The Exorcist Files - Father Martin's Famous Skull Injury, UFOS, And The Rise in Demonic Activity

Episode Date: April 2, 2026

Father Martins answers some of the most pressing questions from our listeners.Join the Vault and Support the show! Exorcistfiles.supercast.com Thank you to our sponsors!Field of Greens- . Check out the university study and get 20% off at FOGCHICKS.com – PROMO CODE EXFILES. Fogchicks.com and use our code EXFILESRunewood Rosaries- Get 15% off your order when you use our promo code EXFILES at Runewoodrosary.comBabbel- Learn a new Language and get up to 60% off your subscription at Babbel.com/EXFILESReady to give Toups a try? Get 25% off your first order by going to http://toupsandco.com/exfiles and use code EXFILES for 25% off your first order.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Welcome back to The Exorcist Files, and if you are watching it, which you should be, you'll notice something different. You have two talking heads, a host and a co-host you may love third most. Right, Father? At least that? At least that. I mean, the third is pretty high for you, but I mean, okay. So, Father, are you proud? I know we're not quite the same attire, but are you pleased with my choice of black t-shirt? Am I just missing a little white here?

Is that what your thing? You're missing a little white there. You're missing also something called Holy Orders. So if that's what you're going for, yeah, you lack both. Okay, great. It's always good to start off my Palm Sunday with an encouragement from a successor to the Apostles. So thanks for that. Now, I have a special Palm Sunday surprise for you.

Are you ready for it? I'm ready. We're going to open up as now, normally I open us up with praise or haze. We'll get to that. I know we love that. But I have a game I designed just. for you called four Luthers. I'm going to read you a quote and you're going to tell me which Luther it was. Is it Luther Vandross, Martin Luther, Lex Luther, or Martin Luther King, Jr.

Are you ready, father? I'm ready. The only thing more dangerous than a hero is the man who understands him. Which Luther said that? I'm going to say Lex Luther. That is correct. It was Lex Luther. Very good. Gene Hackman, God, Justice Soul. Saint of Kryptonite. All right. If I could get just one more chance, another walk, another dance. That is Luther Vandross.

Very good. Do you know the song? I do not. Dance with my father. Believe you want to gram me for that. Fantastic song. All right. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. That's MLK.

All right. And then peace if possible. Wait, hang on. That is from, he wrote that in letter from a Birmingham jail. Wow. Father, you know your MLK Jr. I do. Okay.

And then your other favorite Luther, peace, if possible, truth at all costs. Well, by process of elimination, that is the Luther. There you go. Bob, do you know the connection between Martin Luther King Jr. and Martin Luther? Well, they share names almost. Do you know why? I do not, no.

So I actually heard this from Eric Metaxus, so I'm pretty sure this is true, but I'll double check on this. But apparently Martin Luther King Jr. was born Michael King Jr. And his father, Michael King, Sr., who went to Germany and studied the Reformation, and apparently was so inspired by Martin Luther's stand that he went home and changed his name to Martin Luther King, and thus his son to Martin Luther King, Jr. Okay, interesting. So there you go. But I'm glad you enjoyed four Luther's.

We'll have to do that again sometime. It was hard to find quotes that sounded remotely different for each of them. All right. Well, we are going to do a little Q&A today, and we've got some wonderful questions that have come in. So, Father, are you ready to answer the burning questions and release all wisdom and knowledge to all the fans? I am ready.

I'm ready. You've mentioned in numerous speeches and stories that you had your skull severely injured during an exorcism. I don't think I've ever heard you recount what was happening. Were you face to face of the demon? Were you up close in your face? What actually happened? Can you share the story of how you sustained a skull fracture during an exorcism? Yeah, so I talk about this account in my book, The Exorcist Files.

I believe it's at the end of chapter one. I was in an exorcism session, and the, the individual in question was a very highly demonized person. And so there was just preternatural things happening all the time. It was just flowing from her. And she had picked up a deacon who was over 300 pounds and just threw him across the room. She then pointed to a light switch on the wall. And, you know, light switches, they have cover plates and there's two screws.

holding the cover plate in and one of the screws unscrewed itself came flying through the air into her hand and she drove it into her left arm and we never saw that screw again and it was later in that session where i i was praying against the demons and she broke up out of her chair and hit me in the face and hit me with her head so it wasn't even it it it wasn't a move that that i was even expecting and it just sent me flying and you know it it it was just like a like one of those old bugs bunny cartoons you know i i i remember seeing stars i i saw stars so my bell was wrong and it it took and it took some time for me to kind of come to in the sense of of realizing what's happening and and and for my body to be able to respond again to commands to do what i wanted it to do

do because kind of the reset button was reset. Now, I didn't realize at the time the extent of my injuries. There was no blood. The damage was all internal with broken bones. And, you know, after that session, I got on an airplane and I probably shouldn't have done that. But again, I didn't know. And the increased pressure wasn't good.

And here's the irony. I landed, I had a layover in Chicago. at O'Hare Airport. And I, you know, I had a long layover. So by the, and by the time that I would get home, I was exhausted from the exorcism. And I needed to celebrate Mass. I set out very early for the airport that day. I had a long layover and then would arrive at home late at night.

