Dear Carol:

If a messy house attracts demons then I am in serious trouble.

This phrase is derived from an ancient Hebrew Proverb. The idea first appeared in English in the writings of Francis Bacon who wrote in "Advancement of Learning" in 1605: "Cleanness of body was ever deemed to proceed from a due reverence to God."

John Wesley picks up on this them in one of his sermons in 1791: "Slovenliness is no part of religion. Cleanliness is indeed next to Godliness."

But, the idea comes from the ancient Jews who were very concerned about what was clean or unclean. They developed elaborate cleanliness rituals. A menstruating women, for example, had to perform a ritual to become "clean" afterward. Ritual cleanliness was critically important.

Cleanliness issues were also applied to food by the ancient Jews.

One purpose of the focus on cleanliness was the issue of separation. Gentiles were "unclean" and thus the Jews were to separated themselves from them. Ritual cleanliness was a sign of closeness with God. A godly person avoided anything considered "unclean" if possible and had to go through rituals to restore his cleanliness if he were contaminated by something.

But we read in Acts 10:9-15:

9 And on the next day, as they were on their way, and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. 10 And he became hungry, and was desiring to eat; but while they were making preparations, he fell into a trance; 11 and he beheld the sky opened up, and a certain object like a great sheet coming down, lowered by four corners to the ground, 12 and there were in it all kinds of four-footed animals and crawling creatures of the earth and birds of the air. 13 And a voice came to him, “Arise, Peter, kill and eat!” 14 But Peter said, “By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything unholy and unclean.” 15 And again a voice came to him a second time, “What God has cleansed, {is not unholy to you}

In this one vision given to our first Pope (Peter) God wiped out all the clean and unclean considerations and rituals. While this vision dealt specifically with food the final line is a general principle that apples to all things: "What God has cleansed is not unholy to you."

In addition, if we were to get into this "cleanliness is next to Godliness" business we will be violating the mandates of Christ to love and care to all people, including the dirty bum on the street. That "bum" is also a child of God.

Because a person has bad hygiene, or a messy house makes that person no less a child of God. That person can be in a State of Grace regardless of his "dirtiness." It is the State of Soul and our devotion, not our cleanliness, that determines are closeness of God.

So the answer to your question is "no", messy house by itself does not attract demons.

Now, there are situations in which the REASON a person is messy is because of the sin of sloth, or some mental attitude that is contrary to God. But in such situations it is not the messiness that would attract the demons, but the sin or the attitude.

By the way, having a messy house DOES NOT automatically mean the person is slothful in case anyone is wondering.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary