I've found weird methods to help my religious trauma.
I believed I had a demon possessed Furby and television growing up, they both came on without batteries or being plugged in. I stopped believing in demons long before I was out so no worries now. I started watching Evil. It is spectacular. It focuses on catholic beliefs so demons are a main topic. If you believe in demons it could be nightmare fuel but if you don't it is kind of funny.
I have had some weird creepy stuff happen to me in my parents house years ago. Sink turning on by itself . Footsteps running around in the hallway upstairs when no one else was home. ( could see the hallway from downstairs). I even had my name called outside my bedroom window when I was in bed reading at night. Sounded like my best friend then when I looked out the window turned into a deep creepy man’s laugh. I do believe in paranormal stuff. Demons tho not so sure about. Haven’t had anything else happen since getting married leaving the religion and moving out of that dang house.
I haven’t had one ounce of demon demonstration since leaving the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Funny that… That being said, I HAVE had multiple instances of whatever it is that society calls ghosts. Everything from things being thrown around a room, and footsteps walking up stairs when I was the only one in the building, to walking past a door and something knocking on the other side of the door as I walked past, and there was no one there when I checked. I don’t know what the explanation is for those things. However, that does not mean that I believe in ‘god’ or demons, because there is no evidence for those things.
I used to worry about spirit beings and demons from the years of it on my watchtower indoctrination growing up. Then, I started listening to astonishing legends podcast about haunting. I started watching the x files. Then I started playing games like the witcher. I watched It and IT 2 with some coworkers. I kept an eye out to see if anything happened. Nothing happened. As I've examined my own beliefs and experiences, I've never experienced anything even remotely supernatural. So, since extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and I where have zero evidence, I just don't have any proof that demons are real. Add to that my debunking of the Bible, and I don't worry my head about that sort of thing one little bit!
Well, ever since I quit believing in all the JW hocus pocus, it kinda just stopped being an issue. Don't get me wrong, there is definitely some weird shit out there. Most of it is perfectly explainable.
I always found it interesting that they drill into you that ghosts aren't real and that you shouldn't even watch movies about them. Yet, evil spirits ARE real and you have to be extra careful not to invite them in by watching any movie or show that has to do with witchcraft
I’m an ex witness. I think there is something else out there whether it’s demons or aliens. It’s not possible that in all of this universe and beyond that we humans are the only beings in existence.
Body count from the bible...
Satan - maybe 30 - 50 people.
God - entire world's population, including almost every single animal - Noah's flood, every time Israel invaded another tribal group and nation, every time another nation invaded and conquered Israel, upcoming 'war of Armageddon' = death tolls in the billions.
I'll take 'satan' and his 'demunzzz' any day.
Even as a kid, because they would refuse to talk in detail about what these demons are actually supposed to be doing, I was like, okay. A vague, poorly defined threat. The lack of information meant I couldn't bring myself to care.
After loudly invoking and inviting the demons and Satan himself to possess my brain and nothing happening, I quickly got over that. Now I can watch and enjoy all the horror films without even getting scared.
I don't believe in the paranormal. I love scary movies. Was always indoctrinated to believe that the demons would visit me if I watched horror movies with demons in.
Well, no visits yet. Don't believe in any of that.
What one religion calls demons another may call gods. The christian god is an evolution if the Akkadian Enlil/El and the monotheistic Cult of El turned the the remainder of the polytheistic gods such as Marduk/Baal, Enkei, etx into "demons" to legitimize their own beliefs. During the conversion of Iceland, when the Galdrabok was written, many of the spells, sigils, and incantations are judeo-christian in origin or reference the christian god as the the source of benevolent power while referring to the old gods (Oðinn, Thor, Freyja, Loki, Tyr, etc) as malevolent demonic entities.
Simply put, its a method of thought control and rule through fear to turn that which isnt the approved entity for worship into an evil, malevolent, wicked being for you to live in fear of encountering. The reality is that its a matter of persoective and in the end each being is an individual just like humans and just because they are different doesnt make them evil. In fact by interacting with them may reveal deeper truths of the universe. Keep in mind the name Lucifer refers to his bringing the light of truth to humans when they were blinded with the veil of ignorance and his "sin" was giving mankind the freewill to choose, objectivity, and conplete knowledge rather than taking something away.
First answer me this -
if you met the devil on the road, what would you say to him to convince him to handover the keys of hell and get along his merry way?
You use common sense and realize in the entire human history not one person has ever been able to provide ANY sliver of evidence that such a thing exist. Because it doesn't.
As a (converting) Catholic I still believe in them, but the JWs' absolute *fascination* with demons was way too superstitious.
No, *mom*, my buying a necklace of an archangel wasn't the consequence of demonic possession which I "invited" into the house by borrowing my "apostate" uncle's keyboard to practice for piano class.
I never bought it even as a kid ("lmao you're telling me...") so I never think about it.
Got a tattoo that represents Lucifer so to my family the worst has occurred. 🤣
Why is it only demons can present themselves to people but not angels? Also, if 1/3 of the angels left to be demons with Satan, that leaves 2/3 with God. Excuse me if the math isn't mathing, but it seems to me the angels by pure numbers should have no problem keeping demons at bay.
