Religious Demonology from a Roman Catholic Perspective

How do you know demons exist?

“How do you know demons exist?” is a fairly common question I am asked. The interesting thing is that this question almost always comes from believers in ghosts, not skeptics. There are two aspects of this disbelief I find interesting. The first is the assumption that one is right about ghosts based on experience (in the face of a world that mostly disagrees with you) and yet dismissive of the experience of others who have encountered the demonic. The second aspect is the theological impact of discounting demons.

At the core of it I think it’s the implications of accountability: we don’t want to believe in demons because that implies that there is a God and a devil and we are accountable. We hope that at most our choices lead to a gentle fatherly chiding, certainly not punishment for when we were bad. We also don't want to believe there is some invisible evil force that can only be stopped by God or people of God because then we would have to conform to God's will to enjoy that same protection. This is our default human nature: to be self governed instead of being obedient.

There is an institutional manifestation of this in some of the current generation of clergy. We see many clergy who went through seminary in the 70s and 80s that flatly do not believe the devil exists, that evil is only in people’s hearts. How strange for a priest to discount something so clearly described in the Gospel and so central to the Bible.

If there is no devil then there was no reason for Jesus to incarnate, for Jesus himself said he came to fight the kingdom of satan and establish the kingdom of heaven on Earth to continue that fight. If there was no reason for God to incarnate then was Jesus a delusional person who had fantasies of devils and demons? That thought he was saving us from an imaginary enemy? Perhaps he was God and he was lying about the reality of the devil and demons? Also about the devils goal of taking us away from God? A large part of Christianity shatters and falls when we remove the devil and demons from the picture, which is of course a huge victory for the great deceiver.

If there is no devil and no demons then the second aspect of God, justice, is excised leaving only mercy. If God is only mercy then it’s a free-for-all. It doesn’t matter what you do and the only possible things waiting are “nothing” or a merciful God who will forgive you. What a wonderful world view from the devil's perspective! A world where there are no consequences outside of worldly concerns like police and our fellow humans. If you can get away with it, great! Then all those people who stole, exploited, raped, killed, and destroyed were right to do whatever they wanted because there are no consequences because there is no hell or purgation, only forgiveness. This view opens the door to a kind of amorality.

With that introduction here are some examples from my own personal experience that showed me that demons, and the devil, are real. If one knows about psychology and electricity and magnetism one can come up with explanations for just about everything (including “ghost” phenomenon). My own belief in the demonic didn’t come with any one event, but as the hill of experiences grew into a small mountain I could no longer dismiss or ignore. These are some of the experiences I have had. I’ve decided not to write about many specific events because it is exploitive and would provide information that might used irresponsibly.

1. Reactions to holy objects / activity.

a) There was a situation where the Blessed Sacrament (the consecrated host) was being stored in the church hall. A demoniac (a person possessed by demons) was working in the hall with us. They were not aware of the Blessed Sacrament being there but complained that whenever they were inside the building their ears rang and they were dizzy. The demons in them became more agitated over time and eventually started taking them over. We were helping the person out of the building and had to go past the office where the Blessed Sacrament was stored. When we were near the door they dropped to their knees and then passed out. We had to carry them past that door and about ten feet beyond it they shook themselves awake and were able to walk again. I wasn’t aware the Eucharist was in there until later, it was a little confusing to me at the time.

b) There was a case where a family took in a young person who was secretly in league with the demonic and trying to destroy the children in the family. We prayed for blessing of the house and to protect the home from the demons re-entering. The person packed their bags and left the next morning complaining that “they can’t get back in, I’m leaving.” The person was not present when the prayers were said.

c) In many cases of demonic infestation we pray for a house blessing and protection, the haunting stops immediately and never recurs. There are cases where the difficulties return, almost always because the person is doing something to invite them back in. If it was only ghosts why would they be such a reaction to prayers that specifically address blessing and evil spirits, but not human spirits?

d) There are many other examples of negative reactions to blessed objects, religious symbols, and prayer regardless of whether the person knows about them through normal senses.

2. Unusual strength

a) We see unusual strength in most exorcisms and some deliverance prayer sessions. By unusual I mean it takes all the strength in the body of a full grown man to control one arm or leg of a person. The possessed never gets tired and the strength doesn’t diminish as you would expect if it was a rush of adrenaline. This can last for thirty minutes, an hour, however long the confrontation continues. Sometimes this strength goes beyond the ability to control the person at all, leaving only prayer for assistance.

b) The first exorcism I assisted at it was my job to hold one hand/wrist. This took all of my body weight and my strength and I was still being slightly lifted off the floor twenty minutes later, covered in sweat. The strength of the person never seemed to dimish.

