The Exorcist Files - What's In a Name?

Episode Date: February 21, 2023

Three questions. Three encounters. Father Martins reveals the diabolical nature of demons.Want more Exorcist Files Content? Subscribe to The Vault for exclusive deep dives into past cases and Ask Me Anything Episodes with Father Martins. SPONSORS OF TODAYS EPISODEFireBreaker Series-    A dramatic and epic adventure recounting the legend of George and the Dragon. A fun narrative podcast that is great for the family, starring Wizards of Waverly Place Star David Henrie.  Click here to listenSee 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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Father George. Am I speaking with you? Yes. Adam is here. In one sense. But I am here more. A demon as an angel is a higher reality than a human in terms of its nature. But it will become even less than a human in its manifestation.

The demon may start winking like a pig, howling like a wolf. It will slither like a snake. I've seen people squirm out of their chair on the floor and their bones don't even appear to be solid anymore. They're just slithering. Unless you've seen that reality, there's just no way to say it other than where did these rigid bones go? The connection between animals and spirits predates Christianity. In ancient Mesopotamia, demons took the form of human animal hybrids that were controlled by the gods.

Egyptians from the first dynasty referenced a cat-like deity known as Moftet. In traditional Japanese culture, possession by a large number of animals, is known, most frequently by fox spirits called Kitsun. In the Judeo-Christian narrative, humans are the only beings God created for their own sake. Even angels exist for the sake of humans, which is why in many accounts, those experiencing possession are reported to exhibit animal-like behaviors, an effort by demons to humiliate that creature God is exalted above them. Perhaps this is even the ultimate cause of their rebellion to the Exorcist Files.

host Ryan Bethay and in today's episode we are going to be taking perhaps our deepest dive yet into the very nature of demonic personalities, behavior, and the strategies employed to expel these dark fiends. One must ask though, why do demons manifest differently in different people? Do they take on the characteristics of their host or do they bend the host to their own diabolical will? Father Martins, as always, has some thoughts on the subject. The demonic world is not a world where we're talking about one species of entity. We're not talking about the behavior of, say, dogs. Yes, different species of dogs exhibit different behaviors,

but everything is contained within the nature of dogs. With demons, you're dealing with personalities that are simply united in rebellion against God. They retain their formidable angelic abilities, albeit they are perverted in every sense. And that manifests itself in different ways. And there's no two demons that are alike. As we learned in last week's episode, when demons interact with the physical realm, they subject themselves to the laws of that realm. So when a demon begins to exert his influence on the victim, we catch a frightening

glimpse into his true nature and his unique ediosyncrasy. We come to know people largely through their personalities. Demons also have a personality. When they inhabit someone, they animate and contort that body according to the personality. In my experience, they seem to enter the person from the back of the person's head or the neck or spine area, if you will, towards the front. And you will see in that very brief period of time, it might be a second. might even be less. You'll see the muscles beginning from the back of the person

coming to a conclusion at the front of the face taking on the personality of that demon. You'll have some that cock their head a particular way, seek comfort in a particular position of the head. Some demons pick at the skin of the victim. Others don't do any self-violence, but will be very anxious to inflict violence on the exorcist or upon his team members.

Conversely, when a demon leaves, you will often see the front of the face go numb, if you will, first, working towards the back of the head. For all my sins, steadfast faith, and the power supported by your mighty arm to confront with confidence and resolution this cruel demon. I ask this crew you, Jesus Christ, our Lord and God, who are coming to judge both the living in the dead and the world by fire. Amen. What is your name, demon? On one occasion, I encountered a demon that identified himself as confusion. Demon, what is... You will now tell me your name.

My own confusion. What was different about this one is when I asked him for his name, he revealed it immediately. In every other situation that I've had, the demon resists. he'll often begin with a kind of belligerence or something that's an obvious lie. Father is referring to a phase in the early stages of an exorcism that some call the pretense where the demon endeavors to hide behind the victim in a sense.

