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Question Title	Posted By	Question Date
problems that persist	Katie	Sunday, September 30, 2007
Question: I wrote to you a few weeks ago about yo yoing between occultic and Christian philosophy. I went to confession and received communion, but I am still having some problems. I always awake at three am and have nightmares. In one of them, I went to confession and inside the confessional was a demonic looking man that kicked the door closed. There are other ones too that are demonic in content which I'll just keep to myself and as I fall asleep I am jerked awake by images of unsavory looking beings or hear things like "venus flytrap" or "the Blessed Virgin is on fire". Is this just residue? At night I feel like my room is literally pulsating with an unsavory presense. And even if I ask Jesus to help me, it continues. So if I'm praying and trying to live a religious life, why is Jesus letting this continue?
Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM Dear Katie: I am very pleased to hear that you have been to confession and are getting back on track. The experiences you are now having are "residue" from your previous sin. Although your sin is now forgiven the consequences of sin still remain. For example, if one commits the sin of throwing a rock through a window of a neighbor, he can be forgiven, but the window is still broken. The broken window is the "consequence" of the sin. The demons are not going to want to let go of you that easily. While your sin has been forgiven, the demons are still pitching a tent in your yard. You need to "reclaim the ground" from them. In our SW Prayer Catalog there is a prayer to Reclaim Ground. I recommend that everyone pray such a prayer after going to confession and doing their penance. This will hopefully kick the varmints out of the yard. There is no guarantee, however, that a "reclaiming" prayer will get rid of the harassment. In tougher cases more may need to be done. Other prayers, such as Rebuking Particular Spirits, the Hedge Prayer of Protection, and other spiritual warfare prayers may be needed too. I also recommend following the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance found in the HELP section linked below. In some cases, even all this is not enough. The person may need full Deliverance Counseling to solve the problem and to get rid of this "residue." As to the question of why does God allow this, well first of all, we do this to ourselves. Such harassment is a consequence of our sin, and as mentioned, even if the sin is forgiven, the consequences remain. This is not God's fault that we sinned and got ourselves into this mess. We need to be responsible for our own actions and accept the consequences of our actions. God expects this of us. Secondly, although God could heal us of all afflictions and harassments in a nanosecond, He normally does not. We cannot know the mind of God as to discern all the reasons for this, but we can have a few ideas about it. First of all, it is human nature to take for granted that which we receive too easily. We are more likely to appreciate those things we have to work to get. To have to struggle with the residue of our sin can help us to appreciate the seriousness of the sin we committed and make healing even more joyous when it comes. Secondly, because God loves us so much He gave us Free Will. If we did not have Free Will we would be mere puppets or animals. We could not love if we did not have free will. This gift from God that is designed for us to choose rightly is often abused by us and allows us to choose sin instead. Sin has consequences. For God to remove the consequences is like a father getting his son out of a legal jam over and over. By doing so, the son never learns to be responsible and to accept the consequences of his actions. Such a child becomes spoiled and self-indulgent. Children need to know and to accept the consequences of their actions. This is how we learn and grow. Our Heavenly Father wants us to learn and to grow from our experiences, to be mature and accept the consequences of our actions knowing that "all things work together for good to those who love God..." Thirdly, demons will use any excuse to hang on to a person. Often there are many "hooks" in a person's life that allow demons to "hang on". The process of Deliverance Counseling is to find all those "hooks" and to get rid of them. When that happens the demons tend to leave. These are some of the reasons why these things continue on even after a person has repented and straightened up their life. Bottomline: the residue (consequences) of our sin remain even after we are forgiven. These consequences are a result of our own behavior and we have only ourselves to blame. God will help us through this suffering, but He will rarely remove the suffering because to do so would not be in our best interest. We need to learn, grow, and strengthen in our faith by persevering through this suffering. We need to work to resolve the residue, not just have daddy get rid of it for us. With the work of prayer, devotion, perseverance, and sometimes deliverance counseling, the residue of this sin will eventually be wiped away and be no more. 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

problems that persist

Katie

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Question:

I wrote to you a few weeks ago about yo yoing between occultic and Christian philosophy. I went to confession and received communion, but I am still having some problems.

