From Gospel to Life: Dealing with Demons

Examiner.com ^ | 1/12/10 | Joseph Speranzella SFO

[Jihadi Du Jour]

Today's Gospel : Mark 1:21-28

There is  a controversy brewing in todays society about the reality of demons. Are they real? Are they a psychosis? Demonology - the study and doctrine of demons or evil spirits - is not exclusive to Christianity or Psychology. And while doctrine about them vary they are commonly held in many cultures. It is our western "enlightened" culture that puts almost no emphasis on them.

Yet study and experience show that not only do they exist but can co-exist with psychological pathologies. Many counselors have noted very specific criteria where a Multiple Personality sufferer also possessed by an evil spirit can be diagnosed and treated. I am one such counselor who was trained in that process.

There are many many paranormal programs on the TV and cable. An incomplete but long list can be seen here. With such a list of available content it is difficult to know how to discern what is truly paranormal and what is psychological. The following is a podcast by Fr. Thomas Euteneuer called "Discerning Demonic Activity". it is a helpful talk on : Discerning demonic activity, The power of the Catholic faith, Addiction and the role of the devil, What can be done if it is determined that the devil is actually doing harm to someone we love. **Click here for audio**

Whether one personally believes in demons and spirits in no way makes them more or less real. The same with belief in God. You can be affected as a nonbeliever in as much a way as if you were a believer. We need to be aware and with prayer and fasting stand against all evil in our day.

[stuartcr]

I don’t worry about demons because, as the creator of all, God must have had His reasons for creating them. It’s not like He doesn’t know what they are doing.

[Quix]

HTTP://WWW.DEMONBUSTER.COM

Is a good resource.

[wombtotomb]

THe devil and his demons greatest tactic was to convince the world he didn’t exist, therefore, sin was given a pass because no one could blame a sick person for their illness.

The psychiatric community has convinced people that the “mentally ill” can be no more accountable for their illness than a diabetic can be blamed for diabetes. The fact is, that most diabetics ARE responsible, at least in large part, for their condition. The percentage of diabetics born that way is very small in comparison with the total number of adult onsets. Same with the mentally deficient. Yes, there are some, yes, it is real, but not nearly close to the total of people being treated for it today. There is a large majority of people today who do not want to live by a moral code that was written on their heart so they pop a pill, go to a counselor who tells them its ok, and they allow themselves to try to live contrary to their conscience by forcing the rest of us to say its ok too. These folks are ripe for demonic infestation, and it is rampant in today’s world. The sooner we see that, the sooner we can actually fix the problem....

[ladyL]

I have prayerfully been involved in spiritual warfare for over 30 years and agree completely with your comment. This is an area that ONLY BELIEVERS should be involved in. Saying you are a Catholic or Baptist doesn’t cut it in this relm, remember the 7 sons of Sceva.

[mlizzy]

When I first read the title of this post, I thought I'll have to include something about Fr. Euteneuer. Then upon reading further, I saw this post is *about" Fr. Euteneuer. There's not a priest I think more highly of in the world today than Fr. Thomas J. Euteneuer. I pray for him continually, along with prayers for my brother-in-law, Fr. William O'Toole, and his spiritual advisor, another outstanding priest in our area, Fr. Charles Fanelli (and all other current -- and "in-the-future" priests as well).

The Rosary Online

[GL of Sector 2814]

There is a controversy brewing in todays society about the reality of demons. Are they real?

No. Nor are djinn, ghosts, pixies, banshees...

[mlizzy]

"BEATING A DEMON: Physical Dimensions of Spiritual Warfare"

"... Surely Crusade's experienced leader would be able to rescue us and reaffirm our faith in Christ, the Bible, and everything good. Even I felt confident enough to approach God once again; Susan's lunge for the door awakened and invigorated me. Strangely, I found myself repeating the Hail Mary until it became a chant. Being a recent convert to Catholicism, I had yet to accept the Catholic doctrines concerning Mary and considered any form of Marian devotion to be idolatry. Though I had never before prayed a Hail Mary in my life, I suddenly found myself incapable of any other form of prayer. Somehow, Mary's intercessions allowed me to find peace during that long night; I knew that I had survived the worst and that I would exit with my faith intact. It terrified me to recall how close I came to turning away from Christ out of fear" --Bobby Jindal, December 1994.

The Rosary Online

[dog breath]

While a belief in demons is often a matter of faith, if they exist they exist regardless if you believe in them. It might almost be easier to refer to them in some sci-fi terms as some form of other dimensional entities that feed off negative or strong emotions. It again might be tempting to point to string theory and try and claim that other dimensional universes might coexist with our own. Since none of these thing are provable, you can not point to science to support your belief, it returns to the realm of faith. For a Christian the answer becomes obvious, unless you want to go to a smorgasbord version of Christianity where you pick and chose only the parts you want.

[stuartcr]

How do you know these people have certain moral codes written in their hearts? Perhaps they don’t, and that’s why they are the way they are, or the codes are different than yours?

[sodpoodle]

When homo sapiens is extinct from the earth - God will still exist.

There are more of His creations on earth and in heaven that we will never know or contemplate.

[wombtotomb]

Its the natural law. Murder,rape,stealing-bad. It is what a republics law is based on. These things are universally identified as wrong and the reason all societies penalize them. We know there has to be an absolute right and therefore an absolute wrong otherwise we could not measure anything. There must be absolute beauty in order to know ugly, there must be a moral code to know sin. People “tweaking” codes is why there is so much strife and division in areas like social justice, abortion, marriage, etc...

[stuartcr]

Perhaps some people have a different natural law designed into them? I agree that you and I and most others believe they are universally wrong, but that really doesn’t deter people does it? Maybe they believe differently? Not everyone measures things the same, do they? People have been doing this tweaking since there have been people and we have had these problems for just as long. Perhaps, there are some people born good, and some born bad?

[wombtotomb]

Nope. everything God made and he saw was good. God cannot create evil; Gods creations can CHOOSE evil. The law written on mens hearts is universal and good. Free will allows us to “measure” things differently is what is going on. Justifying it by allowing others to use a different yardstick is what got us here in the first place, and I guess it will remain as such until He returns. Until then, I refuse to give the other team any leeway. Mentally defective by birth is one thing, accountability to reason is diminished and therefore less culpable; all others, the ability to reason is present and free will is used to choose what path one will take. The ultimate judgement awaits.

[stuartcr]

Well, we all have our beliefs.

[wombtotomb]

yes, we do. I won’t dwell on it as it seems you want to move on, but I know alot of people believe in a lot of things. It does not make them true. Natural law is true...

[stuartcr]

You are correct, just because we believe something, it doesn’t make it true. That’s what is so intriguing about these things that we can’t prove to each other.

[wombtotomb]

:)

[Joya]

Thanks, thanks.