One of the first tasks of the exorcist is to break that pretense, to flush the demon out into the open and identify it as a separate entity from the possessed. Demons don't want attention. They like to talk. operate stealthily. Think of like on TV when you've witnessed masked rioters. It cause a lot of destruction and within the pack they exhibit courage and bravery. But as soon as you take a rioter

outside of the mob, that courage disappears. The process of identifying a demon can take hours or even days over multiple exorcisms, which is why the behavior of confusion was, for lack of a better word, confusing. Demon, you will respond in plain English. Answer me plainly. What is your name? For the third time. I will ask you again, and I command you to answer me immediately.

What is your name? When he said his name, he stated as a matter of fact, and he exhibited no resentfulness whatsoever. That's different. And I noticed something just very familiar in his, personality. Like I had seen him before, not in an exorcism, but somewhere else. It was just familiar. Now that we've established the demon must be identified, this brings us to outlining father's personal strategy he employs when conducting exorcisms. As it turns out, there is a

method to the demonic madness. Every exorcist is going to employ a definite strategy and exercise his own particular style. When I encounter a new demon, I press him to give me the answer to three questions that I ask in succession. I ask him, what is your name? For what purpose did God create you? And who is your nemesis in heaven? In other words, who is your enemy among the saints? I find it fascinating that while the Roman ritual is used in Catholic exorcisms, there is still a unique approach that emerges within each individual exorcist, a freestyle, so to speak, where they discover their own array of questions to ask and preferred prayers to deploy for specific moments.

Because the liberation of a victim could take anywhere from a few minutes to, believe it or not, years, adding prayers not listed in the ritual occurs all the time. famous exorcist father Gabriel Amorth, who for decades was the chief exorcist for the diocese of Rome, had two questions he never failed to ask demons, which were, what is your name, and how many demons are present in the body? Yes, there can be more than one demon possessing a victim. There can be many demons inhabiting a single individual simultaneously, and those demons can be and probably are possessing other individuals at some other place of the earth right now. They can be inhabiting multiple people at the same time.

Ah, back to the old space and time a relative concept. We'll cover the multiple demon phenomenon in more detail in a later episode. For now, back to Father Martin's methodology. With regard to the first question, what is your name? It's an ancient strategy to obtain a demon's name within an act. exorcism. Jesus himself asks for the demon's name when he encounters the Jerosine Demosian in Luke chapter 8 beginning at verse 26. For those unfamiliar with the account, in Luke chapter 8, Jesus is preaching in a town called Jerosine when he is approached by a man possessed. Jesus's first question

to the demoniac is, what is your name? And the demoniac responds with the infamous line, My name is Legion, for we are many. If this question worked for Jesus, the original Christian exorcist, then it makes sense that it was adopted formally into the ritual. Knowing a demon's name allows the exorcist to direct his prayers and commands to one single entity. The demon then will feel these commands and prayers much more acutely. A demon guards and protects his name with everything he's got so as to not put himself at a strategic disadvantage. And it's only under duress in a state of weakness after they've been beaten by prayers that they would reveal their name. Which brings us to the question, what's in a name?

In many occult traditions, there is a concept known as the true name, or the name of a being that expresses or is identical to its precise nature, that by knowing would confer mastery over the being. names in the spiritual world are a big deal. A demon's name reveals a critical part of his identity. I've heard names of ancient gods, Mesopotamian gods, Egyptian gods, Canaanites gods, others might be an action like rape, incest, abandonment. Gosh, I've heard murder so many times. Father Amorth also confirms this pattern in his book, and exorcist tells his story, writing that the names of the demons, as in the case of the angels,

tell us their function. When the demon has a biblical name or one transmitted to us by tradition, for example, Bielzebub, Lucifer, Asmedeus, Meridian, Zebulon, we are dealing with heavyweights, tougher to defeat. Other names more clearly tell us the purpose of their actions, destruction, perdition, ruin, or they indicate individual evils, insomnia, terror, discord, envy, jealousy, and sloth. I've encountered one called Paymon in multiple victims. He did at one time even say it's me again. And there is a familiarity, like a kind of ooh.

Yeah, okay, yeah, this is him. But you know what? It may be a different demon for all I know. I may be one mocking another demon. Frankly, it doesn't matter. My job is to free the victim, not map out the demonic world. I think such an enterprise would be dangerous,

and it's not necessary for the sake of liberating this particular person. Which brings us to an important point. While the ritual does state the exorcist should ask the demon its name, it also admonishes the exorcist not to ask questions out of curiosity, but to only ask what is useful for liberation. Straying into tangential discourse with the demon would be to invite personal disaster on yourself. It would give him too much attention, thus empowering him more than is warranted. And most critically, demons lie constantly. Now, let's get back to confusion.