And I thought, you know, gosh, I should celebrate Mass, you know, at the airport here. They have a chapel. And if it's free, then I'll just go do that. Well, I go to the chapel and lo and behold, there's a priest there preparing to celebrate Mass, which is going to start in about 10 minutes' time. It was perfect timing. I said, Father, do you mind if I hop in Mass and concelebrate with you? He said, no, not at all.

So I'm sitting there, and during his homily, he's preaching. And the reading that day was one of the accounts where Christ encounters a demoniac and sets the demoniac free from the devil. And so in this preaching, this old priest says, you know, like demons don't exist today. Demons are not real. They were real during that time, but Christ put an end to him. And I just thought, here I am. And by that time, my head is hurting a whole lot.

And I just feel like I've been hit by a truck. And then he says this. And, you know, I went to him afterwards. And I explained to him, like, you know, father. I really didn't appreciate your homily today. And here's why. And I told him what was happening. And he was very apologetic.

And he just said, look, I, I didn't know because I, you know, he was, he was quite aged. He was, he was at least in his late 70s, if not older. And he said, you know, I've lived my whole priest and I've never encountered demons. So that was his kind of explanation. And, and he didn't, he didn't dispute what I said. He didn't contradict it. And he was, he was apologetic.

But there he are. So what happened is things were just not right with my head. Things were not right with my skull. And there was a chronic infection that started to happen. I needed to have surgery to fix the damage. And again, at that time, I didn't realize that anything was wrong. And it took many months with me just feeling awful, me feeling really sick. and going to my doctor and, of course, blood tests were ordered, and the blood tests showed, like,

wow, you have all the markers of a very, very bad infection in your body, but I didn't feel pain anywhere. I didn't, you know, nothing was kind of manifesting, if you will, no pun intended. And so eventually there was a scan down of my skull, and boy, then did it ever show up. So there were pockets of very, very tight, packed pockets of infection. And so a surgery was scheduled, that one surgery was not enough. A second surgery was scheduled where things had to be reset and infection had to be cut out. Thankfully, I'm glad that period is over. It's been over 10 years now.

It was a really debilitating condition that, you know, I went months and months and months without knowing what was wrong. So there was nothing I could do except take antibiotics, but every time I'd go off the antibiotics, then the feeling of profound sickness would come through. And thankfully, I had a doctor who was able to diagnose what was happening. Wow. So just so I'm clear, were you up close and they headbutted you or remind me, how did you sustain the initial impact? The victim sprang from the chair and hit me with their head. Like full on just frontal headbutt?

It was not a frontal headbutt. It was like with the side. There was a, I mean, it happened so quickly. It was a spring and then kind of a side, boom. Almost as if, if, almost as if the person were to have horns, it would be a goring with one of the horns coming out of the temple. Wow. And you were not wearing your helmet of salvation, were you, father?

I was, but it allowed this one to go through somehow. Oh, man, well... So all of us have two different ages. Did you know this? There's the number of years you've lived on the planet, your chronological age, and then there's this actual biological age. Basically, how well your cells and organs are doing? You could also argue my age of emotional maturity,

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I do appreciate the Tolkien-inspired aesthetic that they have. So if you're in the market for Rosary or looking for a special gift to get someone, check out runwood rosary.com. That's runwoodrosary.com and use our promo code X-Files. That's EX files for 15% off your order, or just click the link in the show notes. I read an article recently, which will link to In the Show Notes from EWTN and a few other outlets covered it. And it mentions, Father, that the International Association of Exorcists have called for expanded formation at multiple levels of church life, instruction and seminaries on the real existence and nature of the demonic world, and have highlighted a shortage of exorcists and mentioned that, in fact, the faithful are suffering because there is not enough spiritual assistance paraphrasing. Father, what are your thoughts on this? I feel like I have read a form of this report or warning. and is it true that there is a shortage of exorcists in the church? Yeah, so the International Association of Exorcists, so the Italian initials are AIE, and that's kind of the abbreviation.

AIE is a think tank that hosts symposia on topics related to exorcism, spiritual warfare, and the supernatural for that matter. The fact that Pope Leo met with the AIE is very telling. He granted them an audience. That was a public audience, and in the sense that it was reported, it is a very loud, amplified message that the Pope is taking this topic very seriously. And their message to him was, yeah, we need more exorcists. By canon law, every diocese must have an exorcist. And it does de facto, and that is the diocesan bishop. but almost no bishops

undertake that task of being the exorcist. So they need to appoint someone that's ready and willing to do that. Not every diocese has that. And some of them, to be fair to them, they're very small. And every priest has already tasked with eight jobs. So what the AIE is saying is,

look, even if they have to go outside the diocese and appoint a religious, for example, that this is something that they should be encouraged to do. Now, some things are easier said than done. And look, bishops have a tough job. They have a tough job. There's all kinds of need. And no bishop gets up in the morning and decides,

you know what, I'm just going to be negligent of my job today. And then do the same thing tomorrow and the same thing the third day. They have an immense amount of stuff on their plate. And they've got to keep a lot of plates spinning on pencils. And sometimes things don't happen as quite. quickly as we desire them to do. But nevertheless, the Pope is giving this message. He's allowing this audience to be summarized and broadcast to the world, to bishops, to dioceses, to priests, in order to take this message to heart, take it seriously. People are in need. We need to help them.

