The Exorcist Files - BONUS: The Tales of 2 Exorcists, Part 1

Episode Date: December 9, 2023

As the exorcists for Harrisburg, PA and Nashville, TN, Father John Szada and Father Dan Reehil have battled the enemy in many forms. They join us to share some of their wisdom from the world of spiritual warfare. Want more Exorcist Files Content? Subscribe to The Vault for exclusive deep dives into past cases and Ask Me Anything Episodes with Father Martins. SPONSORS OF TODAYS EPISODEFireBreaker Series-    A dramatic and epic adventure recounting the legend of George and the Dragon. A fun narrative podcast that is great for the family, starring Wizards of Waverly Place Star David Henrie.  Click here to listenExodus90- Ultimate men's spiritual formation curriculum. Co-hosted by Father Martins. Join the St. Michael's Lent with a group of likeminded warriors.     See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Do you crave more Exorcist Files content? Do you want to go deeper into theology and spiritual warfare? Well, you're going to want to subscribe to The Vault, our new premium subscriber program. The Vault is our way of ensuring we bring you content all year long. Subscribers will get access to exclusive once a month, Ask Me Anything episodes with Father Martins, where you can submit questions and vote on the ones you want him to answer most. You'll also get access to a very special case behind the case series,

where we relisten to past episodes and cases, and Father reflects back on insights and anecdotes he just didn't have time to get into in the podcast. To subscribe, head on over to Exorcistfiles.tv and sign up, or just click the link in the show notes. Again, that's exorcistfiles.tv to get access to the vault. She begins manifesting and seething and growling, and then she dropped to the floor

and begins slithering across the chapel floor like a snake, This went on for quite a while, and I'm basically just following her, praying the prayers over her. I've got my stole on. And at one point, she turned her head up, and her eyes kind of went into the snake eye with the yellow tint. And it did give me a sudden moment of adrenaline, panic, because it was so fast, and you can see this is not her, clearly. Even though the slithering on the floor wasn't her either, but that seemed to be. more controlled. And she then flew off the floor. It wasn't like she picked herself up and pushed, you know, got on her knees. It just, she'd been flying off the floor, lunged at my

neck, and took the stole and started strangling me with my stole. Welcome back to the Exorcist Files, the show that we can say with some irony. The spin stops here. I'm your co-host, Ryan Bethay, and today we bring you the second installment in our bonus, mini-season. What's the only thing more interesting than one exorcist sharing their stories of deliverance? Two. Two exorcists sharing their stories. And that's what we have for you today. Two highly respected priests sharing their own firsthand accounts of their battles against the ancient serpent. While there are no dramatic recreations in this episode, some of the stories might be a bit too intense for young listeners. So as always, listener discretion is advised. We know that the

subject matter of this show naturally raises questions. The stories that father shares certainly break the rules of reality that we so comfortably reside in. Ouija boards moving on their own, people levitating in midair, small children without reflections. It's all very strange. But our regular listeners will notice some eerie similarities in these two priests' accounts. Both were interviewed, independent of each other, and yet their stories share some haunting overlaps. Now, before we get started, I want to give you a reminder. Our show is now independent and financed entirely through the generosity of donors and sponsors. So remember, when I announce with great fanfare that we're going to go to a commercial break, stick around.

The power compels you. I also have two fun updates. The Exorcist Files will be offering a subscription on Apple Podcasts for those who want to support the show and get episodes just a little bit earlier. And we will be offering merchandise on our website. T-shirts, hoodies, mugs. So be sure to show off that Amago Day that you are and get some stylish Exorcist Files gear. Can someone say the perfect holiday gift? Okay. Let's return to our exorcistic explorations. Without further ado, join me as we travel north to Pennsylvania and let me introduce you to a man whose epic beard is just as long as his impressive curriculum Vitey. Father John Zeta, I'm a priest of the Diocese of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

