Did you know that demons can be sexually transmitted? That many Vietnam veterans' problems are caused by demons picked up from prostitutes? That a person can be "demonized" through listening to music, watching TV, or by playing Dungeons & Dragons?
Welcome to the world of Dr. James Logan, "the demon whisperer", "the Stephen King of ATI", pastor, adviser to missionaries, and conservative fundamentalist exorcist.
Logan told one audience that he gets calls about house hauntings every day: "We dedicate the ground. Many people miss the ground." He tells about a missionary in Vienna, Austria who had to leave Europe because his "fourteen-year-old son got full of demons from listening to rock music". Logan claims parents in Missouri are teaching fourth and fifth graders to call up demons in the mirror and he believes government officials have demons assigned to them to influence them to oppose Christianity.
I would not know Jim Logan's name were it not for Bill Gothard. Gothard's signature teaching on the "Umbrella of Authority" taught followers that obedience and submission to the will of "authorities" (husbands, parents, employers, pastors, law enforcement officers, and government officials) would protect them from the attacks of Satan, which could not penetrate the "umbrella". Thinking for one's self or acting against the wishes of authorities was venturing beyond the safety of the umbrella and would expose one to the invisible danger of demonic influences.
But the Umbrella of Authority teaching would have had no teeth if we had not been convinced that demons were real, and scary. And that's where Jim Logan comes in.
Jim grew up in an "ungodly" home; years later his stomach still knotted at the sight of his father. Logan was drafted during the Korean War; he converted to Christianity when he was 19, through the ministry of Dawson Trotman and the Navigators. He attended Biola University, and then Biola's seminary, Talbot School of Theology. But he received his training in "deliverance" straight from Fred Dickason at Moody Bible Institute. Dickason, a professor and theologian, authored Angels: Elect and Evil and other books on demonology and "warfare".
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| Jim Logan |
Logan told one audience that he gets calls about house hauntings every day: "We dedicate the ground. Many people miss the ground." He tells about a missionary in Vienna, Austria who had to leave Europe because his "fourteen-year-old son got full of demons from listening to rock music". Logan claims parents in Missouri are teaching fourth and fifth graders to call up demons in the mirror and he believes government officials have demons assigned to them to influence them to oppose Christianity.
I would not know Jim Logan's name were it not for Bill Gothard. Gothard's signature teaching on the "Umbrella of Authority" taught followers that obedience and submission to the will of "authorities" (husbands, parents, employers, pastors, law enforcement officers, and government officials) would protect them from the attacks of Satan, which could not penetrate the "umbrella". Thinking for one's self or acting against the wishes of authorities was venturing beyond the safety of the umbrella and would expose one to the invisible danger of demonic influences.
But the Umbrella of Authority teaching would have had no teeth if we had not been convinced that demons were real, and scary. And that's where Jim Logan comes in.
Jim grew up in an "ungodly" home; years later his stomach still knotted at the sight of his father. Logan was drafted during the Korean War; he converted to Christianity when he was 19, through the ministry of Dawson Trotman and the Navigators. He attended Biola University, and then Biola's seminary, Talbot School of Theology. But he received his training in "deliverance" straight from Fred Dickason at Moody Bible Institute. Dickason, a professor and theologian, authored Angels: Elect and Evil and other books on demonology and "warfare".
Jim Logan spent over seven years with Child Evangelism Fellowship in Warrenton, Missouri where he served as a vice president. He also pastored at least two churches.
In 1987, Dr. Mark Bubeck founded the International Center for Biblical Counseling (ICBC International) in Sioux City, Iowa. (Read more about Bubeck's belief in demons here.) Jim Logan joined the ICBC staff in 1989 and stayed for sixteen years. Eventually, new centers were started in Indiana, Colorado, and Texas, becoming independent over time. (ICBC International has since merged with Deeper Walk Ministries to become Deeper Walk International.) Logan started his own Biblical Restoration Ministries in Sioux City in 2005. According to Logan's website, none of the counseling staff or their associates are "professional or licensed counselors, therapists, psychiatrists, medical or psychological practitioners." Logan has carried his "expertise" to numerous countries counseling missionaries, working especially with CEF, Navigators, and J.A.A.R.S.
Somewhere along the way, Logan became pals with Bill Gothard. Gothard was stuffy compared to the irrepressible Logan. Logan liked to tell how he was the last member of his family to give up television, watching his favorite shows alone in the garage after his wife and kids refused to have anything to do with it anymore. Logan like to joke and tease (behavior that would earn IBLP staff a rebuke for "folly"), and he would frequently interrupt himself with loud laughter, releasing the tension in an auditorium made anxious by tales of noises in shadowy rooms and men's voices coming out of small children.
