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The Exorcism Thread

Many thanks, Lecky, you are absolutely right! Although I couldn't make your link work [now corrected - rynner], I found it without difficulty. The reason I had thought it a recent post, was that the thread ends with the date in September - when 3 'old' threads were merged.

Thanks again!

Heather. :)
 
Question:

Are all manifestations requiring exorcisms "demonic" or can they also be, for want of a better expression, the souls/ghosts of dead people?
 
Group exorcisms

I've just seen a fascinating piece on the MSNBC channel. It was regarding what looked to me as a new twist on evangelism (new to me at the very least). It seems that there is a growing trend in group "exorcisms" being performed at these gatherings. I've seen "healings" and so forth before, but this seemed to be the next level.
It started off with a gathering of people, who were shown by the "exorcist" a short film of a previous exorcism. The exorcism was basically a laying-on-of-hands by the exorcist, who paced the floor looking for a possessed subject, lead them to the front of the stage, and would then command the demon to come out,.etc. whilst the subject roared, screamed and spoke angrily to the exorcist. After a few minutes thrashing about, it was all over, and the teary subject had welcomed Jesus into her life and was supposedly cured.
Now let's leave aside the possibility it was genuine for a moment, and look at some interesting features that all these gatherings seemed to have.
The people who were told they were possessed generally had some kind of medical or psychological condition, e.g. depression, experienced childhood abuse .etc.
The short film shown beforehand seemed to almost condition the audience as to how they were supposed to behave.
The "exorcist" paces through the crowd looking for a subject, which immediately reminded me of the likes of John Edward and the other cold readers.
Every subject shown was female.
And imagine being told, in front of a large crowd of believers, by a person who is extremely forceful, charismatic, and appears unbending in their belief, that you are possessed. And imagine that you are someone who is a believer (as are most or all at the gathering), impressionable perhaps, maybe desperate, weak willed. Would this form a kind of peer pressure, that would enable you to improvise the kind of behaviour which you've already been shown? Perhaps just to please the man of God who is paying such close attention to you, and in front of all those other people? None of the subjects exhibited behaviour which seemed otherworldly, only improvised. I was reminded of stage hypnotism.
And finally, once the gathering was over, the exorcist uttered those immortal words "Open your hearts, and your pocket books. We're trying to raise $25,000"
I did not make that last bit up.
We were then treated to eager folks scrawling hurriedly into their checkbooks after the quite forceful, and disturbing, show was over.
There was also a mention in the documentary piece of some quite tragic cases, where people had been beaten, poisoned and killed in various home-made exorcisms.

So, has it really come to this. The use of shock tactics to extract money for "religious" reasons, and take advantage of genuinely ill people, some of whom may have latent medical conditions requiring genuine treatment but instead turn to these travelling shows? Or should we be concerned by the demonic possession that is on the rise?:devil:
 
The more I see of organised religion the more convinced I become that it shouldn't be organised at all. Hey wherever two or three are gathered together there will be discord. so long as no one else will be harmed by your actions or inactions I don't care you can do whatever you like, I don't want to know.
 
Did we get any answers to these deep and meaningful questions?
 
Doctors, Priests Form Exorcism Commission

Fri Feb 13, 8:09 AM ET


ROME (Reuters) - Faced with growing demand for exorcisms, Catholic Church leaders in the Italian city of Genoa have created a taskforce of doctors and priests to determine when the devil is at work and when psychiatric help is needed.



The team of three priests, one psychiatrist, one psychologist and one neurologist -- dubbed the "anti-Satan pool" by Italian media -- will work on a case-by-case basis, a local church official said in a telephone interview on Thursday.

"They'll meet on a regular basis to determine when there has been a case of demonic possession and call for an exorcist, or problems better cared for by a psychologist," said the official, who asked not to be named.

For Catholics, exorcism is the casting out of what is believed to be an evil spirit through prayer and the laying on of hands.

One of the church's leading exorcists praised the initiative, saying medical experts are needed to rule out mental problems before spiritual work can begin.

"I never accept anyone who arrives without a medical certificate," Father Gabriele Amorth told Corriere della Sera newspaper.

The Genoa taskforce was created by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

The official Catholic exorcism starts with prayers, the blessing and sprinkling of holy water, the laying of hands on the possessed, and the making of the sign of the cross.

It ends with the priest commanding the devil to leave the possessed person.

While the church does not often talk openly about exorcisms, Bertone said the need for them is there.

"It has become difficult to talk about Satan, but the signs of the devil are palpable," he told Corriere della Sera in comments published Thursday.

Source
 
Haunted head? Ghostly gazunda?

Malaysian ghost-busters called in to exorcise national service camps: report

(AFP)

8 April 2004


KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian ghost-busters were called in to exorcise spirits at a national service training camp after two groups of youths claiming to have seen ghosts became hysterical, a report said on Thursday.

On Sunday night, 13 girls and three boys at a camp in southern Negeri Sembilan state went berserk and started screaming that their toilets were haunted, the New Straits Times said. They were hospitalised and discharged the next day.

The perceived hauntings continued with another four girls becoming hysterical late Tuesday after claiming to have seen the same apparitions in the toilets, the daily said.

Muslim faith healer Abu Bakar Hassan and his assistants were summoned from Kuala Lumpur, and a camp instructor told the newspaper that Abu Bakar had “caught the spirits and thrown them into the sea.” The group also spent time “cleasing” the area, he said.

The instructor said all the affected girls were having their periods when they became hysterical. There are 508 trainees at the camp.

Malaysia started non-military national service training for 18-year-old youths in February to boost patriotism and racial integration.

Source

Now they have mentioned it I have walked past some toilets where there was unearthly groaning and a foul sulphorous stench as if it were emanating from the depths of Hell itself.
 
DEMONS BEGONE!

CASTING SPELLS ON DEMONS: The deliverance ministry of Lloyd Maxwell
published: Saturday | May 1, 2004



Mark Dawes, Staff Reporter

WHEN HE was young in the Christian faith, Lloyd Maxwell attended a church conference where he encountered a teenaged girl who seemed to have a mental disorder. Her condition troubled him. He got a few of his Christian friends to pray and fast three days for her.

On the last night of the conference, he and his friends decided to pray for the girl. Soon it became evident to them that she was under demonic bondage. After almost four hours of prayer the demons were expelled and the girl was thereafter able to live a full life.

A few days later, Lloyd got a call to go and minister to a woman in her 60s who was being tormented by demons. The demons were pulling out her hair and there was a resulting bald patch in her head. Lloyd arrived with a friend. They surveyed the house and noticed a plaque they sensed was occult. It turned out that the woman had bought the plaque for 0,000 from a famed occultist. They sensed that as long as the plaque remained in her possession she would continue to be tormented, as demons were emanating from the plaque. After they cleaned house, the woman was delivered, peace of mind was hers again. And her hair grew back.

PARTICULAR PHENOMENON

His reputation spread as a deliverance minister - and he was not then a pastor. He did not even hold any leadership position in his local church. His ministry in deliverance took him to persons from all sectors of society, including high-ranking politicians and medical doctors. Many of them, he said, knew they had a problem, but they felt nobody understood this particular phenomenon.

The Rev. Mr. Maxwell, entered pastoral ministry in 1990. Prior to that he worked as a Budget Control Officer in the Office of the Bursar of the University of the West Indies, Mona. He was also, in the early 1980s, a People's National Party Councillor for the Trafalgar Division of the South East St. Andrew Constituency. In 1997 he became the Senior Pastor at Faith Deliverance Ministries International, Cedar Grove, Portmore (opposite the Caymanas Park Police Station) - a church he founded.

ALL CHRISTIANS ARE QUALIFIED

He is disappointed that so few Christians seem to have embraced deliverance ministry. For, he maintains, it is not for a select number of church folk, but for all in the Body of Christ. "All Christians are qualified to be deliverance ministers. Some Christians, however, have a greater grace to carry out this particular ministry," he said.

"A large section of the church, believe that Christians can't be oppressed or possessed. They believe that, at conversion, total deliverance takes place. That is not always the case." He explained that a person's being, has 'compartments' and so it is possible for God to be in one section and for Satan to be in another part. "For most persons conversion is a progressive thing. After you get saved you 'work out' your salvation daily," he said. Salvation means, he said, that the soul is saved, but one has to work to conquer the flesh, and to renew the mind.

Deliverance ministry, he said, is an activity where God uses a Christian(s) to help free persons who are under Satanic bondage. Persons in demonic bondage, he said, are prisoners in their own bodies. Demons, he explained, are interested in getting at people's minds so they generate situations from outside to get inside the mind.

Deliverance ministry, he said, depends less on formulas and more on faith. Before going out on a mission to cast out demons, he and his team, he said, will typically spend some time declaring and affirming God's authority and omnipotence. This is important, he stressed, because the Devil can be relied on to protect his interests. "We spend time before the lord worshipping. We declare God's authority. Satan is the 'prince of the power of the air'. We block him there, and ask the Lord to cordon the atmosphere above so that we can concentrate on the deliverance below. In that way, the demons can't send for reinforcement," he said.

