The Exorcist Files - S2-Case #08-Predatory
Episode Date: July 31, 2024Dylan was a college kid with a dark secret. And that secret attacked him in the middle of the night. SPONSORSExodus90- the premier spiritual formation curriculum for men. Join Father Martins... as he hosts this years St. Michael's lent. FountofGrace- premier, custom made catholic jewelry. 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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Dylan, are you okay, man?
No way, dude. He always does this.
Ah, some night tears.
Well, that's it.
Next semester, we are getting a new roommate.
Or a cat.
Yeah.
Oh, no, no, no, stay the fucking way.
Dylan.
You okay, man?
Damn.
Is he breathing?
Shit.
Whoa, quick.
Hey, go get help.
Oh, Dylan, hang on, man.
Oh, shit.
Help me.
Welcome back to the Exorcist Files.
where we ask the eternal question, spiritual war, well, what is it good for?
The answer? Absolutely something.
In nature we observe predators and prey, the strong feasting on the weak,
with the lone merciful conciliation of the prey, being that its time will come to a hopefully
swift and expedient end.
The predator's reign ending only when the prey vanishes.
But in the spiritual jungle, another dynamic heaven.
emerge. What happens when the preyed upon are not taken away, but instead transformed, rendered
into a new creation? What happens when the prey becomes a predator? Today we bring you the case of a young
college student whose past finally catches up with him and now faces a choice that will determine
perhaps the fate of his life. And on that cheery note, we now bring you your resident exorcist,
Father Carlos Martins.
When God created angels,
he did so with glorious creativity and design.
Scripture abounds with accounts of angels
and the awe-inspiring and intimidating nature of their being.
Tragically, when the angels that became demons fell from heaven,
that same beauty that God had endowed them with
became the basis for their ugliness.
There are many types of demons, and throughout my years of ministry, I have encountered certain types with disconcerting frequency.
I received a call one day from an old friend who was now the president of a very large university in the Midwest.
Something bizarre occurred on the school campus the night before, and he wanted to speak to me about it.
This is Father Martins.
Sir Oliver.
How are you, God?
Gosh, it's been so long.
At least, and rumor has it, that I have to call you Mr. President now?
Of course, of course.
Please tell me.
I received a call for my dean of students.
Wow, that is shocking and terrible.
Is he okay?
Do they know who actually attacked him?
Monster.
I see.
I see.
Can you imagine being a respected leader of an academic institution and having to make this call?
What would people think?
The man with whom I was speaking was a man of science, and I could hear the struggle in his voice.
He was not one to exaggerate, but he was also a man of faith.
I knew that his calling me in this manner meant this was serious.
He went on to tell me about the crater in the wall.
From what he described, it was clear that this was no college prank.
In fact, Oliver was convinced that the eight strongest men in the world working in unison
to throw the kid against the wall could not do what this monster did.
Frankly, Oliver was surprised the guy was still alive.
Dr. Oliver asked if I'd be willing to meet with Dylan.
I agreed to do so the next day.
As an exorcist, I don't usually respond to immediate inquiries like this,
but given my relationship with Dr. Oliver and my availability the following afternoon,
I agreed to see Dylan.
Because the impact was heard by multiple persons, including Dylan's two roommates,
and the evidence both on the wall and Dylan's body,
it was not unreasonable to assume the cause could be demonic.
Nonetheless, the story was bizarre.
A college kid is attacked by a chimera,
demon, who to this point had been tied to a chain, but was now free and physically attacked him.
Of course, I was skeptical.
Now, for most of us, we are probably familiar with the hit song by Culture Club, Karma Karma
chimera demon.
Just kidding.
So, just what is a chimera demon?
A chimera refers essentially to a hybrid creature composed of parts from multiple species or animals.
In Dylan's case, we have a human and a human.
rhinoceros. In science, a chimera essentially refers to any organism which contains cells from
two different species. A great example might be a liger, the offspring of a male lion and a female
tiger. The word chimera originates from Greek mythology. The chimera was a frightening amalgamation
of a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail. Why a goat? Who knows? Maybe because
the body of a wolf for a dragon would probably make it even scarier.
The creature was evil and ultimately defeated by a hero named Belarophon,
who put the beast to death with the help and wisdom of the gods.
Now, in the context of demonology and spiritual warfare,
the chimera demon simply refers to a demonic entity
that seems to embody various diabolical characteristics,
essentially an infernal fusion of evil spirits.
In many anecdotes of victims who have battled the demonic,
demons are often described as having the heads of animals, and according to Father Martins,
these animal heads often resemble cultural icons of power or virility.
Demons want to be worshipped after all.
Why are rhinoceros here?
We can't know, but perhaps Father's story will unveil some clues as to why the demon
chose this particular manifestation.
The appointment with Dylan was set for the next day at 1 p.m.