I've been ordained 45 years as a priest, and I've been the exorcist of the diocese for 12 years. I also have a PhD in psychology. So that's my essential background, and currently I am living in the town of Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, and taking care of a community of people here. My first degree was in Foreign Service and International Politics from Penn State University. My second degree is Masters and Divinity from Mount St. Mary's Seminary

University in Emmettysburg, Maryland. My third degree was a BS in psychology from the York College of Pennsylvania. And then my MS in psychology and my PhD in psychology were from Capella University. In the words of Darth Vader, most impressive. Father Zeta's unique expertise in the human mind allows him to wield a two-fisted assault on demonic strongholds. Father Zeta, like Father Martins, treats cases of reported demonization with a healthy skepticism, noting that many cases are rooted in mental illness. I think my unique experience is because of my PhD in psychology, which enables me to say there's a mental health issue and there's a spiritual issue.

The key is to find out what's the root cause. So if it's a root cause of spirituality, then you go one way. if it's a real cause of mental illness, it goes the other way, but you don't ignore the other side. You have to take both sides into account. And so I think that's probably the unique approach that I take to these kinds of situations. For example, I had a case where a lady had written a letter to the bishop. It was seven pages, a small print, single space typed about why she wanted an exorcism. And she had done her homework. She was obviously a very intelligent woman. And she gave all those self-dictual diagnoses situations, just like they do with doctors and medical attention. They scour the

internet and they fit this and that, and they say, well, this fits me, so therefore I must be possessed and therefore I want an exorcism. I've had phone calls where people will call me and say, well, how much does it cost to get an exorcism? And you just say, sorry, but that's not the way it works. We run into that sort of thing all the time, and you just have to kind of brush those off because you get overwhelmed by the number of cases. Given Father Zeta's extensive psychological expertise, I wanted to get his process for how he treats initial consultations with people who suspect their issues may have demonic causes. Listeners from season one will remember that the Catholic Church has three key signs to be present in order for an exorcism to be granted, knowledge of the

unknown, speaking in new languages, and displays of superhuman strength. While a formal or, quote, major exorcism requires diagnostics and bishop approval, Father Zeta does begin with some and what is known as a form of, quote, minor exorcism. But again, it depends on the case, it depends on the situation. But before a person comes in, I have an intake form, which is seven pages long, that we do just like before you go to a doctor for the first time. You get a whole history. You get a background.

You find out what's going on, what has happened in their life, where are they coming from? And so you're already dealing with some information before you even walk in the door. You have an idea of what it is the case that you're working like. on and so you go from there. I have a case right now that's coming up. I'm pretty sure that this person is possessed, but what we do is we call it a chapter three, which is a particular form of the minor exorcism. And I've seen her three times, and I've upped the prayer time three times. And each time I have, she's gotten more and more agitated. She's manifested more and more openly. And so it's leading me to believe that she really is possessed. So I'm going to go one more

time with probably the last step I could go to see what happens. And if she really manifests, then you have to get the permission of the bishop for a formal exorcism. And if that happens, then I'm going to say, okay, we've got to take the final step here and go the full way. I remember a blessing of a person with Holy Water one time, and the person jumped and screamed, and she said, what was that? I said, what was that? I was blessed with Holy Water lots of time, but there was something different about that. Well, that was the Holy Water that had the exercise salt in it. She was a very much. reacting to the salt that he had never felt before. So you knew that there was something going on.

As a refresher, there are in fact different types of holy water. What Father Zeta is referring to is what is sometimes called exercised holy water that has been blessed with exercised salt. This combination is believed to enhance the spiritual efficacy of the holy water, making it particularly potent in rituals of blessing and protection, as well as an exorcism writes. Now, I couldn't resist asking this man whose beard is even more impressive than Gandalf's, about a time that he was frightened. He has such a clinical approach. I wondered, do you still get frightened?

Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was his first case. That was actually my first formal case. And it just goes to show you, for example, how not only the demons will manifest to you, but they also have this kind of way of trying to put you down. So, for example, since it was my first formal case, I had some help there. people kind of mentoring me to help me to do things correctly. And this one person would come over every once in a while and whisper some guidance or direction into my ear.

And then in the middle of it, the demon said, what's he whispering to him for? Doesn't he know what he's doing? So it's kind of this weird thing that the demons play these games with you. But I don't pay too much attention to that kind of stuff even now when they can get pretty serious. And there have been times when they tried to attack me, tried to hit me, and tried to grab hold of me.

And I just don't need pay attention. I focus so much on the ritual and so much on the prayer, but I don't pay too much attention. I never go into it alone. There's always a team there to help and to keep an eye on things. I have at least two men that I call my muscle men that are there to kind of hold the person down when those kinds of manifestations occur.

It is interesting to note that nearly every exorcist I have spoken with refers to the manifestations that so morbidly fascinate the culture as parlor tricks. why are we so fascinated with things like levitation? Perhaps it's the fact that it breaks natural law, and it is proof of the supernatural. I did ask Father Zeta about levitation, for a friend, of course.

We had a case not too long ago of levitation, and it's an interesting thing, too. One of the signs of an authentic possession is knowledge of secret things, knowledge of things the person doesn't have access to, and also an aversion to the sacred. So we had a case one time where I was, interviewing a woman in the church. I was in the pew. She was in the pew behind me. Several of my

team members were in the pew behind her. And one of those people who happened to be a medical doctor was a bag in which she had a first-class relic. And during the course of my conversation with the person, this doctor just kind of leaned forward and placed this bag against the back of the pew that she was sitting at. And all of a sudden this woman screamed, flew up in the air, flew into the aisle and said, what was that? What did you do? What did you hit me with? She had no idea what had hit her. She had no idea that that relic was behind her.

And yet she manifested and reacted to it, even though she didn't know it was there. So we see those kinds of things from time to time. People, you sprinkle them with holy water and they're flying across the room. The last case that I had was if it wasn't for the fact that two of my men were holding her down, the only thing that was touching were her toes and the back of her head. In fact, one of my team members jokingly said that he would, give her a 9.5 on the gymnastics scale. And one of the team members who's a doctor said that that was

physically impossible for a woman that age. It just could not have happened. Those are the kinds of things we sometimes see. Not too often, because they're partner tricks. Demons are just trying to get attention. While every exorcist brings their own unique philosophy and approach to their ministry, there are very established rules of engagement. One is that demons are dishonest, which makes sense since Scripture refers to Satan as the Father of Lies. According to Father Zeta, they can and will lace their infernal turades with true statements of fact, but as a whole, we must always assume that they are being deceitful. It's sort of like some of those tasty, sugary cereals that claim to have whole grains.

Now, just as Father Martens taught us throughout season one, Father Zeta is constantly trying to get at the root cause to ascertain the doorway that was opened which led to the victim's demonization. You just can never second-guess the motivations of demons. It's just not possible. What they're doing and why they're doing it, there's just no way to know. That's why the exorcists have to be very, very careful, even in terms of the questions that he asks.

We're very limited in what we can ask the demons. Curiosity is the killer. You have to be very, very careful to only ask the questions that are necessary to find out the information you need to know to help the victim. I think first and foremost, I like to stick with the ritual, because then it's not me that's acting. It's the church that's acting. The second thing is every case is unique, all right? But one of the essential elements is you have to find out what was the root cause. See, demons are legalists, and they only operate where somebody has given them an open door to do so. So you have to find out what caused it. What was the portal? What was the door that they opened that allowed the demons in there? And sometimes it can happen the other way around that something happened to them. They were cursed or There was freemasonry or other kinds of things in their background. So it's very, very important.