This ministry of deliverance is head-on spiritual warfare and as in any war, there are sometimes casualties. There have been reports of deliverance ministers dying in the process of trying to cast out demons. But this need not happen, says Rev. Maxwell.

"Death would be an impossibility for persons who understand deliverance. Because you (the deliverance minister) are in charge of the deliverance session. When I am about to start a session I declare to the demons 'You can't hurt me. You can't hurt my assistants, You can't hurt the person to whom we are ministering. I am standing on the authority of the Word."

Christians, he said, should ideally, not go into a deliverance session alone. Furthermore, he said, "You can't conquer the Devil until you conquer self. So if you know you have outstanding issues with God, I suggest that you correct them. Keep a short account with God." He warns, though, that one's family will be targeted when you get into deliverance. Hence, the need for deliverance ministers to be covered by the supportive prayers of church folk. Demons always seek to intimidate. They will leave intimidating messages on the voice mail of deliverance ministers, he said.

IT WAS A DEMONIC PRESENCE

The Rev. Mr. Maxwell tells the story of how he went home late one night, after a deliverance session. His wife was overseas. He sat on his bed and felt the other side sink as if someone was in the bed. He knew immediately that it was a demonic presence. Remembering what a famed deliverance minister did in a similar situation, he rebuked the demon, saying 'I am a Minister of the Gospel, I have done my day's work, I am entitled to sweet sleep and I am drawing a line here on this bed over which you cannot cross." He said he slept like a babe that night. He added: "The more you fight them, the more you realise they are subject to the authority of the Word of God, and you become bolder, and less fearful. I have been in sessions where the demon says: "Please, I am begging, I won't give anymore trouble, allow me to stay."

His experience has taught him that demons enter a person's being mainly through: ancestral curses - such as that which comes through one's progeny because of one's involvement in the occult; sexual sins; curses set by others or self-inflicted curses.

With generational curses, it is important that prayers are said breaking the curse of the forbears, he said. Such was a notable practice in the Bible where persons often prayed to God, asking His forgiveness of the sins of the forefathers.

MAJOR DOORWAYS

Incest and the resulting traumatisation are major doorways through which demons enter a person's life. This often results in an impairment of the person's ability to trust others.

He tells stories of many health problems having demonic roots and how when these demons have been cast out, good health is secured. "There are people who have come down with medical problems but the kind of relief that they expect is not forthcoming. Where medical help is not forthcoming I am willing to explore the case. "I have had some remarkable results. I have seen spirits of cancer literally fall off people. This was confirmed by doctors afterwards. I have seen the dumb speak , I have seen the lame jump up and march.

Demonic possession, he argues, is often at the root of a lot of societal problems, including crime. He testifies that in many instances, homosexual behaviour has roots in demonic spirits. He has cast demons out of many homosexuals and most have abandoned that lifestyle. He stressed "Nobody is exempt from the grace of God."

http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20040501/mind/mind1.html
 
The Vatican's top exorcist sends the devil packing

By Tracy Wilkinson
Los Angeles Times
Posted April 30 2004, 9:59 AM EDT


ROME -- In a small room, well away from the street so that no one hears the screams, Father Gabriele Amorth does battle with Satan. He is a busy man.

As the Vatican's top exorcist, Amorth performs the mysterious, ancient ritual dozens of times a week. A confused world engulfed in tragedy and chaos is turning increasingly to black magic, the occult and fortune-telling, he said, proof that the devil and his handmaidens are having a field day.

"These customs open the door to evil spirits and to demonic possessions," Amorth said. "Exorcism is God's true miracle."

The practice of exorcism — driving demons and evil spirits from people or places — has been experiencing a renaissance of late, from Europe to the Americas to Africa.

In part, the rite owes its popularity to people's need to believe that the devil is real, philosophers say, and that it is possible to get rid of him.

In Italy, the number of exorcists has increased more than tenfold in the last decade to about 300. This year, one of the country's largest archdioceses established a special task force to handle the growing demand for devil detox.

Amorth is arguably the world's most famous practitioner of exorcism and certainly its greatest promoter.

He co-founded the International Assn. of Exorcists, an organization of priests that meets in secrecy every two years, and he remains its president emeritus. Author of numerous books on the subject, he has had a hand in recruiting, training or inspiring most of today's exorcists.

Amorth said his calendar is always full. "I have three this afternoon," he said matter-of-factly recently.

With little prompting, he whipped out his equipment, sheathed in a weathered leather bag that is always at his side: a silver and wooden crucifix, an aspergillum for sprinkling holy water and a container of baptismal oil.

He acted out simple steps from the ritual, wrapping his purple priest's stole around the shoulders of a visitor and making the sign of the cross on her forehead. (All clear, he pronounced.)

In an exorcism, that opening is followed by prayers, anointment with the holy water and oil, then a demand to the devil that he state his name and be gone. Anything can happen: If the person is possessed, and that's a rarity, he or she will often turn violent and fight the intervention, Amorth said.

"I've never been afraid of the devil," Amorth said. "In fact, I can say he is often scared of me."

Amorth, who will turn 80 Saturday, is a serious but not frightening figure. He has intense, piercing eyes encircled by dark rings, yet his features also relax easily into a smile and chuckle. Oval-faced, balding and dressed in a long black cloak, he's more Uncle Fester than Max von Sydow.

The devil is a stubborn foe, however, and no patient (as the possessed are called) is cured in a single exorcism, Amorth said. In fact, the "liberation" can take years — but Amorth always wins, he insisted.

Help From the Master

A case in point is Lucia, a 44-year-old mother of two. She had been undergoing exorcisms for 13 years, until her priest finally took her to Amorth.

Her symptoms were typical; the possessed experience a visceral, utter repulsion from all things holy. Each time the priest initiated the ritual, she'd enter a trance, rant in languages she didn't know and show violent, superhuman strength.

It was more than they could do to hold her down, her husband, Renzo, recalled.

At one point, she vomited whole needles, her priest said, a symbol of diabolical torment.

"I know people say we are crazy," Renzo said. "You can't believe this stuff until you see it."

Amorth acknowledged that quite a few people — including senior prelates in his church — think all of this is more than a little nutty.

It doesn't help, perhaps, that Amorth sees the devil in many places: A couple of years ago he fought to ban publication of the Harry Potter books because, he said, they teach sorcery to children.

"I know there are a lot of skeptics," he said. "The presence of the devil is often ignored."

Lucia, the patient, believes that her troubles started when an enemy — a man who wanted her as a lover but whom she spurned — cast an evil spell on her. She fell ill, experienced terrible pains, lost weight.

Doctors conducted tests and operated on her, but nothing cured her.

She consulted spiritual healers, but the rituals they subjected her to left her bruised and battered and still in anguish.

Finally she turned to an exorcist, Father Vincenzo Taraborelli, a protege of Amorth.

Confronted with what he describes as his most difficult case — the woman attempted suicide more than once — Taraborelli eventually turned to Amorth.

Now, Lucia feels strong and well on the way to full recovery — ready, as she put it, to live again.

Lucia does not need additional exorcisms, Taraborelli said, but they continue to pray together regularly.

The practice of exorcism in Christianity can be traced to at least the 2nd century. It enjoyed a certain popularity through the ages but by the 18th century had fallen out of favor and was largely abandoned by the church, thanks in part to the Enlightenment, rationalism and advances in science.

The spirit of modernization possessed the 1962-65 Second Vatican Council, and church leaders frowned upon clearly medieval, controversial and, in the view of many, backward rites such as exorcism. In the drafting of the Second Council guidelines, emphasis was placed on good, hope and compassion, and discussion of evil and demons was minimized.

Then the pendulum began to swing the other way.

Exorcisms made a comeback, spurred in part by the rise of the Catholic charismatic renewal movement, a Pentecostal faction that believes in healing and prophecy, and by the favors of the current pope, who has frequently referred to Satan as a dangerous force in the world.

Even the success of "The Exorcist," the 1973 horror classic starring a foreboding Von Sydow in the title role, which was re-released in 2000, helped stir interest. (Amorth loves the movie.)

Pope John Paul II is reported to have performed at least three exorcisms, most recently in 2000 when a 19-year-old woman burst into shouts, spewed vulgarities and writhed violently during a papal Mass at St. Peter's Square in Vatican City.

The pontiff prayed over the woman for half an hour but failed to rid her of the demon, said Amorth, who also examined her.

For the first time since 1614, the Vatican in 1999 revised the rite of exorcism. Most prayers and exhortations were left largely unchanged, but the document included a new warning against confusing psychiatric illness with possession and urged priests to use "maximum circumspection and prudence" in deciding to exorcise. An exorcist must be so appointed by his bishop.

The growing popularity of these rituals, as well as of black magic and witchcraft, comes from the need of many people to believe that Satan is real, said University of Florence philosopher Sergio Moravia. It helps explain unspeakable tragedy and helps a suffering mankind cope.

But belief in the power of the devil to possess people, and of priests to free them, is too often a crutch that masks serious psychological and physiological disease, Moravia said.

"I don't think it's crazy. It's worse," he said. "An exorcism is the residue of a medieval practice completely devoid of any foundation of reason.

