Do Demons Exist, and if so, are they Zionists?

Thursday, 12 July 2012

Do Demons Exist, and if so, are they Zionists?

The above video was made in 2002. As you watch, consider that the woman in it passed away in December of last year. Consider also that her husband and other members of her family are convinced she was beset by demons at the time of her death. The woman’s name was Alynn Pike. The man with her in the video is her husband, Rev. Ted Pike, director of the National Prayer Network.

Ted Pike is a genuine Christian conservative who opposes U.S. support for Israel and who for some three decades or more has been trying to waken other Christians to the true nature of Israeli apartheid and the dangerously disproportionate power wielded by AIPAC. “Today a foreign government, Israel, operates the most powerful lobby in Congress,” Pike says—and he has not been shy about quoting the Talmud or the racist public statements of Israeli rabbis to prove his points.

“The Talmud provides a frightening scenario of events leading up to a Jewish world conquest,” he has stated.

There’s evidence that America’s evangelical Christians are beginning to heed Pike’s warnings. Criticism of Israel can now be found on a number of evangelical websites (here, here, here, here, here, and here, for instance ), while divestment/sanction resolutions have been taken up by both the Methodist and Presbyterian churches. None have passed as of yet, but they do, at least with regard to the Methodists, seem to keep getting re-introduced year after year. Clearly Israel is facing the prospect of crumbling support among evangelical Christians, who traditionally have been its largest and most influential supporters in America, and just as clearly, Pike has played a leading role in the erosion of this support. That’s why his account of his wife’s apparent struggle against demonic possession is a fascinating, and eerily bizarre, story for us to consider.

Light and Darkness

If you were to ask me, “Do demons exist?”—the only really honest answer I can give you is, “I don’t know.” However, as I’ve observed events of the last ten or twelve years—the wars, the slaughter of millions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and elsewhere, and the destruction of whole nations—it does seem clear there are people in the world today pushing evil agendas, people who very much seem to be in thrall to…something.

A number of accounts of demonic possession are supplied to us, of course, in the New Testament. So what is it possible for us, here in the 21^st century, to make of these? Yes to be sure, such concepts as psychosis, bi-polar disorder, and epilepsy were unknown two thousand years ago. So does that mean we explain away each of these accounts as incidents of physical or mental illness? In each and every case? Possibly—but somehow I don’t think so.

Clearly there are things that cannot rationally be explained by science. Take the story of “Maria,” for instance. A migrant worker living in the U.S., Maria suffered a heart attack and was rushed to Harborview Hospital in Seattle, where she was placed on a coronary unit. A few days later, she suffered a complete cardiac arrest, but was quickly resuscitated. The next day, being visited by a critical care social worker at the hospital, Kimberly Clark, she gave an account of a rather bizarre-sounding experience she insisted she had undergone during the moments she was clinically dead. Clark listened with feigned but seemingly empathic respect as the patient told of rising to the ceiling and looking down upon herself as the medical staff attempted to revive her. As the out-of-body experience progressed, she found herself no longer in the hospital room, but rather outside the building, floating in the air, where she suddenly became distracted by an object resting on a ledge—oddly enough a tennis shoe. In great detail Maria described the shoe—the little toe had a worn place and one of its laces was tucked underneath the heel. Unsure herself whether what she had experienced was real—and in desperate need of knowing—Maria pleaded with the social worker to go and see. Still skeptical and with deep reservations, Clark went to look for the shoe, and on the north face of the building, on the hospital’s third floor…she found it. Resting on a ledge and visible from a window, the shoe was precisely as Maria had described it—worn toe with one lace tucked under the heel. The story is related by Dr. Kenneth Ring, professor emeritus of Psychology at the University of Connecticut and longtime researcher of near-death experiences, in a 2006 book in which he chronicles similar case histories from more than two decades of research in the field. The book, entitled Lessons from the Light, relates dozens of cases similar to Maria’s—stories typically involving an out-of-body experience like hers, often combined with a tunnel and light, encounters with deceased loved ones, etc. Some of Ring’s subjects have even spoken of coming into the presence of a spiritual entity—often described as bearing unconditional love toward them.

