A secular book about exorcism says that one thing rankles demons.Posted on 05/31/2007 8:43:12 AM PDT by NYer
A secular book about exorcism says that one thing rankles demons.
"The devil doesn't like Latin," writes Tracy Wilkinson in The Vatican's Exorcists. "That is one of the first things I learned from Father Gabriele Amorth, long known as Rome's chief exorcist, even though that has never been his formal title.
"Now past the age of eighty, Father Amorth has dedicated the last decades of his life to regaining a measure of respectability for exorcism. Despite his advancing age, he continues to perform the rite several times a week at his office in Rome.
"Scores of people seek him out. He prefers to use Latin when he conducts exorcisms, he says, because it is most effective in challenging the devil."
That tidbit comes to us at a time when Benedict XVI is ready to loosen restrictions on Latin Mass. It's in the new book -- a secular and sometimes skeptical but fascinating glimpse into the world of Italian priests who see their job as casting out demons.
While the numbers dwindle in countries like the Canada, France, and the U.S., exorcists are on the rise on the Vatican's home turf -- thanks largely to priests such as Father Amorth.
In Italy the number of exorcists has grown tenfold in the past decade, according to the priest (who is himself author of two bestsellers, An Exorcist Tells His Story and An Exorcist: More Stories). Credit is also due to the legacy of John Paul II -- who made the notion of exorcism, which was founded by Jesus Himself, respectable again.
Father Amorth was born in Modena in northern Italy and has been a priest since 1954. In 1986 he began performing exorcisms under the tutelage of the vicar for Rome.
According to Wilkinson, Father Amorth accepted the task "after praying to the Virgin Mary for her steadfast guidance and protection."
"On the walls of Amorth's exorcism chamber, eight Crucifixes and pictures of the Madonna are hanging, plus a picture of Saint Michael the Archangel," says the book. "A two-foot-high statue of the Virgin Mary, the Madonna of Fatima, sits on a corner table.
"There are also pictures of the late Pope John Paul II; the popular saint Padre Pio; Amorth's mentor, Father Candido; and Father Giacomo Alberione, the founder of the Society of Saint Paul Congregation."
Father Amorth calls them "my protectors," adding that "the more recent addition of John Paul's has been especially effective and helpful."
"The demons become very agitated at his presence," Father Amorth says of the late Pope -- who himself performed several exorcisms during his pontificate and warned of the rise of dark forces both in 1977 and then in 2005 just days before he lapsed in his final bout with illness.
How is exorcism done? There is the Crucifix. There is the Holy Water. There are the ritual prayers. Many times, those afflicted have to come back on a regular basis -- the process a gradual one.
In Father Amorth's appointment book, women outnumber men by three to one. That is perhaps because they are more in tune with the spiritual, says the exorcist, or because they are special targets as the descendants of Eve.
The very word "hysteria" -- so often seen in the possessed -- comes from the Greek word hyster for womb. Greeks believed it was caused by abnormalities in the uterus.
"I maintain that in part, the reason is because women are the ones who do the most praying," says the priest. "Another reason is women are more inclined to approach a priest than are men, in case of need."
In some cases, say other exorcists, the devil attempts to mask possession as insanity. This sets up conflict with the far newer practice of psychology -- which looks down on exorcism as the psychiatrist's couch has replaced the confessional.
"An exorcism is the residue of a medieval practice completely devoid of any foundation in reason," the book quotes Sergio Moravia, a philosopher at the University of Florence, as saying. "I don't think it's crazy. It's worse."
Exorcists counter that psychological diagnoses such as "multiple personality" and "schizophrenia" are clinical covers for an infestation.
That opinion is shared by the many who have sought the services of Father Amorth -- finding relief when the devil was cast away after years of frustration at the hands of psychiatrists who saw their problems so differently.
Blessed salt and Holy Water are often used not just by the exorcists themselves, but by those who have been exorcised -- to stave off further disturbances.
Extraordinary strength, preternatural knowledge, speaking in foreign tongues unknown to the victim, vomiting of strange objects, and violent aversion to holy objects make pure psychological explanations suspect in strong cases.
Prayer, of course, also chases the devil and his manifestations away -- apparently, Latin in particular.
Bishop Andrea Gemma of Isernia -- who himself performs exorcisms -- ascribes the Church's move from Latin as part of a global plot to undermine Christianity.
"The devil is happy with the near-disappearance of Latin," said the bishop.
Does exorcism mask psychological illness with the supernatural, or is psychology itself a ruse, at least in certain instances, to prevent deliverance?
We have only to study the ministry of Jesus to know the answer.
Did you expect the words 'sola scriptura?'