"It's a scam. You promise something to someone who is very sick and at best you offer a temporary cure."

Alternative to Medicine

In the Roman Catholic world, he said, people turn far too readily to exorcists out of desperation when medicines and other therapies don't seem to work.

And in Italy, superstition remains a powerful force. An estimated 10 million Italians — 17% of the population — use the services of fortune-tellers, faith healers and magicians who cast evil spells, according to a 2002 study by the Eurispes research institute. They pay nearly billion a year to about 22,000 purveyors of such wizardry, Eurispes said.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the archbishop of Genoa, said a society bereft of values and moral codes is creating a fertile field for evil in the world.

Bertone recently set up a task force of exorcists and doctors to handle the overload of troubled Italians seeking the church's help, some of them possessed and some of them just "disturbed."

"The devil is real, he is at work, and he is agitating," Bertone said in an interview.

Doctors have proved an important asset in assessing the state of mind of potential patients, Bertone said. Surprisingly (or not), the practice of exorcism gets some endorsement from Italy's medical establishment.

Salvatore DiSalvo, a psychiatrist in the city of Turin, has been counseling priests in how to recognize the symptoms of schizophrenia and other mental disorders. He sees a valuable role for the exorcist.

"Science can't explain everything," he said. "I believe the exorcist is the last resort."

DiSalvo credited Amorth with working to bring scientists into the mix and said there had been a regular exchange of information and experience between devil-battling priests and doctors for years.

Amorth stressed the importance of screening the scores of people who solicit his help or that of any exorcist.

The failure to discern serious illness has led to tragedy and a number of deaths in exorcisms gone awry in the United States — where hundreds of non-Catholic exorcism ministries have sprung up — and Mexico. In 1996 in Los Angeles, for example, a Korean Protestant woman died of beatings in a six-hour exorcism.

"In the majority of cases, the people who come to me are not in need of an exorcism but of medical care," Amorth said. "But when some people, after having gone through extensive medical treatment, have had no benefits, they begin to think their problems are not natural.

"And the reality is, medicine is limited and often incapable of supplying diagnoses and cures," he said. "The idea of evil spirits is a universal idea, one that belongs to all cultures, all religions, all times."

Source
 
Saturday, May 1, 2004

It's a busy life for Vatican's top exorcist

By Tracy Wilkinson / Los Angeles Times



ROME -- In a small room, well away from the street so that no one hears the screams, Father Gabriele Amorth does battle with Satan. He is a busy man.

As the Vatican's top exorcist, Amorth performs the mysterious, ancient ritual dozens of times a week. A confused world engulfed in tragedy and chaos is turning increasingly to black magic, the occult and fortune-telling, he said, proof that the devil and his handmaidens are having a field day.

``These customs open the door to evil spirits and to demonic possessions,'' Amorth said. ``Exorcism is God's true miracle.''

The practice of exorcism -- driving demons and evil spirits from people or places -- has been experiencing a renaissance of late, from Europe to the Americas to Africa. In part, the rite owes its popularity to the need of people to believe that the devil is real, philosophers say, and that it is possible to get rid of him.

In Italy, the number of exorcists has increased more than tenfold in the last decade to about 300 nationwide; this year, one of the country's largest archdioceses established a special task force to handle the growing demand for devil detox.

Amorth is arguably the world's most famous practitioner of exorcism and certainly its greatest promoter. He co-founded the International Association . of Exorcists, an organization of priests that meets in secrecy every two years, and he remains its president emeritus. Author of numerous books on the subject, he has had a hand in recruiting, training or inspiring most of today's exorcists.

Amorth said his calendar is always full. ``I have three this afternoon,'' he said matter-of-factly recently.

With little prompting, he whipped out his equipment, sheathed in a weathered leather bag that is always at his side: a silver and wooden crucifix, an aspergillum for sprinkling holy water and a container of baptismal oil. He acted out simple steps from the ritual, wrapping his purple priest's stole around the shoulders of a visitor and making the sign of the cross on her forehead. (All clear, he pronounced.)

In an exorcism, that opening is followed by prayers, anointment with the holy water and oil, and then a demand to the devil that he state his name and be gone. Anything can happen: If the person is possessed, and that's a rarity, he or she will often turn violent and fight the intervention, Amorth said.

``I've never been afraid of the devil,'' Amorth said. ``In fact, I can say he is often scared of me.''

Amorth, who will turn 80 on Saturday, is a serious but not frightening figure. He has intense, piercing eyes encircled by dark rings, yet his features also relax easily into a smile and chuckle. Oval-faced, balding and dressed in a long black cloak, he's more Uncle Fester than Max von Sydow.

The devil is a stubborn foe, however, and no patient (as the possessed are called) is cured in a single exorcism, Amorth said. In fact, the ``liberation'' can take years -- but Amorth always wins, he insisted.

A case in point is Lucia, a 44-year-old mother of two. She had been undergoing exorcisms for 13 years, until her priest finally took her to Amorth.

Her symptoms were typical; the possessed experience a visceral, utter repulsion of all things holy. Each time the priest initiated the ritual, she would enter a trance, rant in languages she didn't know and show violent, superhuman strength. It was more than they could do to hold her down, her husband, Renzo, recalled. At one point, she vomited whole needles, her priest said, a symbol of diabolical torment.

``I know people say we are crazy,'' Renzo said. ``You can't believe this stuff until you see it.''

Amorth acknowledged that quite a few people -- including senior prelates in his church -- think all of this is more than a little nutty. It doesn't help, perhaps, that Amorth sees the devil in many places: A couple of years ago he fought to ban publication of the Harry Potter books because, he said, they teach sorcery to children.

``I know there are a lot of skeptics,'' he said. ``The presence of the devil is often ignored.''

Lucia, the patient, believes that her troubles started when an enemy -- a man who wanted her as a lover but whom she spurned -- cast an evil spell on her. She fell ill, experienced terrible pains, lost weight. Doctors conducted tests and operated on her, but nothing cured her. She consulted spiritual healers, but the rituals they subjected her to left her bruised and battered and still in anguish.

Finally she turned to an exorcist, Father Vincenzo Taraborelli, a protege of Amorth. Confronted with what he describes as his most difficult case -- the woman attempted suicide more than once -- Taraborelli eventually turned to Amorth.

Now, Lucia feels strong and well on the way to full recovery -- ready, as she put it, to live again. Lucia does not need additional exorcisms, Taraborelli said, but they continue to pray together regularly.

The practice of exorcism in Christianity can be traced to at least the 2nd century. It enjoyed certain popularity through the ages but by the 18th century had fallen out of favor and was largely abandoned by the church, thanks in part to the Enlightenment, rationalism and advances in science.

The spirit of modernization possessed the 1962-65 Second Vatican Council, and church leaders frowned upon clearly medieval, controversial and, in the view of many, backward rites such as exorcism. In drafting the Second Council guidelines, emphasis was placed on good, hope and compassion, and discussion of evil and demons was minimized.

Then the pendulum began to swing the other way.

Exorcisms made a comeback, spurred in part by the rise of the Catholic charismatic renewal movement, a Pentecostal faction that believes in healing and prophecy, and by the favors of the current pope, who has frequently referred to Satan as a dangerous force in the world. Even the success of ``The Exorcist,'' the 1973 horror classic starring a foreboding Von Sydow in the title role, which was re-released in 2000, helped stir interest. (Amorth loves the movie.)

Pope John Paul II is reported to have performed at least three exorcisms, most recently in 2000 when a 19-year-old woman burst into shouts, spewed vulgarities and writhed violently during a papal Mass at St. Peter's Square in Vatican City. He prayed over the woman for half an hour but failed to rid her of the demon, said Amorth, who also examined her.

For the first time since 1614, the Vatican in 1999 revised the rite of exorcism. Most prayers and exhortations were left largely unchanged, but the document included a new warning against confusing psychiatric illness with possession and urged priests to use ``maximum circumspection and prudence'' in deciding to exorcise. An exorcist must be so appointed by his bishop.

The growing popularity of these rituals, as well as of black magic and witchcraft, comes from the need of many people to believe that Satan is real, said University of Florence philosopher Sergio Moravia. It helps explain unspeakable tragedy and helps a suffering mankind cope.

But belief in the power of the devil to possess people, and of priests to free them, is too often a crutch that masks serious psychological and physiological disease, Moravia said.

``I don't think it's crazy. It's worse,'' he said. ``An exorcism is the residue of a medieval practice completely devoid of any foundation of reason. It's a scam. You promise something to someone who is very sick and at best you offer a temporary cure.''

In the Roman Catholic world, he said, people turn far too readily to exorcists out of desperation when medicines and other therapies don't seem to work.

Amorth stressed the importance of screening the scores of people who solicit his help or that of any exorcist. The failure to discern serious illness has led to tragedy and a number of deaths in exorcisms gone awry in the United States -- where hundreds of non-Catholic exorcism ministries have sprung up -- and Mexico. In 1996 in Los Angeles, for example, a Korean Protestant woman died of beatings in a six-hour exorcism.