Clearly science has not provided a rational explanation for “veridical NDEs,” as Ring refers to them (i.e. near-death experiences that are corroborated by witnesses such as Clark)—and if there is a place of “Light” from which “lessons” such as this may come to us, does the opposite hold true? In the days of Jesus, approximately 40 years before the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD, the Pharisees in Jerusalem wielded considerable power, roughly comparable, in certain respects, to that held by Jews in America today. Yes, technically speaking, they were not the supreme lords and rulers of Palestine, but the Romans afforded them considerable latitude in terms of trade and commerce, the collection of Temple taxes, and even to conduct trials and mete out punishments to those deemed to have violated Jewish law. While it’s true Jews were expelled from the city of Rome by Tiberius in 19 AD, this does not seem to have adversely impacted Jewish fortunes in Palestine. But beginning 40 years after the crucifixion, things changed considerably. The other main Jewish sects, the Sadducees, Essenes, and Zealots, were wiped out in the revolts of 66 and 132 AD. The Pharisees alone managed to linger into the modern age, and it is they who compiled the Talmud, the Zohar, and other such heartwarming Jewish religious texts in existence today. In the book Jewish History, Jewish Religion: The Weight of Three Thousand Years, by Israel Shahak, we find the following rather curious passage:

Other prayers or religious acts, as interpreted by the cabbalists, are designed to deceive various angels (imagined as minor deities with a measure of independence) or to propitiate Satan. At a certain point in the morning prayer, some verses in Aramaic (rather than the more usual Hebrew) are pronounced. This is supposed to be a means for tricking the angels who operate the gates through which prayers enter heaven and who have the power to block the prayers of the pious. The angels only understand Hebrew and are baffled by the Aramaic verses; being somewhat dull-witted (presumably they are far less clever than the cabbalists) they open the gates, and at this moment all the prayers, including those in Hebrew, get through. Or take another example: both before and after a meal, a pious Jew ritually washes his hands, uttering a special blessing. On one of these two occasions he is worshipping God, by promoting the divine union of Son and Daughter; but on the other he is worshipping Satan, who likes Jewish prayers and ritual acts so much that when he is offered a few of them it keeps him busy for a while and he forgets to pester the divine Daughter. Indeed, the cabbalists believe that some of the sacrifices burnt in the Temple were intended for Satan. For example, the seventy bullocks sacrificed during the seven days of the feast of Tabernacles, were supposedly offered to Satan in his capacity as ruler of all the Gentiles, in order to keep him too busy to interfere on the eighth day, when sacrifice is made to God. Many other examples of the same kind can be given.

The more we learn about Talmudic Judaism, the more it seems we run into funny little tidbits like this. A rather remarkable analysis of the Talmud in fact is provided in the video above. You’ll hear Alynn Pike say, “The Talmud’s homicidal hatred of Gentiles leaps from its pages.” She also tells us, “The Talmud clearly does more than dehumanize Palestinians. It dehumanizes Jews. The Talmud is the scalpel that makes the Mideast bleed.” All statements that would be hard to argue with.

Ted and Alynn Pike were married for 27 years. In the account below, Ted Pike tells the story of his wife’s battle with demons—their onset in 2005 and the effect it had on their lives. As he puts it, “In the years following, we had to adjust to literally thousands of supernatural sounds, visions, and physical intrusions into our lives.” Doubtless there will be many skeptics—people for whom curiosity is a thing generally to be avoided and whose psychological well-being depends on seeing the world as systematic and well-ordered for the most part. And that’s probably the majority. But others, the more alert, the more heedful, Inshallah…Deo volente, will read Pike’s story with an open mind.

While we are both Christians, Pike and I come from opposite ends of the political spectrum. He is a conservative, while my own political background is the far left. On a number of points, gay rights for instance, we would differ. Yet on the single most crucial issue facing the humanity today—Israel and its lobbies and the threat they pose to life on the planet—our views concur without exception, which at least to my way of thinking (he might disagree) makes the inferred differences between us pale in significance.

And finally…yes, as you read the article, you’ll find that the demons—if we can call them that—display, for their own part, rather pronounced Zionist sentiments. Pike believes their attacks, insofar as the timing and severity of them, were intentionally designed to disrupt his and his wife’s political mission.

***

Elizabeth Alynn Pike--1955-2011

My Wife Died a Martyr for God and Freedom

By Rev. Ted Pike

On Tuesday, December 6, 2011, my beautiful and saintly wife Alynn passed from this earth. She was beloved by countless viewers of our major videos and by her family.

