Psychologist Adam Blai
Posted on 02/11/2014 6:24:28 PM PST by Mrs. Don-o
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — So, exorcism might seem like fiction. But did you know that the Vatican has actually encouraged every Catholic diocese to have a trained exorcist on staff?
A local psychologist is an expert who is traveling around the world to train those priests.
Once he was a skeptic, but he tells KDKA’s Andy Sheehan, after assisting in nearly 100 exorcisms, his experiences have made him a believer.
For the past 10 years Adam Blai has been on the front line.
“Basically, it’s a war between heaven and hell,” says Blai. “That’s been going on since Creation started, and it’s a war over us for the most part.”
Fighting over the bodies and souls of the possessed.
“Their mouth isn’t moving and the sound coming out of them is beyond what a human can produce,” Blai says.
A force that’s taken over.
“I’ve also seen bones dislocate spontaneously, and pop out when something animated the body and put the body into a different shape,” he says.
Blai says he’s needed to summon angels and saints to battle what he calls “the kingdom of darkness.”
Sheehan: “So, it’s a war.”
Blai: “Oh yeah, we’ve seen the demon and possessed call out to its brothers and doors blow off and there’s nothing there, but something has entered the room. That happens all the time.”
Exorcism traces its roots to the New Testament Gospels where Jesus frees the possessed, but even Blai himself was initially skeptical.
“Your mind rebels against really believing that this is really real, even after you’ve seen some things,” he says. “But eventually, the evidence piles up, and the pile becomes so large that you really have to accept it.”
A trained psychologist at Penn state, Blai has studied the most violent criminals, but even in serial killers and rapists, he found at least some humanity – not so with the possessed.
“When you interact with somebody possessed by a demon, their heart is so completely and totally black and devoid of any hesitation or compassion that you know in your heart that they would tear you apart and be smiling the entire time,” Blai said.
Blai: “Holy water is something that’s used in every case.”
Sheehan: “Now, if you sprayed the possessed with holy water, would it burn? That’s something we see in the movies. There will be some reaction.”
Blai: “Oh yeah, they have a violet reactions. It looks as though they’ve been scourged with a whip.”
“It really changes you, and to see a full-blown case like they would make movies about — though Hollywood always exaggerates things a little bit – it really kind of straightens out your spiritually life,” Blai said. “And you have to think very hard about what you’re going to do with that knowledge.”
“The Lord hath made all things for himself: the wicked also for the evil day.”
“And the Lord said to Satan: Behold he is in thy hand, but yet save his life.”
“Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour.”
“And no wonder: for Satan himself transformeth himself into an angel of light.”
However, all religious groups have persons who are not in a state of Sanctifying Grace. The mere emptiness of an unsaved soul, the vacuum itself, attracts demons.
!! I never heard of such a thing. Just wow.
I agree with every single one of those Scriptures...obviously. But not one says a born again believer can be demon possessed. Not one. You can search the Scriptures all day and you won’t find evidence of a believer being demon possessed.
So are we to conclude that unless something is specifically mentioned as a possibility in Scripture, it can't occur? That is demonstrably not the case.
The verses quoted show 1) that God chose to use the devil as an instrument to accomplish a greater good and 2) Christians must always be on guard against the enemy and his tricks.
Further details from the recent case in Indiana:
"...Both women were Baptist and said they never dabbled in anything occult. The mother never missed church on Sundays, and LaToya sometimes went....
"...do you think the ex-boyfriend had to do with any of this? Maybe he put a curse on the mother. He had once asked her for an article of underwear as a souvenir. Around that time, LaToya also had a family picture disappear from her album, and a pair of her shoes disappeared. Personal items are often used in curses against a person..."
http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/parish-priest-aids-family-in-fight-against-demons/
"unsaved"?
I think the hub of our difference is that we don’t agree on who is and is not a Christian. When I use the Christian I don’t mean it in a cultural sense and I am not speaking of people who go to church or are members of a church. When I refer to a Christian I am using that term in the biblical sense. A Christian is a man who has been born again by the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit. And when a man is a born again the Holy Spirit resides in him. The body of a Christian becomes the temple of God where no demon can reside.