``In the majority of cases, the people who come to me are not in need of an exorcism but of medical care,'' Amorth said. ``But when some people, after having gone through extensive medical treatment, have had no benefits, they begin to think their problems are not natural.

''And the reality is, medicine is limited and often incapable of supplying diagnoses and cures,`` he said. ''The idea of evil spirits is a universal idea, one that belongs to all cultures, all religions, all times.``

------------------

Decline in morals opens door to the devil, cardinal says

ROME -- Superstition remains a powerful force in Italy. An estimated 10 million Italians -- 17 percent of the population -- use the services of fortune-tellers, faith healers and magicians who cast evil spells, according to a 2002 study by the Eurispes research institute. They pay nearly billion a year to about 22,000 purveyors of such wizardry, Eurispes said.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the archbishop of Genoa, said a society bereft of values and moral codes is creating a fertile field for evil in the world. He recently set up a task force of exorcists and doctors to handle the overload of troubled Italians seeking the church's help, some of them possessed and some of them just ``disturbed.''

``The devil is real, he is at work, and he is agitating,'' Bertone said in an interview.

Doctors have proved an important asset in assessing the state of mind of potential patients, Bertone said. Surprisingly (or not), the practice of exorcism gets some endorsement from Italy's medical establishment.

Salvatore DiSalvo, a psychiatrist in the city of Turin, has been counseling priests in how to recognize the symptoms of schizophrenia and other mental disorders. He sees a valuable role for the exorcist.

``Science can't explain everything,'' he said. ``I believe the exorcist is the last resort.''

DiSalvo credited the Rev. Gabriele Amorth, the Vatican's top exorcist, with working to bring scientists into the mix and said there had been a regular exchange of information and experience between devil-battling priests and doctors for years.

http://www.detnews.com/2004/religion/0405/11/religion-139285.htm
 
Ten Steps to Deliverance from Satan

In the world we live in today you can be sure that someday, somewhere, the time will come when a friend or loved one will be demonically harassed. That attack may be in the form of external oppression, or it may be an actual demonic possession. To help you understand the workings of Satan's kingdom, let me set forth ten steps to conducting an exorcism. Though your ministry to the one in spiritual need may not actually involve casting out a demon, knowing how to minister such freedom in the name of Jesus will give you valuable information for overcoming all of the devil's attacks.

1. Bind Lesser Demons to Their Leader

Dealing with demons in aggregate shortens the exorcism process. Demonic systems often have more than one demon assigned to a particular function, so they can be grouped together according to their kind. For example, spirits of lust might work in concert with spirits of pornography and perversion. Another coalition may involve a demon of murder with one of suicide. These could be coupled with a blocking spirit used to induce trance states. Groups of spirits may split into several parts, so groups should be bound together as a whole. Some combinations operate like a wrestling tag team, one taking on the exorcist while the other one rests. All groups of spirits have a hierarchical structure, and those of lower rank function in union with all those above them.

2. Work Through the System

One of the initial goals in an exorcism is to find the pecking order of demons. The arrangement of evil spirits in a demonic system is like that of a military command. Each unclean spirit has jurisdictional responsibility over some part of the emotional and spiritual life of the victim. This network is arranged in a hierarchy of ascending spiritual power. To dismantle this infrastructure, I have found it advisable in some cases to begin at the bottom and work up. That's why I sometimes ask God to reveal which demon is the weakest. Then I attack that particular demon since the other spirits above tend to draw strength from those below them.

Sometimes demons toward the bottom will reveal secrets about those above them, making the casting out of the ascendant spirits much easier. Spirits at the top are generally more intelligent and powerful demons and less likely to let critical information slip out. Remember, there are biblical ranks of demons that are designated in descending order as thrones, dominions, principalities, powers, and spirits.

3. Ask God for Angelic Assistance

There is a biblical precedent for the idea of angels providing help. Daniel, chapter 10, addresses the issue of angelic assistance. Verse 13 indicates that Gods messenger was hindered by a demon that delayed the angel from completing his mission for twenty-one days. It is apparent from this reference that demons struggle against angels. Even though angels are more powerful in their uncorrupted state, they still must fight to overcome the resistance of unclean spirits.

How are angels invoked? I am careful to avoid any attitude that would suggest that angels can be called upon whimsically. Asking God for angels shouldn't be treated casually, as if you were calling the family pet. I usually say something like: "I call on the Lord to dispatch mighty angels for assistance in dealing with the demons before me". Specific angels may be summoned to deal with certain kinds of spirits. You may ask an angel of truth to torment a lying demon. Be as specific as necessary, but always understand that such a petition is subject to God's will. The Lord is Commander-in Chief of heaven's armies, and it is His right to commission angels for earthly assistance. Don't depend upon angels instead of the Lord. Our primary dependence is upon the Lord Jesus, the use of prayer, the presence of the Holy Spirit, and the Word of God.

4. Call Forth Undesignated Demons

Most exorcists encounter times when we aren't sure what to do next. For instance, our knowledge of the demonic network may be limited in the early stages when there is uncertainty about the ranking of the demons. What demons should be commanded to manifest under these circumstances?

The Holy Spirit has taught me a tactic that has been successful in breaking through this barrier. I sometimes employ this trick of the trade to initiate an exorcism if I have no idea what demons are present. I say, "I command to come forth whatever spirit the Lord Jesus has identified to face divine judgment for violating this soul."

5. Find the Function of the Demon

Knowing the demon's function may be the most important information to understanding how a particular evil spirit should be handled. This puts the exorcist in sync with the parameters for handling each spirit. If the demon is a mind control spirit, then the exorcist will know to be aware of mind games and intellectual trickery. If the spirit has a name indicating more visceral responses (murder or violence, for instance), the exorcist will be on guard against physical retaliation and also the possibility that the person or his ancestors have committed some violent act.

Knowing the function of the spirit will help the exorcist discover the demon's legal grounds. An example would be a demon of incest. If the victim has said nothing about such a moral dilemma, the chances are the incest demon is exploiting an event that the victim may have denied or suppressed.

6. Employ the Assistance of the Victim

Victims are as much a part of the exorcism and a co-combatant as I am. Their assertions of moral and spiritual authority are crucial to their freedom. It is futile to tell a demon what to do, unless the command is backed up by the victim's agreement and aggressive resistance to Satan. The exorcism will be unsuccessful without these elements of cooperation.

An exorcism is an exercise in encouragement, as much as it is an attempt at expulsion. It's a critical opportunity to teach victims about their redeemed authority in Christ and their scriptural position as believers. I often pause during deliverance and give a brief Bible study to build up the victim's faith and understanding. I encourage questions so that they may settle any issues about who they are in Christ.

Demons may battle for control of the person's mind and fog his or her thinking so he or she cannot resist. "Focus your thoughts on Christ. Concentrate on the resurrection of Christ. Quote from memory any Bible verses you know," I say to inspire the victim.

7. Break All Curses

I want to emphasize the importance of this rule as an integral part of dealing with relational curses. This form of spiritual bondage affects someone as the result of marital, sexual, or soul-bonding relationships. While ancestral and generational curses are implemented by blood relatives, spousal curses are also dangerous. Because the husband is head of the wife, his involvement in the occult could affect his marriage partner. A Christian woman married to an unbelieving man who dabbles in the occult should pray, "I submit to my husband according to the Scriptures, except in those cases where he claims a spiritually unlawful right. I break that occult bondage in the name of Jesus and refuse to submit to any forces of evil that would endanger my soul."

Couples involved in a sexual relationship outside of marriage have become one flesh and thus forge a union that can result in demonic subjection. For example, a man sexually cohabiting with a woman who is a witch could fall prey to the demons affecting her. If he comes to Christ, the sexual relationship must be ended and all soul bonds (which are control mechanisms) must be broken through prayer. On a lesser level, strong friendships or social business allegiances with someone involved in the occult could also affect an individual unaware.

8. Force the Demon to Tell the Truth or Face Judgment

Scripture clearly indicates that Satan is a liar who cannot hold to the truth (John 8:44; Revelation 21:8). Can the exorcist, then, ever trust what a demon says? We must use spiritual discernment to determine the accuracy of any information provided by a demon. And we should never become involved in any irrelevant conversation. Demons will try to engage the exorcist in all kinds of dialogue as a delaying tactic.

I often say to demons, "I command that you only speak what God allows you to say, no more, no less. I command that you say nothing more than that which is permitted by God to facilitate your expulsion." Having taken that precaution, how much do I believe of what a demon discloses? I weigh each statement carefully and test it against the Scriptures (1 John 4:1). I also verify the information by comparing it to the demon's other comments to see if it is consistent. I've discovered an additional procedure that has proven valuable. Instruct the demon this way: "I command that the answer you give be held accountable before almighty God and that you be judged if you lie to the Holy Spirit."

9. Have the Victim Confess the Sin of Demonic Entry

Once a demon's presence, name, and function have been identified, the next step is to remove his right to remain. This is usually grounded in a conscious, willful sin. Have the victim renounce this sin and seek forgiveness through the blood of Christ by a spoken prayer. Demonic resistance is common, and I often have the victim say one word at a time. Just a few sentences of confession may take minutes, even hours. With others, it may come quite freely. This is the demon's stronghold, and he fights tenaciously to stop the prayer. In drastic situations I may halt the prayer to encourage the victim with Scriptures about forgiveness and God's grace.