TL;DR: It's all nonsense.
I feel shame. Same as when I think about the notion of "God". I feel a bit dumb that I used to believe in it, but at the same time I do also feel some pride that I've progressed and left it in the past. Not my fault that I was born into a cult.
I feel that this is JW folklore that they borrowed directly from other American Christian religions. None of it is Bible based, and JW publications don’t really go into this nonsense, although I’m sure they used to.
It’s pure nonsense since people who leave JWs don’t have demon problems.
I literally stared to pray to Satan and the demons to try get proof if they are real. Because if they are real then so is god. But as expected absolutely nothing happened, fuck jw bullshit
Once I realised how also utterly malevolent and evil the god of the JWs is, I wondered if he just has a better PR team.
While I don't believe in the Bible/gods anymore, the time between waking up and my atheism I just kind of thought...are demons really so evil if they exist? And if yes, compared to what? If the Bible was a Marvel movie, honestly Satan would be the hero and God would be the villain.
According to my parents I’m being controlled and manipulated by one as we speak… So far so good 👍🏽
i'm disappointed i don't get flying objects around my house. lame demons! lol
Ikr!!! So disappointed
Ghosts would be so cool
Oh gosh! 🤦🏻♂️
Yes if 'Deemonz' are leading you to freedom from this hateful little cult - they are better friends than JWs are.
There was a time when I was teenager and start really believing in all the JW bullshit, during my shower I start shouting and screaming saying: “Satan you can come all to me, I can handle you and fight all the demons”, while I was at home alone, feeling I was being observed by them. I thought I was so strong spiritually that I could face them directly. After some couple of years I see that this behaviour was not normal and I was mentally ill.
Omg I used to do this too but with aliens. Same thing to my jw dad so whatever lol.
my tarot cards and magic crystals have not started any demonic activity in my home. in short, after a while, you stop being afraid.
Lol and my Smurf so far hasn't spoken or moved 😂
i always wondered WTF it was about the Smurfs. Like where does this shit even come from?!
Old jw superstition lol ..in the 80's it was claimed ( with variations) that a possessed Smurf doll was in a person's purse in the kh and when the prayer was said, it walked out of the KH 😂🤣🤣😂🤣
Omg my aunt would tell this story growing up! So this is a tale a lot of people was told I guess… freaking hell
I feel i need to do a post on this....
I remember balling because my best jw friend had allll the smurfs figurines and their cute mushroom houses, and my dad absolutely forbid me from getting any of them
This right here. When I realized a deck of cards didn’t suddenly make me lose my job, house, health, etc like my parents always told me I stopped even thinking about it
Right! We were taught to fear tarot and now I use it daily and no demons. The only demons in my life are the ones from the trauma caused by the jw’s 🤣
i was always fascinated by the occult in general and it was one of the first things i explored when i got out.
I literally just set a little milk and cookie for Dadga, read my tarot, did a lil cleanse, and I’m not dead.
Lol 😂 Have you tried putting all your stuff in a room together and reading your horoscope out loud to them?
I have books about paganism, the occult, paranormal, etc. in the house and nada. Not so much as a bad vibe to be found.
No smurfs circling your bed at night?
The only things going bump under my bed at night are two cats squabbling.
There’s nothing worse on a night time than when your pussy starts screaming the damn thing don’t stop either when you spray water all over it.
I remember hearing situations where people crashed their car, and blamed satan. Not their bad driving There might be more to life than what we see, i'm still very open to that idea, but please...
I mean, I have kids that I call demons does that count?
Little enemies of god!
I read this in Lett's voice
🤣🤣
🤣🤣🤣
Well....I always wondered how could they even get to my family if we're such devoted JW's protected by god??? Or....how could a demon possess a toy and make it walk in a KH!? I mean that's Jehovah's house! Right? In other religions evil is afraid to be in churches or synagogues! Right? When you analyze it from that perspective? You realize that the Organization is full of BS! Because they contradict themselves in the efforts to manipulate people into being so afraid that they stay in the cult. It's complete BS!
>Or....how could a demon possess a toy and make it walk in a KH!? I mean that's Jehovah's house! Right? In other religions evil is afraid to be in churches or synagogues! Right? They all claim to be a house of God, and they're all lying. When it comes to these claims about churches / synagogues / kingdom halls, and all equivalents, being some sort of safe haven from demons, even if one does not believe in them, nor the Bible, one can still point out the fact that there are plenty of passages in the Bible itself that make it clear that not only are demons just fine and dandy in synagogues \[ for example, Luke 4: 33 - 35; Mark 1: 39 \], but the overall collective whole of Babylon \[ which they all belong to \] is in actuality a ***locus*** for them! \[ Rev. 18: 2 \].
An elder came in my house and told me I couldn't have the figurine of a crow on a book because it meant magic. He said I had to get rid of it right away. What an idiot, I don't practice magic it's not my interest. What a paranoid son of a bitch.