And Father, a lot of times we'll hear comments about, oh, this is a heightened time. There's more demonic activity and obviously the number of demons is fixed and so is it a reasonable conclusion that if there is increased spiritual persecution or demonic activity i mean is it fair to say okay is that human i mean obviously god's sovereignty but also is that affected by just human decisions where the culture's going what kind of influences that because obviously the number of demons is remaining constant right right so absolutely it's affected by culture it's affected by human decisions. There's an increasing de-Christianization of Western society. And because of that, we don't cease being spiritual beings. We just seek our spirituality and other things,

other things that are dangerous in paganism, in occultism, and so forth. And people turning to that and abandoning morality, right? Like, let's not forget. Christian society is a moral society to relinquish Christianity is to relinquish the moral underpinning that buttresses up and makes us witnesses to the world. And this is no small thing. Western society was built on Christian morality. It's our legal system, for example, is an extension of Christian morality, which believes that every human being is created in the image and likeness of God. The proof is in the pudding. You know, in any Western society, a criminal has more rights than in a pagan society or, frankly, in a Muslim society, right? I mean, you have as an accused criminal, you have more rights here. So in any Western country than you do, for example, in Saudi Arabia, go to North Korea and start asserting your rights.

You know, it just, it's not going to work. And this is because of Christianity. And look how uniform it is in Western society. And so the fact that we're turning away from our Christian underpinnings is a dangerous thing. It's dangerous spiritually, but also legally because that Christian morality is what underpins the rights that we so enjoy and that we're used to. So, okay. Thank you, Father. Let's move on to a question that came in about journaling.

Father Martins, I enjoy journaling quite a bit. I've heard that demons can read our writings and observe them. This sounds strange, but am I opening myself up to spiritual attack by showing them what I'm feeling or processing? Or is anything I write in my journal probably something the enemy has, frankly, already figured out by studying me. I don't want to stop journaling. How can I think through this?

look the only thing you have to be worried about is sin and avoiding sin you don't need to worry about the demon reading your writings you don't need to worry about them figuring out what's in your mind they're very good at doing that anyway you can't stop that part can they read your thoughts no but they're pretty good at at deducing what's going on in you so look you don't have to worry about that you don't have to worry about that You just worry about being in relationship with God and eliminating sin from your life. Let the demons be demons and you be a child of God. Well, Father, you know, this is why I use improper grammar and illegible handwriting is as an added insurance policy so my spiritual antagonists cannot discern my plans and purposes.

Yeah, and neither can any human being. That's right. It's going to be safe. It's full proof. Full, full proof. All right. Father Martins, have you ever helped a former cult member escape and is there a subsequent deliverance story accompanying that escape?

So have I helped a cult member escape, not physically. I have never physically helped a cult member escaped. Have I worked on cult members who have escaped cult? Yes, I have. I've had several cases of that sort. And, you know, what can I say? All of them were highly demonized. All of them had profound wounding,

wounding which had to be addressed concurrent, concurrent with the spiritual ministry that they were receiving to rescind the rights of demons. So all of that certainly was at play. Okay. And for Father, who those who think, oh, cold, that's just a bunch of people getting together to brew kombucha. you can say that it's actually, there are those cults,

but also there are organized and dangerous cults and it still represents a very real spiritual threat to mankind. Absolutely, it does. Yeah, there are different kinds of cults. There's the Jim Jones cult, which was real in its hold on people. There's the Charles Manson cult. Like, Manson had this uncanny ability to hold people around them,

the young women around him in power. and even decades later he still had that. Like, there was just a way that he was able to make them dependent on him psychologically. Was part of that demonic, I don't know, could be. Do I think it has to be the case? Not necessarily. I don't know enough about psychology. You know, psychology, and we've all met people that, for example,

parents who raise their children to be absolutely dependent upon them, so they can't think apart from them. So that's a form of psychological hold. The point being that when we're talking about ritualistic cults, satanic cults, wican cults, we're not talking about cults that, you know, didn't exist 20 years ago. We're talking about ancient cults that have existed for hundreds of years. These are not cults that desire to recruit members. They have no desire to get any bigger than what they are.

They don't recruit members. They raise members. So it's membership. they're raised within the cult. They're bred. They're produced within the cult so that they have them right from the beginning. And this leaves the least amount of footprint outside the cult. It creates the least suspicion.

They don't want movement of outsiders into the cult. They have no interest in that. They're not looking to evangelize, to use a Christian term, so to speak. They do what they do for the reasons in which they do it with their own people because they can keep those folks in their power and in their hold. However, there are at times people who break free, the instinct for freedom and the awareness of truth and frankly divine grace, which is there for everybody.