It is with greatest reluctance that I reveal the bizarre circumstances of her death. I almost certainly will destroy my credibility with readers whose beliefs exclude the possibility of the supernatural. Yet I believe God wants Alynn’s story known. He especially wants the pro-Zionist church to know the powerful demonic forces with which they align themselves—powers of deception now increasingly unleashed on the world. I have always taught and attempted to live according to the premise that the whole truth, no matter how incredible, will uphold those who speak it. I must honor my wife by speaking the whole truth about her courageous life and sudden recent death.

First, some background. In 1971, at age 25 after years of study of Bible prophecy, the Babylonian Talmud and the Jewish world revolutionary movement, I was ready to write my book, Israel: Our Duty, Our Dilemma. I felt compelled to warn the evangelical church against her unholy alliance with Judaism, with impeccable documentation and Christian love toward Jews. I went to a cabin in the mountains to begin writing.

That night, my sleep was shattered by violent, racing nightmares. I was woken at least a dozen times. I had never experienced such mental assault. This continued every night. Unable to write, I returned home. Soon after, I became so weak I couldn’t walk 500 feet without lying down. Over months I experienced dozens of “visitations” by tangible presences in the night, temporarily paralyzing me, overwhelming in their sensation of evil. For the next 12 years, I could do only light work for no more than 20 minutes—usually accomplishing only five hours of work per week. If I pushed myself, I would be flattened by immobilizing exhaustion for at least five days. I existed on five percent of my former energy.

In 1983-4, God strengthened me enough to write and publish my book. Advertised in The Spotlight, it became a bestseller in its genre. Its uncensored truth about Talmudic Judaism filled a void. My Other Israel video followed in 1987, selling 10,000 copies in the first several months. Both works jumpstarted more active inquiry into the threat of Jewish supremacism. I showed the world that one individual, protected by God and truth, could walk onto the thinnest ice and survive.

Meanwhile, I had met a stunningly beautiful, 28-year-old jewelry designer and Christian conservative activist, Alynn Dunham. She was highly intelligent and passionate about theology and the arts. In her, I found the love of my life. We married in 1984.

After the wedding, my new wife—who was formerly able to work fulltime, walk up to ten miles daily, jog, and practice piano several hours a day—suddenly became extremely weak. We tried to leave for our honeymoon road trip but only got a few miles; Alynn was so nauseous and exhausted she had to lie in the grass beside the road.

For the next 16 years, she experienced unexplainable and debilitating fatigue comparable to mine. During these years, she never wavered in her devotion to God and political freedom. She never shrank from the shameful libel of “anti-Semitism” hurled against a husband who criticized Jewish supremacism and Israel. She was not just willing to bear any shame or suffering for the sake of truth; she earnestly and repeatedly asked the Lord to let her sacrifice even more if that would produce spiritual power. She accepted her weakness as a badge of honor. Her will and life was laid before the cross of Christ. She became one with me in opposition to the forces of darkness. Once, while asleep together I dreamed that an evil man was coming toward my neck, his hands about to strangle me. We awoke simultaneously. Alynn said she had a terrible nightmare, that an evil man was coming toward her neck, his hands about to strangle her.

In 2000 we were both strengthened at exactly the same time and began to warn against ADL’s hate crimes legislation through video. In 1987, Alynn had appeared in The Other Israel. In 2001 she cohosted Hate Laws: Making Criminals of Christians, then in 2002 Why the Mideast Bleeds and finally Zionism and Christianity: Unholy Alliance in 2003. These unique videos have been viewed by at least a million people and continue to awaken the world to the dangers of Zionism.

In 2003 Alynn had a seizure while driving and was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor. After recovery from eight and a half hours of brain surgery, she showed dramatically worsened symptoms of attention deficit disorder, bipolarity and nervous frailty. Yet she remained an intelligent, indispensable partner. She assisted not only our political efforts but, just as important to her, our biweekly Bible classes. Many lessons were inspired by her spiritual insights; she contributed immeasurably to the growth in holiness and dedication of our entire church. Alynn led by example and through her unique and fierce appreciation of God and His ways. She rightly deserved her reputation as a person of exceptional love, eager to spend any amount of time and energy to help someone reach a new level of faith and devotion to Christ.