Sins of demonic entry aren't always acts of a specific place and time. There may be emotional harbors of evil, such as bitterness, jealousy, lust, or covetousness. You may not know the exact time the demon sufficiently exploited this area of life. No matter. Have the victim set the situation right with God. If the demon was misleading, it will soon become apparent. If the confession removes the right of entry, the demon's reaction will readily prove it. He will switch tactics; instead of claiming a legal right, he may start saying he won't leave regardless of what the exorcist does.

10. Make the Demon Pronounce His Own Doom

The exorcist may choose to speak the words of final expulsion, but the Holy Spirit has shown me a more effective way to weaken the demon's final attempt to stay. Have the demon pronounce his own doom. Recite the words and make the demon repeat them. This is the declaration of surrender I use: "I, (demon speaks his own name), acknowledge that Christ is Lord and has risen from the dead to defeat my master, the devil. I renounce all past, present, and future claims to (demon speaks name of his victim) and acknowledge that the one I possess has victory over me in the name of Jesus Christ. I bind to me all parts and portions of myself, and I attach to me any demons under my control. Having no further legal right to stay in this child of God, I lie not to the Holy Spirit, and I go now to the pit!"

A Final Word

At the end of each successful exorcism, I am always deeply moved to witness Christ's finished work at the Cross. The mystery of the ages, that God loved fallen man so much He sent His Son "while we were still sinners" (Romans. 5:8), seems even more priceless. In the natural realm, angels (faithful and unfaithful) are more powerful and more intelligent than human beings. Yet God has mercifully chosen man, not angels, to be the objects of His grace.

It is Christians who are made "alive together with Christ" (Ephesians 2:5) and allowed to "sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:6). While conditionally we do not always deserve such a lofty status, by positional right we are granted what mere human worthiness could never merit.

Christians often give lip service to the words of 1 John 4:4: "He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world." Experiencing an exorcism amplifies this truth. Casting out a demon is only possible because of the Resurrection of Christ. It is the empty tomb that allows us to face incomprehensible evil with certainty of victory and the authority of Christ in us, the "hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27).

Every believer who has been victimized by the devil needs to acknowledge that no matter what failures beset a believer, the born again Christian is seated at God's right hand. Knowing who you are in Christ and where you are positioned in His kingdom is a spiritual reality that is sure to doom every demon to defeat.

http://pullingdownstrongholds.com/deliverance/ten_steps_to_deliverance.htm
 
Driving out the demons

by Orlando Radice Jul 06, 04

They brandish crosses, sprinkle holy water and have grown in number from 20 to 300 in ten years. Orlando Radice charts the renaissance of Italy’s exorcists

His name is theatrical, he has a huge crucifix and he has said that Harry Potter is an incarnation of the Antichrist. Welcome to the world of Gabriele Amorth, the Vatican’s top exorcist and to millions of Catholics a big gun in the battle with the dark side: he is the author of An Exorcist Tells His Story (translated into 14 languages), the subject of numerous national television interviews and a powerful voice in a world where sin is in and ‘miracles’ get television coverage.

“I am very busy,” he tells me on the phone. “I have six exorcisms to do this afternoon. I am afraid to report that occultism, Satanism and black magic are becoming very popular here,” he says, and adds enigmatically, “the forces are on the march.”

I almost laugh, but Amorth has a point. These days, Italians are indeed refreshing their historic affair with mysticism. There is Padre Pio, a not–long–gone Catholic guru whose lurid claims to sainthood now harness a seven–million strong pilgrimage to his tomb every year (the shrine even has a dedicated TV programme). And last year, Italians spent over 450m euros on fortune tellers, faith–healers, holy men and joss–stick burners of every flavour.

Oh, and then there are the exorcists. Currently waving crosses and sprinkling holy water in every diocese of the country (exorcists get their licences to practice from bishops), their number has grown from 20 to over 300 in just ten years.

It is tempting to assign Amorth to the same kitsch landscape as Padre Pio and the numerous mystics that populate the peninsula. He most recently labelled young girls’ dolls as ‘Satanic’ and is well known for carrying out telephone exorcisms on distressed housewives (most of his clients are women).

Still, there is considerably more to Amorth than meets the sceptical eye. His background is impressive: a former partisan commander trained in law, brother of a judge, and son of lawyers, he is also a professional journalist (he has been a regular contributor to the weekly magazine Famiglia Cristiana and is an associate editor of the monthly Madre di Dio). And now, at 80 years old, he is easily the most respected exorcist in Italy. A priest for 50 years and an exorcist for 15, he is the president of the International Association of Exorcists, which he co–founded.

Neither is Amorth necessarily the doomsaying anti–progressive that one would expect. For one thing, Amorth doesn’t see his activities as a replacement for clinical medicine. Indeed, he says: “I only receive people who have already been to a doctor first and come to me when all else fails.” His answer–phone message advises just that, although, he says: “my telephone filter doesn’t always work and most people I see are not possessed. Many are suffering from a mental illness. In that case I call the hospital and try to fix them an appointment.”

So how can he tell if someone is possessed? “If the person reacts violently to the sacraments or blessings then it is a case of possession.” What does he do then? “If there are demons I need to know in what number they’re in possession of the patient. Sometimes they enter through a human curse or spell, and I need to find out the details. If it is the Devil himself, which is rare, the first step is to call him by his name, which is Lucifer, Beelzebub or Satan.”

I ask him to describe how he gets rid of the possessor. “It can take minutes, hours, weeks or years and the demon can emerge in slow waves or in sharp spasms. I carry out a ritual which involves very old prayers, from 1614. I often need the help of other priests to recite the prayers and to help restrain the patient. I touch the neck of the possessed with the hem of the stole. I then touch the forehead. Oil and holy water can help aggravate the demon and get him to reveal himself. If I am dealing with Satan I pronounce the words Vade retro Satan (Go back Satan).”

Has he conversed with the Devil recently? “I did this morning. A girl came to me who couldn’t sleep or lead a normal life. She had pains in her heart early every morning, which would vanish by lunchtime. When we started to exorcise, she went into a trance, and afterwards started to convulse. It took several of us, me and three assistants, to hold her down. She had huge strength. We have to be careful not to let the patients harm themselves. In this case I managed to begin interrogating the possessor, who is the Devil. It will be a long process.”

Amorth presents his ostensibly absurd stories convincingly, with charm and plenty of natural levity. Indeed, there is something of a sophist about Amorth. Ask him to quantify the rise in occultism, and he replies, “it is difficult to give credible statistics.” (Credible statistics do exist: see the Eurispes research institute.) Or ask which kind of person he treats most often. “The category most affected by Satanism is doctors; they are courageous with others’ bodies but fearful with their own.”

Such neat rhetoric is not surprising given that Amorth cut his teeth in the public sphere working for the youth Christian Democrats (in the late 1940s). A more curious fact is that back then he was deputy to a young Giulio Andreotti, whose seven terms as Prime Minister were to represent a climax of corruption in Italian politics. “We worked together and learnt a great deal together,” Amorth tells me, but won’t be pressed any further on the subject.

Whatever exactly he learnt back then, Amorth clearly knows how to gather devotees to his work: he carried out “about 800 exorcisms last year”, and is listed on innumerable Catholic websites which recommend his services. In fact, the much–touted question of whether our Father is a charlatan or not (apart from being a fruitless one) pales into insignificance beside the larger question of the nature of his public role in Italy — and here things get stickier.

In 2000 a horrific murder by a couple from Novi Liguria, Erika and Omar, gained extra notoriety in the Italian press after it emerged that the pair had a history of dabbling in black magic and séances. Amorth was interviewed shortly afterwards in L’Espresso. “As soon as I heard about the murder I knew that it bore the mark of the Devil. Erika had given herself to Satan. In cases like this, science can tell us nothing,” he said.

The statement caused uproar in the Italian media. “That we give platforms to voices like those of Father Amorth demonstrates the difficult time that facts have in this country. We don’t look for the source of the problem in ‘normal’ family relations [Erika’s mother and brother were the victims]. No, the answer is right before our eyes, we’re told, it’s the demon,” wrote Gianni Marsilli, in Unità.

The Devil has not been the only offensive weapon used by Amorth against society’s deviants and dissenters. Following the announcement in 2001 that the ex–Curia Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo would marry a Korean woman and that the ceremony was to be presided over by a Unification Church reverend, Amorth did invoke science as the cure for mixing Catholicism with another faith: “Milingo’s friends have asked me to carry out a distance–exorcism on him, but I refused. This is not a case of possession. Milingo is as naive as a baby. He has been brainwashed and will have to be cured with the help of psychiatrists.” So much for religious tolerance.

Even the Vatican has sought to distance itself from the kind of hard–line Catholicism that is promulgated by Amorth. The famously progressive policies set out by the Second Vatican Council in 1963 sought to play down the Devil and instead concentrate on the Christian ideals of love, goodness and compassion. And in a 1999 revision of the rite of exorcism, the Vatican recommended that priests “do not exorcise unless there is already very strong evidence of possession”, something that makes Amorth’s blood boil. “This is a masterpiece of incompetence,” he says. “You only know if a demon is present through exorcism.”

