When the demons strike back: experience of an exorcist after an exorcism

SpiritDaily ^ | January 27, 2006 | Fr. Tom Euteneuer

[NYer]

I have been an exorcist for three years, and I know all too well that it always costs something to enter onto the devil’s territory and wrench a soul out of his grip, but I have never experienced a demonic retaliation like the one I am about to recount. The only reason I write this true story is to encourage those who read this to remain vigilant, faithful and confident that Christ and His angels have all-surpassing power over demons. The demons may make us suffer temporarily, but they are no match for the power of Christ’s Love and the vigilance of these holy spirits who never cease to come to our aid in time of need.  

Several days after performing a solemn exorcism which lasted nine full hours and was a tough piece of spiritual warfare, I was attacked unawares. I guess I had let my guard down after the exorcism was over, and I was directing my attention to other matters at hand. On this particular morning I was to have a meeting with my bishop. When the alarm clock woke me at 7 immediately, without warning, collapsing at the foot of my bed, I felt a wave of nausea flow over me. I just sat there on the floor sweating and thinking I felt so bad that I was going to throw up and be sick the rest of the day and therefore miss my long-awaited meeting with the bishop. Hoping that the nausea would go away, I sat still as a lamb, but I just got more nauseous as the minutes passed. I then staggered up into the bed again knocking hard against the dresser thinking that if I actually lay back down the nausea would go away.  

The two young dogs in the house where I was staying heard the noise and barked, and the younger of the two immediately rushed into the room and got half on the bed licking my face as if he knew something was really wrong. Animals have a good sense of when people are hurting don’t they?! They are God’s little angels and man’s best friend in every way. 

As I lay there getting sicker and sicker I thought I was going through another violent bout of food poisoning like I had experienced earlier in the year, but this nausea seemed of another character. I could not identify just what was happening to me, but I kept feeling worse. No more than five minutes had gone by since I woke up, and I was in dire straits and still sweating profusely. 

The nausea just got worse, and by this time I knew I was going to throw up so I rushed into the bathroom like a drunken man, sat on the bathroom floor and lurched over the toilet thinking that this was it. I wanted whatever was in there out of my system, but nothing at all came out. In the meantime I was getting sicker, and I didn’t think it could get worse! The nausea was causing me serious blurry vision and malaise, and I was on the point of actually blacking out. My greatest sadness was that this hateful thing in my system was going to make me miss my meeting with the bishop. I am sad to say that I was not even thinking of God at the moment because I think I feared my bishop more! 

But just then, as I was at my lowest point and literally on the point of fainting, something took hold of me and lifted me up and said, "We're not taking this!" or words to that effect. Then somehow, from a sitting position on the floor, I reached up and grabbed the sink with a power I didn’t know I had and yanked myself to a standing position saying to myself, "No! Shake it off—I'm not taking this."  

Well, bam, it was over. Immediately the nausea dissipated—I mean completely. It did not linger or take its time getting out of my system. It disappeared as quickly as it had come. My color came back in a few minutes, the sweats stopped instantly and I felt not the slightest bit of sickness at any time after that the whole day, night or week. What a miraculous resurrection! I was dumbfounded. At one moment I felt like I was sinking into the pit of hell and the next moment I was placed on the pinnacle of the Temple! 

Simply put, I was attacked for daring to go against the demon to liberate a soul from his grip. It was not food poisoning that hurt me because nothing came up; the last time I was in that state the poisoned substances took a good two days to clear out of my system. But here, nothing. The illness was instantly gone. Not the slightest bit of sickness remained after I stood up. It was as if a spirit of nausea had been sent into me as retaliation for my pastoral love of that soul and was as easily cast out of me by my guardian angel who just said, “Enough is enough!” Tell me, how can we live without our faithful protectors? My, how I learned the truth of what St. Paul said to Timothy when he witnessed, “The Spirit God has given us is no cowardly spirit” (2 Tm 1:7). Intrepid is a better word.  

Let all faithful Christians take comfort. Our guardian angels never let us down if we strive to help others out of their spiritual bondage. When we engage in spiritual warfare we may have to bear some scars from the fray, but we will never be abandoned by Christ’s angels and saints. I had seven or eight minutes of persecution which I in turn offered for the sake of the soul I am still trying to liberate. If the devil’s intent was to drive me away, he picked the wrong guy with the wrong guardian angel. In fact, he just caused a potent bout of suffering to be offered for the liberation of the soul he oppresses much harder than he persecutes me. He lost in every way. St. Augustine says that God prefers to extract good from evil rather than suppress evil entirely. Now I understand why. God gets so much more out of it when we suffer with faith.  