And God be merciful to us. Grant freedom here to your servant, for it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Amen. Ever eloquent with your word, priest. Lord, in his resistance, I ask in your goodness to increase his suffering. Increase it twice. Increase it three times. Such a cruel and unusual request.

Confusion. You will be quiet until spoken to. Of course, dear priest. We need not interrupt you. Please. As you seated Christ at your right hand, father, under him you placed all things and gave all authority to trample in serpents and scorpion.

Confusion, you will tell me by what right you have to remain. Look at us, father! Two serpents in the sand, such a unique pairing. I'm beginning to dislike you less and less. That made me pause. Like, what? I'm beginning to dislike you less and less. Means I'm beginning to like you more and more.

It was just so unusual. Lord, for every moment the demon remains in the... this man increase his suffering exponentially. Confusion, depart this servant of God. I would, father, oh, but I'm just too comfortable here. Demon, you will go to the foot of the cross. In the name of Jesus, depart from this body. Tell you what?

Only when you depart, shall I depart. When I would give him a command, to leave, he was very uncooperative. That's not surprising. He doesn't want to leave. My response to this is to pray. Oh, God, creator and defender of the human race, who formed man in your own image and more wonderfully recreated him by the grace of baptism. Look with favor upon me, your servant. You graciously hear my prayers. That's enough, father. When you pray, that causes a pain in the demon to feel a kind of torture. for lack of a better word. I will keep praying, demon.

And you will depart. I remember refocusing my prayers. May the splendor of your glory dawn in my heart. I pray so that with all terror, fear, and dread removed, and serene in mind and spirit, only after you depart this body, confusion, God and Father, God and Father, God, God, and God, God, and Father, God, God, Your whole name, humbly begging your kindness,

that you graciously grant me help against this and every unclean spirit now tormenting this creature of yours through Christ our Lord. I am everyone yet I am no one. I command you to go, confusion. By the blood of the lamb, the power of God most high, depart. Oh, that's the good stuff. How can't you, father, keep him coming? I keep giving him the commands, and he ignores my commands to depart. part. His crying out gets louder and then he just stops and he turns to me and he says,

and defend them from those that are. Boy, doesn't inflicting torture feel good? A priest in his praying doesn't desire to inflict torture for the sake of inflicting torture. The freeing of the victim is the end for all of his actions. Why? Why? would a priest desire to torture a demon? Because it feels good to him? If that is the case, to take pleasure out of someone else's suffering is a perversion. That perversion is an emotional state the Germans refer to as schadenfreude. A Christian may feel a sense of justice, but he needs to be extremely careful when he experiences delight at even a demon's suffering, because that delight is mirroring the psychological state of the demons themselves.

This concept harkens back to our hypothetical fasting monk in episode three. If you're not careful, even honorable behaviors can be weaponized as sin. So he had this uncanny ability to just hit a pause button in me as you're parsing what it is that he's saying. It was an unnerving experience. Through hearing these cases, it is interesting to note the wildly varying behaviors that demons can take on, ranging from Machiavellian scheming to senseless ignorance, to crass vulgarity, to supreme intelligence. However, while Confusion was noticeably a more cunning demon, Father Martins did know that most of the time, demons fall into the crass and ignorant camps.

Confusion, that is enough. Found me under your skin, priest. In the name of the father, I command you to stay. silent. I'm here for you, father. I always ask. Silence. Which disappears as soon as you name it. And I always will. Demon, I...

God, I ask that you send your aid now. Help me fight this foul serpent. And then it hit me that this demon is living up to his name. He causes confusion. So I began to ignore him. Are we no longer having fun, are we? Be gone now. Be gone.

Your place is in solitude. Your place is in solitude. Your bones in the nest of serpics, get down and crawl with them. It is he who casts you out from whose sight nothing is hidden. It is he who repels you, to whose might all things are subject. It is he who expels you, he who has prepared everlasting hellfire for you and your angels. From whose mouth shall come a sharp sword, who is coming to judge both the living and the dead and the world by father.

