Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you.
Posted on 04/04/2026 7:12:34 AM PDT by DoodleBob
The demand for exorcists is at record levels, claims a leading demon-hunter who blames human nature as much as the devil for the trend.
Father Chad Ripperger, a Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of Denver, told The Post there aren’t more demons running amok on Earth.
The blame lies primarily with people themselves. They blatantly disregard the church’s teachings and act on their own dark impulses instead.
“The demons are empowered as more and more people commit evil deeds,” Father Ripperger said. “If a person willingly becomes involved in these evil deeds, Satanism or witchcraft, the actions lead to a susceptibility to Satan’s influence so that he or she is easily manipulated and can be incited to do more evil things.
“Unfortunately, people today do not believe their actions have consequences.”
During an exorcism, the priest — armed with holy water, the crucifix and a bible — reads prayers and scriptures to the “possessed” while commanding the demon to depart. The person may need to be restrained during the session as the priest’s presence may anger the demon, said Ripperger, but “only a small percentage — about 10% — of cases are as dramatic as portrayed in Hollywood.”
….
Today, Catholic Church experts said there are roughly 150 priests in the US trained to practice exorcism.
That number has increased an astonishing 650% since 2020 — when only about 20 priests were trained for the position, said Ripperger.
On March 13, Pope Leo XIV hosted the world’s most senior exorcists at the Vatican. They reportedly warned him of the terrifying global rise in “occultism, esotericism and Satanism.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
|
|
Click here: to donate by Credit Card Or here: to donate by PayPal Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794 Thank you very much and God bless you. |
I stopped at the word catholic.
who blames human nature as much as the devil for the trend.
Life is full of choices. Too many still choose the “Tree of knowledge of Good and evil” where we decide what is good and evil.
Right next to it is the “Tree of Eternal Life” in every decision we make. Choose carefully.
My Catholic pastor is also an ordained exorcist trained in Rome. He validated my apparition by saying, “Congratulations, you have received a message from God.” Pretty cool.
You call the devil, the devil’s gonna come
“Maybe we need to get a priest to come and exercise with her (Edith)”
~ Archie Bunker
they were needed more during the 60’s, 70’s and forward as the purple mafia took control of so many of the RCC institutions. Deliverance will come, I peeked at the Book’s ending, the Good guys win. God help us.
We all have sin and evil in us. All of us. Any of us could turn out to be a Nazi unloading Jews from boxcars at Auschwitz. Evil resides in all of us.
As Paul says in Romans...it is the sin of the flesh that is opposed by the purity of the spirit.
So we do have a choice. It is our free will. If one believes in Jesus Christ, it is less likely to happen, as he is our amour and our sword against Satan, who is always looking for ways to exploit our sin and worm his way into our souls.
“Unfortunately, people today do not believe their actions have consequences.”
Human actions are the result of decisions they make, anything else is magical thinking.
Stanley Milgram found this out at Yale.
“Unfortunately, people today do not believe their actions have consequences.”
From J Vernon McGee commentary.
There are some nuggets in there if you take the time to read.
The Beginning of Knowledge
Pro 1:1 These are the proverbs of Solomon, David’s son, king of Israel.
Pro 1:2 Their purpose is to teach people wisdom and discipline, to help them understand the insights of the wise.
Proverbs 1:2-4
THE BOY IN THE HOME STARTING OUT IN LIFE
As the boy starts out in life, these are the instructions that God gives him.
There are ten words used in this section which seem to be synonymous—and, of course, they are related—but they are not the same. I would like to take each of these words and put it under the microscope. We will find that they are not synonyms. Nor are they piled up to make an impressive beginning. Every word of God is pure, we are told, so let us look at some of these.
“To know wisdom.” What is meant by wisdom? The word wisdom in the Scriptures means “the ability to use knowledge aright.” It occurs in this book alone thirty-seven times. It is an important word in the Bible. It means the right use of knowledge. There are a great many brilliant people who have knowledge; yet they lack wisdom. They don’t seem to use their knowledge aright.
Let me add something more here. Wisdom in the Old Testament means Jesus Christ for the believer today. “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (1Co_1:30). Notice that wisdom is number one. Christ is the wisdom for the believer today. And to know wisdom is to know Jesus Christ. Paul gave as his ambition: “That I may know him …” (Php_3:10). Oh, that the same ambition to know Christ might grip your soul and my soul today! We need that.
