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

Episode Date: December 16, 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 listen See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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that it's something they enjoy. You know, when you get somebody who has a platform, and they have beauty and fame, and now they're telling the public they do this thing, you're going to have a group of unknowing people who are going to say, I should try that. Maybe if I try that, I'll get ahead like they did. And they might for a time.

It's shocking when you see this. You pick up a newspaper or read a headline, the movie star says she sleeps with this demon, and it helps her. Welcome back to The Exorcist Files. The show documenting everything you wanted to know about spiritual warfare, and probably a little bit more. I'm your co-host, Ryan Bethay, and today we bring you part two of what probably sounded

like an Academy Award-nominated film, The Tales of Two Exorcists, where we were hearing from Father John Zeta and Father Daniel Rehill, as they regaled us with stories from their own spiritual warfare battles. While we always want to encourage listeners to, quote, exercise discretion with this topic, in today's episode, there is a particularly chilling. account that is certainly not suitable for all audiences. While we try to present the material in a clinical fashion and have included it primarily as an educational resource, it's still pretty serious. Primarily, we want to encourage folks that if someone you know to be 100% deceased

appears in your bedroom, you want to stop, drop, and ask Jesus to visit you instead. Also, as a reminder, our show is now independent and financed entirely through the generosity of donors and sponsors. We have only a select few sponsors per episode, and the ads are fun. Embrace them. Be quick to listen, as the scriptures say. As a reminder, our website, exorcistfiles.tv, now offers merchandise. Stay cozy this holiday season in the Exorcist Files hoodie, or impress your friends with a sleek and stylish Exorcist Files t-shirt, which will show you not only have excellent taste and apparel, but also podcasts. We will now head back to the great state of Tennessee. where Father Dan shared a rather disturbing account that should have us all praying just a little more fervently tonight.

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 in demonology, exosum school in Rome. But the 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 this 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? And she said, yes, please. Okay, so right there, for people that don't know, they always look for, for permission to be granted. And that was the permission granted moment. And he came into bed and she said that they made love that night. It was very beautiful. And it ended. And in the morning, she woke up

alone. And she didn't think much of it. Now, at this point, I said to her, but you did bury your husband. And you saw him go into the ground. And she says, I know, I know it sounds crazy, but I was lonely and I thought maybe God allowed him to come back to visit me. And I said, well, okay. She was also Catholic. I said, you know, we don't, we don't teach that. She said, I know, but I was lonely. I said, all right. So what happened next? The next night, he returned. And this time he didn't ask to come into the bed. He just came into the bed. And he was a little bit rough with me. And she scolded him and said, don't be so rough with me. And then the evening ended and he left. And the next night, he raped her. The third night, he raped her violently. And she was terrified. And that's

when she called the Chancery. That's when they called me. And so I went to the home and I did the deliverance prayers. I didn't even, it was just the Louis, the Lee of the 13th prayers. And it left. And she was left alone after that. That was one of the more simple ones, right? I was mentioning earlier. I was pre-COVID. They were very easy. You just go when they leave. First off, let's address the M. Knight-Sharmelon in the room. This woman saw dead people. Now, while it might seem patently obvious that if a dead spouse appears in a bedroom at night and asks to join you in bed, you should definitely say no. But one can empathize, perhaps.

A lonely widow who is grieving over her husband suddenly believes he is returned and that maybe God allowed him to do so. Sadly, though, we know from Scripture, specifically 2 Corinthians 1114, that the enemy, Satan and his demons, can come masquerading as angels of light. In addition, knowing that we might face spiritual deception in our lives, 1 John chapter 4 verse 3, offers Christians a diagnostic tool of sorts, that any spirit that does not confess Jesus Christ as Lord is not from God. While we are not aware of what potential behaviors or doorways were opened to have the spirit arrive in the first place,

our listeners from season 1 will recognize the familiar pattern of a spirit requesting permission, and once that permission was granted, things got way. worse. And then about three days later, I'd get a phone call from another person. This was a gentleman, and he'd been awake for three days, sleeping in his armchair, because he was petrified to go back into his bed. And I said, well, what happened? He's married, by the way, and his wife was sleeping next to him. About four nights earlier, he was awakened by something that was stimulating his genitals, but there was nothing in the bed but him and his wife, and it wasn't his wife. And he had the thought, do you like this? And he said, I do like this. And he said, keep going. And once again,