God is constantly sending his grace even to the most evil person. And that occasionally all the conditions are set such that this person decides this member of a cult, I need to leave. And so oftentimes they have demons attached to them, and we have to work to clean them up. Father, I've been a member of the Auto Club for decades now. Is that a cult or am I okay there? Yeah, it's a cult.

Get out. Dang it. All right, AAA. Although, I don't really, they're like just a leave. I don't think they want me in it anymore. Do they sponsor the Exorcist files? They don't. No.

And you're asking me whether this is a problem? Yeah, there you go. And Father, I know you'd love to correct me if I'm wrong as you usually do, but am I correct? The word cult actually used to mean orthodox and was a compliment. Now it's pejorative and basically, you know, used to describe a group of people doing some, you know, unorthodox things. But it was actually a good thing to be considered cultish, right? Yeah, the word cult could mean worship or devotion. So we talk about a cult of a saint. in the Catholic Church, and that's a good thing.

But it doesn't mean we're worshipping the saint. It doesn't have that modern meaning of cult. So in the Catholic Church within the process of canonization, and frankly, within just typical Catholic theology, the word for cult is a word that has a meaning that is over 2,000 years old. So this is the meaning of a Latin word, cultus. And so we continue that. And the modern meaning of cult, it's a Johnny Come Lately.

You know, it's less than 100 years old. So we don't change our theology textbooks simply because there's a new word that comes upon the scene and it lays claim to an old one. So, but it is important to make distinctions. And the distinction is the word cultus has nothing necessarily to do with that which is nefarious. All right. Closing out our cult chapter here, Father, a little adjacent, Vice President Vance, recently stated that he is obsessed with UFOs and said, quote, I don't think they're aliens. I think they're demons anyway, but that's a longer discussion. Now, we've talked a little bit about

UFOs on this, but Father, what are your thoughts on Vice President Vance's thoughts that UFOs are, in fact, probably demonic? I think he's bang on. And I know, I've talked about this in different interviews and in the Exorcist files, and that, look, the devil takes on the cultural appearance. The devil takes on the form that the culture will understand him. So prior to the space age, the devil came and appeared as pixies, leprechauns, fairies. When we reached the space age, there was a kind of revolution in understanding. So the unknown, you know, we turned to our...

eyes from the unknown world of behind shadows and behind trees and the dark corners of forests and we started to look to space. And when that happened, the devil changed his appearance accordingly. And so now when you hear people talk about spotting a spaceship and I've had friends that have made this, that have had this experience or that claim to have had this experience, looking up in the sky, there's a gigantic spaceship in the sky hovering over the city. And yet, nobody else in the town experiences that. It's not on the news. This was something that would be the length and width of many football fields.

And yet it was hovering in the sky over an urban setting. And nobody else saw this. So how do you account for that? You know, it was something demonic. And that one of the friends who had that, that's exactly what he claims to this day. That, you know, that happened prior to my conversion to Christianity. He was an adult convert. And he said, I think the devil came in that form to me to cause me to doubt the Christian cosmology presented in Christian revelation.

That wait a second, Christian revelation can't be true. because it doesn't account for for extraterrestrial life and that's obviously what this is that what he saw was an illusion or a demonic apparition he was with a friend and both of them saw it so it wasn't a solo experience like he wasn't hallucinating this so two friends saw this saw the same thing and what they saw coordinates perfectly with one another but no one else in this town of you know hundreds of thousands of people saw it. So his explanation is the devil was putting doubts in me to doubt Christianity, but it didn't work. He did convert.

He followed through. He was baptized in the faith. I was present at his baptism. Thanks to be to God. Okay. There are many reasons to learn a new language. Beyond just being able to order that special dish on vacation and impress your friends, it's also just another really cool way to appreciate the complexities of human communication.

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X files. Rules and restrictions may apply. So I get pitched a lot of skincare products. I don't know how to interpret that, but I'll try not to take it too personally. And I do turn most of them down, mainly because I'm skeptical or they have ingredients I can't pronounce spell or frankly have any understanding of what they are, which is why when I learned about Toops & Co, I was intrigued to say the least. So they just sent me their Glow serum and I'm just starting my dermatological journey. But the first thing I did was have my AI model look up the ingredients and analyze based on available data, potential efficacy. Now, most of the time, it'll say, hey, this won't do much, or it could help, or we're not sure. Interestingly, it did say that the combination of ingredients

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But if it is, of course, leave those comments. Now look, I think sun protection, eating well, sleeping well, not stressing, that matters a ton for your skin health. But also inevitably, when I see people with amazing skin, I always ask, do you have a skincare regimen? And they almost always say, yes, we do. So if you're ready to simplify your routine and actually feel good about what you're putting on your skin, head to tubesandco.com slash X files. They're offering listeners 25% off your first order with the code X files, that tubes and code EX files for 25% off your first order, or just click the link in the show notes. All right, father, we have a question on the lady of Guadalupe Miracle. I will admit, as the show's resident heretic,

I had not heard of this miracle and apparition until I did some research for one of our episodes, but the listener writes in, Father, I'm a new Catholic, and I've heard about the story of the Lady of Guadalupe in the show. We use that, obviously, because during an exorcism,

Father had us sing a hymn to the Lady of Guadalupe, and that, of course, resulted in much torment to the demon. And the listener's asking about the story, and perhaps one, you could summarize it for us, Father. It says that Mary appeared to a peasant named Juan Diego, told him to build a chapel or shrine to her. And the listener writes that they really struggle with this part of the story because it would seem that Mary would be taking away honor from Jesus.