So those are the other kinds of questions that you need to probe on. Now, last week, we did a deep dive into relics, and our regular listeners will remember that Father Martins often employs relics in his exorcisms that go against a particular sin or demon-stated nemesis in heaven. In episode five of season one, the character, Father George, received a relic from Father Martins, a piece of garment from St. Thomas Beckett, the martyred saint, and when that cloth was placed on the forehead of the demoniac, all hell broke loose.

I was curious if Father Zeta employs a similar intercession of the saints during his ministry. I think, first of all, yes, their purpose and their name, those are actually, in the ritual itself, it actually tells you to ask those questions. I always begin, for example, an exorcism with the litany of the saints. And my team watches to see if there's any reaction by a given saint being named. So that gives you an idea of the sin or the opening that the person gave to the demons because you can see the corresponding saint into whatever it was that opened the doorway for them. I don't make a big issue out of that.

I think that's more an emphasis that Father Martens uses, but we do it to a certain extent. Now, in the following segment, Father Zeta makes reference to the famous caves of St. Michael, the Archangel, a sacred site where the Archangel is believed to have appeared. The story of the caves is actually quite interesting, and I wanted to give our listeners some context, since I myself was completely unfamiliar with the history. Journey with me back to the year 490 in the rugged land of Gargano, Italy, where a nobleman was out on a bull hunt. As he was finishing the hunt, he came upon the bull in a mysterious cave. He took aim with his bow and fired his arrow.

But, to his amazement, the arrows stopped in mid-air and boomerangued back. to strike the hunter. Naturally, he was quite rattled by this bizarre altercation, so he sought out spiritual advice from the local bishop. The bishop, unsure what to make of this strange account, ordered three days of fasting and prayer to help discern what to do. On the third day, St. Michael the archangel appeared to the bishop and told him that the cave had been chosen to be consecrated as a sacred place, but the cave remained unconsecrated and no church was built. Two years later, the bishop and the region faced attack by a pagan army and found themselves in dire straits. The bishop began to negotiate a truce with the invaders when St. Michael appeared again and told him that if the people would rise up and attack the enemy army, they would receive divine assistance. And fight they did. During the ensuing battle, an epic sandstorm erupted that sent the invading pagans fleeing in terror.

A year later, the bishop returned to the cave to consecrate it. St. Michael appeared a third time, saying the cave had already been consecrated by his presence. Entering the cave, the bishop discovered an altar, covered with a red cloth and a crystal cross. He then had a church built at the front of the cave and dedicated to St. Michael. You can visit the church today, which in 2011 was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In fact, stones from the cave today are still distributed as general sacramentals and relics, with a special emphasis on their use to combat the demonic. Now, let's get back to Father Zeta with his own story of the cave.

Well, actually, one of my favorites was this. In Italy, there is a shrine to St. Michael, the Archangel, Mokagano, where St. Michael appeared, and there's the caves of St. Michael. And I visited there, and it's way down underground, and I picked up a stone from down in the caverns there where St. Michael appeared. So it wasn't something I bought at the gift shop. It was something I knew it was authentic since I picked it up myself. And so I had it in one of these little plastic cases with a clear plastic top.

And so we had one particular exorcism, and I took this case, and I just placed the whole case against the forehead of the victim. And when I took it away, all of my team members were gasping because the imprint of the stone showed on his forehead. not the case, but the stone, which was in the case, actually imprinted itself on his forehead. And that was kind of a breakthrough situation that we had. So this very strong devotion, of course, was St. Michael the Archangel. Talk about getting stoned. No matter how fantastical the story of the cave sounds, here we have a priest with a Ph.D. in psychology,

describing a stone from those caves, placing an indent on someone's forehead through a plastic case, and leaving a mark the exact size of the stone. That certainly is one way to help determine a relics authenticity. Now, as Father Zeta would find out, there's actually another way to know you have the real thing. Well, it's an interesting thing. I have a devotion to St. Miriam of Jesus crucified, who was a carmelite nun, also known as the Little Arab from the Middle East.