I arrived at a local church rectory for our meeting,
and by 1.30 p.m. Dylan was still a no-show.
Typical college kid, I thought to myself.
I called Dr. Oliver, who gave me Dylan's cell number.
Dylan picked up on the fifth ring.
I asked him if he was still planning on coming,
and he said that he was on his way,
but was having difficulty finding the place.
I was staying at a rectory perhaps 10 miles from the college campus.
He also said he was using a GPS and should be there shortly.
45 minutes after our call he had still not arrived.
By this time, I had called him three other times.
And he always replied with the same answer,
that he was having trouble finding the place
and he had driven around in circles all over town.
If he was telling me the truth, he must have put over 40 miles on the car.
At this point, two possibilities existed.
Either Dylan needed to give up his long-held dream of being a cartographer, that is, a mapmaker,
or perhaps the demon was preventing him from meeting father by confusing him.
Then again, it's a college kid.
And boy, if I had a dollar for every time I heard a college kid missed his class because of purported demonic confusion,
Well, in all seriousness, though,
according to Father,
demonic caused confusion can be so strong
that even a simple task that someone has repeated
hundreds of times can become all but impossible to do.
Finally, at 2.30, an hour and a half late,
Dylan rolled into the driveway of the rectory.
He shuffled inside, heavily favoring his left side.
His face was also bruised,
and he was sporting a black eye.
gingerly he sat down in a chair, wincing in pain, until he could lean back.
Dylan, can I get you a water or a cup of tea maybe?
I'm good, thanks.
You look like you're hurting.
Yeah, still pretty sore, but I'll be glad to get this over with.
Then by all means, please tell me what happened.
Well, Oliver said he told you the whole deal, right?
Not sure what else there is to say.
An angry monster with a really buff body and rhino head.
appeared in my dorm and charged me.
Then I hit a wall hard.
Pretty self-explanatory.
And I understand this wasn't the first time you've seen him.
Oh, no. He visits often.
How often?
Lots.
How much is lots?
Almost every night for the past five years since I was 16 or so.
Five years?
Yep.
Do you know why?
Negative.
Well, you've looked in the mirror, right?
You seem rather unconcerned for someone who lost an alter.
with a rhinoceros monster.
I mean, what am I supposed to do?
Well, then why are you here?
Look, I just want this monster gone,
and I thought you were supposed to be able to get rid of this stuff.
Dylan, you seem like a sharp kid,
so I'm surprised that I even have to say this,
but I don't think you appreciate the gravity of the situation you're in.
I want to help, but to do so, I need to know exactly what happened and why.
Let's start with the obvious question.
You've been seeing this thing for years now.
why didn't you do anything about it?
I figured it would just go away if I ignored it.
This was bizarre.
Dylan was too comfortable with something he plainly knew was preternatural.
None of his inaction made sense.
I had never encountered this level of passivity
after someone who had something this violent occurred to him.
Normally, when people are threatened by evil to this level, they act.
Nevertheless, the fact that Dylan made the effort to see me, despite his sarcastic and off-putting demeanor, gave me a basic assurance that he was of sound mind and not disconnected from reality.
It was easy to rule out that all of this was an elaborate prank.
Dr. Oliver sent me a photo of the indentation on Dylan's wall.
It was the perfect imprint of a human body, with a sheetrock pushed into the wall around.
the studs high on the wall near the ceiling.
It didn't look like something that could be faked.
Besides, Dr. Oliver saw Dylan's badly bruised body,
and his dorm mates heard the impact.
But still, there was something else going on.
If you had a creature like this,
staring at you each night from the foot of your bed,
would you just ignore it?
All right, tell me about your first encounter.
with this thing. One night I woke up and my room was freezing cold, like so cold I could see my
breath. I was sleeping on my side and then I heard this chain like a jackal, you know? It freaked
me out for real. That's when I rolled over and at the foot of my bed staring at me,
there's this dark shadow.
It's got huge muscles and a rhinoceros head, horn, and everything.
And there was a chain wrapped around its neck.
It kept growling.
I could see it wanted to come at me.
But the chain kept him from getting any closer.
Who knows what the chain was tied to, but it kept him there.
It's at the foot of my bed.
staring at me with angry yellow eyes.
He hated me.
I could feel it.
It's scary as fuck.
Honestly, I was too afraid to do anything.
But then moments later, it was gone.
The only thing, in fact, that made any sense
was the manner in which Dylan described the monster's first appearance.
He described it as if he was reliving the experience again.
his body language revealing how terrifying it was for him.
Fear and terror were clearly on display.
In fact, it was the only time in the conversation that I saw Dylan show any emotion.
His first encounter obviously scared him.
But where was that fear now, less than 24 hours after he was severely attacked?
It was easy to sympathize with the 16-year-old Dylan.
