The Nehor

The instigator was a therapist who basically did the recovered memories thing and later married the patient and they went on tour. The whole thing made no sense if you thought about it. Supposed rituals in a park at night in a suburban neighborhood right across the street from homes, her being taken away for weeks for rituals and there was no record of her missing school, and the like. This also reminds me of some of the Salem witch hunt trials relying on what is called spectral evidence. After Salem the consensus was you don’t use that. The European witch trials were in many ways worse what with the torture and all. The weird ironic thing is the Inquisition was created to prevent people getting killed and turned into what it was trying to stop. And I definitely don’t mean to pick on the Catholics. The Prostestants were much more into the witch hunting thing.

Newest player in my group is in her 50s. Not too old.

So you are going to take the words of a serial liar and see his insane conspiracy theories as the fulfillment of prophecy? The last 50 moral panics went nowhere but this one…..this could be the real deal!!!!!! Sure……uh huh. The reason moral panics work is people want to believe them. It gives them an enemy. Makes their life more exciting and gives meaning. It is usually the conspiracy mongers that are the devilish ones. As C.S. Lewis said:

Tale as old as time. Just keeps rhyming. The elites are practicing pedophilia and stealing the blood of children is just reworked Jewish blood libel. The whole witch craze in the early modern period was a moral panic. It is a lot more like this satanic conspiracy than many know. The ‘elaborated theory of witchcraft’ (name some scholars use to describe the witch craze) was not just a bunch of people suspecting crones of wrecking the weather. It was believed to be an international conspiracy where witches (mostly women) were carried away to a satanic church or sometimes a synagogue (because anti-semitism just makes every crazy conspiracy better I suppose) and they would have perverse orgies with Satan and demons. Then they would go out to use their magic to fight Christendom and try to bring things down. This was seen as a sign of the end of days. The irony is that the whole witch craze got the idea of what witches were like from the Malleus Maleficarum, a pamphlet created by a priest. That priest was basically a sex pest who made a woman’s life hell to the point that the law got involved. Then he wrote about how women were evil and their sexiness came from Satan and all that fun stuff. He would have fit right in with the “walking pornography” type stuff of our day in some Christian churches. Kramer, the writer, got thrown out of Tyrol for being a nut. He wrote the thing as a kind of revenge or self-justification about how he was wronged. Top theologians in the Inquisition said it was all wrong. Then one pope spoke of it approvingly and the whole salacious nature of it made it popular. Sex sells and all of that. The big shift was that magic was a sin before. People tried to practice it anyways but it was like fornication or gluttony or any other sin. It is a sin but you confess and repent and move on. Kramer insisted that satanic magic was real and was actually heresy. So suddenly practicing magic wasn’t just a sin. It was a defiance of the faith itself. Then things went crazy. Before this magic was usually seen as a delusion or fraud. Now it was suddenly real and came straight from the devil! So people died in droves. Mostly women. King James (yes, that King James) bought into the witch craze and assumed many unlucky events in his life were coordinated by this cabal of witches. His underlings were glad to let him put the blame on witches because in some cases it was probably their fault. The Q-Anon conspiracy has a similar theology. The worst sins come from secret traitors to the nation as a whole. They commit secret depraved rites. There was even a Second Coming equivalent where the anointed President chosen by God would expose all the evil “deep state” witches and kill them all en masse. They always involve incredibly improbable conspiracies involving large numbers of people that somehow all communicate and coordinate together even when they have no reason to. They make no sense if you think about them and have a basic understanding of what actually motivates people. Ballard is a little late to the party on this conspiracy cycle and it probably won’t catch on. I wouldn’t worry. We will do this again in a few years with a new flavor. Communists, Satanists, Deep State….what new imaginary enemy within will we think is about to wipe us out?

New research that PROVES critics wrong!!!! Then presents decades old research and theories. I remember some of the arguments on this board and its predecessors. Also that would be a really really stupid cipher. The ciphers are whole concepts and ideas that take two sentences to write out. How often would they be repeated that you would need that specific word? The “pure language” thing was a real thing though. John Dee got caught up in and/or scammed by it. The Enochian angelic conversations he had also involved the secrets of eternity and also a desire to find lost treasure.

Did you mean DEFCON 2? DEFCON 4 is a relatively low level of readiness. That was the alert level the US went to when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. Low level increase due to heightened tensions or activities. I know this is a minor point but I am tired and pedantic right now.

