Prayer to take authority

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Hello,
I hope someone can answer this question for me. I went to a Catholic prayer group this past week, and at the beginning of the “Charismatic” prayer group, they prayed the “Prayer to take authority” I was wondering if, we as Catholics should be saying this prayer or not? Someone told me we should not say it. Can anyone please give me an explanation. Supporting Church teaching ref. are a bonus of course.
Thank you, Chris…

Here is the text of the prayer:
In the Name of Jesus, I take authority and I bind all powers and forces of evil in the air, in the ground, in the water, in the underground, in the netherworld, in nature and in fire.
You are the Lord over the entire universe and I give You the Glory for Your creation. In Your Name I bind all demonic forces that have come against us and our families and I seal all of us in the protection of Your Precious Blood that was shed for us on the Cross.

Mary, our Mother, we seek your protection and intercession with the Sacred Heart of Jesus for us and our families, and surround us with your mantle of love to discourage the enemy.

St. Michael and our guardian Angels come defend us and our families in battle against all the evil ones that roam the earth.

In the Name of Jesus I bind and command all the powers and forces of evil to depart right now away from us, our homes and our lands. And we thank you Lord Jesus for You are a faithful and compassionate God. Amen.
 
I have never heard this specific prayer, but it sounds like a Catholicized version of the standard “binding and loosing” prayer I’ve heard many, many, MANY times before, since I come from a Protestant Charismatic background. I believe that while the intentions of the prayer are good, unless we can demonstrate for certain that our Mother Church condones the prayer and deems it safe, it should be avoided.

Too often I have seen the laity “binding and loosing” spirits, claiming authority and whatnot. I have also seen in conjuction with these prayers a sense of spiritual pride that has led to some gross errors in judgment and some dangerous practices, including amatuer exorcisms!

The idea of spiritual authority must be defined by the Church, so that we have clarity regarding what is appropriate and what is safe.
 
I’ve never heard of it but I’ve heard many other things like that.

I don’t see anything particularly wrong with it.

It asks in the name of Jesus, it comes against evil, which presumably means whatever the Church defines as evil. Really it’s pretty generic. Talking tough and throwing Jesus’ name at the devil. Whatever, I guess we like to remind ourselves He is with us.

That prayer is a bit too showy for me. It reminds me all too much of some stuff I yelled at a rock concert a couple years ago when I was very manic. :whacky:

I like charismatic stuff in general, but sometimes I let others enjoy certain aspects of it better than me. If I was somewhere they prayed this, I would not have a problem joining them, though. Pretty tame, when you get right to it. It’s like saying, “God protect us from evil” except you get to play like you’re actually the one warning the evil that our Guy can beat up their guy. Jock mentality applied to Catholicism?

Alan
 
**prayer to stop evil
QUESTION from sandra on May 14, 2003

Please tell me if the following prayer is allowed by a
Catholic lay person

… “In Jesus name, I command all spirits that are not of the Holy Spirit, to go immediately to the foot of the cross”.

A dear friend recommends that I say this prayer whenever I feel evil around me. Thank you for your beautiful web site and God Bless.
Code: 
         **ANSWER by John-Paul Ignatius, OLSM** on May 16, 2003
Dear Mrs. Sandra:

Thank you for your kind remarks. I praise God that His work through this website is reaching people.

The prayer you listed contains what is called an “imprecatory command”. In 1985 the Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, issues legislation restricting “imprecatory” commands to solemn exorcisms only. Thus laity and clergy are not allowed to use imprecatory commands outside of a solemn exorcism approved by the Bishop and conducted by an appointed exorcist.

Many of the ancient prayers from the Saints contain imprecatory commands. There is nothing wrong with imprecatory commands per se, but the Church has decided to restrict its use because of potential dangers and abuse.

In other words, the Church is worried about people butting heads with Satan and his demons personally.

Instead, we can edit these prayers to turn the “imprecatory” commands into “deprecatory” petitions. In this matter we do not “personally” command the devils, but ask God to command the devils for us. I know personally that I would rather God butt heads with Satan and me.

Thus, this is how we can edit your prayer to be in alignment with the Church legislation:

"In Jesus name, I ask you Father to command all spirits that are not of the Holy Spirit, to go immediately to the foot of the cross".

I would also suggest changing the last phrase. I think it is rather arrogant of man to tell God where to send the demons. Thus this is how I would make the final edit of the prayer.

"In Jesus name, I ask you Father to command all spirits that are not of the Holy Spirit, to depart from me and this place and my household and to go wherever You will them to go."

