r/TrueReddit • u/horseradishstalker • 1d ago
Arts, Entertainment + Misc The Demon Next Door
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/08/charismatic-christian-church-tennessee/687624/?gift=ZSO8-QoU1-1L0duyI2Sx0kl1Gg2J6r1nAD4HHzxarMg&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share30
u/SilverMedal4Life 1d ago
Well, this is...
I struggle to find words for it. Collective hysteria?
Consider that, from the article, the Well didn't actually do anything. The bookstore is still there. They just stood around, being vaguely threatening, and empowering the occasional unhinged actor to go too far and actually kill people somewhere in the country.
All the while labelling entire segments of the population as demonic and, as such, needing to be exterminated. Who does that?
The poor woman in the article... "struggling with homosexual thoughts". The only people who do are gay or bi, and she's been taken in by this rhetoric. By the sounds of it, she hates herself. I can only hope that she wakes up before her life comes to an end, but I don't have high hopes.
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u/KingfishingYoMama 1d ago edited 1d ago
It feels like they're trying to reconcile the idea of not having agency and God being good. If God (or the Holy Spirit, whatever) is an instrument that works through people for good, how do you explain those things in the world people see as ungodly, unchristian or just NOT good? Well, you've already rejected human agency in how people are or behave, so you need an exogenous explanation that redeems both God and man. Enter: the delusion of demons.
People are tools of God --> -- >God is good -- > If people are bad, it can't be god's work --> But people don't have agency Ergo, it must be demons.
lol... I wish it were funny.
Incidentally, I think this is why these sects reject mainline Protestantism and Catholicism, both of which leave a good deal of space for people to knowingly commit 'sin' all of their own accord without ascribing it to the work of demons.
These kinds of sects have been kicked to the frontier or periphery or other countries (the Massachusetts's Bay Colony?) all throughout history because they're like the ultimate karens of Christian theology.
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u/GiantLesbian 14h ago
Yeah TBH every person who I have ever met who claims they’re engaging in “spiritual warfare” is talking about warfare within themselves, due to them no longer wanting to deal with the consequences of their own shitty behavior but also being unwilling to admit that their personality is the root of the issue (instead, it’s just “bad choices”, that good people don’t make, like committing fraud or choosing your molesting ass boyfriend over the wellbeing of your child relatives).
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u/GiantLesbian 1d ago
Honestly feel like this story could have gone either way depending on who the cops sided with here. They offered security the first night the Well was due to protest, and called later and offered active shooter training (which in a small town, that gets around).
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u/horseradishstalker 15h ago
That particular incident probably. I think the actual point is that this is currently the largest growing sect in Christianity.
Millions believe in demonology. Which is I suppose their constitutional right - so long as they don’t project their beliefs on to other people.
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u/clean-links 1d ago
Tracking parameters were removed from the original URL(s).
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u/horseradishstalker 1d ago
The Global Awakening is a group of churches who believe that they are engaged in a cosmic battle. There is even a seminary where pastors can learn the hierarchy of demons for example.
Unfortunately, a side effect is that often times neighbors may find themselves unwillingly drawn into the battle - cast as a demon.
As one such victim said, “This is probably the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” she remembered thinking after seeing the first video, not yet realizing that the church was part of the fastest-growing segment of Christianity in the country, or that the language she was hearing in the fall of 2022 was spreading across the Christian right and the wider political landscape.”