3. Strongly violent hauntings

a) Once the demons in a case are confident that they have a hold on the person the pretense (spirit guide, loving relative, sick child, etc.) drops and they show their true nature. The disembodied demons might choke the person to tears, thrash them against a wall or floor, throw them down the stairs, punch them to bruising, scratch them to bleeding, bite them to leaving marks, throw them across a room, or sexually assault them. The strength of these attacks is important to understand: the attacks are generally stronger than a group of fully grown men. People that go through these kinds of violent hauntings are generally absolutely sure that they are dealing with something evil and seek out spiritual intervention. I feel that it is exploitive and sensationalistic to write specific descriptions of the horrible events I’ve seen and so the reader will have to be satisfied with the list provided.

4. Knowing all languages

a) In one case the victim, with a high school education, responded correctly to questions posed in Latin, Lithuanian, French, Russian, and of course English.

b) I was visiting an exorcist friend in Spain and the first person we prayed with said to me in perfect English with an American accent, “What are you doing here?! Stop that praying, STOP IT!” The person was asked a number of questions about this later in their normal state. They spoke a few words of broken English in a heavy Spanish accent, as most Spaniards do.

5. Positive and holy manifestations

It’s not all negative in the work against the demonic, many beautiful things happen to encourage and support us that go well beyond this list.

a) Once after a series of exorcisms, where we felt discouraged, a priest friend and I were driving back to the rectory. Just as we said “I wonder if the Lord is disappointed in us and our efforts” the CD player turned itself on, went to a track on the CD and played a beautiful piece of music. This had never happened before and the CD player was not damaged.

b) I have seen an angel manifest at a holy site in response to prayers seeking guidance.

c) I have experienced the odor of roses fill a house at the beginning of a serious demonic case that would turn out to be very challenging later.

d) There are many other examples but, again, some information could be misused.

6. “You just know”

People that have experienced a real demonic infestation, oppression, or possession have a firm understanding of just what they dealt with. We see the same kind of statement from people who talk about ghosts. They say “I experienced these things, it’s real! Skeptics will never believe us until they have a personal experience!” Why then is it rational to assume the world is defined by your personal yardstick of experience when you didn’t always believe in ghosts but you do now? Might not there be more?

Unless a person has gone through these things it’s impossible to understand how every fiber of your being rings out with an absolute understanding that real evil is before you and but for the grace of God would destroy you utterly. That grace and protection of God can and does reduce this fear inspiring evil being to a wimpering weaking scrambling to get away from the clergy and those assigned to help by the creator.

In my opinion the proposition that the demonic doesn’t exist either comes from a lack of experience in these extreme situations or from a desire to deceive so that the devil has freer reign in the clergy, paranormal community, media, and public.

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE / Hamlet Act 1. Scene V abt. 1601

Please do not copy the material on this site, but link to this site instead.
All material Copyright Adam Blai, 2007