there was the permission. And the thing stimulated him and he kind of said he enjoyed it. And it ended and that was the end of it. Same scenario. The next night it came back and this time it was stimulating other parts of him. He didn't want stimulated. And by night three, he was being raped. And that's when he wouldn't go back to the bedroom. And he called in the same process. I come. I did the prayers. It left and it never returned to him. But now I'm thinking, well, that's weird. I never had a case like this. And suddenly I had two in one week. And then another four or five days go by. And I get a third phone call from another woman. And this was a woman who was a lawyer and said she was Gnostic or she used to be Gnostic. She didn't believe in God, but didn't really care. And she also

was married, the husband was in the bed. And she noticed one evening something was moving the figurines on her dresser in her bedroom around. And she was fascinated by it. It didn't frighten her, but she watched these little figurines being moved. And then the second

night it came back and was continuing to move things around the dresser. And she was starting to think, am I imagining this, or is this something in the room? So she said, if there's something here, grab my hand and it grabbed her hand. And she thought, oh, there's something here.

Again, she's not afraid at this point. And I don't know what gave her the end of her to grab my hand, but it did. And it came back to the next night, and it started touching her in bed in various places on her body, and she seemed to enjoy it. And again, she didn't tell it to stop, so it kept going a little further. And then by night four, she was being raped. And she went, but she was a little stronger will than the gentleman. and she would kept going back to bed and telling her husband, you know, watch over me, but he couldn't do anything. And she said if she'd cross her legs, it would enter her from the back.

And that was even more painful and disturbing. So she eventually called another one who called the diocese. I'm not Catholic, but I need help. And they sent me, when I went and did the prayers for this particular woman, it left for a week, but then it came back. And I imagine that's because she didn't connect with the faith. I said to her, you have to go. She was baptized, but not practicing. I said, you have to go back to church and have a relationship with Jesus, or this will get worse.

And she said, okay, no problem. It came back. I went back to the house and said, what happened? She says, well, I didn't have a chance to go back to church. And I said, but that's not how it works. I told you you had to go back and establish the relationship. immediately. So she said, okay, well, I'm going to do better this time. And I did the prayers again. And I guess about two weeks went by and then she called again. She still had gone back.

And I was leaving the country. I was going away for about three weeks. So I referred her to, we have a newer exorcist. And I said, you're going to have to talk to this other priest now. I'll give him the details. And she said, okay. And he went out and met with her and he did the prayers. And she didn't call back after that. But I'm not convinced that it's gone. I think she's maybe may have made peace with it in some way. I don't know. And I'm just speculating, but she didn't give me the impression she was serious about going back to church. But, you know, just so people listening understand, there's only two sides in the battle. It's God against Satan, the angels against the demons, and we're in the middle. And so you've got to pick who you're going to,

which team are you going to be part of? If you're not part of God's team, then you're on the enemy's team. And even Jesus said that if you're not with me, it means you're against me. So in these days we live, I really believe people have to be more vigilant in their faith and also more determined in making an actual choice for God. You can't just slide in the middle and think neutral's okay. Father Dan's story shows you can call a priest. They can pray and do their own.

and do their thing, but if the victim is not ready to follow God, then the demon problems will be waiting for them as soon as the priest leaves. And yes, he said demonology and exorcism school in Rome, and no, you cannot audit that class. Isn't it fascinating that he learned about these specific types of entities there? While we do not want to give any unnecessary attention to the demonic hierarchy, it is noteworthy that even the brilliant church father, St. Augustine, referred to specific types of demons in his masterwork, city of God, specifically Fons, like Puck from Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream. In fact, he writes specifically in Book 15, Chapter 23. There is two, a very general rumor, which many have verified by their own experience,

or which trustworthy persons who have heard the experience of others corroborate, that Silvans and Fons, who are commonly called Incubi, had often made wicked assaults upon women and satisfied their lust upon them, and that certain devils, called D.O. Duzah by the Gauls are constantly attempting and affecting this impurity, is so generally affirmed that it would be imprudent to deny it. As to why demons would try and incite lust and sexual sin in humans, sex is far more than a physiological act. It carries spiritual significance and power.

The Apostle Paul wrote of sex's power to unify people together in the spirit, and such sins could pry open doors for demons to enter and wreak havoc on people's lives. And lest we think this is just some fairy tale medieval lore, Father Dan has some more contemporary examples. The other thing that's dangerous is, you know, I've seen two actresses in Hollywood say that they do sleep with demons, that it's something they enjoy. You know, when you get somebody who has a platform

and they have beauty and fame, and now they're telling the public they do this thing, you're going to have a group of unknowing people who were going to say, I should try that. Maybe if I try that, I'll get ahead like they did. And they might for a time. It's shocking when you see this. You pick up a newspaper or read a headline. The movie star says she sleeps with this demon and it helps her. Well, how is that for an opener? I figured we'd just get right into it. Now, moving to another topic, I wanted to get Father Dan's take on why exorcisms seem to vary so much in length and intensity.

In fact, on a scale of one to Linda Blair in the Exorcist, most are nowhere that extreme. In the gospel accounts, Jesus merely speaks the words, and the demons instantly obey and flee. Here's the account from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 9. Verse 42 says, even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him to the ground in a convulsion, but Jesus rebuked the impure spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father, and they were all amazed at the greatness of God. So how does Father Dan synthesize his experiences with that of the gospel accounts of Christ and the Apostles' exorcisms? Well, for one, Jesus is God, and he has perfect knowledge of what's happening.

I am not God. I don't have perfect knowledge of what's happening. And so there's going to be a longer and more meandering process. Like I said, if it was as easy as mathematics or science, we would just apply the mathematics and it would work. But it doesn't work like that. We have to kind of understand not just who the demon is and what permission they got to get there, but what was this person's history and what are the open doors? They basically flung open to allow this thing to come in so then we can shut those doors and it won't come back. Jesus would know that instantly.

I don't know that instantly. I would also argue, you know, having just received this outpouring of the Holy Spirit of Pentecost in a profound way, Of course, we have confirmation that does something very similar, but not the same. We didn't have tongues of fire visibly fall on us. And these were the first priests of the church. So there'd be something very special about their abilities and their ordination, training under God himself. So it's not quite exactly the same.

However, having said that, I'm the pastor of St. Catherine of Santa Church here. When the exorcists in Italy couldn't get the demons out, they would send them to Catherine. And she would take one look at them and they would flee because she was profoundly holy and had such a transforming union with God that literally, you know, she was reflecting God in such a way that they were terrified and they would leave. I hadn't really considered Jesus as the ultimate deliverance detective. With that perfect intimacy with the father, he was never in the dark about the doorways that needed to be shut or the names of the demons or their sins. He knew all the answers to all the questions that our exorcists are commanding the demons to answer.

And of course, there is that blissfully frustrating but comforting paradox, that God's sovereignty is at play, and his plans for each case and how to best use them for his purposes and glory. Now, while we pause to reflect on that theological Rubik's Cube, we are going to go to one of our patent-pending, incredible moments of sponsor reflection time. During this intercessory interlude, we will hear some music, perhaps. a joke or two, and learn about what services or products we've picked to patronize this episode and what incentives they have for 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 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 E-Files. 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. We're going to bid farewell to Father Dan for now. But don't worry, like Jesus and the Terminator, he'll be back.

We are now going to welcome Father John Zeta, exorcist for the Diocese of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, who, in addition to one of the great beards of all time, also carries the weight of a PhD in psychology. During our interview, I asked Father Zeta if he ever found himself in a position where a demon was so non-compliant that he was doubting his own ability to get the demon out.

Not an honor of doubting your abilities. It comes down to two things. The first is, as it has been explained, you know, it used to be that you could free a person very quickly because, again, it's not just the exorcist, It's the whole faith of the whole church behind him, the authority of the bishop and the faith of the church behind him, which is, you know, coming to bear in this particular case. As the faith has weakened and died all across the board, the backing that we had that doesn't exist anymore. And so it becomes much, much harder to actually affect an ascersism.

The second thing is that a lot of times depends on the individual themselves. In other words, does this person want to be? be freed. And they may say that they do, but deep down inside, there may be something that they're holding on to, and that's keeping you from being able to free them. So I've had several of those cases where the person just, they just really didn't want to be free. You know, they didn't like being possessed, but they didn't want to be freed at the same time. You know, it's very difficult at times. You can't free somebody if they don't want to be freed. As Father Martin says, exorcism is a conversion process. People end up demonized or they end up with a profound new connection with

Christ. It's hard to imagine someone not wanting to be free, but in some of these cases, particularly in those who found themselves in serious bondage to the occult, their loss of freedom came at the price of some powerful abilities. For many, it can be hard to give these up. But far more common is the insidious doorway of unforgiveness. Listeners will remember that Father Martins mentioned sexual sin and unforgiveness as being enormous doorways for demons to enter. So I'll give you an example of case, and you'll see maybe that can apply across the board. Again, a woman who was experiencing all kinds of phenomena in her home. She was not Catholic.

She went to her minister. The minister went to the home several times. Couldn't do anything. So they called the local Catholic priest. He went to the home several times. Couldn't do anything. They called me. I went to the home several times, and it wasn't working.

And finally I said to the woman, I'm going to take you to the church, to the Catholic Church. We were sitting in the cry room so she could still be in sight of the tabernacle. And as I'm praying over her, something struck me. And then I finally said to her, is there anything that you're holding on to, anything from your past, any hurt difficulty? And then she starts to break down. And she says, well, yes, when he said, when I was young, I was abused. And she didn't mean sexually, she meant physically and emotionally abused by different people. And I said, have you ever forgiven them?

Well, how can I forgive them after what they did to me? I said, well, that's the key. I said, you are holding on to this pain and this hurt from your past. And until you reach the point where you can forgive, they're going to continue to experience these things. That's what's giving the portal for demons to oppress you. It's what you're holding on to. Eventually, I did find out later on that she was free.

So she must have reached that point once she realized what was going on. In part one, Father Dan shared a story of a woman acting like a snake. As she sprang upon him, he ordered her down in Jesus' name and immediately she fell to the floor. Clearly, demons have to submit to Christ. But what's going on when we hear about demons resisting and seemingly not following orders? What do we do when a demon seems to be less compliant than a pre-2008 bank? There's a couple of different things. First of all, you know, it's probably a number of demons that are present, not just one.

And then what happens is, well, the more senior demons, so to speak, will push the minions out front. Okay. And so when you're hammering at them, it's the minions that are taking all the punishment. It's the minions who are running into the problems that you're throwing at them, all right? So the big guys just sit back and they're not really being affected by what it is that you're doing or what you're trying to do, right? And eventually you have to clear those all out. And sometimes you have to actually command, I want to speak to whoever's in. charge here. I want to speak to the big man, you know, and I don't want to speak to you guys.

Get out of here. And they try to play those games with you. And that's why it seems like they're not obeying, but it's because you're dealing with different demons. And I've had it happen both ways. I've had it happen where I have commanded the demons to be still and they've obeyed. But I've also had it happen where I've been attacked. Again, fortunately, I have my bodyguards with me and I've had it happen both ways. I think the demons are trying to wear you down as whereas you're wearing them down. So they're trying to hold out. So they're trying to hold loud as long as possible. And sometimes you can hear it or see it where, you know, they're kicking, they're screaming, they're doing all kinds of manifestations. Well, and that shows that you're really

having an effect. That you really are hurting them in that sense, all right? Now you say, well, you can't hurt a demon. Well, that's true, but you're hurting them through the body of the person who's possessed. Now, given demons legalistic trappings, it would make sense for them to hide and obfuscate behind different personalities, almost like the proverbial four-year-old holding his hand in front of someone's face, inches away and shouting, not touching, can't get mad, not touching. From Father Zeta's experience, it has been the case that numerous demons are present during an exorcism, and they rotate in and out in a strategic game of whack-a-mole. Scripture supports the idea that more than one demon can occupy an individual. In the account of the garrisoned demoniac, when Jesus asked

the man his name, the demon responds, Legion, for there were many demons. But one has to wonder, too, demons do lie and deceive. Would they have an incentive to inflate their numbers in the interest of intimidating? So if there are multiple demons present and they are attempting to manipulate, deceive, and out-maneuver the priest, one has to wonder about the role of the victim's free will in the process. With the garrisoned demoniac, the scripture says the man saw Jesus and ran to him. Now, I'm going to assume that wasn't the demons motivating him to run towards Jesus. So even in the midst of the most severe demonizations, it seems free will stands. First of all, you can't lose free will.