And then perhaps you could talk through the entire event because it did result in the conversion of millions of Aztecs to Christianity. And so perhaps the proof is in the pudding there. So, Father, could you maybe start us off with, what is the Lady of Guadalupe, Mary an Avarician? and then how can this listener think through Mary's request of a chapel built to her and how that may not be worship? Okay, so what you said at the end, that's the key.

Millions of people converted, like the whole nation of Mexico, converted, but they didn't convert to Mary. They converted to Christ. So that's a key fact there. So look, and the saints, true devotion to the saints, takes nothing away from devotion to God. But when we erect a chapel or a church and name that chapel or church, you know, the church of St. Alphonseus Laguri, that's taking nothing away from God.

That's honoring the saint, but the worship that happens inside goes to God. And the same with what happened at Guadalupe. So our lady asked for a chapel to be built in her honor, and that chapel was built in her honor, but the worship that happens inside goes straight to God. Yeah, so our lady appeared to. a peasant gentleman named Juan Diego, she appeared to him multiple times, requested a chapel to be built to her honor. This was at Tepeak, which is now right in the heart of Mexico City.

The chapel was built, and within 10 years, effectively all of Mexico had converted to Christianity. And so to be clear, they didn't convert to Mary. They converted to Christ. And so the fact that she was requesting a chapel does not mean she was requesting worship. No, we name a building, we dedicate a building to a saint. It doesn't mean that the worship that occurs in that building is being directed to the saint. Not at all. We honor the saint.

We worship God. We worship the God who gave us the saint. But it is right to recognize the saint because in so doing, we're recognizing God. and the work that God did within that saint. Now, Father, I mean, this is millions of Aztecs, right? And I forget the time. Was this the 1800s, Father? When did this happen?

1400s. Oh, so it's a long time ago. And the story also is very, it's a little bizarre too, right? Because if memory serves, Juan Diego had the, he saw this apparition. And then is there some image of her that was, appeared on his telma? like he was wearing like some attire, right? And so what's the story there? It's very fascinating.

Yeah, so he's wearing a tilma, so kind of a rudimentary cape produced from the fibers of cacti. And he had collected castilian roses that, you know, this was in the middle of the winter. And they would not be blooming. But at the site of the apparition, they were blooming. And this was the proof. He saw this as proof. If I'm able to provide blooming castilian roses to the bishop who asked for proof in order for this chapel to our lady to be built, if I show him this, he's going to accept that these apparitions are true. So he collected them, put them in his telma.

When he dropped the telma in front of the bishop, this image of our lady, this miraculous image, was on the telma and remained so to this day. And there are many miraculous qualities about that image, but not the least of which is the fact that the Tilma itself, which was woven in fibrous cloth using the fibers from cacti, that should have disintegrated centuries ago. Like that is not a strong cloth. It's not a cloth that lasted. It was peasant cloth. And so it wasn't strong. It was a very temporary garment, a very temporary cloth. And yet it is preserved to this day.

Wow. So, Father, if you were, so I'm assuming there's a massive church in Guadalupe, right? There's a massive church, absolutely. Have you been down there? I have. Is it a full, like, I imagine this is a pilgrimage site for many millions of Catholics. Is it an experience? Is the object still there?

If one were to venture down there, what would they experience? Yeah, so the Tilma is there. It is framed. It is up high because of the amount of people that go there. To keep traffic moving, you step on a conveyor, and the conveyor brings you in front of the image and then takes you away. And that just keeps folks moving. Of course, if they have millions upon millions of people in a year that come in vener,

that image, come and venerate that work of God. So you've got to keep the crowd moving. But you're going to see people of faith there. You're going to see people praying, people bring their petitions to God, entrusting them to the Blessed Mother to give to the Lord. They are invoking her, her maternal intercession on their behalf, on their sick relatives' behalf and so forth. And it really is an amazing place where there's just raw faith. There, people know this is a special place. I'm in the presence of something miraculous where the finger of God touched the earth in a profound way. And that meaning is not lost on the pilgrims that go there.

And Father, has the church, I know the church has different levels of recognition and declaring some things, bona fide miracles, et cetera. Is this one with our lady Guadalupe? Is this considered one of the strongest attested to apparitions as the church have a formal, declaration on it? Yeah. So the church, what happens is the local bishop makes a declaration, and that's good enough for the church. So the Vatican itself doesn't make the declaration that, look, this separation is worthy of belief. It allows the local bishop to do that, of course, in consultation with the Holy See. And that's at most what the church does. It says this apparition is worthy of belief. So it's been studied.

the evidence is there and it's overwhelming. No one has ever compelled to believe it. It is not on par with revelations, not on par with the Word of God or with sacred tradition, but it is highly, highly influential. And even if, even if the church doesn't compel anyone to believe in any particular apparition, it does compel people to believe that God can communicate in that way. to his people. So, so it, you know, one is free to doubt a particular instance of an apparition, but not to doubt that God can choose to speak in that manner to the church and to the world. And so, Father, how do you, because I know correct me if I'm wrong here, as you are

off to do, off to do, but with Magmigoria, why is that considered different than Lady of Guadalupe or Fatima? Megiguria is ongoing. So there cannot be an evaluation done of that. There just can't be. It's ongoing. So the chapter is not yet closed and the book is not written. So you can't evaluate a book before you read it. So its history is still being written.