I always awake at three am and have nightmares. In one of them, I went to confession and inside the confessional was a demonic looking man that kicked the door closed. There are other ones too that are demonic in content which I'll just keep to myself and as I fall asleep I am jerked awake by images of unsavory looking beings or hear things like "venus flytrap" or "the Blessed Virgin is on fire".

Is this just residue? At night I feel like my room is literally pulsating with an unsavory presense. And even if I ask Jesus to help me, it continues. So if I'm praying and trying to live a religious life, why is Jesus letting this continue?

Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM

Dear Katie:

I am very pleased to hear that you have been to confession and are getting back on track.

The experiences you are now having are "residue" from your previous sin. Although your sin is now forgiven the consequences of sin still remain. For example, if one commits the sin of throwing a rock through a window of a neighbor, he can be forgiven, but the window is still broken. The broken window is the "consequence" of the sin.

The demons are not going to want to let go of you that easily. While your sin has been forgiven, the demons are still pitching a tent in your yard. You need to "reclaim the ground" from them.

In our SW Prayer Catalog there is a prayer to Reclaim Ground. I recommend that everyone pray such a prayer after going to confession and doing their penance. This will hopefully kick the varmints out of the yard.

There is no guarantee, however, that a "reclaiming" prayer will get rid of the harassment. In tougher cases more may need to be done. Other prayers, such as Rebuking Particular Spirits, the Hedge Prayer of Protection, and other spiritual warfare prayers may be needed too. I also recommend following the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance found in the HELP section linked below.

In some cases, even all this is not enough. The person may need full Deliverance Counseling to solve the problem and to get rid of this "residue."

As to the question of why does God allow this, well first of all, we do this to ourselves. Such harassment is a consequence of our sin, and as mentioned, even if the sin is forgiven, the consequences remain. This is not God's fault that we sinned and got ourselves into this mess. We need to be responsible for our own actions and accept the consequences of our actions. God expects this of us.

Secondly, although God could heal us of all afflictions and harassments in a nanosecond, He normally does not. We cannot know the mind of God as to discern all the reasons for this, but we can have a few ideas about it.

First of all, it is human nature to take for granted that which we receive too easily. We are more likely to appreciate those things we have to work to get. To have to struggle with the residue of our sin can help us to appreciate the seriousness of the sin we committed and make healing even more joyous when it comes.

Secondly, because God loves us so much He gave us Free Will. If we did not have Free Will we would be mere puppets or animals. We could not love if we did not have free will.

This gift from God that is designed for us to choose rightly is often abused by us and allows us to choose sin instead. Sin has consequences. For God to remove the consequences is like a father getting his son out of a legal jam over and over. By doing so, the son never learns to be responsible and to accept the consequences of his actions. Such a child becomes spoiled and self-indulgent. Children need to know and to accept the consequences of their actions. This is how we learn and grow. Our Heavenly Father wants us to learn and to grow from our experiences, to be mature and accept the consequences of our actions knowing that "all things work together for good to those who love God..."

Thirdly, demons will use any excuse to hang on to a person. Often there are many "hooks" in a person's life that allow demons to "hang on". The process of Deliverance Counseling is to find all those "hooks" and to get rid of them. When that happens the demons tend to leave.

These are some of the reasons why these things continue on even after a person has repented and straightened up their life.

Bottomline: the residue (consequences) of our sin remain even after we are forgiven. These consequences are a result of our own behavior and we have only ourselves to blame. God will help us through this suffering, but He will rarely remove the suffering because to do so would not be in our best interest. We need to learn, grow, and strengthen in our faith by persevering through this suffering. We need to work to resolve the residue, not just have daddy get rid of it for us.

With the work of prayer, devotion, perseverance, and sometimes deliverance counseling, the residue of this sin will eventually be wiped away and be no more.

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.