This nonchalant 21-year-old version made it much harder to feel that now.
So did it say anything?
No.
So that's it. It did nothing else.
Not really.
No, that's all.
I know it was years ago, but do you remember anything of note happening around the time this thing appeared?
I don't know, man. Nothing crazy.
I mean, I guess there was some stuff you probably wouldn't like.
It was the first time I hooked up.
Hooked up as in...
Had sex, yeah.
I mean, she was like right out of a fantasy.
Who was she?
I actually don't know much about her.
She was older, like in her 30s or maybe even 40s.
Her house was a few blocks from mine.
Can you tell me how you met?
Hey, look, why are we doing this whole 20 questions routine?
Dr. Oliver said, you could get rid of this thing.
Can we just cut to the sprinkling of some holy water
or whatever it is you've got to do,
I got to wrap this up.
Dylan's impatience was getting on my nerves.
If I had a demon tossed me like a sock against the wall
and was now in front of a priest
whom I thought could prevent that from ever happening again,
I would painstakingly listen to everything he had to say.
I would certainly not be directing the conversation.
Dylan was trying my nerves.
His mix of snark, sarcasm, and impatience were infuriating.
No one in the world would have ever been as cooperative as I would be at that moment if our roles were reversed.
Dylan, I don't know what you have to do that you think could be more important than this right now,
but these questions are going to help me get to the bottom of this thing, so please just focus.
Believe me when I tell you, you have a very serious problem.
I met her at work for my first job, I worked at a garden center, just part-time, watering plants and stock and displays.
One day, this woman comes in, and she needs help carrying a big potted plant out to her car.
So, she starts talking to me.
Excuse me. Hi, you look strong. Do you mind helping me carry this out to my car?
Um, uh, sure, ma'am.
This one's mine. You can just put it in the back.
Thanks.
You bet.
You picked a great one.
A fiddly fig.
Pretty plant, funny name.
You think this is the plant Adam and Eve wore in the garden?
Oh, uh, what?
Oh, you know.
Adam and Eve, fig leaves, naked.
Um...
Sorry.
What am I saying?
I just get nervous around cute guys.
Oh, sorry.
It's been a while since I opened my Bible.
Actually, you seem to know your plants.
I could use a man around the house for some yard work.
Would you be open to helping me out?
Well, I...
I'd make it worth your while.
How's 25 an hour?
I need you for at least a couple hours.
That was a ton of money when I was 16.
It seemed like a no-brainer.
Plus, she was really hot.
went over to her house and as it turns out she just wanted sex.
Before I knew it was happening, she was on me.
Maybe two or three days later that thing showed up.
Bingo.
This is the closest we've come to identifying a cause.
Dylan sleeps with a woman and then the demonic stuff begins almost immediately.
It is unusual for a woman in her 30s or 40s to be interested
and a 16-year-old kid.
Her seeking him out for sex is not only predatory,
it's illegal.
It's called statutory rape.
But it is greatly disturbing on a spiritual level.
Something likely transferred from her onto Dylan.
Amen.
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God bless you.
As we have covered in the final case file from season three,
a taste of honey. In Christianity, sexual intercourse is a big deal. Well, to be fair, sex is actually a big
deal in a lot of spiritual traditions. Numerous faiths hold to the fact that sex is not merely a physical
act, no matter how much our culture tells us otherwise. In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul
writes to the Corinthian Church in his first letter, verse 6.16, do you not know that he who unites
himself with a prostitute is one with her in body, for it is said, the two shall become one flesh.
He then goes on to say, in the following verses, flee from sexual immorality.
All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually sins against
their own body. While there are numerous verses on sexual immorality and purity in scripture,
Paul is hinting at a mysterious dynamic of sex. In the Christian tradition, sex has the power to
unite people spiritually, whatever that means. So if one has sex with someone who potentially is demonically
oppressed, then it seems reasonable that the potential exists for them to infect with any spiritual
pathogens those they have intercourse with. Perhaps this is just one of the many reasons God admonishes
people to remain pure till marriage. And like our trucker Trent learned last season, you really
should know who you're being intimate with, because, after all, they could be a demonically
empowered sex wish, and that friends is not something you want to deal with. I wanted to learn more
about this woman. Dylan, did you ever see her again after that encounter? Yeah, one other time,
all of it great, but I guess it wasn't meant to be. Why do you say that? She just stopped answering
my text and calls. No one was ever home. But one day I knocked on the door and someone I'd never
seen answered. She said the woman I'd left a few days ago. Turns out she didn't actually even live
there. I guess she was visiting from the northwest. She just rented a room for a few nights.
I always thought that was too bad. I wanted to keep seeing her. But she just left. No, no,
nothing. I mean, 16-old me thought it was amazing.
She made me feel alive.
I wanted that again, but you move on. Life happens.