Strong words, but in terms of Vatican politics Amorth has a virtual carte blanche for his diatribes. He knows that the Pope himself can’t resist the odd exorcism: in 2000 John Paul read demon–expunging prayers to a girl who began to shout hysterically during a mass in St Peter’s square. The Vatican press office denied that he had performed an exorcism, but later John Paul was reported as saying “he who does not believe in the Devil does not believe in the Gospel.” Factor in the Italian laity’s current attachment to the US Catholic charismatic movement — which lists exorcism as an important rite to a creed through which “the holy spirit is to be experienced directly” — and it becomes clear that Amorth represents a powerful strand of Catholic thinking.

The expansion of a fundamentalist edge of Catholicism into the Italian public domain should concern us more than the stories of individual exorcisms (there are psychiatrists who believe that exorcism can be used fruitfully in tandem with their own techniques). The kind of evangelical truth expounded by Amorth is a tempting titbit for a society with little public trust and a dramatic imagination. The losers? Religious tolerance and ordinary human responsibility.

http://www.newhumanist.org.uk/volume119issue4_more.php?id=851_0_31_0_C
 
Court hears 'exorcism' death case

A court in the US state of Wisconsin has heard how an autistic boy died while being held down by worshippers and a priest during an exorcism.


Terrance Cottrell, 8, died last year in a service at the Faith Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith in Milwaukee.

The minister, Ray Hemphill, who has no theological training, has been charged with felony child abuse.

He denies abuse, and is said to have thought the boy was possessed by demons - and to have offered to banish them.

'Possessed'

Terrance's severe autism meant he could talk little and had difficulties in communicating and relating to people around him.

Last year his mother took him to the Faith Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith, where members prayed over the young boy.

A detective said in court that Mr Hemphill told her that during the exorcism he lay across the boy's chest for more than an hour.

Several worshippers, including Terrance's mother, are said to have held his legs and hands to stop him from moving.

When Mr Hemphill stood up, he was told that Terrance was not breathing.

If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison.

BBCi News 08/07/04
 
An 'aunt' of mine became supposedly possessed, she was screaming and raving and rejecting her two year old child. This ofcourse was distressing, but obviously you would merely assume she'd had some kind of mental breakdown.
Her religious family recruited a guy to exorcise her (he happens to be an aquaintence of my mothers, and I spose he does know alot about spirituality and stuff, but he also happens to be incredibly arrogant). What was disturbing was the fact that his family then started having problems; he had become violent and completely out of character.
Some kind of infectious hysteria like that found in a mob?
Or a genuine case of demonic activity?
 
Quite frankly bizarre:

Last update: November 24, 2004 at 6:58 AM

St. Paul cathedral damaged in apparent anti-gay exorcism

Herón Márquez Estrada, Star Tribune

November 24, 2004 CATHEDRAL1124


An informal exorcism performed at the Cathedral of St. Paul this month was more profane than sacred and was directed toward gay Catholics, police and church authorities said Tuesday.

They said the ritualistic sprinkling of blessed oil and salt around the church and in donation boxes amounted to costly vandalism and possibly even a hate crime.

The damage was discovered Nov. 7 after the noon mass, and after words were exchanged between members of the Rainbow Sash Alliance, a gay rights group, and the opposing group, Catholics Against Sacrilege.

Police speculate that the damage could have been done anytime between late Saturday afternoon and during the mass itself.

The groups are at odds over gays participating in communion, one of the holiest rites in the Catholic Church.

Earlier this year, about 40 men, members of the group Ushers of the Eucharist, knelt in the aisles at the cathedral to block Rainbow members from taking communion.

The Rev. Michael Skluzacek, rector of the cathedral, said he immediately understood the symbolism when he was told that someone had sprinkled the oil and salt around the church.

"It's a sign of exorcism," he said. "It's a sign of casting out the power of evil."

He said salt is used to bless holy water, and the oil, once it is blessed by a bishop, is used for consecrations. By sprinkling the salt and oil, he said, the vandals thought they were making the church holy again.

"Regardless of why they did it, it was a very disruptive act," Skluzacek said.

He estimated the cost to clean up the damage at thousands of dollars, involving crews working three days to remove the oil and salt and cleaning the doors, steps and boxes.

A report was filed with St. Paul police, who said the case could be prosecuted as a hate crime if someone is arrested.

"It does have an element of hate and bias to it," said police spokesman Paul Schnell, who noted that the incident seemed aimed to coincide with the presence of the Rainbow Sash group. He said church officials told investigators they considered the act someone's attempt to exorcise the church or reconsecrate the cathedral.

"There's some ritual to it," said Schnell. "There was information that it was some sort of ancient biblical method of reconsecration of a church."

Schnell said police have no leads, but several religious people familiar with the case said it is probably the work of fringe Catholics who advocate using sacramentals, or holy objects, to cleanse places where gays take communion.

"I don't know who did it," said Dr. David Pence, a member of Ushers of the Eucharist. "I do know that some people have used sacramentals to engage in some kind of holy war against people. Nobody wants to see church property damaged in the name of an exorcism."

Michael Bayly, coordinator of the Catholic Pastoral Committee on Sexual Minorities (CPCSM), an advocacy group for gays and lesbians, said such fringe groups perceive gays and lesbians who take communion as evil.

He said he received an e-mail Nov. 5 from a man who threatened to douse Rainbow Sash members at the Nov. 7 mass with what he described as "exorcised" oil blessed by a priest.

Bayly said the same man often shows up at CPCSM and Rainbow Sash events and prays the rosary but staying apart from group members.

"I didn't make the connection until now," Bayly said Tuesday.

Source
 
Vatican university takes on the devil

Thu Dec 9, 2004 06:47 PM GMT

By Philip Pullella

ROME (Reuters) - Forget the new "Exorcist" film, the Vatican is offering the real thing.

A Vatican university says it will hold a special "theoretical and practical" course for Roman Catholic priests on Satanism and exorcism in response to what the Church says is a worrying interest in the occult, particularly among the young.

This year, Italy was gripped by the story of two teenage members of a heavy metal rock band called the "Beasts of Satan" who were killed by other band members in a human sacrifice.

The deaths horrified Catholic Italy, with pages of newspapers given over to descriptions of the black candles and goats' skulls decorating one victim's bedroom and witness statements of sexual violence.

The Regina Apostolorum, one of Rome's most prestigious pontifical universities, said in a statement on Thursday that such episodes should be seen as an "alarm bell to take seriously a problem which is still far too underestimated".

"In the last few years there has been a lot of interest in Satanism and it develops because of the media. It's not that the devil is in the media, rock and roll or the Internet but the media can be damaging when it is used the wrong way," Carlo Climati, one of the professors of the course, told Reuters.

"For young people, interest in Satanism can start with a CD, move onto the Internet. From there, it sometimes develops into home-grown, seemingly harmless things like going to cemeteries but sometimes can lead to murders, as we have seen."

The two-month course, which begins in February and will be limited to priests and advanced students of theology, will include themes such as Satanism, diabolic possession and "prayers of liberation".

Satanism, the statement said, aimed to sow confusion among the young and promote a world without moral rules.

According to some estimates, as many as 5,000 people are thought to be members of Satanic cults in Italy with 17- to 25-year-olds making up three quarters of them.

Interest in the devil and the occult has been boosted by films such as "The Exorcist" in 1973 and this year's "Exorcist: The Beginning".

In 1999, the Vatican issued its first updated ritual for exorcism since 1614 and warned that the devil is still at work.

The official Roman Catholic exorcism starts with prayers, a blessing and sprinkling of holy water, the laying on of hands on the possessed, and the making of the sign of the cross.

It ends with an "imperative formula" in which the devil is ordered to leave the possessed.

The formula begins: "I order you, Satan..." It goes on to denounce Satan as "prince of the world" and "enemy of human salvation". It ends: "Go back, Satan."

------------------------
© Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved.

Source
 
Spirit leveller

19 December 2004

The truth is out there - and Ulster's very own exorcism expert is just the man to find it.

For Billy Lendrum is no amateur X-Files sleuth trying to investigate the demonic forces of evil.

He has spent three decades confronting the supernatural and paranormal, as a minister and canon in the Church of Ireland.

To him, the battle with unseen forces is not unusual.

"Jesus cast out demons, and also gave his disciples the right to do so," he says.

"It is simply a matter of setting a person free from something that is destroying their lives, or spoiling their lives in some way.

"I've been involved in this ministry for 30 years, and I suppose I've been called out about three of four times a year during that period.

"It's about driving out demons. I'm prepared to help anyone in trouble, and in most cases, I think I've been successful."

Canon Lendrum, who retired in 1991 after spending the bulk of his ministry at Donegall Pass in Belfast, occasionally teams up with a priest when their 'adversary' demands special treatment.

Earlier this year, an RTE camera crew spent three days following Canon Lendrum and Father Pat Collins as they attempted to exorcise a house containing a malevolent spirit.

