demonic influence

The Catholic Church has a premier exorcist. And he is swamped. Eighty-eight year old Gabriele Amorth has been busy, busy, busy casting out demons from people, and wants pope Francis to start training up the younger priests because he doesn’t see any let-up any time soon. There are so many demons, and they are so persistent.

Top exorcist claims to have ridden the world of 160,000 demons

“The Catholic Church’s top exorcist, who claims to have sent 160,000 demons back to h-ell says he wants Pope Francis to allow all priests to start performing the ritual to deal with a rising demand for exorcisms from the faithful.”

“An 84-page update of exorcism rites compiled in 1614 and drawn up in 1998 stipulates how Catholic priests trained as exorcists should operate. According to the guidelines established by the church, they have to follow a ritual known as “De exorcismis et supplicationibus quibusdam,” or “Of exorcisms and certain supplications.””

What is wrong with this picture? Is Jesus still on the cross? No. He is risen. (Matthew 28:6).

Let’s look at his assertion that he has exorcised all those demons. First, understand that the Catholic Church is a false religion and its adherents have no access to heaven and are not friends of Jesus. They are actually friends of satan, being unregenerated and without the Holy Spirit.

Secondly, we understand that there is demonic activity in the world today. We know the devil prowls about the earth, seeking someone he may devour. (2 Peter 2:4, Job 1:7, Job 2:2). Are his demons with him also? Yes. Demons exist, and they are active on earth, in the air, and in heaven. (2 Corinthians 11:14-15, Ephesians 2:2, Ephesians 6:12).

Third, let’s take a look at where the demons are. Mr Amorth says that he is sending them “back to hell.”

Are they in hell? Well, some are.

“For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; ” (2 Peter 2:4)

“And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day” (Jude 1:6)

“And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss.” (Luke 8:31)

“And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” (Mark 1:27)

So some fallen angels (demons) are roaming around with satan, possessing people and influencing kings and ministers of the Gospel and doing what they do. Other demons are not on earth. They are held in chains in the abyss, a place typically interpreted to be a pit under hell. The bible says they are to be held there until a time when they shall be released on His Day, and in future event Revelation 9:2-3 we see this happen.

Now if Mr Amorth says that he is sending these “back to hell” that means two things. It means that the word of God is weak and God is not sovereign, because we have some escapees that God Himself put there. It also means Mr Amorth has an equal power to Jesus because he is claiming authority over demons and can send them to hell just as Jesus did.

A final point is that if Mr Amorth is casting out demons from “the faithful” as he states, that it means a Christian can be demon-possessed. It means that demons have somehow broken the seal of the indwelling Holy Spirit God gave us (2 Corinthians 1:22) and overcame the blood of Jesus to be able to get inside us. (Left, Sons of Sceva, by Johann Christoph Weigel, 1695)

Of course, these things can’t be true. First, the demons who Jesus sent to the abyss are still there. They won’t be escaping until God tells the angel to open the shaft and they fly out in Revelation 9. Second, the Holy Spirit dwells inside us (Romans 8:9-11; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19) and it is not possible that the demons would dwell in there too. The other demons that are roaming around aren’t possessing “the faithful” Christians, they are possessing non-Christians.

I mentioned first that the Catholic religion is false and its members who adhere to its doctrines do not have the Holy Spirit. So if a Catholic “faithful” is possessed it means they are not saved.

Yesterday another demons and Catholics story was published. It involves the Pope.

Man Pope Prayed Over Still ‘Possessed’
Edward Pentin’s Perspective: A 43-year-old Mexican father of two, who claims to be possessed by demons — and whom Pope Francis prayed over earlier this month in what some witnesses likened to a public exorcism — insists that he still has demons inside him. Identified only as Angel V., the man told Spanish-language newspaper El Mundo that he had undergone some 30 exorcisms by 10 exorcists, including the renowned Roman exorcist Rev. Gabriel Amorth, who all tried unsuccessfully to free him from his affliction. The interview was reported in the Italian daily La Stampa. “I still have the demons inside me, they have not gone away,” the man said, noting that he felt much better after the Pope prayed over him. El Mundo reported that the man is able to walk. He was in a wheelchair when he met Pope Francis on May 19 at the conclusion of Mass on Pentecost Sunday.

Pastor and Author Dan Phillips wittily commented, “So much for the doctrine of once poped always poped.”

Another story about this possessed man is here.

If an unsaved pope or priest tries to cast out satan, it is like the time when the Pharisees said that Jesus cast out demons by the power of satan. Satan cannot cast out satan. The Sons of Sceva tried.

“Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took on them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the LORD Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches. 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 you? …” (Acts 19:13-15; also Matthew 12:25-27a).

The possessed man rose up and beat the Sons of Sceva out of their clothes! (Acts 19:16).

To paraphrase using today’s example, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you, Pope Francis and Gabriele Amorth?”

