EXORCIST CLAIMS SOME HAVE 'HUNDREDS' OF DEMONS THAT FLEE WITH THE NAME OF HOLY MEN
An American priest best known for work in the pro-life arena but also an exorcist claims in a new book that hundreds of spirits can inhabit a single person and describes the terror of demons at the mention of holy men such as John Paul II or Padre Pio.
"It is very common for an exorcist to come up against demons that work as a pack but who are always dominated by one principle demon that is the strongest intellect and will of the group," says Father Thomas J. Euteneuer in the interesting book, Exorcism and the Church Militant, citing the case of one woman who had suffered for years from afflictions and pains that could not be cured by any medicine or therapy.
"The woman needed to be delivered from a host of lesser-strength demons which had literally infested her body over the course of many years for various reasons but which were now causing an escalating series of sorrowful events and persecution," alleges the priest. "She was a very faithful Catholic, but her fidelity only seemed to enrage the unclean spirits that persecuted her every time she began to pray or get close to God."
Father Euteneuer says he and his team "estimated that there were several hundred distinct demons that exited her body through the four sessions of prayer and deliverance we conducted with her. Because these were not deeply-rooted demons, the process to expel them was very simple: silent prayer before the exposed Eucharist and then a command to each unclean spirit to leave her one after another. Each was commanded to tell its name as it came to the Light and say, 'Hail Mary, full of grace,' as its sign of departure."
The priest says the list of names included "Abortion, Anti-Christ, Belial, Betrayal, Birth Control, Black Cats (this one hissed and put up its claws), Blasphemy, Fortune Telling, Horoscope, Racism," and so forth.
In deliverance circles, it is well-known the spirits causing certain afflictions or rooted due to certain sins are often identified by the sin or affliction as a means of casting them out.
Whether or not hundreds inhabit a person or whether this can be a deception of deceiving or mocking spirits is a difficult discernment, although Jesus Himself cast out a "legion" in the famous case of Gadarenes (sending them into the herd of swine).
In spiritual warfare, we can thus view certain infestations as a battle against a host of evil entities, the highest-ranking of which are frequently referred to as "principalities."
Whether or not they are really the entities by which they are named, Father Euteneuer, who is president of the pro-life organization, Human Life International in Virginia, further believes that demons with biblical names -- Satan or Beelzebub or Lucifer or Asmodeus or Zebulun or Baal -- are usually the wickedest and strongest ones.
He points out that the three common names for evil all derive from a different language -- the "devil" (from Greek), meaning to create chaos and toss things around; "Satan" (from Hebrew) meaning to accuse or tempt; and "Lucifer" (meaning "light-bearer," from Latin), which refers to what is believed to have been his standing once as a seraphim angel, one of the most powerful created.
"The most interesting insight into the demonic mind was the demons' resounding fear of this lady's favorite holy men: Padre Pio and Pope John Paul II," the priest writes, referring again to the "legion" case. "At one point the lady said she could even sense the presence of these saintly men in the chapel. The demons certainly sensed it because each time a demon resisted the command to leave, it was very easy to me to say, 'Well, I will just have to call on the Polish Pope to deal with you,' or ask, 'Should I call my friend with the stigmata to get you to leave?'
"Every mention of these holy men evoked a blood-curdling scream from the demons, who sometimes yelled, 'Get those $%^&* gloves off of me' or 'Keep that #@$% priest in white away from me -- I'll go! I'll go!'
"We also used relics of the holy men which seemed to burn these demons like fire any time they were touched to the lady's person."
[resources: Exorcism and the Church Militant]
[We recommend prayer and fasting before contact with alleged healers, stigmatics, or exorcists]