TheRealPhilosophy

Imagine finding out that you are an heir to some of the most expensive artifacts in the world. What would you do to posses them? In this case, these artifacts are called the Stones of David, and Stephen Friedman is obsessing over the fact that he needs to find these million-dollar artifacts. Stephen is looking at a house; the house where Rachel Spritzer (his mother, a Holocaust survivor) died just a couple days ago. This is the place where the Stones were hidden. He sneaks in and finds a safe shaped like a manhole. He keeps returning to the safe to attempt to find a way into it. After a couple times he finds his realtor friend, Mike. Mike tells him that he just sold the house to some German fellow. Stephen is angry because he’s trying to get to his treasure, and this was another obstacle. He lies to Mike to get into the building and finds the safe just as it had been. He’s relieved. He tries to get in again, and he ends up meeting Roth Braun, a ruthless man that was the son of Gehrard Braun, a man that was in charge of a concentration camp Torun, in Poland.

This book relates to me and Christians in how we should be obsessed with God, the Bible, and all the things that Christians partake in. Stephen is obsessed to the point where he spends almost all of his life savings, about $800,000. I’m not saying that Christians should spend almost all of their life savings; unless God tells them to, I’m saying that we should be obsessed with all things concerning God. Many people are obsessed with things, like baseball, basketball, football, or tennis. Many people are obsessed with TV shows, like “The O.C.”, or “Heroes”. Many people are obsessed with Web sites, like “MySpace”, or “YouTube”. Money can be an idol. Books can be idols. All these can be idols. All this being said, it is not about bowing down to or worshiping these idols. It’s about putting these idols in front of God.

The theme of Obsessed is obsession. It’s about someone willing to sacrifice everything just to satisfy his obsession At first, it’s not really for a noble cause, but towards the end it changes into one. This is a type of book that Ted Dekker doesn’t really write. For all of the Dekker fans, it’s not a thriller, but it’s a mystery and suspense type of book. It’s still extremely good, nevertheless. This book deserves a 4.6-star rating. Are you obsessed?

For those that are impressed with this book, check out some of Ted Dekker’s other books, like the Circle Trilogy, the Project Showdown series, and Blink, by Ted Dekker.

The town of Ashton is steadily being encompassed by spiritual darkness. The main characters, Marshall Hogan and Hank Busche, are fighting this shroud of darkness. Marshall, the former New York Times editor, moved there with his family to have a less hectic life. He runs the local newspaper there called The Ashton Clarion, formerly headed by Ted Harmel, who got run out of town by the Omni Corporation or the Universal Consciousness Society. (They are both connected in many ways.) Hank Busche is the new pastor, that was accidentally voted in by the congregation, of the Ashton Community Church, that used to be pastored by Reverend James Farrel. Marshall goes to pick up his daughter from Whitmore University because his wife has to get groceries. He interrupts the class, and the woman giving the lecture, Professor Juleen Langstrat, told him to wait outside. After the class is over, he apologizes to Sandy and they begin to argue. She ends up getting a ride home with a friend. Marshall was talking with Kate, his wife, and she mentions some stuff about what Sandy had learned from the lecture that day. She tells him that it sounded kind of weird, like reaching inside your inner self and stuff like that. So, having that reporter sense, he decidedes to check it out, and finds out that she also does therapy sessions involving the same type of material. He soon learns that it’s witchcraft, neo-Pagan type stuff. Just like Ted Harmel, Marshall and his reporter, Bernice Krueger, stick their noses where they shouldn’t be. They soon find out that they may be on the same path that got Ted Harmel, along with many other important people, kicked out of town. Hank Busche feels the burden to pray for this town, because recently, there has been so much evil occuring there. He soon confronts demons in both Ron Forsythe and Bobby Corsi, along with the demons in charge: the Strongman and Rafar, the Prince of Babylon, who are in Alexander Kaseph, the head of the Omni Corporation, and Juleen Langstrat, the head of the Universal Consciousness Society. Marshall Hogan and Hank Busche are fighting this present darkness. Marshall fights the physical side of it, (flesh and blood, while not actually harming anyone) while Hank Busche fights the spiritual side of it, renouncing, rebuking, and casting out demons in the name of Jesus as he goes, being the man of God he is. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12, NIV)