You mean you moved on to other sexual partners?
Yeah, you could say that.
And how many? How many sexual partners?
Oh, it's a lot. I mean, I really couldn't tell you exactly how many.
I know this isn't a comfortable topic, but we're shining a light on this because the thing appeared immediately after you were with this woman.
It seems that it's tied up with your sexual encounter with her.
I mean, I guess if I had to put a number on it, I'd say over 400 women.
This was an astounding number for anybody, let alone for someone as young as Dylan.
I'm not trying to brag, but I've never had anyone turn me down.
I just tell them what I want, and then they want it too.
Sometimes I don't even say anything.
I look at them, touch their arm, anything, and they just want to have sex right away.
And that's it. We do it, and then I leave. Pretty simple.
And what about the girls who resist, the ones who are trying to live lives of faith or be pure?
Yeah, those are the best ones.
Dylan had a sly and confounding grin on his face when he answered this last question.
When I pressed him to clarify, his response was,
The pure they are, the better the chase.
I'm telling you, father, no one has ever denied me.
Some of them take a little extra work, but in the end, they always give in.
Dylan exhibited the behavior of a pig.
But if I am correct that he picked up a demon from the sexual encounter
with a woman he met at the nursery, then it makes sense.
If he's got her demon, he will behave like her.
The callousness and predatory behavior she showed towards him
will be what he exhibits to others.
He is a predator looking for prey.
I had no reason to doubt Dylan was telling me the truth.
He was attacked by a preacher natural being.
The attack was the reason why he was seeing me.
He found my questions and my hesitation to jump right into exorcism annoying.
He had a multitude of sexual partners,
and the gleam in his eye and the callousness of his language
revealed he clearly enjoyed his exploits,
especially among virtuous or pure girls.
In fact, concerning the latter,
it could be that the grin on his face,
the delight he exhibited when he disclosed his own predatory behavior,
may have been the demon himself.
Looking at Dylan, one would never guess he could have such a seductive power over women.
There was nothing exceptional about his appearance.
He was average looking at best and was below average in personality and charm.
It was only with preacher natural assistance that he could have that kind of seductive effect on women.
Dylan probably had a Jezebel spirit.
While the sheer number of sexual partners he had was indicative of this,
his penchant for good girls,
women who were trying to live modestly and save their bodies until marriage,
was profoundly indicative.
Praying on people of virtue is a classic sign of Jezebel.
Jezebel was an Old Testament biblical figure,
who had a reputation for murder, lying, and sexual promiscuity.
She was the evil queen and wife of King Ahab.
who wickedly did her bidding. Not only did she order and oversee the systematic murder of the
Lord's faithful prophets, but her iniquity led Israel astray from its covenant with God and to worship
foreign idols. This is from First Kings chapter 18. She was a thorn in the side of the prophet Elijah
and set her sights on destroying him. Oh, and according to some traditions, the name Jezebel
means not exalted or ball exists. Yeah, that ball. The one from the Bible that Israel had so
many problems with. Can you imagine naming your kid not exalted? Talk about therapy.
While different demons have different functions, what sets a Jezebel spirit apart is the cunning power
of his nature. Most demons attempt to take down the individual with whom they bond through direct
torment, such as oppression or possession. A Jezebel spirit, on the other hand, uses that individual
to rip apart organizations and relationships from the inside out. Before they even know what has
happening, the members of those organizations begin to act in a manner contrary to its goals and best
interests. It's the equivalent of someone rewriting a computer software so that it does something
different than that which it was designed for. Frightingly enough, this was not the first time
father had encountered a Jezebel spirit. So we're going to leave Dylan for a minute and head
southwest where father first encountered this particularly nefarious iteration of our adversary.
Dylan's case was not the first time I had encountered this type of spirit.
Several years ago, I was asked to do a lecture series on spiritual warfare at a small college in the American Southwest.
A good friend of mine was a professor there, and he organized the series.
During my time at the school, I became friends with a man named Corey, a scientist who was a cancer researcher.
One of his lab colleagues was a man named Victor, and the two were good friends.
I was introduced to Corey as he had a particular interest in spiritual warfare,
and he requested that the professor connect us.
I think Corey and I bonded because we both have a deep desire to help people in their illness.
Corey attended my talks and after hearing some of the testimonies of deliverance,
confided in me that Victor needed help.
Wow, that was an incredible dinner.
What?
Just a dumb joke.
I was thinking about how some of my priest friends
are the most rapturous consumers of tacos al pastore.
Well, God made the Sabbath for man and pineapple for pork.
So I have to ask, you're a cancer researcher,
so how healthy are these tacos?
Ooh, uh, well,
Oh, there's pineapple on them.
Good enough for me.
Okay, well, to cut to it, what's on your mind?
Well, it's Victor.
