{"id":143207,"date":"2016-11-26T14:20:04","date_gmt":"2016-11-26T14:20:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=143207"},"modified":"2016-11-30T07:10:19","modified_gmt":"2016-11-30T07:10:19","slug":"demonic-possession-today-part-2-extraordinary-temptations-and-obsessions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=143207","title":{"rendered":"Demonic Possession Today Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Extraordinary Temptations and Obsessions<\/h1>\n

by Lasha Darkmoon — Darkmoon.me Nov 26, 2016<\/strong><\/h1>\n

\"the-exorcist\"<\/a><\/p>\n

THE FACE OF EVIL<\/h3>\n

\u201cI seek refuge . . . \u00a0from the mischief of the Whisperer.\u201d<\/strong>
\n\u2014 Qur\u2019an, sura CXIV<\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n

WARNING! \u2014 This article contains disturbing material.
\nDo not read it if you are of nervous disposition.<\/h3>\n

You know the face of evil<\/strong> when you see it. Take a look at the face of that girl in the picture above. She radiates evil. The Prince of Darkness has taken possession of her and rides her all night long, as she shrieks \u201cF**k me! F**k me! F**K ME!\u201d<\/h5>\n
It\u2019s only a movie? \u2014 Yes, it\u2019s only a movie. But did you know the movie was based on a real life<\/em> case of demonic possession? A case involving not a 12-year-old girl, as in The Exorcist<\/em>, but of a 13-year-old boy from Baltimore. This case, hushed up for years by the Catholic Church, involved two Jesuit priests in the role of exorcists. The year was 1949. The name of the two priests: Father Bowden, age 52, and his athletic younger assistant, Father Halloran.<\/h5>\n
Only quite recently, forty years after its release, Tom Leonard \u00a0in the Daily Mail revealed the true story behind The Exorcist<\/em>.<\/h5>\n
Many moviegoers fainted or vomited during the screening of the movie. Others claimed they had tried to leave the cinema but were rooted to their seats, too petrified to move. Some were carried out on stretchers and rushed to hospital emergency departments after having strokes.<\/h5>\n
The year was 1973, described as \u201cthe most significant year of the 20th century<\/a><\/strong><\/span>.\u201d<\/h5>\n
Among those who trooped to see it [\u2018The Exorcist\u2019] at a cinema in St Louis, Missouri, were two local Jesuit priests, Fathers William Bowdern and Walter Halloran, who knew better than anyone that this was not entirely a Hollywood flight of fancy \u2013 for they had performed the real-life exorcism<\/a><\/span> on which the film was based.<\/strong><\/h5>\n
We will consider the real life exorcism later. But first, a few preliminaries.<\/h5>\n

\u2014 \u00a0\u00a7 \u00a0\u2014<\/p>\n

The Catholic Church<\/strong> is known to perform thousands of exorcisms each year. The current Pope, Francis I,\u00a0 maintains that Satan is a\u00a0real person, not a figment of the imagination or a mere \u201csymbol of evil\u201d. In May 2013, the newly-elected Pope allegedly performed a brief exorcism live on camera. As he was moving down a line of disabled people, offering blessings, the Pontiff paused before a boy in a wheelchair. He grasped the boy by the head, whereupon the boy gasped and shuddered before going limp. This was seen by many as a form of exorcism.<\/h5>\n
In 1906, Clara Germana Cele, a 16-year-old Christian student in Natal, South Africa, is said to have become demonically possessed after making a secret pact with Satan. (See\u00a0Part 1<\/a><\/strong><\/span>).<\/h5>\n
Clara developed clairvoyant abilities at once and a sudden knowledge of multiple languages, speaking fluently in several tongues. Nuns at her convent reported that she produced horrible, animalistic sounds and also\u00a0levitated up to five feet in the air\u00a0\u2014 a feat reportedly witnessed by 170 people.\u00a0 Eventually, two priests were brought in to perform an exorcism, one of whom she almost strangled to death. The 48-hour exorcism was successful and Clara was restored to normality. (See Wikipedia,\u00a0here<\/strong><\/a><\/span>).<\/h5>\n