He condemned the oral tradition, what else is left?
"as we also see in John 20:30; 21:25, not ALL Jesus taught is in Scripture"
I have to say that is categorically false. The scriptures that you referenced do not support your statement; they refer to his acts, not his words. All but a few of his acts were directed toward one thing: showing that forgiveness of sin can eliminate all of man's suffering, in other words, the kingdom has come to the body of Christ, and conquered the fall of Adam.
Christ never accepted oral tradition; he condemned it whenever he encountered it. Oral tradition is the serpent's foot in the door of the church, while the scriptures are the truth that will give you the understanding that will make you free.
He didn't leave us the church, we are the church. The organizations of men, and the structures and regulations that they promulgate are not the church; they are the "Nicolaitanes."
At the time He said that, it was orally, correct? Did He issue a written proclamation, or did He speak that condemnation?
Amen.
Apart from the fact this statement is historically true, it is also inherently logical.
Oral transmissions can be confused, garbled, altered, twisted, forgotten -- a thousand different ways to dilute or deny the truth.
The written word, however, is discernible, black and white, and men are able to compare Scripture with Scripture in order to facilitate their learning.
The Ten Commandments, God's word to Moses and His children, were committed to Moses not by a whisper or a nudge, but carved in stone for everyone to read and understand, by the grace of God.
It was obviously spoken, but it was not tradition. I think that you're having a little difficulty with the fact that tradition was man's way of circumventing God's written word. The purpose of all oral tradition in a literate society is to diminish the written commandments. Read the Lord's own words in Matthiew 15; that is exactly what he is saying.
Read your Bible. Christ was disdainful of oral tradition. Instead, in His teachings Christ referenced the Scriptures over 100 times during His ministry.
Even though the apostles were inspired with genuine oral revelation, they always directed people to the Scriptures for the final determination of truth.
Oral tradition is worthless without the witness of Scripture because the Holy Spirit speaks through Scripture straight to our hearts and minds.
Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word; It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed." -- Luke 1:1-4"Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us,
Even Luke who had witnessed the truth knew the importance of knowing the "certainty of those things" via the written word.
It is simply the way God intended truth to be preserved and transmitted to men by the Holy Spirit.
"And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God?" -- Mark 12:24
You just couldn’t resist the temptation to post the 666th, could you ;o)
Says you.
Says the Lord In Matthiew 15, and Mark 7.
According to your own personal interpretation of scripture.
Now that was funny!!
LOL. Numbers shouldn't frighten us. The configuration of the stars shouldn't frighten us. Black cats and the ace of spades shouldn't frighten us.
As Scripture tells us, it is thoroughly unprofitable.
Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee. Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it. Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured, even thy merchants, from thy youth: they shall wander every one to his quarter; none shall save thee." -- Isaiah 47:12-15"Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail.
Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops. And I say unto you my friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him." -- Luke 12:2-5"For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.
And thankfully, because of Christ's death and resurrection, we know God's wrath has been satisfied by the one-time, perfect, personal offering of His Son for all the sins of His flock.
"She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet." -- Proverbs 31:21
Read your Bible. It's all there.
You obviously don't believe in the inspiration of the word of God, thereby creating your own convenient god that you can carry in your pocket, or display in a niche, and tell when to speak.
All churches are just a shadow of mine. I am entitled to my beliefs as much as you are to yours. That’s what "Freedom of Religion" is.
No, his mission was not to write, but to declare the truth in power. The spoken word is the foundation of the creation. Words mean things, and words do things, but those words must be also written for the future, because the spoken word can be mis-spoken with destructive result.
"His followers preached in tongues to the masses."
Sometimes they still do. Did the disciples speak in the tongues of the audience, or were the listeners given "ears to hear?" Either way, it was the work of the Holy Spirit, and that is the only that the Gospel can be advanced. Without the Holy Spirit, words ring hollow.
"Tis worth reflecting on to understand how the original Church operated. It's part of our history."
That is a pertinant observation. The early israelites were not as a whole a literate people, and literacy was given at first only to the Levites. The people memorized the words of God using algorythemic tricks to make sure that they were recited correctly.
That process ended with the new testament church, where rather than memorizing, the people, who had become quite literate, copied the words from circulated letters. This is why there are so many thousands of manuscripts of the Epistles and Gospels. This is clearly what the lord intended when he declared us all to be priests. For his word to be advanced to all the nations world, rather than just one small nation, required every believer to carry it foreward. That could not be done without committing every bit of it to writing. The Lord, and all his apostles declared the written word to be the perfect truth, and it is the work of the Serpent to place it under attack.
Amazing. I wonder if all threads that get to 666 have common taters
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