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Demons, Familiar Spirits, and Possessions
By J. Jeff Toler for Shenandoah Christian Alliance j.toler@sca4christ.org
It shouldn’t be difficult to separate questions of identity from the recent Minneapolis shooting, where a young transgender-identifying individual opened fire at a Catholic school, killing two children and injuring more than a dozen others. The answers are written in plain language in his so-called manifesto.
The shooter’s identity is undeniably a central part of the story. Born Robert Westman, he legally changed his name to Robin Westman as a minor with his mother’s consent, telling the court he “identifies as a female.” His journals, which have been reviewed extensively, show that his transgender identity played a central role in motivating the attack.
The shooting reveals what has become a familiar and wearying pattern. Just over two years ago, another transgender-identifying shooter targeted a Christian school in Nashville. In that case, the attacker’s writings revealed deep struggles with gender identity, describing her biological sex as a “curse” and expressing a willingness to “kill” in pursuit of transition. She was a transgender man—or, as AI will claim, “A trans woman or transgender woman is a woman who was ‘assigned’ male at birth.”
In that shooting, the government, media, and her own family attempted to hide the contents of her manifesto, knowing it would shine a light on the narrative that transgenderism is normative.
These high-profile shootings take place where children are most likely to be found: in school or in church.
Moreover, in the Minneapolis shooting, it has already been reported that Westman was at one time, if not currently, taking antidepressants along with his “trans meds.” Trans meds, if you don’t know this, fall into two basic categories:
- For transgender women (male-to-female):
Estrogen (to promote feminine characteristics like breast development and softer skin).
Anti-androgens (to reduce testosterone and its effects, such as body hair growth or deepening of the voice). - For transgender men (female-to-male):
Testosterone (to promote masculine traits like facial hair, a deeper voice, and increased muscle mass).
Antidepressants, including SSRIs, are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)—a common class of antidepressants. Like all medications, they can cause side effects. Not everyone experiences them, and some effects fade over time as the body adjusts. Side effects may include:
- Nausea, diarrhea, constipation, dry mouth
- Insomnia, drowsiness, or vivid dreams
- Sexual side effects—decreased libido, difficulty reaching orgasm, or erectile dysfunction
- Restlessness, agitation, or feeling emotionally “numb”
- Weight and appetite changes—weight gain or loss
- Headaches and dizziness
- Increased sweating or tremors
More rarely, SSRIs may cause suicidal thoughts—especially in young people when first starting or changing doses, which explains the FDA “black box” warning.
These high-profile shootings take place where children are most likely to be found: in school or in church. If you need my permission, you’re permitted to draw some conclusions at this point. Namely, these shooters are really angry—angry with their sex (or gender, if you insist) and likely following years of torment, distress, and confusion.
Liberals and progressives will, and already are, actively deflecting attention away from this tragedy—once again—by bringing up gun control. They want no part in the discussion and analysis of the person shooting the gun. But here again are the same components: mental illness, confusion, unhappiness, and mind-altering medications.
We can map the journey the contemporary man has made to get to this point, and could easily point to Aleister Crowley (1875–1947). He was an English occultist, writer, mystic, and ceremonial magician, who became one of the most controversial and influential figures in modern occultism and counterculture. Born Edward Alexander Crowley into a wealthy British family, he rejected his strict Christian upbringing in the Plymouth Brethren and immersed himself in esotericism, mysticism, and the occult by the late 1800s.
He founded a spiritual philosophy called Thelema, centered on the maxim: “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.” In other words, do what you want, be what you want, behave how you want. This is literally what Satan would say.
Is there something to be learned from this that explains why we are seeing so much effort to find answers, only to fail so horribly? This is because there is a definite spiritual component in this obsession with the occult, just as there is in political obsessions. We may think this merely coincidence, but isn’t that, in many ways, the same claim of liberalism? Feminism? Abortionists? Transgenders? All will say, “Be what you want. Do what you want, because you can do anything.”
Kristina Costanza
The Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles interviewed a former ghost hunter, Kristina Costanza, who became a Christian and completely turned away from her former obsession with the occult and the paranormal. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFWBqBfslzk]
Her journey from this dark world to the light is breathtaking, as you might imagine. She impresses with her newfound insight and wisdom about not only what happened to her, but what is happening now in the world.
At one point, while she and Knowles were exploring why people will look for truth everywhere except the source of it, they discussed how people obsess over self-help books. Costanza declared, “Only the Bible is a self-help book.” Her intent was to say that there is no way to help ourselves by reading a self-help book. We can’t save ourselves from much of anything by reading a formulaic guide.
Even the nonbeliever can easily read this very popular passage of Scripture where Jesus tells his followers:
- “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” —John 14:6
Robin Westman was very troubled. Mary Margaret Olohan, writing for The Daily Wire, explains: “He left behind a YouTube video showing a lengthy, manifesto-like journal filled with rantings against Jews, Christians, President Donald Trump, and others. It included a transgender flag, images of Jesus Christ on a target, and sketches of Annunciation Catholic Church. His writings demonstrate that he was profoundly mentally ill and regretted his trans-identification.”
At some point in his journal, Westman reportedly wrote: “I don’t want to dress girly all the time but I guess sometimes I really like it. I know I am not a woman but I definitely don’t feel like a man.”
Instead of helping him legally change his name when he was still a minor, it’s a shame Westman’s mother didn’t try to help him find the truth. Is it only irony that she once was an employee of the same school where he committed the murders? The Bible warns us of Israel’s sin:
- “Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils.” —Psalm 106:37
In this age, where culture is overwhelmingly influenced by crude politics, self-help, and the heterodoxies of the New Age, schools and churches are becoming attractive targets for the obsessed, possessed, and dispossessed of sanity
Photo by Wout Vanacker on Unsplash
