Pro-life advocate says his wife and daughter need exorcisms

From the Fredericton Daily Gleaner:

An anti-abortion activist told a court Thursday he needs a delay in his tax trial due to family illness, claiming his wife and stepdaughter are possessed.

David Little, 60, is scheduled to go to trial May 23 on charges of failing to file income tax returns for the years 2000, 2001 and 2002.

He said he refuses to pay taxes because he contends tax money is used in part to fund abortion procedures. He argues that to force him to indirectly participate violates his rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

He was in court Thursday, seeking to have his trial delayed because he has to focus his attention on ailing family members.

On March 1, Judge Leslie Jackson told Little to return to court with evidence of the nature of those illnesses and how long it would take for those personal matters to be resolved.

Little said Thursday his wife and stepdaughter are suffering from "demonic oppression" and need to undergo exorcism rituals in order to be healed.

Prosecutor Suhanya Edwards said Little's open-ended request for an adjournment is unreasonable.

She said there was no specific evidence as to how long he thought it would take for his family to get well.

Little said some exorcism rituals resolve the problem after only one session, but he's also aware of one exorcism that has been ongoing in Rome for 16 years.

"Lucifer was the most intelligent of all the angels," he said, and the Devil won't be "pigeonholed" into a timetable.

The battle between God and the Devil "is a war, a real vicious war," he said.

"I'm going to stay with (my wife) until she's well."

Little filed letters and documentation with the court from his wife and from a woman he said is familiar with exorcism rituals.

-snip-

During his submissions, Little said his wife has already undergone one exorcism ritual Monday and further sessions were expected.

He said two Christian but non-Catholic women performed the rituals in the area and have done so with success many times. He did not name them.

Little also said he'd been in touch with Bishop Faber MacDonald, bishop for the Diocese of Saint John, of which Fredericton is a part.

He said the bishop was performing "prayers of exorcism" on his family's behalf.

When contacted at his office Thursday afternoon, MacDonald said Little's representations that he's performing exorcism prayers is not entirely accurate.

"That's his interpretation," the bishop said.

He described what the Little family members are going through as something of "a deliverance" and "an awakening of the mystery of evil."

The bishop said they are wrestling with personal demons and trying to improve their lives through God.

"Spiritual crisis is a good expression," he said.

MacDonald said it is not a case of a separate, demonic entity inhabiting a person's body.

"It's a very personal matter," the bishop said.

20 Satanic groups identified in Italy

Rome, Italy, Mar 30 - Satanists are known to meet in deconsecrated churches or woods, donning dark garments, wherein chanting exhortations to Satan and conducting esoteric drug and sex-based rituals, which include animal and even human sacrifices. Between 1998 and 2004 Italy witnessed a surge in violent Satanist murders, the last of which involved the so-called "Beasts if Satan". Experts describe the phenomenon as a cultural residue of medieval credence, opposed to modern culture, but the phenomenon has presently extended all walks of life and all ages. The Interior Ministry's 1998 report on "Satanic Sects and New Religious Movements" identified some 20 Satanic groups accounting for 300 odd members. That figure is probably a large underestimate of today's situation, especially in the face of mass culture and new communications tools: through rock music, films, cinema, literature, TV and internet, Satanism has breached into youth culture.

CNN report on Bob Larsen and demonic deliverance

On Anderson Cooper's 360 last night, CNN played a short documentary about Bob Larsen and his work as an exorcist.

When Sherri roared like a bull, rolled her eyes into her skull, and lunged against the three men who were holding her, Bob Larson says he saw the devil. He should know. Larson is one of the leading practitioners of modern, Christian exorcisms, and here I was in a hotel conference room in Tulsa, Oklahoma, right across from Oral Roberts University, watching him wrestle with demons.

Larson performs his exorcisms in rooms full of people -- sometimes hundreds, sometimes thousands. One religious scholar says 600 Protestant churches have established what they call Redemption Ministries in recent years, which feature exorcisms or something like them.

At the heart of all this is a basic belief that demons are real and move among us, inhabiting people's bodies and driving them to all manner of bad behavior.