I've probably mentioned him.
He's one of my fellow researchers, but really, he's like a brother to me.
I love him, but I'm really worried about him.
he's being unfaithful to his wife
hmm Corey I'm really
I'm really sorry to hear that
yeah
and that's not even the worst part
it's not just one
it's it's hundreds
of women over the last eight years or so
hundreds of women
hundreds
father
his wife is a good woman
and he loves her I know it
they have five kids but
The other night, he told me everything.
I think, because it's getting worse.
He's seeing two or three women a night now.
But how does he even have time to do this when his wife suspects something?
You'd think, but he tells her that during the late evenings,
he's visiting patients to talk and share results, you know?
In reality, he's going to different bars and nightclothes.
He does his thing.
the women just throw themselves at him
and then he goes home.
Look, if I hadn't seen it myself,
I wouldn't believe me either.
So you've actually seen this yourself.
Yeah.
So a couple nights ago,
Victor's driving me home from the lab
and he pulls up next to my place
and I could just, I could see something in his eyes.
You know?
He appeared to be really torn about something
and that's when he told me,
everything. Broke down in tears. I was so mad at him. I mean, I love him, but his wife,
she's like my sister. And at the same time, it sounded so crazy. So stupidly, I told him to prove it.
He looks at me and says, fine, pick any bar, anywhere in the city. So I picked one. I was pretty
sure he'd never heard of, like 30 minutes across town. And what happened was insane.
All right, man, here's the spot.
You sure you want to see this?
Yeah.
If you're cheating on your wife and it's just happening, I'm going to need to see it with my own eyes.
It wasn't fancy.
Just a regular place, loud music, all kinds of people.
We walked up to the bar and, well, 20 seconds went by.
And I see this gorgeous woman.
I'm talking 15 out of 10.
You know what I mean?
I get the picture.
I'm a priest.
I'm not.
line, please continue.
Sorry.
Anyway,
this woman,
she walks right up to Victor.
I watch him open his arms
and she just kisses him.
No introductions, no
witty pickup line.
Next thing I know,
she whispered something in his ear
and her hand slowly
grazes down his waist.
I tried to stop him.
Victor, don't do this, man.
Think about it.
Your wife and kids.
Hey, let's just get out of here.
My place, it isn't farce, right down the street.
Sorry, I'm doing this.
I need this.
No, you don't, man.
Come on, let's, let's leave.
We can leave.
Think about Sarah, your kids.
You're better than this.
Don't listen to your friend.
I promise you a night you'll never forget.
They deserve better.
but I'm getting what I deserve
What I need
She takes him by the hand
And they start walking to the car
And then it gets even weirder
Victor pauses
And without even saying a word
Two other women
Get up from their tables
And follow him out to the car too
He drove up with three strangers
Left me at the damn bar
That...
Wow, could they have been prostitutes?
No, no, these were just women
Like, they were with groups
At completely different tables
I think one of them
even on a date and she just left the guy. It's like he commanded them with his mind and they got up
and left. That's exactly how it happened. I saw it. Why do you think he agreed to show you this?
He's scared and wants out. It's only a matter of time before his wife finds out and it's going
to break his family's heart. You have to help, father.
Look, he goes to church on Sunday.
I know he believes in God.
You have to get through to him.
You need to get us some meeting, and you need to get it fast.
I offered to meet with Victor.
Corey phoned him immediately and informed him of my offer to meet and pray with him.
Victor asked for the phone to be passed to me so he could speak to me directly.
He was very polite and cordial and was grateful that I was offering assistance.
but he said that meeting with a priest is equivalent to meeting with God.
And while he knows that it is the devil working through him
and that God's liberation is exactly what he needs,
he was not ready to give up his ability to seduce any woman he wants.
Not yet.
He thanked me and expressed the desire to receive help in the future,
but at present he was enjoying his sinful ability too much.
Though the distinguishing characteristic of a Jezebel spirit is seduction,
the seduction itself need not be carnal or sexual, at its broadest level.
To seduce is to cause someone to do something he or she would not usually consider doing
by overpowering their good sense.
While the sexual seduction is, as the name suggests, the most straightforward form of seduction,
it is not the only one.
Some people have other natural abilities that give them the power to seduce.
such persons seduce through having astounding intellects, charismatic personalities, or amazing gifts of language and speech.
These gifts are often able to sway and even beguile those around them.
Present company included, of course.
So when we're talking about the Jezebel Spirit, we are not talking about a natural ability.
We are talking about something preternatural, an ability that originates in the spiritual realm,
with all the octane power of the demonic behind it.
that's exactly what Dylan was describing as he shared his dark and hidden past with Father Martins.
Because Dylan arrived late for our appointment, and because the details of his case took a long time to examine,
I only had about an hour left to meet with him before my speaking event.
