Mailbag: Spirits, ‘Deep Fakes,’ Vaccines

We get mail — do we! — and review it all, as we have for more than two decades.

We particularly enjoy your experiences with the miraculous. Please do send those.

Many also lend insights into Catholic combat with the “spirits around us.”

To wit:

“Regarding your post on strange spirits,” writes Manny Ortiz, “something you might be interested in. I remember attending a youth charismatic retreat in 1986. It was at a small retreat center just outside of Anaconda, Montana. I can’t remember the name. The priest started speaking about discernment, which also included the discernment of spirits.”

Here is where it got interesting, says Manny.

“He went on to tell us that the retreat facility had been having issues with the electricity. Lights would come off and on by themselves. At times they wouldn’t work. The activity was strongest at the location of the power-utility box. Electricians would come in and ‘fix’ whatever was going on, but issues continued. The priest said he began to do some investigation and found that a past groundskeeper had died by electrocution. He found out the man’s name. The priest said the deceased was trying to get his attention, through the means by which he died. He decided to pray for the soul and celebrated a Mass specifically for the deceased man.

“The priest said after the Mass, they never had a problem with the electricity again. I know it’s been a long time since I heard that story, and things become fuzzy over time, but that story had a real impact on me, and I’ve never forgotten it.”

Electrical effects are interesting. They occur with spirits of all kinds (including not-so-benign ones).

“I really enjoy reading your website, Spirit Daily, the ‘special reports,’ and the wide selection of topics you cover,” wrote Wanda Hartlin of Ottawa, Canada. “I thought I should write to you and let you know how much I appreciate your balanced approach to things. I know people who are on the extreme end of topics, especially now, the Covid shot. I find the way you consider both the pros and the cons to be refreshing. Most people are on one side or the other. I am grateful to see some sanity in the whole debate.

“As for me, I always turn to prayer and when I prayed about whether or not I should get the covid vaccine, the answer I got was, ‘You don’t need it.’ So that is my answer. I have not been sick these past two years and I hold Psalm 91 close to my heart. Thank you for the work you do for the Lord; we all have a role to play in this lifetime. I feel my role is to pray for my family and help them to salvation. I also play a major role in the pro-life movement in my area.”

We appreciate the kind words, in these less-than-kind times, while also noting that prayer is important because every person’s body and situation is different. Pray calmly without the intrusion of Youtube and social media. Some “information” has migrated from the merely apocryphal to the dangerous.

“Thank you for your so very balanced comment on the vaccines!” wrote another, Iremengard Haslinger, of Vienna, Austria. “Indeed, it is a matter of conscience and one certainly has to pray what God wants from me personally in my conditions of life!

“My husband is a person with special health risks (lung, nerves…), so in order to protect him and give him some sense of security, I decided to get the jab (but made sure they did not contain cells from aborted babies. I got the Moderna vaccine).

“I am totally in peace, I think for me it was the right decision. And I have no fear about possible adverse effects, because if it was His Will (of which I’m pretty sure it was), then He will be able to protect me (like He can protect me from deadly snakes or when I drink poison). And if I’m going to suffer and die from this, I can offer it up and fly home to my Creator.

“So I really cannot understand why so many good Catholic people fret about side effects, danger, etcetera. We are in God’s Hands; He is totally in control. You only have to have goodwill. Sincerely yours and best greetings in the Divine Will.”

There are such varying viewpoints.

We hear from many with the opposite perspective — and respect all sincere, informed, prayer-derived viewpoints (especially if there has been fasting). The question, besides the obvious problem with vaccines that are linked to abortion, is whether any potential side effects — near or long-term — are as bad as those associated with covid itself. It is the question of the hour for most who are nervous about The Jab. (At bottom we review some notes on an alleged possible medication.)

Another writes, on an entirely different topic, “Thanks for bringing us all excellent information on things that no one else talks about, especially approved prophecies as well as ones to be discerned.

“The news articles I bring to your attention are regarding ‘Deep Fakes.’ These are videos that have been manipulated to such a high standard, it is now impossible to tell the difference between real and fake.”+

As Forbes reports:

“Last month during ESPN’s hit documentary series The Last Dance, State Farm debuted a TV commercial that has become one of the most widely discussed ads in recent memory. It appeared to show footage from 1998 of an ESPN analyst making shockingly accurate predictions about the year 2020. As it turned out, the clip was not genuine: it was generated using cutting-edge AI. The commercial surprised, amused, and delighted viewers.

“What viewers should have felt, though, was deep concern. The State Farm ad was a benign example of an important and dangerous new phenomenon in AI: deepfakes. Deepfake technology enables anyone with a computer and an Internet connection to create realistic-looking photos and videos of people saying and doing things that they did not actually say or do.”