	How do you know demons exist? “How do you know demons exist?” is a fairly common question I am asked. The interesting thing is that this question almost always comes from believers in ghosts, not skeptics. There are two aspects of this disbelief I find interesting. The first is the assumption that one is right about ghosts based on experience (in the face of a world that mostly disagrees with you) and yet dismissive of the experience of others who have encountered the demonic. The second aspect is the theological impact of discounting demons. At the core of it I think it’s the implications of accountability: we don’t want to believe in demons because that implies that there is a God and a devil and we are accountable. We hope that at most our choices lead to a gentle fatherly chiding, certainly not punishment for when we were bad. We also don't want to believe there is some invisible evil force that can only be stopped by God or people of God because then we would have to conform to God's will to enjoy that same protection. This is our default human nature: to be self governed instead of being obedient. There is an institutional manifestation of this in some of the current generation of clergy. We see many clergy who went through seminary in the 70s and 80s that flatly do not believe the devil exists, that evil is only in people’s hearts. How strange for a priest to discount something so clearly described in the Gospel and so central to the Bible. If there is no devil then there was no reason for Jesus to incarnate, for Jesus himself said he came to fight the kingdom of satan and establish the kingdom of heaven on Earth to continue that fight. If there was no reason for God to incarnate then was Jesus a delusional person who had fantasies of devils and demons? That thought he was saving us from an imaginary enemy? Perhaps he was God and he was lying about the reality of the devil and demons? Also about the devils goal of taking us away from God? A large part of Christianity shatters and falls when we remove the devil and demons from the picture, which is of course a huge victory for the great deceiver. If there is no devil and no demons then the second aspect of God, justice, is excised leaving only mercy. If God is only mercy then it’s a free-for-all. It doesn’t matter what you do and the only possible things waiting are “nothing” or a merciful God who will forgive you. What a wonderful world view from the devil's perspective! A world where there are no consequences outside of worldly concerns like police and our fellow humans. If you can get away with it, great! Then all those people who stole, exploited, raped, killed, and destroyed were right to do whatever they wanted because there are no consequences because there is no hell or purgation, only forgiveness. This view opens the door to a kind of amorality. With that introduction here are some examples from my own personal experience that showed me that demons, and the devil, are real. If one knows about psychology and electricity and magnetism one can come up with explanations for just about everything (including “ghost” phenomenon). My own belief in the demonic didn’t come with any one event, but as the hill of experiences grew into a small mountain I could no longer dismiss or ignore. These are some of the experiences I have had. I’ve decided not to write about many specific events because it is exploitive and would provide information that might used irresponsibly. 1. Reactions to holy objects / activity. a) There was a situation where the Blessed Sacrament (the consecrated host) was being stored in the church hall. A demoniac (a person possessed by demons) was working in the hall with us. They were not aware of the Blessed Sacrament being there but complained that whenever they were inside the building their ears rang and they were dizzy. The demons in them became more agitated over time and eventually started taking them over. We were helping the person out of the building and had to go past the office where the Blessed Sacrament was stored. When we were near the door they dropped to their knees and then passed out. We had to carry them past that door and about ten feet beyond it they shook themselves awake and were able to walk again. I wasn’t aware the Eucharist was in there until later, it was a little confusing to me at the time. b) There was a case where a family took in a young person who was secretly in league with the demonic and trying to destroy the children in the family. We prayed for blessing of the house and to protect the home from the demons re-entering. The person packed their bags and left the next morning complaining that “they can’t get back in, I’m leaving.” The person was not present when the prayers were said. c) In many cases of demonic infestation we pray for a house blessing and protection, the haunting stops immediately and never recurs. There are cases where the difficulties return, almost always because the person is doing something to invite them back in. If it was only ghosts why would they be such a reaction to prayers that specifically address blessing and evil spirits, but not human spirits? d) There are many other examples of negative reactions to blessed objects, religious symbols, and prayer regardless of whether the person knows about them through normal senses. 2. Unusual strength a) We see unusual strength in most exorcisms and some deliverance prayer sessions. By unusual I mean it takes all the strength in the body of a full grown man to control one arm or leg of a person. The possessed never gets tired and the strength doesn’t diminish as you would expect if it was a rush of adrenaline. This can last for thirty minutes, an hour, however long the confrontation continues. Sometimes this strength goes beyond the ability to control the person at all, leaving only prayer for assistance. b) The first exorcism I assisted at it was my job to hold one hand/wrist. This took all of my body weight and my strength and I was still being slightly lifted off the floor twenty minutes later, covered in sweat. The strength of the person never seemed to dimish. 3. Strongly violent hauntings a) Once the demons in a case are confident that they have a hold on the person the pretense (spirit guide, loving relative, sick child, etc.) drops and they show their true nature. The disembodied demons might choke the person to tears, thrash them against a wall or floor, throw them down the stairs, punch them to bruising, scratch them to bleeding, bite them to leaving marks, throw them across a room, or sexually assault them. The strength of these attacks is important to understand: the attacks are generally stronger than a group of fully grown men. People that go through these kinds of violent hauntings are generally absolutely sure that they are dealing with something evil and seek out spiritual intervention. I feel that it is exploitive and sensationalistic to write specific descriptions of the horrible events I’ve seen and so the reader will have to be satisfied with the list provided. 4. Knowing all languages a) In one case the victim, with a high school education, responded correctly to questions posed in Latin, Lithuanian, French, Russian, and of course English. b) I was visiting an exorcist friend in Spain and the first person we prayed with said to me in perfect English with an American accent, “What are you doing here?! Stop that praying, STOP IT!” The person was asked a number of questions about this later in their normal state. They spoke a few words of broken English in a heavy Spanish accent, as most Spaniards do. 5. Positive and holy manifestations It’s not all negative in the work against the demonic, many beautiful things happen to encourage and support us that go well beyond this list. a) Once after a series of exorcisms, where we felt discouraged, a priest friend and I were driving back to the rectory. Just as we said “I wonder if the Lord is disappointed in us and our efforts” the CD player turned itself on, went to a track on the CD and played a beautiful piece of music. This had never happened before and the CD player was not damaged. b) I have seen an angel manifest at a holy site in response to prayers seeking guidance. c) I have experienced the odor of roses fill a house at the beginning of a serious demonic case that would turn out to be very challenging later. d) There are many other examples but, again, some information could be misused. 6. “You just know” People that have experienced a real demonic infestation, oppression, or possession have a firm understanding of just what they dealt with. We see the same kind of statement from people who talk about ghosts. They say “I experienced these things, it’s real! Skeptics will never believe us until they have a personal experience!” Why then is it rational to assume the world is defined by your personal yardstick of experience when you didn’t always believe in ghosts but you do now? Might not there be more? Unless a person has gone through these things it’s impossible to understand how every fiber of your being rings out with an absolute understanding that real evil is before you and but for the grace of God would destroy you utterly. That grace and protection of God can and does reduce this fear inspiring evil being to a wimpering weaking scrambling to get away from the clergy and those assigned to help by the creator. In my opinion the proposition that the demonic doesn’t exist either comes from a lack of experience in these extreme situations or from a desire to deceive so that the devil has freer reign in the clergy, paranormal community, media, and public. "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE / Hamlet Act 1. Scene V abt. 1601 Please do not copy the material on this site, but link to this site instead. All material Copyright Adam Blai, 2007