And there is a reason for all this warfare. St. Peter says that we “may for a time have to suffer the distress of many trials; but this is so that your faith, which is more precious than the passing splendor of fire-tried gold, may by its genuineness lead to praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ appears” (1 Pt 1:6-7). Amen to that.

[NYer]

[Fr. Euteneuer is director of Human Life International in Virginia]

[Old_Mil]

Act 19:13-16
Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye? And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

When we do not fight our own sin first and act under the authority and teaching of Jesus, we will be overcome by the enemy and lose the battle.

[NYer]

Only last night, the subject of demons surfaced at our Gospel study. Father recounted the story of a very holy Maronite hermit monk who was called to a small village up in the hills, to say Mass. (It is tradition in these small hilltowns to shoot a rifle into the air 3 times, when someone dies).

After saying Mass, the wise old monk stopped to dine and visit with one of the village families. After eating, he sat down to relax. After a while, he went off to another room to pray. He then called in the family and said: "Evil spirit passing through the village, please kneel down and pray". No one questioned his sagesse and all dropped down in prayer. The monk then said: "Evil spirit come to get someone", and everyone prayed harder. Several minutes later three shots from a rifle, echoed through the town.

There are those who have received special graces from God. We must never doubt the presence of evil in our midst and constantly pray for protection.

[Nihil Obstat]

Human Life International is doing outstanding work for life. No wonder the devil strikes at him.

http://www.hli.org/

HLI President - Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer, STL

Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer ( EYE-ten-our) became president of Human Life International in December of 2000. Human Life International is the world’s largest pro-life organization with affiliate offices and associates in seventy-five countries around the world. In five years of service to this unique mission Fr. Euteneuer has traveled more than 500,000 miles as a pro-life missionary and visited more than forty countries.

Fr. Euteneuer was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1962, the fourth of seven children born to Joseph and Marian Euteneuer. He has a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana as well as a Licentiate degree in Biblical Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, Italy. He is fluent in Spanish.

While in college, Fr. Euteneuer participated in the Marine Corps Officer Candidate Program, attended boot camp at Quantico, Virginia and graduated at the top of his Company. After discerning that the Lord was calling him to the priesthood rather than the military, he entered the seminary. After his ordination in 1988, Fr. Euteneuer served as a parish priest in five parishes of the Diocese of Palm Beach, Florida, secretary to the diocesan bishop, director of vocations, and spiritual moderator for the diocesan Respect Life Office.

His pro-life activity began in the early years of his priesthood with prayer vigils, pilgrimages, pickets at abortion mills, sidewalk counseling and the establishment of a crisis pregnancy center across the street from an abortion mill
in 1999.

Since taking office at HLI, Fr. Euteneuer has spoken to thousands of people all over the world spreading the Gospel of Life as well as making many appearances on EWTN and other local, national and international media. He has been featured in Human Events and National Catholic Register and has recently been awarded the John Cardinal O’Connor Award for Life from Legatus.

[old and tired]

I will offer prayers for this great man that Our Lord's angels will continue to come to his aid in battle.

St. Michael, the archangel, pray for us.

[Tax-chick]

Animals ... are God’s little angels and man’s best friend in every way.

Oh, gag.

[old and tired]

Oh, gag.

Alright, so the guy's got a little too much St. Francis in him. However, I believe dogs can sense things. I've SEEN them sense things. Things like death, heart attacks and strokes.

[Tax-chick]

I'm not saying animals aren't swell, and all. I don't even mind patting the gerbil. But that was so ... gooey - not to mention theologically unsound.

[bornacatholic]

LOL

This reminds me of the time my girlfriend came over to visit me. "Pookie," our daschund, fell asleep in her lap as she talked with the family. Suddenly, "Pookie" woke-up and bit her on her neck

[old and tired]

Suddenly, "Pookie" woke-up and bit her on her neck

See, the dog knew you could do better!