On top of it, I was fading fast.
I had flown in from out of town that day and had very little sleep the night before.
Before I got any more tired, I wanted to start praying with Dylan.
I knew from my initial conversation with Dr. Oliver that Dylan was a Catholic.
So the next question I asked him was when was the last time he went to confession?
He replied that it had been years.
So, no sins during that time had been forgiven.
I decided on a course of action to remove, or at least say,
severely weakened the demon inside him. Dylan, I have an important commitment this evening,
so let's cut to it, shall we? You have a demon problem, not a monster, not a ghost. You have a
demon. It's that simple. Hearing your story, I believe this thing attached itself to you doing
your first sexual encounter with that woman. So unless action is taken, it's going to get much,
much worse. Now, I believe I can help you, but I will need your 100% quash.
operation. Here's what we need to do. In short, you do need to make a confession. Not every little
gory detail, but you do need to confess and repent of the sexual sins especially, since the
demon seems to be attached to those. We will then go through some renunciation, and you're going
to take back specific rights you inadvertently gave the devil and reclaim them for God. Does this make
sense? We can do this right now, and I believe we can set you free. Dylan's response was,
Well, not how I would have imagined someone in his position would have responded.
I don't know.
Pardon?
Well, did we have to do the confession thing?
Absolutely.
The sacraments are the most important power against the demons.
One honest confession is better than a thousand exorcisms.
Yeah, I mean, it makes sense, but I don't really feel like listing all the sins to you.
Oh, elaborate, please.
I'm just not into it, okay?
Well, are you into being physically assaulted by the devil?
Priests are human, and Dylan certainly tried my patience.
I was incredulous at how non-cooperative he was.
If I had just had my sorry, but kicked by a demon like he had after being tormented every night for years,
and I was with a priest that could bring a stop to it all,
I would be the epitome of cooperative.
The priest could ask me to wear a kiddeme.
chicken costume and dance in the street, and I wouldn't hesitate.
You're in a hurry. Can't you just do the praying thing, and we can just do confession later?
I can come back next week. Next week. Works for me. You cannot delay this. There are two sides here,
Dylan, gods and the devils. For my prayer to be effective in any manner, your soul has to belong to
God's kingdom. Right now, you're in the wrong kingdom, and the devil owns you. Do you understand Satan
owns you, Dylan.
Okay, just to be clear,
you're not going to pray for me
unless I do your confession thing?
That is correct.
Can I just say this is bullshit?
I thought priests were supposed to help people.
But I guess not?
What a stupid waste of time.
Dylan, what could be more pressing
than what you're dealing with?
Look at you.
Anyone can see you're black and blue,
but you're also Catholic.
So I know you have some understanding
of what I'm telling you,
and I'm telling you that a demon
is attacking you because of your sins, and you don't want to get rid of them?
I'm telling you I'm supposed to be meeting up with my girlfriend.
You can meet up later. We'll be done in an hour.
No, she lives out of state in Virginia.
And you'll be staying with her this weekend?
Um, yeah.
So I understand your plan was to have me pray your monster away
so you could fornicate all weekend without being the chew toy for a demon.
And the thing delaying you from your recreation is my insistence that you do confess.
At that moment, it became clear that Dylan didn't regret his sinful behavior.
It was inconvenient that he had a demon.
He picked that demon up from a sin.
He wanted to keep the sin, but be free of the demon behind it.
It doesn't work that way.
You cannot live in the kingdom of darkness without paying the membership cost.
Our Lord says, the wages of sin is death.
Romans 623
You cannot receive the benefits of belonging to the kingdom of heaven
while choosing to belong to the kingdom of hell.
You cannot serve two masters.
Look, like you said, I just want to be rid of this thing.
Can you help or not?
Get out.
What?
What's your problem?
Now, get out.
You're a priest.
You're supposed to be nice to me.
I am being nice to you now.
Get out before I throw you out.
I spoke to Dylan in this way to try to,
so to speak, snap him out of the spell he was under.
It was the last-ditch effort to communicate how serious his situation was.
Dylan viewed me as essentially a buffoon,
who was supposed to fawn in grief and sorrow that a demon was targeting him,
but who, at the snap of his fingers,
would jump to his rescue by doing what he wanted and only that.
Exorcism doesn't work that way.
you can't be both the patient and the doctor.
If I had any hope of helping him,
I had to knock that notion out of his head
and replace it with sober reality.
And that sober reality is,
Dylan, I don't work for you.
I work for Christ.
I will help you if and only if you choose to be helped.
And that means doing things Christ's way.
manipulation of others is one of the strong characteristics of the Jezebel spirit,
especially when it is present in men.
Okay, okay, okay, look, we can meet in the middle.
I got to get on the road, you got to be somewhere.
How specific do I really need to be?
I can hit the highlights and we can just blow through the confession thing.