Wisdom, therefore, is Christ. Wisdom is the ability to use our knowledge aright. To know Christ is not to play the fool; it is to be a wise man. I saw a bumper sticker the other day which read: “Wise men still seek Him.” Friend, you may not be brilliant, but when you receive Christ and come to know Christ, then you have wisdom.
“Instruction.” The word instruction appears twenty-six times in Proverbs. Sometimes the same Hebrew word is translated by the word chasten. Now that is interesting. Let me give an example of this. Pro_13:24 says, “He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.” Here, “to chasten” actually means “to give instruction.” Therefore, the word instruction means you teach by discipline. That is a forgotten truth today. Our contemporary society is certainly out of kilter and out of step with the Word of God. For example, we are told that lawbreakers are put in prison to discipline them and to reform them. That never was the purpose for dealing with criminals according to the Word of God. The purpose there was to judge them, punish them. No other reason was ever given. On the other hand, when you are dealing with a son, you discipline him because that is a part of his instruction. You are to chasten him. You are to teach him by disciplining him. Your purpose is not to punish him. We often hear it said, “That child should be punished!” No, that is not the purpose of turning little Willie across your knee and paddling him. I hope you do paddle him. But why do you do it? To punish him. To punish him? No, to teach him by discipline. Our purposes are all confused today—we discipline criminals and punish our children. We need to get back to God’s purposes. Our schools today are practicing the “new methods” of teaching. What about the old method of teaching by discipline? That is absolutely out. I believe the board of education being applied to the seat of learning is desperately needed—both in the home and in the school.
A man asked a father, “Do you strike your children?” The father answered, “Only in self defense.” That’s about what it has come to in our day—the children are bringing up the parents! They are disciplining the parents and telling them what they ought to do. I heard recently of a young man who gave his mother and father a lecture on how they should be and what they should do. Yet that young man was under a court order: he had been arrested and was out on bail! I believe the parents needed a lecture, but he wasn’t the one to give it. They should have had a lesson on how to discipline their son, and it should have been given to them years earlier.
Instruction is to teach by discipline. God, our heavenly Father, is excellent at teaching in that way. I think I have learned most when He has taken me to the woodshed. Those lessons were very impressive.
“To perceive the words of understanding.” Understanding means intelligence. We have another word: discernment. We need to recognize that God expects us to use our intelligence. He expects us to use a great deal of sanctified common sense.
In verse Pro_1:3 is the word justice. Justice is righteousness, and it means “right behavior.” I remember a sociology professor in college who used to teach us that right was relative. He used to ask with a smirk, “Well, what is ‘right’?” I didn’t know the answer then, but now I know that right is what God says is right. It is God who separates the light from the darkness. I can’t make the sun come up, and I can’t make the sun go down. Only God is running His universe. He makes light; He makes darkness. God is the One who declares what is right, and God declares what is wrong. So you may ask, “Is it right to do this or that?” If God says it is right, it is right. Or you may ask, “Is this wrong?” It is wrong if God says it is wrong. Right and wrong are not relative terms except in the minds of the contemporary average man. The prevailing feeling is that what the average man does becomes the norm; it becomes the standard. That is one of the reasons there is so much dishonesty and gross immorality today. Right and wrong have become relative terms. God says they are not. Just like light and darkness, they are absolutes.
“Judgment.” Judgment means that you and I are to make judgments. It is the same as making a decision. The believer comes to crossroads in his life. He must make decisions about which way to go.
Before I came to California, I had a call to a pastorate in the East, and I had a call here to the West Coast. I honestly didn’t know which way to go. I had to bring it to the Lord, and I had to test out a few things. After I had made a test, I found I was to come to California, and I thank God for it. We have to make decisions, and we should make them as the children of God.
“Equity.” This refers to principle rather than conduct. The child of God is not put under rules, but we are given great principles which should guide us. For example, Rom_14:22 puts down the great principle: “… Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.” The believer should have enthusiasm for what he does. There is too much Christian conduct which is like walking on eggshells. People say, “I don’t know whether I should do this or not.” My friend, the principle is that if you cannot enter into it enthusiastically, you ought not to do it at all. What we do, we ought to do with anticipation, excitement, and joy. We should be fully persuaded in our own minds that that is the right course of action. We ought not have a compunction of conscience after we have done it. Happy is the man whose conscience does not condemn him in the things which he allows. If you look back on it and say, “Oh, I wish I hadn’t done that,” then it was wrong for you to do. In questionable matters about which the Scriptures are silent, this is a great principle that will guide you in your conduct. If you can look back on what you did yesterday and say, “Hallelujah, it was a great day for me,” then you know that what you did was right for you to do.
