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Father John A. Hardon, S.J. Archives
Demonology Index
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Father John A. Hardon, S.J. Archives |
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Demonology Index |
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| The Strategy of the Devil in Demonic Temptations It was divinely providential that Christ allowed Himself to be tempted by the devil at the beginning of His public ministry. He is teaching us one of the most important lessons we need to learn in life. If He, the living God in human form, was tempted by the evil spirit, then we must expect to be tempted as well. |
| Demons are the Angels Who Fell by Their Disobedience to the Will of God Our faith tells us that God created the invisible world of angels at the beginning of time. We further believe that none of these angelic spirits was estranged from God. |
| The Devil as the Prince of this World The prince of this world is the devil. When Christ speaks of this world, He means the world of sin. He means the world for which, as He mysteriously declared, "I pray not for the world." The world of which the devil is prince or king is the world of unrepentant sinners. |
| Christ the Divine Exorcist In theological language, we may speak of Christ’s exorcisms as miraculous manifestations of His divine power. What is miraculous about Christ’s deliverance of possessed people is the simplicity of how Christ made the deliverance, the few words He spoke, especially the immediate response of the evil ones in obeying His commands when they were told by Christ to leave their victims. |
| What are Possession and Obsession by the Devil? It might be well at the outset to distinguish between the constant temptations to which we are all exposed by the evil spirit, and the more severe demonic molestation’s which we have come to call possession and obsession. |
| What is Exorcism and How is it Performed? To believe in exorcism you must first believe in the devil. Exorcism is the act of driving out or warding off evil spirits from persons, places, or things. The means employed for this purpose are especially the solemn and authoritative adjuration of the demons, commanding them in the name of God to leave the person or the object which is under their malevolent influence. |
| The Evil Spirit in Conflict with Christ and His Followers A balanced understanding of Christ and His Church includes the realization of conflict with the evil spirit or as Saint John calls him, "The spirit of darkness." Until not so long ago it was not popular to even talk about the devil, and all of a sudden he has become quite popular. Though I am afraid that much of the popularity is not very deep, though it does indicate an instinctive realization in man’s heart that besides the world of sense, space, and time, that there is a world of spirit. And not only a spirit world which is good, but given the shear magnitude of the evil in the world there must be besides human malice, invisible malice that is at work in the human race today. |
| Satanism: A Catholic Appraisal There is a growing number of satanic organizations throughout the country, national like the American Satanic Brotherhood and local Churches of Satan that are being organized and legally recognized. Clearly some evaluation is called for naturally in the light of our Catholic faith. For the sake of convenience, I will distinguish the three main forms of satanism known to past and present history about which the Catholic Church has some very definite ideas and counsel to offer. These three historic forms of satanism, while they can be given different names, I would identify as: philosophical satanism, polytheistic satanism and cultic satanism. |
| The Devil and Divine Providence Let us be clear about two things. The existence and activity of the devil are part of divine revelation. It is an article of irreversible faith that the devil exists as a legion of evil spirits who fell from God’s friendship by their disobedience to His will. It is further part of our faith that God allows the devil to exercise His malevolent will. From God’s perspective, this is to enable us to be more generous in loving and serving the divine majesty. |
| Coping with the Devil The devil is called the god of this world not because he made it, but because so many people serve him with their worldliness. |
| Seductions of the Evil Spirit - Part 1 of 7 First, by way of introduction: the devil exists and can be known. I cannot tell you how widespread is disbelief in the evil spirit, especially among those who are supposed to be teachers of the Faith in the Catholic Church. In other words, without dwelling on this because the subject is an ocean, our task in this course is not to prove the existence of the evil spirit. It is, rather, to describe both how the evil spirit operates and how we are to cope with his demonic activity. It is part of the Church's infallible teaching that the devil exists. |
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