DEMONIC POSSESSION OR OPPRESSION: THAT IS THE QUESTION

Read this essay below, watch it on You Tube, or click on the player below for the audio version!

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When one explores the vast trove of literature related to the subject of Demonic possession, the student will eventually come across a quote originating in the mid-nineteenth century, a statement that is only a brief observation but one of questionable provenance. With that said, many researchers of such trivia agree that, most likely, the quote can be attributed to one man in particular. A man who in his day enjoyed a reputation of being the epitome of evil, due to his writings that scandalized the polite gentry. His literary themes—in our modern world would hardly raise an eyebrow or attract undue attention—but in the early eighteen hundreds, his poetry was considered pornographic, so much so that he was even brought to trial. So who was this French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist, art critic and translator? His name was Charles Baudelaire and as previously noted, many credit Baudelaire with a statement that has been widely quoted:

“The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist”

Many writers including yours truly, have fallen back on this quote in attempts to

Enough is Enough

In January of 2013, this ministry established this blog as a means to educate lay people about the very real ministry of Exorcism.  We believe that evil entities do frequently oppress people and in rare cases possess them leading them to preform horrendous acts.  From the onset of this publication we have maintained that Exorcism is a religious rite, one that should be only performed by trained, ordained Christian ministers and not by well meaning laity.  Admittedly we have been reluctant to post links to articles that report the travesty of lay people and in some cases ministers that physically abuse the presumed victim causing harm, hospitalization and in some cases death.  We do not see such events as legitimate religious rites, as by tradition Exorcism consists of a series of prayers found to remove offensive spirits.  Under no condition is an Exorcist to “beat the devil out’ of the victim.  Physical harm in no way encourages an entity to leave but rather gives it a reason to persist as its goal is to see the victims suffer.

When possible, it is our intention to bring light to these events in which innocent victims suffer at the hands of those who quite possibly are themselves possessed.

Practically in our back yard, we find a case in Benton County Missouri; the following excerpt is reported by Ozarksfirst.com, a local CBS affiliate.

Court documents say an investigator with the Benton County Sheriff’s Office arrived at the scene and found the father of the four-year-old girl to ask him what happened. The father showed the investigator his daughter.

The investigator saw the four-year-old girl wrapped up in a pink blanket on the floor. Court records say she had several purple bruises from her neck to her feet. The investigator found that the bruising appeared to be belt marks.

The investigator then asked the man where the rest of his family was in the house. Court documents say the mother and their two-year-old son had severe bruising. The family has another infant and he had no injuries.

The deputy asked the father how these injuries happened. He told the deputy that people who lived across the road, Mast and Aumen, caused the injuries. According to the PC statement, the two went to the family’s house that morning around 8 a.m. and beat the two-year-old.

The father told authorities that the beatings have been happening for about two weeks. He also told police that he was beaten with a wooden spoon two days earlier.

“I asked how he could let people do this to his family, and he stated that they were told (the mother) had a “demon” inside her, and her children would end up just like her if it was not taken care of,” court documents say.

The father said that Mast and Aumen threatened him and said if he did not comply, someone would get shot. The father also told police that if he or his wife provided aid or comfort to the children or themselves, it would be a sin, and satan would come.

Mast and Aumen told investigators during interviews after being arrested that they did beat the children and their mother. They also said they forced the mother and daughter to a pond where more assaults occurred.

Please, tell everyone you know, demonic possession is rare and Exorcism should only be performed by trained ministers and then as a last resort after all other means of treatments are exhausted.  Do not attempt to Exorcise a demon from a person or place if you are not ordained as a minister, to do so is to invite destruction upon yourself and possibly great harm to those you think you are helping.

Bizarre Modern Encounters with Real Gargoyles | Mysterious Universe

Excerpted from: Bizarre Modern Encounters with Real Gargoyles | Brent SwancerJune 19, 2019 | Mysterious Universe

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All across the world sit stone demons perched atop dizzying heights to stare out across the countryside below in silent, frozen stares of contemplation, and which are collectively known as gargoyles. The term “gargoyle” is thought to come from the name of a monster in the 7th century called La Gargouille, which was said to terrorize the country of France in the region of the Seine River before being righteously slain by St Romanus, the Archbishop of Rouen. Upon the mighty beast’s death the lore has it that its head was supposedly mounted on a church to keep other monsters at bay, and from here grew the tradition of crafting the likenesses of grotesque demons out of stone in order to serve as protectors or guardians of important places. It turned into quite an architectural phenomenon, and gargoyles sprouted up all over on churches, cathedrals, or anything else that needed protection from demons and evil spirits. Gargoyles can be seen all over the world, including famously the Notre Dame in Paris and the 112 gargoyles of the Washington National Cathedral in Washington D.C. But are these creatures merely confined to these stone apparitions eternally looking upon their domain?