Amen. Shit. Amen with a collar. You've denied your very nature. You were supposed to be with us. His familiarity reached its peak when he said that. And what clicked for me in that moment is that this is somebody who had an influence in my life. And it brought up my experience as an atheist, whereby I was in a state of confusion about.

God's existence. Now, I don't believe I was possessed, and I never encountered any demonic manifestation. But somehow I had been acquainted with his work in my own life. Clearly, Father was not possessed, but rather was being influenced at some level by confusion. This begs the question, then, how are demons interacting with the psyches of humans

who are not under their control, but simply within their purview? Are all negative thoughts coming from demons? And if demons are influencing us, do angels also play a role? It brought to mind the old Disney image of the angel and demon on your shoulder. I think the Disney depiction of a good angel on one shoulder and a demon on the other is not far from the truth. The good angel might be your conscience or it might be an actual angel telling you what is right. The bad angel is giving you something that delights.

It's a tempting thing. I think that that accurately portrays it because the temptation often does seem to come out of nowhere. As a priest, I encounter people saying things like that all the time. They may choose to give in to the temptation, and so you give in to this demonic attack. That attack might lead to possession. It might not. How do you know if it will or if it won't? I don't have an answer for that.

At the end of the day, in this universe, good and evil have an interplay, and at times, evil has victories. Of course, given what we know about demonic ratios, shouldn't there be two good angels on your shoulder? We'll be right back after this short commercial break. Amen. Father Martin's here. I want to do a quick plug for one of the most powerful tools I've seen for breaking free and growing closer to Christ. Exodus 90. The Exodus 90 challenge begins this year on January 20th, but this isn't just a 90-day program. Exodus 90 is a spirituality for modern men that is built on three ancient pillars, prayer, self-sacrifice, and fraternity. We all long for something more. We long to be the men God created us to be, sons of a loving father. It's time to turn away from our idols.

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God bless you. Welcome back to the Exorcist Files. And if you are hearing a voice in your head telling you to continue listening, that's just me narrating right now. Let's dive back in. Father just finished recounting his battle with an old foe, the demon confusion. And as he mentioned,

there are three questions that form the pillars of his exorcistic attack plan. The first was to identify the name of the demon. Once Father has ascertained the Spirit's identity, he will move on to his next line of attack. The second question I ask a demon is, for what purpose did God create you? Now, whereas the first question is specifically listed in the right of exorcism,

that second question is one that I've just come to adopt for what it gives me. I want to know why this demon, when he was created as an angel, what place he occupied in creation. For example, I've heard demons say that the purpose for their creation was to be part of the immense throng of angels that appeared in Bethlehem over the shepherds field.

Father is, of course, referring to the angels who appeared to the shepherds, rejoicing over the virgin birth of Jesus, a cornerstone event of the Christmas holiday in Christianity at large. So, if you encounter a demon that, under questioning, claims to have been part of the announcing of Jesus's birth, just sing a Christmas carol to that demon, and you will immediately see the significance. A hymn celebrating the birth of the Savior will be that demon's undoing. So his post that he abandoned now becomes the edge of the knife. that attacks him more acutely than any other reality.

The same reaction is also achieved with the reading of that very account from Luke chapter 2. Say to my soul, I am your salvation. Let those who seek man and I suffer to shame and disgrace. Let those who talk evil against me be turned back and confounded. Make their way slippery and dark with the angel of the Lord pursuant. There was one occasion where I encountered this demon who was especially belligerent and violent. Demon, I command you to be still.

I'm a lord of darkness. Grace, demon. Join us in the abyss to be gang raped for eternity. I am going to ask you questions now, and you will answer me. We all shall answer me. Be silent, demon. We are more than you. You will only speak when spoken to by the authority of laws.

Silence, demon. You think. A little bad time, surprise. Save this vessel of the war. In the name of Jesus Christ, king of kings and lord of lords, I command you, remain silent and listen to me. Now, demon, I ask you for what purpose did God make you? He wouldn't reveal anything. I asked him over and over again, and that demon simply remained silent.