I demand a lack of racist dogwhistles, stupid ‘gotcha’ debate tactics against college kids, and outright deliberatefalsehoods. If that is perfection then I demand it. It is still hilarious to me that this guy is somehow being venerated. I first encountered him as “the diaper protest guy”. People treating him as serious is just whiplash. He didn’t deserve to die. He also wasn’t a martyr or some kind of quasi-saint. His message was hateful. There is a reason no one is throwing up inspiring quotes from him. Instead they talk about how he fought for free speech or something. He didn’t. He just used free speech….to say garbage and stir up anger and hatred. Wait, you support a British group? Not Labour? OHHHHHH, a Lord BucketHead supporter? I love that guy!

This isn’t correct. The two remaining tribes were Judah and Benjamin. The other ten (eleven if you count Joseph as two tribes for both Ephraim and Manasseh) were believed to be largely lost after the defeat by the Assyrians. The return of the lost tribes isn’t something you will find anything recent about.

When I was younger and stupider I heard about a child trafficking case involving someone who created sadistic child porn. I looked into it because the punishment seemed incredibly harsh. Then I found out that hardened members of Interpol and other law enforcement organizations who primarily worked these cases called it the worst they had ever seen. I obviously didn’t see it but I did read a description. I barely made it to the bathroom before I emptied my whole stomach. I know of one case where a guy in the FBI (family member of a friend) retired after about a decade in that kind of department. He killed himself a few days after leaving. It is a messed up world. I don’t think Ballard falls into that group though. It sounds like he was making up his past in order to fundraise. He would boldly claim he worked for the CIA and other federal agencies but got very cagey when pressed for specifics. Also the terminology he used to describe his job when he was supposedly in the CIA is not CIA terminology. https://www.fox13now.com/news/fox-13-investigates/operative-or-intern-tim-ballards-story-of-working-for-the-cia-keeps-changing I think he is a case of always being bad. I am basing this on an acquaintance of mine who knew him years ago. He described him as self-aggrandizing and a habitual liar about anything that could make himself sound good. This person was glad not to have to work with him anymore. When law enforcement breaks under the strain or become too jaded Ballard is not what you get. You don’t get a flashy “look at me” daredevil bragging about how much good they do and trying to convince everyone they are a special forces version of Rambo. They usually become an alcoholic or succumb to depression or become abusive to try to deal with the pain.

I don’t agree with the Zion’s Camp bit. The purpose of the Camp/militia wasn’t to protect the Saints after the state gave them their land back. They might have done that if the state had stepped in but they were also told they might have to fight and take the land by force.

That is not a wild statement. It is the accepted historical reality. Not sure if you were joking there. I assume you were. Yahweh was originally a polytheistic storm deity. Then someone (Josiah?) tried to make the Yahweh cult the sole religion. Then someone wrote up a kind of vassal contract with God (Deuteronomy). Then they lost the given land and Judaism spent a lot of time trying to figure out what it meant to be a vassal of a God who gave them a promised land when the land wasn’t held by them anymore. He started out in opposition to another storm deity Baal. Yahweh won. Eventually El and Yahweh basically fused together. Here is a good video tracking what we know about the origins of Yahweh within the polytheism of the time. Long but worth it. Also the prophets of Israel and Judah were not anything like modern apostles and prophets. They were more into ecstatic trances and mysticism and there is evidence they used mind-altering substances.

But it will give us experience and be for our good!

I believe he is morally guilty even if he is not legally culpable. I read the text messages. He creepy. I talked to someone who knew him. He creepy. I suspect Elder Ballard was more involved than the Church might wish he was. Too many events where they were together. I don’t need the courts to adjudicate what I think about him and his antics. Even if the whole thing was a fever dream his anti-trafficking campaign was stupid and counterproductive. I think you are confused. The Constitution isn’t there to guarantee or deny someone respect and a good character by providing courts to figure that out. Being found not guilty doesn’t make you a good person. I remember your previous comments where you were convinced he was a good guy based solely on his demeanor (or that he was a rabid hidden sociopath). Most likely neither of those are true. He is probably just a deeply flawed human being who used manipulation and predatory tactics to seduce women. He is a lot like a garden variety cult leader. He has some charisma but uses it primarily to try to feed his ego and his sex drive. Like most cult leaders.

Spoilers: Eru-Iluvatar is reali. Also Azathoth.

And the general answer is often that it is general preparation for the next life. This just makes me worried about the afterlife. If God thinks this kind of suffering is this valuable and instructive and good and prepares us for the next life what is heaven and/or exaltation actually like? What new instructive torments await?