But interestingly enough, I had contacted Father Martens and said I wanted to get a relic of Miriam of Jesus crucified. And he told me, he said, well, I know a man in California who, has two of them. He said, unfortunately, the guy traffics in them, so you're going to have to pay for them, but I know they're real. So I said, okay, but I paid for them anyway. So anyway, I had this one, and there's another priest that assists me a lot of times. He's actually the exorcist for the Ukrainian arch-eparchy of Philadelphia. So we were in the back of the church one day before an exorcism. We were praying the prayers of protection, and Father was holding

this little reliquary with this relic of this saint in it. And in the middle of the prayer, The reliquary exploded, and he was beside himself. He was convinced that that meant it was fake. So we put it back together again. I called Father Carlos, and I said, Father Carlos, this is what happened. The Monsignor's afraid that that means that they're fake, that's not real. And Father Carlos says, oh, no, no, no.

He says, it's exactly the opposite. The demons hate her so much that they were even attacking her relics. And he said, that happens to him all the times. Well, make sure you have a reliable source of relics. That seems to be the take-home message. Now, we're going to move on to an equally important subject, our partners and sponsors. Yes, you are about to hear a message from a company we love. Do not touch that button.

Remove your finger from the fast forward. The power compels you. We'll be right back. Amen. Father Martin's here. I want to do a quick plug for one of the most powerful tools I've seen for breaking free and growing closer to Christ. Exodus 90. The Exodus 90 challenge begins this year on January 20th.

But this isn't just a 90-day program. Exodus 90 is a spirituality for modern men that is built on three ancient pillars, prayer, self-sacrifice, and fraternity. We all long for something more. We long to be the men God created us to be, sons of a loving father. It's time to turn away from our idols. It's time to break free from the pharaohs that hold us in bondage. If you're ready to make a fresh start and embark on a journey to uncommon freedom in Jesus Christ,

then download the Exodus 90 app today. This is your chance to break free, refocus, and rediscover who God is calling you to be in the new year. It starts January 20th. So go to Exodus 90.com slash X-Files. To learn more about Exodus 90, that's Exodus 90.com slash X-Files to join tens of thousands of men from all over the world for Exodus 90. Again, it begins Monday, January 20th. God bless you. Welcome back to the Exorcist Files, where we've been hearing from Father John Zeta, Exorcist for the Diocese of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

We're going to hear more from Father Zeta in part two, but now we're going to travel 800 miles southwest to the quaint town of Columbia, Tennessee, where another exorcist is working around the clock to keep us all from having 99 problems and demons being one of them. Father Daniel Rehill with the Diocese of Nashville, Tennessee. I was ordained in 2014 for this diocese. I am the exorcist for the Diocese of Nashville.

I'm also the dean of 12 parishes, and also the national director for Radio Maria USA. I've been the exorcist for about five years, and I have been doing deliverance formally with the church since about 2005. Father Dan's path to the priesthood was far from conventional. He actually got his training in one of the most contested spiritual warfare battlegrounds in the entire world, Wall Street.

Turns out long before he was delivering people from demons, He was delivering hefty returns. I never had any idea or revelation to become a priest. From a young age, I actually left the church for 22 years and pursued money in finance and banking on Wall Street and was very successful at that. And then had a big conversion in 98 in Medjugoria and came back and changed my whole life. But was slow to move into something else. And then when 9-11 happened, it was. the final push because I lived down at the seaport and everything below Canal Street was closed.

So I had to leave. And that was what got me into seminary and began the path to priesthood. Now, anytime you meet a new exorcist, it seems the requisite icebreaker is to ask about something crazy they've seen. I did ask Father Dan about some of the phenomena he is witnessed in the room. And it turns out, like Father Zeta, one of his first cases was particularly frightening. I guess it's true what they say. You never forget your first exorcism. One of the first cases I had, I had to go to sort of like a halfway house. I got a phone call that there was somebody disrupting the community.