No more monster throwing me at walls and you can make it to your thing on time.
We both win.
Because I wear a collar around.
my neck doesn't make me your dog. Your call, Dylan, do you want to do this God's way or not?
At this point, Dylan froze. I could see in his face that he was processing. In me, that afternoon,
he expected to encounter nothing but a pushover to be manipulated. He now knew that I would not
participate unless he was going to choose God. All attempts to bring about his liberation would be futile
without that. As Dylan was processing, I was praying that he would abandon his predatory abuse of
women and join God's kingdom. I was also silently saying binding prayers so the demon inside him could not
interfere. He looked at me and then turned around and headed for the door. You know what? I hope the devil
has his way with you, Dylan. In fact, I hand you over to him. I hope he beats you
so badly that you come crawling back on your teeth to Jesus.
In fact, I hand you over to him.
I hope he beats you so badly that you come crawling back on your teeth to Jesus.
I meant every word of it.
Though it may sound off-putting,
I was just repeating Paul's teaching in 1st Corinthians 5, beginning at verse 4.
It concerns a notorious sinner who, while living in an adulterous relationship,
continued to present himself as a member of the church.
Paul leaves no ambiguity about what to do.
He roars to the Corinthians,
quote,
You are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh,
end quote.
Paul believes that even Satan's cruel and destructive nature
is useful for the church's purification
by letting the sinner taste the fruit of his own sinfulness.
Satan is an attacker. With regard to the obstinate sinner, Paul's advice is, turn him over to the devil,
not simply for the sake of punishment, but so, quote, His spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
After I got Dylan out the door, I swung by the college on my way to my lecture to tell Dr. Oliver the result of our meeting.
As God would have it, Dylan's chastisement was beginning to unfold.
As we discussed in season one, one of the plausible moral reasons that God permits the existence
and seemingly free reign of the devil on earth is that he is a tool and a pawn in God's grand scheme.
Satan and his minions can't help but be used to accomplish God's purposes.
Here's an example.
In the scriptures describing the Last Supper, it is written that Satan entered into Judas.
Judas betrayed Jesus, selling him out for 30 pieces of silver,
and in turn the religious authorities ultimately put him to death and executed him.
The son of God was murdered, and yet the death of Jesus, in the most profoundly cruel and in
human way imaginable, was the beginning of the end for Satan and his kingdom.
Satan, whether knowingly or not, helped usher in God's ultimate plan of redemption for all of mankind.
Then, of course, there is Joseph's story in the book of Genesis.
Joseph was given a dream by God that he would rise to God.
to great power and prominence, but his journey took a massive detour when he was betrayed and sold
into slavery by his brothers and spent many years in prison and obscurity before finally being
promoted to one of the most powerful men in all of Egypt, and finally fulfilling the dream.
Joseph, near the end of the story, makes this incredible statement, what you meant for evil,
God meant for good. Somehow, all the tragedies, all the setbacks, all the opposition, God was
sovereign over and used. This should be an encouragement to all of us that no matter what life has
thrown at us, God is in control and can use it for his greater purposes. As it has been said,
God uses the afflictions of the enemy to cure the illness of the soul. Stop, stop, stop, please,
please, listen to me. Dr. Oliver. Father Martin, I was actually just going to call you in the minute.
We're still in. Actually, could we speak in private? Yeah, of course. Here.
Come with me.
So look, I just met with Dylan and thank God you called.
He has a very serious problem.
To put it plainly, the kid has a demon.
A demon that I believe he picked up during a sexual encounter years ago,
and now that same spirit, the one that attacked him in his dorm room last night,
is causing him to prey on and to seduce women.
He shared with me that there have been hundreds of partners.
I imagine they are going to.
to be countless victims.
I offered to help, but told him he had to make confession and to repent.
He refused, and then he left.
I don't say this lightly, but this man is a danger to everyone on campus.
You need to do something about him now.
While I knew Dr. Oliver trusted me,
you just never know how someone will react to a diagnosis of the demonic.
His reaction was not what I've been.
would have guessed. Well, I know, I know this seems really far-fetched, but...
No, no. Um, thank you, father. You saw those women outside my office? I did. What is,
what is all that commotion? Each of them claims to have been sexually assaulted by Dylan.
In the last couple of hours, we've had over 20 women come forward. Oh, this is, this is really
terrible. It's disgusting. The specifics vary a little.
Some mention blackouts or complete loss of faculties, waking up somewhere disoriented.
Sometimes in places they didn't recognize.
We assume the only explanation was that he drugged them.
I can't say for sure, but I can tell you that Dylan was preyed upon,
and now he has become a spiritual predator.
It gets worse, father.
We made some inquiries into his last school, the one he transferred from.
And you will believe this.
Women just started coming forward there, too.