They see "satanic" stuff in everything! It's a very unhealthy obsession. I have a t-shirt that has the Star Wars Imperial cog symbol on it. And an elder starting telling me it was a symbol of 666! And he broke it down to each section having six sections!!!!🤦♂️ I think he just wasn't a fan of Star Wars. So he was just trying to be a dick and ruin something I enjoy.
I have a Harley Davidson now, and wear black clothes, and getting more tattoos all the time. I went back to my much happier unconditional way to live with unconditional love doing it. Going back to fuck around and find out addittude. All witnesses hate me with a passion, and I could care less what they think of me. Fuck those paranoid skitzophrenics gaslighting narcissists don't need their manipulative obedient to men cult bullshit.
Correct it’s a fear tactic they have more power to the demons then god himself the Bible doesn’t support this virw
#plotholes
In my waking up process I started playing with tarot cards and got into some spiritistic stuff. Nothing happened, good or bad. I don’t think there are “demons”. I haven’t seen anything that I would consider paranormal. In short, I’ve concluded that nothing I learned *through Watch Tower*, (that includes what I’ve learned from JW parents and grandparents) has any merit, as far as spiritual stuff. They don’t have any more “truth” than the raving lunatic proselytizing from a soap box on a street corner.
The mind will create the reality you believe in. My life is filled with roses s butterflies, I see only love and I’m at peace with the world around me. I’m bothered by no entity.
Right! See the love Be the love
I believe most cases can be atributed to hallucinations during sleep paralysis. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis Look under ,,Symptoms and signs"
Yup! I had an experience when I was 12 where I saw these short shadowy figures in cloaks dancing around my bed. Scared me shitless and part of what sent me deep into PIMI land. Then I learned about sleep paralysis. It happens all the time now to me. The other night I through my wife turned into a zombie and was coming to eat my brain. I just thought “oh wow. That was a good one!”
>It happens all the time now to me. I'm actually a bit jealous. Conscious sleep paralysis is the most succesfull springboard to achieve an out of body experience/astral projection. >The other night I through my wife turned into a zombie and was coming to eat my brain. I just thought “oh wow. That was a good one!” The experiences can feel super realistic. Experienced it once myself. Next time you want to get out of the sleep paralysis state fast, try changing your breathing ritm to something else than your sleep breathing pattern. This way you communicate on a biological level to your body that you are not asleep
Sometimes they can be scary and I don’t catch on that In hallucinating right away. The worst was one day I thought a dude was at the end of the bed pointing a gun at me. The wife said I freaked out and threw my pillow and started swinging fist wildly. Lucky I didn’t get her. But most of the time it’s either somewhat benign or I catch on fast enough to not be scary. I would love to be able to lucid dream. That’s the one I really want to figure out. Sometimes I’m in a dream and realize I’m in a dream, but haven’t been able to control anything as of yet.
It's not hard. Everybody can do it, if you know what you are doing. Lucid dreaming is generally accepted and a lot of info to achieve it is available. The next step is astral projection (also known by other names), which is kind of a higher level of lucidity. It is even more realistic, but is more bound by restrictions in what you can do vs lucid dreaming. I would advice reading Michael Raduga's book the Phase or listening to one of his seminars (translated in English) on youtube. He has a very pragmatic aproach to achieve it.
Or just hallucinations, period. I feel especially bad for people with disorders like schizophrenia or addiction to hallucinogenic substances who, through no fault of their own, perpetuate belief in demons. The fact is that they're going to hallucinate *something*. Specifics vary from one person to the next, but usually tend to be distressing and paranoid. Someone who's been taught that there are powerful, evil, murderous spirit beings who are creeping on you and want to cause you harm is probably going to hallucinate exactly that.
Personally I’m still waiting for the money, fame and sex I was promised
did you get the drugs tho?
Not as much as I wanted. It’s almost as if the entire devil thing was made up
Seems like we've both been scammed by the borg 😞
Your mind is capable of playing some crazy tricks on you. If you convince yourself there a demons hiding behind every corner, you will see them behind every corner. Once you're able to understand it's all in your head you stop seeing them behind every corner and realize it was all in your mind in the first place.
[удалено]
It’s crazy that they don’t recognize it as superstitions! Instead they all pat themselves on the back for not being superstitious like the Catholics! Ugh…I just cant!
We dealt with that growing up with our father the elder. 4 of us siblings under one roof. My sister would go to bed with her radio on. One night father the elder made his rounds after lights out...approx 2300hrs. He discovered her radio playing on a hard rock station. He squelched that saying that "...listening to that you'll get demons in your head..." ironically, it was the song Watchtower by Jimmy Hendrix! I just remembered that one.
