Can we be possessed by a soul (not a devil)?

  • Thread starter Thread starter anhphan
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
A

anhphan

Guest
  • My friend pissed on his grandmother’s grave. After that, he came home and he was possessed by his grandmother’s soul. She made him hurt so much and blamed him for having pissed on her grave. Finally, he had to go to the Church to exorcise her soul.
    Is it true that souls are hovering around us?
    Thank you very much.
 
It sounds like you’re missing a tremendous amount of information. Deceased souls are in one of 3 places–heaven, hell, or purgatory. This isn’t an episode of Casper–souls don’t hang around Earth.
 
It’s possible, in ways known only to God, that a soul is ‘earthbound’ in a sense…meaning they are in purgatory and God allows them to somehow get your attention. As Catholics if we think we are in this situation(rare, btw, imo) we pray for them as I believe that is what they seek.

Don’t see any evidence, anywhere, that they can possess bodies. Demons do that, not humans.

Google the term familiar spirit. Sometimes demons that tormented souls on earth can manifest and appear to be that person that they tormented. They can mimic their voices and appear to look like them when manifesting. Satan is very deceptive.
 
I am very much a skeptic on the whole demonic possession thing. The “Devil made me do it” defense would absolutely never work in a court of law, ever. Even the insanity defense has been seen as much less credible over the years.
 
anhphan said:
After that, he came home and he was possessed by his grandmother’s soul.
Click to expand...
I have heard reputable exorcists claim that certain damned souls interact with possessed people in a way which at least appears to be identical to how the demons do, i.e., yes, it does seem as if they can possess someone.

You have to keep in mind that much of what is known about exorcism has been derived from its practice, and there are many things that exorcists know about that have not been hashed out in theological circles.
 
Jamie5 said:
The “Devil made me do it” defense would absolutely never work in a court of law, ever.
Click to expand...
On the other hand, the body being moved against its mind’s will is perfectly able to be accepted even by science. We know such things happen, but psychiatry does not know what some of the more extraordinary manifestations of possession in point of fact are. If you suppose such manifestation never occur you are quite ignorant, I’m sorry to say, and you need to catch up to speed with what psychiatry is painfully aware of.
 
Last edited:
Your friend sounds seriously disturbed. It’s his guilty conscience at work.
Where did he go to be exorcised? Not a Catholic church, I’ll wager.

Is he remorseful? Sounds like he’s trying to say that because he did something foolish and stupid, it’s all his grandmother’s fault.

No amount of mumbo jumbo is going to ease his conscience until he is really sorry.
Sounds like he’s not though. I seriously doubt that his grandmother is a demon who has “possessed” him.
 
Hi!

No. That’s hollowood’s spirituality and “reincarnation.”

Anything that could be happening to your friend has to do with his own mind, guilt, or drug induced mortification.

Maran atha!

Angel
 
If it’s not a mental issue here, I’d bet it’s a demon pretending to be his grandmother. Remember, Satan is the prince of LIES after all…
 
Melodeonist said:
If it’s not a mental issue here, I’d bet it’s a demon pretending to be his grandmother. Remember, Satan is the prince of LIES after all…
Click to expand...
Oh, good point. It would be very reasonable and very likely that if it wasn’t mental illness then the devil would play on a preconceived notion.

However, given the depravity of fouling a grave (even if the relative was abusive), I think it’s more likely mental illness at play.
 
anhphan said:
  • My friend pissed on his grandmother’s grave. After that, he came home and he was possessed by his grandmother’s soul. She made him hurt so much and blamed him for having pissed on her grave. Finally, he had to go to the Church to exorcise her soul.
    Is it true that souls are hovering around us?
    Thank you very much.
Click to expand...
If this “soul” did what you say, then the grandmother was in hell. A soul in purgatory or heaven would not act in such a way.

In my experience first as a Baptist exorcist and these past 24 years as a Catholic Deliverance Counselor, I have never witnessed a human soul possess a person.

There is only one case of a human soul possessing a person that I can think of right now. It is the case described in the book, “Begone, Satan”. The girl there was allegedly possessed by her evil father. She was possessed from the time she was 14 to 41, if I remember correctly. This case, by the way, took place in Iowa in the 1920s about 2 hours from where I live.

Since demons often masquerade as human spirits, and since the priest in this instance was not experienced, I think it highly likely that the spirit the priest thought was the girl’s father was probably a demon.

If such a thing occurred that human spirit from hell possesses someone, I believe that spirit must be escorted by a demon.
 
Last edited:
Is being possessed by a soul heretic? I think the Church doesn’t agree with this because souls go to heaven, putagory or hell, so that they can’t return to the world and possess us
 
Last edited:
Is saying that you are possessed by a soul heretical?

I think that heretical behavior is not really the issue here. It’s a mental issue.
 
anhphan said:
Is being possessed by a soul heretic? I think the Church doesn’t agree with this because souls go to heaven, putagory or hell, so that they can’t return to the world and possess us
Click to expand...
No spirit in purgatory or heaven will possess a person. If a human spirit can possess a person, and there is doubt on that, it would be a person in hell who is escorted by a demon to possess a living person. The case described in “Begone Satan” claimed that the girl’s evil father possessed her.
 
Last edited:
I live in Vietnam. I have hears many horror stories about person being possessed by soul (for some special reasons like dishonoring the dead) . But many Vietnamese catholics don’t believe in this story.
 
@anhplan That is not likely. This is a remnant of ancestor worship that is typical in the region. With a possible very rare exception of a human spirit in hell possessing someone, as previously explained, all possessing spirits will be demons.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top