Arrival of the Demons

On a pleasant evening in the late summer of 2005, Alynn and I were strolling in a large rock quarry. Suddenly, she exclaimed that the sky was covered with what seemed like an aurora borealis of streaking, flashing lights, a living version of Van Gogh’s Starry Night. She saw an enormous black silhouette of a man’s torso and head in the heavens. This was all invisible to me. As we left the quarry and drove home, the sky remained alive to Alynn with fantastic shapes and lights. The stars darted around; colored lights appeared on trees and moving cars and inside our own car.

In the years following, we had to adjust to literally thousands of supernatural sounds, visions and physical intrusions into our lives. To fully describe the strange activity would take a very long book. Some critics will legitimately suggest that what Alynn experienced was hallucinations after brain surgery. But she was not alone. Here I will relate very largely what I witnessed following our visit to the quarry, only some of the phenomena we encountered and a small fraction of what Alynn experienced. In fact, Alynn told me that, to spare me, she did not relate much of what was happening to her. Continue reading

***

I would encourage people, even the skeptics, to go to Pike’s site and read the rest of his story. You’ll find also, in podcast form, comments from other family members and friends, whose accounts, if anything, are even more compelling than the written article. Included are the remarks of Aaron Daws, husband to Alynn’s niece, who tells of the night he first became convinced the demons were real:

We were having a bible study here, and I stayed downstairs with her during the bible study. And before the Bible study began, she was already being attacked. She was saying, “kill-kill, die-die”, and telling all the spiritual people to get out, that kind of thing. So we all—several people went down to pray for her, and I ended up staying down there with her during Bible study. After everyone left, Alynn went to lie down in the bedroom, and a couple of things happened that made me certainly not a skeptic at all anymore. I was very skeptical in the first place, but I certainly had no skepticism after this situation. I went to try and comfort her. I tried to go into the room. As soon as I opened the door, Alynn started to seize, and she looked like she was in extreme pain, like she couldn’t handle me being anywhere near her, and then she managed a very light whisper out of her own voice—and I could totally tell it was her—that just told me that “It hurts when you’re near me.” And she said, “I’m so sorry. It hurts when you’re near me.” And she was very hurt that I couldn’t be near her, but it was very obvious that she was in pain. So I left the room, and I closed the door, and I went to sit on the couch, and this is the part that really was very obvious because she couldn’t see me at all, in any way shape or form. I went to sit down on the couch and she started screaming, “Don’t sit there. Don’t sit there,” over and over again, “Don’t sit there. Don’t sit there,” and so I sat down anyway, and then she just started screaming, and I went ahead and sat there, and then I went to get up and go into the room, and was told, “Don’t stand up. Don’t come in here,” several expletives, so I didn’t go in. And then I went to start looking at Ted’s statue that he was working on, and she started screaming again—and she could not see me—“Don’t look at it. It’s ugly. Don’t look at it. It’s ugly,” screaming, and so—and that was the end of that part. A few minutes later after a little bit more screaming, she came out, and she was herself again. She started playing the piano. She was playing ‘O Christmas Tree’ on the piano. She asked me to sing with her, and she seemed basically normal after that. And so it was a very stark contrast as well as an incredibly creepy experience for me. She could not see me, and so it was certainly a point in time where I had no doubt that there were absolutely demons in that apartment.

The full 89 minute podcast is available on mp3 here and streaming audio here . Below is a two-part video paying tribute to Alynn Pike, and uploaded to YouTube by Pike’s organization, the National Prayer Network:

And another quite interesting NPN video, entitled “Zionism is Stumped,” is made by Rebecca Pike:

Additional items of interest:

Video of Ted Pike responding to being called a “lying anti-Semite”—an accusation made by Joe Farah, of the pro-Zionist website World Net Daily

Jeff Rense and Ted Pike discuss the “Talmudic Takeover” of America in a program dated January, 2011. Discussion includes discussion of the “blatant and outright racism in Israel that is coming to the attention of the world.”

And this final item of interest:

Macabre video of a Pulsa DeNura, or Kabbalistic cursing ceremony, held by a group of right-wing Jews in Israel. The target of the curse is not Alynn Pike, but Ariel Sharon. What’s interesting, however, is the timing. The ritualistic ceremony reportedly took place on the night of July 19, 2005—around, or in close proximity to, the arrival of the demons at the Pike home. The video was uploaded to YouTube on January 7, 2012, almost exactly one month after Alynn’s death, and just five days after the uploading of the two-part tribute to Alynn Pike embedded above.