Dear Randy:

Yes, demons can resist expulsion from a location or from a person. Often many house blessings and cleanses must be done, many deliverances, or many eexoticismsbefore all demons are ousted. Even then, there is never any guarantee.

Sacramentals are according to Father Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary:

...objects or actions...in order to achieve through the merits of the faithful certain effects, mainly of a spiritual nature... there efficacy depends... on the influence of prayerful petition; that of the person who uses them... The variety of sacramentals spans the whole range of times and places, words and actions, objects and gestures that, on the Church's authority, draw not only on the personal dispositions of the individuals but on the merits and prayers of the whole Mystical Body of Christ.

These items (holy water, medals, other objects) are blessed by a priest. Upon this blessing the fingerprint of God, sort-to-speak, the essence of God, is upon the object. Since demons do not like to be around holy objects these sacramentals can be useful to ward off demons. This is one of the reasons the Church gives us these sacramentals.

It is estremextremelytant to note that these items are not talismtalismanse is no power in themselves. The efficacy, that is the power of the sacramental, is in the faith and prayer of the person who uses it. The sacramental, with the essence of God upon it, is like a No TresspTrespassingto demons. As it is with any No Trespassing sign, some will respect it, others with trespass anyway, and still others will shoot holes in the sign and trespass anyway. Thus, the No TresspTrespassingmust be enforced with security guards to protect the property. These "securtsecuritys" include our Guardian Angels, the angels of heaven, the Saints, our Blessed Mother, and our Lord who all protect us through our faith and our prayers.

Thus, the sacramentals are only signs. We must enforce the sign with our faith and prayers.

Protestants may not buy this, but consider it as superstition. There is a precedent in Scripture for this sort of thing. Related to Sacramentals are relics. Many Protestants also think this is superstition, but that is because they do not know their Bible and because of the bias against the Catholic Church.

The Bible mentions relics (which are body parts of a saint, or some item used by a Saint, such as a a piece of clothing. The use of relics is not superstition if used properly. Scripture affirms the use of relics:

(2 Kings 13:20-21)  So Elisha died, and they buried him. Now bands of Moabites used to invade the land in the spring of the year. And as a man was being buried, lo, a marauding band was seen and the man was cast into the grave of Elisha; and as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood on his feet.

(Acts 5:15-16) ...so that they even carried out the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and pallets, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.

(Act 19:11-12) And God did extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were carried away from his body to the sick, and diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.

These Scriptures record extraordinary effects of these objects, but it shows that holy objects can have effects. This is the Biblical proof.

Of course, some Protestants will still not be convinced as that is the nature of prejudice. Prejudice will deny the truth even when it is proven. So, all we can do is to clamly and polticalmlyse repolitelythese Scriptures to explain Sacramentals to Protestants. We must leave the rest up to the Holy Spirit.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary