Final Thoughts (The final chapter of The Raven and the Rain Dance)

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December 31st, 2021

I walk through rooms of the dead, streets of the dead, cities of the dead; men without eyes, men without voices; men with manufactured feelings and standard reactions; men with newspaper brains, television souls and high school ideas.

-Charles Bukowski, "Sunlight Here I Am: Interviews and Encounters 1963 to 1993"

As this year, and this book, draw to a close, I have a few things here that never made it in somehow, but I think they're worthy of mention. There are also a few things that deserve mentioning again. Here are some final thoughts:

• My mother noticed my stoicism early on. When I was a child, she'd tell me, "You've got the patience of Job." Now I know that this is why I needed it. I've thought of M. Night Shyamalan's film, Signs, many times this year. I always found it hauntingly beautiful; but now I think the concept behind it, that everything is the way it is for a reason, is amazingly accurate.

• You're NOT safe just because you're a Christian, baptized, or because you "didn't invite" demons.

• I think that both angels and demons have the ability to put us to sleep when it serves their purposes. Of course, angels won't do so by giving us migraines.

• Ars Goetia or the Lesser Key of Solomon... I've only mentioned this briefly, so... This stuff is a bunch of crap, and it's all some people, particularly the teenagers on Reddit who are trying to get demons, know about demons. I haven't read much of it, because I knew it was crap. You don't need to summon demons. They're all around you. You can literally say, "Yo, bitch, come over here!" and one will if it wants to. You can not control demons. Demons will not tell you their name, at least not their correct one. I doubt it would make a fuck's worth of difference if they did. They can not do anything for you, or help you with anything. Well, they probably could, but they won't. Because they're evil. They're not even what you think they are. They're not fallen angels, I'm certain of that. Fallen angels would have killed me by now. I think these guys are dead assholes; but whatever they are, they're the only thing that's here. They're more powerful in some ways than we would expect human spirits to be. They can read our minds, and control them to an extent. They can make us hallucinate. They can possess us. I think we're only surprised because we so greatly underestimate what we're capable of right now; and we will be capable of even more when we die. In John 14:12, Jesus says, "Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father." Kids, stop trying to summon demons!

• I've covered what I think a family curse really is; but I didn't address secret societies. There is a belief that if an ancestor was in a secret society, you might have a type of family curse because of their involvement; and that their involvement might be a reason that you'd get demons. There are special prayers for breaking such a curse. I think, after much reflection, that if anything, that might be a way that demons would find out about you, but that's about all. And, they could find you anyway. They're literally all around us, all the time.

• This trigger-word, safety-bubble society we live in is producing a generation who will not know what the fuck to do if they get demons. Demons do not respect your triggers. If they find out that you have one, they'll scream at you about it 24/7. You'll have to be tough to withstand this shit; and this culture is not making our youth battle ready. Demons really are bullies. They actually remind me a lot of the mean girls from school and the jealous bitches from just about every job I've ever had. They are, in a sense, exactly like those people; hoping to ruin your day, simply because you have something they don't.

• I believe that a psychological concept called "positivity bias," which means that some people tend to focus on the positive rather than the negative (and believe the positive rather than the negative), is the reason why many people are willing to believe in friendly spirits but not demons. Paranormal investigators often ask, "Why do people always say it's demons?" They often make the assumption that other people reach that conclusion because they're religious. I direct those people to chapter 1, "I Used to be Agnostic," and remind them that I made that determination before I became a Christian; or actually, more truthfully, at the exact moment that I became a Christian, because making that determination is the reason I became a Christian.

• I sometimes notice people using demonspeak, and it's creepy. For example, a girl on Facebook asked me, "How did you see that you were with a demon?" Their awkward phrasing is very recognizable to those who know it. Everything the psychologists say about the odd speech patterns of people with Schizophrenia... or.. let's just go ahead and correct that to... people who hear demons... is an accurate reflection of demonspeak, but there are even more oddities than that. Dr. Seuss comes to mind often. It's also somewhat similar to Yoda; things are said sort of backwards, with excessive use of double negatives. Illustrating their style of speech and their personalities are the primary reasons I've included so much of their dialogue in this text.