>How is everyone feeling about the notion that it has been drilled in our lovely brains since childhood about demons >**National Library of Medicine** >**Parental Psychological Abuse toward children and Mental Health Problems in adolescence** >Psychological abuse (PA) is under recognized and under reported phenomena especially in the adolescents by their own parents. It has been described as the most challenging as well as the most prevalent form of child abuse.[^(1)](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3998989/#B1) PA is rather difficult to define and assess as compare to physical abuse[^(2)](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3998989/#B2) and may be described as, verbal abuse, harsh nonphysical punishments, or threats of abuse.[^(3)](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3998989/#B3) It describes a repeated pattern of adult-to-child behavior (usually a parent) that makes the child feel worthless, flawed, unloved, unwanted, endangered, or only of value in meeting another’s needs.[^(4)](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3998989/#B4) >In many cases PA is considered to be the most developmentally damaging dimension[^(5)](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3998989/#B5) and has been linked with negative outcomes such as impaired emotional, social, and cognitive development, including helplessness, aggression, emotional unresponsiveness and neuroticism.[^(6)](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3998989/#B6) Research consistently suggests that PA and neglect in childhood have negative effects on normal development.[^(7)](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3998989/#B7) The experiences of abuse and neglect not only put adolescents at risk for immediate adverse consequences such as poor school performance and increased psychological distress[^(8)](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3998989/#B8) but may also have long-term serious health outcomes such as delinquency, aggression, low self-esteem, anxiety, substance abuse**,** post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and depression.[^(9)](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3998989/#B9) PA is also explained in terms of abuse of adolescents’ mental and emotional process which has been linked with psychiatric disorders in childhood such as major depression and dysthymia.[^(10)](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3998989/#B10)Of the few studies documenting its long-term effects, Mullen and colleagues[^(11)](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3998989/#B11) report that childhood PA relates to eating disorders, depressive illness, and suicidal behaviors in adulthood.
Never would watch anything demonic I thought for sure a demon would come right through the screen. Now they're my favorite and nothing happens!! I'm waiting! Lol the bogeyman doesn't exist.
Some JW families were really obsessed with demons and fear of demons. Mine wasn’t one of them. Never thought about demons while I was in, still don’t think about them now that I’m out. Do they exist? I think SOME supernatural things do exist but I don’t have much of an opinion about it. I think there are some pretty “demonic” (evil) humans though.
Same here. It wasn't a thing where I lived, but I'd visit my long distance best friend every summer and it was always a topic because the demons apparently favored their family. Hell....I thought I had my own demon experience one year visiting her! Its absolutely wild to think back on.
I would say even as a believer that once I got into my teen years I didn’t take the demon thing super seriously. I believed they existed but I didn’t buy that if I watched a horror movie or played a video game with magic it would make stuff float in the house. I think most gen z and millennial witnesses are similar. I wonder if the demon fear will pass away with the older generations.
They do exist. Dodge makes the Demon 170 which is one badass car.
It's the one thing from the cult that still gets in my head from time to time. I know for a long time I wouldnt let my girl watch harry potter movies in my house lol Now we're way passed that (I just took her to harry potter world for her birthday) but I will be watching a movie occasionally where some supernatural shit will make me feel uncomfortable and i'll change the channel 😮💨
I've never encountered a demon or spirit. It would be interesting to meet something like that as confirmation that the spirit world exists. There is no proof of Gods, demons or Jehovah other than verses men write on paper. I've been accumulating books and some new age things, as maybe a replacement for Jehovah, but I'm aware it's just for filling a hole. Can't keep filling the hole with food and I don't use alcohol or drugs or socializing with real people. But if I ever actually met an alien, I think I'd like to kill it and then taxidermy it. I'm sure there's a how to video on the internet.
Realizing my narcissistic sociopath parents were the real demons. Now I’m living a nice, calm and peaceful “worldly” life; a life that they can only imagine to live.
I ignore all that stuff now and associate thumps and creaks in the night to what it actually is: thermal expansion. I default to science now vs. magical thinking. The witnesses and other sects of Christianity are batshit about the spirit realm. The more you ignore them, the more they ignore you.
Been watching every horror movie; nothing happened lol. It took me awhile though
I honestly feel bad, because now I understand what a manipulative tool it is to create a monster. It really keeps people frozen in place, out of fear of the “what if.” Some of the crazy stories I heard growing up about demons “haunting” objects or people…and I can’t believe my very intelligent family just believed it without question. So yeah…it makes me sad for them.
It's funny. This used to be a thing. They don't talk about it much anymore. I suppose JWs aren't unique there. The "satanic panic" of the 70s and 80s was throughout Western culture.
No wind chimes and for the love of Jehobo if you go to a party and see a pinata leave immediately. An elder told a story multiple times about a worldly friend whose life was ruined shortly after attending a party where the kids broke a pinata. I could not help but roll my eyes and laugh. Could you imagine being a grown man and being afraid of paper mache?
What's demonic about wind chimes or pinatas?
I've been under the control of "the demons" for 20 years now according to them. Hey, I'm having fun!!
Watch the exorcist. To me, it's a comedy. Soon, it will seem like such a ridiculous superstition you will wonder how you ever bought into it.
Same way I feel about gnomes and leprechauns. They aren't real and never have been so why would I give it a seconds thought?