The “to depart from me and this place and my household” can be changed to fit the situation such as, “to depart from this workplace” or “to depart from this school” or “to depart from this motel and this room that we are staying”. You may find many other prayers in the Spiritual Warfare Catalog linked below. God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary

**
 
Shoshana,

I agree with you. The scriptures speak about Michael the archangel disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, and said, “May the Lord rebuke thee.” (Jude 1:9)

Carole
 
We were taught on a missions trip to do something similar when seeking God’s direction. When we would start a prayer, they would advise us to “ask God to silence your heart, the world around you, and satan, so that only his voice remains.”
I know it’s not quite binding people from your home, but still requestiong Christ’s power over satan.
 
This is known in Pentecostal/Charismatic circles as spiritual warfare prayers with a Catholic twist. These were very trendy forms of prayer a decade ago and still linger in many circles today. I have never seen these to successfully achieve anything for God’s Kingdom, on the contrary, have been the cause of provoking some very strong demonic attacks against those praying these types of prayers. By praying these words, one steps outside the boundaries of authority that God has established for us opening us to demonic attacks in a very severe way.

Here are the specific problems and some suggested re-wording:
  1. "In the Name of Jesus, I take authority and I bind all powers and forces of evil in the air, in the ground, in the water, in the underground, in the netherworld, in nature and in fire."
WE don’t have this authority. No where in scripture or tradition, are we taught to attack or take authority over demonic principalities in the air. This is a realm of warfare that God has reserved for Jesus and His angels, not us.

Suggested change: "In the Name of Jesus, we ask you, Heavenly Father, to bind all powers and forces of evil in the air, in the ground, in the water, in the underground, in the netherworld, in nature and in fire on our behalf."
  1. "In the Name of Jesus I bind and command all the powers and forces of evil to depart right now away from us and our homes and our lands."
We actually do have authority over demons directly impacting oour families and homes, but NOT our lands. So just by taking the reference to “our lands” out of the prayer, we can safely exercise the authority Christ gave us.

David
 
David, you are right. When we are talking about the spirits over nations, we are talking about principalities and this would be way over our heads by far. You are asking for trouble big time. I think the lord may honor your protection because most people do not understand what they are doing most of the time.

BUT, we have no authority even over our families…we are not to use imprecatory prayers. We are to go through God, Jesus or St Michael. Never, never use ‘I’.

Our holiness Benedict is changing this kind of stuff, even for exorcists in not allowing lay people to be involved. We must wait for that…there has been too much abuse in the past. Even as I was involved in an exorcism for 5 years under 2 bishops’ blessing accompnying 2 priests, I never used imprecatory prayer (unless the ‘devil’ would call me through the victim…which was often).

This is nothing to play with…and most people do not understand that. And a lot of christians may not be ‘christian’ enough to effect any effect…
 
I agree

from the original prayer
In the Name of Jesus I bind and command all the powers and forces of evil to depart right now away from us, our homes and our lands.
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The Miracle Hour prayer book has an impromatur and Nihil Obstat, and does have a Spiritual Warfare Prayer, but it does not command–it only binds.

I was always uncomfortable with the phrase “report to Jesus” which I have also heard.
 
I learned it from the age of 12. Wow I thought only filipino’s knew it :P. It is such a cool prayer and a great help in times of trouble.
 
Since there are so many variations of the same basic prayer, I would like to know exactly where the prayer originated. :ehh: I’m tempted to say it was born out of the Protestant Charistmatic movement, though I don’t know that for certain.

Does anybody know?
 
If a Prayer written by a Protestant is approved by the Catholic Church (Imprimatur & Nihil Obstat), why would it matter if it were written by a Protestant? It is their theology, not their prayer which separates them from us.

Remember the Lord’s Prayer was written by a Jew. 😉
 
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Mysty101:
If a Prayer written by a Protestant is approved by the Catholic Church (Imprimatur & Nihil Obstat), why would it matter if it were written by a Protestant? It is their theology, not their prayer which separates them from us.

Remember the Lord’s Prayer was written by a Jew. 😉
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I’d still like to know who wrote the prayer. And it is only one version that is approved by the Church (so far as we know), which means there are many versions floating about which are not approved.

Does anybody know the origin of these prayers?
 
It was written by Fr Joseph DeGrandes BTW ppl. Also Jesus was Catholic. He accepted Himself for what He was, thus He was Catholic. Trust me.
 
