A Devilish Blog

We've all heard it, "The devil made me do it". He is in the title of songs and movies or is the topic of the content. He is known by many names. Satan, Lucifer, Beelzebub, the Anti-Christ. We know he is synonymous with evil, but does he really exist? After all, people do worship him.

The Catholic Church faced with the alarming prospect that the youth of the world are turning to the occult has instituted a sort of Satanism 101 at one of its most prestigious universities. The course taught by the leading "exorcist" of the church will focus on when to recognize demonic possession and how to deal with it. I think this a rather simplistic approach to a long standing problem with in the church

First, the need for a formal exorcism is rare. An actual exorcism is a formal ritual performed by a member of the clergy with the permission of a bishop to free a person possessed by the demonic spirit. This so called possession conjures up the vision of the movie "The Exorcist" where the star's head rotates, she speaks in a guttural profanity ridden voice and spews green split pea soup throughout the room. I would admit that this is a case for a formal declaration of war and to hit the subject with all the holy water available. But then again, this is the exception and not the rule. Most of the head bangers listening to the sounds and extolling the kewlness of the devil or even involved in the ritualistic occult sacrifices of animals and such have not yet achieved the status of the possessed.

Having been in involved in some healing ministries in the church, I think the term deliverance is more appropriate in grasping the gist of the matter. In deliverance an individual is freed of oppression by an evil spirit through prayer. A remarkable distinction, this possession v. oppression, because I think that all religious denominations would agree that oppression is more prevalent than possesion. The strange thing about this deliverance thing is that the formality of a certain prayer and the execution of such by the clergy is not a necessity. Mere mortals employing their faith have worked wonders in this field.

I found a number of websites where so called "exorcists" are hawking their wares. You can even bid on e-bay for help. Are the seekers of help truly possessed by demons or are they oppressed and searching for an answer to actual psychological problems that shrinks dismiss as hallucinations? Are the so called exorcists truly driving out the evil in the formal sense as we have come to know exorcism?

My cynical mind broaches another theory. The instances in which actual formal exorcisms are rare. The instances in which deliverance would be beneficial are numerous and daily in occurrence. The praying for those oppressed does not require the formality of the presence of the clergy. The church has known this for quite some time in that Pope Leo XII published a prayer for both the priests and laity concerning exorcism, both formal and non formal, in the 1820's. Has the recent scandal of sexual abuse perpetrated by the clergy caused the church to insinuate that the accused were possessed? After all, listening to heavy metal lyrics might be considered in the same vein. Are they now raising a red herring? I once read in a book by Francis MacNutt, former priest and a noted faith healer, "Who will exorcise the exorcist?". Think about it.