The householders, who wish to remain anonymous, found pictures turned the wrong way round, holy water frozen, and prayer cards suddenly bursting into flames.

The man, who claimed he was physically attacked by unseen forces, was so scared that he and his wife abandoned the house and desperately sought the advice of an exorcist.

Canon Lendrum recalled: "The house was in a small town 40 miles from Belfast, a fairly modern house. The man was very sceptical and had given up his faith.

"I saw scratch marks on the man's body and it was the first time I have ever encountered this."

During the exorcism, there was a chilling moment when handwriting appeared on the floor, spelling Sara.

And it was later revealed that, according to local folklore, a young girl called Sara had been abducted in the area, many years ago.

The RTE crew was equally shocked when they found their equipment had been interfered with overnight.

Producer Alan Robinson admitted: "There was an extraordinary atmosphere in the house, a feeling of chaos."

Even for an inter-denominational team, like Canon Lendrum and Catholic Church exorcist Fr Collins, to work together and agree to be filmed was rare.

"He [Fr Collins] has been a friend of mine for many years, and he is a person for whom I have a great admiration," said Canon Lendrum.

Canon Lendrum, who has written a book on the supernatural, added:"We have a common enemy, and if you don't believe in God, something else will fill the vacuum."

How the two men got on in their exorcism bid can be seen tonight(correct) in A Human Haunting (RTE 1, 10.20pm).

l Canon Lendrum's book, 'Confronting the Paranormal', can be obtained from any Eason's bookshop, the Faith Mission in Belfast, or the Good Book Shop in Donegall Street.

Source

The book:

Confronting the Paranormal: A Christian Perspective
William Henry Lendrum (2002)

www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0954287908/
 
I was in a local Christian bookshop the other week. It's attached to a quite mainstream, slightly evangelical church who run a great little cafe. They had a whole section of books dedicated to 'Spiritual Warfare' which i would have happily investigated i i hadn't had to rush off.

I used to know a chap who's father was a C of E vicar and he had performed exorisms - it's still more common than one supposes.
 
First British TV exorcism planned

Greets

First British TV exorcism planned
04/01/2005

A new programme plans to show an exorcism for the first time on British television, the Daily Mirror reports.

But religious leaders have slammed the idea and said Channel 4's show, Exorcism, could be "very dangerous".

The programme is being pitched as a serious scientific experiment as industry regulator Ofcom prohibits "actual demonstrations of exorcisms and occult practices" on TV.

A Channel 4 insider told the newspaper: "The aim is to stage an exorcism for television to test the science involved.

"It would involve the church and leading scientists and we'd monitor precisely what happens."

Sky is also planning its own show, When Exorcisms Go Wrong, using home video footage.

But Church of England bishop, Dominic Walker, warned against such programmes.

"People who need this sort of help are nearly always psychologically vulnerable people," he said.

"Such an experiment could be very dangerous."

A BBC spoof on ghosts screened 13 years ago was blamed for the suicide of a Nottingham teenager.

"This sounds very dangerous and will cause considerable unease," said John Beyer of the watchdog Mediawatch.

"People in broadcasting never learn anything - they don't consider how it will affect the audience. This is not only ill-advised, it could be harmful."

However, a spokesman for Sky defended the idea, saying: "It is intended to be a thought-provoking exploration of a controversial subject."

A live seance on Channel 4 last year caused 700 complaints.

© 1998-2004 DeHavilland Information Services plc. All rights reserved.

Source

(url chopped as it was too long)

[Emp edit: URL fixed with the application of BBcode magic ;) ]

mal
 
Sky is also planning its own show, When Exorcisms Go Wrong, using home video footage.
I know the company makes vast amounts of money on pathtic 'let's have a laugh at these idiots' cheap programmes but this programme concept gives me the creeps!
 
Exorcism experts urged for Irish dioceses

Priest wants help with 'strange happenings'

By David Quinn
04 February 2005

Every Catholic diocese across the island of Ireland should have a specialist who can assess possible supernatural occurrences such as "poltergeists, hauntings and demonic infestations", according to a priest who is an expert on spiritual issues.

Father Pat Collins made the call in the current issue of the religious periodical, The Furrow.

He also said that a special conference to discuss these issues is needed which would bring together theologians, psychologists, parapsychologists and experienced exorcists which would aim to "explore this aspect of ministry".

Fr Collins, who has written books on spirituality, said he regularly receives calls from people around the country reporting "strange happenings" in their homes.

"They range from footsteps, sounds of crying, smells, objects moving, to electrical appliances going on and off."

He wrote that his usual practice is to refer such people to their local priest for help, but that they would "recount how the priests they had spoken to had either dismissed their stories in a sceptical manner, said Mass or prayers in the house without any discernible effect, admitted that they were not competent to help, or referred them to someone like myself."

Fr Collins said that as a result of this lack of response from most priests, many Catholics are instead turning to "New Age practitioners, spiritualists, psychics and other non-Christian helpers".

He wrote that the Catholic Church needs to find a more systematic way of responding to queries about possible supernatural phenomena and to this end each diocese should appoint a specialist or expert in the area.

"Those who want to deal effectively (with reported supernatural occurrences) need to be au fait with psychology, the paranormal, the notion of the restless dead, and the possibility of infestation by evil.

"Like good doctors, they diagnose what the nature of the problem is, and then try to come up with an appropriate remedy.

"Not all priests would be expected to know about such things, any more than all doctors would be expected to know all about rare diseases.

"Good doctors refer difficult medical cases to specialists.

"Surely priests should be able to refer difficult cases, to do with such things as poltergeists, hauntings, and demonic infestation, to diocesan specialists. Otherwise those who are afflicted may have recourse to New Age practitioners, spiritualists, psychics and other non-Christian helpers," he said.

Fr Collins called for a conference designed to pool knowledge of the area. And he said that many Christians have given up belief in the supernatural because of the influence of secular ways of thinking.

Source
 
Vatican Offers Exorcism Classes


Classes will be held at Vatican-linked university VATICAN EXORCISM CLASSES A Vatican-linked university is offering classes in exorcism and black magic.

Rome's Pontifical Academy is concerned Satanism is taking hold among Italy's youth. The country has seen several high profile cases in the last few years involving crimes allegedly influenced by Satanism.

In one case a 19-year-old girl was stabbed to death because her killers believed she was the personification of the Virgin Mary.

Her killers belonged to a band called Beasts of Satan.

Now more and more concerned parents are asking for special courses to be taught to priests.'It's a more spontaneous and hidden phenomenon, a problem of loneliness and isolation, a problem of emptiness, that is fulfilled by the values of Satanism,' teacher Carlo Climati, a specialist on youth culture and Satanism said.

The academy is run by the Legionaries of Christ, a conservative order, and teachers for the class include exorcists and psychiatrists.

The Vatican in 1999 issued its first new guidelines since 1614 for driving out devils.

Pope John Paul II himself believes in the devil despite scepticism in the Western world about the traditional binary oppositions of heaven and hell.

He described him as a 'cosmic liar and murderer'.

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,9 ... 46,00.html
 
Man beheads 8-year-old niece during exorcism

MULTAN: Police said on Tuesday they had arrested a man for allegedly beheading his eight-year old niece with a hatchet during an exorcism. The man’s wife delivered a stillborn boy two weeks ago and an “exorcist-cum-magician” told him that the victim’s mother had performed black magic on them, police said. The exorcist said that to ward off the effects of the evil spell he had to kill his niece, said Mukhtar Tikka, the district police officer of Vehari. “We have arrested Muhammad Asghar for murdering his eight-year-old niece Ramsha,” Tikka told Daily Times. Asghar murdered his niece on Sunday and dumped her body in a canal, police said. He later told the family that she had been kidnapped and joined the search efforts, but the girl’s mother and his wife knew about the crime and told investigators. The girl’s body was found on Monday, Tikka said. “The accused has confessed his crime and police have seized the hatchet,” he added. staff report

Source
 
Exorcism

Anyone watching Ch4's 'live exorcism'?

They have a guy strapped to a computer being exorcised. Sadly for the producers, it took less than 3 minutes which has put them in a bit of a panic. But they have enough religious experts (multi faith) and computer gadgets in the studio to keep them going for a while.... something was picked up by the computer at the moment of 'release' but there is a big debate going on now as to what the computer actually picked up...
 
Re: Exorcism

Simon said:
Anyone watching Ch4's 'live exorcism'?

They have a guy strapped to a computer being exorcised. Sadly for the producers, it took less than 3 minutes which has put them in a bit of a panic. But they have enough religious experts (multi faith)...

They managed to make a potentailly interesting subject very, dull I fell asleep as they were talking to the multi-faith experts (who all seemed to be saying "it's not really my speciality") and the slightly spooky woman who'd been exorcised, so I missed the results of the computer analysis.

I suspect the programme makers were hoping for a bit more writhing and cursing...
 
This was dreadful.