On this night, as Larson stood with his Bible in hand and called out demons, a half-dozen people howled, cried, and bellowed in strange voices, while he ordered their possessors back into the pit of hell.

I am naturally skeptical of things that cannot be proven, so I had to ask: Is all this just a show?

Larson and the folks he confronted say absolutely not. Larson freely admits he has been called a charlatan, a flimflam man, and a snake-oil salesman. But he clearly has legions of followers -- people who believe exorcism can help them in the eternal battle between heaven and hell. Sherri says she feels a great weight was lifted from her through the experience.

So what do you think: Are modern exorcisms a legitimate religious practice or spiritual vaudeville?

The comments are pretty interesting.

Last nights piece was pretty straight--mentions the money angle, but then points out that Larsen uses it to train up other exorcists. I'm a little uncomfortable with the word "exorcist" which has a more Catholic connotation and involves a specific rite. I prefer the word "deliverance" for Protestant circles, but these days the word exorcist is being more broadly used.

Anyway, you can take a look at the video here. Has a couple of pretty graphic depictions of deliverances in progress.

Interesting.

Earlier I posted a link to a story that Bob Larsen had met with Rome's chief exorcist.

Minister's brother on trial for suffocating child during exorcism

MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin (Court TV

) -- The brother of a minister on trial for suffocating an autistic child during an exorcism told jurors Thursday that it was God who "took" the child, not the defendant's intense ritual.

"I'm the pastor and God has ordained my brother to be an evangelist, he has the gift to cast out devils," David Hemphill testified.

Ray Hemphill, 47, who prayed and sang over 8-year-old Terrance Cottrell's chest as parishioners held him down on August 22, 2003, stands trial for felony physical child abuse. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison.

On Thursday, the defense called David Hemphill, known as Bishop Hemphill to his flock. He is the pastor of the independent Faith Temple of the Apostolic Faith Church, which he founded in 1977. He also ordained his brother into the church.

A medical examiner ruled Terrance's death a homicide by asphyxiation, due to intense pressure on his chest.

Terrance, who was diagnosed with autism at age 2, hated to be touched and was often unable to express his needs, according to previous testimony. Terrance died after receiving the 12th in a series of prayer services from Ray Hemphill.

The boy's mother, Patricia Cooper, and two other female parishioners told investigators that they made the child lay on his back on the floor of the strip-mall based church. They then helped to restrain him while the defendant laid perpendicular across Terrance's chest for almost two hours, praying and whispering aspersions at the devil into the boy's ear.

David Hemphill, 63, was not in attendance that evening, but he told jurors he gave his brother permission to perform the exorcisms as an attempt to save the boy from what they believed was demonic possession.

"I've seen God heal some people, and then I've seen God didn't heal some. So all we're asked to do is to believe in the word of God," David Hemphill testified during direct examination by Hemphill's attorney, Thomas Harris.

Hemphill told jurors it was his church's belief that God sent Jesus to heal those who are sick, and in turn, several members of his church, have been given the "gift" of healing hands.

"Is there any sickness or disease that's too hard for God or believers [to heal]?" Harris asked.

"No, there's nothing too hard for God, and nothing too hard for his believers," Hemphill testified, adding that they only pray for sick people who ask to be healed.

In Terrance's case, his mother told investigators she joined the church several months before her son's death in the hope that appealing to a higher power would help him, as medication alone did not seem to be working.

Terrance had been taking the antipsychotic drug ziprasidone, also known as Geodon, at a dosage of 200 milligrams per day. The defense has asserted that it was the medication, not Hemphill's actions, that killed the boy.

Occult symbols and their meaning

From Stanley Monteith's Radio Liberty site:

Occult symbols are fast replacing Christian symbols in our culture. Therefore, we encourage you to use this list to warn others, especially Christian children who intentionally wear and display them because they are popular.

Keep in mind that some of these symbols have double meanings. For example, the pentagram has been used to transmit occult power in all kinds of rituals for centuries, but to Christians the same shape may simply represent a star -- a special part of God's creation. The image of a fish may mean a sign of the zodiac (astrology) to some, but to Christians it has meant following Jesus and sharing the message of His love. We will continue to delight in the cross, while recognizing that others use the same image to represent their dark forces.