That's one thing demons cannot touch, all right? But it was an interesting thing that I just had a conversation along these lines with a chaplain at the state hospital where I'm also chaplain. He was Protestant chaplain, and he and I were discussing this the other day. And he made the point very clearly that, you know, you always have free will. And so, you know, even if you say you've accepted Christ, you always have the freedom to. reject that in whole or in part, and that he's coming from a Protestant perspective. And their theology basically said, if a person has genuinely accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior, they can't be possessed. They would not accept that, right? And they said, if they are possessed,

that that means then that they really weren't sincere in terms of their acceptance of Christ. So they just completely dismissed out of hand the possibility that any of their students could be possessed, right? Which is really sad. Now, to parse this out a bit, Both sides are conceding that Christians can be demonically attacked and that free will cannot be removed. So what then does, quote, possession mean in this case? If we think about it in real estate terms, Christians could be considered houses that are owned by Christ. And through open doorways and breaking God's laws or perhaps neglect, demons can sometimes come into temporary occupation of that home. There is, of course, a difference between being in possession of something and legally owning it.

Christians belong to Christ, but as we see from Scripture, it's clear they can also be targeted. Two obvious examples are Christ being tempted in the desert and Satan targeting Peter when he asked to sift him. Now, in season one, episode 9, we outlined the various stages of demonization and the ways humans are harassed. There are attacks on human thoughts and dreams through obsession, attacks on the human body or condition through oppression, and at the inception point of most demonic behavior, the inhabits of the inhabitants of human thoughts, of a place or the manipulation of an object or objects through infestation. In addition, there is the dynamic of curses, which Father Zeta has some strong opinions on. Yes, they are absolutely real.

I've encountered them many times in different situations. I see patterns were true, but also, you know, I've had one particular case of a woman who was convinced that there were problems in the family line, and I interviewed other members of her family. I prayed over her for those deliverances from those things, any number of times. She still kept insisting that, no, that it wasn't working. And the more she insisted, the more convinced I became that this was something in her own imagination rather than something that was genuine in terms of the curse of the family line.

We also had cases, for example, Freemasonry. Freemasonry is completely demonic. And so people who have had that in their family background, you know, parents, grandparents, or whatever, and they're experiencing effects of that. It passes on. The effects of it pass on. And sometimes people will be affected by them, and we need to free them. And we have specific prayers of deliverance to free people from curses or from the effects of,

let's say, Freemasonry or whatever. But, yes, it is possible. Remember, as Jesus himself says, you know, Satan is the prince of this world. And he manipulates everything. So there's no such thing as just a random occurrence or, you know, a bad luck. situation. That doesn't exist. Demons are manipulating everything down to the smallest detail sometimes. That's just the way it works. As we have learned in previous episodes, curses can be familial, directed at individuals, or at objects and places. This is particularly true with witchcraft

and occult rituals. Father Zeta's own diocese was targeted. Absolutely. In this diocese, we have a community of hermits, monks, and I got a call one day from them, And they live way out in the wilderness. There was, I think at that time, I think there were ten of them there. But somebody had snuck onto their property and set up something. You know, I have photographs of it where it was obvious that there was some kind of Wiccan ritual that was performed there on their property. And they could feel it. They knew there were problems, things had happened that were just unexplainable in the community.

And they called me and I went down to see them and I had to do all kinds of prayers. deliverance over them, over the property, and it lifted whatever curse had been laid on them. But why they did it, who they did it, we don't know. But I have the photographs of the things that were left behind. And there you have it. As the saying goes, which is in fact, be crazy. Now, Father Zeta has worked with Monsignor Brankin, one of our guests from season one, and the exorcist Father George from the infamous murder demon exorcism.

In that interview, Monsignor Brankin shared a visceral and chilling account. of the feeling inside the room, the hopelessness, the oppression, and the darkness. Those are hallmark symptoms of demonic assault, and Father Zeta said there is no exaggeration there. He also relays the importance of having people you can pray with and call upon in your hour of need. I'd go along with that to a certain extent.