• Some Christians think that sage smudging is some kind of witchcraft. It's not. They used frankincense and myrrh in the Middle East because those things were native to that area. The Native Americans used sage because it grew here. It's that simple. God knows why you're using it. He knows what your intention with it is. If your intention is to run off some demons, I believe He will honor that request. I believe that He has honored that request for me. In John 14:13-14, Jesus says, "And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it."

• I wrote about Haunted dolls in "Halloween Special," but now I've discovered haunted photos for sale online. If you order a haunted photo, you will receive an old photo in the mail. You may or may not receive a demon along with it; but you will definitely not receive a playful or kind spirit, or a child spirit, or anything like that.

• Ghosts, also known as spirits or demons, don't attach to objects, or get caught in jars, or anything like that. If, every now and then, it seems that way, it's just another trick designed to perpetuate a false belief.

• These guys can't bi-locate (as Stephanie and I pondered early on). There's always more than one of them, but they will pretend they're one singular more powerful being, able to torment multiple people simultaneously, able to jerk my arm and be walking past my porch at the same time, etc. They travel in gangs, like most punk ass bitches do; seven of them against one girl, incapable of even fathoming a fair fight.

• Catholics refer to psychic abilities as being "spiritually gifted." I spent a long time wondering if psychic abilities came from God or demons. I finally decided that they come from God, as in, they're innate abilities, but demons teach us how to use them by communicating with us. Then I spent a long time wondering,     "What the hell is the gift? This sucks!" I've finally figured out what the gift is. Everyone can be influenced by demons, whether they can hear them or not. But, because I can hear them, I am better able to discern whether negativity is coming from them or from myself. It keeps me above the influence.

• Any time you encounter someone who is TRYING to teach you to open your third eye, you can rest assured that they have NOT done so themselves. If they had, they would not think it was anything they should be recommending.

• I do not do any recreational drugs, nor do I drink; nor have I ever done these things habitually, or very much at all. I prefer to be awake and sharp, rather than sleepy and confused; and besides, I'm not a person who runs away from my problems. Some people are of the opinion that "psychosis," such as hearing voices, can begin with drug use. I think that it's very likely that this is yet another instance of demonic trickery; or, that perhaps it is possible that these substances help open the third eye, so to speak. Whatever the case may be, I have every reason to believe that the "hallucinations" experienced by people while on drugs are real, in the sense that they are really psychic experiences. Additionally, the fact that Schizophrenia medications silence the voices for some people, is no indication that the voices are not real and coming from an external source. It simply means that these drugs somehow block the communication, or that they damage the brain to a point where it's no longer possible. The fact that these drugs quieten the voices for some people, but not all, indicates either that there is more than one way in which communication is occurring, or that different levels of psychic abilities are a factor.

• There is a phenomenon called "The Mandela Effect" which has been experienced by countless people worldwide. This phenomenon of "mass remembering incorrectly" has been "explained" by psychologists as some sort of collective memory fluke. The phenomenon is named for the first incident that was widely noted; when Nelson Mandela died, and many people were confused because they thought he was already dead. They even remembered seeing news coverage of his death, some years prior. There are probably hundreds of examples, and most of them have to do with much more trivial things like business names and logos. Another example is that many people, myself included, recall the name of the department store JCPENNEY being spelled JCPENNY, without the second e, when we went to the mall as kids. But, as with all of these incidents, if you Google them, you'll inevitably find that you are wrong, and furthermore, that there has been no change; that the alternative version of the facts (for you) is in fact the way it has always been. In other words, you must be crazy. Look some of these up, if this is news to you. I promise that one or two of them will have you scratching your head, checking facts, and arguing with someone. I mention Mandela Effects here because, I wouldn't be surprised at all to discover that they're yet another form of demonic trickery. Some people (like science geeks) "explain" the phenomenon with the multiverse theory. They're basically saying that, with an infinite number of alternate worlds, many of which are very similar to this one, somewhere, on at least one of them, it was JCPENNY without the second e, and Nelson Mandela died at an earlier date; and that we have somehow been transferred, without our knowledge, to this world, where things are slightly different. Hey, I loved "Sliders" too! It was the best show on television in the 90s, but it's not that way. This sounds like a crackpot scheme to make people think they're crazy, and to steer people away from God. Sounds like demons to me.