Scripture is my authority, not experience and not men. We have no right to build doctrines and teach ideas which go beyond what Scripture teaches. That’s the domain of false religion and cults.
Matthew 12:43-45
“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he passes through waterless places seeking rest, but he finds none.
Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes he finds it empty, swept, and put in order.
Then he goes and brings with him seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. So shall it be also with this evil generation.”
If you were to change this to say "which go against "rather than "which go beyond," this would be a true statement.
As it stands, though, it is not true. Scripture itself contradicts the idea that we have "no right" to go beyond what Scripture teaches, as long as such teachings do not go against Scripture.
The argument is internally inconsistent, since there is no Scripture which tells what the books of Sacred Scripture are. This means that the rule "nothing but Scripture" is disobeyed as soon as we accept a canon of Scripture.
Your notion also goes against Jesus' criteria, and Paul's.
Luke 10:16
“He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me.”
2 Thessalonians 2:15
So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter.
I’m not Roman Catholic, so obviously we disagree on Scripture, Scriptural authority, the nature and identity of the church, the gospel, the way of salvation, tradition, among many other things. I wish I had time to get into all of those things.
Exorcism isn’t a topic that interests me and I certainly don’t want to debate it. I wish I hadn’t even commented because I don’t want to spend time thinking about it or researching it or defending my position. I find exorcism rather sad. By and large it’s unsaved people performing rituals on other unsaved people. I am very aware demons are real, but I know I have been indwelt by the Holy Spirit, so I have no need to fear such things. Yes, I know I am to guard my heart against evil, but evil cannot take me. I was bought with a price at Calvary and that nothing can snatch me away.
Everything about me changed when God saved me. For many years before I was truly saved I thought I was. I was the all-too-typical false convert. I grew up in a Christian home and I knew a lot of Bible, but I wasn’t really saved. I had made a decision for Jesus, and I was religious, but John 1:13 teaches that we are born not of our own will (our decision), or of blood (by heritage), but by the will of God. When He wills a man to live, that man comes fully alive. I am simply not the man I was when I was younger. And that wasn’t own my own strength, it was something He did to me and in me. Yes, I am still a sinner who struggles with sin (just as Paul described in Romans 7), but I hate my sin. I no longer love the things of this world or the way this world works. The older I get the more I am aware of my sin, the more I recognize my utter inability to do anything to save myself. I am totally dependent on Him. The Bible tells us that for those born again God removes their heart of stone and gives them a heart of flesh. I am still a work in progress, but I know He did that for me.
God bless!
I do suspect that a lot of bogus stuff goes on in purported exorcisms, at least judging from what you can read from internet news sites. I wouldn't go so far as to say that "by and large it’s unsaved people performing rituals on other unsaved people," since I have no real way to detect for sure who is 'unsaved': that's strictly God's domain, not mine. It's the kind of thing they used to say about Our Lord ("It's by the prince of demons that He casts out demons.")
"The Bible tells us that for those born again God removes their heart of stone and gives them a heart of flesh. I am still a work in progress, but I know He did that for me."
Amen to that, my friend.
“Pope Francis: Christians must guard against slyness of the devil”
“...When the spirit returns and finds it “swept clean and adorned,” he explained, it then “takes another seven spirits worse than he, who come and make their homes,” and in that way “the last state of man becomes worse than the first.”
“Vigilance,” he stressed, “because his strategy is this: ‘You became Christian. Advance in your faith. I will leave you. I will leave you tranquil. But then when you are used to not being so watchful and you feel secure, I will come back.’”
“The Gospel today begins with the devil being cast out and ends with the devil coming back! These are not lies,” he urged, “it is the Word of the Lord!”
“Let us ask the Lord for the grace to take these things seriously. He came to fight for our salvation. He won against the devil! Please, let us not do business with the devil! He seeks to return home, to take possession of us… Do not relativize; be vigilant! And always with Jesus!” (10/11/13)
Thank you. I appreciate your sweet spirit. It doesn’t go unnoticed.
Amen.
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