[Ezekiel Bathfire]

The contents of the paper “Schizophrenia and cortical blindness: protective effects and implications for language” https://internal-journal.frontiersin...014.00940/full may have slipped your notice. I admit that the only reason that I came across the above paper was during my research into the language that Adam and Eve spoke.

The executive summary is that if you are blind, you are invulnerable to demons, but if you are deaf and blind, that protection is lost.

The literature on psychiatric disorders of the past half a century contains a claim that relates congenital and/or early blindness (CB ) to schizophrenia. The absence of reports of schizophrenic patients with CB has been repeatedly noted, and has led to the claim that CB confers a protective effect against schizophrenia (Chevigny and Braverman, 1950; Horrobin, 1979; Riscalla, 1980; Sanders et al., 2003; Silverstein et al., 2013a; Postmes et al., 2014, Landgraf and Osterheider, 2013).

And then came the “killer line”:

“[…] most studies agree that “there has not been even one reported case of a congenitally blind person who developed schizophrenia” (Silverstein et al., 2013a, p. 1), …

As if that weren’t enough then what followed was a revelation

Although the protective effects of CB have been recently documented […] People with Usher type I are congenitally deaf, start to lose vision early in life, and may develop schizophrenia (Dammeyer, 2012).

The writer then says:

The question is why adding deafness to the picture seems to lift the protective benefits and the reasons for this phenomenon are “not clear at present” (Silverstein et al., 2013a, p. 8).

I read that line and, as soon as I had finished it, I can honestly say that God revealed the answer to me. It is as clear as day, and I defy anyone to speak against this revelation!

Let us get our terms in a Biblical perspective:

“Blindness”: Jesus’s final words on blindness are given in John 9:1. “Joh:9:1: And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.” Jesus explains that God makes people blind to demonstrate His power. To the atheist, this seems cruel. It seems cruel because we didn’t understand it until God revealed the reasons to me!

“Schizophrenia”: This is described in
M't:8:28: And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.
M't:8:29: And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?
M't:8:30: And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding.
M't:8:31: So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.
M't:8:32: And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.

You will note that those possessed of Devils could see, for they recognized Jesus.

What do we learn from this?

We learn that we are born with a knowledge of good and evil. Our innocent thoughts keep demons at bay.

If we are blind from birth, we are protected from demons as we do not see the evil in the world.

Our soul’s resistance is weakened by the sight of the evil prospering and we may become possessed by demons because we can see the evil in the world: we are vulnerable to attack by demons, who show us perversions, lies, riches and deceit and our soul is influenced primarily by sight.
.
If we are only deaf, we cannot hear the Word of God, so even if we are also blind from birth, Christ will not protect us as we cannot accept Him as we cannot hear His Message. Demons find it simple to enter the soul of non-Christians.

Now look back at John 9:1-7. God has made this man blind to protect him from demons: now, atheists – “Was God cruel?”

If you know any one beset by demons, I would be interested in hearing from you, as there are a few experiments I would like to conduct.

[Johny Joe Hold]

I don't happen to know of anyone just now for you to interview. Your post was most helpful.

I'm trying to understand what message the research has given us. Is it that we should more aggressively accost those blind people who were not blind at birth? I have no trouble doing that. They are blind because they did not take care of themselves and chose not to see evil with their own eyes.

[MitzaLizalor]

Jesus has confirmed that deaf/dumb is demonic so that's settled. I'm not sure about deaf/blind. At present I can't recall any example from Christ's ministry but will read The New Testament to make sure. From what you've included it's likely that a blind person——who could be blind because of a great-great-grandparent's agnosticism or idolatry or working in an unclean service industry (perhaps during a gold rush somewhere) of course——may contract a demon. This is pure speculation but could it be seeking occult healing for the blindness? Crystals, for instance, or acupuncture or the yoga?

I'll stop there and get on with my reading.

[Joanna Lytton-Vasey]

The most famous deaf-and-blind person I can think of was Helen Keller who, as it turned out, became a famous proponent of eugenics for people like herself. It is not entirely clear how she found out about eugenics, what with not being able to hear people telling her about it or read about it, so I suppose we must put this knowledge down to divine or satanic intervention? I leave it to wiser minds than my own to decide which.

[Ezekiel Bathfire]

Originally Posted by Johny Joe Hold

I'm trying to understand what message the research has given us.

The ramifications are quite broad.The main theological take away here is that if God makes someone blind from birth, although this may seem inconvenient to the parents, it is manna to the soul of the blind person as he remains with his childlike innocence because he does not witness the world and its ills.

Now the Bible says Jesus "cured" many blind people. I am sure that Jesus did not do this without some thought. If God (see John 9) is using these people as walking adverts for His Power, He compensates them by preserving their soul from demon infestation. Jesus, then cures only those who are Spiritually Mature enough to continue being True Christians - it would be pointless of Him to cure someone who is going to turn out to be an atheist or totally immoral.

It is a tempting thought to say that someone who is either blind or cured of congenital blindness is "Saved".



On a more practical level, I'm now thinking "Blind Pastor". The very idea has an air of dragging in greater congregations - they will come for the novelty and stay to tithe. The other advantages are

1. His accommodation - he's blind... he won't mind the lack of interior decoration -

2. His electricity bills will be low as he doesn't need lighting.


3. No need for a car.

4. No difficulty getting him a wife - any woman will do and this will give hope to some of our more homely sisters.

5. Salary - the blind are grateful for any job - a supply and demand situation will create savings.

6. He won't be put off by low attendance, or cripples and other gimps (or Mrs Hansworth's facial mole... can't stand that thing - enough to stop a rattler in its tracks!) etc.