Please don't pass judgment on those who happen to wear these symbols. Instead, let us seek God’s will and discernment so that we might all honor Him with our lives. Remember, "each of us shall give account of himself to God. Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block. . . in our brother's way." (Romans 14:12-13)

He has quite an array of symbols and their spiritual meanings at the above link.

Pornography and horror imbedded in art?

I've been getting a number of visitors to this site over the past few days who have Googled Rape of the Soul, or imbedded images in Catholic art.

World Net Daily has picked up the story.

Five experts speak on the different aspects of the artwork, including Michael A. Calace, an Italian director, actor, writer and producer who is also a devout Roman Catholic.

Calace embarked on a mission of "Merging Media with Morality" to create family-oriented films of true life drama for Silver Sword International, his production company. While doing so, he uncovered a series of religious scandals. Calace puts to use his experiences of more than 20 years of expertise to discover a huge amount of offensive images of carefully embedded sexual and occult horror. He explains the techniques used to embed the images, and he presents discoveries from his investigations.

"The deeper I dug, the more I discovered, not just in regard to contemporary art, but works dating back more than 500 years, from some well-known and respected artists. Sex and horror is the fuel that promotes the scandalous behavior in the Church. This is the answer why, and Church leaders don't have to look very far, because the problem is coming from within the Church itself," said Calace of his research.

I haven't seen the documentary. I wonder though, whether the images have caused the problem, or whether deviant attitudes, attractions to lust and horror already present in various individuals, have perhaps put them there, as a sign of their dissent.

Satan's greatest success? Convincing people he does not exist says chief exorcists

Excerpts from an interview in Spero News with Rome's Chief Exorcist Gabriele Amorth. (this is a re-publication of a 2001 interview)

You are locked in daily battle with the Devil. What do you see as Satan’s greatest success?

AMORTH: The fact that he has managed to convince people that he does not exist. He has almost managed it, even within the Church. We have a clergy and an Episcopate who no longer believe in the Devil, in exorcism, in the exceptional evil the Devil can instill, or even in the power that Jesus bestowed to cast out demons. For three centuries the Latin Church – in contrast to the Orthodox Church and the various Protestant professions – has almost totally abandoned the ministry of exorcism. So because they no longer perform exorcisms, or study them, and never having seen them, the clergy no longer believe in them. And they no longer believe in the Devil. We have entire Episcopates trying to counter exorcism. We have countries completely devoid of exorcists, such as Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain and Portugal. This is a shameful shortfall.

and

But is a person’s faith still intact, which is to say, is a person’s faith still Catholic even if he or she does not believe that the Devil exists?

AMORTH: No. Let me tell you a story. The first time I met Father Pellegrino Ernetti, a famous exorcist who served for 40 years in Venice, I said to him: ‘If I could meet the Pope, I would tell him that I encounter too many bishops who do not believe in the Devil’. The next afternoon, Father Ernetti came back to me to tell me that, that morning, he had been received by John Paul II. ‘Your Holiness’, he said, ‘there is an exorcist here in Rome, Father Amorth, who would tell you if he met you that he knows too many bishops who do not believe in the Devil’. The Pope replied bluntly: ‘Anyone who does not believe in the Devil does not believe in the Gospel’. That was what the Pope said and I say it again.

Again, are you saying that many bishops and priests are not, consequently, Catholic?

AMORTH: Let us just say that they do not believe a Gospel truth. So, if anything, I would stop them propagating a heresy. But, to be clear about this, a person is officially a heretic if he or she is accused of something and persists in the error. No one today, given the situation in the Church, is accusing a bishop of not believing in the Devil, or in demonic possession or of failing to appoint exorcists because he does not believe. And yet I could give you the names of so many bishops and cardinals who, on their appointment to a diocese, stripped exorcists of their faculty to perform the rite. Or there are bishops who openly say they don’t believe, that these are things of the past. Why is that? Unfortunately, we have had the insidious influence of certain biblists and I could mention some illustrious names. We who are in daily physical contact with the ‘other world’ know that this influence is evident in numerous liturgical reforms.