So the church remains silent. As we close out this Lady of Guadalupe question, why should people believe this? I mean, Mary appears to a peasant with roses growing in winter and then an image sewn onto his cape. This sounds absolutely nuts. And yet, this is widely attested to why, for people who think this is just bonkers, what would you say to them about the Lady of Guadalupe apparition? Yeah, just look at the effect. Millions and millions of people converted. You know, paganism came to an end with that apparition

in Mexico. And not only paganism, look at all of the different indigenous tribes, all the different groupings of people, sex of people, nomadic people, tribes and so forth, they were all united as one people after that. I mean, how can that be? How can all of that happen in 10 years, which is absolutely lightning fast? It is lightning fast. If you can find a different explanation other than that that is a work of God, then I'd like to it. Father, we know we can't earn God's love or favor, but we can seek him diligently. I'm curious, though, what is the difference? I know fasting, for example, isn't a formula for getting answered prayers, but I do know that fasting and praying can help, and fasting can really help. How do you

counsel people to walk the line of pursuit, knowing it's not an equation, but there are spiritual disciplines and activities that do seem to increase God's response? Yeah, I, you know, there's not a generic answer to this kind of question. And people, when they decide to embark on holiness, which is a good thing, when they decide to seek perfection, which is a really good thing, you encounter questions like this, hey, like, what's the line? Like, how much is too much? How much is not enough?

And there's no one set answer for everybody. But I think what you need to do is, you know, talk about these things with friends, talk about these things with holy people in your life, maybe with your pastor, with a spiritual director, perhaps. But just people of faith and find out what do they do? And in that way, you kind of learn from the body. The body kind of helps itself. When Christ is present in his body,

it's going to be different for you than it is for other people. Like fasting for me, for example, I can fast and still perform my jobs. Fasting does not kind of debilitate me. I had a friend who, they're very devout Christian. If he fasted for even five hours, he was drained of all energy. Like he couldn't, he just could not perform his duties in the day.

So, okay, fasting for him is going to look very different than it is for me. And that's fine. So for me, it's not that big of a sacrifice. For him, it is. And if he has responsibilities to fulfill, well, he's got to weigh those responsibilities against offering God that fasting. And, you know, if it keeps you from fulfilling what you need to do, your job, it keeps you from being kind to people, it keeps you from managing and completing your responsibilities,

God doesn't want you to give that up because then you're giving God stolen goods. He doesn't want you, he wants you to give from the heart, not to give from what you need to give others and what you're obliged by courtesy and by professionalism and just by obligation to give what you owe to others. He wants you to make space in your heart for him. And so you've got to figure out what is a good way to do that. And mind you, for some people fasting can be eating more of foods that you don't like. But you know, the irony with that too is some. Sometimes you can start eating that. I had friends like this who, gosh, they couldn't stand Brussels sprouts.

Well, eventually they got to like them. And so then it's no longer a sacrifice when you like it. So you have to move on to something else. You have to move on to something you don't like. Maybe you like everything. And so, well, maybe you give up some of the quantity or you give up a beverage that's nice with your food. you drink just water. That kind of thing is different for different people,

but the point is if you read about the spiritual life, study what some of the great spiritual authors have said, talk to others and find out what they're doing, that's a good recipe for growth. Now, Father, obviously in Scripture says, the Lord rewards those who seek him diligently. And so I am curious, though, just to get back to the listener's question,

there are some activities and pursuits that God does seem to endorse or approve, right, and perhaps we can extrapolate lessons from Christ that many of the people, you know, seeking healing, came to him with sort of outlandish gestures that maybe are not prescriptive, but he responded favorably to, you know, bursting through crowds, lowering through roofs. So would you go as far to say that, yeah, it's, you know, well-intentioned, zealous pursuit of God typically is better, obviously than just than nothing and idly. But how do you, how do you nuance that phrase?

You know, the Lord rewards those who seek him diligently. Yeah, right. So look, that example is a good one of those friends lowering the paralyzed man down through the roof. Now, look, to be clear, they wanted to get at Jesus through normal means. In other words, they weren't trying to be idiots.

They weren't trying to just, you know, look, let's see how obnoxious we can beat. There was no way to be able to get their friend in through the door because it was just so many people. And yet they weren't going to let this opportunity pass them by. Their friend is paralyzed. And this is, you know, there's a guy here. There's this Jesus of Nazareth.

And who knows what he's capable of doing? Like he's healed other people. Like we want our friend. We want Peter healed right here. Pete, look lively. We're going to lower you through the root. Okay, don't worry about it. We're not going to let you fall.