The two men had at least one thing in common: a love of stories. Gothard soon invited Logan to speak at numerous Institute in Basic Life Principles seminars around the country, addressing homeschooling parents and pastors. Logan and Gothard frequently told each other's stories and recommended each other's teachings and materials. Logan helped Gothard write an IBLP publication (Life Purpose Journal Vol. III) that is no longer available. More recently, Logan helped lead IMI, an IBLP program developed to train young men to be pastors.
Gothard and Logan shared similar views of "iniquity", "warfare", and "ancestral spirits". A fetus conceived out of wedlock, for example, had to be prayed over to break the ancestral demons passed on by his/her conception. The brightness of the eyes were supposed to reveal an individual's spiritual state: "The eyes show me if Satan's clouding your mind" (Logan). While Gothard tended to avoid talking about demons directly, he had a lexicon of coded terminology he was comfortable with: carnality, evil, spirit of rebellion, heaviness, darkness, principalities, ground, hedge, attacks, tormentors, protection, and deception. Logan didn't beat around the bush; he was matter-of-fact about strange voices coming out Christian missionaries who had been invaded by demons.
Logan became a fixture at Gothard's ATI conferences. After listening to his tales of hallucinations, seizures, and demons being let loose in homes because of Cabbage Patch Kids or evil art objects received as white elephant gifts, or even "twin beds gotten from homosexuals", families would go home frightened. Some parents burned their children's toys, even putting dolls on barbecue grills while the kids watched in anguished terror. Parents like mine cleansed our home of Winnie-the-Pooh and all other "talking animals". Others banished Cabbage Patch dolls, My Little Ponies, clowns, superheroes. We knew our parents were dead-serious about our welfare: they were willing to make burnt offerings to keep us safe.
Despite having no credentials, Logan was frequently sought out by ATI parents at a loss to "fix" their rebellious or depressed sons and daughters, who must be affected by demonic influences. But he could be contradictory. Despite recommending Gothard's book against Christian rock music, calling it "awesome", Logan still found some Christian artists acceptable. He told one family that he listened to Amy Grant, and recommended Michael Card's "Sleep Sound in Jesus" album of lullabies at an ICBC conference, saying that the songs would keep children from having nightmares. Far more disturbing is the allegation that he failed to report claims of sexual abuse made by those he "counseled".
Gothard had been teaching his "Umbrella of Authority" for decades, when he had a new breakthrough. In 1992, Gothard introduced his Strongholds concept. He soon developed it into a fancy new package complete with diagram illustrations explaining how any sin or disobedience or "bitterness" could "give ground" to Satan in a person's soul. And if Satan had enough "ground" on this imaginary chessboard in the mind/heart, the victim would be plagued by temptations and troubles.
For years, Logan says, he helped people gain freedom from demons using the "direct confrontational method": he would speak to the evil spirits and command them to speak back. With the discovery of Strongholds, he could switch to a "less invasive" approach, helping people pinpoint the acts of disobedience whereby "the enemy" had been given permission to invade their inner being. By confessing and renouncing these "sins", a Christian could be "freed" from cross-dressing, anorexia, depression, "bondage" to masturbation, or any number of "torments".
In 1995, Moody Press released a book by Jim Logan entitled Reclaiming Surrendered Ground. Though written by a ghostwriter (provided by Moody), it was based on Logan's messages, with a foreword by Baptist preacher Charles Stanley. The book, along with some of Neil Anderson's writings, is still a standard resource recommended by Gothard for those who want to conquer "lust". It also received endorsements from Erwin Lutzer and Warren Wiersbe.
That same year, Dr. Kenneth Copley joined Jim Logan and Mark Bubeck to open an ICBC branch in Carmel, Indiana. In 2001, Moody published Copley's book on spiritual warfare, The Great Deceiver. Jim Logan himself wrote the foreword. Besides offering "counsel" in spiritual warfare, Copley was an instructor for teenagers in Gothard's EQUIP program at the Indianapolis Training Center. The ITC worked closely with Judge James Payne of the Marion County Juvenile Court, who sent young offenders to the ITC to be mentored by graduates of the EQUIP training.*
"If I'm nasty, it's for fun. If I didn't like you, I wouldn't be nasty... I've earned it," Logan bluntly reassures his nervous audience. One minute he is claiming that he came upon an altar where human sacrifices had been made in the woods on on the JAARS campus ("human bones, that used to have meat on them"), and minutes later he is mocking the modesty of Islamic women.