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twiztedseraph:
It was written by Fr Joseph DeGrandes BTW ppl.
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I wonder if that’s the same Father Degrandes (Degrandis?) who was in the Galveston/Houston Diocese for a while. The Fr. D here was very charismatic. And I wondered about him sometimes. LOL
 
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twiztedseraph:
It was written by Fr Joseph DeGrandes .
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I don’t know who wrote the prayer, but one version is in the Miracle Hour Prayer book, forward by Fr Robert DeGrandis SSJ (Society of St Joseph)
ppl. Also Jesus was Catholic. He accepted Himself for what He was, thus He was Catholic. Trust me
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Jesus was born a Jew, and founded the Catholic Church.He was considered a Rabbi when He taught the Lord’s Prayer. Trust me 😉
 
Greetings Church

I have enjoyed reading the posts in this thread.

Had quite a jolt to read Jesus was Catholic!!! I don’t think the Catholic Church has ever taught that! Jesus was born a Jew and died a Jew. He was a Jew, even when He knew who he was the Messiah. He left us the Church and we are the Church.

Once again, I cannot see what the big issue is. We Catholics have been praying these prayers for as long as I have been a Catholic and I am a Senior Citizen, for sure. I will repeat myself from many other threads.

Jesus is the same, yesterday, today and forever. What he said 2000 years ago is just as valid today. He healed the sick, raised the dead and cast out demons, yes commanding them and taking authority over them. He sent his Apostles out to do the same. At the same time, the Apostles saw others (not Apostles) doing what they were trying to do and succeeding. When the Apostles complained, Jesus corrected them. If they are not against us, they are for us, he explained.

Jesus told His followers, “all these things (that I do) and even greater things than these, you will do.” (because of the Holy Spirit)

Why, why, are Catholics so afraid to step out and act like Christians in the early Church, on fire, Spirit Filled followers of the Lord.

In the old days, when I first became Catholic, during our Confirmation, we were to become SOLDIERS in the Army of the Lord. We were to be bold.

Scripture says this of Satan, not just demons, “resist Satan and he will flee from you” FLEE! Why would he flee from some lowly lay person? Because at Jesus most Holy name, every knee must bow…!
 
Hi Roberta,

I always remember the admonition against addresing demons directly.

How do you interpret this response from Br Ignatius? I have searched for the actual instruction from Ratzinger, but was unable to find it.
**
**In 1985 the Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, issues legislation restricting “imprecatory” commands to solemn exorcisms only. Thus laity and clergy are not allowed to use imprecatory commands outside of a solemn exorcism approved by the Bishop and conducted by an appointed exorcist. **
Click to expand...
**
I know there are those involved in deliverence ministry—they have had much training and prayer.

I remember one time—many years ago, before I was praying on a prayer team, but was kneeling in the pew joining in prayer.

A very troubled lady approached the team, and became far more agitated when the prayer began. I would not even look at her face—I just kept my eyes on Jesus in the Monstrance, and kept repeating the name of Jesus. I glanced in the direction one time, and I’m sure I am wrong, but I thought I saw the Holy Water sizzle when it hit her skin. I was very frightened, and I felt that even though the Priest was present, this should have been handled differently—possibly by an exorcist, or at least in private.

Do you think these instructions were issued to safeguard those learning of the power of the Spirit? I would hate to see an enthusiastic beginner get in over their head because they tackled something they couldn’t handle.

Do you differentiate between using the first person and asking God in th e prayer (I command you , or I ask God to command you)?
 
Hi

Very good questions.

I will take a little time answering them, if you don’t mind.
These are very important questions and you are right about new folks getting involved.

Over the years, I have seen folks who were being bothered by un-Godly spirits of various kinds. They can be very different, clear from the mischieveous ones to the really ugly acting ones.
When I was counseling, I was called out to a house where to my surprise, a guy was holding two women at bay with a hand gun. He was extremely agitated and I felt I discerned bad spirits.
Did I have a choice to wait and call a a Priest? Of course not.
I had time to pray. Did I take authority? You bet I did and God honored my prayer. I was able to get the man to hand over the gun and allow me to call for help. He was trembling and in tears when he was taken away, with a promise from the authorities to get a minister to him as quickly as possible.

I am not…NOT, in any sort of deliverance ministry nor do I ever want to be. I avoid it at all costs. The fact is, when you are in Prayer Ministry, it does not always avoid us. We better know what we are to do and how to do it. At least at Prayer Groups we have back up prayer from others who (hopefully) know how to pray.

I will do some studying and praying and maybe chat with a few friends and try to answer your questions. I won’t rush this answer though.
 
PS to anyone reading

Roberta is very experienced and gifted in the Prayer ministry—This is not something to be considered lightly.
 
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