This book relates to me and the world in how there is a spiritual battle raging inside of all us between angels and demons, God and Satan, good and evil.That’s why Christians need to petition and intercede for the souls of men. The evil side usually wins if someone is not a Chrisitan, no matter how many good deeds they have done, and obviously if someone is doing bad deeds. The good side has won only when the Christian is doing what he should do as a Christian, like witnessing. Angels and demons are spirits; that’s why we cannot see them, unless we enter the spirit realm. They literally fight, with swords at least. They are both created beings; just like mankind. Demons, along with Satan, used to be angels until they were thrown out of heaven for their transgressions against Elyon. (Most High) “12 How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!13 You said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. 14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High. 15 But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit. 16 Those who see you stare at you, they ponder your fate: Is this the man who shook the earth and made kingdoms tremble, 17 the man who made the world a desert, who overthrew its cities and would not let his captives go home?” (Isaiah 14:12-17, NIV)

The theme of this book is that spiritual warfare happens, and it’s a part of every single person’s life, and he or she can either choose to overcome evil, or help the evil side win. My recommendation for this book is that if you are a person that likes Christian, supernatural suspense thrillers, than this is definitely the type of book you’d like to read. There is tons of fast paced action.(angels fighting demons and chasing them away, especially when the warriors grab the little demons and use them to bat and swat away other demons) There are really good match-ups: angel warriors face demon warriors, Tal, the Captain of the Host, faces Rafar, the Prince of Babylon, and the General faces the Strongman, both that report directly to the highest superiors: God and Satan. These things actually happen: there are groups that sabotage towns and cities for Satan. Demons help them and do Satan’s biddings. Major weaknesses for all demons are praying and rebuking. In the book, angels get strength, speed, and healing from what they call the “prayer cover.” It helps them carry out big operations that they would otherwise fail, because of being sheerly outnumbered.

The belief that things are not demonic or Satanic is very, very gravely incorrect. Most of this unbelief comes from ignorance, or naivete. Some have pulled the wool over their eyes and have become blind. Some are blatantly and adamantly against the truth, which is that there are powers of darkness that are incredible, declaring demons and vampires and such to be “fairy tales,” or “fables.” These are the kind of things that will catch one off guard, very quickly, very inconspicuously. It will ruin lives decimatively, and is doing so.

This is an account from a debate forum I have just recently participated in, against secular, worldy people who do not know anything about the occult, or witchcraft, or cults: And of course you’re surprised. From what you just said, you implied that this is bogus, even though it is not. Just look up astral projection on the Internet (Maybe you shouldn’t, for your computer may become cursed). You probably were astounded after you read this last sentence. Naivete is very harmful. Like I have been saying, most people don’t know about it. For proof, buy or borrow from your local library one of Rebecca Brown, M.D.’s most famous books. I will give you a list of the three that involve demonic influence and demonic manifestations. Prepare for War, He Came to Set the Captives Free, and Becoming a Vessel of Honor, all by Rebecca Brown, M.D. Here is an excerpt from Prepare for War: Here is a quote from a police report giving an account by a child who was seven years old at the time of the abuse. I know that most readers will be horrified and shocked by this report, but it is the truth, and I print it here only as a small example of thousands and thousands of cases of this type in the U.S. alone. “I remember going with my father to a man’s apartment…He wanted to buy a woman. I thought my father was good because he didn’t want to sell me…when she came into the room, they made her take her clothes of and lie on the table. She started screaming when they tied her up. She screamed a lot…My mother held my arms and made me cut her wrists with a razor blade. They killed her…they would toast the Devil with blood. Usually they would take the heart out and offer it to the Devil to be blessed. They would always push a piece of the heart in my mouth.”
“I was tied to a cross alongside a dead man on Easter. I remember feeling ill because I was upside down. They took his insides out and cut him down. They [pushed me] partially inside him. They put the man in a coffin and put me on top of him. they had a box of live kittens, and they crushed their heads and threw their bodies into the coffin. then they closed the lid. I can remember screaming.” (Prepare For War, 215-216)