Answer me. Answer me, demon. How simple are you, priest? In the name of Christ, you are commanded. He said, remain silent. Silently are. Tell me your purpose. I pray for wisdom now. Holy Spirit, please aid me here.

Help me know this foul thing's purpose. In a moment of divine light, I heard clearly inside of me to be part of our lady's dowry. Out of respect, Catholics often refer to Mary the mother of Jesus as our lady, and a dowry is a payment of goods, property, or money that is given by the bride's family to the groom at the time of marriage. But the dowry that Father refers to and the internal word he received was actually a gift that God had predestined to give Joseph

for his marriage to the future mother of God. This word revealed at least the creation of one angel, this now fallen angel who's now possessing this poor soul, that was to be a gift to Joseph. Our lady's dowry. Be a part of our lady's dowry. As soon as I asked that question, the demon stopped all of his resistance, and he dropped his head in a gesture that could only. be interpreted as an act of sheen. Truth is exorcistic. You foolish, disobedient imbecile. You forfeited the glory of God. Stupid wretch, everlasting darkness and torment awaits you now. So I want to qualify, nowhere is this fact found in either

scripture or sacred tradition. Nevertheless, this is is part of what Catholics call private revelation. It's a particular revelation that God gave in order to aid in the liberation of this victim. God can speak to us individually. Protestants and other denominations also believe in private revelation, this idea that God can and does speak directly to his children in different ways.

But like Catholics, they will also have the qualifier that God does not contradict what is written in scripture. Now, let's get back to the third question, which certainly threw me for a loop. The third question that I will ask is who is your nemesis in heaven? Who is the saint that that demon most despises in heaven?

Because he's going to despise that saint for a reason. And his invocation, his intercession, in this case, is going to be very effective for the curtailing of that demon's power. And as we learned last episode, intercession is the practice of asking a saint in heaven to offer prayers on the behalf of you or others. Father is asserting there will be a specific saint who has some sort of history with the demon.

In one example, this particular story happened to a friend of mine. I'm going to call him Father George. Father George is an exorcist. I was on a long drive one day, and I got a phone call from him. We were just catching up, and he was sharing with me about an exorcism that he had had that morning. Father George, thank Lord. Thank you for coming. Of course, of course. It's not a moment too soon.

How long has the victim been manifesting? Six hours now. Lord, give us the strength and the mercy to fight this darkness. Yes, sir. It's like ice in here. I had him restrained right there. Father's... Satan and Tadis to please.

Into Jews. Inverities. How's he doing this? Demon, I command me in Jesus' name, be silent. What in the blood of the land, you will now be still. Adam. Adam, this is Father George. I know you can hear me.

Quick, help me get him to the chair. Come on. Come on. Hold it, hold it. In the name of the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit, by the authority given to me by God, be silent, Father of Lies, and hinder not this servant of God

from blessing and praising the Lord. This is the command to you. Hello. Adam? Father George. Am I speaking with you? Yes. Adam is here.

Him once. But I am here more I'm your polar tricks demon You will in the name of the father The son and the Holy Ghost identify yourself Tell me your name In vain do you offer up your words This little bastard is getting ready to come home

I command you Good by his authority Tell me who you are The one you won't get out The one you can't You will listen now I command you by the authority of Jesus Our Lord

Tell me your name I am always there I was there in the beginning Death is my friend I bring it With me I bring it for this one And soon for you

You will obey me That demon By the authority of Christ Give me your name Bloodshed. Bloodshed. Bloodshed. No.

Blood shit. By the power of Christ, you now will tell me your name. My. Your name is murder? Murder! My name is murder. Foul serpent. Father, help us fight this evil.

I ask now that you increase this diminute of darkness is torment. One hundredfold, weaken his hold for the sake of your servant out. Murder out. Now, murder. Who is your nemesis in heaven? You were there. So tell me who is your nemesis in heaven? For the longest time, he received no answer.

And finally, the demon said, now, there are many St. Thomas's, two of the more famous are, of course, St. Thomas the Apostle, and St. Thomas Aquinas. St. Thomas the Apostle was one of the original 12 disciples of Jesus, and famously, the one who insisted on seeing Jesus firsthand before he would believe, giving us the phrase, doubting Thomas. Then there is St. Thomas Aquinas, who is considered by many, one of the greatest, if not, the greatest theologian who ever lived.