For example?

AMORTH: The Second Vatican Council asked that some texts be revised. Disobeying this command, they set about re-writing them completely with no thought for the danger of making things worse instead of better. So many rites came off badly from this mania to throw out the old and start from scratch, as if the Church to date had always conned us and as if only now the time had at last come of the great geniuses, the supertheologians, the super-biblists and the super-liturgists who know what the right thing is for the Church. This is a lie: the last Council simply asked that the texts be revised, not destroyed. The Rite of Exorcism, for example, should have been corrected, not re-written. It contained prayers born of 12 centuries of experience. Before cancelling prayers which are so old and which proved for centuries to be so effective, we should think long and hard. But they did not. All of us exorcists in trying out the prayers of the new ad interim Rite have proved that they are totally ineffective. But then again, the Rite of Baptism of children came off worse, too. It was totally re-worked so that exorcism against Satan has been all but eliminated. Yet, this always had such great importance for the Church that it was called the exorcism minor. Paul VI also publicly protested against this new Rite. The new Rite of Benediction is not as good now. I read every line of it, all of its 1,200 pages and every reference has been removed to the fact that the Lord must protect us from Satan and the angels must protect us from attack by the Devil. They removed all the prayers for the benediction of homes and schools. Everything used to be blessed and protected but, today, we have no further protection from the Devil. We no longer have any defences or even prayers against him. Jesus himself taught us a prayer of deliverance in the Our Father: ‘Deliver us from the Evil One’, ‘Deliver us from Satan’. This has been erroneously translated so that we pray: ‘Deliver us from evil’. The inference is generic evil whose origin we know nothing about. Yet, the evil we were taught how to fight by Our Lord Jesus Christ is a real person – Satan.

and

AMORTH: When Cardinal Poletti asked me to become an exorcist I prayed to Our Lady: ‘Wrap me in your mantel and I will be safe’. I have had numerous threats from the Devil but he has never done me any harm.

Are you ever afraid of the Devil?

AMORTH: Afraid of that beast? He’s the one who should be afraid of me because I work in the name of the Lord of the world. He is only an ape of God.

Satanism is spreading more and more. The new Rite makes it difficult to perform an exorcism. Exorcists are prohibited from participating in a Papal Audience in Saint Peter’s Square. What exactly is happening here?

AMORTH: The smoke of Satan gets in everywhere, everywhere. Perhaps we were kept out of the Papal audience because they were afraid that all those exorcists might have cast out the legions of demons that have installed themselves in the Vatican.

You’re joking, aren’t you?

AMORTH: It might sound like it but I don’t think it is a joke. I have no doubt whatever that the Devil is tempting the upper levels of the Church, above all, just as he tempts every upper level – political and industrial.

Are you saying that here, too, as in every war, Satan’s aim is to capture the enemy leaders?

AMORTH: That’s the best strategy. It has always been so and especially when the defences of the enemy are down. Satan tries to apply this, too. But thank heaven the Church is upheld by the Holy Spirit: ‘The gates of hell will not stand’; this, despite the defections and despite the betrayals which should come as no surprise to us. The first traitor was one of the apostles closest to Jesus – Judas Iscariot. In spite of it all, the Church presses along its path. It is upheld by the Holy Spirit and so all of the battles Satan wages can only bring partial results. The Devil may, of course, win the battles, even important battles, but he will never win the war.

Pornographic and satanic images imbedded in art?

This sounds interesting. Not sure what to make of it though until I read more about it.

