Linda Blair, Max Von Sydow and Jason Miller in the 1973 film The Exorcist (CNS Photo)
Posted on 11/06/2009 10:27:21 AM PST by NYer
An American exorcist has said the film The Exorcist led people to believe wrongly that the devil could "come and zap them" when in fact the devil is afraid of the power of Jesus inside them.
Mgr John Esseff, retired exorcist of the Diocese of Scranton, Pennsylvania, told an audience of 400 students at Bowling Green State University, Ohio that the power of Jesus within them was "enormous".
He said: "The devil is afraid of you - if you would just awaken to who you are."
In describing one of his exorcisms, he said: "As she came in, she saw me and she shrieked - and the language and the growls - and then she slithered across the floor and was going up the wall. Well, there was obviously a force here, a presence. And I just simply silenced her in the name of Jesus."
Mgr Esseff said that each baptised person was united to Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. He read passages from the Gospels in which Jesus exorcised demons and then sent his disciples to do the same.
He said that Jesus ultimately defeated Satan through his death and Resurrection and then sent the power of the Holy Spirit to his Apostles at Pentecost.
"When God looks down, he sees Jesus in you," Mgr Esseff said. "You have that power as baptised, confirmed Christians. And so when he [Satan] sees you, he hates what you would discover about that power that is within you."
He suggested that each audience member had been tempted that day because temptation was the ordinary activity of the devil.
"Your soul is a battlefield because there is also someone who hates you," he said. "That one is the devil. The devil knows who you are and what you have. God passed him by. God did not choose to become one of the angels. God chose to be one like us."
But just as each person was tempted, Mgr Esseff said, another spirit also was at work.
"In your life today, this very day, has been the Holy Spirit," he said. "God is in you. God the Holy Spirit is operative in you. God the Holy Spirit wants to bring into your heart love. God wants to bring you peace."
Mgr Esseff also told students of the power of angels and encouraged them to renew their devotions to their guardian angels.
"His [the angel's] job is to protect you all through this world. And when you close your eyes, he wants to deliver you to God," Mgr Esseff said.
Earlier in the evening Mgr Esseff invited students to invoke angels to fill the area and make a perimeter around the talk for protection.
The event was hosted by St Thomas More University parish and Veritas, the Catholic student organisation at Bowling Green State University.
JonMarc Grodi, president of Veritas, said: "One of the ways I sold it [the event] on campus was that, regardless of what people believe about good and evil, the devil, etc, this is a guy that has been around the world and experienced some of the lightest and darkest moments of the human experience, and so his is a perspective that everyone should hear out."
In addition to serving as the official exorcist of the Scranton diocese Mgr Esseff has travelled extensively around the world, working in Latin America and Lebanon and accompanying Blessed Mother Teresa for a period of time.
It was Mother Teresa, he said, who directed him to his current work, which focuses on the formation of priests.
After the talk Megan Dowell-Howko, a first-year student, said she now had a better understanding of how she experienced temptation, and that she would remember she could say no to the devil.
She said: "I guess I'm taking away a renewed confidence that the devil only has as much power over me as I give to him," she said.
Before the event Mgr Esseff said he saw three indications of Satan's presence in the world: money, lies and war.
"I think one of the greatest things he has done is have people forget he exists. People deny he exists," he said
He's being tactful. I would have listed gluttony, fornication and greed.
Jesus is the conqueror of sin and death.
That at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth.
Satan can only have as much power as we ALLOW him to have. That’s what Spiritual Warfare is all about. “NO GROUND TO THE DEVIL!”
Requiring of invitation and permission? That is why he should not be “feared”? I am asking.
“Stay away, from Captain Howdy”. - Twisted Sister
The People's Court: "The Case of The Beautician and The Beast"
Vonda Braithwaite vs Mephistopheles
One reason I dislike hollywood so much is because in almost every movie and on TV now they are abusing God’s holy name. GD this JC that. But God forbid they would use the Lord’s name as something good. It’s a complete disrespect for the Christian faith and Christians who support these people through their films and TV shows and it teaches kids that it’s ok who have no one to tell them any different. I have always wondered why there has never been a serious boycott of hollywood for these reasons and the filth and liberal propaganda they spew, plus their allegiance to the democratic party.
Well that’s the truth. The Lord told us we will not be tempted past what we cannot bear. Satan cannot defeat God and he knows it. He seeks to rip and tear away, he has no power over us if we are in the Lord.
It's reparation, it's an indulgence (at least under the old Raccolta), and besides it makes the swearer think about what is usually just completely thoughtless swearing with no real ill intent.
They denied his prayer. That must have been a slap in the face.
You forgot being a demonrat.
To defeat satanic forces in these situations a Christian must first truly believe who he is in Christ AND get the light from God to confront the power with the power of Christ. Then the miraculous can happen.
But if one does not understand the power of Christ within nor believes it, then one is bluffing and the Evil One knows that.
I recommended to everyone to include the Chaplet of Saint Michael as a must in daily morning prayers. It takes less than 10 minutes and is very powerful
The Chaplet of St. Michael
O God, come to my assistance. O Lord, make haste to help me. Glory be to the Father, etc.
[Say one Our Father and three Hail Marys after each of the following nine salutations in honor of the nine Choirs of Angels]
1. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Seraphim may the Lord make us worthy to burn with the fire of perfect charity.
Amen.
2. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Cherubim may the Lord grant us the grace to leave the ways of sin and run in the paths of Christian perfection.
Amen.
3. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Thrones may the Lord infuse into our hearts a true and sincere spirit of humility.
Amen.
4. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Dominations may the Lord give us grace to govern our senses and overcome any unruly passions.
Amen.
5. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Virtues may the Lord preserve us from evil and falling into temptation. Amen.
6. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Powers may the Lord protect our souls against the snares and temptations of the devil.
Amen.
7. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Principalities may God fill our souls with a true spirit of obedience. Amen.
8. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Archangels may the Lord give us perseverance in faith and in all good works in order that we may attain the glory of Heaven.
Amen.
9. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Angels may the Lord grant us to be protected by them in this mortal life and conducted in the life to come to Heaven.
Amen.
Say one Our Father in honor of each of the following leading Angels: St. Michael, St. Gabriel, St. Raphael and our Guardian Angel.
Concluding prayers:
O glorious prince St. Michael, chief and commander of the heavenly hosts, guardian of souls, vanquisher of rebel spirits, servant in the house of the Divine King and our admirable conductor, you who shine with excellence and superhuman virtue deliver us from all evil, who turn to you with confidence and enable us by your gracious protection to serve God more and more faithfully every day.
Pray for us, O glorious St. Michael, Prince of the Church of Jesus Christ, that we may be made worthy of His promises.
Almighty and Everlasting God, Who, by a prodigy of goodness and a merciful desire for the salvation of all men, has appointed the most glorious Archangel St. Michael Prince of Your Church, make us worthy, we ask You, to be delivered from all our enemies, that none of them may harass us at the hour of death, but that we may be conducted by him into Your Presence.This we ask through the merits of
Jesus Christ Our Lord.
Amen.
Well, he didn’t provide the marshal with an address for service of the complaint! His prayers were in vain!
LOL. In any case, I have this usage of the word prayer bookmarked for when that issue comes up again later.
WHEREFORE, plaintiff prays:1. That process issue and service be had upon the defendant;
2. That plaintiff have damages for breach of contract in the amount of $X;
3. That plaintiff have and obtain temporary and permanent injunctive relief;
4. That plaintiff have and recover his attorney fees;
5. That plaintiff have such other and further relief as is justified by these pleadings and the decisions of this court.
Or words to that effect, as they say.
Very useful. Thanks for the lesson.
I saw it in the theater when in high school. Scared spitless.
Also read the book around the same time.
In the early 80’s became extremely interested in Christianity and committed a huge amount of time and effort into my studies. During one 3 week in residence seminar the movie was used as a training tool because of its authenticity. The Hollywood-isms were pointed out but there were many many lessons from it just the same. And during this time we had lectured from occultists, paganist, wiccans, etc. It was very intense to say the least but we all came out with significantly improved appreciation for what God through Christ accomplished and how we wrestle not with flesh and blood.
Some of those lessons would be quite valuable later but, as they say, that is another story! LOL
There is probably a reason why the Bible contains, in one form or another, the phrase, "Fear not" around 365 times. Proverbs 3:5 says, "Trust in the LORD with all thy heart, and lean not on thine own understanding." That's good enough for me.
Ahh, the golden years of SNL.
Our little nuns used to tell us to pray for the person using God's name in vain. I still do. It's automatic now, but I find I'm doing it a LOT more often now than I ever did then.
Guy’s got wrong.
The Devil is only afraid of God.
FYI...don’t burn black and/or orange candles either.
Lol!! Great post, Alex :-)
“God did not choose to become one of the angels. God chose to be one like us.”
Rather, I would say that God chose a being OTHER than the angels to be created in His likeness. Then, God chose to manifest Himself in our form and suffer the ultimate degradation to save us. God chose to humble Himself on our behalf and suffer out of love for us. God’s preference for us, flawed as we are, is what galls the angels who fell. We aren’t perfect and emotionless; we are flawed and yet capable of great love. God in His infinite mercy seems to prefer us to the perfection of angels. That is what they couldn’t accept: God loves us more than the angels. God loves something flawed by free will and its consequences. Lucifer was appalled. But no matter. God sent His son to love us and suffer for us and redeem us!
Thank you, Lord!
“Glory be to the Father, etc.”
What is the et cetera?
Glory Be Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. AMEN.
It’s also good to pray when one hears an ambulance or fire engine. Kind of off-subject, but thought I would just throw it in. My little boy is trained well in this and often reminds me when I forget. We say a Hail Mary and then Jesus, Mary and Joseph, please help whoever is in trouble.
Just yesterday, one of the ladies in our parish suffered a heart attack in the middle of Divine Liturgy. We were all praying for her, obviously, even though the Liturgy still proceeded.
How is that possible? Was she way in the back?
We have an extremely small parish which meets in a borrowed building. She was able to get up and walk to the vestibule, where her husband and concerned friends determined from the symptoms she reported that there was a good possibility she was having a heart seizure, and her husband put her into the car and rushed her to the hospital. No update yet, which (hopefully) might mean good news. It was all very low key.
Also read the book around the same time.
I have not had the guts to either see the movie or read the book. However, I have been reading a lot of Catholic books on the topic lately (on and off over the past 2 years, or so), and have been discussing the topic from time to time with various people. Very odd things are reputed to happen in this area. If even half of them are remotely true, it is quite scary. Either way, I have become courageous enough to read Malachi Martin's book, so maybe I will try the novelization of The Exorcist someday. However, I am in no rush!!
: )
It is the background info on that story that really gets spooky.
On the one hand, one can ‘know’ that the power of Christ is inviincible yet also realize how frail our human will can be, and that gets scary, too.
I hope she is okay.
I haven’t heard anything yet, and I’m going on the assumption that no news is good news. She is a lovely person and a real gift to the parish.
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