Posted on 10/29/2005 6:44:03 AM PDT by NYer
The devil is one of God's creatures. We cannot talk about him and about exorcisms without first stating some basic facts about God's plan for creation. We will not say anything new, but we might present a new perspective.
All too often we have the wrong concept of creation, and we take for granted the following wrong sequence of events. We believe that one day God created the angels; that he put them to the test, although we are not sure which test; and that as a result we have the division among angels and demons. The angels were rewarded with heaven, and the demons were punished with hell. Then we believe that on another day God created the universe, the minerals, the plants, the animals, and, in the end, man. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve obeyed Satan and disobeyed God; thus they sinned. At this point, to save mankind, God decided to send his Son.
This is not what the Bible teaches us, and it is not the teaching of the Fathers. If this were so, the angels and creation would remain strangers to the mystery of Christ. If we read the prologue to the Gospel of John and the two christological hymns that open the Letters to the Ephesians and the Colossians, we see that Christ is "the firstborn of all creatures" (Col 1:15). Everything was created for him and in the expectation of him. There is no theological discussion that makes any sense if it asks whether Christ would have been born without the sin of Adam. Christ is the center of creation; all creatures, both heavenly (the angels) and earthly (men) find in him their summation. On the other hand, we can affirm that, given the sin of our forebears, Christ's coming assumed a particular role: he came as Savior. The core of his action is contained within the Paschal mystery: through the blood of his Cross, he reconciles all things in the heavens (angels) and on earth (men) to God. The role of every creature is dependent on this christocentric understanding.
We cannot omit a reflection about the Virgin Mary. If the firstborn creature is the Word become flesh, she who would be the means of the Incarnation must also have been present in the divine thought before every other creature. From this stems Mary's unique relationship with the Holy Trinity.
We must also mention the influence that Christ has on angels and demons. Concerning angels, some theologians believe that the angels were admitted to the beatific vision of God only by virtue of the mystery of the Cross. Many Fathers also make interesting statements. For instance, Saint Athanasius writes that the angels owe their salvation to the blood of Christ. The Gospels give us many statements concerning demons, and they clearly state that Christ defeated the reign of Satan with his Cross and established the reign of God. The demons who possessed the Gerasene man exclaimed, "What is there between us, Son of God? Have you come to torment us before our time?" (Mt 8:29). This is an obvious reference to the fact that the power of Satan is gradually broken by Christ. Satan's power, therefore, still exists and will continue to exist until our salvation will be completed, "because the accuser of our brethren will be cast out" (Rev 12:10). Additional information on the role of Mary, enemy of Satan since the original announcement of salvation, can be found in the beautiful book by Father Candido Amantini, Il mistero di Maria (Naples: Dehoniane, 1971).
If we see everything in the light of the centrality of Christ, we can see God's plan, who created everything "for him and in expectation of him." And we can see the actions of Satan, the enemy, the tempter, the accuser. By means of his temptation, evil, pain, sin, and death entered the world. It is in this context that we are able to see the restoration of God's plan, which Christ accomplished at the cost of his blood.
In this context, we are made aware of the power of the devil. Jesus calls him "the prince of this world" (Jn 12:31, 14:30, 16:11). John affirms that "the whole world is in the power of the evil one" (1 Jn 5:19); by "the world" John means everything that is opposed to God. Satan was the brightest of the angels; he became the most evil of the devils and their chief. The demons remain bound to the same strict hierarchy that was given them when they were angels: principalities, thrones, dominions, and so on (Col 1:16). However, while the angels, whose chief is Michael, are bound by a hierarchy of love, the demons live under a rule of slavery.
We are also made aware of the action of Christ, who shattered the reign of Satan and established the kingdom of God. This is why the instances where Jesus freed those possessed by demons become particularly important. When Peter teaches Cornelius about Christ, he does not mention any miracle besides the fact that he cured "all those who had fallen under the power of the devil" (Acts 10:38). We understand, then, why the first authority that Jesus gave his apostles was the power to expel demons (Mt 10:1). We can make the same statement for all believers: "These are the signs that will be associated with believers: in my name they will cast out devils" (Mk 16:17). Thus Jesus heals and reestablishes the divine plan that had been ruined by the rebellion of some of the angels and by our forefathers.
We must make this abundantly clear: evil, suffering, death, and hell (that is, eternal damnation in everlasting torment) are not acts of God. I want to expand on this point. One day Father Candido was expelling a demon. Toward the end of the exorcism, he turned to the evil spirit and sarcastically told him, "Get out of here. The Lord has already prepared a nice, well-heated house for you!" At this, the demon answered, "You do not know anything! It wasn't he (God) who made hell. It was us. He had not even thought about it." Similarly, on another occasion, while I was questioning a demon to know whether he had contributed to the creation of hell, I received this answer: "All of us cooperated."