And they had him segregated in a private, look like a little living room. And he's sitting on the couch. And he was kind of slouched over. And he was telling me a story. And then I said, well, let's just pray a few little prayers to see what happens. And this was in no means going to be like the double. liver into the exorcism. And I started praying and he levitated up off the couch in the air, not connected to the couch in any way anymore. And I said, nope, we're not doing this. I said,

down. And I walked out of the room. And I kept waiting to see him on the floor. And then when he was finally down, I said, we can't do this here. This has to be done in the church. So you're going to have to come to me and we're starting over. I didn't expect that to happen at all. I didn't even know if he had a real problem, if it was in his mind or not. But then I was like, okay, I'm pretty sure I have moral certainty. This is not a psychological problem. Can you imagine starting to pray for someone? And they respond by levitating above the couch? I think I'd file for a change of venue at that point, too. Now, we've heard from Father Zeta, Monsignor Brankin in season one and Father Martens, the importance of having a team or, quote, muscle men, as Father Zeta called them.

Father Dan shared a particularly harrowing account that proves the need for an entire team. That's why you never go alone. The only time I was ever physically attacked, which I haven't shared much with anybody, it was interesting. It was a Spanish woman from Mexico. And we were in my chapel. We have a chapel that's off to the back of the church. And I'm praying the prayers over her. And I have another gentleman with me who both is a son of sort of a bodyguard, but also

so he speaks Spanish well. So he was translating. And she begins manifesting and seething and growling. And then she dropped to the floor and began slithering across the chapel floor like a snake. This went on for quite a while. And I'm basically just following her, praying the prayers over her. I've got my stole on. And at one point, she turned her head up.

And her eyes kind of went into the snake eye with the yellow. and it did give me a sudden moment of adrenaline, panic, because it was so fast, and you can see this is not her, clearly, even though the slithering on the floor wasn't her either, but that seemed to be more controlled. And she then flew off the floor. It wasn't like she picked herself up and pushed, you know, got on her knees. It just, she had been flying off the floor, lunged at my neck and took the stole and started strangling me with my stole. And she wasn't particularly big, maybe five, three, five, four, maybe 130 pounds. And I could not stop her.

I couldn't, I had no power to break her hold on this stole. So I looked at the guy who's supposed to be my protector, and he was so frightened. He just looked at me and started going like this, no, and backing up. And I'm like, really? This is how we're going to leave me. Okay. And I just mumbled, in Jesus' name, stop, and she fell on the floor. And she pretty much laid there for about a minute without moving at all.

And then I went back to the prayers and we continued. She didn't move around after that. And it took another maybe 20 minutes. And then she was liberated and it was over. But that was the only time I've had somebody go after me personally. Now, this raised a serious question for me, with a simple, phrase, in the name of Jesus, the woman stopped and fell to the floor. Clearly, demons have to obey the commands, and yet they don't always, at least on the surface, seem to. This has perplexed me throughout

the entire production and research for the show. How are they resisting? According to Christian teaching, demons are under Christ's authority, and they must obey. And yet, unlike the gospel accounts, where the demons seem to flee instantly, many of the cases of our actresses show that it can't hand-take multiple commands, multiple sessions to get a demon to leave. How do we reconcile the tension between God's authority over these things and the resistance we often hear about? Yeah, I agree with that wholeheartedly because we don't understand the full operation what happens behind the veil, but we do firmly believe that with every exorcism,

with every deliverance prayer, a toll is taken on the demon, whether he's revealing it to us or not. And at the completion of every deliverance session, we know that person is a step closer to being liberated, whether it looks like it or not, they're closer. And we always have to tell them that, because sometimes they look at you like, well, what happened? Why didn't it go? And so before we even begin, I always tell them, don't not expect this to happen today. You know, this could be a process of several times. So with sacramentals and deliverance and exorcism as a sacramental, that relies on the virtue of both the priest and the victim, the one giving and the one receiving the whole thing. And it doesn't operate under its own action like a sacrament. If the victim is giving me