Logan seems to find Hell particularly amusing. At one point he chuckles, "Look at all the brilliant people going to hell". At another conference he breaks out in a loud belly laugh describing a small child being threatened with eternal torment in flames. Could it be that, deep down, this "good news of the Gospel" is just a joke?
The people who come to Logan may be suicidal, homicidal, depressed, or mentally ill. His office provides a data sheet where they are instructed to mark if they have hostility toward those in "deliverance work", if they gossip, if they have practiced any martial arts, and if they have desires for bestiality or premarital or lesbian sex.
While he may not come across as especially bright, Logan captivates audiences with his rambling yet spellbinding yarns of what he describes as encounters with demons. And far from being politically correct, Logan can sound downright racist, warning against the "animism" inherent in native American, African, and Filipino culture. He has a story of demons "throwing dishes out of cupboards" because a house was built over an Indian burial ground and another of an African musical instrument causing a child to threaten a sibling with a butcher knife. The sister of the Ambassador from Togo asked Logan to come pray for her children and bless their new home. Logan says his interpreter saw Chinese spirits in the house, which had formerly housed a family from China.
Sometimes, Logan progresses from simply rambling to incoherent, weaving yarns that don't even make sense. For example:
These stories, and many others like them, are what I grew up on. When I ask myself how I could ever have accepted some of Gothard's most egregious "principles", I think of Logan. That's how. Because Logan claimed to have evidence that the spirit world existed, that Satan wanted to kill me, that there were real unseen dangers I needed to be kept safe from, that obeying my parents would keep strange voices from coming out of my mouth, or books from flying off my shelves. That the name of Jesus was my talisman against evil (unless God wanted me to learn a larger lesson from suffering).
My parents believed it, too. To them, Logan was just another Christian voice telling the truth, like Hal Lindsey (author of Satan is Alive and Well on Planet Earth) and Mel Tari (author of Like a Mighty Wind). That's why we turned the placemats upside down when we ate at a Chinese restaurant (don't read the zodiac!) and asked the waiter for almond cookies instead of fortune cookies. In the Merriam-Webster dictionary that I've owned since I was twelve, the chart of zodiac signs is scribbled out in black marker. We never took a newspaper because it would be too easy for someone to read a horoscope.
Mom chose to give birth without assistance rather than trust midwives who might be into "Eastern religions". We left church services when demonic music was played under the guise of worship. We did not acknowledge Halloween.We said a prayer for safety before each and every road trip, even we were only headed to the post office. And Mom refused to consider using the Saxon math curriculum (popular with other homeschoolers) because she had seen "ghouls" in a word problem.
So it was huge for me to reconsider the nature of Satan. Ultimately, my faith in God required a cosmic enemy--an evil being trying to snatch my soul and longing to drag me into hell. My theism rested on a belief in a "personal" devil, and when I lost my fear of the demonic, my fear of god went tumbling after! My husband, who sat under Ken Copley's instruction for an entire week in the EQUIP program, lost a lifelong fear of the dark after finally reaching the conclusion that the "spirit world" is nothing more than a fantasy of human imagination.
Jim Logan has spent his life alternately frightening people of, and presuming to rescue people from, a phantom menace. Despite his lack of credentials, many badly hurting individuals have unfortunately been led to believe that Jim Logan's teaching could provide the help they sorely needed, and many more children and teens were further scarred in the process.
*Last year Dr. Copley's adopted daughter came forward, accusing him of sexually abusing her even while the family lived at the Training Center. Another victim has come forward accusing Copley of sexually abusing her while she was seeing him for counseling at ICBC. By the time Copley's daughter decided to seek legal action, Indiana's Department of Child Services was being run by Judge James Payne himself. Dr. Copley is currently a pastor at The Cross in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Despite having no credentials, Logan was frequently sought out by ATI parents at a loss to "fix" their rebellious or depressed sons and daughters, who must be affected by demonic influences. But he could be contradictory. Despite recommending Gothard's book against Christian rock music, calling it "awesome", Logan still found some Christian artists acceptable. He told one family that he listened to Amy Grant, and recommended Michael Card's "Sleep Sound in Jesus" album of lullabies at an ICBC conference, saying that the songs would keep children from having nightmares. Far more disturbing is the allegation that he failed to report claims of sexual abuse made by those he "counseled".