\"exorcist-2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A scene from \u2018The Exorcist\u2019 showing levitation<\/strong><\/h4>\n
In June 2014, \u201cthe Vatican formally recognized a group of 250 priests in 30 countries who liberate their faithful from demons. The Congregation for the Clergy approved the International Association of Exorcists. (Independent newspaper, UK.)<\/h5>\n
Exorcisms are not confined to Christian countries. We learn from Chinese sources that exorcists in Taoist monasteries are trained professionals who die young. This is because each exorcism drains them of vital energy, sometimes sapping years from their life. Here is a description of one such exorcism as witnessed by a Westerner:<\/h5>\n
\u201cAnimal growls and howls issued from time to time from his mouth which became square, his teeth gleaming like the fangs of a dog. I had the impression that a pack of wild animals was fighting inside his body. Terrible threats poured out of his contorted mouth, now fringed in white foam, and interspersed with such terrible obscenities that women [witnesses] had to plug their ears with their fingers\u2026. [and then] he jumped at the priest\u2019s throat like a mad bloodhound.<\/strong><\/h5>\n
Convulsions shook the monstrous, swollen body [which had blown up into a \u201cgrotesque balloon\u201d], and the things that followed were disgusting and revolting in the extreme. It seemed that all the apertures of the body were opened by the unseen powers hiding in it and streams of malodorous excreta\u00a0 and effluvia flowed on the ground in incredible profusion.\u201d<\/strong><\/h5>\n
The abbot performing the exorcism, we are told, \u201cwas in a terrible state of prostration and was half carried and half dragged away by his novices. Shaken, scared and very sick, I could hardly walk back to our apartment.\u201d<\/strong><\/h5>\n
\u2014 Peter Goullart,\u00a0<\/strong>The Monastery of Jade Mountain\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>(1961), quoted in\u00a0<\/strong>Adventures with the Buddha, A Personal Buddhist Reader<\/strong><\/em>, edited by Jeffery Paine (2005), pp. 217-223.<\/strong><\/h5>\n
\u2014 \u00a0\u00a7 \u00a0\u2014<\/h5>\n
Remember that it was Christ himself<\/strong> who told us that the entire world was under the dominion of Satan. He referred to the Devil as the Prince or \u201cruler of the world\u201c, and his injunction in the Lord\u2019s Prayer\u00a0\u201cLibera nos a Malo\u201d<\/em>\u2014sometimes translated as \u201cDeliver us from\u00a0the Evil One\u201d\u2014would make no sense at all if we were\u00a0NOT\u00a0in need of deliverance. It is precisely because we are under demonic influence on a daily daily, subject to infection from the virus of evil, that we are advised to pray \u201cDELIVER US FROM EVIL.\u201d<\/h5>\n
The\u00a0sense of an ever-present and pervasive\u00a0evil force, running like a subterranean river under the calm\u00a0surface of everyday life, is a\u00a0very common meme in religious literature. We are constantly being advised to practice\u00a0eternal vigilance.\u00a0Never let your guard down,\u00a0we are being told.\u00a0\u201cWatch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation,\u201d Christ advises.\u00a0\u201cPray without ceasing,\u201d St Paul chimes in. \u201cBe sober, be vigilant,\u201d St Peter adds,\u00a0\u201cbecause your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.\u201d Gautama\u00a0Buddha recommends constant \u201cmindfulness\u201d, that is, being ever on the alert. The final sura of the Qur\u2019an (114) warns us against the wiles of the Whisperer (Satan) and the ever-present\u00a0jinn<\/em>\u00a0or demonic entities of the Islamic universe\u00a0who can be seen as\u00a0the lurkers in the shadows of life\u2014or\u00a0the \u201cinsane hiders\u201d, to trace the word \u2018jinn\u2019 to its etymological roots.<\/h5>\n
JINN <\/strong>(also \u2018djin\u2019) :<\/strong> The plural is jinn<\/em> (demons, spirits), the singular jinee.<\/em> In Islamic demonology, the jinn are lower than the angels and are said to exercise supernatural influence\u2014not always benign\u2014over men. According to Dr Ebenezer Brewer in his Dictionary of Phrase and Fable<\/em>, they dwell in the mountains of Kaf which encompass the earth, created 2000 years before Adam. They assume the form of serpents, dogs, cats, and even human beings. \u201cThe evil jinn are hideously ugly,\u201d Dr Brewer tells us, \u201cbut the good are singularly beautiful.\u201d<\/h5>\n
\u2014 \u00a0\u00a7 \u00a0\u2014<\/h5>\n
Curious to learn more about demons<\/strong>, I was taken aback when a book in my den suddenly dislodged itself from a shelf above my head and landed on the floor. Somewhat bemused, I picked it up and leafed through it at random, only to find that the book was full of curious lore on Buddhist demonology. A strange coincidence, I thought. The book was written by the great anthropologist and Tibetan translator, Walter Evans-Wentz<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, and was called The Tibetan Book of the Dead<\/em>. I was impressed to find that it included a psychological commentary by Carl Jung and a foreword by the erudite British orientalist Sir John Woodroffe, also known as Arthur Avalon.<\/h5>\n
In Tibetan Buddhism, all demonic beings are the materialisations of the percipient\u2019s own karmic thought forms. You created your own demons by your own sinful thoughts and desires. You imagined them into being. Astonished beyond words, this is what I read:<\/h5>\n
\u201cThe minor deities, heroes, dakhinis<\/em> (or \u2018fairies\u2019), goddesses, lords of death, rakshasas<\/em> [shape-shifting spirits], demons, spirits, and all others, correspond to definite human thoughts, passions,\u00a0and impulses, high and low, human and subhuman and superhuman, in karmic form, as they take shape from the seeds of thought forming the recipient\u2019s consciousness-content. (The Tibetan Book of the Dead<\/em>, p.32)<\/h5>\n
The theosophist Evans-Wentz goes on to explain how our demons come into existence, created by our own karmas: \u201cAll\u00a0pretas\u00a0<\/em>[\u2018hungry ghosts\u2019], who exist in space, who\u00a0traverse the\u00a0sky, and the eighty thousand species of mischievous sprites, have become so by changing their feelings while in the mental body\u00a0on the Bardo<\/em>-plane.\u201d (Ibid<\/em>., p.187). \u00a0Malignant spirits are apparently the result of the \u201cbad karma\u201d of human beings. They are\u00a0the\u00a0materialisations of our evil thoughts and deeds. In short, they are sin-engendered.<\/em> \u00a0Once created, they have an\u00a0independent existence of their own and haunt their\u00a0creators like ghosts. (Ibid.<\/em>, p.187, n.1)<\/h5>\n