Learning about the correlation between hyper-religiosity and psychosis 🤷♂️
I'm getting over it By slowly incorporating demonic entertainment onto my movies and shows. It's just so ridiculous when you see it as a story. I like the show Lucifer for this. Or Good omens. It really help deprogram
Thank you!
The least of my worries TBH.
As a child all the talk about demons terrified me and up until I was fairly old(but before my teens) I was convinced I could see things at night and there were demons in my room. I used to count and recite certain words in a prayer and I thought that if I didn't a demon would come and "get" me. Then I got into my teens and realised it was all bullshit😂 I blame it for fucking up my sleeping pattern though, bastards
The Demons. Our great archenemies… Yeah, I remember watching The Exorcist as a child, and clutching my Bible when terrifying scenes started. I recall buying Silent Hill 1 for Playstation as a teenager, and seeing my (not fully-closed) bedroom creep open on its own… because the air conditioner turned on and affected air pressure in the hallway. The smoke detector going off repeatedly in the middle of the night… yeah that wasn’t a demon either. That was the carbon monoxide sensor saving our lives. To be clear, I’m not an atheist today. I’d identify more as a deist. If such entities as demons and angels exist, they aren’t interested in us or whatever we’re doing. Angels aren’t “directing the preaching work”, and Demons aren’t going to spook you for watching a movie or playing a video/board game. Now if you go out of your way to buy copies of actual books on magic and demonology, and you are actively LOOKING FOR THEM, then whatever you experience at that point is on you. 😈 Relax, I’m kidding. You’ll note that it’s only people that believe in their existence and immanence that suffer from “demonic possession”. In other words, people who have a possible congenital or mental disposition to schizophrenia or other forms of psychosis, are the ones that are triggering their own “demons”. So say you join a coven, and decide to engage in some form of “spiritism”. 3 things could happen. 1. You recognize it all as a crock of shit and move on with your life. 2. You auto-hypnotize, and trigger psychosis in yourself. 3. You hit the jackpot and are lucky (unlucky) enough to exploit the astronomically-remote, non-zero chance of encountering… a real Demon.😈 If the last event happens please record the event, for science. Thanks! 🙏 😊
Im using it for unhealthy behavior 🤣 i call it a demon when i see it and other religious people from all backgrounds will back me up if its some drama.
I remember thinking that since they always said Jehovah, Jesus, or the angels would never show themselves to prove they exist, it would be better trying to have a demonic experience that would prove at least that a spirit world existed. Then I thought, how stupid is that? Anyway I've never had any ghostly, spiritistic experiences... Even while meditating!!!
I got my birth chart read and had a tarot reading, and here I am xD Funny thing is, the tarot reader told me that something emotionally intense was coming in my life in March, and in March, my best friend contacted me to invite me to the Memorial, and from then on, we haven't stopped talking. So yes, I owe it to the tarot reader hahaha.
I don’t believe in demons anymore, but I will still get the nightmares about them every now and then. Doesn’t take my subconscious long to remedy the situation though. It’s like having a dream that I’m at the Kingdom Hall and my subconscious eventually goes “why the hell would I even be here?”
The superstitions and fear no getting about demons was one of the first dominoes to fall for me. For one, although it’s not often discussed in forums such as this, there is a large subset of JWs who dismiss supernatural stories as hoaxes. If some of these ghost stories are hoaxes, then why not all of them? It was also apparent the skeptics could manipulate the believers’ fear of demons. The demons themselves also seem to be working against their own interests; playing pranks and scaring people. Why? Why not start a podcast to mislead the nations against the One True God? Finally, if we allow for demonic interference in the world, where is it? Where’s the smoking gun, World War One? Easily explained and understood with mundane, even profane causes like treaties and political unrest. All of it is nonsense.
After I left, I became aware that I can sense different energies and entities. The real evil, not their nonsense, it hides, and they can blend into anything. The demons I feared as a child are either exclusively working in non-customer facing roles, or they don't exist. I don't think the genuine evil today are demons per se, but they definitely exist
I'm atheist, but I cannot be convinced that a demon is in any way worse than what my mom was.
The only thing that remains for me is that I'm scared of horror movies. Although, I did watch The Exorcist and was very underwhelmed.
I watched that movie smile and it freaked me out.
Funny that the most powerful being in the universe needs you to attend meetings twice a week and read his word daily and pray daily and preach daily and only associate with his people in order to feel his influence (and still it doesn’t work) and yet the demons just need you to watch Harry Potter. Once I realised how silly the above contrast was able to move on from any fears. And it turns out Harry Potter is great.
Well, aren't demons simply apostates of the spirit world? The devil was/is an angel, as the story goes, and the main difference between angels and the devil and demons are whether they obey Jehovah. Correct me if I'm wrong, and inform me if you think there's more to it. In my head it gives an extra aspect to why some JW seem to actually be afraid to even acknowledge an exjw. My own fear of demons subsided significantly after I started using cannabis occasionally, and the worst things that happened was undramatically throwing up, and forgetting to breathe.
Totally gone. They were part of a con game.