Take a look below.

None of these people actually exist!

Realistic, digitally generated headshots

Continued the reader:

“Last year this (other) Forbes article came out to talk about the possible dangers. And here is one that I find even more insidious. There is so much to unpack here (deep fakes, biometrics, etcetera) that a simple email isn’t enough. And what they didn’t mention, of course, is the danger of deep-fake videos of religious leaders that can be developed to deceive the mass population.

“What if a video of ‘Jesus’ was developed, especially in these seemingly apocalyptic times? Many Christians are rife with anticipation of the Lord’s coming and though we know false prophets will rise up, will we know when Jesus does come? Thankfully yes, because he has told us it will be much different than anything we’ve seen.

“But we must trust in Jesus instead of fear. What also comes to mind is Jesus telling us that his sheep know his voice (paraphrasing). Now is the time to double down on prayers, silence, detachment, and listening for Jesus’ voice.”

Back to the pandemic: What about medication for those suffering from covid?

“The Holy Spirit led me to strongly go out and keep working at age seventy in community health care,” wrote Kathleen, a view in Portland, Oregon. “All last year I went out every day and then Sunday Mass. But this past March 2021, I started to need to get more protection. I heard a Dr. Kory talk before Congress on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, 2020, and his words [about Ivermectin] stirred me. I heard from a friend in January who was taking it, although dosage didn’t sound right. Finally, in March I started taking the customary 15 mg a week, no side effects. About two to three weeks later, my husband was tired, not coughing, or fever, or loss of taste and smell. Finally about three weeks later we had to take him to the hospital and we were shocked to find out it was Covid.

“I kept my windows open during that time. He would refuse to wear a mask thinking it was his annual virus. Anyway, I never got covid, and my daughter came down with it two weeks earlier with her boyfriend and she was here in the first days when it was not infectious. She went in for a test and had a 103-degree temperature before the test came back positive.

“So the day of the test results, she asked to get Ivermectin. She had a fever every day. She got Ivermectin two days later and in twenty-four hours, she recovered, fever, headache, muscle pain gone and taste and smell restored.

“Ivermectin does not cost much to make. It is no longer patented. The Frontline Doctors now have everything needed to provide for long haulers. The problem is so much money was put into new vaccines and countries pitched in. But if care switches to Ivermectin, Big Pharma will lose a lot. And yes, big ties to government. Finally, it was hoped all would fall into place when a person takes the vaccine, in most cases they are fine, it is a few that the vaccine did not help.”

Special note: one’s physician should be consulted before taking such medication. Dosage and interactions with other medications can be critical. Do not rely solely on the internet and social media. [scroll below ad for more]

“I wanted to share my experience with the Covid vaccine,” wrote yet one more, Therese Oziemski. “A friend who has a Master’s-degree and is a nurse ended up in the ER with elevated blood pressure after getting the vaccine. Her college-age son passed out after getting the vaccine. She is now telling her 92-year-old parents not to get the vaccine as she’s more concerned they could die from getting the vaccine. I have another friend who passed out twice and broke her ankle after getting the vaccine. Another friend now has chronic liver inflammation and is tired all the time. Another friend’s brother had elevated heart rate and had to go to the ER. Her niece has had stomach pain since getting the vaccine.”

Such an array of effects we have not heard elsewhere. And proponents point to how many unvaccinated are now dying, and urging others to vaccinate. Let us consider all sides and discern cautiously, in consultation with the Holy Spirit, without fear and always checking credentials.

[resources: The God of Healing]

[Footnote: And one more: “Back in November 2020 I got infected with COVID. Ruined Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. The loss of taste was the everlasting symptom. My fiancé’s daughter went with her dad to the Wisconsin Dells over the July holiday week this year. For the first few days of her return home no symptoms. We went out to eat during that time and she didn’t eat all of her meal. Me being the vacuum I finished it. Ate after her.

“A few days later she developed COVID symptoms. I was waiting for infection since I ate after her. I contacted my doc and she said I should still be good since I already had it. There’s a conflict there because MSM tells you 3 months is how long antibodies last after infection.

“As her daughter continued to get worse going on second week of infection and her doctor only prescribing zpac we switched her to my doctor. My doctor got her on Ivermectin. The day after the first dose she had a turnaround. After the second dose she was almost back to 100%. Conflict in truth there as well since big pharma says ivermectin has no therapeutic effect.

“I never have got infected with this highly contagious strain and neither has my fiancé who also had COVID before anyone heard publicly about it. That bout hit her harder with COPD being the long haul permanent symptom.

“So all in all I don’t believe everything any news source tells me. I believe whole heartedly in what I’ve been through instead.

“God love you

Tim Suter.”

[resources: new bookstore opens]