During the seventies and eighties, I attended a cultic church. Not only did its self-appointed minister teach many aberrant doctrines but he claimed he received revelations directly from God. One of these was that all Christian homes must be dedicated to the Lord. He never told us the scriptural basis for this but Deuteronomy 20:5 fits it well. He added to this doctrine the superstitious beliefs that blessing homes kept out wicked spirits and that they attached themselves to evil possessions. I described how this peculiar ritual was performed several times in my upcoming How I Was Razed memoir. In this excerpt from my manuscript, I relate how the cult leader himself dedicated my furnished room.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Sister R, Brother H, and Sister E participated in the ceremony one evening a few weeks later. As Brother H waddled around my twelve-by-fifteen-foot room, reaching out his hands to detect demons, he pronounced blessings and rebuked foul spirits. Then he dabbed anointing oil on the corridor and balcony doorposts as well as the window frame.
After having gone over the whole room, including the closet, he hesitated. "I feel that there is still an evil presence in this room. Do you have anything here which is wicked, Bruce?"
"Well, I have some war memoirs by Spike Milligan. They do have some vulgar language in them I suppose."
"That's it then. You must get rid of those books. They're attracting demonic spirits."
My heart sank. I loved Spike's hilarious war memoirs. They contained some obscene humour, but that was how secular soldiers coped in battle. I also bought his comic novel, Puckoon, a fictional story of an Irish village divided by the Boundary Commission when the country was partitioned in 1924. As that book also contained some bawdy humour, I sighed as I dropped it and the other brand-new paperbacks in the garbage.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
How I Was Razed is the testimony of the way I was mislead by a cult church, how I turned my back on God after I felt he perennially failed to heal my eyes, and how he graciously brought me to my senses.
My previous books are now available for purchase online by clicking here. You may click here to e-mail me directly as well.
My sister had a plumber who came into her house to do some work many years ago. It turned out he was a Jehovah's witness. My sister had a suit of armour in the hallway. This man told her that it was demon possessed and he wanted to perform an exorcism on it. I thought that a little odd.
ReplyDeleteIn a way, I don't have a problem with someone praying over a home and asking God to bless it, but I suppose as a ritual, it does seem a little out there.
Hey Bruce:
ReplyDeleteI hope the dedication also outlawed short circuits and plumbing leaks. May as well get everything at once.
Perhaps too much to expect, or perhpas some demon got stuck in a pipe and backed up the system.
The greatest blessing of a home is "As for me and my house we will serve the Lord."
There is little to compare with the sense of God's peace invested in a home.
So glad you found your way back.