Gothard had been teaching his "Umbrella of Authority" for decades, when he had a new breakthrough. In 1992, Gothard introduced his Strongholds concept. He soon developed it into a fancy new package complete with diagram illustrations explaining how any sin or disobedience or "bitterness" could "give ground" to Satan in a person's soul. And if Satan had enough "ground" on this imaginary chessboard in the mind/heart, the victim would be plagued by temptations and troubles.
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| Notes from a lecture by Gothard, 1992 |
For years, Logan says, he helped people gain freedom from demons using the "direct confrontational method": he would speak to the evil spirits and command them to speak back. With the discovery of Strongholds, he could switch to a "less invasive" approach, helping people pinpoint the acts of disobedience whereby "the enemy" had been given permission to invade their inner being. By confessing and renouncing these "sins", a Christian could be "freed" from cross-dressing, anorexia, depression, "bondage" to masturbation, or any number of "torments".
In 1995, Moody Press released a book by Jim Logan entitled Reclaiming Surrendered Ground. Though written by a ghostwriter (provided by Moody), it was based on Logan's messages, with a foreword by Baptist preacher Charles Stanley. The book, along with some of Neil Anderson's writings, is still a standard resource recommended by Gothard for those who want to conquer "lust". It also received endorsements from Erwin Lutzer and Warren Wiersbe.That same year, Dr. Kenneth Copley joined Jim Logan and Mark Bubeck to open an ICBC branch in Carmel, Indiana. In 2001, Moody published Copley's book on spiritual warfare, The Great Deceiver. Jim Logan himself wrote the foreword. Besides offering "counsel" in spiritual warfare, Copley was an instructor for teenagers in Gothard's EQUIP program at the Indianapolis Training Center. The ITC worked closely with Judge James Payne of the Marion County Juvenile Court, who sent young offenders to the ITC to be mentored by graduates of the EQUIP training.*
In one talk available on YouTube, Logan addresses a group of young people at an unspecified IBLP Training Center. Uninhibited as usual, he rambles about "helping" counselees with anorexia, who can never have "victory" as long as they have pride in their life, because God resists the proud. "If God himself is resisting you, you're doomed." Likewise with rebellion: "When I push away authorities, God will push me away," says Logan. However, Logan then turns to complaining about the food served at the training center, seeking support from his listeners who dare not express their "rebellion" for fear of unpleasant consequences.
"If I'm nasty, it's for fun. If I didn't like you, I wouldn't be nasty... I've earned it," Logan bluntly reassures his nervous audience. One minute he is claiming that he came upon an altar where human sacrifices had been made in the woods on on the JAARS campus ("human bones, that used to have meat on them"), and minutes later he is mocking the modesty of Islamic women.
Logan seems to find Hell particularly amusing. At one point he chuckles, "Look at all the brilliant people going to hell". At another conference he breaks out in a loud belly laugh describing a small child being threatened with eternal torment in flames. Could it be that, deep down, this "good news of the Gospel" is just a joke?
The people who come to Logan may be suicidal, homicidal, depressed, or mentally ill. His office provides a data sheet where they are instructed to mark if they have hostility toward those in "deliverance work", if they gossip, if they have practiced any martial arts, and if they have desires for bestiality or premarital or lesbian sex.
While he may not come across as especially bright, Logan captivates audiences with his rambling yet spellbinding yarns of what he describes as encounters with demons. And far from being politically correct, Logan can sound downright racist, warning against the "animism" inherent in native American, African, and Filipino culture. He has a story of demons "throwing dishes out of cupboards" because a house was built over an Indian burial ground and another of an African musical instrument causing a child to threaten a sibling with a butcher knife. The sister of the Ambassador from Togo asked Logan to come pray for her children and bless their new home. Logan says his interpreter saw Chinese spirits in the house, which had formerly housed a family from China.
Sometimes, Logan progresses from simply rambling to incoherent, weaving yarns that don't even make sense. For example:
In Indiana, they wrap an egg with yarn and put the egg in fire but the yarn doesn't burn and they bury it; "...and that group of people has the highest suicide rate of teenagers in America".
"The same spirits that stalked the Philippines walk in the Caribbean and terrorize the people on the island of Maui."Logan claims one of his CEF missionaries, Larry, was a "self-styled Satanist" before converting and going to Indonesia. To break ties with his old life, Larry got rid of a glass pendulum he had used in Satanism, throwing it into a city dump near Seattle--but it beat him home, sitting back in its box at his house when he returned. So Larry and his family took it back in the dump and prayed that God would keep it there and this time it stayed. According to Logan, Larry still has "spooky eyes" from his previous occult involvement even though he is "clean".