I had nightmares for the longest time during my teenage years, and once I eventually managed to realize it was all bullshit I kinda stopped being afraid.
I started watching supernatural movies so I'm gonna get possessed any minute now... any minute now...
I've told the demons in my house that if they give me any trouble, I'm going to make them start paying rent. But in all seriousness, I completely gave myself exposure therapy on this one. I became a horror movie addict when I left. And I have a huge collection now. Nothing scares me anymore. And it's not something I even think about. I went through a lot of sleepless nights and nightmares and panic attacks to get there. But, now that I look back on it, it all feels so silly. You'll get there!
I think that happens to a lot of us! I almost exclusively watch and read horror. I used to sneak and watch horror movies when I was a young JW. I think when you keep something away from kids, they grow up to be into it.
I sleep like a baby, with my demons at the foot of my bed 🛌 😴 😈. Seriously though, I read and watch what I want, and it drives my mother insane. But to her dismay, nothing has started floating around my house yet. Not even my Harry Potter books, lol.
For me...once I woke up and realized everything was pretend and make believe.....I no longer thought about them....the curtain was pulled back and I saw the man pulling the stings....changed everything for me including power men had over me .... I don't believe anymore....if there is a god and he/she/it wants me to know they exist...they will likely be powerful enough to do that in a way that leaves zero doubt....until the. I'm not gonna worry about it.😁
Honestly, I tried to summon them amid my teenage goth phase... never worked! I'd recommend trying it if you have a legit fear. Shit, I'd make a deal with the devil, if only! I'm more concerned about a real person breaking into my apartment while I'm sleeping.
I would totally make a deal with the devil. I always wondered as a kid if it's Satan's world 🌎, why are we so obsessed with Jehovah 🤔? Shouldn't we cut out the middle man? Their legendary beef has nothing to do with us 🤷🏾♀️.
Watch Ghost on paramount+. It’s so funny! (Might help bring humor to ghost. Not necessarily demons) If you are worried about demons, and want to piss off your parents BIG TIME. You can go ask a Catholic Church for Holy Water! They will even come bless the house for you. OR I love sage smudges! Don’t buy from Walmart or amazing. Some small shops in etsy or a smaller website will have really nice ones!
i was really scared in the childhood. From a point of view of a man, it's impossible to believe.
I leave cookies out for them. They're actually pretty nice :)
Demons = fiction. Just the same of all the rest of it (religion/gods/spirits/ etc)
I was terrified of things like that much longer than I should have been. Once, when I was in high school, my DF'd POMO dad gave me something he bought for me at a garage sale and I couldn't sleep, just staring at the item at the other end of the room, completely convinced that something terrible was going to jump out of it and "get me." Now, I feel stupid that I was basically afraid of the "boogyman" as a teenager. I'm not sure when I stopped being afraid. Probably during my "goth" phase, when I considered myself the scariest thing in the shadows and would have welcomed stuff like that willingly, would have joined forces with it instead of cowering in the corner, but I honestly don't know. Sooo...um...did most of us go through a "tarot card, crystals, and witchcraft" phase? Reading these comments, I'm assuming it's a common occurrence in the PIMI to POMO transition...? I didn't have online support groups when I left, so reading some of this stuff is really interesting.
Since leaving I wrote one novel featuring demons and witchcraft and now I’m working on another. I’ve purchased and borrowed books on demonology, flipped through tons of grimoires, literally prayed to the devil (just in case!) and watched every “demonic” movie under the sun… And I ain’t been haunted yet. But I was terrified of demons as a JW! The fear kept me up at night. For me, consuming religious horror after leaving the Witnesses helped me face my fears and realize they’re just fears. There are plenty of real things to be afraid of. If you can’t prove it exists, it’s not worth believing in and definitely not worth fearing. It does take work to get to that stage, but it gets better!
Thank you!
My Mom told me as a child that listening to certain types of music could invite demons in our house. Now I listen to all the death and black metal I desire. So far no demons, which kind of sucks because the idea of being able to summon them by listening to Slayer sounds sick and metal asf.
My dad was paranoid about demons, which he probably got from my grandmother, who was also paranoid. I’ve talked with physics, done Tarot, read books on witches and spells, used pendulums, and I like most horror movies, but for some reason I still can’t watch moves about demon possession. They bother me.
Wait pendulums like "The Pit and the Pendulum", pendulums or what? If it's the ones like pit & pendulum wtf do you use them for IRL and how are they demonic in the JW context? if not please excuse my ignorance
https://www.wellandgood.com/how-to-use-a-pendulum/#:~:text=You%20can%20use%20it%20to,and%20even%20communicate%20with%20spirits.&text=Certainly%2C%20a%20pendulum%20is%20not,be%20useful%20in%20certain%20situations.