(Continued…)

…These are people involved in both the furthering of atheism and evolution, and the Creationism movement. Charles Darwin and Richard Dawkins are the two most influential today. Charles Darwin induced a theory of evolution by natural selection, which is the conventionally believed form of evolution. Richard Dawkins is the foremost evolutionary biologist atheist, who is a polemic of religion, and a criticizer of anything not rationalized. Alister McGrath is a Christian biochemist and a historical theologian, who is a creationist. He is a polemic of atheism and evolution, and criticizer of both the former and the latter. “For instance, every worldview – religious or secular – ends up falling into the category of “belief systems,” precisely because it cannot be proved. That is simply the nature of worldviews, and everyone knows it.”[1] This is a rebuttal to the conveyance that atheism is valid, since it is not a belief system, because belief systems do not have proof to support the central belief. Ignorance is key, for if one does not have knowledge, then acquires “rational” information, it is cemented as the “correct” view, making it difficult for intruding views.

There is corruption, resulting from the conjoined beliefs of atheism and evolution, for it erodes the connotation of morality. Morality comes from God, and if the belief that God is nonexistent pervades, then morality is nonexistent for the atheist. It compels one evolutionist to believe that nothing is true lest it is proved by past patterns, or “evidence,” to substantiate the claim that the ideology is correct. There are several evident occurrences that are unsubstantiated, that we cannot explain, aside from the supernatural. Those are believed to be true, even though we cannot explain them. That is a perceivable hole in the argument of Darwinism. Another perceivable hole is how the cell is impossibly complex, regarding its organelles, molecules, atoms, and subatomic particles, therefore Darwinism is an invalid attempt to theorize how the universe came to be. [2]

People like Ben Stein and Alister McGrath are using their influence to further the Creationism and the Intelligent Design movements. These movements will help to shunt the beliefs of atheism and evolution in society, and the scientific community. Also, schools in the United States are already banning the theory of evolution from being taught. These movements to controvert atheism and evolution and the legal processes of banning evolution have been consummate. Ben Stein has used his influence as the person in the documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, globally trekking and meeting with people who have been fired for believing in Creationism/Intelligent Design. He is working with people to at least have Creationism be taught in schools alongside evolution, in lieu of having evolution being solely taught. Alister McGrath has used his influence to argue against the top atheists/evolutionists. Since, according to many atheists, religion leads to sheer violence, and that is a negative side of it, there is the matter insanely overlooked of the Soviet Union, which used violence and oppression to try to invoke a socialist regime, and to take out all religion.[3]

The self-evident solution would be to abstain from believing the theory of evolution, hence essentially hindering atheism from continuance. One might use legal processes to stop evolution from being taught in schools, as a judge in Pennsylvania had already executed. One could be a creationist scientist, and compete, demonstrating that Creationism is the most logical. Most scientists have accepted evolution as the interpretation for new findings and the current state of the universe. They do not take Creationists claims seriously, believing that they are engaging in pseudoscience. However, how soon they forget – Sir Isaac Newton and Johannes Kepler, two great patriarchs of physics, were creationists. In addition, for the sake of those who point out that evolution is mainly about biology and biochemistry, there is a scientist, Dr. Raymond Damadian, who developed the Magnetic Resonance Imaging scan. (It is a biochemical scanner.) He was a creationist. The scanner has helped saved numerous lives, which is an obvious prohibitory action, involving the rebuttal of it, regardless of what any evolutionist might attempt as a counter argument. [4]

The problem with atheism and evolution is that they collide with the scientific and Creationism views. The best plan of all would simply be to become a Christian. It immediately erases the belief of atheism, and dispels evolution as a contradictory idea that is invalid. It entails having morals, which come from the God that exists, the Ancient of Days. To put it candidly, science is achievable because the Bible is inerrant.[5] Darwin’s rhetoric was that according to evolution by natural selection, that the cell is very simple. This lack of indemnification for how life began is demonstrated by the microscope, which greatly magnified the human eye’s mere sight of 1 in a million parts of a millimeter. It allowed the biochemist to see the anatomical parts of the cell, which were the organelles, and the anatomical parts of the organelles, which were molecules. Hopefully, the global community will contravene its current state of view, and look forward to a future consisting of validity.