These stories, and many others like them, are what I grew up on. When I ask myself how I could ever have accepted some of Gothard's most egregious "principles", I think of Logan. That's how. Because Logan claimed to have evidence that the spirit world existed, that Satan wanted to kill me, that there were real unseen dangers I needed to be kept safe from, that obeying my parents would keep strange voices from coming out of my mouth, or books from flying off my shelves. That the name of Jesus was my talisman against evil (unless God wanted me to learn a larger lesson from suffering).
My parents believed it, too. To them, Logan was just another Christian voice telling the truth, like Hal Lindsey (author of Satan is Alive and Well on Planet Earth) and Mel Tari (author of Like a Mighty Wind). That's why we turned the placemats upside down when we ate at a Chinese restaurant (don't read the zodiac!) and asked the waiter for almond cookies instead of fortune cookies. In the Merriam-Webster dictionary that I've owned since I was twelve, the chart of zodiac signs is scribbled out in black marker. We never took a newspaper because it would be too easy for someone to read a horoscope.
Mom chose to give birth without assistance rather than trust midwives who might be into "Eastern religions". We left church services when demonic music was played under the guise of worship. We did not acknowledge Halloween.We said a prayer for safety before each and every road trip, even we were only headed to the post office. And Mom refused to consider using the Saxon math curriculum (popular with other homeschoolers) because she had seen "ghouls" in a word problem.
So it was huge for me to reconsider the nature of Satan. Ultimately, my faith in God required a cosmic enemy--an evil being trying to snatch my soul and longing to drag me into hell. My theism rested on a belief in a "personal" devil, and when I lost my fear of the demonic, my fear of god went tumbling after! My husband, who sat under Ken Copley's instruction for an entire week in the EQUIP program, lost a lifelong fear of the dark after finally reaching the conclusion that the "spirit world" is nothing more than a fantasy of human imagination.
Jim Logan has spent his life alternately frightening people of, and presuming to rescue people from, a phantom menace. Despite his lack of credentials, many badly hurting individuals have unfortunately been led to believe that Jim Logan's teaching could provide the help they sorely needed, and many more children and teens were further scarred in the process.
*Last year Dr. Copley's adopted daughter came forward, accusing him of sexually abusing her even while the family lived at the Training Center. Another victim has come forward accusing Copley of sexually abusing her while she was seeing him for counseling at ICBC. By the time Copley's daughter decided to seek legal action, Indiana's Department of Child Services was being run by Judge James Payne himself. Dr. Copley is currently a pastor at The Cross in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Thanks for spotlighting this guy. I'm literally shocked that my parents never saw the harm in this, with their exstensive background in careful, responsible (and grace-based) Bible interpretation and teaching.
ReplyDeleteGothard himself blows my mind with his casual violence done to what he claims to hold as 'Holy Scripture"... but Jim Logan is beyond the pale. The harm he has done far outweighs the help, from everything I've seen and heard in the ATI/IBLP world.
Oh thank you for the introduction. I collect guys like this!
ReplyDeleteJeri, I found your blog after reading your food post on Recovering Grace.
ReplyDeleteIt's weird how normal Logan's stories used to seem to me. I had completely forgotten about Larry the satanist and his travelling crystal. Instead of taking it back to the dump, they should have taken it to their nearest university physics department. That thing could have revolutionised transportation!
You wrote: 'My theism rested on a belief in a "personal" devil, and when I lost my fear of the demonic, my fear of god went tumbling after!' It made me think of a very good little book by Kester Brewin called After Magic. He grapples with this exact thing, but from the opposite direction, exploring how infinite gods create the need for super-powerful evil. I think you might enjoy it. http://www.amazon.com/After-Magic-Super-Nature-Shakespeare-ebook/dp/B00BT3SGS0/
Jim Logan taught at Seattle Bible Institute in 1975-6 while he was a pastor in a dinky church in Washington state (I was in his class). It was Jim Logan who exchanged letters with his daughter's would be suitor. It was this correspondence Bill Gothard referred to when he remarked, "Those letters will someday become a best seller." Logan was an engaging story teller, winsome personality, and jokey guy. Years later when I heard him wax demonic at the IBLP seminars I was shocked at how wonky he'd become. The human propensity for increasing novelty may explain why even fundamentalists tire of the old time religion. Feeding the adrenaline habit requires bigger and scarier threats--modernists, Catholics, anti-Christs, communists, socialists, demons, etc. Fear mongering fuels fundamentalism. As you wisely mention, take away the perceived threats and fundamentalism loses its power. Thanks for your hard work documenting this movement.