Another principle is that we ought to bear each other’s infirmities, rather than simply pleasing ourselves. We should ask ourselves, Is this thing I am doing an offense to my neighbor or to my brother in Christ? These are great principles of conduct that should guide the believer.
“Give subtilty to the simple.” Being prudent is the meaning of giving subtility to the simple; it is to act prudently. It means to be wise in what we do. A child of God ought not to act foolishly.
I remember counseling a young couple who went to the mission field. They just shut their eyes to reality, as it were, and went to the mission field. I personally urged them not to go because I could see they were not fitted for it. They came back as casualties. They had actually made shipwrecks of their lives by going to the mission field. They had not been prudent. They had not shown wisdom in their particular circumstances.
Remember that the Lord Jesus said, “… be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves” (Mat_10:16).
“To the young man knowledge.” Knowledge is information that is useful. I remember a motto on a bulletin board in the science lab of the college which I attended. I have forgotten all the formulas I ever learned in chemistry, but I have never forgotten the motto. It was this: “Next to knowing is knowing where to find out.” That is one reason it is good to have the Bible handy and to learn to read it—if you don’t know, you surely can know where to find out.
“Discretion.” This means thoughtfulness. This is for the young man and young people in general who are thoughtless. I am very frank to say that I was a very thoughtless young man, and I confess that I am still that way. It is always a pleasure to find a thoughtful Christian. I have several wonderful Christian friends here in Southern California. Presently I am getting ready to take a trip to the East, and at this time of year it is a little cool back there. One of these friends came by and brought me a lovely sweater. That was thoughtful. There are many wonderful Christians who are thoughtful, and it is a characteristic all of us ought to have.
The Book of Proverbs will help us see that these wonderful qualities should be incorporated into our lives.
Satan’s influence so that he or she is easily manipulated and can be incited to do more evil things.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influencer
An influencer is an individual who has the capacity to shape the attitudes, behavior, or decisions of others through authority, knowledge, position, or the nature of the relationship with the audience.[1] The term is used in various fields such as media, business, politics, religion, and communication, referring to influencers such as social media influencers, podcasters, public speakers, religious influencers, writers, and newsletter writers etc who have dedicated followings in various areas.[2][3]
Jer_15:19 .............. You must influence them; do not let them influence you!
And all within my lifetime. Un-freaking-believable.
So we do have a choice. It is our free will.
We are slaves to sin. Our free will is not absolute.
Of my own ability, I would NEVER choose God. So there is that conundrum. Good thing he chose me. Now I am a slave to another master.
Actually, you didn’t.
You saw the article, with the word “exorcist” in the title. Most people of reason expect this to be an article involving Catholics. Nonetheless, you had to consciously and with full volition click on the post in the Forum. We can let this one slide a little, because you said you stopped at a “word.”
Now….You claim you stopped at the word ‘catholic’. Prescinding from the punctuation error, if your claim was meritorious, you’d have simply closed out of the article and moved on.
No. For reasons not stated, despite you claiming to “stop”, you carried on. It’s a curious thing, to claim you stopped but didn’t stop. Indeed, in order to reply to Libloather’s gif and post, you had to linger on the thread.
Finally, you had to click on Post Reply, take time to think, type a reply, click Preview or Post, then click Post.
That’s a LOT of not stopping, all so you could execute your bigoted virtue-signaling. And it wasn’t even GOOD virtue-signaling, like a 1 out of 10 effort.
Parenthetically, the Holy Trinity don’t stop loving you. And I’ll pray for you. Have a blessed day.
Demons are stretched thin in the ranks. All those lefty middle aged ladies spewing rage have meant a lot of possessions.
1) Their name is “Legion” for they are many ... Or so they said. Jesus didn’t rebuke them for making that claim, so I suppose it might be true. Anything a demon says is suspect at best ...
2) I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that The Enemy (and its minions) can multi-task.
Yes… I remember that study. It’s a bit chilling, isn’t it?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.