Downsides might be -

1. He'll need someone to point him in the direction of the church, but we can get a duty roster of volunteers for that.

2. Will he bring a dog and, if so, would it be allowed in church?

3. He might start banging on about special privileges for other weirdos.

4. Personal appearance: I knew this blind guy - his shirt and tie never matched - a Pastor must be respected, etc.

Anyway - just a few thoughts to be getting on with.

[Johny Joe Hold]

I've noticed there are lots of blind entertainers who act as though they have not seen sin but know more about is than they let on. Some play rock and roll music and must know there is dancing but claim they don't know about it:

The Voice 2015 Battle Blaine Mitchell vs Blind Joe Old Time Rock and Roll - YouTube

[Ezekiel Bathfire]

Originally Posted by Johny Joe Hold

The Voice 2015 Battle Blaine Mitchell vs Blind Joe Old Time Rock and Roll - YouTube

You know - I didn't understand a word of that. That guitar player's overplaying it: why's he sat down? What's that got to do with being blind? Has he been cursed with bad legs? Why's he playing a guitar across his knees? That blind nigra Stuart Wonder doesn't play the piano lying on the lid! I suspect despite his "fresh-faced" appearance, he's in it for the sympathy vote.

[MitzaLizalor]

I think they're singing "blue notes." Who's playing the piano?

[Johny Joe Hold]

Of course I don't trust anything a Priest says, but there is a Monsignor in New York City who says yellow eyes are caused by demons. The demons get into us by texting on our smart phones. At least that's what I take from this article about him.

The solution, according to the Monsignor, is Catholic exorcism. While our pastors at Landover Baptist have an excellent exorcism program I think they would advise people with yellow eyes to first turn off their smart phones.


Dark stories of Catholic priest who performs 20 exorcisms a week (nypost.com)

[MitzaLizalor]

https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna4669114

From the start, Gabriele Amorth, one of the Catholic Church’s exorcists, suspected the devil was at work.

“I’ve seen things like this before,” he told the daily Il Messaggero. “Demons occupy a house and appear in electrical goods.”

Amorth urged the parish priest to take action.

Just for clarity, I checked who was pope at the time. Report is from 2004.

John Paul I	1978 - 1978 “died of a sudden heart attack”
John Paul II	1978 - 2005 . THIS ONE .
Benedict XVI	2005 - 2013 “resigned”
Francis	2013 - 2021 .

Ok. So this was when JP2 was running around kissing runways and stuff. My next thought was, "Did he visit Sicily?" Yes. How did the local priest react? Rome's chief exorcist, depicted at right, may not be the person you'd want dropping in during a demonic episode (or at any time) but he did give an opinion here, urging the parish priest to take action.

The local priest, Don Antonio Cipriani, decided together with residents to let scientists have a first go at the fires.

After a brief visit to Canneto di Caronia, the head of the Committee for the Control of Paranormal Claims has ruled out demons or poltergeists — at least for the time being.

“The fact that the phenomenon occurs only when there are people present makes it hard to believe that it is a natural, or even supernatural phenomenon,” the committee’s Massimo Polidoro said.

Some good stuff there! Why pay an exorcist and then not do what he says? Vatican salaries are not notoriously low. But that's up to them I suppose. Nevertheless, the likelihood of demons was high and the mayor had called on exorcism as a remedy for electrical infrastructure malfunction. Next up: the Committee for the Control of Paranormal Claims. Is this an Italian government department? Their prognostications are very high grade!


ANALYSIS
1. (i) the phenomenon occurs only when there are people present
1. (ii) This is described as a fact. How do they know what happens when nobody's there? Electrical equipment blows up. Apparently they disconnected the mains and installed a generator but would they keep it running permanently just to operate a camera? And it would need to be a good one to cover all locations, in fact a more complicated set up than the defunct electricity supply itself.

2. (i) hard to believe that it's a natural phenomenon
2. (ii) Not natural. And this is the paranormal claims committee, which explains the exorcist – and they went for the biggie here. Rome's top man.

3. (i) makes it hard to believe that it is a natural, or even supernatural phenomenon,” the committee’s Massimo Polidoro said.
3. (ii) So neither natural nor supernatural. The committee is running out of options. And has the exorcist been activated yet? Even if he turned up with the pope (a self-contained two-man halloween party if ever there was one) I doubt they'd have much impact against phenomena that were neither natural nor supernatural.

4. (i) The 3rd option.
4. (ii) Circumlocutive mumbojumbo is not unique to the offices of Rome and I don't like to use the term gravy train, even so it could be appropriate for our erstwhile committee short-circuiting themselves with an outstanding demonstration of gobbledygook. Whilst still drawing their stipend (don't expect me to believe they do this for free) but, regrettably, all things considered, unable, in the fullness of time, to act in any way, in this case, which, we'd like to add, has been particularly interesting and you did the right thing calling us in.

Mark 3:26 And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end.

These are The Last Days, replete with blind leaders and blind followers, rebellion even amongst devils squabbling over who possesses Sicilian electricity, who runs the local priest, who's on the Paranormal Committee (I have a feeling demons like committees) and so on. Vatican exorcists may have some authority over demons, as may popes, but is it the authority of Christ? Red eyes or not, big round pupils or muttering quietly, whatever comes from Christ is always consistent because God is consistent and where there's dissent or idolatrous fixation and blatant disregard for His commandments we know at once Christ was never there at all.