Monsignor Pope Ping!
THANK YOU!! THIS has always bothered me, and no Priest has ever explained it like that!!
Is this about Jimmy Carter?
The author probably never saw the child of an Irish family go get his brothers after a butt kicking.
Aren’t most Catholic priests essentially psychologists who deny the possibility of demon possession?
"...though clean, is empty and vulnerable to being filled with pride, greed, lust, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth … the seven ugly cousins of the sin we were trying to drive out in the first place!"
Of course it would be another instance of "seven" and, being right there in front of me the entire time, making perfect sense, I missed it completely. D'oh! lol...
I never connected the seven demon buddies to the seven deadly sins, but there it is, as obvious as it can be.
Thank YOU, Salvation, for posting this great find! It is very helpful.
It’s much simpler than explained.
The reason that Jesus asked people if they wanted to be healed prior to helping them is that He was offering them a chance to change from sinful behavior.
Swept clean is the absence of Love, the most important component of our soul. Love is the glue that hold the soul together. Sin creates a space or obstacle to Love in the soul. This is also the reason for the “house built on the rock” parable as when Love is present the foundation is solid.
There are several components relating to casting out a demon. First, the demon could not enter the person unless there was a wound in their soul. Many things can create these wounds. I am sad to say the a child being a victim can also create these wounds.
So the steps relating to removing a demon are:
1. Remove the demon from the person.
2. Process the demon so it cannot return to harm anyone else or this person. If you just cast it out, it is like taking a nail from a tire and throwing it back in the middle of the street. You must dispose of the nail properly.
3. Assist the victim in finding and healing the wound in their soul that created the opening for the demon. This is the hardest part. Many times I have done this and the person returned later with another demon asking for help again. I explain that the first time the work was done through me, but they did not change their ways... (A common event that creates wounds as this is an affair that is not needed. Every soul knows the difference between right and wrong. When the person returns to the affair it recreates the wound) (The same is true of abortion) This time it is up to them to change. Suffering serves a purpose as sin creates suffering. When the suffering is great, people tend to turn from sinning in the future.
So, the second time they return. It is up to them to really want to change or be healed.
4. Finally, in order for the soul to continue to be healed, the person must build and accept their own relationship directly with Jesus and not though me. It is very important that they realize that Jesus did the work with the Holy Spirit and not me. I was just a tool. All gratitude must go to Jesus...
A soul that is swept clean is an empty soul. In order to be protected you must be filled with the Spirit. You must be like a child... Not just clean or pure, but be filled with Holy Spirit. This is what puts the sparkle in a child’s eyes that they lose when they sin. A pure child cannot lie to you without you seeing it in their eyes immediately.
I hope this helps...
One other aspect of this... often a person has several demons of various levels in them. When a novice casts out the demon, usually the lowest level demon is sacrificed and put forth by the other boss demons.
Demon spirits can have other demon spirits embedded in them without knowing it. I have found them many levels deep, each embedded in another. There are many variations of this.
The reason that denying the Holy Spirit is the greatest sin is that you can never be filled and protected if you deny the Holy Spirit. You will be empty...
it does not require resorting to the greek.
Like most important teachings, it only requires the knowledge of a child.
The reason “adults” require a lot of hand holding is we “want” things that we are trying to fulfill while we are reading the scriptures, instead of taking the lesson as it were.
It’s not so much that the truths of scripture are hard to find. it’s that we don’t want to accept them.
Each person has free will. Casting out an evil spirit from a person is useless unless that person repents and starts fighting the spiritual battle.
This however, does not sit well with the people who believe in “authority” and “commanding” evil spirits.
At the end of the day, the problem is not with the evil spirit, but with those people who gave it a home, by dwelling on it and making a choice to allow it in their spiritual house.
In other words, there is no demonic possession of a true believer. There is no place for the evil spirit to gain a foothold. Yes, believers can be oppressed, but no possessed. Let’s not get our theology from the movie “the exorcist”
That makes the only kind of sense, when i started to Church i kind of missed the point of what Jesus actually died for, so because i wanted the scriptures to say what was ideal to me, i became worse than what i had been.
bump
I read a different take...I think on EWTN website, that what it is saying is the person became complacent and with their guard down and a clean house they’re easy to compromise. And this happens repeatedly even until full possession.
Following Jesus Christ as an eternal disciple--not just as a hanger-on--is the only thing that fills and abounds, driving the Devil away.
"See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will
of the Lord is.
And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be
filled with the Spirit;
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God."
(Ephesians 5:15-21 AV)