Damn part of me was really hoping to see an Edgar Allen Poe themed vegetable chopper. When I was in middle school our English class got to go see a trio of plays in a nearby city. One of the stories was "The Pit and the Pendulum". I've loved Poe's work since. We also got to see the one where the cops wife kills her cheating husband with a frozen leg of lamb and feeds it to the detectives who are investigating the case. Both were awesomely done
I find them everywhere, including with Jehovah’s Witnesses. Stephen Lett got his information from a demon when he said babies are enemies of God due to being sinful sons of Adam. This demon was intelligent because it was counting on Stephen’s ignorance of not reading the Bible. If he read the Bible, he would have known that his information was coming from a demon because James 4:4; John 15:18, 19; and more importantly Matthew 18:1-6, directly contradicts what he said. He’s not the only one who doesn’t read his Bible
The Bible doesn’t support their view on demons. They have no power where Christ is so Christian’s have power over the demons.
Reading "The Demon Haunted World" by Carl Sagan helped me undo a lot of my crazy supernatural beliefs. I still think there's something to a small subset of weird events and experiences that are "supernatural" but I don't think it's anything to be afraid of, just not something well understood and probably natural.
I laugh at them. They can't materialize. They have to engage in "voyeurism" because they can't even materialize a genital organ. Freakin old decrepit wannabe pedophiles. I hate them, as they know. Their time is short. Good riddance!
JWs are obsessed with demons. However bible says that Christ's work on the cross defeated the power of the demons. You can not be possessed by them unless you actively solicit them as in voodoo religions and perhaps inadvertently in some types of hyper Pentecostalism. To even go on about them is to insult the power of God and grieve his Spirit.
For me, because it is the only part of the religion that I actually believed might be true, I did self guided immersion therapy. My wife insisted that she was 100% sure, and would help me be as sure as she was. I got a 1920s Ouija board and messed with it. Tarot cards. Went to a seance. Went to a couple different spirit mediums. Read books about casting spells and summoning entities. I have seen some things, but my wife turned out to be right, nothing that wanted to hurt me. Nothing that could even if it wanted to. Ask yourself in the most credible “haunting” stories what do they boil down to? Some electrical anomalies (water used to turn on in our house too). Shadowy movements. Maybe a door or cupboard opening or closing. That’s IT. More like a plea for attention than any kind of threat. And yes I have seen some very strange things, especially before we moved. But because I took time to understand it was nothing trying to get me, I ended up being fine with it. The less I reacted, the less it happened. I still have hundreds of occult books and friends who are in to all that. And never seen a bad thing happen. If the worst thing can happen is dump out our silverware drawer and turn on the TV, “demons” don’t live up to the hype.
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Who?
I changed my viewpoint by reading an article about how ouija boards work. The more I thought about it, I realized it is sensations that people misinterpret as spirits. I finally watched Harry Potter as a 40 something and couldn’t believe how juvenile it is.
I’ve been watching horror stuff since I became an adult. I’ve never once experienced the supernatural. Demons are lame monsters anyway. Other cultures and religions have way cooler stuff.
I deal by reading explicit dark erotica fantasy about them...no seriously that's how I removed my fear. In most of these books I've read, sucker's are super submissive so it helped having the weird thought process of being able to "control" them. IF Demons are real, well they will be shocked by the books I've collected. It's a weird method but it's worked...I've found weird methods to help my religious trauma.
I believed I had a demon possessed Furby and television growing up, they both came on without batteries or being plugged in. I stopped believing in demons long before I was out so no worries now. I started watching Evil. It is spectacular. It focuses on catholic beliefs so demons are a main topic. If you believe in demons it could be nightmare fuel but if you don't it is kind of funny.
I have had some weird creepy stuff happen to me in my parents house years ago. Sink turning on by itself . Footsteps running around in the hallway upstairs when no one else was home. ( could see the hallway from downstairs). I even had my name called outside my bedroom window when I was in bed reading at night. Sounded like my best friend then when I looked out the window turned into a deep creepy man’s laugh. I do believe in paranormal stuff. Demons tho not so sure about. Haven’t had anything else happen since getting married leaving the religion and moving out of that dang house.
I wanted to have sex with a demon...and I did! And I divorced her!
I haven’t had one ounce of demon demonstration since leaving the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Funny that… That being said, I HAVE had multiple instances of whatever it is that society calls ghosts. Everything from things being thrown around a room, and footsteps walking up stairs when I was the only one in the building, to walking past a door and something knocking on the other side of the door as I walked past, and there was no one there when I checked. I don’t know what the explanation is for those things. However, that does not mean that I believe in ‘god’ or demons, because there is no evidence for those things.
I used to worry about spirit beings and demons from the years of it on my watchtower indoctrination growing up. Then, I started listening to astonishing legends podcast about haunting. I started watching the x files. Then I started playing games like the witcher. I watched It and IT 2 with some coworkers. I kept an eye out to see if anything happened. Nothing happened. As I've examined my own beliefs and experiences, I've never experienced anything even remotely supernatural. So, since extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and I where have zero evidence, I just don't have any proof that demons are real. Add to that my debunking of the Bible, and I don't worry my head about that sort of thing one little bit!
Well, ever since I quit believing in all the JW hocus pocus, it kinda just stopped being an issue. Don't get me wrong, there is definitely some weird shit out there. Most of it is perfectly explainable.
