Is this something you just stumble upon or do you have to make an effort for it to happen? Exorcist moves scare the life out of me. Does watching them mean demons will come for me or something? I feel like even learning or curiosity about demonic possessions will lead to them.
Demonic activity happens everyday to everyone and this is when we are tempted to do sins. However, there are extraordinary cases of demonic activity leading to things such possession.
A lot of times, this extreme form of demonic activity occurs when somebody invites a demonic entity into their lives and it can happen in a multitude of ways. The most common way is by conjuring it through occultic rituals. Also, sometimes people can invite a demonic entity into their lives when they commit a very sever sin (like murder) or go through a very traumatic event.
(Sometimes demons try to attack very holy people in order to lead them away and distract them from God. There are story’s of many Saints encountering demons.)
When a demon is invited into the life of someone the demonic spirit will do everything in its power to make that person or the people around that person life miserable. The main stages leading up to demonic possession include:
**1. Demonic Obsession - People in this stage can have suicidal thoughts or thoughts of committing violent actions.
2. Demonic Oppression - This is where paranormal activity could occur and the demonic spirit could repeatedly attack a person both mentally and physically in some way.
3. Demonic Possession - This is when a demon is able to control a persons body, most of the time without that persons consent.
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(I want to quickly note that the signs of demonic activity could also be signs of mental illness. So before any conclusions could be made proper psychological evaluation must be done. The Church thoroughly investigates cases of “demonic possession” to rule out the possibility of mental illness. Most of the time it is mental illness but there are a few cases where mental illness could be ruled out and demonic activity can be confirmed.)
In order to counter such demonic attacks a exorcism is needed. Exorcisms aren’t always necessarily preformed on a person and can preformed on objects and even entire property’s (such as in cases of demonic infestation). Exorcism should only be preformed by clergy, and not lay. Lay could technically preform one, but the Church does not permit it since lay people are generally not experienced. Even most priest shouldn’t preform exorcisms and typically when an exorcism is approved by a Bishop, a priest who specialized in this area will be called in. Exorcism can be dangerous, and there have been reports of it being fatal. Though this is rare. Exorcism are preformed by calling out the demon, praying to God to release this person from the demon, and invoking many Saints to pray for us to get through such an intense spiritual battle. The rite of exorcism was historically preformed in Latin, though in 1999 the Church approved the use of vernacular.
Keep in mind, these things do not happen everyday and are rare. Most of the time it’s a mental illness. Exorcisms are a very serious matter that should never be taken lightly.