zero, it's all on me. If she's really not trying to fight the demon, it's all going to be the power of the exorcist. And sometimes that's what happens, that they just get so worn down that they're not even engaged. They're kind of just there. When I can get a person to the point where I'm like, I tell it to leave and they actually are, they're assisting in their own exism with their own commands, it seems to go much better because then it is a very clear delineation that her will is, you should go. And because she's a child of God and has her own right to her body and her own person, it makes it much easier for me when they're also participating. It's like active participation at mass. I would say it's not in any way equivalent, but it's the same premise.

Like it goes much better when the person's actively engaging in trying to get the thing to leave as well. Now, having had the privilege and rather unusual experience of interviewing four exorcists on the show, one fascinating tidbit that all of them shared with me, unsolicited and unrelated, was an enormous increase in the resistance and difficulty of driving demons out post-pandemic. Apparently, something something during the pandemic altered some of the spiritual dynamics at play. Something I found odd, and I've talked to many extras about this, was before COVID, they seemed to be much more obedient in leaving when you commanded them. I used to have a lot more one and done's before COVID.

Once COVID hit, it was everything multiplied out, which would take five, six, seven sessions. And I was wondering, are they just stronger now? Or are there more of them now? I couldn't figure out what was happening. So I started asking other people, are you having more difficult? Oh, yes, we are. It became much more difficult with that. I don't know why. Maybe people were just sending more. I don't know. Now, because we receive this question on an almost daily basis, I do try to pose it to all the exorcists on the show. How do they think through the broader

question of suffering in general? How can we know if something is a demonic attack on our lives or if it is simply the result of the broken world in which we live in? I can't help but think about the book of Job, part of the wisdom literature of scripture that tells the tale of a righteous man who had his family, wealth, and health stripped from him in a sort of cosmic bet between Satan and God to see if he would deny God when all the good things in his life were removed. What is most interesting about that story to me, though, is that if we were not privy to the first part of the story where Satan and God engage in this wager of sorts, we would simply see a man who had a series of extraordinarily tragic events befall him, and we would be none the wiser.

And yet, Satan was the author and instigator of these attacks. I asked Father Dan to share any thoughts he had on helping us discern the difference between organic tragedy and that which has its root causes in the demonic. That's a great question. The normal trials and tribulations of life vary from person to person. You can look at the Kennedy family, which I say did have a curse on it. to, you know, I sub my toe this morning and then my coffee was bitter. Okay, that's life. You're a little too fragile. You need to grow up and be a little more resilient because Jesus said

every day, pick up your cross and follow me. You will have crosses. This is how he's helping to rescue souls from going to hell. Go back and read the Fatima messages. Those children were doing penance every day because they saw hell and they realized that it was only through our prayers and our penances that would bring the grace from heaven to the person that is hell bent on going to hell. So we have to do that. The more the world is careening into darkness, the greater he's going to need people to step up and pick up those bigger crosses. Also, I would say there's fewer people that are even willing to serve God these days. So the burden will be poured out even heavier on those who are saying, pick me, I'll help you.

But if you wake up in a persistent way, for me, if I get overwhelmingly fatigued for no reason, where I suddenly just feel like, boom, I feel the energy being sucked out of me. Anything that raises a flag as this is not normal for my state of life, then you should be thinking this could be a curse or some kind of a demonic problem. But otherwise, it could just be your normal living. Now, we've talked about curses at length in the show. So I did ask Father Dan about his own experience breaking curses. Yes, many times.

The Masonic curses that come from joining those lodges, particularly at the upper levels, I think to myself, how could these men make these oaths where if I in any way now go against the lodge or leave the lodge that you would have an authority to curse my children and grandchildren with intestinal problems, let my intestines be poured out into the field and the birds of the earth come and eat them? Who does pledges like that? But when people come and say, I've been to the doctor over and over and over, nothing is wrong with me, they say, and I go, do you have masons in your history? And they go, actually, my grandfather was a mason.