ReplyDeleteYour comments are inaccurate regarding the qualifications of Jim Logan and his associates. They all have advanced degrees. The critique shows the ignorance of the spirit world based on a Western world view. There are many highly educated and regarded professionals who deal with these issues to the benefit of their clients
ReplyDeleteI wrote that Logan attended Biola and then Talbot School of Theology, which is what he shares on his own website. How is that inaccurate?
DeleteCorrect. He has no sort of counseling credentials. Why does he counsel at all. I am a youth pastor and am appalled this.
DeleteDid Jesus have 'counseling credentials'. Are you appalled at this too?
DeleteYes.
DeleteWe are obviously appalled that Jesus counseled without the benefit of certification (that did not exist in his primitive time). That is a totally reasonable comparison to make.
Everyone knows the best counterpoints are those that make no sense in comparative discussion because they are in no way measurable. Great point.
I grew up being terrified of demons. My parents always thought I had this demon or that demon. My parents didn't love me or want me, and their concern seemed limited to how I, because of my thousands of flaws, would bring demons into their Christian home. The greatest gift I have given my own children is freedom from this horrific and ridiculous religion.
ReplyDeleteOne of the stories my father told over and over and over again was how once he was in a bar in Washington, D.C. and saw demons circling everywhere. As soon as any given person got intoxicated enough, a demon would slip into them. Therefore no one may ever drink any alcohol because demons will possess them.
I could go on and on, but being terrified all the time of demons is no way to live and no way to raise children.
Regardless of your opinions of Mr. Logan, the Bible from cover to cover talks specifically and in detail about the spirit realm(s) and dark spirits and their activity in the heavenly realms and on Earth. Your blog article evidences a gross lack of knowledge of what's in the Bible or a gross misunderstanding regarding the same. If you don't believe in the Word of God, so be it, but at least make that point of view/bias clear to your readers. If you do believe in it, start in Ephesians 6, and then move on to Genesis, Deuteronomy, Daniel, Ezekiel, the Gospels, Revelation and all the rest that talk much about spirits, light/unfallen and dark/fallen and their involvement in Earth. Jesus Himself (as well as the apostle Paul) talked extensively about hell, satan/the devil, demons/dark spirits, possession, affliction and opposition and the spirit realms of darkness and light. And if you don't believe what is said throughout the Bible, try Scientific American, which in an article published therein in June 2005 said that the naturally visible realm/reality we see is but a mere shadow of a larger unseen reality/realm. Additionally, the belief in a real and active spiritual realm, including dark spirits, is the norm in the majority of world cultures, not the exception. To believe only in the visible/natural realm is not only arrogant ignorance and defies the Word of God but it is also contrary to well-established physics and other scientific principles. Lastly, if you would do your research, you would find abundant historical and modern personal accounts and other documented evidence of dark spirit involvement in the lives of Christians and non-Christians and deliverance and freedom obtained from the same. While there is certainly a lot of fake, sensationalized hocus pocus out there, there is also much that is authentic from all over the world and across the demographic spectrum.
ReplyDeleteMy "bias" is clear to those who have read much of my blog. :)
Deletehttp://heresyintheheartland.blogspot.com/2013/04/library-shelf-birth-of-satan.html
Good point "Anonymous" .
DeleteJeri, care to answer:
"Jesus Himself (as well as the apostle Paul) talked extensively about hell, satan/the devil, demons/dark spirits, possession, affliction and opposition and the spirit realms of darkness and light."
I do not want to spend my entire waking moment focused on the demonic and Satan but the reality is that it is in the Word of God and the Holy Spirit inspired it.
?
Thann you.
What do you mean by "Word of God" or "inspired"?
DeleteMy wife was born into a family immersed in the Occult. She was born for their purposes. The Occult instilled in her Multiple Personalities and demons. When we met and married in 1968 the MPD stopped but demonic agitation continued. The MPDs also were a stress of life. In 1996 we met Dr. Copley and began the Redeemtive process. Dr. Copley and another person taught me to know the difference between MPD and demon spirits. I did most of the exorcisms and reuniting of MPDs myself at home. We only had several sessions with Dr. Copley and the other person. I made long notes of these encounters and have made them part of my Spiritual Warrior's Manuel. If you haven't studied your Bible in detail and haven't been there, don't talk about what you don't know. I know!