Which? The Apostle? Aquinas. Shut it in your hole. You cast, wood it's son of a whore. Murder? Which Thomas? which one of our glorious saints is your nemesis in heaven.

That also went on for a while, and finally the demon just blurted out and said, Beckett. It's Beckett. This demon's nemesis was the martyr, St. Thomas Beckett, otherwise known as St. Thomas of Canterbury, whose feast day is celebrated December 29th. We thank thee, Lord, for the life of your servant Thomas Beckett. According to the historical record, Thomas Beckett was an English nobleman, born 1119, who grew up as close friends with King Henry II. In 1162, Henry appointed Beckett to be Archbishop of Canterbury.

After that, things took a turn. When Beckett became the Archbishop of Canterbury, he had a conversion and began living a virtuous episcopacy and resisted the king who desired to usurp the church's rights in favor of his own selfish ends. So one day in a moment of exasperation, the king blurted out, Who will rid me of this enemy of mine? Several of the king's soldiers heard that and took it upon themselves to kill this enemy of their king. they approached Beckett who was in his cathedral praying Vespers. Vespers are the evening prayers that all clerics are bound to pray every day.

And they murdered him, they cut him down with a sword. So Father George poses that to me, and I said to him, you know, I have a fragment of the alb Beckett was wearing when he was murdered. It's stained by his blood. why don't I overnight it to you? One thing we haven't revealed to you yet about Father Carlos Martins, he is whom you would call the relic guy. We will actually take a deep dive into his work with relics in a later episode.

But for now, a relic is either the mortal remains of, or an object that has been in contact with a saint or martyr. It has been venerated by the Catholic Church and carries great healing and exorcistic power. Now Adam, Not a... Demon, I brought you something. Do you see this?

Put your little toy away. It is still red with his blood. Save it for the boys you go after. Which you remember well. At the next exorcism, Father George pulls out that relic and the way he described it was as if all hell broke loose. Ended him.

He is no more. He dwells in heaven with our Father Lord. Remember! And all Father George was doing was holding that relic up against him. Come to our assistance, Lord, and make haste to help your servant that with the temptations of our enemy of the devil, he may be defended always by your head through Christ, our Lord. You will depart the servant of God.

Beck, it is dead. What did you do? The demon subsequently revealed that he was the demon who had possessed the king's men that murdered Beckett. Father George said the demon was giving a play-by-play of what occurred, but confessed that Beckett's virtue, the grace of his martyrdom, was the moment of his defeat. Foolish demon, your torment is just. Beckett lives in heaven. Thank you, God, for the intercession of your martyr, St. Thomas Beckett.

And so now, here is an emblem of Beckett's victory that is being pressed up against the demon, and it was kryptonite to his power. This moment was a witness to the power of having a knowledge of who, the devil's nemesis is in heaven. We'll be right back after a short commercial break. Welcome back to The Exorcist Files, or your final year at seminary, as some of you may undoubtedly feel. We've learned a lot of theology today, but hey, at the very least, it will impress your friends. And for the non-Catholic listeners out there, fear not.

There is no right of pop quiz at the end. Now, as we learned earlier, long before the advent of Abrahamic religions, tradition of for expelling evil spirits existed. There are exorcists in virtually every human culture, insofar as we can tell, probably every historical culture. There is a phenomena of diabolical possession. Even going back to the cradle of civilization, in his book Possession, T.K. Osterig wrote,

To the Babylonians and Assyrians alike, the real world appeared filled with demons. At every corner, evil spirits were on the watch. and there was danger from the spells of numerous witches, in whom everyone believed implicitly. The exorcisms are so numerous that they constitute the major part of cuneiform religious inscriptions, and they must certainly date back beyond the purely Babylonian tradition to the Samarians. Exorcism certainly did not begin with Christianity, and it did not begin with Judaism. And it exists in Islam, it exists in some of the Japanese religions, and so forth.

