Posted on 05/03/2007 3:27:37 PM PDT by Frank Sheed
Was Cho Seung-Hui Possessed?
There were howls of laughter when Fox News published an article raising the question of whether the devil may have influenced Cho Seung-Hui to commit the Virginia Tech massacre. Fox just reported the comments of various Christian leaders on the subject and did not intend to settle the question, but the cynicism of the godless media and society was predictable and to be expected. Since the devil doesn’t exist—they say—how could anyone be so irresponsible as to try to explain away Cho’s deed by recourse to the spiritual?
Well, first let me say that, as a Catholic priest, I have seen and worked with my share of possessed and obsessed individuals. It’s entirely possible for someone to be at once responsible for his own acts and totally under the influence of the devil in committing them. In this case, Cho pulled the trigger, but the devil was the author of the deed. Does not Jesus call him “a murderer from the beginning”? The devil is the prime mover of all evil in the world, but human beings freely cooperate with him in their evil decisions. No one gets off the hook of responsibility by blaming the devil, but we can’t say that the devil is a detached observer to crimes like this.
The evil work that Cho perpetrated bears the classic marks of a possession that he cooperated in. Four clear signs of serious demonic influence were evident in his life and virtually assured that he would commit some kind of heinous crime against humanity in time. These are the devil’s tactics for the destruction of body and soul: isolate, distort, excite, plot—and then kill.
First, it is not always clear how a demon enters someone, but it is sure that once a demon enters a person, that demon bends all his efforts of mind and will to overtake his host’s life and make it his own. Isolation is the best technique. By all accounts, Cho was an isolated loner whose belonging to his demon was very far advanced. He had no friends to speak of, no significant associates or relationships and certainly no religious practice.
Second, with time and permission, the demon totally perverts all the person’s mental processes in order to translate them into demon-think. Cho’s writings leading up to the crime, and Cho’s now-famous video manifesto, all exhibited signs that the process of demonic perversion of mind and values was complete. He was verbally fantasizing in front of his classmates and teachers about killing people in the most horrible ways. In the end he even blasphemously claimed to be dying like Jesus Christ for the sins of others: this is perverse thinking in the extreme.
Third, a crime of this immensity cannot be accomplished without a person’s total emotional commitment. After reprogramming a person’s thought patterns, the demon excites his passions to do what he wants. Others have very credibly explained how Cho’s pathetic video images imitating the Korean flick, Old Boy, were evidence of his heightened emotions influenced by violent images. He even ranted in imitation of the Columbine killers Harris and Klebold in solidarity for the deed he was about to commit.
In other words, it’s very difficult to sustain such an emotional intensity about the evil he planned and carried out without some direct force multiplier. Graphic images provided it.
Finally, he plotted—like all demons from Satan to the perpetrators of the World Trade Center attacks. He bought guns and ammo, he planned the date and times and places of the murder, and he even went regularly at night to work out at the campus gym in order to look the part of a mass murderer. The devil must have been very happy to witness his prey blast his brains out after perpetrating the bloody murders of 32 innocents. That is the ultimate victory for the devil.
As sad as the physical deaths of innocent people are, perhaps the saddest element of the story is the likely loss of Cho Seung-Hui’s immortal soul by this demonic action. The rabbis used to say that the angels weep at the loss of a soul that God created to share in His eternal blessedness; I am sure the angels are weeping now. Let us all commend the innocent victims of this crime, their families and the possessed perpetrator to the Mercy of God and then re-commit ourselves to proclaiming Christ and His victory over so that none of God’s children will ever be lost.
In Christ,
Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer
President, Human Life International
Possession ping!
Not all are GODs’ Children...take Judas for instance...there for a reason,,,so it’s really a Blessing when GOD calls you..!!
It’s possible. Never know when the spirit of Mohammed can take hold of your body and make you do Islamic things.
Interesting issue, but “overtaken by events,” as they say.
It occurred to me that the guy was possessed. But I’ve not seen a description so clearly delineated until today.
Thanks!
Every time I saw that guy’s eyes, I saw evil. Not just derangement, but intense evil. He gave me the willies... There was “no there there.” I doubt if that is a psychiatric term but it fits.
....umnnnhhhh...
Hildebeestechosis?
You have coined a new term, I see. Let’s put it on Wikipedia.
I dont recall any information regarding Cho or his families religious beliefs. Hard to believe anyone could do such a thing using their free will.
Yes, a young woman was killed for admitting that she was a “Christian.” They asked her as they held a gun to her head. She is a martyr to the Faith as surely as I type. I wish I could recall her name.
Well, he did have that really creepy voice.....
Two girls were described as being killed for their Christian beliefs. Cassie Bernal is the one who reportedly said “Yes” when asked if she believed in God. Rachel Scott, the second girl (her father is a gun rights activist, bless his heart!), was a Christian leader on the campus. I don’t recall the precise details of her death.
On April 20th, 1999, Cassie Bernall was sitting in the library of Columbine High School, in Littleton, Colorado, when two white racists neo-nazis, who were also followers of the demented so-called rock star Marilyn Manson, burst in, and began shooting everyone in sight. Cassie stood up and began to pray. One of the killers pointed a shotgun in Cassie’s face and asked her, “Do you believe in God?” Cassie stood face to face with her killers and she said “Yes”. One of the killers then said to her,” Why?” and then immediately shot her in the face, without giving her a chance to answer.
That may be an overstatement. They were killing everybody they could. There isn't any particular reason to think they would have spared her if she wasn't a Christian.
I think they ask her just to torment her, myself, but they could not stand that she stood up for God to the death. Rare courage, very rare.
She admitted she believed in God and was killed. YOU may not care or believe that that matters. My Faith tells me God does care. She didn’t deny Him. In the Gospel He has high praise for those who withstand that test...
F
Personally I think the twisted pukes just thought it was funny/cool to ask her then tell her “Ok, you can meet him”.
Don’t take me wrong. I’m not trying to diminish her courage or faith in any way here.
I’m not certain but I seem to remember that some facts were withheld about this case and that those 2 young men had a lot of anti-christian material, or things they had written. I’m not sure, just something to that effect. Also, this latest murderer had made statements about Christians too.
You just don’t hear much about it in the press.
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