ReplyDeleteAmen the word of God tells that my people perish for lack of knowledge. We must pray for people like Jeri due to their ignorance or lack of knowledge. Also she keeps repeating how she feared these demons. Fear is not of God. God gives us a spirit of POWER and LOVE. But you hit it right on the nose, Jeri you haven't studied the Holy Bible in DETAIL. Holy bible is an acronym He Only Left You Basic Intructions Before Leaving Earth. The Devils greatest lie is to have you believe that he and his kingdom dont exist. You have bought the lie. I know about the spiritual realm first hand. I grew up drinking n doing drugs listening to rock music. AC/DC, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath OZZY and so on and so on. Over the last four years God has personally taught me, His prophet, of this demonic kingdom. Everywhere I go I see these demons and they speak to you. Why? Because when you walk in your Spiritual authority and filled with the POWER or Holy Spirit that filled Jesus Christ as well they must answer to the authority over them. We are not flakes we are true men of God that want nothing more but to free you from your bondage. Isaiah 61 tells us why these demons know us. We have Jesus Christ in our hearts and have the anointing from God Himself to free the captives and heal the sick n to give sight to the blind. In 2 Kings 6:16-17 The prophet Elisha is surround by the enemy and his servant who arose early and saw that they were surrounded and asked the prophet what shall we do n Elisha the prophet answered, "Fear not: for THEY that be with us are more than they be with them" and Elisha prayed, and said, "Lord, I pray thee, OPEN his EYES(speaking about his servant) that he may SEE. And the Lord OPENED the EYES of the young man and he SAW and behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of Fire around Elisha" I pray that the Lord open your eyes as well Jeri. As a prophet of the Lord we don't need no stinking paper to hang on the wall. All the credentials I need live in my heart. It's the Almighty God and His Son Jesus Christ n the Holy Spirit
DeleteI assume that you are not being facetious by your question. How do you interpret it? If God was powerful enough to inspire His own instructions, doesn't it stand to reason that He is powerful enough to preserve it in the form of our bible given to us? I am sincere in my question...
ReplyDeleteFor the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4:12
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:that the man of God may be perfect (mature), thoroughly furnished unto all good works. 2 Timothy 3:15,16
I cant speak for Jim Logan, but I know from personal experience that demons are real. Read the Bible - Old and New Testaments and note the countless times there is mention of angels, demons, powers and principalities. This is not a battle of flesh and blood but in the spiritual realm. I struggled all my life as a Christian until I was set free for demonic forces and was then able to see the Word and God in ways I had never experienced. I implore all to ask the God that came to set the captives free and lead us out of darkness to lead you to the truth and those that do His work! I so recommend educating yourselves in Spiritual Warfare through the works of Dr. Dickason and Mark Bubeck (ICBC is a great organization!). They are Godly humble men who live by the truth of God's word and Holy Spirit and have helped to set many free from Bondage. I have truly been set free and have seen the evil spiritual realm that I never new existed before! May God bless you and pray for hearts that to seek Him!!
ReplyDelete"....and demons being let loose in homes because of Cabbage Patch Kids or evil art objects received as white elephant gifts, or even "twin beds gotten from homosexuals" Wow Jeri....I've heard ALL that before in my younger Fundy circles. What's amazing to me is that Mr. Logan and those like him work in FEAR, it's IMPORTANT that people become afraid because it somehow validates their skewed views...I'm so glad I'm Lutheran.
ReplyDeleteWow thanks for this! Now I know I want to listen to him, sounds like he has a lot of wisdom and biblical authority. "In my name they shall cast out demons", of course! We need to follow what Jesus commands.
ReplyDeleteYou sure? His son murdered his wife and son, tried to strangle his daughter, then killer himself. Look up “Richard Logan Sugarland Texas”. Jim has blood on his hands.