Again, it depends on the case that you're dealing with. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. But it can sometimes happen afterwards, too. I'll give you an example. I had been asked to come to another diocese that did not have an exorcist. So again, got permissions of all the bishops and went to this diocese. And this goes back to the case.

We're talking about the free masonry. In this case, the man was a mason. He went out of the masons. We went through the whole ritual of getting free from the Masonic ties. And then the pastor of that parish said to me, would you mind coming over here? He wanted to show me something. He took me into this room.

And it was like storage. And he said, this used to be a confessional. He said, we don't use it for that anymore. He said because in the cases of the child abuse, a former posture of this parish had been one of the worst offenders that was mentioned in the grand jury report. And he said, this is where most of those cases happened. And he said, would you do an exorcism of this room, which I did? Well, then I could feel I was under attack. I mean, I knew I was under serious attack, the depression, the darkness, the heaviness.

It was really bad. And so I called up my friend, Monsignor, and I said, listen, I need you to pray over me because I know I'm under attack right now because of what happened. He was not there with me. So I went to his church, and we were standing before the altar, and he was praying some prayers of deliverance over me. And all of a sudden the church bells started ringing.

And he just looked because they're on automatic timers, and they shouldn't have been ringing. So he continued the prayers, and they started ringing the second time. So when we finished, and I was feeling someone, He said, I don't understand why those church bells were ringing. And what happened was every time he mentioned the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the prayers, that's when the church bells rang. And I smiled and I looked at him and I said, Monsignor, you didn't know this.

But the church that I was out yesterday was the parish church of the Immaculate Conception. Now, we can't go a whole episode with two exorcists and not ask at least one of them about the most infamous game, the one that conjures up so many scary stories. stories. And no, I'm not talking about Wordle. I'm talking about Ouija boards. Ouija boards, speak boxes. Yeah, men counted them all. I had one interesting case. It was funny. A young man, some friends of his said, hey, listen, there's a place that's supposed to be haunted, and we want to go over there and play with a Ouija board and see if anything happens. And so he said to them, well, if you get me drunk first, I'll go with you. So they did, and he went.

I suspect he did more than just get drunk. But anyway, they went. They played with the Ouji board and it worked. And of course the demon says, well, don't worry, everything stays here, nothing goes with you, blah, blah, blah. So he goes home and now he's under attack, all right? And now he's freaking out. He's all upset. He calls his parish priest. He said, I don't know what to happen. What's

happening? What do I do? And the priest calls me and says, what do I do? And I said, very simple. Tell him to go to confession. He was dumb. He did a stupid mistake and he went to confession and took care of the problem. But that's it. We played with these things. And you can't play with fire and not expect to get burnt.

Again, rules to live by. Don't take a spirit board to an allegedly haunted location and submit yourself to the influence of spirits, alcoholic or ethereal. And other advice, as we close out, I wanted to leave with Father Zeta's own words about forgiving oneself. We've talked a lot about sexual sin, the occult, and of course unforgiveness of others. But forgiveness is not just for others, but also for ourselves. People don't forgive themselves. That's the hardest part of all. You know, so if you can't forgive yourself, the demon always has a hold an opening. And so, let us cease to try others in the courts of our heart, and perhaps even more so, give ourselves, as Shakespeare said, sweet mercies that are the badges of true nobility.

We hope you've enjoyed our time with Father Zeta and Father Dan Rehill. We will welcome them both back in season two. Speaking of which, if you haven't followed us on Instagram and Facebook and signed up for our email list, please do so. You can stay tuned for the latest updates on season two, and there are some big ones coming. Lastly, we want to give a special shout out and thank you to our partner Exodus. They help to make this episode possible. We do get a lot of emails asking for Father's advice on how to keep the enemy out of your life, and Exodus's men's spiritual programming is fantastic.

It's something Father Martin's highly recommends. Seriously, sign up for Exodus 90 at start my Exodus.com slash X-Files, or just click the link in the show notes. Thank you for listening to the X-Marty. Exorcist Files to keep in touch with us and get some of our anointed 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 Martins 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 are amazing, we hope you never have to meet them or need them. It takes a legion of people to make this show possible. So thank you to our sound designer, editor and mixer, Dan Blessinger,

script doctoring by Christoph Ares and Ryan Bithay, 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.