NEW YORK, March 17 /PRNewswire/ -- While movie-going audiences nationwide
will be waiting for the May, 2006 release of the highly anticipated film, "The
DaVinci Code," a new feature-documentary, that opens tomorrow in New York, Los
Angeles, and other select cities, gives audiences the real explanation of
embedded images in art. "Rape of the Soul" documents and extracts
pornographic and satanic images embedded in religious art, and presents
shocking evidence that a major contributing factor to the rising incidence of
priestly abuse can be attributed to prolonged exposure to the strategically-
placed images found in the everyday religious art that surrounds them.
"Rape of the Soul" (http://www.rapeofthesoul.com) is a comprehensive look at the
widespread use of embedded sexual, satanic, occult and anti-Catholic images in
historical and contemporary religious artwork, and its inexplicable acceptance
at the highest levels of the Catholic Church.
Child psychology author, lecturer and expert on the harmful effects of
pornography, and president of The Institute for Media Education, Judith
Reisman said, "These images, unrecognized by the untrained eye, can be a
ticking time-bomb to an individual who is unaware of their presence."
Reisman, who supports the revelations about the religious art embeds
continues, "Sexually explicit and graphic images are taken in by the
subconscious mind, to the point where the person, most-often against their
will, will act upon them without even knowing why they did it." She adds,
"This film reveals the lewd and demonic images that priests have been exposed
to on a daily basis in their surroundings. I have no doubt in my mind this is
a strong contributing factor to the proliferation of sexual abuse amongst
Catholic priests."
"Artists from DaVinci to Botticelli have embedded subliminal images into
their art for centuries," said producer/director of "Rape of the Soul,"
Michael A. Calace. "In this case were found penises on crucifixes, occult
symbols, swastikas, demonic faces and in modern works even the word 'sex'
embedded into the images. The works in question include modern artist's work
currently on the covers of hymnals that at this very moment sit in the pews of
churches throughout the U.S. and on children's religious teaching aids.

International child porn bust results in charges against 27 people

Authorities have charged 27 people in Canada, the United States, Australia and Britain in connection with child-porn chat rooms, which allegedly included live streaming video of adults sexually molesting children.

-snip-

Nine of the accused are from Canada, 13 from the United States, three from Australia and two from Britain.

Authorities allege that some users of the chat rooms made pornographic images of children and then circulated those images, including live shows, to members through the internet.

One suspect produced live streaming video of himself sexually molesting an infant, [U.S. Attorney General Alberto] Gonzales alleged.

"The behaviour in these chat rooms ... are the worst imaginable forms of child pornography," he said.

-snip-

The case began in May 2005 with an arrest in Edmonton. A 49-year-old man was charged with distributing child porn after police raided his home Jan. 26 while he was at his computer.

It's about time!

Net and finance firms are joining up to stamp out commercial child pornography.

The newly formed Financial Coalition Against Child Pornography brings together 18 organisations including Bank of America, American Express, Mastercard, AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft.

The group will share information about websites that sell child porn and stop payments passing to them.

The group aims to make it impossible to profit from selling child porn within two years.

Tourette's syndrome confused with demonic possession

Davidson, 34, has an extreme form of Tourette syndrome, a neurological condition characterised by involuntary, repetitive movements and vocal outbursts. It leads him to swear and shout offensive comments. His life story sounds like a throwback to the Middle Ages. There was an attempted exorcism by religious fanatics dressed in white and carrying crucifixes. He has been attacked with bricks and crowbars. As a teenager, his doctor prescribed Valium injections every three hours, which turned him into a virtual zombie. Teachers took to shutting him in cupboards. Even now, he is regularly ejected from buses and trains.

Demonic manifestations in Massachusetts

A wise and bracing homily by Fr. Robert J. Carr that lists some of the ways a person can open him or herself to demonic influence.

Sometime ago, I was talking to a man who had undergone a form of healing from the Linn Brothers. You may remember they were two Jesuits who engaged in healing ministry in the 1970’s and 1980’s. They are still around. Now, I am only relating the story. He said that the Linns did some kind of deliverance ministry and several demons were cast out of him. Deliverance is a form of ministry that is not as strong as exorcism. However, to be honest the most potent form of any form of such ministry even more potent than deliverance is in the Sacraments of Reconciliation and Eucharist.

One of the Linns asked the man how the demons got into him in the first place.

WHERE DID WE OPEN TO THE DEMONIC?

Let me ask you the same question. How did we come to a point in our existence where God’s creation was so terribly distorted? What doors did we leave open. Where was our understanding of faith lackadaisical? Where did we take our salvation for granted?