It was touted as live, but they stated at the beginning that it was recorded. It was sold as an exorcism, with a gothic font and smothered in warnings about disturbing content and free helplines, but actually consisted of a bloke called Trevor, who looked like a slimy salesman, 'delivering' a bloke called Colin, who looked like a Chuckle Brother : a process which consisted of a minute and a half of heavy breathing and a few apparently improvised exortations to Jesus - "Jesus Christ we exult you in control of the situation". :roll:

Nothing happened. Colin said he felt a bit better after.

In addition to which both Colin and his crazy missus had already undergone this 'deliverence' multiple times in this Trevor guy's 'charismatic christian group'.

A couple of the 'multi-faith experts', the ones with a background in psychology, were almost critical, managing to mention words like 'fundamentalism', and 'cult', but no one seemed to want to rock the boat and comment on the nudity of the emperor, which is what it was crying out for, in my opinion.

Actually no, scratch that. At one point near the beginning it was all so cheap looking what I actually wanted to happen was for it to turn into some sort of Ghostwatch style spoof, complete with cgi demons, exploding studio lights and much running around freaking out.

Alas, as Timble said, the whole thing was just deathly dull and I too went to bed before the analysis of the EEG.

Utter rubbish.

Give me the Devil every time.
 
Couldn't have put it better myself!

The chap who performed the 'exorcism' gave me a couple of unintentional chuckles. "Oh yeah, I've had people try to bite me and gouge out my eyes before!" ...can't say that I blame 'em

I felt ever so sorry for the presenter, getting those people to say anything interesting was like getting blood from a stone! Even after the disappointment of the 'exorcism' service, I think there was potential for some quite interesting debate. I was kinda hoping that absolutely terrifying woman with the furry collar would set someone off, but unfortunately everyone was too busy trying not to say anything that anyone else might not agree with :(

I'd be quite interested to know how the computer results turned out, but I fell asleep in the 12.30 ad break.

Did anyone see "The Real Exorcist" show that was on beforehand? I don't know the story all that well so I thought it was quite interesting. All the people who were arguing that the boy probably wasn't posessed seemed to be edited in almost as an afterthought though.
 
I bet almost nobody stayed tuned after they had seen that "Deliverance."

A few toothless Hillbillies would have livened it up no end.

It made the earlier show seem really, really interesting in comparison. And that was dross! The creepy Spanish exorcist did make me giggle a bit though.

The only thing which could possibly have made the evening worse was a screening of the movie with a specially recorded introduction by Mark Kermode. It's the best one ever made, he thinks! :twisted:
 
Somnambulation said:
Did anyone see "The Real Exorcist" show that was on beforehand? I don't know the story all that well so I thought it was quite interesting. All the people who were arguing that the boy probably wasn't posessed seemed to be edited in almost as an afterthought though.
I saw most of that show, and I thought it was pretty good. The dramatised reconstruction showed very well how the boy's family, especially his mother, decided that his behaviour was demonic on almost no evidence at all; it also demonstrated how his extreme "possessed" behaviour started almost as soon as the priests arrived.
What nobdoy but me appeared to find extraordinary was the conviction of the chiif exorcist that Satan Himself was possessing the boy. Which doesn't make a lot of sense. If you accept that Satan is real, then you accept that He is enormously powerful and can have nearly anthing He wants at the click of a claw. So what would he want with the body of a skinny, spotty teenage male? Heck, the opportunities for debauchery, carnality and endless sinning are pretty limited there, wouldn't you think?
And once Satan has the boy's body, what does He then do with it? Try out some creative torture on his parents, comprehensively corrupt every other teenager in the vicinity, become a politician? Nope - the Prince of Darkness just chucks a few objects about, makes some furniture move, makes the kid scream and swear and scratch himself. Come on, the Lord of Hell has a bit more imagination than that!
OK, in the end He does get to tussle on a bed with some fit young priests, but did He really need to go to all that trouble to get to that point?
 
Outrage at TV exorcism

By Flora Stubbs And Herpeet Kaur Grewal, Evening Standard
25 February 2005

Channel 4 has provoked outrage by showing the first exorcism ritual on British TV.

The programme brought anger from viewers and religious groups amid claims it was sensationalist and exploited someone who is likely to be mentally fragile.

The programme, called The Exorcist, featured a man known only as Colin who believes he is possessed by demons.

In a ritual that lasted about two minutes, priest the Rev Trevor Newport stood over Colin, prayed and then demanded that evil spirits be cast from his body. There was no shaking or rocking associated with the traditional images of exorcism and Colin did not demonstrate any violent reaction.

Afterwards he said: "I feel that I have had demons in my life and that they have been delivered. I was a bit nervous beforehand but after I was prayed for the nervousness just went. It was the most relaxed deliverance I have ever had." Neuro-imaging technology monitored the activity in his brain as the exorcism was performed.

Channel 4 broadcast the programme "as live" hours after it had taken place in front of a panel of experts at the Truman Brewery in Brick Lane. Channel 4 said it was a "scientific experiment". It was broadcast at 11.05 last night

Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe said today: "An exorcism is not an appropriate thing to be shown on television. Anything that you put on television even if it is in the name of science is seen as a form of entertainment." The Right Rev Dominic Walker, Bishop of Monmouth, said: "People who need this sort of help are nearly always psychologically troubled.

"Once you've got a television programme on exorcism we'll end up with lots of telephone calls from people saying, 'I think I'm possessed' because they have got some problems that a doctor hasn't been able to solve."

Tom Willis, a retired vicar who has performed several exorcisms, said: "Psychiatrists are probing someone's mental state on television.

"It's interfering in something very personal." John Beyer, director of Media Watch UK, said Channel 4 was guilty of sensationalising the subject.

He said: "Is this a legitimate investigation or just some stunt to create controversy and ratings?" He pointed to Ofcom's programme code, which says exorcisms and occult practices should only screened in the context of a legitimate investigation."

Mr Beyer added: "People who need 'exorcisms' are nearly always mentally ill. The channel is likely to get loads of calls from people saying they are possessed too because they haven't had proper help for their problems-from doctors." Channel 4 said Colin was carefully tested to make sure he was not mentally ill. Colin, in his forties, has been undergoing the ritual for a number of years.

Mr Newport was ordained into the Pentecostal ministry 25 years ago and now works within the Life Changing Ministries.

He said: "Colin was very agitated beforehand and now he is completely relaxed.

"A lot of people were perhaps expecting a more graphic demonstration (of deliverance) - this is quite a normal deliverance."

Dr Jonathan Bird, a neuro-psychiatrist at the Frenchay Hospital-in Bristol, who monitored the activity in Colin's brain, said: "We saw some asymmetry in the temporal lobe. Whether that is a brain process or a spiritual process, I leave to the experts."

Channel 4 defended the show, arguing it had a serious scientific purpose and was not merely a stunt

Simon Andreae, head of science at Channel 4, said: "We are delighted to have been part of one of the first scientific investigations into the neurology of possession.

"I hope that the programme will form part of a wider debate about the relationship between science and religion."

Source

Lord deliver us from this TV no-brainer

By Pete Clark, Evening Standard
25 February 2005

Colin, the man who had volunteered to be the subject of Channel Four's The Exorcism, was not quite what I had expected. Pushing aside all thoughts of wildly revolving heads, green vomit and rude words, I was nevertheless prepared for someone a bit more troubled than Colin.

Before the programme started, there was a frisson-inducing statement by the broadcaster that a special helpline had been set up for anyone who became disturbed at what was to follow.

There were also frequent injunctions that the viewer was, on no account, to try this at home. This was, after all, the first ever televised exorcism which was attempting to measure, by scientific means, exactly what happens in the brain of someone whose demons are being shown the exit.

Colin informed masterofceremonies Krishnan Guru-Murthy that he had suffered a demonic possession of his accelerator foot while driving, such that his foot insisted against its owner's judgment in flooring said pedal resulting in a dangerous increase in speed.

The Reverend Trevor Newport of the Life Deliverance Ministry was on hand to sort the problem out. Colin admitted that he had demons in his life operating in the battlefield of the mind, and these might have been put there by Satan. Accordingly, he was attached to the EEG machine by means of leads and little patches on his head, which gave him the look of someone particularly determined to give up smoking.

Krishnan did his best to introduce a modicum of suspense by talking to lots of different people in the studio, all clerics or people with a specific interest in the matter at hand. Strangely, most decided to hedge their bets, except for Father Pat Collins who frankly admitted he was not expecting anything much to happen. Curiously enough, Father Collins was right on the button.

When the moment of exorcism or deliverance or call it what you will arrived, it was over in a second. Mr Newport launched into a crisply enunciated eviction order against whatever was squatting in Colin's psyche, and the next moment it was all over. "Happy?" enquired the reverend solicitously. "Yeah, fine," replied Colin. "I'm not shaky now."

Then it was back to the experts for another round of bet hedging, mingled with a distinct degree of scepticism.

Doctor Bird, who was monitoring the EEG machine, revealed that some small tremor had been recorded in Colin's brain just at the moment when Satan's henchman did a runner, but that it was not significant enough to constitute a definite exorcism or similar flight of the evil one.

As the chin-scratching threatened to continue deep into the early hours, I was finally moved to obey the devilish little voice in my head, which kept repeating, "Just turn it off !"

Source
 
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