I just finished Hostage to the Devil last night.
I started reading it many months ago, but when I got to the 5 exorcism stories, I stopped. Not sure why, but I felt like it might be too much, too creepy, whatever... So, a few days ago, I decided it was time, so I read the rest.
The most interesting bits for me were the ways in which permission was basically given for the evil entities to do their thing. For example:
Gerald straightened up. He changed his tone to a sharp, inquisitorial, and imperious note: “You, Evil Spirit, you will obey our commands.”
Again, the rasping voice: “You do not know what you’re getting into, priest. You cannot pay the price. It’s not your virginity merely that you’ll lose. And not merely your life. You’ll lose it all—”
“As Jesus , Our Lord, bore sufferings, so I am willing to bear what it costs to expel you and send you back to where you came from.”
This was Gerald’s first error. Without realizing it, and in what looked like heroism, he had fallen into an old trap. They were now on a personal plane: he versus the evil spirit. No exorcist can function in a personal way, in his own right, offering his strength or his will alone to counter and challenge the possessing spirit. He never should try to function in place of Jesus, but merely speak and act in concert with him as his representative.
(p. 227). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
When I read this, I exclaimed, "No, you dingbat! He gave permission!"
Gerald (the exorcist) clearly says that he is willing to bear what it costs to expel the demon. He gave it permission, and that was a bad idea. He ended up physically assaulted, literally torn up (I won't say where, but it's bad) and in the hospital for 4.5 weeks.
It seems like the Catholic exorcists have a plan, and it works - but they don't even really understand
why it works.
There are several other examples. The "doorway" through which the entities sneak in usually has something to do with self-importance, and mostly with believing some lie. If you believe that gender is purely physical, you're open. If you believe that love is purely sex, you're open. If you believe that spirit is nothing more than a chemical, physical thing, you're open.
If you're so sure that you have the right answers, then via your self-importance, you can believe a lie that is literally inviting in all kinds of bad stuff.
At the end of the above exorcism, there is a psychologist present, Dr. Hammond. He's still convinced that it's a psychological thing, and not involving an entity. As the exorcism closes:
Richard/Rita’s sudden scream split their eardrums. “We go, Priest. We go.”
It was a million turbulent voices as one , full of eternal ache and pain.
“We go in hate . And no one will change our hate. And we will wait for you. When you come to die, we’ll be there. We go. But”— Gerald heard the sharp injection of hate hissing through the sorrow—“ we take him.”
Richard/ Rita’s hands suddenly swept up in a wide arc toward Dr. Hammond. It was a quick but clumsy movement. Hammond jumped backward. And Richard/ Rita fell off the couch to the floor as the assistants jumped forward and held him down.
“We already have his soul. We claim him. He is ours. And you cannot do anything about that. We already have him. He is ours. We needn’t fight for him.”
Richard/ Rita was wheezing like someone being asphyxiated, eyes bulging, neck muscles standing out , his long hair falling back, his chest heaving, as he half-rose in his effort.
“You can’t get him back. He is ours . He does our work. He doesn’t need a box. He puts everybody else into it.”
(pp. 245-246). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
The Doc didn't believe it. He was sure he knew what was going on, but he was wrong. He believed a lie due to his self-important Doctor Status, so he was open to attack.
After reading the book, it became pretty clear just how believing in lies can be very detrimental. It also is more clear how knowledge protects.
There is also this excerpt from a different exorcism, which I think speaks to the general problem plaguing our world today:
No one wants to believe in evil, really, above all, not in an evil being, an evil spirit. Everyone wants to abolish the idea.
To admit the existence of evil means a responsibility, and no one wants that responsibility. That is the opening through which Tortoise crawls, stilling all suspicions, making everything seem normal and natural. This is the “thought,” the unwariness of the ordinary human being which amounts to a disinclination to believe in evil.
And, if you do not believe in evil, how can you believe in or ever know what good is?
(p. 389). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
Well, okay, if you don't know evil, you can't know good, blah blah blah... Sure, there's that. That's more of a "higher-level concept". But more importantly IMO is the red-bolded sentence:
To admit the existence of evil means a responsibility, and no one wants that responsibility.
That's exactly the problem.
People don't want to believe that their country's military marches all over the globe murdering and overthrowing governments. People don't want to believe that the torture was an epidemic. "No no, it was just a few bad apples! Yeah."
No one wants to believe that anything bad is happening.
I'm reminded of these relatively new web sites... Ya know, the "You won't believe what happens next!" sites that usually tell heartwarming stories. They have gone super-viral. People don't want the truth about the darkness in this world; they want fluffy little bunnies, feel-good stories, and tons of lies, because that's comfy.
To admit that all is not rosy would mean they have a responsibility to do something about it, and as Martin writes, no one wants that responsibility.
So, it's easy to manipulate, and control. It's easy for entities or whatever to "move in" and even possess entire police forces to beat on populations. It's easy for politicians to lie, and murder, and cheat, and steal... and nobody will do anything about it.
It's easy to see why people walk around like zombies. Well, maybe that's because they ARE zombies, effectively. I'm not suggesting that everybody is possessed by a demon, but we know about even minor spirit attachments... You do the math.
Well, as I said, this was a rather eye-opening book.
But, a warning: If you do read it, and you start to get creeped out,
stop. Not all knowledge should be stuffed into your noggin' all at once. Reading this book is NOT a badge of courage or something silly like that. Frankly, I don't think everyone
needs to read it.
In the closing chapter, Martin interviews Father Michael, a former exorcist who's dying. He's miserable, and just before he dies, Martin finds out why. Basically, Fr. Michael never really knew true evil. He knew only light, although he knew
of evil. His experiences as an exorcist scarred him for life. He said he never thought about questioning Jesus earlier in life, but suddenly he had to. He had to look at both sides of the coin, and it was literally too much for him to bear.
Well, maybe there were karmic reasons for that - who knows how it all works... Anyway, it's NOT true that what you don't know can't hurt you. Quite the opposite, in fact! But at the same time, too much too soon is also a bad idea. The C's have indicated as much repeatedly.
Above all, be aware of the lies you tell yourself. Question everything. And keep an open mind.