And the Lord rewarded. Like, he saw the faith that they had in him. And what a glorious moment that was. Could you imagine being there and seeing that? Like, what a profound moment. What a blessing that would be. That's right. And, of course, that is not an excuse to start lowering your friends to the roof during mass.

Right, Father? That's correct. Yeah. So they weren't trying to be obnoxious or be idiots. they were, they lowered them out of devotion to God and to their friend. All right. We actually had a good friend of mine who's a huge fan of the show write this question in. So we'll just say, G, this is for you.

His first name starts the G. He was a huge fan of our case set down in the Big Easy with Geraldine and her liberation with the assistance of St. Joan of Arc. One of the questions that came up was, as they were doing Reneworthy, renunciations, he was asking, when a victim renounces, in this case, she had to renounce several sins, as there were multiple doorways owned, were you providing absolution and forgiveness while she does those renunciations, or is the renunciation breaking a demonic tie separate and different than confession? I think his question was, is there a difference and or is it, are there two separate

things when one is asking for forgiveness versus one is saying, I'm renouncing this whole the demon has on me and does that count as being given forgiveness when a priest leads them through those renunciations in the middle of an exorcism? Yeah. So those, those are two different things. So when I lead somebody through renunciation, it's, it's, it's right now. It's, it's, it's, removing kind of the legal hold that the demons have. Confession is reconciling with God. They can be done at the same time, but it's not always possible because if I'm leading somebody through renunciations, there's typically, you know, I have other people in the room, so I don't have the opportunity for confession. If it's a demonic hold short of, say, possession or short of, say, a very strong

obsession, then I can manage that. But if those things are stronger, then I cannot. It's tough. And so I need privacy for confession. Well, I don't need it for renunciations because, you know, I'm asking the person to renounce what the person himself or herself disclosed happened. So if they've already admitted it, then, you know, it's free game. But confession is a different thing. And that is secret and everybody else needs to be out of the room. But ontologically, what is the difference?

the breaking of a demonic stronghold and then the absolution that the Catholic tradition views is happening with the priest and the confessor, or confessi, I should say, the penitent. One is directed against the sin and thereby against the demons, the other one is directed to God. It is reconciling with God. The other is severing a tie one has with an evil action through which the demonic entered into his or her life. And then, Father, I've heard the phrase you've mentioned on the show, I think in the past, but what is this perfect contrition framework that happens? Because I know we've had a lot of our Protestant friends have written in and asked,

isn't God the one who forgive sins? And is it possible if you don't have access to a priest? This is one of the main, we'll call it, oppositions or objections that I know a lot of my Protestant friends have is the, quote, need to go to a priest. But could you always walk through sort of a priest? understanding of what is perfect contrition and then what is the role of the priest, but also can God forgive people if there is no, from a Catholic perspective, can someone be forgiven and restored to God if there is no priest present to be able to take their confession? Well, if there's no priest

around and you sense that you might be dying, yeah, like if you desire, you have perfect contrition, you repent of your sins wholeheartedly without qualification, then God accepts you. What the sacrament gives you is a certainty. It is a certainty that's guaranteed by Christ through his church. And that is no small thing. That gives you peace. That gives you tranquility. There's an objective guarantee that the church has given you. And, you know, when you look back at the history of the church, you know, in the time of St. Augustine, when the Bible was codified, We had kind of the reverse problem of today where people were reluctant to accept the authority of this book called the Bible.

Why do I need a book if I have the church? The church predated the book, so to speak, or at least the compilation of the book. And so the authority of the church is felt by the men. members of the church. It's felt. It's, it's tangible. It provides a consolation. And I've seen that in people to whom I ministered in their moments of dying. So yes, you know, God forgives you, even if no, even if no priest is present. But the presence of the priest does give you something. It's not nothing. You know, there is that, there is that old saying, you know, between the stirrup and the ground.

Forgiveness I sought, forgiveness I found. So the image, of course, is a cowboy, and yet you have a stirrup on the horse. And between that stirrup and the ground, well, what is implied? Well, he's been shot and he's falling. He's dying. In that moment, he seeks forgiveness and God grants it. It's never too late. In other words, if you have that contrition, it's not the easiest thing at times to muster up that

contrition. It is not. The devil is coming at you. He's coming around you. And if you have God's backup, which is a priest coming at you, offering you a sacrament, that is profoundly helpful. And it has to be done in person, right, Father? Has to be done in person. Have they actually discussed this in the age of like, I mean, because these are all, you're always wondering about these exceptions, but say someone couldn't get to a priest, could you do virtual or is a, hey, it's, you just not a non-starter. If you're not in person, you can't, do reconciliation. In the Catholic Church, it must be done face to face. Okay. All right, Father, we're starting Holy Week here, big week, right? This is the, this is the, this is the, this is the, this is a Super Bowl

week in the church, right, Father? This is Super Bowl Week in the church, you bet. All right, super bowl week. So, Father, as we start off Holy Week here, I'd be remiss if I didn't ask because I just love collecting these stories and we have so many of you asking us for prayer. And I want to encourage people always that prayer works, that prayer matters. that God listens and hears even if he doesn't necessarily answer in the way, manner or time that we'd like. Nonetheless, he does. And I'm curious, as a priest of the Catholic Church, you must have more answered prayers than you can disclose on here. But is there a time that God spoke to you or provided or answered a prayer in a profound way that you could share with us as we start Holy Week to encourage everyone?