-Maybe it was thirty years ago when a group of Catholics used the rosary to mock the Church and her Cardinal during busing protests in Boston.

-Maybe it was due to the activity in the capital city of the occult just up the road from here, where witchcraft is only the beginning. One of the most spiritually dangerous products used to be manufactured there: a board where children hold séances in dark rooms for fun. The Author of An Exorcist Tells His Story says that is not a door to the demonic, that is a direct connection, no door involved to the demonic.

-Maybe it is because we are considered "The Capital City of Education" and our universities rejected the wisdom of God and embraced the darkened reasoning of the world. One of those universities has as its slogan Veritas, the latin word for truth. There are those in that university that not only reject The Truth they actually teach that only the stupid believe in God.

-Maybe it was because a community organizer at that university used a text book that praises the Devil (Rules for Radical by Saul Alinsky) and the people gave themselves over to a process rooted in the demonic.

-Maybe it is because of priests who preached paganism and embraced homosexuality who to this day are embraced by those in government, universities and media as examples of true Catholicism. Others were caught up in their own mess after destroying the lives of many.

-Maybe it was because people took the facts from a tragic crisis and twisted them around so that they could run out the spiritual descendent of the Apostles, an act by the way that comes with a curse.

-Maybe it is for many reasons. The fact is that it is here and we are surrounded by it.

Yet, as St. John’s Gospel tells us the darkness cannot overcome the Light.

Requests for exorcisms on the rise in Mexico

Exorcism is here to stay


By Heather Moore / 3TV reporter

While it may sound far-fetched, priests in Mexico are doing their best to keep up with the demand to drive demons from people's souls.

-snip-

Father Rafael Baltazar is one of the official exorcists. Priests from all over Mexico City send their afflicted parishioners to him.

He sees people he believes are under demonic influence every week and says he knows they are possessed by their expressions and their screams.

Baltazar says he's felt an overwhelming presence when he commands the devil to leave.

"It makes the hair on my arm stand up," Baltazar said. "It scares me."

So, why are so many more people claiming they're possessed?

Father Pedro Mendoza is the chief exorcist of the Archdiocese of Mexico City.

He gets 15 calls a day from people asking for an exorcism.

"People have lost their faith in God and that allows the devil to attack them," Baltazar said.

He also blames witchcraft, faith healing, psychics and magic for opening the door to the diabolic.

"Everything that is magic is from the devil," he said.

-snip-

Even if many believe that evil forces around them are increasing, they are reassured by their belief that Satan is no match for the power of Christ.

-snip-

There are 12 exorcists in the United States doing battle with the devil, and recently for the first time in 400 years, the Vatican issued new guidelines for exorcisms with the Pope saying Satan is very real and active in our modern world.

Satanic cult targets Catholic clergy via the Internet

Based in the USA, the site included a forum which enabled the members to send messages of a satanic nature, revolving around death, to members of the Catholic clergy. There were poetry and prose based on satanic rites, whilst photos and symbols were clearly visible on the site. Last year these included predictions about the possible date the former Pope would die.

The story comes out of Italy, where seven were arrested, two of them minors.

Sad.

Video game's demonic content a concern for reviewer

The game carries an age restriction of 12, which in my humble opinion is too low. Parents should take note that although there is no evident blood and gore, the demonic content is worrisome. Magic abounds in 'Guild Wars' — and I'm referring to both the quality of the gameplay and the supernatural. Demonic imagery and the use of magic is prevalent — with some of the symbolism being quite shocking in its blatant use.

Otherwise the game gets great reviews. I wonder how many people playing this game might suffer the effects of opening psychic doors to the demonic through playing this game.

Video game's demonic content a concern for reviewer

The game carries an age restriction of 12, which in my humble opinion is too low. Parents should take note that although there is no evident blood and gore, the demonic content is worrisome. Magic abounds in 'Guild Wars' — and I'm referring to both the quality of the gameplay and the supernatural. Demonic imagery and the use of magic is prevalent — with some of the symbolism being quite shocking in its blatant use.

Otherwise the game gets great reviews. I wonder how many people playing this game might suffer the effects of opening psychic doors to the demonic through playing this game.