Apparently, he has a history of this.
I just can't believe it.
And the timing.
We're taking steps now to remove him.
This kid's world is going to come crashing down.
Oh, you have no idea, doctor.
Tragically, we've all heard stories about predators,
slipping a sedative into a woman's drink and sexually assaulting her once she's passed out.
Just what exactly was happening here in the spiritual and psychological,
was baffling to me. I asked Father Martins to give some thoughts. He said that folks like Dylan and
Victor don't need to slip sedatives. The demons inside them are far more effective. And at the same time,
the demon made their sexual appetites go off the charts. Not only was their craving for sex
insatiable, but the experience itself was something preternatural, so much so that it controlled
their lives. I couldn't help but think of it as a sort of spiritual rabies. Perhaps the demons know that
the sexual behavior will help spread them into other victims. It's just really creepy.
And what father found most disturbing, of course, was the effect these men had on their seduced
victims. While externally, each woman appeared to be a willing participant. Her internal
experience told a different story. Their freedom to say no was severely compromised, which brings
up a lot of questions. Mainly, how could demons actually seduce humans in this way? What is the
mechanism at play here. We probably can't know for sure.
Anecdotally, in my research, I did find former practitioners of said dark arts and occult
practices reporting that they did have a difficult time trying to seduce Christians,
which would suggest a protective power of the Holy Spirit. Because the demon's power was so
strong, each victim felt within herself an overpowering lust. The demon was able to manipulate
each one's sexual appetite so much that when these men were in their vicinity, what was
they experienced was simply pure lust. Because of this manipulation, each one felt like the
decision to perform sexual acts with Dylan or Victor came from within herself. However, once each
man left, they felt like they returned to themselves, only to find them and taken advantage
of. Because of how the encounters happened, almost none of them came forward or told anyone
about their experiences right away. So the million dollar question, with Dylan's world crashing down
on him now. What ultimately happened? Father didn't know for sure, but given how things were
trending, he ventured a guess. I don't know what ultimately happened with Dylan. I know he was
expelled, and the last I heard, his life took a major turn for the worse. I don't think he made it
to Virginia. Oh, stupid priest, dude. Confession, whatever. Hey, girl, sorry to call again. I'm guessing your
your study group went long. Just letting you know I'm about two hours out. I'm going to make a pit stop
and stretch my legs, but I'll be there soon. Can't wait to have you. Okay, let's see. No, no, no, no.
One riddle presented itself in this case. If Dylan was doing the devil's bidding so well,
praying on woman after woman, why did a demon appearing as a chimera,
attack him? Our Lord gives us the answer when he says in Matthew 12, quote,
every kingdom divided against itself cannot stand, end quote. The demonic perversion is so perverted
that it shows cruel hatred even to its own agents. Demons have no concept of friendship.
In the end, even those who are friendly and loyal towards them are their enemies.
Demons may use a sinner to do their bidding, but they don't value him and have no loyalty towards him.
And so the prey became the predator, only to become pray again.
Sadly, not every story has a happy ending.
An exorcist can do nothing if the victim is not willing to part with his sinfulness.
One can only hope Dylan ultimately turned his life over to God.
Now that we are all thoroughly depressed and saddened by this case,
I think it's important we ask the question.
where do chimera demons actually come from?
Chimerica, of course.
You're welcome.
And maybe the cornyness of that dad joke
was perhaps the scariest part of this entire episode.
We'll see you next time, folks.
And to all the Dillans out there, we are sorry.
Thank you for listening to The Exorcist Files.
To keep in touch with us and get some of our anointed merchandise,
you can visit our website atexorcistfiles.tv.
You can also email us absurd and overly specific criticism
at Exorcist Files at gmail.com.
All cases are recounted by Father Carlos Martens
from his personal archives.
The role of Dylan was played by,
yes, a Dylan, Dylan, Dylan Chase.
Father Martens was played by Paul Leach,
Dr. Oliver, by Daniel Floren,
the terrified roommates by Chris Cavell and Corey Pickering,
Corey by Sasha Jordan,
Victor by Tanner Hall,
and The Mysterious Woman by Virginia Tucker.
The woman caught in the seduction of Victor
was played by Alexis Moll.
It does take a legion of people to make this show possible.
So thank you sound designer, editor and mixers, Dan Blessinger, and Michelle Martinez.
Music and scoring by James Cavell and Tom Strayley.
Script was written by Ryan Bethay and Father Carlos Martens, special script doctoring and notes
by Jonathan Langley and Melissa Gavarette.
And as promised, a very special thank you to Jean Carlo, Dr. David DeSuzza, Dr.
Subra, Mahopra, and Evan Loomis, for helping make this show possible.
These are like the Million Mile Medallion members.
Their generosity really helped us out.
Executive producers are Carlos Martins and Ryan Bithay.