\"haunted\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2018HAUNTED\u2019<\/h3>\n
The \u201cghost\u201d in the mirror, though it may be invisible to others, is not a hallucination as such. It is a \u201ctulpa<\/a><\/span>\u201c, a mind-created apparition or magical emanation with an independent existence of its own once it as been \u201cconjured up\u201d by the sheer power of imagination. It is often regarded as an imaginary friend. Thus it is possible in theory to summon up a ravishingly beautiful \u201cdemon lover\u201d and have sex with her. Some adepts of tantric Buddhism are indeed reported to have created their own mind-created concubines, infinitely more desirable than ordinary flesh-and-blood women.<\/strong><\/h5>\n
Hell, according to this outr\u00e9 form of Mahayana Buddhism, is a virtual reality created by the sinner. And demons are one\u2019s own karmic thought forms brought to life like tulpas. The problem is, how do you escape this virtual reality which is indistinguishable from real life? How does the entrapped soul break free from the hellish nightmare it has created for itself?<\/strong><\/h5>\n
That question remains unanswered. It\u2019s like asking: <\/strong>How do you get out of Hell?<\/strong><\/em><\/h5>\n
\u2014 \u00a0\u00a7 \u00a0\u2014<\/h5>\n
I cited earlier<\/strong> in an article on sex addiction and pornography<\/strong><\/a><\/span> the old Latin adage Nemo repente fuit turpissimus<\/em><\/strong> \u2014 \u2018<\/em>No one becomes thoroughly wicked all at once.\u2019 Evil develops slowly in the soul over a period of several years. It often begins in childhood, manifesting itself as cruelty to animals. Such children become precociously sexual, indulging in compulsive masturbation from an early age. This abnormal behavior can turn males into fully-fledged sex criminals, including serial killers, and it can turn women into nymphomaniacs. Demonic possession is exceptionally rare and occurs only as the third<\/em> and final stage of diablocentricism.<\/h5>\n
Preceding possession proper are two preliminary stages: <\/strong>extraordinary temptations<\/strong><\/em> and <\/strong>diabolical obsessions. <\/strong><\/em>The temptations experienced are primarily sexual. The obsessions run the whole gamut of infatuations, addictions, and obsessive-compulsive disorders. Porn addiction and pedophilia, for example, are two such obsessive-compulsive disorders that belong under the rubric of <\/strong>demonic influence<\/strong><\/em>.<\/strong><\/h5>\n
None of the saints, to my knowledge, has ever become demonically possessed, but\u00a0this immunity was achieved only as the\u00a0result of heroic counter-measures to\u00a0avoid being sucked into the vortex of diabolism. Many saints have experienced the first\u00a0two stages, in particular extraordinary temptations<\/em>. These include St Anthony, St Benedict, St Hilarion, St Francis of\u00a0Assisi, St Teresa, St Catherine of Siena, St Mary Magdalen of Pazzi, Blessed Angela of Foligno, St Margaret Mary,\u00a0the Venerable Mother Agn\u00e8s de Langeac, and the saintly Cur\u00e9 D\u2019Ars. (Mystical Phenomena, A Treatise of Mystical Theology<\/em>, by Mgr. Albert Farges, 1926, p.201)<\/h5>\n
Great sinners, we are told, are left to\u00a0their depraved senses: tradidit illos Deus in reprobum\u00a0sensum<\/em> (\u201cGod gave them over to a reprobate mind,\u201d Romans<\/em>.i.28). \u201cIndeed, in order to chastise us, God very often only has to leave us alone,\u201d Mgr. Farges notes. \u201cAnd this is true of a people as well of individuals, for nations are very often punished by their own faults.\u201d (p. 200)<\/h5>\n
Temptations to lust and blasphemy often beset the troubled mind. In\u00a0the words of St John of the Cross:<\/h5>\n
\u201cTo some is sent the angel of Satan, the spirit of impurity, to buffet them\u00a0with horrible and violent temptations of the flesh, to trouble their minds with filthy thoughts, and their\u00a0imaginations wth\u00a0representations of sin most\u00a0vividly depicted; which, at\u00a0times,\u00a0becomes an affliction more grievous than death.\u201d (St John of the Cross,\u00a0<\/strong>Dark Night of the Soul<\/strong><\/em>, bk.1, ch. xiv, quoted in Farges, op.cit., p. 201-202)<\/strong><\/h5>\n
\u2014 \u00a0\u00a7 \u00a0\u2014<\/strong><\/h5>\n
And so we come\u00a0back to The Exorcist. <\/em><\/h5>\n
Before we consider the real life case on which the movie is based, let\u2019s take a look at one of the opening scenes. This 2-minute clip<\/strong> will show you what is involved in the exorcism process. Whether you believe or disbelieve in the supernatural is immaterial. All you need to know is that scenes like this mirror a reality far more nightmarish than anything the imagination can conjure up.<\/h5>\n