In spite of the established belief that atheism and evolution are valid, it is a seemingly correct fallacy that is indeed dissertation of the universe and its current state. The atheism subsumed is the fundamentalist version. The evolution subsumed is “Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection.”[1] Charles Darwin induced a theory of evolution by natural selection, which is evolution according to the “survival of the fittest,” for each species to slightly improve from the predecessor, until they have reached the final stage. Atheism has existed nearly from the dawn of the time of the creation of man. Darwinian evolution had started somewhere around the 1800s, when people believed they could attribute the human race’s complexity to random mutation and progressive improvements over time. This mainly led to the belief that this is “proof” of the “nonexistence” of God.

The issue addressed in this essay is the belief of atheism and evolution, in interrelation. Each complements the other. That is the reason why it conveys a mutual feeling, which is, in this case, extremely negative. Atheism incorporates the belief that a Supreme Being, who is God, is nonexistent, which is one of the main pillars of atheism. That is simply incorrect. Evolution is the tool of the atheist, to “prove” that He is nonexistent. Evolution is unscientific, to say the least, despite the Darwinists’ insistence that it is scientific, just because it is based on “factual evidence,” and according to Nicholls, “a ‘belief’ is not formed by critical scientific investigation but by emotions, feelings, and unsubstantiated opinion.”[2] That is incorrect, for a particular “belief” is substantiated by scientific investigation and several occurrences. The “factual evidence” is either false evidence, or evidence that has been speculated about, misinterpreted, or manipulated, to support evolution, and simultaneously, atheism. Science investigates how things are, and how they came to be. One question remaining unanswered by Darwinism, is, “How did cells, the building blocks of life, appear?” With all their insurmountable complexity, it is impossible for it to have been random, out of nowhere. There must have been a Designer, One who would construct the molecular machines for precise purposes, interdependent on each other in the cell.

There is the simple disbelief, according to “science,” and at times, for ulterior motives. This is intertwined with the belief that atheism is not a belief, for it is substantiated, but it is unsubstantiated, in so many facets. Most scientists want to justify and rationalize for everything, for that is what science is. What they overlook, is, that it is impossible to explain everything using their method, which is evolution. The opposing view would have some rebuttal such as this: “If religions and such could…show by previous experience or experiment that some part of future action could be predicted, it would then no longer be a ‘belief system.’”[3] The naysayer is implying that since it is a “belief system,” then it is incorrect, but that is far from the truth. The previous occurrences have happened plenty of times. What are being mentioned are the occurrences of demonic manifestations after the one being subjugated to them has allowed the demons to gain a foothold in his or her life…

Potential energy does not exist, physically; only kinetic energy is existent between the two. Although potential energy is a fundamental concept in physics, I have terminated my belief that it exists on the basis of the determination of potential and kinetic energy. Potential energy is supposed to be when an object is at the top of a hill, and it is not “moving,” then its kinetic energy is supposed to be zero. Conversely, when an object is in motion, then its potential energy is supposed to be zero. Have many forgotten that all objects are moving perpetually? Even the foolishness to suggest that someone is at rest on the Earth is incredible. The Earth is perpetually in motion, because of the rotation on its axis and revolution around the Sun. I mean, come on, this is very basic. And besides, no one can remain completely still in any sense. The electrons of a person are moving, and that is part of a person, because it is part of matter, and matter makes up a person, and therefore, a person is perpetually in motion. This statement is very elementary. And to refute the other argument of, “What about the potential energy stored in cells?” Well, isn’t the energy of the state of motion one or the other? The energy involved is either potential or kinetic (along with all of the others, whether electromagnetic, chemical, mechanical, etc.). That, thereby, proves that kinetic energy is the only existent state of motion energy that we have found.