• Don't trust an exorcist who requires payment. What has been given by God is supposed to be given freely. In Matthew 10:8, Jesus tells his Apostles, "Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give."

• When I read that, in 1999, The Catholic Church began requiring psych evaluations before granting permission to perform exorcisms, and referring people to psychologists if they believed they might be suffering from a psychological disorder rather than possession, I thought to myself,
"That... is demonic infiltration!"
Demon replied,
"You bet your ass it is, but they will not like to be told that!"
The man who lived in the tombs in Mark 5, and several other examples from the gospels show that what might've been misconstrued as mental illness was actually demonic        possession.

• Exorcism is not a ministry that was ever supposed to have been limited to the priesthood, or to men. Luke 9:49-50, "Then John said in reply, 'Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow in our company.' Jesus said to him, 'Do not prevent him, for whoever is not against you is for you.'"

• Demons really do remind me of narcissists; and yes, I know narcissism up one side and down the other, having dealt long term with a few. Narcissists do not hold themselves to as high of a standard  as they do everyone else. They do not respect boundaries. Everything they do is just fine, you have no right to be offended, and furthermore, you owe them something (in this case, respect). One of the worst things about narcissistic abuse is that it's so underhanded, so cleverly hidden from everyone except the abuser and victim; that if you, as the victim, try to tell anyone about it, you'll be the one who sounds crazy. I recommend the work of Dr. Karyl McBride on that topic. She can help you a lot if you're being tortured by one of these human-demons. Anyway, this type of hidden abuse is exactly the goal of demons with people like me, the voice-hearers, whom I believe are their real targets. They levitate someone, or spin someone's head around, every now and then, all the while pretending that they can't bear the sight of a cross, etc., so that priests will maintain their very wrong opinion that that's the only way possession ever looks, and demons can continue secretly torturing their real targets, while we're locked away in asylums. It's the truth, I swear to God. In fact, I think He wants me to tell you this, but of course, that's just some form of delusion, isn't it?

So, there you have it; an account of my first year in Hell. I chose the subtitle, A Spiritual Journey from Darkness to Light, because that's what it is from my perspective; after all, it has brought me to God, and I have learned so much. Still, I'm worried that some people might be upset that I don't provide some guaranteed way to get rid of demons. That is because I don't think there is one this side of Heaven.

I look at it like this:
Most people who write about this sort of thing probably try to formulate a solution simply because, from what I observe, people like solutions. Having a solution makes us feel that we're in control of the situation. Often, when there is no real solution to be found, people will settle for the illusion of one. As I mentioned in relation to Schizophrenia, such is often the case when people go to a doctor and get a prescription which is only going to be a bandaid for their symptoms, and most likely will create other symptoms. Despite all of that, I imagine that some people leave the pharmacy feeling that the matter is settled. I imagine that they think to themselves,
"There. I got an answer. Someone put a name to this problem, and there's an answer, right here. This prescription right here will fix it."
I imagine that there's some comfort in that; but I wouldn't really know because I'm not a fan of illusions unless they're in the form of artwork.

I offer no solution, but I offer truth. These shaints are here to stay, and there is not much that can be done about it.

The light is simply the knowledge that they can't do too much to us if we don't let them, that we DO have Heavenly allies who will assist us if we call upon them, that we DO have Earthly allies who are here to help us on journeys, and that we won't be troubled by demons for too much longer, in the grand scheme of things.

I hope you've enjoyed this, at least as much as one can enjoy this kind of message. I hope you've found some points to ponder, and I hope I've slayed some misconceptions about demons. Maybe in a future book I'll slay some misconceptions about Christianity. For now, I have one last story to share. It's a positive one...


September 23rd, 2023...

That last positive story is the chapter titled "The Raven and the Rain Dance," and I have already made a blog post and podcast episode which features it. I released it early, as a special episode.
If you have not read or listened to it, please do.

So this concludes my first book, also titled The Raven and the Rain Dance.
Very soon I will begin posting blog posts and podcast episodes featuring chapters from my second book, Saints & Haints, and from there, I'll proceed to do the same with my forthcoming books. My goal is to make all my work free and available to the public, because I believe that is how a Christian ministry should be conducted. I am behind schedule, however, so if you would like to read ahead, my books are available on Amazon.

Until next time!