There's an understanding in human cultures throughout time that there is an invisible enemy we face and that that enemy exerts his power over humans. And there needs to be a combating against that. Interestingly, after the death of Christ during the early ascent of Christianity, one of the leading factors that helped the religion spread was the effectiveness of the Christian God to battle demons, as attested by many of the early church fathers. Justin Martyr, a pillar of the faith, wrote,

numberless demoniacs throughout the whole world and in your city, many of our Christian men exercising them in the name of Jesus Christ, have healed and do heal, rendering helpless and driving the possessing devils out of men, though they could not be cured by all the other exorcists and those who used incantations and drugs. There's a universal understanding that I encounter all the time, that from other cultures, religions, and even within Christianity itself,

the Catholic Church conducts exorcism like no other entity. There's a great respect for Catholicism vis-a-vis exorcism. T.K. Osterike confirmed this perspective as well, writing, The great success of the Christian exorcist is attested by the fact that other exorcists who were not tri-Christians and even certain Jews, likewise uttered conjurations in the name of Jesus, as already happened in Palestine in Jesus' lifetime.

And even in terms of the Protestant faiths, I've been in situations where a Protestant professor will be very glad to debate a theological understanding of something, but he will very often defer to the Catholic position on exorcism. So there's a respect there. And if I do say so myself, it's an earned respect because, frankly, the Catholic Church gets the results you want. What that translates into is the demons fear the Catholic Church.

There is a power there that the demon is compelled to acknowledge. Perhaps one reason why there is such great deference to the Catholic Church on spiritual warfare is because they took it seriously enough to publish a formalized ritual on it. In Protestantism, especially during the 20th century, the idea that demons could harass believers was highly controversial, and it was not until ministers like Derek Prince and Charles Kraft did a wider discussion around evil spirits begin to take hold. I'll close out today's episode with an account circulate 1800s

from John Livingston Nevius, an American Protestant missionary in China. A Chinese mountaineer related to Nevius that he had himself experienced a state of possession. He was busied in preparing for a service to the domestic god, Wang Mu Nyang, when one night the god appeared to him in a dream and announced that she had taken up her abode in his house. After a few days, he was seized with inner disquiet. He then had a sort of epileptic attack, followed by a state of mania with homicidal impulses. The quote, demon announced his presence and demanded to be adored like a god. As soon as his wishes had been deferred to, he once more disappeared.

during several months the demon reappeared from time to time. But when the man was converted to Christianity, the demon vanished, saying, that is no place for me. Thank you so much for joining us on another episode of The Exorcist Files. Be sure to come back next episode, where we bring you a group of friends that unleashes a Ouija board and everything that comes with it.

As we are coming up on a month since our show's premiere, we want to thank all of you for listening, rating and reviewing. Your support has helped the show reach the number one and two spots on Spotify and Apple's religion and spirituality charts. And if you'd like to help us stay there, please consider leaving us a five-star review and rating. It really helps us out. Lastly, on a parting note, may I suggest, if you happen to have a nemesis right now, use this podcast as an excuse to go reconcile. Remember, only demons have a nemesis in heaven. If you'd like to learn more about the topic or hear bonus materials, you can visit our website at exorcistfiles.tv. You can also email us absurd and

overly specific criticisms at exorcist files at gmail.com. All cases in the exorcist files are recounted by Father Carlos Martens from his personal archives. The series is hosted by Father Martins and myself, Ryan Bethay. This episode's reenactments were directed and recorded by Chandler Mays and Ryan Bethay in Atlanta, Georgia, and Los Angeles, California. Father Martins was portrayed by Eli Banks, Confusion by Matthew Goodson, the dowry demon by Harley Wood, Adam, aka Murder by Jonathan Langley, Father George by Daniel Schwab, and the unprepared priest by Ryan Bethay. Any likeness or similarities of characters are entirely coincidental and unintentional on the part of the writers. Additional research provided by Anne Marie Robson and Miranda Hawkins, script written by Chandler Mays and Ryan Bithay.

Original theme and select scores written and composed by Dan Carey Bailey. additional music graciously provided by scuba and you can find his music at zg u b a dot bandcamp.com assistant editor is j j jay posway supervising producer sound designer editor and mixer is chanler mays executive producers are carlos martins ryan bethay and jonathan dressler the exorcist files is a production of iHeart