What of today’s Christian casting out demons? Can a Christian cast out a demon? GotQuestions says,

“Interestingly, there seems to be a shift in the latter part of the New Testament regarding demonic warfare. The teaching portions of the New Testament (Romans through Jude) refer to demonic activity, yet do not discuss the actions of casting them out, nor are believers exhorted to do so. We are told to put on the armor to stand against them (Ephesians 6:10-18). We are told to resist the devil (James 4:7), be careful of him (1 Peter 5:8), and not give him room in our lives (Ephesians 4:27). However, we are not told how to cast him or his demons out of others, or that we should even consider doing so.”

What of binding and loosing satan? Does a Christian have the power to do that today? No.

“Jesus had power over demons. The Apostles had power over demons, but that’s where it ended. And that’s why the Sons of Sceva said in the book of Acts, ‘Jesus we know and Paul we know, but who are you?’ when some erstwhile Jews tried to exercise power over demons. We don’t tell satan what to do. We resist him by resisting his field of temptation. By resisting his influence. By resisting the power that he has unleashed in the world around us, which finds its way into our flesh and solicits sin. You resist the devil by being strong in the Lord and strong in His word, that’s how you overcome him.” (source)

If Mr Amorth has had any ‘success’ in casting out a demon it is because the demon wanted to go. And if it wants to come back, it will.

Return of an Unclean Spirit
“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.” (Matthew 12:43-45)

Additionally, an unsaved person may have decided to reform, morally. Maybe they were in prison and decided not to do any more crimes when they were released. Maybe an adulterer decided to stop fooling around. Maybe a person joined a church and is pressured to ‘do good’. A person can clean up their act, to a degree. Then a demon will leave.

But nature abhors a vacuum, and if they do not allow Jesus in to their empty heart, their moral transformation will end. It may be after a short amount of time or a long time, but their final state will be worse than the first. The demon will come back, likely bringing a lot of his friends with him.

But what of Mr Amorth’s ‘success’ all these long years in casting out demons? I am sure he would say to you that he has seen and heard many things in his work that convinces him he is a true exorcist. Satan can appear by deception to have been exorcised, because it is obvious from the bible that false apostles appear to exorcise. The Pharisees made reference to that when the charged Jesus of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub. (Matthew 12:25-27a). Jesus will shockingly tell the false ones on His day that though they performed exorcisms, they never knew Jesus.

“Not every one who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father Who is in heaven. On that day many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and cast out demons in Your name, and do many mighty works in Your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.'” (Matthew 7:21-23, emphasis mine)

Christians can be oppressed. That is, satan has power that he has unleashed in the world around us, which finds its way into our flesh and solicits sin. But possessed? No.

A believer was in the kingdom of satan but when Jesus saves them, they now dwell in the kingdom of God. They are a possession of Jesus, not of satan any longer. We are His purchased possession! (Ephesians 1:14).

“who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” (Titus 2:14)

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9)

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Further reading:

Is it possible for a Christian to be demon-possessed?

Can a Christian today perform an exorcism?

How to know if you are a real Christian?

A Believer’s Assurance: A Practical Guide to Victory over Doubt

By Elizabeth Prata

Part 1: Making no distinction between Victorian channeling writers of yore and today’s Christian
Part 2: Making no distinction between Victorian channeling writers of yore and today’s Christian
Part 3: Walsch, Young, and Beth Moore: ungodly channelers all (Part 3)
Conclusion: How do Christian authors end up channeling spirits and producing books from them? Pride
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Remember when New Age channeling was the thing? In the 70s, Shirley MacLaine promoted it. But channeling is really older than that, it not so ‘new’. At the turn of the last century, many British luminaries participated in the Spiritist/Spiritualist movement of which channeling was a major part. They sat around and had seances all the time. It was wildly popular but despite the many adherents and the wild popularity, Spiritism never really formed into one church or one doctrine because the movement was extremely individualistic. Each person relied on his or her own experiences with the supernatural to discern the qualities of an afterlife and of understanding the supernatural in general.

Sound familiar today? It is. “Christians” of today claim individualistic and personal experiences with the “Divine” and then produce works that are touted as specially insightful because of the personal revelation. Everything old is new again. “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” (Eccelesiastes 1:9)

When adherents to Spiritism held seances or channeled spirits in private, oftentimes the ‘spirit’ delivered creative products to their brain and hand. This Spiritist activity is called “automatic writing.”