In more modern times there have been sightings of what are often compared by witnesses as being distinctively like the stone gargoyles of centuries past, only living, and they seem to come from out past the fringe of the bizarre, mostly described as winged, hunched-over gruesome abominations that are hard to really categorize. One report from 2004 comes from the site Phantoms and Monsters, and concerns a witness in Bluefield, West Virginia, who had an encounter with just such a monstrosity when he was a child. He describes the area as being mostly quaint, rural farmland, and he says one day he

Irish priest asks for back-up as demand for exorcisms rises ‘exponentially’

An Irish priest and exorcist is asking the country’s bishops for more support after noticing a dramatic increase in demonic activity in the country.

Source: Irish priest asks for back-up as demand for exorcisms rises ‘exponentially’ Dublin, Ireland, Jan 24, 2018 Catholic News Agency

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An Irish priest and exorcist is asking the country’s bishops for more support after noticing a dramatic increase in demonic activity in the

The Exorcist’s William Friedkin to Release Exorcism Documentary in April

The director of The Exorcist, William Friedkin, has made a doc about the Vatican’s most famed exorcist with The Devil & Father Amorth.

Source: The Exorcist’s William Friedkin to Release Exorcism Documentary in April by David Crow 1-18-2018

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William Friedkin holds the distinction of directing the first major—and by far the still scariest—exorcism movie ever made.

Possessed

BY LARRY YUDELSON October 19, 2017 | Excerpted from the New Jersey Jewish Standard

How do we know that Dr. Yossi Chajes’ “Between Worlds: Dybbuks, Exorcists, and Early Modern Judaism” is of the five best? That’s what a University of Texas professor, Dr. Brian P. Levack, wrote in his annotated list, which was published in the Wall Street Journal in 2013.
“It was very flattering to see it there,” Dr. Chajes said. Dr. Chajes, who grew up in

The insights of an exorcist priestThe insights of an exorcist priest

THE BOW IN THE HEAVENS gives us a rare look at Church investigations of the supernatural — By FR JOHN BOLLAN

Excerpted from The Scottish Catholic Observer 

Last week I received a phone call asking, ‘Are you still the exorcist?’ I was a little thrown off by the question, but not perhaps as much as you might imagine. What threw me off was the out-of-the-blue nature of the query: fans of Star Wars will recognise my reaction if I say I had a ‘Ben Kenobi moment,’ as the character originally played by Alec Guinness gets called by a name he hasn’t heard for ages.
For indeed I was the exorcist, but

Exorcist director William Friedkin left completely terrified filming a real life exorcism for his new documentary

William Friedkin revealed the sacred rite is even more terrifying in reality after he filmed one as part of his latest documentary The Devil and Father Amorth

By Guy Birchall 4th September 2017, From The Sun UK

William Friedkin shot the the iconic horror flick back in 1973 but had never seen the genuine article until he embarked on his latest project.
In his documentary “The Devil and Father Amorth” the director follows the Vatican’s resident exorcist for the Diocese of Rome.

The movie was screened at the Venice Film Festival where the 82-year-old American director told of his experiences with the Catholic priest.

Vatican Probes Brazilian Exorcists Who ‘Made a Pact With Satan’

BY FELIX N. CODILLA III , CHRISTIAN POST CONTRIBUTOR
Jun 20, 2017

The Vatican is looking into a group of exorcists who made a pact with Satan on climate change and the death of Pope Francis. This came about after a video of the Brazil-based group, known as Heralds of the Gospel, emerged online that revealed chilling information of a cataclysmic event and the pontiff’s death.

The devil worshippers look up to their former leader, Dr. Plinio Correa de Oliveira, who they believe is in close contact with Satan, after his death in 1995. Currently, they are led by 77-year-old João Scognamiglio Clá Dias who reportedly resigned as superior general last week but continues to be the “father” of the institute.

The footage was taken at an occasion called “a gathering of priests to share experiences of exorcism” that was attended by about 60 of the occult’s priests. In the video, Dias was shown listening to one member read from a transcript of a purported conversation between the exorcists and the devil.

The transcript described

Nicaraguan Minister Arrested After Woman Dies Following Alleged Fiery Exorcism Effort

[From the Editor of St. Michaels Journal: the readers of this blog surely have by now noticed that we seldom if ever post links to news reports of Exorcisms gone horribly wrong, likewise we seldom report stories that appear to be more–shall we say–sensational as it is not our position to cheapen the Rite of Exorcism.  At this juncture, after reading numerous reports over the years of horrible examples of this ancient rite going bad, I feel compelled to remind everyone that regardless of if it is a Catholic Priest or a Protestant minister performing the Exorcism, diligence must be taken to ensure that the victim is not harmed further by the exorcism or those involved.  This is a very serious rite of the church and only those trained by an experienced exorcist should perform the rite and no one else should undertake this potentially dangerous experience.

Nicaraguan Minister Arrested After Woman Dies Following Alleged Fiery Exorcism EffortBy Heather Clark from Christian news dot net

MANAGUA, Nicaragua — A Nicaraguan minister was arrested this past week after a woman died following an exorcism attempt that resulted in burns on more than 80 percent of her body.
Juan Gregorio Rocha Romero, 23, claims that Vilma Trujillo Garcia, 25, threw herself in the fire during the exorcism, but the woman’s husband asserts that it was Romero and others who stripped her naked and rolled her over into the flames. read the rest of this story at christiannews.net