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Question Title	Posted By	Question Date
re : a couple of things	luis	Monday, August 23, 2004
Question: Hi Bro. Ingnatius, Thanks so much for your quick reply. I should have given a better background on why I am interested. Forgive me if this ends up boring! I'm a cradle Catholic who spent most of his life non-practicing until I had the call to return to the Church. All my family (and extended family) are Catholic, though many have turned from the faith and have become "New Age-ey". Due to the religious permissiveness while I was growing up, I read everything I could get my hands on. When I returned to the Church, I donated 300 odd books on the New Age, Magic etc. to the SVD for refference material as in the country that I live in (the Philippines) is having a MAJOR problem with "folk Catholicism" "New Age", Neo- Paganism" etc. The more I delved intellectually into our faith, the more I realized my errors, and the more I realized what was happening around me. I won't write what I have experienced on a purely personal basis, as that would be too subjective, but one incident stands out. My wife and I were on the first floor of our home and heard loud sounds of heavy furniture moving around on the second floor. When we went to investigate, the second floor was EMPTY. It was IN my home. I guess that incident struck me hard. I confessed to my confessor that I had a problem of EXTREME dislike towards the Evil One. He joked not to worry about it because for THAT, the sin was only venial! Since then I've had reservations about getting involved, but I have a powerful inner urge to FIGHT. My wife thinks I'm nuts. She may be right. Whether I'm delusioning myself or not, it's like "You know the enemy thoroughly, now fight the enemy" I feel that people are being misled and harmed, so I have this call to FIGHT. I know that compared to the enemy, I'm nothing, weak, but the urge to help the Church is terribly strong. He hurt my family and is hurting others. I'm asking exactly because of my reservations. Sorry for being long-winded. Thank you for the advice. God Bless
Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM+ Dear Luis: I praise God that you returned to the Church, but I have to say that based on what you have written, my advice is that you not be involved in deliverance and exorcism. Your motivation is not the proper motivation, in my opinion, to enter this sort of ministry. There are other ways to fight the Enemy -- evangelism, catechetics, discipleship, praying, etc. You will do more to hurt the Evil One by these sort of activities than you will by getting involved in deliverance or exorcism. When people are properly evangelized, catechized, helped to become true disciples, and prayed for and taught how to pray themselves, it is less likely they will fall into demonic harassment. God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.

Question Title

Posted By

Question Date

re : a couple of things

luis

Monday, August 23, 2004

Question:

Hi Bro. Ingnatius,

Thanks so much for your quick reply. I should have given a better background on why I am interested. Forgive me if this ends up boring!

I'm a cradle Catholic who spent most of his life non-practicing until I had the call to return to the Church. All my family (and extended family) are Catholic, though many have turned from the faith and have become "New Age-ey". Due to the religious permissiveness while I was growing up, I read everything I could get my hands on. When I returned to the Church, I donated 300 odd books on the New Age, Magic etc. to the SVD for refference material as in the country that I live in (the Philippines) is having a MAJOR problem with "folk Catholicism" "New Age", Neo- Paganism" etc.

The more I delved intellectually into our faith, the more I realized my errors, and the more I realized what was happening around me. I won't write what I have experienced on a purely personal basis, as that would be too subjective, but one incident stands out.

My wife and I were on the first floor of our home and heard loud sounds of heavy furniture moving around on the second floor. When we went to investigate, the second floor was EMPTY. It was IN my home. I guess that incident struck me hard.

I confessed to my confessor that I had a problem of EXTREME dislike towards the Evil One. He joked not to worry about it because for THAT, the sin was only venial! Since then I've had reservations about getting involved, but I have a powerful inner urge to FIGHT.

My wife thinks I'm nuts. She may be right. Whether I'm delusioning myself or not, it's like "You know the enemy thoroughly, now fight the enemy" I feel that people are being misled and harmed, so I have this call to FIGHT. I know that compared to the enemy, I'm nothing, weak, but the urge to help the Church is terribly strong. He hurt my family and is hurting others. I'm asking exactly because of my reservations. Sorry for being long-winded. Thank you for the advice. God Bless

Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM+

Dear Luis:

I praise God that you returned to the Church, but I have to say that based on what you have written, my advice is that you not be involved in deliverance and exorcism. Your motivation is not the proper motivation, in my opinion, to enter this sort of ministry.

There are other ways to fight the Enemy -- evangelism, catechetics, discipleship, praying, etc. You will do more to hurt the Evil One by these sort of activities than you will by getting involved in deliverance or exorcism.

When people are properly evangelized, catechized, helped to become true disciples, and prayed for and taught how to pray themselves, it is less likely they will fall into demonic harassment.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary

For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.