In the heyday of the Victorian Spiritist movement, automatic writing was all the rage. It is “A type of divination where the pen appears to direct the writer instead of the writer directing the pen. With pen in hand, the writer sits back, attempts to clear his mind, and waits for the pen, seemingly, to take on a life of its own. … Spiritualists believe that automatic writing is a form of spirit contact with the living; hence the name “spirit writing”. (source)

Automatic writing is really channeling. It is a method of capturing concepts and thoughts from ‘the other side’ through our hand without conscious thought to interfere or censor the thoughts. Automatic writing in spiritism happens when spirits are claimed to take control of the hand of a person to write messages, letters, and even entire books. Automatic writing can happen in a trance or waking state” (Wiki)

Yeat’s famous poem Second Coming (Slouching Toward Bethlehem) was a product of such a kind of supernatural revelatory delivery system. The poem was delivered in toto to Yeats through a spirit while Yeats was in a trance state. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle of Sherlock Holmes fame was also an adherent to spiritism (Theosophical Society member) and his works were influenced by it as were painter Gauguin’s and many others.

Rudyard Kipling was an automatic writer, too. He has written of his process and product, “My Daemon was with me in the Jungle Books, Kim, and both Puck books and good care I took to walk delicately, lest he should withdraw. I know that he did not because when those books were finished they said so themselves… When your Daemon is in charge, do not try to think consciously. Drift, wait and obey.” (source)

Spiritism flourished during the Victorian era from 1840 to 1920. But Spiritism was not born in the 1840s nor did it die out in the 1920s. Its roots extend to today and backward to the 1740s and Emanuel Swedenborg. An inventor and philosopher, in 1741 at the age of fifty-three, Swedenborg entered into a spiritual phase in which he eventually began to experience dreams and visions beginning on Easter weekend April 6, 1744. This culminated in a spiritual awakening, whereupon he claimed he was appointed by the Lord to write a heavenly doctrine to reform Christianity. Swedenborg and Franz Mesmer are credited with birthing the modern Spiritist movement. (Yes, Mesmer’s name is where we get the term “mesmerized”, meaning when spiritual forces come grouped together and you get mesmerized.).

The mystical qualities of communing with spirits that results in written or composed works goes back even further than Swedenborg. There are myriad Catholic mystics such as Hildegarde of Bingen, who in 1141, at the age of 42, Hildegard received a vision she believed to be an instruction from God, to “write down that which you see and hear.” Hildegarde wrote, “I set my hand to the writing. While I was doing it, I sensed, as I mentioned before, the deep profundity of scriptural exposition; and, raising myself from illness by the strength I received, I brought this work to a close – though just barely – in ten years. […] And I spoke and wrote these things not by the invention of my heart or that of any other person, but as by the secret mysteries of God I heard and received them in the heavenly places.” (source)

We can go back, and back, and back to the beginning but we won’t go back that far, we can stay in the 20th century with the modern day Spiritualists and their seances and mediums, that gave birth to the New Agers of pharmaceutical trances and automatic writing which morphed into today’s Christian mystics engaged in receiving divinely inspired writings after a lengthy bouts of contemplative prayer. It is all the same, you see. This essay and its companion piece conclusion examines these things, and asks the question:

How is receiving a poem through automatic writing after a seance through a spirit guide any different from holing up in a cabin, having a long conversation with God and writing down by invisible force the ‘Christian’ doctrines that are then published to today’s fervent acclaim?

There is no doubt that automatic writing is thrilling. The Irish National Library says that “automatic writing proved to be a revitalizing force for W.B. Yeats.” It is hard to think up your own stuff. It is easy to let someone/something else plop it into your mind for you.

When we hear of writing that has come from an external, automatic source, such as a seance or a spirit guide, we can comfortably become suspicious because there is the glaring problem of authorship and credibility. Virginia Moore puts the problem of Yeat’s visions and writings gained from automatic writing succinctly: and we can ask this question of all such writers, even (and especially) those who write that way today but claim the writing is from God–

“Invariably students of A Vision ask, Was it really spirit-controlled discourse? Or was it, on Mrs. Yeats’ part, either a garnering of her subconscious, or a telepathic reading of her husband’s mind, neither of which requires extranatural help? Or was it a fabrication on the part of Yeats and/or his wife? Or something else?”

How DOES one discern whether such writings are originating from a subsumed personal will, the subconscious, or a supernatural source either divine or demonic? With the current problem of lack of discernment in the Christian church, these good questions are asked less frequently instead of more frequently. It is easy to point to Victorian Spiritists and mediums holding seances and say that any or all creative products resulting from these sessions have a demonic, not divine, origin. However, we rarely hear of Christians questioning the origin and appropriateness of reading and absorbing as doctrine such writings from today’s pseudo-Christians.

In the next part, I’ll use three examples of popular Christian writers who used the exact same methods as the Victorian Spiritists to produce creative works: they went into seclusion, they contacted or were allowed to be contacted from the spirit world, they were used in automatic writing, and they produced a personal revelation they claim is divine in origin.

Category: demonic influence

Did Gabriele Amorth really exorcise 160,000 demons?

Making no distinction between Victorian channeling writers of yore and today’s certain Christian authors (Part 1)