Deliver Us from Evil

SatanFears Over the years of reading and viewing the testimonies of several exorcists, I have realized that the more I was aware of the Evil One, the more I knew his limitations, weaknesses, and powerlessness against our Lord Jesus. Rather than increase my fear, knowledge of Satan’s abilities and tricks actually increased my confidence in the Catholic Church and her King. Because of this, I am sharing these best-of-the-best resources of exorcism experiences, hoping they help you as much as they have helped me grow in faith.

Many exorcists have a police officer present during the diagnosis process, or even during the ritual. Jesse Romero is one such [former] officer, and his experiences are riveting:
Demonology is not a common specialization for laypersons, but Adam Blai is not a common layman. His work as a demonologist has been a great aid to many exorcists, and his interview by Patrick Coffin (of prior Catholic Answers fame) is deeply informative:
Father Gary Thomas is perhaps the most well known American exorcist (because of Matt Baglio’s journalistic investigation and the subsequent movie starring Sir Anthony Hopkins: The Rite). Here is an uncut extended interview with Fr. Gary:
Father Cliff Ermatinger’s presentations through the 2015 Miles Christi Conference are exceptional and should be listened to carefully at full length (available here for purchase, set #23). Here is a brief sample:
Exorcism Movies:
1. As for The Conjuring, arguably the most popular recent exorcism movie series, please see my review here.
2. See here for my review about Deliver Us from Evil.
3. For what I think is the best exorcism film to date, please see The Exorcism of Emily Rose, based on the exorcism of Anneliese Michel. An insightful commentary about the Anneliese case can be viewed here:
And for the experience of a dear friend of mine, through the intercession of the St. Benedict Medal, please see here.
Lastly, remember that as flies are drawn to rotten bodies, so too are demons drawn to rotten souls. Get pure, stay pure.

BeFearless2

“But Deliver Us from Evil…”

And does Deliver Us from Evil deliver?

I love a good exorcism story. But over the last few decades, they’ve been less and less original. My favorite is still Scott Derrickson’s The Exorcism of Emily Rose (yes, I prefer it over the original Exorcist).

This latest film from Derrickson wasn’t bad at all, but it did leave me feeling disappointed. No one in the film industry seems to know what to do next with the genre (which is why I wrote Little Miss Lucifer); the same story runs over and over. Hey Hollywood! It’s getting a bit redundant!

But let’s focus for now on the positives from Deliver Us:

1) It’s Catholic. The director himself, in a lengthy interview, admits that he “has nothing but love for Catholicism” and would convert if it weren’t for one reason: he doesn’t know how to raise his kids Catholic. So, here’s to praying he finds out how!

2) It boldly features the Medal of Saint Benedict! Today is the Memorial of Saint Benedict! I have more and more friends who sport the Medal of St. Benedict. If you want to know more, check out this page (note: the medal bears exorcising properties.)

3) It calls out anti-Catholic stereotypes, especially about priests. No priest is perfect, just like no police officer is perfect, just like no person is perfect: “Every saint has a past — every sinner has a future.”

4) It takes the Sacrament of Confession dead seriously: meaning that if you’re going to battle the devil’s tricks and temptations, you must be free from your tainted history, and the only one who can liberate you from your guilt and lies is Jesus Christ. Confession is not only for healing, but also for shielding!

5) And of course, the Latin!