[bornacatholic]

LOL I married that beautiful strawberry blonde. "Pookie" was an absolute lunatic

[Tax-chick]

Dachshunds can be like that! And then there are all the pit bull stories ... blech.

I've been missing my old cat the last couple of weeks. In my earlier pregnancies, she would huddle up next to my stomach and purr at the babies. I'm sure she could hear them!

[old and tired]

LOL I married that beautiful strawberry blonde.

Oops. Sorry about that. I hope you had the dog put down.

[onedoug]

May as well burn witches by such polytheism.

[Zionist Conspirator]

To continue our conversation from another thread, take a look at this story. Will you kindly explain to me why a religion that believes in being zapped by demons is so scientific and naturalistic when it comes not only to the origins of the world but to the origins of the Biblical text? Why is one any sillier or more superstitious or more irrational than the other? Why not allow nineteenth century liberal German Protestantism amend your beliefs about demons and exorcism as it has amended your beliefs on creation and inerrancy? And I'll bet this demon fighting priest is both an evolutionist and a higher critic, at least with regard to "the former covenant!"

It's incredible. There are people who make fun of creationists for not accepting the word of scientists about the origin of the universe but who insist the earth is hollow and filled with demons. I kid you not! Please tell me why the same scientist who has the authority to critique a literal Genesis creation is dismissed when it comes to what he says about the interior of the earth?

I'll never understand it. I can accept that Catholics reject the miracles of rival religions, but to reject the supernatural phenomena related in "your own" Bible because it took place in the "wrong" testament and because rednecks believe in it?

[Zionist Conspirator]

Ping to my above post to Aquinasfan on this thread.

[Aquinasfan]

Will you kindly explain to me why a religion that believes in being zapped by demons is so scientific and naturalistic when it comes not only to the origins of the world but to the origins of the Biblical text?

Because the God of science is the God of the Bible and the God of Truth. Truth cannot contradict truth. Any apparent contradiction between the two must be just that.

The Church allows very wide latitude in the interpretation of Genesis (and biblical interpretation generally), ranging from a literal interpretation to a very figurative one, because neither science nor biblical exegesis is conclusive. The core truths that Catholics must hold regarding Genesis are the doctrines of creation from nothing, Original Sin, and with almost as high a degree of certainty, its logical corollary, the existence of original parents of the human race.

Regarding alleged cases of possession, the Church recommends first medical examination, and then, once medical explanations of physical phenomena have been found inadequate, exorcism.

[Zionist Conspirator]

Because the God of science is the God of the Bible and the God of Truth. Truth cannot contradict truth. Any apparent contradiction between the two must be just that.

I wish one of you "unity of truth" people (who always wind up making a radical division between "scientific truth" and "literal truth") would explain to me why when an "apparent contradiction" occurs it is the uniformitarian scientific explanations that must always be accepted as "what actually happened" while the Biblical account must always be relegated to didactic parable. Is it not ever possible that the uniformitarian scientific assumption must yield?

The Church allows very wide latitude in the interpretation of Genesis (and biblical interpretation generally), ranging from a literal interpretation to a very figurative one, because neither science nor biblical exegesis is conclusive.

You mean the "universal consent of the Fathers" isn't definitive? How many liberal theories must Catholics sift through in order to arrive at a "conclusion?"

The core truths that Catholics must hold regarding Genesis are the doctrines of creation from nothing, Original Sin, and with almost as high a degree of certainty, its logical corollary, the existence of original parents of the human race.

I note your refusal to deal with the issue of hypocrisy in defending Catholic traditions while subjecting the Jewish traditions that delivered the Bible to you to scientific criticism. Isn't this precisely the attitude of Protestants who accept the "Catholic" Bible while rejecting Catholic traditions about it?

BTW, at which point in Genesis do its characters suddenly cease to be mythical and become historical? I assume after Chapter 11?

[Zionist Conspirator]

BTW, with such an attitude towards the Bible, why do you object to the documentary hypothesis in the first place? I thought "truth cannot contradict truth?" Maybe the stupid Church Fathers were as ignorant about the Bible as they were about natural science and must step aside to What We Now Know?

I hope the Catholic Church will be equally willing to place all its teachings in the dock of science and modernity, however, and not just the Bible.

[conservonator]

If you take a hyper literal view of scripture text, how do you know when Christ is speaking in allegory and when He's not?