George Soros is a common antisemite bogeyman. He is a billionaire philanthropist. To the nutty he is also part of a secret cabal bent on world domination and the destruction of everything good and pure because he is a wealthy Jew. Talking about Soros being behind something is an anti-Semite dogwhistle. He did use a psychic. She was talked about here before. She was a nut. Yeah, many people are morally terrible but can’t be convicted of anything. Sounds like garden variety megalomania to me. Unrealistic plans (being president and/or prophet), recklessness, and being very intrusive. Excessive self-confidence and a superiority complex. Thinks the rules don’t apply to him. Checks a lot of the boxes.

I suspect recreational drug use. His mannerisms and his megalomania might have been created or exacerbated by it.

I want to know which option brings me closer to understanding reality and not which one might make me feel better. If I was choosing a belief on how it made me feel there are far happier options to pick from. Also nihilism is not always atheistic nor is it always despair. It can be. Then again a belief in a divine judgement can lead to despair too. So can a belief in reincarnation or that you will die and go to Sheol.

That is a folklore belief. I don’t. Not really. It is not purely a choice. Many have little to no reason to believe God is trustworthy.

I don’t find the idea that a lot of evil comes from the decisions of humans convincing. We were put in a world that fosters this kind of competition and predation on each other. It is baked into the system. If God created the world he was okay with the suffering we would inflict on each other since the environment and our own nature actively encourages it. It is like putting three rats into a cage with only enough food for two to eat enough to survive and enough for one to eat their fill and then tutting them as bad for getting violent about it.

Critics usually think they are gonna be an action hero and take out a shooter.

Sounds accurate. When you put yourselves in someone else’s shoes and can only imagine nefarious motives for their decisions it is not likely to help with empathy. Putting yourself in another’s shoes is not as valuable as actually listening to what they have to say as to why they are doing what they are doing. If the reasons they give are trite or superficial or a fabrication then you can feel pity for them but it is unlikely to build any kind of respect. On the other hand if you learn about their experience and allow it to work with you a bit and maybe overwrite some preconceptions you might get somewhere.

How dare you use my tithing to support those horrible dreamers? Those foul children who *checks notes*spent most of their childhood in America and possibly don’t even remember living in their country of origin? They are horrible criminals and we should scream about a fraction of our tithing money hypothetically going to support their nefarious plan to *checks notes*….. get an education? I suspect far too many members are overdosing on propaganda.

That is a little off. They didn’t just refuse to take up arms in their nation’s defense. They took up arms in rebellion against their nation. After they were defeated they were given the choice to fight for their nation or be executed.

Really, Antifa is busting up polling sites and intimidating voters? How many Trump rallies has Antifa trashed and shut down? That was what the SA’s most common functions were. Instead we have a few fascists getting a good punching that had nothing to do with an election.. That is about it and even that doesn’t happen much anymore. Don’t compare things to the SA unless you actually have a grasp of what the SA did. It is irresponsible. Peaceful prayers and protests. And attempting to cancel people who said mean things about Charlie Kirk. And government officials threatening to violate the First Amendment and use government power to punish people who said mean things about Charlie Kirk. Some were suggesting that people who said mean things about him should lose their passport or be denied driver’s licenses and the like. So just ripping up the Constitution for funsies. That is far scarier than a bunch of protests. Or even the imaginary riots the non-legacy media made up to scare people like you. Trump does not support the separation of powers. He attempts to boot out any who oppose him. He threatens to investigate and jail political opponents. He ruins the careers of Republicans who don’t follow his whims. Not the party’s ideology, him personally. He is anti-Constitution. This is conspiracy nonsense. I was on the internet right before January 6th. I saw the planning. It was not orchestrated by the imaginary deep state. It was maniacs frothing at the mouth over losing an election. I expected it to happen. So did the President. That is why he wouldn’t tell the insurrectionists to leave until it was clear they had failed. Until then he was stirring it up with his speech and giving permission to act. Then he watched it on television. He was reported to be gleeful. The one bit of disapproval he reportedly conveyed was disappointment about how “low class” the whole thing was. On the day when I heard the speech I knew it was going to go badly. It did. There was no need for the imagined undercover FBI agents to stir it up. Also it would be basically impossible to orchestrate such an operation. 250 undercover FBI agents and not one of them spoke out about how they were being used as political operatives. Not one was conservative? The conspiracy wouldn’t work. It is just a big and audacious lie.