DeleteYes, I learned of the murders yesterday. Shocked but not surprised was my reaction. I knew Jim Logan and his wife and daughters and sadly remember Richard. He was a child as was I at the time. However, though my Father was mesmerized by this character who knew Bill Gothard (God of Gods), I was not. Can't explain it except for seeing his affect on my brother through his "counselling". None of it was from God. Not Gothard and definitely not Logan. They were obsessed by sex, especially the practice of masturbation, (as I later learned was what got my brother's attention. He was 18 years old. If that tells you anything.) . Also heard his pride speeches, and wow, his dominance over the forces of evil didn't sound prideful at all.(Gag). My other siblings describe him the same way I do. He was creepy. His wife was the strangest woman I ever met. His children were repressed. What's strange is the shroud of silence about what happened with Richard and why my family just found out after I told them last night. You know that umbrella, that Gothard always talked about, it was a shroud. A shroud that could be held over a man's family as they were subservient to him and his whims. Gothard screwed every girl hey could in his grasp. That is verified and factual. The wonderful Duggar family that took Gothard's place in "ministry" provided a perfect place to foster sexual abuse. Logan himself said that a man who wrestles with porn and illicit sex is better off than an anorexic girl. Did Richard take him up on that? What terrible thing would cause Richard to do this horrible thing. Jim himself said that to get away from "pride", a man would have to commit suicide. But that is still not enough. What would drive a man to kill his wife, and his 11 year old son? Did she confront him with something she saw within the family to cause him to take this action to leave no witnesses? Did her son tell her something horrible? Last question, why didn't the daughter immediately call the police. No one has a clue. This was obviously an issue under the "umbrella". Could it be that Gothard and Logan witnessed the results of their teachings?
ReplyDeleteThe Obituary of Jim Logan, 2 years later says, In the presence of the Lord with his wife Marguerite, son, Richard, Daughter in law Diana, and grandson Aaron. Yes, extremely tragic. Unbelievable and shrouded under the umbrella.
One doesn’t have to conclude that demons are totally human inventions to recognize the craziness in Jim Logan’s teaching. We hosted Jim Logan in my home back in the 1970s when he served as dean of students at Calvary Bible College in Kansas City. Unfortunately, he influenced several classes of young college students, some of whom imitated him by going around “discerning” spiritual malfeasance in their classmates. Jim convinced one of my brothers that he (Jim) had an infallible inner eye when Jim “discerned” that he was masturbating—now I ask you, how hard is it to discern that a healthy 18-year-old male does that (my mother, who raised 5 boys and washed the sheets and underwear weekly, pointed that out; she was quicker than my dad to see through Nelson Logan and recognize a charlatan). He discerned that another of my brothers had the gift of celibacy; that brother has now been married over 35 years, has 3 kids and just welcomed their first grand baby into the world a few days ago.
ReplyDeleteI could go on. I certainly shouldn’t fail to mention his destructive tenure at Child Evangelism Fellowship, where he spread his lunacy among the missionaries there, claiming to have cast a demon out many, including one dear old saint suffering from clinical depression who my home church supported (another black mark against him in my mother’s book). Some of our friends got sucked in by Jim and his lunacy and suffered greatly over several years. We haven’t talked much with them about it for a while, but I notice that in their ongoing ministry to missionaries they now focus on helping hurting people find peace in Jesus rather than focusing on battling the demons.
No, millions of orthodox, believing Christians over the past 2,000 years have accepted the testimony of Scripture to the reality of the spiritual world, including angels and demons, but not many have purveyed the kind of heresy that Nelson Logan did, with the devastating consequences for so many. It’s been decades since my one brother attended Calvary, but to this day he lives under a weight of shame acquired largely from his encounters with Jim Logan. I wouldn’t wish on anyone the devastation that must have enveloped Jim when his son murdered his own wife and son, then drove 160 miles to his daughter’s house and tried to strangle her before pulling off the road on the return trip and ending his own life. I haven’t seen any explanation of his motives. Whatever secret lay behind them apparently died with him. I don’t know whether Jim’s lunacy was part of all that or not. But he was clearly deeply disturbed, and the many already-disturbed people whom Jim “discerned,” “counseled,” and exorcised were very likely left worse from their encounters with Jim than they were before they started.
The Bible does teach the reality of demons, but the problem with so much of this spiritual warfare literature is that it shifts the focus from Jesus Christ to Satan. The constant teaching of all prophets, of Jesus, and of the Apostles is to know God, to enjoy God, to love God. “Follow me as I follow Christ,” Paul says. “Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I reach put for the upward call pf God in Christ Jesus.”
The Gospel frees us from shame and opens to us a new and living way through the blood of Christ. That magnificent truth should occupy our thoughts and prayers, as is evident even in Paul’s metaphor pf the armor of God in Ephesians, where every part of it is obtained from seeking God through his word. Jim Logan’s gospel, tragically, bound hundreds and probably thousands in shame that many have yet to escape. If I were ever to burn any books (but I’m not the book-burning type) Nelson Logan’s would be the first in the fire. His teaching was toxic.