Christ's centrality in the plan of creation, and its restoration through redemption, is fundamental to understanding God's plan and the end of the world. Angels and men received an intelligent and free nature. When I am told (by those who confuse predestination with God's providence) that God already knows who will be saved and who will be damned, and therefore anything we do is useless, I usually answer with four truths that the Bible spells out for us: God wants that everyone be saved; no one is predestined to go to hell; Jesus died for everyone; and everyone is given sufficient graces for salvation.
Christ's centrality tells us that we can be saved only in his name. It is only in his name that we can win and free ourselves from the enemy of our salvation, Satan. At the end of the most difficult exorcisms, when I am confronted with total demonic possession, I pray the christological hymn of the Letter of Paul to the Philippians (2:6-11). When I speak the words "so that all beings in the heavens, on earth, and in the underworld should bend the knee at the name of Jesus," I kneel, everyone present kneels, and always the one possessed by the demons is also compelled to kneel. It is a moving and powerful moment. I always feel that all the legions of the angels are surrounding us, kneeling at the name of Jesus.
Fr. Gabriele Amorth is the Chief Exorcist of Rome and one of the world's foremost authorities on demonology. This article was excerpted from An Excorcist Tells His Story, Ignatius, 1999.
I really want to read that book.
One of the saddest sermons I ever heard was by a young--perhaps some would say brilliant--priest who had majored in psychology in the seminary. The Gospel concerned the expulsion of a demon from a man possessed. His homily centered on how the Church no longer focused on demonic possession and how this was probably an allegory in which Christ healed someone with a deep psychological problem or a disease like epilepsy that was unknown at the time. I had read the books of Fr. Amorth and wanted to weep. To think that he was so deluded and then preached this from the pulpit!
As Verbal Kint (Kevin Spacie) says in the movie "The Usual Suspects," "the greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was in convincing us he didn't exist."
Frank
I've met these religious graduates with psychology degrees. In fact, the Director of Counseling for the Laity in my diocese, a nun, called me a "victim of the Catholic Church". That was the last time I ever spoke with her or any other of these professionals. Yet one more example of how Satan tried to infiltrate the Church.
As Verbal Kint (Kevin Spacie) says in the movie "The Usual Suspects," "the greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was in convincing us he didn't exist."
Fr. Gabriele Amorth would agree, an so would I.
Those who are not of the spirit, consider such things to be foolish because they are unable to discern them, not having a living spirit.
The phenomenon still occurs, so those who have not been regenerated and think of the spirit as foolishness will seek to instead explain such things in terms of the soul or the body.
It isn't any surprise that every soulish and physical symptom of demonic influence and possession is now characterized by soulish and physical descriptions of the phenomenon they perceive by their soul and body, yet ignore the presence of a separate person with a discernible spirit.
It is sad, though, when a priest communicates the same perspective as an unbeliever.
For myself, a much more fascinating topic regards demon influence and possession that might occur more commonly. Consider how we think of the domain of animals and go to the zoo, identifying different species. We also know of cats and dogs within the same domain, yet don't lump a quiet cat in the same category as a quiet cougar. Similarly, there might be fallen angels with characteristics not as immediately obvious in possession as we see in the movies.
This isn't to confuse the nature of many fallen angels,..they have very real personalities and exude them in their behavior, however, just as there are seemingly benign members of a foreign army, there may also be many seemingly benign members of the fallen nature.
I was considering this when recently I observed Saddam Hussein before the court. If you watch his behavior closely and listen to the meaning of his statements, consider the possibility that his thinking and soul might actually be possessed by a fallen angel or foreign spirit. Almost everything I witnessed is consistent with the type of behavior a coy fallen spirit might exhibit. Granted, we might be seeing the real Saddam, I found it more explicable that when he was asked to identify himself, he repeatedly avoided the question in a fashion to draw an inference from other people as to his identity.
Commentators scoffed at the tactic, locked in their thinking that this is just the simple, arrogant, ploy of a captured dictator. But this is also an arrogant point of view of people who don't respect the behavioral trend of others who lack power and attribute that lack of power to a thinking flaw. They also failed to exhibit any discernment of spirit in their analysis.
Even after salvation, we still have an old sin nature and are scarred in our thinking. As long as we remain in Him, He is sure and just to guide us appropriately, but where our thinking, our soul, lapses into it old self, we tend to sin.
quickly. The author references some statements he attributes to demons which occurred during an exorcism and concludes that fallen angels made hell.
If one studies the greek word PISTIS for faith, it also may be translated as 'doctrine'. The belief being attributed to demons might also be described as a 'doctrine of demons' which is also made reference to as being a false doctrine in Scripture.
The truth of those beliefs is not verified by their statement, so their veracity is in doubt and to a greater extent, possibly just 'good for nothing'. An interesting sidenote is that PONEROS also happens to describe the category of those fallen angels who are cast into the lake of fire which was created for them by God (PONEROS means good for nothingness as discernible from evil or vile or chaotic).
Is this guy suggesting that he's believing the testimonies of demons? That he believes their words? Maybe I'm misreading it. The Bible says that hell was created for the devil and his demons. Not that the demons made up the whole thing, and one day God decided to go along with it. Demons never have any words to be believed, therfore, using them for spiritual truths is ridiculous
He might be Christian. After there is salvation, there still remains the threat of demonic influence, although demonic possession of the soul is no longer possible, God might still turn one over for sifting.
Another interesting facit is that as created persons with soul and spirit, we also have volition. Not all things are controlled by Satan, and many evil and good things occur independent of God and Satan by man. They might be good for nothingness, but still qualify a good, merely lacking in divine good if independent of Him.
Matthew 12:43-45
http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/matthew/matthew12.htm
43
"When an unclean spirit goes out of a person it roams through arid regions searching for rest but finds none.
44
Then it says, 'I will return to my home from which I came.' But upon returning, it finds it empty, swept clean, and put in order.
45
Then it goes and brings back with itself seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they move in and dwell there; and the last condition of that person is worse than the first. Thus it will be with this evil generation."
Great reference, especially considering the unbeliever who has been possessed and then relaxed and then re-entered.
One great thing about Christ, though, is that until a human suffers the first death, separation of soul from body, that human still has an opportunity for salvation, then after salvation, no matter how heinous the sin, one still has an opportunity to confess that sin, turn away from sin, and return to a fellowship with God. Nothing is more powerful than the love of Him.
(Those who continue to rebel after salvation might risk sinning to the point that within His plan, they serve no more useful purpose, or if you will, commit a sin unto death and are brought home to the Lord, leaving many rewards on the table as eternal memorials to the foolishness of those who stray from Him and His plan.
Patron Saint of dying people:
Abel
Barbara
Benedict
Catherine of Alexandria
James the Lesser
John of God
Joseph
Margaret of Antioch
Michael the Archangel
Nicholas of Tolentino
Sebastian
http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/pst00228.htm
[We cannot omit a reflection about the Virgin Mary. If the firstborn creature is the Word become flesh, she who would be the means of the Incarnation must also have been present in the divine thought before every other creature. From this stems Mary's unique relationship with the Holy Trinity.]
Not scriptual. She was saved as all who are saved are, she was the mother of the body that God indwelled , Jesus the Christ. "There is no other name given under heaven by which we must be saved."
[We must also mention the influence that Christ has on angels and demons. Concerning angels, some theologians believe that the angels were admitted to the beatific vision of God only by virtue of the mystery of the Cross. Many Fathers also make interesting statements. For instance, Saint Athanasius writes that the angels owe their salvation to the blood of Christ.
Not scriptual. Angels were created by God before mankind and apparantly a third rebelled against God. They can not be saved and the Lake of Fire was created primarily for them. God the Father sent the Christ to bear our sins on the tree and overcome death, hell and the grave for us in the Ressurection of Jesus Christ. Only men can be saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and His ressurection on the third day.
Why do so many add and take away from the Word of God? This is my question?
Thanks for the links. Last Day Ministries has some good directives.
Say, SaltyJoe,...go you have any good info on Saint Benedictus. I had a dream wherein he gave me a test of a sort. It included two large Hebrew letters, about 3 feet tall, one in jet black ink on a sheepskin, with another in 3D, orthogonal to the sheepskin made out of a gold mesh metal.
I never have understood it. Any ideas?
You may have me confused with the other Joe that can interpret dreams, ya know, the guy with a many colored coat? ;-)
I'll have to look this one up and get back with you later.
FWIW, I bumped into another fellow by the name of Yosef in a dream,...or at least that was how he pronounced it.
We seem to get dumber by the minute. My favorite rejoinder:
Mt 4:12 His fame spread to all of Syria, and they brought to him all who were sick with various diseases and racked with pain, those who were possessed, lunatics, and paralytics, and he cured them.
Golly, it's almost as if those poor ignorant primitives could tell the difference between organic disease and possession. How about that.
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