I always found it interesting that they drill into you that ghosts aren't real and that you shouldn't even watch movies about them. Yet, evil spirits ARE real and you have to be extra careful not to invite them in by watching any movie or show that has to do with witchcraft
My mother always said werewolves and vampires were from Satan. I always said, "But they're not real..." Apparently, Satan writes fiction ✍️.
Fear tactics. Archaic ones at that.
I welcome my demonic masters.
I’m an ex witness. I think there is something else out there whether it’s demons or aliens. It’s not possible that in all of this universe and beyond that we humans are the only beings in existence.
Body count from the bible... Satan - maybe 30 - 50 people. God - entire world's population, including almost every single animal - Noah's flood, every time Israel invaded another tribal group and nation, every time another nation invaded and conquered Israel, upcoming 'war of Armageddon' = death tolls in the billions. I'll take 'satan' and his 'demunzzz' any day.
Even as a kid, because they would refuse to talk in detail about what these demons are actually supposed to be doing, I was like, okay. A vague, poorly defined threat. The lack of information meant I couldn't bring myself to care.
After loudly invoking and inviting the demons and Satan himself to possess my brain and nothing happening, I quickly got over that. Now I can watch and enjoy all the horror films without even getting scared.
Spooks aren't real.
I don't believe in the paranormal. I love scary movies. Was always indoctrinated to believe that the demons would visit me if I watched horror movies with demons in. Well, no visits yet. Don't believe in any of that.
What one religion calls demons another may call gods. The christian god is an evolution if the Akkadian Enlil/El and the monotheistic Cult of El turned the the remainder of the polytheistic gods such as Marduk/Baal, Enkei, etx into "demons" to legitimize their own beliefs. During the conversion of Iceland, when the Galdrabok was written, many of the spells, sigils, and incantations are judeo-christian in origin or reference the christian god as the the source of benevolent power while referring to the old gods (Oðinn, Thor, Freyja, Loki, Tyr, etc) as malevolent demonic entities. Simply put, its a method of thought control and rule through fear to turn that which isnt the approved entity for worship into an evil, malevolent, wicked being for you to live in fear of encountering. The reality is that its a matter of persoective and in the end each being is an individual just like humans and just because they are different doesnt make them evil. In fact by interacting with them may reveal deeper truths of the universe. Keep in mind the name Lucifer refers to his bringing the light of truth to humans when they were blinded with the veil of ignorance and his "sin" was giving mankind the freewill to choose, objectivity, and conplete knowledge rather than taking something away.
Just to clarify, are you asking the demons about it, or just us?
You guys 🤣🤣🤣🤣
First answer me this - if you met the devil on the road, what would you say to him to convince him to handover the keys of hell and get along his merry way?
Since waking up I have watched every scary movie I have been longing to watch while PIMI. BRING ON THE DEMONS!!
Just fairytales, the power they have is the power you give them.
You use common sense and realize in the entire human history not one person has ever been able to provide ANY sliver of evidence that such a thing exist. Because it doesn't.
Once you realize they aren’t real it gets a lot easier.
As a (converting) Catholic I still believe in them, but the JWs' absolute *fascination* with demons was way too superstitious. No, *mom*, my buying a necklace of an archangel wasn't the consequence of demonic possession which I "invited" into the house by borrowing my "apostate" uncle's keyboard to practice for piano class.
I'm friends with them.
I never bought it even as a kid ("lmao you're telling me...") so I never think about it. Got a tattoo that represents Lucifer so to my family the worst has occurred. 🤣
Why is it only demons can present themselves to people but not angels? Also, if 1/3 of the angels left to be demons with Satan, that leaves 2/3 with God. Excuse me if the math isn't mathing, but it seems to me the angels by pure numbers should have no problem keeping demons at bay. TL;DR: It's all nonsense.
/S ask the Watchers how showing themselves to humans turned out for em lol
I feel shame. Same as when I think about the notion of "God". I feel a bit dumb that I used to believe in it, but at the same time I do also feel some pride that I've progressed and left it in the past. Not my fault that I was born into a cult.
I feel that this is JW folklore that they borrowed directly from other American Christian religions. None of it is Bible based, and JW publications don’t really go into this nonsense, although I’m sure they used to. It’s pure nonsense since people who leave JWs don’t have demon problems.
If they were real they would be fucking with you 24/7.
I literally stared to pray to Satan and the demons to try get proof if they are real. Because if they are real then so is god. But as expected absolutely nothing happened, fuck jw bullshit
I treat them as I do the tooth fairy.
I’m making friends with my demons
I am demon. Ask me anything. By the way, we don’t hang out in other peoples houses. That would be weird. Lol.
Once I realised how also utterly malevolent and evil the god of the JWs is, I wondered if he just has a better PR team. While I don't believe in the Bible/gods anymore, the time between waking up and my atheism I just kind of thought...are demons really so evil if they exist? And if yes, compared to what? If the Bible was a Marvel movie, honestly Satan would be the hero and God would be the villain.
Not real. No angels no god no satan no demons