Ah, let's try these prayers to break masonic curses. And then suddenly the illness leaves. I've seen it many times. Remember Tammy Comer's story from our final case file? She suffered from a debilitating illness for nearly two decades until a curse was specifically broken in a deliverance session. It's a remarkable story, and we encourage everyone to go listen to that testimony

in A Taste of Honey, Part 3. Today, she is healed and healthy. Okay, we've talked a lot about demons and darkness, and like always, I want to make sure that we close out on an upbeat note since this show is all about people being set free. Turns out, Father Dan, has seen some really cool healings. Prayers, yes, deliverance, no.

I have prayed with people and anointed them with the an anointing of the sick, and had somebody who had an incurable illness suddenly was cured. And also when I was in Boston with this priest, Father Tom D. Lorenzo, who has a unique ability to bring forth God's healing in people, like a 50-year-old woman who was born blind when she came up to be prayed with, and he prayed with it. Her eyes were open, and she suddenly got visioned for the first time in her life at like 50. And about half the church was full, because it was after a mass, and people saw it. And the next day, we came back at Mass, and it was kind of the same crowd.

And he goes, wow, like nobody's impressed that a blind woman suddenly seized. It's like, ah, okay. Finishing up, I asked Father Dan for his wisdom on how to keep evil out of our lives. What should we be concerned about? If you're living an authentic Christian life, authentic Catholic life, you're engaging in the sacraments, you're doing your best to grow in virtue, to let the grace. of God permeate your heart and soul and change you, you have nothing to be afraid of. The demons will be afraid of you, right? And they say, well, what about Padre Pia? They used to beat him up.

Yeah, because they couldn't touch his soul. So he took physical beatings. And guess what? He didn't care. I mean, occasionally he cared. But he knew that was his cross to unite to Christ to save souls. And so he freely accepted it. And when they get to that point, you know going straight to heaven. So I tell most people, don't worry about it. You're not close. So a blind woman is healed, and the next day, attendance is the same. Gives you an idea of how God must feel, right? We do live in strange times.

Well, that's all the time we have for part one. But do not give in to a spirit of fear, because next week you will get part two. And we will hear some more from Father Zeta and Father Dan. For those missing the dramatizations, keep praying. We are working on a little project to see if we can bring you one of our signature stories in 3D sound very soon. Here's a little sneak peek of part two.

You know, many of the spirits are named for the actions that they commit against the people. And one such is incubus and succubis, which is sort of a sexual demon that goes after its prey in sexual ways. And I never encountered it personally, although studied it, you know, in demonology, Exosim school in Rome. but one day I had a call from an elderly woman actually she was in her 70s and she said I need help and she gave me a little detail and I said okay why don't you come in and tell me what happened and she came in and she described the story of how she woke up one evening she was a widow and her deceased

husband was standing in the bedroom and he said can I join you in bed thank you for listening to the exorcist files to keep in touch with us and get some of our anointe merchandise. You can visit our website at exorcistfiles.tv. You can, of course, always email us absurd and overly specific criticisms at exorcist files at gmail.com. All cases in the Exorcist Files are recounted by Father Carlos Martens from his own personal archives. While this episode did not have any 3D drama, it still takes a lot of work in research. The series is hosted by Father Martens and myself, Ryan Bethay. Today, we want to give a very big thank you to Father John Zeta and Father Dan Real for contributing to the show. We thank them

not only for their stories, but for their tireless efforts in helping set people free. While they're amazing, we hope you never have to meet them or need them. It takes a legion of people to make the show possible. So thank you to our sound designer, editor and mixer, Dan Blessinger, script doctoring by Christoph Ares and Ryan Bethay, and music and scoring by Jim Cavell. Executive producers are Father Carlos Martins and Ryan Bethay. All dad jokes are written by Ryan Bethay and proudly independent of AI.