Yeah, gosh, I remember this was shortly after my conversion. I had some friends that took something called a Life and the Spirit seminar and it really affected them. And Life in the Spirit seminar is essentially a four-week prayer process to get close to the Holy Spirit and to allow the Holy Spirit to be unleashed in your life. And so it involved this particular seminar meeting once a week,

but you had readings for every day, like meditations that you would undertake and pray about. And it culminates in a prayer session. session where somebody lays hands on you and prays for an outpouring, a release of the Holy Spirit. And in the course of my daily readings, I had, you know, when you journal, you're encouraged to journal, so I did. And I had this kind of inner image. And I was asking God to kind of slice open my heart. And the image I had of my heart was that it was made of concrete, like slice it open so that there would be a heart, a flesh in it. And,

I had this kind of odd addendum to it, which was, because in that heart of flesh, there's, there's a little bird and it wants to come out. And I don't know where in heaven's name that came from, but that was kind of the daily image that I had. Like, Lord, cut that concrete away so that bird can come out from this heart of flesh. And so on the day, when that praying happened, So the individual put his hands on my head, prayed for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And all of a sudden he said, you know, I see our lady coming with a bird in her hand. She's cupping a bird and giving it to you. And wow, that really spoke to me.

It really spoke and it really resonated because it just, well, it was an odd image that I was getting every day to pray for. But it was an odd image, him as well. Like she wasn't bringing a particular virtue. She wasn't, she was bringing a bird, a small bird in her hand. And those two things, they just, it just, it was a profoundly effective confirmation. Wow, that's beautiful, Father. I want to end with our segment that so many people love, praise and haze. Which one would you like first?

Praise. Praise. All right. Praise B. Dear Ryan and Father Martins, I'm a vault member, long-time listener, and I'm a good friend of many others who listened to the show. I actually got to meet Ryan briefly years ago during one of the Zooms. I'm reaching out to let you guys know that I will be entering into full communion with the Catholic

Church this Easter vigil, and the main reason is the Exorcist Files. I was involved in deliverance ministry with my non-denominational church I went to, and this podcast has been an incredible listen and resource through the years, and it definitely opened up so many good and godly doors, and definitely led me to asking some. paradigm rocking questions. I deeply appreciate Ryan's respectful dialogue and the way he asks and challenges questions from Father Martins, and it has impacted my life more than I'm able to express. I just want to say thank you to you both. Thank you for your willingness to make the show and for

this journey. My prayers are with you always. I do apologize, Father, if there are any grammar issues in this email. It is not my strong suit. Well, praise God. You know, the Holy Spirit is at work in your life and I give God thanks on your behalf for the decision you've made. Welcome, welcome aboard. Okay. All right, you want the haze? Let's have the haze. Purple haze, father? Purple haze. One can't help but marvel at Father Martin's command of the English tongue. Every sentence is polished like a cathedral lectern, every subordinate clause genuflecting before the altar of syntactic perfection. yet listening to him drone on and perfectly balanced clauses is a bit like watching a sermon delivered by strunk and white themselves, virtuous, instructive, and entirely devoid of fun. If grammar were grace, the man would levitate, alas, clarity alone cannot redeem the sin of sounding as though one swallowed an Oxford dictionary and felt smug about the aftertaste.

And then there's his co-host, dear Ryan Bethay, an appetite so unbridled, it could make a pack of famished locust blush. One imagines him recording each episode, half-devoured snack in hand. Crumbs punctuating his commentary like culinary calmness. If Father Martins feeds the soul with eloquence, Ryan ensures the stomach is never far behind. Together they form a divine balance. One disciplines the word, the other demolishes the buffet, and somewhere in that unholy union,

the Exorcist Files Feasts upon both syntax and snacks alike. That's great. More of that. More of that. More of that? That's perfect. Whoever authored that, that's brilliant. Keep them coming.

Okay. Well, full confession here. I actually, for this year, we actually didn't get any angry emails this last week for the first time in quite a while. So I had AI roast you and I, and that's what I came up with. Oh, gosh. Okay. Pretty good, right? Well, it's fake.

No. I mean, we, gosh. I was ready to buy that person a beer. But hey, it's not bad. I would say I did have it. I was like, roast Father Martins and I about his grammar and my appetite, and that's what I came up with.

St. Ryan, we're here at helping. Wow. All right. Well, folks, thank you for listening to The Exorcist Files. And Father, would you close us out with a prayer to start Holy Week and an encouragement for everybody?

Yeah, so I ask Almighty God that you allow us the grace to come into these holy rituals that we embark now upon this week and allow us through them to become closer to your son. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. God bless you all, in name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen. All right, folks, stay demon-free. We'll see you next week. Thanks again, Father. Okay, God bless you all. Thank you.